Tag: #publishing

Marketing, Rants

Julia vs the Facebook Advertising Policy II: Revenge of the Facebook Ad department.

Julia Bennet
GIF of Sister Michael from Derry Girls, via tenor.

Well, hello, Sister Michael. I didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon. For anyone who needs catching up, I blogged about my previous problems with Facebook advertising here and here. For those of you who don’t care, you should visit those posts anyway because they have more Sister Michael GIFs.

So, after the poor performance of the “Cuddling Violation” ad, I thought I’d try something different. Mr. Bennet, who is handy with a computer, decided to make me a book trailer. Here it is in all its HD glory. If you decide to give it a watch, keep an eye out for adult content because that’ll be important down-post.

Not bad for a man who’d never used video editing software before!

I’ve been sharing it across social media but, glutton for punishment that I am, I thought I’d make a Facebook ad as well. You know, not to sell books or anything (since Facebook is really bad at that) but to get more views for the trailer. Well, wouldn’t you know it? They didn’t approve our ad.

GIF of Sister Michael piercing us with her gaze, via tenor

Why? Because:

“Adverts must not promote the sale or use of adult products or services.“

Now I feel trolled. Adult services like escorts? Products like dildos? What are they even talking about? I need more clarification.

“Adverts must not promote the sale or use of adult products or services, unless they promote family planning and contraception. Adverts for contraceptives must focus on the contraceptive features of the product and not on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement, and must be targeted to people aged 18 years or older. “

Side note: I’m not sure what the age of consent is where you are, but in the UK , it’s 16. I sure as hell believe that family planning should be targeted at 16 years olds and, let’s face it, right or wrong, not all kids wait that long. I’d rather mine were properly educated just in case. But, whatever. That’s not Facebook’s job etc. But look at this, lest we ever forget that Facebook thinks sex is dirty:

No sexual pleasure for you! It is verboten.

But I digress. The real issue here is where does my trailer go wrong? Is it the word “seduction”? Is it the silhouettes of two adults not kissing? Or has my romance novel (which is not an erotic romance, though it does have some erotic scenes) been deemed an “adult product?” If so, that didn’t bother them last week or during any of the previous ad runs. This is a whole new reason not to let me advertise my book and I’m starting to develop a teensy weensy bit of a persecution complex.

So now comes the fun of deciding whether to appeal or edit the ad and try again.

GIF of Sister Michael drinking, via tenor

But I’m starting to feel a bit cross. And, yes, that’s British understatement.

Book News

The Madness of Miss Grey is Available for Pre-order.

Julia Bennet

Available from:

Entangled Amazon Kobo
Entangled Google Play Apple iBooks

All of society believes former actress Helen Grey to be mad, but after a decade imprisoned in a crumbling Yorkshire asylum, she’s managed to cling to sanity. When a new doctor arrives, she finally sees an opportunity for freedom and she’ll do anything to not let it slip between her fingers.

All of society believes former actress Helen Grey to be mad, but after a decade imprisoned in a crumbling Yorkshire asylum, she’s managed to cling to sanity. When a new doctor arrives, she finally sees an opportunity for freedom and she’ll do anything to not let it slip between her fingers.

Dr. William Carter knows Miss Grey is using him, but he can’t blame her. She’s no madder than he is yet she’s spent years in this place. He’ll help her escape, but they can’t cross the line and give into temptation—no matter how much he would like.

Helen and Will need to work together if she’s ever going to be free. It won’t be easy, not when her mysterious benefactor is determined to keep her locked up and hidden from society forever. When Helen is entangled in her own trap and begins to fall for Will too, she must fight not only for her liberty but for her right to love.

About Books

Book Cover Love Part 1: Non-romance edition

Julia Bennet

One of the things we dream about when writing a book is what the cover will look like. I don’t know how it works at other publishers, but at Entangled, authors are sent a form they can fill in with their ideas. For a debutante like me, it’s a very cool and fun experience. Obviously it’s down to the cover designers and marketing department to decide which ideas might actually make for a salable cover. Anyway, I’ve seen the mock-up and I can’t wait to be able to share the finished product.

Meanwhile, all this has me thinking of book covers in general and what appeals to me as a reader. I thought it might be fun to do a post highlighting some of my favorite cover art. I’ll do romance next week and other stuff this week. Why that way round? Well, I got a few new followers after last week’s post, which made me feel like I need a thematic stepping stone between it and the probable fest of purple, fuchsia and heaving bosoms (both male and female) that will be next week’s romance covers post. Ease ’em in gently, I always say.

The wonder by Emma Donoghue: Find on Goodreads.

Wonderful historical novel about an English nurse who goes to a tiny Irish village “to observe what some are claiming as a medical anomaly or a miracle – a girl said to have survived without food for months.” I loved this way more than “Room”. As for the cover, I own this on kindle but I regret not buying the hardback just so I can physically hold this artwork. The colors, particularly the use of gold, are stunning and the cover as a whole is so evocative of what’s inside; a bleak yet haunting story of how people can transform each other’s lives.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter: Find on Goodreads

How can you not be intrigued by this cover? I want this framed and displayed on my wall. For the two people in the world who haven’t read Angela Carter yet, she wrote magical realism often with a distinctly Gothic twist. The angel on the front cover is actually a circus performer named “Fevvers” and she’s one of my favorite protagonists in all of literature. She’s warm, earthy, and unstoppable. But is she really part swan? You’ll have to read to find out.

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters: Find on Goodreads.

This cover has caused me so much trouble over the years. I bought the paperback shortly after it came out and I can’t tell you how many people raised their eyebrows. Shout out to the octogenarian who took one look at the cover, scanned the blurb, then announced in a loud voice to the room at large, “Sex, sex, sex. That’s all this generation ever thinks about.” Tipping the Velvet is an odyssey through the Victorian sexual underworld. If you don’t care for explicit sex scenes, maybe give it a miss, but for the rest of us, it’s a tour de force.

The North Water by Ian McGuire: Find on Goodreads.

This is the fourth historical novel to appear on this list, so I guess we know what my wheelhouse is. I love the simplicity of this cover. The blues contrasted with the black and white. Somehow the blue is both land and sea. I never even noticed the polar bear until today. As for the book, it’s gritty, unrelenting, and almost entirely populated by men doing traditionally “manly” things (whaling, murdering each other etc). None of this would usually be my thing, yet somehow I was riveted and had this finished in a couple of sittings.”

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray: Find on Goodreads.

Bit of a change of pace for this Young Adult satire of the beauty industry. My kindle copy is virtually all highlights because I snort-laughed my way through this tale of a group of beauty queens whose plane crashes on a desert island. Why does this cover work? I guess there’s a hot blonde to stare at if that’s your thing, but for me it was the ammo belt filled with lipstick. Whoever came up with this concept, they sold me the book, for which I thank them.

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty.: Find on Goodreads.

If you’re scared of dying or death, I highly recommend anything by Caitlin Doughty, including her Ask A Mortician YouTube videos. I devoured “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”, her memoir about the funeral industry, but I might not have tried “From Here to Eternity”, which is about her search for cultures with healthier attitudes to death than the western one, had it not been for this cover with its dramatic color contrasts. Something about putting flowers on a skull immediately renders said skull 95% less scary. Which is basically what Caitlin Doughty does in a nutshell.

I hope you enjoyed this blatant excuse to post gorgeous cover art as much as I did. I hope you’ll come back for next week’s look at romance novels.

Writer's Life

The Query Letter That Got Me My Agent (with commentary from Jessica Alvarez of Bookends Literary Agency)

Julia Bennet

Snoopy

(Image via Pinterest.com)

When I wrote my first query letter, I was deeply grateful to all the authors who’d shared their successful letters on the internet. It would seem wrong somehow if I didn’t share mine. This wasn’t the first manuscript I queried. Although I got very lucky (as you’re about to see) I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the query trenches, and I know how frustrating the process can be.

Here’s the query for The Madness of Miss Grey, then titled Heart of Ice:

Dear Ms Alvarez,

Everyone thinks Helen Grey is mad. She certainly causes plenty of trouble at Blackwell, the crumbling asylum where she’s been imprisoned for the last ten years. New doctor William Carter seems decent, honorable, and eager to help. Just the sort of man she can trick into helping her escape.

Will knows he’s being manipulated, but he also realizes Helen doesn’t belong at Blackwell. Getting her out won’t be easy, not for a mere housekeeper’s son educated above his station, and not when her mysterious benefactor is determined to keep her locked up forever.

Helen and Will need to work together if she’s ever going to be free. As their uneasy partnership turns to tender friendship, neither foresees the passion they’ll find in each other’s arms or the love that will save them both.

Heart of Ice is the first in a series I’m calling Dysfunctional Dukes about a family so messed up I call them the anti-Bridgertons. I am currently working on the second installment which is about Helen’s brother.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best wishes,

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s perfect. Not by any means. For one thing, I didn’t personalize it. Though some agents prefer you to get straight to the pitch, just as many say they appreciate when an author includes why they’ve chosen to query that agent/agency in particular. If I could go back in time, I’d probably start with something like:

Dear Ms Alvarez,

I’ve been following you on twitter for a year or two. Earlier today, I spotted your #PitMad tweet which said that, though you weren’t taking part, you were open to queries.

Almost the first thing Jessica asked when she contacted me was why I queried her, so I certainly should have included the information.

An interruption from Jessica: It’s funny; I don’t remember asking you why you’d queried me. I actually normally don’t care too much about that or whether a query is personalized to me, though I know there are those agents who do care. I may have been trying to figure out if you were a #PitMad submission, but no matter now, it all worked out.

Back to Julia: Bookends uses Query Manager, which is why the original query doesn’t include word count, setting, and genre. I entered that information as part of the online form. When querying agencies by regular email, I’d add a line to the above paragraph, something like:

Please consider my 80,000 word historical romance set in late-Victorian Yorkshire.

Still, despite its imperfections, this query had a 100% success rate, (something that would be more impressive if I hadn’t only queried three agents).

Another interruption from Jessica: There were several things that grabbed me with your query. I love the idea of a tortured, possibly mad heroine, and the entire concept struck me immediately as a fresh spin on Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm. That’s one of my all-time favorites and quite possibly the greatest asylum romance to ever exist, imho. And right away I could tell there was going to be some juicy conflict with the doctor/patient relationship and him coming from humble beginnings. To top it off, I loved the way you described your series as being the anti-Bridgertons—any historical reader will immediately get that, and I can’t get enough of dysfunctional families. So, maybe there are a few things to quibble with, but really, I think the query was spot-on and it hooked me. Plus, it was so good that I basically stole your entire query, so I think you can claim more wins than just 3 for 3

Back to Julia: However, months later, when we pitched the manuscript to Entangled, Alethea Spiridon, the acquiring editor, requested a refined version more in keeping with their brand. I worked with Jessica and the rest of the Bookends team to produce this:

Everyone thinks Helen Grey is mad but, despite ten years imprisoned in Blackwell, a crumbling Yorkshire asylum, she’s managed to cling to sanity. When a new doctor arrives, she sees an opportunity. William Carter is honorable and eager to help. Despite his rigid moral code, desire burns in his eyes. Her pretty face and generous curves are her best weapons and she knows he’ll be a pleasure to seduce…and trick into helping her escape.

Will knows he’s being manipulated, but he intends to help Helen no matter what. She’s no more mad than he is. Though he would never bed a patient, his yearning for Helen torments him. The more time Will spends in this beautiful schemer’s company, the harder it is to resist temptation.

Helen and Will need to work together if she’s ever going to be free. It won’t be easy, not when her mysterious benefactor is determined to keep her locked up and hidden from society forever. When Helen is entangled in her own trap and begins to fall for Will too, she must fight not only for her liberty but for her right to love.

The first one is more restrained (restrained is my comfort zone), but I think the new version does a better job of selling the book.

So, keep working on your query, listen to advice when advice is given, and with luck, you’ll find an agent and an editor who are right for you and your manuscript.