From Honest Man to Thief

One of my favorite TV shows is Leverage because the characters are deep and multi-faceted. Nathan Ford was once an insurance investigator, specializing in art theft recovery. He’s now the reluctant “mastermind” behind the cons of a group of thieves. I say “reluctant” because he’s in cahoots with the very thieves he used to catch and put in jail. Why does Nathan do this?

Read the full article at Voices e-zine.

Nightshade by Ronie Kendig

 

This week, the 
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance 

is introducing 

Nightshade 

Barbour Books (July 1, 2010)by Ronie Kendig

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ronie has been married since 1990 to a man who can easily be defined in classic terms as a hero. She has four beautiful children. Her eldest daughter is 16 this year, her second daughter will be 13, and her twin boys are 10. After having four children, she finally finished her degree in December 2006. She now has a B.S. in Psychology through Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Getting her degree is a huge triumph for both her and her family--they survived!!

This degree has also given her a fabulous perspective on her characters and how to not only make them deeper, stronger, but to make them realistic and know how they'll respond to each situation. Her debut novel, Dead Reckoning released March 2010 from Abingdon Press. And her Discarded Heroes series begins in July from Barbour with the first book entitled Nightshade.

ABOUT THE BOOK

After a tour of duty in a war-torn country, embattled former Navy SEAL Max Jacobs finds himself discarded and alienated from those he loves as he struggles with war-related PTSD. His wife, Sydney, files a restraining order against him and a petition for divorce. Max is devastated.

Then a mysterious a man appears. He says he's organizing a group that recycles veterans like Max. It's a deep-six group known as Nightshade. With the chance to find purpose in life once again, Max is unable to resist the call of duty and signs on.

The team handles everything with precision and lethal skill...until they're called upon to rescue a missionary family from a rebel-infested jungle and avoid a reporter hunting their identities. Will Max yield his anger and pride to a force greater than him...love?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Nightshade, go HERE.

CONTEST: Right here, only on Kittens Come From Eggs! Leave a comment and one person will win a copy of Nightshade AND Dead Reckoning. Winner will be announced Friday so don't miss out!

Watch the trailer:

And the Winner is...

Lisa Jordan wins a copy of Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias. This book is a treasure trove for writers and a great compliment, I must say, to Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel.

Thank you for all your comments and for hanging out here last week! Hope your conference experience is spectacular. :-)

Part Four: The 3 C’s: Colors, Continuity, and Choices

So far we’ve talked about product identification, one-sheets and business cards. Today I’ll give you some basic tips about the 3C's to carry your imagery across the board to your website, blog, and future promotions. Consistency is key!

Colors
I touched on this briefly in part two of this series about the one sheet. Your colors should mesh with your genre. A color scheme of deep red, black, and white will bring across a sense of danger, suspense, and strength. Great for those thriller and suspense writers. Pastel tones give a sense of happiness and peace—a perfect choice for inspirational writers, some women’s fiction, and children’s books. Bold, loud colors are perfect for chick-lit and lively women’s fiction. I think you get the picture here. Choose colors that convey the theme of your stories. This holds true for your printed materials, as well as your web presence, and is another important aspect of continuity.

Continuity
Creating a common theme between your printed and online materials is like writing a book series. There are elements that carry over from book to book and stay consistent. This will create strong reader identification (also why book series have continuity between covers in their design, colors, fonts, and imagery) and this also speaks a strong but silent message of professionalism.

If you started with your website, carry those designs and colors over to your business card, letterhead, and promotional materials. If you’re a published author and you’re using your current book as a guideline, then your materials to promote that book should match it. Again, this creates strong reader identification. Making connections between advertising materials to the product on the shelf (your book) is vital to a successful promotion. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time. And your money.

Choices: Timely vs. Timeless
This is where your planning will pay off. Literally. Make choices now based upon two things. One, your immediate goal. Are you promoting a book? Then make a “timely” choice.” Design your bookmarks, postcards, and online materials to match in color, design, and even fonts. Order quantities of your printed materials based upon your need. It may be a great deal to spend that extra few dollars just to get 500 more bookmarks, but if you wind up not needing them, then it’s money wasted.

Two, your long term goal. Are you promoting yourself as an author? When making “timeless” choices for your printed and online materials, keep in mind that you will most likely keep this “identity” for two to five years. Can you live with that logo and color scheme that long? Making frequent changes will lose continuity and confuse readers. Choose colors and designs for the long haul. Take advantage of the price break between 250 hundred and 500 business cards if you you’re happy with your image and information, and you will make good use of them. The same can hold true for bookmarks, especially if they’re promoting a series of books, or your books in general.

I hope this series has been helpful. Leave a comment for another chance to win Writing for Emotional Impact. I’ll draw a name this weekend and announce the winner Monday. And feel free to leave any questions. I’ll answer them here in the comments section. See you at conference!

Part Three: The Business Card

Most of what I’ve covered for the one sheet applies to business cards as well. These are basic design concepts that apply across the board. And even more so for the business card, because it’s a very small area of advertising designed to impart your most important information.

When I first started attending conferences, I found it odd that writers would include their picture. Now I understand its benefits in the connections we make and helping agents and editors remember who we are. They meet with so many people over the course of three days. A picture is a great way to stay in their memory. I do recommend you spend the money, if possible, on a professional photographer. In fact, each conference, a photographer is contracted for this very purpose. And at prices you just can’t beat. Take advantage of this opportunity. Trust me, even cropping a family portrait will still scream family portrait. It’s not just the quality, but the pose as well that can make a difference. If money is an issue, exchange services with someone. Ask around your church, or perhaps you have a family member or friend who does photography as a hobby. Just try to make sure it looks as professional as possible.

For your business card layout, you need your picture, which should be a high resolution image—around 1 MB or more—your name, email address, phone number and your web address, if you have one. Optional but helpful tidbits are a tagline and a blog addy. Don’t use a tagline just to have one. If you’re not sure yet what genre or style you plan to write, better to leave this off. And if you’re not a consistent blogger or don’t really keep up with it well enough, better to leave this off for now as well.

Use a good card stock for your printing. Here are some online printers that offer good service and competitive prices. I’ve worked with most of these and have found they’re all pretty good. And they have templates to step you through your business card design without additional charges—a great alternative if you can’t afford a designer.

• Print Runner http://www.printrunner.com
• Vista Print http://www.vistaprint.com
• Printing for Less http://www.printingforless.com
• Print Place http://www.printplace.com
• Got Print http://gotprint.net

Tomorrow we’ll finish up our exploration into conference materials with the 3 Cs and how they can fit neatly into your marketing materials for the future. Don’t forget to leave a comment for more chances to win Writing for Emotional Impact, and questions are always welcome! See you tomorrow!