CIP October 2023

CANADIAN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS OCTOBER 2023

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT MARK LESLIE LEFEBVRE WWW.CANADIANINDEPENDENTPUBLISHERS.CA

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content 4 EDITOR’S NOTE THANK YOU, WWC VOLUNTEERS 6 INDIE BOOKSTORE A nesting spot for Calgary’s bookworms 9 AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT MARK LESLIE LEFEBVRE 14 BOOK PROMOTION HOW TO ACQUIRE (AND GIVE) BOOK ENDORSEMENTS 18 ROMANCE WRITING The Necessary Components of a Romance 22 WRITING COMPETITIONS

Canadian Independent Publishers October 2023 Volume 1, Issue 2

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Subscription Rates (6 issues) Canada: 1 Year: $75.00+HST Publisher and Editor Andrew Snook 647.779.8946 asnook@ canadianindependentpublishers.ca

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EDITOR’S NOTE

THANK YOU, WWC VOLUNTEERS

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When it was announced that the organizers of WWC would be stepping away after this year, I was immediately saddened, as I thought that would spell the end of this event.

Fortunately, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society (AWCS) has stepped up and taken over the organization of WWC 2024.

Thank you to all of the dedicated WWC volunteers over the years that have made this event such a great gathering for those of us who can’t get enough of the written word. On behalf of bookworms around the world, THANK YOU! Additional thanks to the AWCS for stepping up and keeping this event going. If Canadian Independent Publishing can do anything to help promote this event, feel free to reach out anytime.

Anyone interested in learning more about this event can visit www.whenwordscollide.org.

The next edition of WWC will take place from August 16 to 18, 2024 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Calgary South in Calgary.

Do you know of another great event for writers, editors, small publishers and/or indie bookstores in Canada?

Drop me a line. I’d love to hear all about it.

ack in August 2019, I discovered one of the most enjoyable and educational writing conferences for Canadian indie authors: When Words Collide (WWC), which takes place every August in Calgary.

The annual conference offers writers, editors, and publishers an opportunity to come to come together and share their passion for the written word. Sessions are offered covering a wide variety of topics including panels and presentations on indie book promotion, writing and editing tips for various genres, tackling agent queries, and much more. At this year’s edition of WWC, I had the opportunity to present on tips for running a freelance writing and editing business and participate on a panel that offers tips for book promotion.

For those looking to exhibit their written works, there are booths available for small publishing houses, indie bookstores, and writing associations, as well as tables dedicated to indie authors to help them showcase their books.

What impressed me even more than all the great sessions and exhibits were the networking opportunities with fellow Canadians that are passionate about writing.

Publishers, authors and editors at the event were more than happy to share tips and experiences to help each other become more successful. It is the first writing and publishing event I’ve attended in Canada that truly felt like a supportive community for writers.

This feeling of camaraderie was one of the reasons I chose this event as the place for the soft launch of Canadian Independent Publishers.

It just felt like the right fit.

This amazing event owes its success to the hard-working and dedicated volunteers that have run the conference for the past 15 years.

Happy reading and writing!

Andrew Snook Editor and Publisher 4

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INDIE BOOKSTORE

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or nearly fifty years, Owl’s Nest Books has been serving Calgarians that are passionate about the written word.

Like many bookstores that have stood the test of time, Owl’s Nest Books’ ownership has changed hands a few times over its near half-century of operation. It was first opened in 1975 on Bow Trail by former owner Evelyn DeMille, who ran the store until selling it to Michael Hare and Brenda Mackie in 1995. Shortly after the purchase, Michael and Brenda moved the store to its current location on 49th Avenue within the Britannia Plaza Shopping Centre in southwestern Calgary. Then in 2002, Brenda sold her share of the business to Michael’s spouse, Susan Hare. A couple of years ago, the couple decided it was time to retire and have passed on ownership of the bookstore to its new owner-operators, Ryan Smith and Judith Duthie.

“I showed up in June 2020, and Susan and Michael were very kind to give 6

me a position. I had been working as an editor at an educational publishing house and I needed a change,” Ryan recalls. “It was and then that Michael felt it was time to retire. They offered me the chance to step into the ownership role, and here I am.”

Jumping into co-owning and operating a bookstore came with a steep learning curve for Ryan.

“I have a degree in literature, so what did I know about running a

Owl’s Nest Books was first opened in 1975 on Bow Trail by former owner Evelyn DeMille. It is currently nestled within the Britannia Plaza Shopping Centre in southwestern Calgary and is managed by co-owners Ryan Smith and Judith Duthie.

A NESTING SPOT FOR CALGARY’s bookworms

By Andrew Snook

business?” he says. “There’s been a lot to learn, but it’s such a great group to learn from. Susan and Michael have 25-plus years of experience running this place. We’re very grateful that Susan agreed to stay on for a little while and make sure we can learn as much as we can from her. Everyone here is very wonderful and supportive.”

The customer support that the store experiences is reciprocated back into the community. Owl’s Nest Books regularly hosts local authors to help support Calgary’s up-and-coming writers.

“We host a lot of local authors and new authors - both self-published or those releasing their first books. We’ll have evening events or Saturday signings that authors will come in and do. We can’t necessarily do larger authors because that crowd would be far too big for this space, but it’s a good size for local authors to come and celebrate their books with their families and friends, and the

public. We also work with Wordfest and other groups, too, that are hosting literary events.

Those are always fun.”

Ryan is interested in having the bookstore involved with more local markets and events in the future.

“Local summer markets have been a lot of fun. At When Words Collide, we have three bookshelves we bring with us, so it makes it feel a bit more like a bookstore,” he says.

Owl’s Nest Books is also highly active with local schools and Ryan is looking at ways to work closer with those schools moving forward.

“We are playing with the idea of Scholastic book fairs. Michael had big shelves on wheels that he would take to schools and present books to kids, and the kids could have a great time with that. As you can imagine, that was a lot of work. So, we’re just seeing if that’s a viable option for supporting our 7

schools,” he says. “We work with a lot of teachers and principals to help the schools however we can.”

Supporting independents Ryan says the independent bookstores across the Calgary Metropolitan Area are a great community and like to support each other whenever possible.

One of the ways local bookstores are able to support each other is through the help of an indie book software program developed by Mosaic Books in Kelowna, B.C., called Bookmanager.

“It’s a point-of-sale software made

by Mosaic Books, and it’s made specifically for bookstores,” Ryan explains. “It’s a powerful tool for books, which is great. One of the features is that we can see what other Bookmanager stores have for stock when we’re looking at titles. So, if we don’t have something, we can check and see if it’s at one of the other stores. Then we can point people in that

INDIE BOOKSTORE

Owl’s Nest Books co-owners Ryan Smith and Judith Duthie.

direction and still connect them with their book. It helps them keep shopping local.”

One of Ryan’s favourite aspects of his role is connecting with Calgary’s community of book lovers.

“It’s great to get out into the community and talk books, share books and connect people to books. We have a fantastic team with this fantastic community of people who have been supporting the store for so long,” he says. “There were people who were bringing their kids in, and now they’re bringing their kids in. Just seeing that longevity in the community, getting to know

them, and to keep fostering those readers is really great.”

Ryan also enjoys letting readers know about books that might interest them.

“One of my favorite parts of the job is recommending books to people,” he says, adding that he also enjoys learning about books from customers. “You get a sense of what your community is reading, and it expands my horizons, and hopefully, I’m helping to expand their horizons. And then you also get great feedback from people coming in saying, ‘Oh, that book was great. Thank you. What do you have next?’ It’s just been a lot of fun.”

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Customer focused Owl’s Nest Books has always focused on its customers, and provides books specifically for their clientele, which is largely made up of readers of mystery fiction.

“There’s a specific mystery section and then the rest of the fiction is all clumped together. Owl’s Nest has had the chance to get to know what its community wants to read and has curated accordingly, and mysteries are a big part of what our folks like to read,” Ryan says. “I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know that genre.”

The store also regularly hosts book clubs of varying sizes.

“They come to us with their list of what they’re reading a couple of months prior – or some of them schedule seasonal meetings from fall to spring – and we input that information and keep those books stocked on our book club shelf,” Ryan says. “We build in a discount so anyone who’s purchasing those books for their book club gets that discount. And it’s made for a really great way to connect with the community.”

While this career path wasn’t in Ryan’s plans when he graduated with his BA in English from University of Lethbridge, he is very grateful for the opportunity.

“I didn’t set out from graduating and think, ‘I’ll own a bookstore,’ but it’s been great. There have been hard days, and busy days, but no bad days,” he says. “The store has had a lot of a lot of support over the years. It’s been great to see that it’s been able to last almost 50 years. We’re already starting to think about 50th anniversary plans.”

For more information on Owl’s Nest Books, visit: www.owlsnestbooks.com.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

Pen name: Mark Leslie (Lefebvre) Recently published books: • Only Monsters in the Building (Canadian Werewolf #7) (Release Date: February 2024) • Yippee Ki-Yay Mother F*cker! A Trivia Guide to Die Hard (2023) • The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles (2022)

Go online and you will find a plethora of authors, editors and publishers that claim to be friends and allies of independent authors. While many of these claims do ring true (and many others do not), I am hard-pressed to find an individual with more passion and interest in helping lift up their fellow writers (and the book publishing industry as a whole) than Mark Leslie Lefebvre.

In addition to penning and editing dozens of traditionally and independently published non-fiction and fiction titles, Mark has been active in the bookselling and publishing industry for more than 30 years. He has held many prestigious titles over the course of his career including Director of Author Relations and Self-Publishing for Rakuten Kobo; President of the Canadian Booksellers Association; Board Member of BookNet Canada; professional advisor for Sheridan College’s Creative Writing and Publishing Honours Program; and his current role as Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital.

But no matter how busy Mark’s schedule becomes, he always takes the time to assist independent authors by sharing his experiences in the publishing industry through speaking events and online consultations. When he’s not relaxing, kicking back enjoying one of his favourite craft beers in his hometown of Waterloo, Ont., Mark is on the road sharing his expertise and passion for the written word with his fellow writers across North America.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mark recently to discuss his impressive career in the publishing sector and learn about his latest projects.

Current place of residence: Waterloo, Ont. Website: www.markleslie.ca YouTube: @MarkLeslieLefebvre Podcast: Stark Reflections A chat with

MARK LESLIE

By Andrew Snook 9

Your accomplishments in the publishing world are impressive. Can you share a little about how you first entered the industry?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer.

And when I was a little kid, my Mom said, “If you want to be a writer, you better have another job, because you’re never going to make money writing.”

I took it to heart because your parents give you advice and you kind of follow it. So, I got a degree in English, which meant I was qualified for pretty much retail.

But I did get a part-time job just as I was finishing university at a bookstore in Ottawa for Christmas season help. And I got bit by the book bug. I loved bookselling.

It was amazing. I’m not a retail kind of guy, but I love books. And I love talking about books. I loved interacting with customers about books, so I kind of stuck it out. I ended up getting a full-time job moving into management positions and moving around from store to store.

This was in parallel to my very first short story finally being sold to a publisher after years of rejection, after rejection, after rejection. This was when the going wisdom was

to submit your stories to magazines to make a name for yourself, and then, once you’ve got some credits, an agent will be able to take you seriously when you go to pitch your book because you’ll have a track record. And so, 1992 was the year that my very first story that I sold appeared in print. I think I sold it two years earlier, but it finally appeared in print then.

That was the year I started working as a bookseller so my writing career and my bookselling career kind of launched in the same year.

When I graduated from university, I just continued to build upon both of those in parallel. I’ve worked throughout the industry at almost every kind of bookstore you can imagine – brick and mortar, independent, academic, chain, big box, mall stores, online stores, etc. So, I had some experience all around the map.

My writing was continuing to do well. But also, in parallel, I got to a point where I had so many short stories published that I was starting to get professional sales.

And people would say, because I worked in a bookstore, “You’re a writer, where can I find your stuff?” And they would be looking around the store. And I was 10

like, “I don’t have any books.” So, I thought, I have enough previously published stories, I can just put together a story collection and learned about self-publishing.

This was 2004. This was in the Dark Ages of indie publishing.

This is when none of the cool kids were self-publishing, it was actually an embarrassing situation. I checked with other writers and they were like, “Oh, don’t do it. That’s the best way to kill your career before it even starts.”

I wanted to hide behind the fact that I was doing it myself, so I created an imprint. I registered the company Stark Publishing in Ontario in 2004, and then I had my best friend who is a graphic designer design a nice logo, and I went with that. I released my first self-published book, One Hand Screaming, in the fall of 2004.

And so, these careers all happened in parallel. My bookselling career and working in the industry as a book industry representative continued to grow – becoming the President of the Canadian Booksellers Association, being on the Board of BookNet Canada, looking at data feeds to help better the industry, being on the professional advisory committee

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

for Sheridan College’s degree program for writing and publishing, and then in parallel, just continuing to sell my works to traditional publishers, as well as publish some of my own stuff. It’s been this wonderful ride where I’ve got to see all sides of the industry – being on the publisher side of buying stories, having stories rejected, being the person who sells the books to the consumers, and Stark Publishing is still there 20 years later. I even have a bunch of projects of other writers that I am publishing under the Stark Publishing imprint.

Can you share a little about some of the projects you’re working on at Stark Publishing?

We just published Sarah Kades’ fifth book in her thriller-romance-suspense series, The Hearthstone Series, in September 2023. This is the final book coming out in that series. I am also re-releasing Edo van Belkom’s 25th anniversary edition of Death Drives a Semi, which is my The October Country. There’s a lot of writers who say Ray Bradbury’s The October Country is the book that they read that inspired them to want to be a writer. I already knew I wanted to be a writer, but that story collection by Edo is one of my favorite story collections ever published. I love every single story in that collection and Edo inspired me to put my own short story collection together.

It’s been out of print for years and it’s a shame, because it’s a book I would want to buy for people or to say to them, “You’ve got to read this.” And so now, I’m publishing it. I’m pretty excited. I managed to secure the font that was used on the original cover by Quarry Press.

Edo did a photo shoot 25 years later in a truck so it’s a replica of the original he did 25 years ago.

Robert Sawyer revised the introduction, and we’ve also got a new story in there. It’s kind of an ode to this amazing book that I love.

I’m doing this book and a bunch of other interesting projects. So, I accidentally became a publisher somewhere along the way. I don’t pretend to be a real publisher that’s going to pay an advance and has sales reps going out and putting books in bookstores, I’m not going to ever pretend that I’m that. But I am bringing books into availability. I’m bringing them into the market in a way that people can seek them out. And if bookstores want to order them, it’s easier for them. It’s exciting.

What would you say are some of your proudest achievements through your varied career?

Some of my proudest achievements are those little moments.

For example, Julie Czernada, a Canadian science fiction writer, was editing a series for a publisher that did academic books, and it was meant to be science fiction stories based on Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5 Ontario science curriculum.

In those grades they learn certain science concepts, and she wanted stories that went with them so the teacher could use the stories to introduce the concepts. I wrote a story called Looking Through 11

Glass, which introduced the concept of refraction, and how when light passes through a different medium it can slow down and it can change. I wrote about a glass that slowed the light down so much but kept it consistent so that you could look into the past for a few minutes. This story was a mystery about a thief and the characters ended up using this glass to catch the thief.

The proud moment was when I got a letter via the publisher that came from a teacher about a student in her class who was a reluctant reader – a little boy who had never finished reading a short story. He just was never interested enough. Not only was my story the first story he ever finished reading, but he was so inspired that he sat down and he wrote a three-page sequel to the story. The teacher sent this note saying, “He’s now a reader.”

And I thought, “Oh my God, it’s so cool that this kid was so inspired by one of my stories.” This was 25 years ago, so he’s probably in his thirties now, and whether or not he went on to read any of my other stuff doesn’t matter. To me, what matters, is that I helped turn this little guy into a reader,

and just think about the magnitude of worlds that are now available to him that were not available to him before. That is one of those crowning achievements of my career. And I know it may seem weird because it’s not a major literary award, but it’s life changing, right?

In my role as President of the Canadian Booksellers Association, I had the great honour to represent independent bookstores from across Canada and to speak on their behalf, to go to Ottawa and to fight for them, because I believe so strongly in what they’re doing for their communities across the country. I could say it was the great honour of handing Margaret Atwood a Lifetime Achievement Award. Or it was the great honour of handing an award to Alice Munro, and telling her how in my very first short story that received an honorable mention – a horror story – included a line that was inspired by one of her novels. I have had those great honours, but my biggest honour was being able to represent the independent bookseller because of the beautiful and powerful things that they do every single day in the communities across Canada.

That was a true honour.

because this was a guy who was really brilliant, had a good story that he wanted to share, and didn’t let anyone tell him he couldn’t do it.

Who have been some of your biggest inspirations as an author?

What kind of books did you enjoy growing up?

Stan Lee, the writer who created Spider-Man. I am continually inspired by the stories that he shared that I just kept reading. And I know a lot of them weren’t written by him, they were written by other writers over the years. But the kinds of characters that he started and created inspired me in numerous ways.

I’m also inspired by authors like Edo van Belkom, Michael Connelly, and Stephen King, obviously – you can’t write the kind of stuff that I write without being inspired by Stephen King. But also, Canadian storyteller John Robert Columbo, who was very much a mentor to me in my writing of true paranormal ghost stories. I’m constantly inspired by those writers who came before me, who mentored me, and who showed me some kindness. And then there’s Robert J. Sawyer, Sean Costello, and Terry Fallis as well.

Terry and I have an interesting relationship because he’s now a major Globe and Mail bestselling author with numerous books and a TV series based on one of his books, but I remember when I was a bookseller, and Terry published his very first book, and I was one of the first bookstores to carry it. Even though it was non-returnable, I decided I’m ordering a big stack of these because I’m going to and sell this book because I love it. It was so cool as a bookseller to see the success he went on to, because he was an author I believed in. Terry’s story inspires me

I was excited to see that you released, Yippee Ki-Yay, Motherf*cker!: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard, earlier this year. What inspired you to write this trivia book?

I mean, how many times have I watched the just the first movie? I’ve seen all of them, but the first movie is one I watch at least once, if not twice, every year. This last year was an exception because I probably watched it ten times. Just watching chunks and pieces of it, making notes and stuff like that. That book was pure passion. I did the Die Hard book because 2023 is the 35th anniversary of the first theatrical release of the movie.

Last year on the 35th anniversary of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, I did a similar thing (The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles). I created that book completely as a passion project. I nerded out and said, there may be ten people in the world like me that see this book cover and know where it’s from. It shocked me how well that book took off. And how it’s a book that people not only buy for themselves, but they buy for their friends. They carry it with them. They take selfies of themselves at airports with the book. It’s this amazing thing that blew my mind, because I thought there can’t be that many nerds like me, I’m just doing this because I’ve been wanting to do this for years and spent a lot of time pouring my heart and soul into it. It’s so satisfying because we pour our heart and soul into most of the stories that we work on. But when you pour your heart and soul into something, and more than just a handful of 12

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT part. I’ve written books without even knowing it, like when Joanna Penn and I wrote The Relaxed Author. It was sparked from a conversation on her podcast. We made a joke about something and a few of her listeners messaged her and said, “Oh my God, if you guys wrote that book, I’d buy it.”

And then we said to each other, “You know, maybe the world needs this book.” And so, neither one of us had planned it, and then six months later that book was out. It was an easier one to write because our first draft was six hours of conversation that we transcribed and then edited it from there.

What advice would you give to independent authors that are planning their first book, or have a completed a book and are trying to figure out the right avenue to move forward?

There’s no one right way of doing anything. You’re going to hear tons of advice from myself and from other people. And you have to take every little bit of advice and adapt it into something that fits your own dream, your own needs, your own desires. There are multiple paths, and you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to fall on your face, and you’re going to get rejected, whether you’re rejected from a traditional publisher or your book is rejected because nobody is buying it. The key thing is to never give up. And to remember that patience, practice, and persistence are three of the pillars of publishing success.

Don’t give up on yourself. There is somebody out there who probably is going to benefit from discovering your stories, and if you give up on that, if you give up on the dream, if you give up on yourself, you’re also letting someone down in the future that doesn’t get the benefit of seeing your work. I know it’s a hard thing to hang on to when you keep getting slapped in the face. It is really hard, especially as creative people and writers.

We feel like we’re on our own, and we have this tremendous, insurmountable challenge before us like pushing a boulder uphill. But every once in a while, you get those moments, those windows into the fact that something you created made a positive difference for someone else out in the world.

And that little bit of magic, wherever it comes, is so special and so important. And hopefully, you get those glimmers here and there. Relish those moments when they happen, because they truly make all of the blood, all of the sweat, and all of the tears, so worth it in the end.

people find it and love it, and talk about it, and they tell their friends, that’s just an incredible experience that I wish upon every writer.

Can you share a little about some of your own written works that you’re currently working on?

The challenge is there are so many!

The more immediate projects are Only Monsters in the Building, which will be book seven in my Canadian Werewolf series. I’m really excited about that one. That’s going to be a fun one because it’s going to return to some of the more humorous elements of the Canadian Werewolf series that a lot of people really enjoyed, particularly in the first few books.

I’ve also decided to continue to write trivia books based on movies that I adore. So, I’ve got a trivia guide to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is going to be called Merry Christmas, The Shitter Was Full. Because if you’re a fan of the movie, you know that scene well. I have four or five other trivia books that are on the list to work on next because they’re pure passion projects.

This coming year is the 20th anniversary of One Hand Screaming, my very first self-published book. I am going to be doing a 20th anniversary edition. I’m going to be adding previously unseen stories to give it some new stuff. I’m going to do some really special things with it on Kickstarter as well, because there’s going to be a beautiful, embossed edition. I thought, why not celebrate the fact that I was a pioneer in this industry?

And then there’s the other projects on the backburners – my backburners got to have like ten or twelve elements on that stove, and that’s the fun

To check out a list of Mark Leslie Lefebvre’s written works, or to contact him for consulting advice, visit: www.markleslie.ca.

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By Brian Cliffen book endorsement (or ‘book blurb’) is a seal of approval. It distills the thoughts and feelings of an important reader into a brief (under 100 words) but powerful promotional tool. When provided by a reputable source, it can lend credibility to you as an author and be an effective way for readers to quickly assess if a book is right for them. Sometimes, it’s the eloquent little endorsement on a book cover or author website that finally convinces a potential reader to buy.

If that all sounds like music to your book marketing ears, you might be wondering how to start earning powerful book endorsements of your own.

To help encourage readers to pick up your (and your fellow authors’) books, we’ve outlined how you can solicit your own catchy quotes and write a persuasive endorsement of your own when it’s time to pay it forward.

How to acquire book endorsements If you’re a new author, you might feel like a small fish in a big pond. How can someone just starting out secure a meaningful endorsement that 14

might move the needle?

Thankfully, with adequate preparation and diligence, you can find that glowing quote you envisioned for the front cover of your book (and then some).

Make a list of potential endorsers Before you start blasting out some rapid-fire bullet points about who to contact, think about your target audience. An endorsement is used to appeal to your readers, so you need to speak to them in their language.

That means approaching someone who is known to your target audience (or a reliable source regarding your topic) that readers can, in turn, associate with you. This can take the form of another author, a subject matter expert, or a respected media outlet.

You want to make sure the endorsement offers relevant social proof to potential readers. When it comes to individuals, not just any popular figure will bolster your credibility or build excitement about your book.

For instance, you likely wouldn’t ask an architect to discuss the value of your psychology text (unless there is

BOOK PROMOTION How to give a book endorsement If you’ve been asked to write an endorsement for another author, congratulations! This doesn’t just mean you’re someone willing to convey praise and able to do so in a snappy quote; it means that your name and credentials might actually hold weight in a reader’s buying decision.

This is an important marketing assignment for the person enlisting your help and a chance for you to establish added credibility in your genre/field, so you want to ensure you’ve written an engaging endorsement that builds curiosity and helps the author sell their title. Before you write anything, ask the author to send any existing endorsements for the book (if possible) so you can highlight a unique angle about the reading experience. Then reflect on the most impactful moments, the reasons why they’re so powerful, and start writing down a page of all your feelings that can then be abbreviated into a few concise sentences. As you refine your words, consider these few bits of writing advice for an effective endorsement:

some sort of architectural angle involved).

People need to trust the endorser knows what they’re talking about.

Know who not to ask It should be noted that you shouldn’t be giving out books to regular readers for the purposes of writing endorsements. Endorsements should be reserved for those with credentials and status (as established above). If you share endorsements from just anyone, it can even harm the credibility of your author brand.

Likewise, asking family and friends to write you a blurb is not a good idea. A reader is looking for endorsements from someone they can trust, and a person in the author’s immediate circle isn’t going to cut it. You should also be wary of asking friends and family to review your book — in fact, some retailers like Amazon explicitly discourage the practice.

Instead, put your efforts toward turning new readers into reviewers.

How to ask for the endorsement Once you’ve accumulated a solid list of potential endorsers, it’s time to reach out. An endorsement is a meaningful and potentially time consuming task for someone to undertake, so you want to focus on them and make the process as easy as possible.

Here are some tips to help you in this initial communication:

Open with a compelling line Like any piece of writing, your endorsement should have a compelling opening line that immediately resonates with the interests of target readers. While the positioning of this line might not matter when it’s excerpted for something like the author’s book cover, there are many other scenarios where your blurb is used in longer or full form (like an author website or retail listing). Be wary when crafting this particularly attention-grabbing line that it is not over the top to the point where people dismiss it for sounding too good to be true, paid, or insincere. You should focus on making it a pithy but realistic impression of the book.

This endorsement of FriesenPress author A-M Mawhiney’s Spindrifts is a great example that sets the stage for the positive, meaningful story that resides in its realistic future setting:

• Craft a professional email that is both somewhat standardized for ease of replicability and personalized to convey that you’re not just sending a message to anyone.

• Demonstrate how your book connects to the endorser’s own work. Also, explain why their endorsement matters to you and your readers.

• Give them plenty of advance notice and a timeline when you hope to get it for use in promotional materials and cover design.

• The email should include everything they’ll need to endorse your book: an overview of what the book is about, a couple chapters that showcase the book’s strengths and mission, an image of the book cover, and anything else that might help an endorser recognize the appeal of your book.

“Spindrifts tackles the hard questions of our time while gracing the reader with real characters, complex family relationships, and a vivid and highly possible futuristic setting. Our own time of pandemics and climate change are projected into a future that is consistent and believable…”

— Anne M. Smith, author of A Canoer of Shorelines

In your responses, be sure to express your gratitude to those providing such a valuable blurb, let them know when the book will be published, and that they will be tagged on social media when the time comes. With a thoughtful, sincere, and strategic approach, you’ll start building positive endorsement momentum in no time.

Be specific If someone reading your endorsement doesn’t have any idea what it’s about – let alone whether they want to read the book – you’ll need to be more specific. Generalities and common phrases, although simple shortcuts to explain more complex ideas, make it feel more like you’re reciting these words 15

and filling in the blanks rather than giving an honest appraisal of the reading experience. Here’s an excerpt of an endorsement from one FriesenPress author to another, offering exciting and specific details that would entice any fantasy reader to consider P.L. Stuart’s The Last of the Atalanteans: “Epic narratives give rise to fabulous plotlines, devious characters and incredible worldbuilding that sets the scenes for fantastic battles. The incredible descriptions with such vivid details make you feel like you are right there in the heat of battle…”

— Sean R. Bell, author of The Secret of the Sword Demonstrate the author’s credentials Mentioning that a fiction book is an award-winning, international bestseller is important, but it’s especially crucial to provide relevant credentials for a nonfiction book.

As the worth of the nonfiction book often comes from its credibility, it is invaluable to have an influential person’s approval to reassure the target audience that the book will deliver on its promise.

Here’s an example of an endorsement that reinforces FriesenPress author Dr. Gordon Wallace’s authority on the subject of aging and mindfulness in his book

Moonlight Serenade: “Dr. Gordon Wallace has put together a combination of profound ideas and advice about aging, disarmingly simply described…He reveals an extraordinary level of insight into existential crises such as illness and grief. I benefited from reading this book, and I heartily recommend it to everyone approaching their later years.”

— Lionel Corbett, M.D., Jungian Analyst and Co-Editor of Jung and Aging: Possibilities and Potentials for the Second Half of Life Make comparisons to well-known titles Finally, an effective method to set expectations for a new book is by making comparisons to other titles and authors. Highlighting the similarities between a new author’s book and beloved established media can help attract fans seeking related titles and reassure them that there’s something familiar to be found in the pages. However, be mindful that the comparison is both appropriate and doesn’t make the author come across as too derivative.

Here’s a great example of comparison used in endorsement of FriesenPress author Hope West’s book The Once Upon A Time Of Now:

“…The spirit of Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia meets Indian mythology resulting in an unlikely fusion that showcases profound spiritual wisdom…”

— Tova Olsson, author of Yoga and Tantra - its history, philosophy and mythology The marketing potential of book endorsements is powerful and vast. You should now not only be able to write a compelling book endorsement, but be equipped to earn valuable blurbs for your own titles. Once you’ve got a well-crafted blurb of your very own, it’s time to put it to work.

A full endorsement will be around 50 to 100 words. Assess it for certain phrases that you can quote in their entirety or break down into manageable excerpts to suit various mediums such as: Amazon, marketing materials, your author website, and the book itself. By optimizing these purchasing touchpoints, you can better pique your potential readers’ attention and help sway their buying decision. Happy blurbing!

Brian Cliffen is the marketing manager for FriesenPress.

This article has been republished with permission from FriesenPress. For more tips on marketing and promotion, visit: www.friesenpress.com.

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ROMANCE WRITING

Tropes, Conflict, and Emotions: The Necessary Components of a Romance

By Renée Gendron 18

The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah Maclean, in which Sophie first sees Kingscote sneaking out of the window of a woman who is promised to another man. Sophie wants nothing to do with scoundrel men and embarks on her adventure. Kingscote thinks Sophie is trying to entrap him in marriage and wants nothing to do with her. At first, there is no interest in collaborating to help the other reach their non-romance goals. Around the first quarter mark, circumstances bring the characters together to work towards a common goal. They try to work alone but can’t reach their objectives and decide to team up around the halfway mark.

From the halfway mark to the third-quarter point, the characters collaborate until a dark moment, and their fledging romance and non-romance goals seem unachievable. There is an insight by both characters. They grow past their problems, come together as a couple, address the non-romance problem, and then turn their attention to resolving the conflict in the romance that was keeping them apart.

And voilà. A happy-for-now or a happily-ever-after ending.

Each trope has similar beats to follow. Good authors follow the beats. Great authors take beats and put a unique twist on them to keep readers engaged, plots fresh, and characters finding new ways to address problems.

Exceptional romances have strong, relatable characters in which conflict and personal development drive the plot. For a book to be considered a romance, it must have a happy-for-now (HFN) or a happily-ever-after (HEA) ending. In a romance, love conquers all fears, uplifts all hopes, and motivates all main characters to become better people so they can finally have their HFN or HEA ending.

Romance readers want to root for the main characters. They want to feel the characters’ hopes, fears, and disappointments. In my book Golden Hearts, Alberta—Bertie—Jepsen is suspected by many townsfolk of having murdered her husband. She has lived under suspicion for over a decade and is determined to find her husband’s killer. Vernon Marshall and his brother left Toronto because of a scandal about their father. Vernon is determined to resume his gold smithing business but was in a train hijacking and received a severe concussion. Throughout the book, Bertie and Vernon struggle to come to terms with their scandals and find true love.

Tropes In terms of dynamics, romances are tropeheavy. A trope is a plot device or arc easily recognisable by readers. Examples of tropes include someone who grew up in a rural area going to a big city to chase their dream. A variation of this trope is someone who grew up in a small town, went to the city, came home to visit and met the person of their dreams in the small town. Another example of a trope is high school sweethearts who break up and bump into one another twenty years later and get back together.

Tropes are the bread and butter of romances.

Readers have favourite genres, but they also have favourite tropes, even though readers know the story’s arc, the unique problems, challenges, and how the character will respond draw the reader. Some readers will read the same trope in different stories over and over again and never get tired of them. Lynsay Sands’ Highland Brides series and Paula Quinn’s Children of the Mist series are both historical romances involving at least one love interest, a Scottish highlander. The presence of a keep or castle is also prominent in each book.

Tropes provide the beats to the story or the key decisions a character needs to make to reach a satisfactory conclusion. For example, in an enemies-to-lovers romance, the characters will despise one another at first. A great example is

Conflict Romances are trope-heavy, and with tropes come character dynamics and conflict. Each love interest in a romance faces internal conflict and interpersonal conflict. A love interest cannot address the interpersonal conflict that keeps the lovers apart without having strong personal growth.

Personal growth is achieved by working towards a noble non-romance goal that leads to an insight or improvement of self-confidence or the acquisition of a new skill (or combination of all), and the love interest can approach their counterpart and forge a new balance in their romantic relationship.

For example, in my book The Officer’s Gamble, Manny must stop his ex from interfering with his relationship with Sylvie and convince Sylvie that he’s truly over his ex. For her part, Sylvie must reconcile the hurt she’s endured from previous relationships. In The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen, Lara must overcome the hatred and distrust of her husband’s people, and Aren must overcome Lara’s betrayal.

Internal and external conflict drives emotional growth, leading to insights, behaviour changes, and adaptation of strategies to reach each main

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character’s non-romance goals.

In a romance, the non-romance arc provides opportunities for insight into the romance arc. For example, the main character moved away from their hometown and vowed never to return. A character might move away because they seek a career only available in the big city, but once in the big city, they realise the career isn’t as fulfilling as they thought it would be or that big city life can be lonely. This return from big city trope is the character arc for Danielle Reid, the female lead in my upcoming book The Volunteer’s Suspicion (to be released in November 2023).

Another reason a main character might move from the big city to a small town is that a character’s surviving parent got sick and needs the main character’s help. This is the plot arch for Jonas Becker in my novella, Seven Points of Contact. Jonas’s father has cancer, and Jonas relocates from Toronto to Kingston to care for his father. Jonas’s father encourages Jonas to follow his lifelong dream. Jonas meets a woman who shares his love of sports, and they help one another achieve their non-romance goals, only

to realise they have romantic feelings.

Through interactions with the parents, neighbours, and each other, Jonas and Miranda gain new information, which shifts their perspective, allowing for personal growth. In the process, they have a different mental and heart space, allowing a romantic relationship to flourish.

Conflict drives growth, and growth drives the romance arc. Without conflict, there is no romance.

In A Thousand Pieces of You of the Firebird series by Claudia Gray, there is tremendous character growth on the part of Marguerite and Paul as they travel across dimensions to find the killer of Marguerite’s father. An inter-dimensional love triangle forces Marguerite to shift through her feelings, define the boundary between friend and lover, and the one who is constant to her throughout dimensions.

For a romance to be a romance, it must have a happy-for-now or a happily-ever-after conclusion.

This means after the trials and tribulations of the romance, they finally earn an ending in which they are in a romantic relationship. A happy-for-now relationship means the relationship is good enough

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for the characters to form a romantic couple. A happily-ever-after relationship is one in which there is no doubt or additional challenge that the romantic couple will remain happy for the rest of their lives.

satisfying ending on the status of the romantic relationship.

The reason people love romances is that they bring you along for a terrific emotional ride. What’s your favourite aspect of a romance?

Emotion Romances need a happy (or happy enough) ending.

The emotional payoff keeps readers engaged and rooting for the characters. Romance is sugarless, icingless cake without a happy for now or a happily-ever-after ending. And who wants that?

The most critical component of a romance is the emotional impact of the ending. The characters need to earn their personal and interpersonal growth and be active in reaching their romantic and non-romantic goals.

What makes a romance a romance? Fundamentally, the main love interests capture the reader’s attention and imagination to the point where the reader roots for the love interests to become a romantic couple even if the characters don’t realise it themselves. A great romance shows terrific character growth and leaves the reader with an emotionally

Renée Gendron is a multi-genre romance writer.

She is a regular contributor of https://ambreview.com, where she posts monthly stories. She has a newsletter in which she shares recipes, background research on her books, guest posts, promotions, sneak peeks of her upcoming releases, and surprises.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ReneeGendron Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReneeGendronauthor Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/ dashboard?ref=nav_profile_authordash BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/reneegendron. bsky.social

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WRITING COMPETITIONS CBC SHORT STORY PRIZE Deadline to submit: NOVEMBER 1, 2023 www.cbc.ca/books/literaryprizes WRITER’S DIGEST POETRY AWARDS Deadline to submit: NOVEMBER 1, 2023 www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions WRITER’S DIGEST SHORT SHORT STORY COMPETITION Deadline to submit: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions Next Generation Indie Book Awards Deadline to submit: February 14, 2024 www.indiebookawards.com Next Generation Story Awards Deadline to submit: February 28, 2024 https://storyawards.co Independent Publisher Book Awards Deadline to submit: March 16, 2024 www.ippyawards.com

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