Jacqui Murray

Just a note to my wonderful community here that I’ve published a new nonfiction tech-in-ed book for educators called 169 Real-World Ways to Put Tech Into Your Class Now. It’s an overview of the most important tech-in-ed topics with practical strategies to address common tech problems. Each tip is less than a page — many only a third of a page. The goal: Give teachers the tech they need without a long learning curve.

Topics include iPads, Chromebooks, assessment, differentiation, social media, security, writing, and more.

OK, I see all the hands. You want a preview. Here are the top three solutions to any tech problem you encounter, whether you’re a teacher or a writer:

… reboot, restart …

… close, reopen …

Google it!

I’d love to hear your most pressing tech problems. I may include it in the next edition!

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This week, my wonderful efriends here in the blogosphere are helping me get the word out about my second novel, Twenty-four Days. I’ll be visiting their blogs to chat about the book, the process, and anything else on their minds. Some of the questions we’ll cover:

1. Can science make a warship invisible? 
2. Exactly how cool is Otto, the AI? 
3. What is an ‘AI’?
4. What pick-up line does the story’s geek,  Eitan Sun, use to attract his first wife? 
5. Are there drones in this book? 
6. Is the submarine’s invisibility shield like the cloak in Harry Potter? 
7. Do you have to read the prequel, To Hunt a Sub, to understand this book?
8. How does Otto find submarines anywhere in the world? 
9. Is this a romantic thriller? 
10. Is the tech included in the book really possible? 
11. When is Book 3 in the Rowe-Delamagente series out?

Here’s the schedule of who’ll I’ll visit. I haven’t included the question–you’ll just have to drop in to see the answer:

Please join me whenever you can. I’d love to see you.

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I’m finally ready to publish the next in the Rowe-Delamagente series, Twenty-four Days:

A former SEAL, a brilliant scientist, a love-besotted nerd, and a quirky AI have twenty-four days to stop a terrorist attack. The problems: They don’t know what it is, where it is, or who’s involved.

I have a cover:

…a good Kirkus review:

A blistering pace is set from the beginning: dates open each new chapter/section, generating a countdown that intensifies the title’s time limit. Murray skillfully bounces from scene to scene, handling numerous characters, from hijackers to MI6 special agent Haster. … A steady tempo and indelible menace form a stirring nautical tale

…a review from a valued reader:

“This is great!” — from my sister

…a second-level blurb

A female Naval officer assigned to the cruiser, USS Bunker Hill, is deployed to protect the US and its allies from a nuclear threat spearheaded by North Korea. Before she finishes, America will become embroiled in a dramatic naval battle, a hunt for two hijacked submarines, and preparation to defend against space-based weapons.  

And someone unexpected will fall in love. 

…successful upload to Amazon Kindle.

…ten questions potential readers want to know about my book:

…and a modest amount of courage, but I need your help. As a self-pubbed Indie author, ‘how we roll’ is by spreading the news via word of mouth. I’m looking for bloggers who will help me by participating in a blog hop to celebrate the launch of my new book:

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I’m in! This year, for the first time, I’ll participate in the much-applauded, highly-acclaimed writer’s blog hop called A to Z Challenge.

My theme:

A to Z: Literary Genres

…a genre for every letter of the alphabet. I’ll include:

Definition

Writing tips

Popular books in the genre

I skipped the genre tips I did in the past. Many of these were new to me (like Kitchen Sink–who knew?) and I’m amazed how much I learned researching for this blog hop. Here are the genres I will cover in April:
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A few weeks ago, I attended the San Diego Writers Conference, sponsored annually by San Diego State University. It was my second time at this event (here are my takeaways from last year’s event) so I knew it would be cerebral, well-worth the time and money, leave me motivated to get back into the trenches with my keyboard and red pencil, and introduce me to lots of like-minded writerly folks. Keynote speakers included Jonathan Maberry, R.L. Stine, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and J.A. Jance. I can’t believe how entertaining these folks were while imparting some amazing nuggets that I will likely never forget.

Here are my top 44 takeaways:

• Jonathan Maberry writes 4000 words a day, five days a week.  Here are a few tips from him:
  • He doesn’t believe in writer’s block. It usually means you’re facing a challenge.
  • He writes in a bunch of genres. Doesn’t see any problem with that and wants to try them all.
• Audio books in 2015 were worth $1.7 billion.
• Use social media to encourage efriends.
• Focus on just a few social media platforms. Pick the ones that work best for you (I heard this from multiple people).
• Champion and promote other people’s stuff.
• Bob Mayer says end matter (the stuff you put after the end of your story) can only be 5% of the book. More from Bob Mayer:
  • Half million titles were uploaded to Kindle in 2016.
  • Self-pub authors make more than traditionally pubbed authors.
  • Don’t be an a**hole! Be polite, helpful, and convivial to online friends and acquaintances (I heard this from at least three presenters).
  • Have a good reason to break a rule.
• Tips from JLStine (the author of the Goosebumps series):
  • There’s no good answer to the question ‘where do you get your ideas’. Start with a title and let it lead you to an idea.
  • If you get bogged down in the story and can’t get to the ending, start with the ending.
  • Always say yes to every opportunity (having to do with marketing your books).
  • He outlines his books first. He thinks that allows him to write more books.
  • He does no research for his books. He makes everything up.
  • Twitter is a great way to stay in touch with readers.
  • Social media provides good marketing tools.
• Justin Sloan’s tips (this guy writes multiple books a year–he was amazing):
  • It takes a really long time to get traditionally published.
  • Your goals will help you decide which way to go. Traditional is better for winning awards. Self-pub better for quick publishing.
  • Bookbub is the gold standard for promoting your book.
  • What you get out of traditional publisher is heavily dependent upon the agent you have.
  • The average self-pubbed author sells six books a year.
  • What are called ‘Whale readers’ read several books a day.
  • Offer your first book free to get readers to buy the next.
  • Use Instafreebie to promote your book. You’ll get everyone’s email address when they sign up for your free book.
  • Add an offer at the end of your book, such as a free story if they subscribe to your newsletter.
• Have a thirty-second elevator pitch. That’s five to eight sentences. Include who you are, what your book is about, what you want people to do about your book.
• Have ten questions about your book that you are prepared to answer.
• Have a short and long bio.
• Develop three to five pitches.
• Be quotable. Have quick blurbs that listeners find quotable.
• Give your media appearance a second life on social media.
• You must become a performer once your book is written.
• A book trailer is 90 seconds and could be as simple as you answering the ten questions.
• Tips from Penny Sansevieri:
  • 95% of book sales are from personal recommendation.
  • Number one thing readers want to do when they finish a book is to engage with the audience.
  • Photofunia.com–add effects to pictures to make your marketing pop
  • Befunky.com–more photo editing tools for your marketing efforts.
  • You need seven touches to sell a customer.
  • You can sell on Pinterest now.

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I’m getting close to launching my latest WIP, Twenty-four Days:

A former SEAL, a brilliant scientist, a love-besotted nerd, and a quirky AI have twenty-four days to stop a terrorist attack. The problems: They don’t know what it is, where it is, or who’s involved.

If you read To Hunt a Sub and loved the AI Otto, you’ll be pleased to know that Otto gets not only a voice but a body. Also: Eitan falls in love, the only bad thing that happens to Sandy (the Labrador) is he gets locked in a closet, and another fearless woman is tasked with saving the world.

Twenty-four Days was briefly represented by a wonderful agent who put an awful lot of work into editing and rewriting, making the story tighter and more exciting than when he first became involved. Ultimately, we parted ways, but I’ll always appreciate the time and effort he expended on me.

With a planned publication date of May-June, here’s how I’m doing.

• I’ve completed substantive changes like checking timelines, plot points, and character development (thanks to my wonderful former agent).
• I’m self-editing using Grammarly and Autocrit, in preparation for submittal to my editor. This includes spelling, grammar, word use, adverbs, dialogue tags, and more.
• My cover folks are working on a spectacular cover, with an expected completion date in February (the cover on this blog page is simply a place-saver).
• I’m having banners, logos, and that sort of marketing created, to be used as needed.
• I’m getting pre-reviews that will inspire readers to purchase.
• When the book is complete, I’ll submit it to Kindle Scout. Lucky winners there get free publication!
• I’ll have a blog hop to officially release the book to the world in May/June. Want to help each other? I’d be happy to trade honest reviews when you promote your book.

If you have any steps that help you get your book out, please share in the comments. I just know I’m missing something.

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There are two parts to this post:

• my top ten favorite books I read in 2016
• your (as reader) top ten favorite book reviews I wrote in 2016

My Top Ten Favorite Books

I read 198 books according to Goodreads–blasting through my goal of 162 books.

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My current WIP, Lucy, is complicated. It delves into the life of earliest man with all of its threats and dangers, as well as the inventions of those big brain ideas that changed the world (like stone tools and fire). I’ve read everything available on the topic from my local libraries and online. The big resource I hadn’t  yet plumbed was the US Library of Congress. It is the largest library in the world, with more than 162 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 38 million books and other print materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, and 70 million manuscripts.  It’s had only 13 Librarians of Congress, the current one in that position for almost thirty years. In my case, I sought answers to questions like how did man discover music. How did s/he first organize a system of law? Who was the first person who thought, “I have free time not required to hunt and sleep. I think I’ll draw a picture.”

This is the sort of stuff that keeps me awake at night.

Many of the books are not digitized and none of them can be checked out (by non-Congressional folk) so in my recent trip to visit my daughter in DC, I spent a glorious day researching in this amazing building. You can tour the library as a visitor (which I did on a previous trip) but to use the books requires a library card. They’re easy to get, though you must go to a hidden room down a long hallway in a completely separate building. Once I found the right door, it took only about ten minutes to take my picture, input my data, and print the card.

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Marketing To Hunt a Sub, my debut novel, is a whole lot different from my non-fiction pieces. In those, I could rely on my background, my expertise in the subject, and my network of professional friends to spread the word and sell my books. Fiction–not so much. For one thing, I don’t have prior fiction novels to buttress my reputation. So I did what I have always done when preparing for the unknown: I researched. I read everything I could find on how to market a novel, collected ideas, made my plan, and jumped in without a backward glance (see two of the books I devoured here).

Well, now that much of the marketing is done, there are a few pieces I wish I’d done differently:

• I participated in the Kindle Scout to mentally kick-off my campaign. That took longer than I expected which set me back a few weeks.
• Uploading my manuscript to Kindle was easy, but took more preparation than I’d planned. The preparation was along the line of ‘tedious’, not ‘complicated’. No brainpower required; just time.
• Many fellow bloggers offered to help with my blog hop, and I wish I’d kept better track of that aspect. I did have a spreadsheet, but I didn’t include enough detail.
• I wish I’d included interview questions in the blog hop articles. Several bloggers I follow did this, but I skipped it to save time. I wish I hadn’t.
• I should have used Facebook and Twitter more. Here’s what Stephanie Faris, efriend and published author of the Piper Morgan series, says this about a Facebook account:

Facebook is where you’ll find your friends and relatives. You’ll also find your fourth-grade teacher, your kindergarten best friend, and pretty much everyone who has ever mattered in your life. These are the people who are most likely to buy your book and tell everyone they meet about it. All you have to do is post a picture of your book and your real supporters will ask where they can get a copy.

Stephanie actually suggests the same sort of approach for Twitter. I have a Twitter account, but I forgot to use it enough!

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