I only want to add: http://thefensk.com
Tag: BookBloggers
Spoiler?
You will have to read it and decide for yourself.
A Curse That Bites Deep, coming Saturday, October 1.
More Info: http://thefensk.com
Weekendcoffeeshare-Video Tales
If we were having coffee I’m sure I’d eventually end up talking about the video. “Video? I thought you were a writer,” you might ask.
Then I’d explain that there is a lot of business to being a writer and videos are one of the newer things. “Oh, you mean like movie rights?” You might ask innocently.
No, not movie rights, that’s another thing entirely. Getting started in this business requires a lot of outside work that does not include writing. Some of it does, though, like this blog. Having a blog is part of a writer’s business, and thankfully, it includes writing.
I think every writer goes through this. One tends to see the dream of being published with a limited vision, like looking at the world through a paper towel tube. The concentration is on words and revision and editing. Once the contract is signed there is a new harsh reality to actually having a book published: you have to help market the danged thing. There is a LOT of competition from other writers, especially in the world of independent writers. A new author must master a number of different new skills, like blogging and tweeting to get the word out. Website design is another skill. Of course, if a writer has deep pockets, they can pay someone to do these things for them. The idea is to get yourself noticed ahead of all the others. Sadly, you are just one of many.
“But what about the video?” you’d ask, thankfully getting me back on track.
Video trailers are one of the latest things. I paid for my first one, one for my first book. I was really late in the game for that one. It’s not bad, a little funky. It was cheap. You get what you pay for. I was going to pay the same people for a new one. I had an idea and thought I’d work up something to more explain my idea. Decided to use Power Point to see if I could work out my idea. I’d never used it before. I’m fairly technical but I had never really had a reason to use it. Microsoft bundles it in with Office … so it was there.
It didn’t take too long for me to realize that I could actually use this. A book trailer is generally text based, so why not? What I wanted to do required specific timing … visual effects that were timed with a specific musical score. This presentation software had functions that facilitated that. It took some time, especially to fine tune the timings, but I managed to work it out. Then I found out it would even export a video file. That’s a little funky, and it messed up the timing a little but I anticipated some of the blips and re-edited and managed to work through them. I’m sure I could use some other video tools but I already had this and gave it a shot.
Is it perfect? Naw. Is it okay? I think so. It introduces the story and builds suspense and introduces the mystery. The music is raw and edgy but I think it fits the video nicely. Check it out here … tell me what you think.
Note: replaced link with newer version.
Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina. His latest novel, A Curse That Bites Deep will be published October 1 — presales of ebooks are available now. More info at http://thefensk.com
Great News!
My latest novel, A Curse That Bites Deep, will be published October 1!
My publisher, in association with most of the major eBook retailers, have decided to offer the a 25% discount on eBook pre-orders until the official release day. On the first of October it goes back to normal price.
That’s a crisp one dollar bill off, folks! It will reserve your copy and it will be available on release day.
This is a sequel to my debut novel, The Fever, and continues the story. Ah, but things take an evil turn in this one. People are dying, suspicions run high, and poor Sam seems to be in the thick of things.
More information and quick buy links can be found on my web page:http://www.thefensk.com
If you have already caught THE FEVER … you won’t want to miss this continuation.
If you haven’t caught THE FEVER … yet … well, there is still time!
WeekendCoffeeShare…How are YOU?
If we were having coffee today, since I don’t have much to talk about I think I’d just listen.Well, I do, but these little sessions all seem to be just about me so for once I would just shut the heck up and let you take the lead.
I’d want to hear about your woes and your joys and your concerns and your observations. I’d laugh at your jokes, and express sympathy for your sorrows.
No matter what craziness you seemed to have going on in your life, I’d nod and commiserate. I’d do my best to bite my tongue and not tell you how much worse my situation(s) have been.
We would hug or shake hands and part and you might feel just a bit better about getting it all off your chest for a change.
I’d still be carrying my burdens, but they’ll keep for another week, don’t you think?
Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina.
His latest novel, A Curse That Bites Deep, will be published October 1 … and the eBooks are currently available for a 25% pre-release disccount … Links and other information are available at www.thefensk.com
A Continuation …
The pre-release of my novel A Curse That Bites Deep is in full swing. Well, except for Amazon. All of the other major ebook retailers have their pre-buy links up and you can reserve your copy for a 25% discount. Links are available on the “buy” button on my web page: http://thefensk.com
Hopefully Amazon will get with the competition and activate it soon. Then I’ll be able to market the book in earnest.
The book is a sequel to The Fever and everybody is back. Well for a while, anyway. There is evil afoot and Sam seems to be at the center of it all. There are a few surprises and a few murders and a good mystery to be solved.
I’m looking for reviewers so if you review books and might be interested drop me a line …
There’s an email link on my web page as well as more information about both books and me. http://thefensk.com
WeekendCoffeeShare: The Find
If we were having coffee I’d have to tell you about the find. I mean, we all seem to spend half our lives trying to find something, either our glasses, the car keys, or the remote control. Sometimes it’s something we hung onto for six years and threw away as useless only last week. Sometimes, it is something we weren’t even looking for. Those are the best, especially when it is something significant or remarkable.
That’s what this conversation is about, something I found that was both significant and remarkable. And I wasn’t looking for it, either, but I’m glad I know where it is now.
What I found was the original note I wrote detailing the basic premise of my novel, The Fever. I remember the fact of writing it but here was the remarkable thing: I didn’t know I had dated it. I don’t date anything, but I did this time. It was written 30 years previously THAT SAME WEEK. I’d come across it from time to time but hadn’t seen it since long before I wrote the novel. The mere fact of writing it down pretty much committed the few facts I jotted down to memory, but the note itself had been floating around the house for quite a while. I hadn’t planned on writing anything that day in 1986. My wife and I had gone to San Antonio for a weekend getaway. She was several months pregnant and had decided to take a nap after some of our running around and I retired to the hotel bar to let her sleep for a short while. Bored, I asked for some stationery and wrote down a page of notes.
There wasn’t a lot of detail but at the heart of it was this: “Shift to flashback – ten years earlier. Scene: Jail holding tank (Austin?) Protagonist is incarcerated >> befriending grizzled old-timer who has been manhandled by police during arrest. He was punched in the throat and is coughing up blood. Our hero holds his head up and gives him water and talks to him but he is dying. At this point he is told certain details of the lost Franco mine in West Texas. They seem to be the muddled words of a dying wino but the hint of truth rings clear. The information seems to be a bit more than an empty legend. The man dies and the information is quietly filed away.”
The novel has all of that, although I later found a bit of Texas folklore to use as the goal — not sure how I concocted the “Franco” mine, but it was the idea I think. But the injured wino in jail, making his deathbed confession remained the catalyst of the story over all the years of speculation, writing, and revision.
The note ended up with: the hero beginning to … “research the legend. The information he was given jives with the legend — and then some. The fire burns in his breast now and he tries to find every and any shred of evidence he can. He studies historical records, oral histories, geologic maps, & topographic maps >> IF it exists — maybe he can find it.”
All remained central to the story. Even the “fire burns in his breast now’ … later naturally applied itself to the title: The Fever.
It’s ironic I find it right now too, I’d tell y ou … here, right on the cusp of the publication of the sequel to The Fever. I never envisioned an extension to the story, but now there is not only an extension, there is even a third book in the works.
All from my decision to take a short break in a bar in San Antonio Texas.
Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina. He is the author of The Fever and A Curse That Bites Deep (Due out October 1). More info: http://thefensk.com
Sunday Shoutout
Please forgive me this bit of self-promotion but I’m elated. Tome Tender Book Reviews just posted their review of THE FEVER and it is pretty awesome.
You can read the review HERE
Don’t forget, I just updated my Author Page on Facebook this week too. Go like it and let me know you’re out there >>>–>. Click Here For The Link
Tree of …wait, what?
If we were having coffee I guess at some point I’d mention the lollipop tree.
“What?”
Yes, that’s right, lollipop tree.
As we’ve seen with the previous post about the repurposed ballet pointe shoes, my darling bride is something of a crafter. We were recently invited to an event where she wanted to do something special. She’d seen this tree project somewhere and she wanted to do one. “Seems doable,” I naively said.
Okay, there were no instructions that she could find but it seemed to be a simple enough idea. A planter, a dowel, a styrofoam ball, a few lollipops … sure, I said, we can do that.
Of course, there were technical challenges to be overcome. Some were surprising. Like where the heck do you get lollipops? On the surface, it seems like a simple enough thing, but go browse the candy aisles. Most are inadequate (looped sticks) and then there is a question of the quantities. You need a LOT of lollipops. We settled on the one we could get in the most quantities, something called Dum-Dums … sort of a Tootsie-Roll Pop without the Tootsie. In fact, we originally considered using Tootsie-Roll Pops but the colors were less than desirable. At least the Dum-Dums were a sort of flowery pastel.
All of the technical challenges fell to me, your faithful coffee partner. I found a planter bucket that seemed sufficient. 8 1/2 inches wide with a mild taper. I chose Plaster-of-Paris for the medium. I cut a length of pvc pipe and inserted it into the globby mess with a dowel inserted and painstakingly tried to anchor it to keep it level. It was mostly level. Without a proper shop to work in, it was hard to get it 100% perfect. Drilled a hole in the 10 inch styrofoam ball and inserted the dowel. It looked pretty good.
Shortly after she started inserting the lollipops, darling bride decided the ball was going to be too big. I agreed. This required another trip to the craft store to go down a size. We probably could have gone down two sizes. The insertions were tedious but fairly easy, but I had to go back to get more pops TWICE. I estimate it took almost 600 lollipops. Most of the lower ones required a dab of hot glue to stay put.
It was top heavy. Despite a gallon of Plaster-of-Paris, it was still fairly unstable. Off to the store for a bigger container, big enough to contain the smaller container. Luckily, it being the end of gardening season, I got a pretty good deal on a large ceramic pot. I used a combination of plastic bags and tissue paper to stabilize it and we topped it with almost ten pounds of decorative rocks to both add weight and fill in the gap between old and new pot. The combination of these two made this thing quite heavy.
She finished it off with a wrapping of decorative ribbon around the “stem” and a wrapping of flowery garland around the base. One problem: while gluing the ribbon she accidentally glued the dowel to the pvc pipe. I had originally figured on pulling the top out for transport but it was tight in there so it had to travel assembled.
We almost got to the venue before it tipped on a turn. The tinkle of rocks spilling out of the planter was unnerving but I managed to pull over and get it upright again. Amazingly it survived the tip in great shape, just needed to scoop the rocks up.
I think it came out pretty good but I don’t think I’ll ever want to do one of these again … but we’ll see how long this lasts. It might make for for some emergency rations one day.
Find our more about author Thomas Fenske at TheFensk.com
Can’t Even Give It Away …
If we were having coffee today I’d admit I was a little depressed this week, because I’ve had a free promotion running all month and although it’s done okay, this promotion hasn’t been nearly as successful as I’d hoped.
“Free? How can you make any money doing that?”
The truth is, I don’t, but I hoped to get a lot more people interested in my first novel so they’d be ready for the publication of its sequel this fall.
“And you say you can’t even give it away?”
Well, a debut novel is often a hard sell. Nobody knows who I am, and it is sort of a mixed genre. People get stuck in romance, mystery, suspense and … well, it has elements of all those things but mostly it is just a good story about a man who’s obsession is his own worst enemy. Everybody who reads it loves it. There are twenty-two good reviews on Amazon. I thought for sure I’d get a lot of downloads when it was free.
“So, what’s the problem?”
I think it is because it is only free on one site … Smashwords.
“What the heck is Smashwords?”
They are a premier self-publishing platform used by hundreds of thousands of independent authors. A vast percentage of ebooks come from Smashwords these days.
“I thought you had a publisher.”
Oh, I do. But they also partner with small publishers like mine. Smashwords converts ebooks into ALL available formats and distributes as well, to the likes of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.
“Wow. So why is the free offer just available at Smashwords?”
They sell direct too; they have a safe online store of their own. Registration is free and they don’t spam or sell info. They are very sensitive to that problem. They are a good deal for authors, too, because the royalties are higher. You’ve heard of cutting out the middle man to increase profits? Well, in this case, they are the middle man.
They have a promotional period every now and then to spread the word about their own retail offers, and I decided to participate this time. I think people are a little timid to participate because they’ve never heard of it.
It’s too bad, too, because there are thousands of free ebooks available at Smashwords this month, not just mine. I just hoped people would take advantage of this great offer to give my book a chance. All they need to do is just register and use the code SFREE and download the book … for nothing!
“How do I do they download it?”
It depends on what the user has. In their FAQ they have instructions for all the major ereader platforms.
“What about the paperback?”
Well, the paperback isn’t free, but it’s available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Createspace.
“Well, this freebie sounds like a good deal.”
Free is always good … but the promotion only lasts until the end of the month. Time is running out.
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Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina. And it’s true, his debut novel, THE FEVER, is indeed free for the rest of the month at Smashwords. Links and more info about the book: http://www.thefensk.com
Scratching the Surface 
