Yippee ki-yah ki-yah ki-yo! My new novel is done. Finito. Fini. Das Ende. The End. All that remains is the editing and choosing a final title. Plus, of course, a publisher.
These days, a lot of authors create titles that include keywords, so their books will come up when readers enter the words in Google searches. That’s because an enormous number of books are available on Amazon, and a particular author’s book gets buried in the pile. Kindle alone has 6.25 million. Paperbacks total 34.76 million, and hardbacks number 14.61 million. Many, if not most, titles are in both Kindle and paperback formats, and some are available in hardback, as well. Amazon does not provide the total number of titles. But you get the idea. A reader doesn’t know that an author’s title is there unless hesh directs herm (my gender-neutral pronouns) to it.
Which is exactly what your humble scribe is going to do. My current novel, MURDER IN PALM BEACH: The Homicide That Never Died, has several good keywords in the title, even though I didn’t choose them for their keyword function: Murder, Palm Beach, Homicide. But you don’t have to do all of that
Googling.
With Christmas right around the corner, authordom is caught up in the spirit of giving. A slew of us are doing a giveaway of our ebooks, and you can get them with a click of the mouse.
If you think you might like an intriguing mystery novel, or two, or three, or a bunch, I have a nice selection for you to choose from – and believe or not, mine is included. All of them are FREE!!! They’re yours just by clicking on this link: https://www.instafreebie.com/gg/6O3rsy2b6y7OjaRwYFeg . Just so you know, this giveaway disappears after December 6.
Another day, another novel
My new novel (at this stage, just a manuscript) has the working title of Hiram Garbuncle. That’s the name of the main character, just as Paris Trout was the main character’s name in Paris Trout, a National Book Award winner authored by Pete Dexter, who left the Palm Beach Post 1½ years before I arrived, back in ancient times. That novel was a great character study, and so is mine – well, maybe without the “great.”
When Paris Trout was written, the internet was just getting underway, and Amazon was just a twinkle in Jeff Bezos’ eye. The publishing world was very different from today, when everybody and his – excuse me, hiser – uncle wants to write a book because of the ease of self-publishing. Dexter didn’t need to come up with keywords in his book’s title for it to gain attention (the big award didn’t hurt, either).
But keywords are necessary in today’s publishing milieu. Hiram Garbuncle isn’t going to come up a lot in keyword searches, so I have my work cut out for me in creating a title that will have good keywords but also reflect a mystery loaded with suspense and intrigue, tempered with ample humor and a moving love story.
Stay tuned. And don’t forget to download the FREE book(s).
