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Jim Cox Report: April 2019

Dear Publisher Folk, Friends & Family:

The subject this month is 'Author Notes'.

Peter Blaisdell is a rather good author and a cyberspace friend of the Midwest Book Review. What follows is his information and examples on the subject of 'Author Notes' that I thought would be of interest and benefit to all aspiring authors:

Dear Jim, 

Last year, you were kind enough to call out a couple of my blog postings on the writing and publishing game from an indie writer's perspective. On the possibility that my latest posting might interest your readers, here it is (with dry humor intact):

The link to the posting is:

https://blaisdellliteraryenterprises.com/2019/03/04/using-authors-notes-to-pique-readers-interest

Regards, Peter



Using Author's Notes to Pique Readers' Interest and Promote Your Book

Author's notes are short passages deployed in both fiction and non-fiction books to add information that doesn't fit into the main text about the book's contents or to expound on the author's intent. Sometimes these notes show off how much research the writer did in creating the book. Readers, if they bother to check the notes at all, may (or may not) find them edifying.

However, I think author's notes are an under-recognized element in promoting the book's unique qualities and enticing readers to buy it. Using examples from my two novels,  The Lords of Powder (soon to drop), a mash-up of modern fantasy, adventure, and historical fiction, and  The Lords of Oblivion (published in 2017), a modern fantasy, I'll describe my own 'non-standard' author's notes.

We'll start with The Lords of Powder. First, why create an author's note at all? Isn't this usually boring claptrap? Or information that could have been included in the main text if it were so damned important? Good questions. Here are the reasons that I chose to include a note: 1) to further intrigue potential readers who'd seen the cover and the back jacket blurb, but hadn't quite determined to buy the book; 2) to explain aspects of the characters, setting and text thereby facilitating reader understanding and enjoyment of the work.

To render this discussion more concrete, let's look at The Lords of Powder's author's note(s):

A Note on Pharmacology - The effects of illicit drugs are occasionally exaggerated with regard to their speed of onset and duration of influence. This makes the characters' behavior more interesting.

A Note on Flying - This novel isn't an endorsement of flying C-47 planes without a copilot.

A Note on the Setting - Readers may notice that a few features of Miami circa 1978 and its cultural milieu have been altered to suit the story's needs. For example, '70s-era music cognoscenti will know that Visage's "Fade to Grey" wasn't released until 1980, though in this story it shows up in a DJ's club mix in the summer of 1978. The song worked in conveying the scene's tone.

A Note on the Text - Italics are used for passages of dialogue in Spanish and German (set off with quotation marks) and for characters' thoughts with no quotation marks. Dialogue is not italicized in a chapter where all the characters speak Arabic. Infrequently, italics are also used for emphasis. The context hopefully will make this clear.

For starters, unusually, there are, not one, but four author's notes and at least the first two are quite tongue in cheek.

Virtually every other novel has one note – or none at all – and these are written in a dry as dust style. My notes are admittedly a bit over the top reflecting the overall tone of the story.

The Lords of Powder's magician protagonist is occasionally high or coked up as are many of the Rabelaisian secondary characters, and I've sometimes exaggerated the drugs' effects on them for dramatic effect (the first note). The protagonist is also a drug smuggler and pilots planes transporting tons of marijuana around the Caribbean and south Florida.

He flies without a copilot to involve as few people as possible in his nefarious activities. Most responsible pilots, of course, would always have a copilot (the second note).

The third note addresses more prosaic aspects of the novel particularly its late 1970s Miami setting and indicates that I've taken some license in describing that milieu. In fact, I've done this by name checking an old synth-pop classic that might intrigue readers familiar with this musical genre.

The fourth note is where I've hewn most closely to a 'typical' author's note where the reader is coached on some mechanical aspect of the story or text, in this case, how italics are used to highlight when characters aren't speaking English or for a character's thoughts (they do a lot of thinking in my stories!).

So, in four notes, I've alluded to titillating features of the story and hopefully been entertaining in the process. For The Lords of Oblivion, I followed a more typical approach. A single note alerts the reader that I took a few liberties in describing the novel's San Francisco setting: Discerning readers of The Lords of Oblivion may notice, but hopefully will allow, my occasional lapses in describing the Bay Area's geography accurately…Perhaps the city and park planners would make the same alterations if given a story teller's license.

To give the author's notes prominence in both novels, I placed it in the front matter immediately following the copyright page and epigraph and before the main text.

While traditional publishing houses may have rules defining the purpose of author's notes and their positioning relative to the main text, as an indie author, I can arrange then in any way that I believe promotes the book and/or enhances the reader's experience once they've bought it.



Now here are reviews of new books with particular relevance and interest for authors and publishers:



The Writing/Publishing Shelf

Screenwriting
Jeanne Marie Ford
Cavendish Square
https://cavendishsq.com
9781502641472, $42.79, Library Binding, 96pp, www.amazon.com

"Screenwriting" by Jeanne Marie Ford is about the job of screenwriting and assures aspiring young screenwriters ages 12-17 that they can begin chasing their dreams while still in high school. With colorful photographs depicting experiences of screenwriters and others working in TV and film today, as well as firsthand accounts from those involved in the industry, "Screenwriting" deftly explores the skills needed and coursework recommended to help students wishing to enter the TV and film industry. Young readers will learn about the different types of scriptwriting, from Hollywood movies and TV to local news and video games. They will discover how the film- and TV-writing processes work, what types of jobs are available and what they entail, how to deal with inevitable setbacks, and how screenwriters' skill sets can be applied to other careers. While very highly recommended for highschool and community library Jobs/Careers collections in general, and the profession of Screenwriting for film and television specifically, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Screenwriting" is also available in a paperback edition (9781502641465, $19.99).



Finally, "The Midwest Book Review Postage Stamp Hall Of Fame & Appreciation" is a monthly roster of well-wishers and supporters. These are the generous folk who decided to say 'thank you' and 'support the cause' that is the Midwest Book Review by donating to our postage stamp fund this past month:

Kathy Brodsky
Paula A. Gendreau
Mohan Kambampati
Terry Ward -- "Jack Dawkins"
Karen Biehl -- "Starlight Dreams"
Steven Thomas Oney -- "Stalking Bulls"
Carolyn Austin -- "Prayers of My Mother"
Lisa Blecker -- "Sweet Neighbors Come in All Colors"
Kathy Brodsky -- "My Bent Tree / Mi Arbol Doblado"
Mercedes Franzone-Morales -- "Death, Resurrection and Life, States of a Soul"
Lee Ellis -- Fir Valley Press
T. M. Kemnitz -- Royal Fireworks Press
Chelshire Inc.
Create Write Now
Joseph Brient -- Commonwealth Publishing
Katherine Jagoe Massey -- Pearson Jagoe Publishing
Barbara C. Wall -- The Barrett Company
Elizabeth Waldman Frazier -- Waldmania!

In lieu of (or in addition to!) postage stamp donations, we also accept PayPal gifts of support to our postage stamp fund for what we try to accomplish in behalf of the small press community. Simply log onto your PayPal account and direct your kindness (in any amount and at your discretion) to the Midwest Book Review at:

SupportMBR [at] aol.com

(The @ is replaced by "[at]" in the above email address, in an attempt to avoid email-harvesting spambots.)

If you have postage stamps to donate, or if you have a book you'd like considered for review, then send those postage stamps (always appreciated, never required), or a published copy of that book (no galleys, uncorrected proofs, or Advance Reading Copies), accompanied by a cover letter and some form of publicity release to my attention at the address below.

All of the previous issues of the "Jim Cox Report" are archived on the Midwest Book Review website at www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/jimcox.htm. If you'd like to receive the "Jim Cox Report" directly (and for free), just send me an email asking to be signed up for it.

So until next time -- goodbye, good luck, and good reading!

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review
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http://www.midwestbookreview.com


James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
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Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com


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