I’m thrilled to announce my new position as Marketing Director for Entangled Publishing, a new boutique publishing house that puts authors first.  It’s novel concept and one I fully believe in.

As the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox: Promotion and Marketing Tools Every Writer Needs, co-founder of The Naked Hero and The Writer’s Guide to ePublishing, and, of course, a writer, I’m well-versed in all things marketing.  Our marketing department includes strategies to maximize exposure for every single book we publish, not just a select few.  That is one thing that truly makes us unique.  Our approach is personalized and focused, always remembering that writers need to write and readers need to read.  Bringing books to readers is our job and utmost goal.   I’m so excited to be part of such a noble and balanced endeavor.

We’ll be revealing our new website in August at Entangled Publishing.  Read on to learn more about this exciting new boutique publisher.

At Entangled Publishing, we believe authors who write great books should receive a majority of the profits. We also believe authors interested in the lucrative indie publishing model shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality editing, commercial covers, or the power of a New York-style marketing machine.

That’s where we come in. Founded by industry-savvy authors and backed by a successful media corporation, Entangled Publishing utilizes a bold new business model to bridge the gap between traditional and indie publishing, offering our authors the best of both worlds. We implement the agency model across all departments at Entangled, which means everyone from the copy editor to the marketing director has a stake in your book.

In other words, we don’t make money unless you make money. Lots of it.

Entangled offers its authors the following:

• High-quality covers
• Top-notch editing
• An in-house marketing machine with a dedicated promo budget
• Advertising that targets readers via organized blog tours, magazine ads, review sites, and book clubs
• Simultaneous electronic and print releases
• Royalties that begin at 40% of digital cover price and increase with sales

In return, we expect the following from our authors:

• Great stories with fresh voices
• A professional web presence
• Adherence to deadlines
• Participation in the blog tours, interviews, and contests we organize

I’m teaching a 6 month (or year option) course called Building a Mystery over at Savvy Authors.  It begins in just a few weeks, so if you’re interested in mystery writing, this is the course for you!

Here’s an example of curriculum from the course:

Have you heard of the hero’s journey? It’s at the core of the mythic structure. It basically goes like this:

1. Hero lives in the ORDINARY WORLD
2. CALL TO ADVENTURE
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL
4. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD (to some magical or new world, which is entering
5. the BELLY OF THE WHALE). At this point, there is no return.
6. TESTS AND ALLIES
7. ROAD OF TRIALS
8. ULTIMATE BOON (which is the achievement of the goal)
9. REFUSAL OF THE RETURN (not necessarily by choice)
10. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR
11. MASTER OF TWO WORLDS

The hero’s journey is a fairly typical story structure. With a mystery, however, the structure is slightly different.

1. The Victim’s ORDINARY WORLD is disrupted when he/she dies! Depending upon the POV of your mystery, the sleuth’s ORDINARY WORLD is also disrupted. Using the amateur sleuth or detective as our hero, he / she lives in their ORDINARY WORLD before the murder happens.
2. CALL TO ADVENTURE occurs when the murder is discovered.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL occurs when the amateur sleuth feels pulled to investigate, but doesn’t feel qualified or want to dive into the investigation. If the hero is a detective, the REFUSAL OF THE CALLoccurs when he/she doesn’t want the case, or, in the case of my first book, Living the Vida Lola, Lola fears she won’t be given the case. Often, the refusal of the call is not the decision of the hero.
4. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD in a mystery means the hero (sleuth) takes the case and/or becomes an active investigator. There’s no turning back because he/she (or loved ones) may well be in danger.
5. TESTS AND TRIALS…
6. AND THE ROAD OF TRIALS = LIES, DECEPTION, CLUES, RED HERRINGS, all laid out by the villain (the murderer)
7. ULTIMATE BOON…
8. Followed by the REFUSAL OF RETURN is the equivalent of the hero figuring out who dunnit. The problem is, either a red herring has led the sleuth astray, or the sleuth/hero is in danger at this point so may not be able to return with the knowledge.
9. The sleuth manages to get to the right answer (or defeat the killer), thereby RETURNING WITH THE ELIXIR, which, in a mystery, is justice.
10. Finally, the sleuth can return to his/her Ordinary World, but now he/she is the MASTER OF TWO WORLDS. He/she has solved a murder and will never be quite the same.

Melissa Bourbon Ramirez, A Call to Action Against Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes (pp. 72 – 75)

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