(COPIED FROM MUSEletter # 19, May 27, 2010)

Guerrilla Marketing: a way to showcase your business or product in unconventional methods that often times cost little-to-no money. 

The first time I heard this term was back in the early 1990′s when guerrilla marketing was linked to self publishing and Dan Poynter, the ‘maverick’ author who put ‘self’ on book publishing’s map. As much as traditional publishing wanted him to go away, (mostly by pretending not to notice him) he persisted. His take on the business leaned toward book publishers absconding with most of the profits earned by their indentured servants: authors. Traditional publishing’s take on self publishing tipped toward ‘from our reject piles, self published authors are born’.

But what about the less known/unknown among us? We’re using cyber tools, too; some better than others. Among the best at ‘thinking outside the conventional publishing box’ is Vicki Abelson, an author on the road introduced to me by Kimmie Dee, another author on the road. We could all learn a lot from Ms. Abelson’s creation of Women Who Write, the cyber & real time platform she built to launch her debut factional novel, Don’t Jump! 

One WWW meeting hooked me. Abelson seems to intrinsically understand that to get what she wants, publication, she needs to give something back. Women Who Write does just that. So inspired by Abelson’s platform building adventure, I chronicled her journey at More.com. A Salon For Women Writers (And Some Men)  is a ‘must read’ for authors interested in ‘outside the box’ strategies.  

 Guerrilla marketing is not just for mavericks anymore. 

PS. Any comments added to A Salon for Women Writers, (and Some Men) @ More.com strengthens my platform and is most appreciated. 

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To NEW MARKETINGtheMUSE subscribers: A complimentary video critique is offered to writers who submit query letters here or at marketingthemuse@gmail.com. Cut/paste into email–no files please! 

MtheM Quick Query Critique, click here  Video_53[1]

QUERY LETTER:

Dear Agent,
Attracting bad boys sounds romantic but when they’re demons, it’s just a good way to get killed. Sure, seventeen-year-old Aurora Lahey can psychically track a hellion’s location on earth but who would want to? It’s officially the crappiest superpower on the planet and she and the demons have been happy to ignore it…until now. Someone’s put a bounty on her head and now she’s running from a hellacious hit squad with fangs dripping to carve her carcass into confetti.

To survive she’s forced to turn to the mysterious Hex boys, six teenage hotties with supernatural fighting skills that prove they’re no mere mortals. Just one problem. They might be trying to assassinate her too. It could have something to do with the ancient demon hunting society they belong to that has its own ideas about Aurora’s future—or lack of one. And just when she thought the weird and wacky meter couldn’t crank any higher, Aurora discovers new abilities she can’t explain or control. 

Barreling down the rabbit hole of escalating danger and intrigue, Aurora unravels the twisted secret of her destiny—to save everyone she loves (not to mention the world) she’ll have to give up everything worth living for. But no biggie, because she needs the Hex Boys to pull this off, and chances are teaming up with these guys will kill her anyway.

I’m a student in the UCLA Writing Program and an active member of SCBWI. Because of my love and extensive reading of YA literature I also have a YA book review blog with over 700 followers at (includes URL).

Ribboned with romance and bursting with action, Demonic Attractions is a fast-paced 75,000 word YA urban fantasy. I’d be happy to send a partial or full manuscript upon request.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely

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To new MARKETINGtheMUSE subscribers: A complimentary video critique is offered to writers who submit query letters here or at marketingthemuse@gmail.com. Cut/paste into email–no files please.

Click here to watch my video critique of the enclosed query letter

THE LETTER:

Click here to watch video query letter critique of Amy’s Own, a novel watch?v=HbnDf-v23FI. 

24 April 2010 

Dear________: 

What constitutes love?  Is it possible to re-calibrate after a lifetime of accumulating baggage?   

My novel Amy’s Own (approx. 80,000 words) follows the provocative dynamics between 42-years-old Amy Harrington and her mother.   

Charlene, chronic partners with her gin on the rocks, bi-monthly dye job and mani-pedi, and deliciously uncensored commentary, has always been “Mother” not “Mom.”   

Amy’s childhood of bobbing and weaving like an alert boxer evolves into their pattern of verbal head-butting, chiseled and finely-tuned with age. Now, Amy must find a new path with her mother after her father unexpectedly dies, his affair is exposed and Amy’s discarded first love returns.   

But how can Amy deal with her own upended reality when Charlene’s setting her dead husband’s E-Z Boy and favorite beer cooler on fire in the driveway?  How is she going to make any headway when Charlene padlocks her house–from the inside?  

This is a story about how we can still feel bonds even with those who have neglected us.  It’s about finding one’s way, to meet in the middle or even take the extra step–and finally connect with those essential to one’s life. 

A complete manuscript of Amy’s Own is available upon request. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Sincerely,

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Dear Agent,
      I enjoyed your interview with (insert name) for the (whatever magazine or blog), and believe, from your comments, you will be interested in my 70,000+ word novel about prejudice, friendship, and courage―and how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of one family, two friends, and their community. 
     Fate Carries Its Own Clock takes place in Hadlee, Mississippi, a town no bigger than a flea turd on the map.  It’s the 1980s, and racism lingers, but Jason Lee Rainey’s friendship with a black boy named Samson never wavers, despite the bullying they endure from others. 
     Jason Lee never knew his daddy, but he does know he marched for civil rights, and he’s been told the man died a hero while fighting in Vietnam.  The boy worries he won’t ever measure up to that kind of person. 
     He lives with Mama, a woman of unwavering strength, and his Uncle Mooks, a man of simple wisdom due to a head injury.  Mama holds the family together until her suppressed grief develops into a melancholy she can’t shake, and has to seek help at a clinic. Her absence coincides with Jason Lee’s discovery of his daddy’s hand written journal from the ‘65 Selma-to-Montgomery march.  It enlightens him and Samson about the true power of the civil rights movement, and incites them to want more than a life in Hadlee―to become men who make a difference.  It’s also when he finds out the real truth about his fathers death.
     In Fate Carries Its Own Clock, Jason Lee learns the lessons of inequality; flourishes with the bond of friendship; finds the courage to stand up to his uncle for what he believes is right; endures the senseless death of his best friend; and is always true to himself.  It’s 1984, the year he turns fifteen, and truly becomes his father’s son. 
     I wrote this novel as a work of literary fiction, in the vein of Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees.  It has been suggested it could also crossover into the YA category due to the age of my protagonist.  I’ll leave that decision to the experts. 
     I’ve been honing my writing skills for ten years now, mostly on short stories, until Fate insisted on becoming a novel.  I just received word it is a finalist in the San Diego Book Awards, unpublished novel category.  The winner will be announced in early June.  I have been a two time finalist for Glimmer Train short story contests, took home Best Unpublished Short Story and a finalist honor at the San Diego Book Awards in past years, and won four Excellence In Writing awards from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.  My first published story appeared in “Art Times.”
     I have included the first few pages below.  If you would like to see more of Fate Carries Its Own Clock, please let me know.  I look forward to hearing from you.
    Sincerely.

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