Why You Should Write a Prequel for Your Novel

Happy Monday, friends! Today we're going to talk about why you should write a prequel for your novel and how to use it as a marketing tool. If you've been keeping up, you know I just published a novel called These Are the Moments and have been serializing a prequel called Those Were the Days. How has this helped promote my book? How can you benefit from this?

First things first, what is a prequel? It's a work of fiction that comes before a later work, plain and simple. The term "prequel" is fairly broad, with no specific length.  You can publish one or multiple prequels for your book. James Dashner published a full-length prequel for his hit Maze Runner series, while J.K. Rowling wrote a prequel to the Harry Potter series, a mere 800 words long!

If you want to create buzz for your forthcoming novel, consider releasing a prequel. Here are a few tips:

Prequels Create Reader Interest

If you want readers to connect to your story, bring them in from the beginning. When I decided to serialize Those Were the Days online, I hoped it would allow readers to experience my writing style and characters before the book was even available. And guess what? It worked!

Let's break down some key components to hooking your readers with a prequel:

1. Backstory. Backstory gives readers a way of connecting with your story before they even get to the actual story. It answers the "why" questions that readers may have, and let's them engage with your characters from the ground floor.

2. Character Development. In Those Were the Days, we meet Wendy Lake and her sister Claudia. It sets the stage for their strained relationship, and foreshadows events that occur in the novel. Why is this important? Readers want to know your characters and learn how they get from Point A to Point B.

3. A Clean Tie-In to Your Novel. If you write a prequel, make sure it directs readers toward your novel. You want to leave readers wanting more from your characters and your story. How do you do this? Write a cliffhanger ending.

Prequels Create Marketing Opportunities

As a first time novelist, I experimented in creating awareness for my book and my brand. When in doubt, give people free stuff. I decided to write a prequel on my blog and on Wattpad, hoping to build awareness for my soon-to-be-released novel.

Here are some plans that to implement:

1. Release Your Prequel for Free. I know. The copyright thing is scary. But if you feel comfortable with this, releasing your work for free allows readers to get a sense of who you are. Plus, they'll know that you care enough to give them free stuff!

2. Edit Your Content and Release It For Sale. While you can access my prequel online, I plan to edit and add to it. From there, I'll post it on Kindle for a (minimal) price and promote the new and improved version.

3. Bundle Prequels with Novels for a Special Price. Bundling is a new big thing in the self-publishing world. Writers have been teaming up to release bundled ebooks as a way to cross-pollinate their audiences. Read more about bundling here.

Prequels Create Writing Opportunities

If you've written a novel, you know that many scenes don't make it into the final cut of the novel. If you're like me, you hate to waste words. Why not wrap these bonus scenes up into a prequel? This allows you to save time as well as create awareness.

Discussion Time: Would you write a prequel for your novel? What obstacles do you anticipate in the process?

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How Traveling Impacts Your Writing with Colin Ashby

Welcome to #FriendFriday, an interview-style guest post series every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. Want to be the next interviewee? Send me an email!

Good morning, friends! Today we're here with Colin Ashby, traveling writer, blogger and Twitter friend. I'm so happy to have him here to talk to you about his writing journey.

Thank you, Colin!

Here's your intro question. Tell me about yourself in less than 70 words.

Anything Parks and Recreation is great in my mind. I have a little piece of the Internet over at colinashby.org. In the years leading up to now I’ve done everything from starring in a theatre production as a lonely scientist, news reporting, media monitoring at a PR agency and more. Now I’ve settled into a day job while writing my novel Life Outside the Ramen on nights and weekends.

You're a blogger, writer, and adventurer. Tell us how you got started.

I was forced into blogging. Haha. In Fall 2013 I had a digital media class and the professor made it a class requirement for all the students to keep a Wordpress blog. At first I thought blogging was just something people did for fanfiction or personal reasons. Boy, was I wrong. Within a few months I had started to enjoy it and connected with other bloggers through Twitter.

All of the bloggers I interacted with through social media were so passionate about what they did. It was contagious! It helped me focus more on the goals I had.

Let's put you to the test. As a travel fan, what's the importance of travel on your writing?

Writing is all about the depth of characters. Traveling is something that forces you to interact with people from a different way of life.  It gives you experience to draw from than you may not have gotten from everyday life.

The novel I’m writing now centers on a weekly support group filled with people from different walks of life. So much was learned about the people I met while traveling.  While on a cruise ship to Mexico, I met a lady who was lawyer but hated it. Visiting San Francisco, the motel clerk named Maddie, was super upbeat and wanted to tell me about all the cool clubs to go to. Once, while crossing the street in Los Angeles, I met a girl who was from Australia and worked at Pandora.

Traveling exposed me to the different ambitions, daily lives, and struggles of people from all across the country. I’ve been putting the things I encountered into some of the characters in my writing.

If you could be the author of any novel in history, which novel would that be and why?

Er, this is tricky. You’re probably expecting me to say some classic novel, right? I’ll go on the opposite end with something different.

Mosquitoland by David Arnold is a novel I would have loved to be the author of. It’s a character driven road trip novel centering on a 16-year-old girl going to find her mother. (typical, right? So not!) The writing is so good. It’s quirky yet philosophical, coming of age yet not cliché.

There’s a lot of road trip and coming of age novels but Mosquitoland really feels like something you’ve never read before.

And finally, before we let you go, what's the best advice you've received and how did it get you here today?

This is a hard question! I’ve gotten a lot of great advice. It’s like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, haha. One piece of advice that resonated with me was something a professor from college told me. He said:

There’s something you need to know about adulthood. Things are bad and it don’t always get easier but you develop the confidence in yourself to realize it’s fine and you’ll be okay regardless of what life throws at you.

I love the quote and it perfectly sums up the uneasy nature of growing up and having a hard time adulting.

These Are the Moments Book Launch Party

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Okay, now that the world has stopped for just a moment or two, I can finally tell you about the amazing book launch party I had in my hometown. And also get a little sappy about how I'm a published author now . . . someone get me a soap box.

But first, I need to thank you. Yes, you. If you've read my book or bought it or posted a review, I'm so grateful to you. I'm unbelievably amazed by the power of this community and I can't thank you enough. *showers confetti on your head*

Okay, let's recap:

Book Launch Party

In Covington, Louisiana, which also happens to be the setting of These Are the Moments, a girl put on a red dress and her red lipstick. Hint: this is me. With 120 books in the backseat, my mother, sister and I drove off to the Southern Hotel which was kind enough to host us for the evening. There was wine. There were nerves. But most importantly, there were books that needed good homes.

As 5:30 neared, a couple walked out of the bar and stopped to look at my poster.

"What's this?" stranger man asked.

"Oh," I said, caught off guard. "This is a book. I wrote it." Eloquent, let me tell you.

He takes out his wallet. "You're local. So you're family."

I awkwardly hover over the table and sign my name. I sold a book. I watched him and his wife leave with my words tucked under his jacket. And I wanted to remember that feeling forever.

If I could put that night into words, I would need a whole book to do it. I signed over 91 books that night. I watched as my family and friends reveled over the cover, gently opening to see what I'd written to them inside. If there was one prominent feeling, one single and solitary emotion I can pinpoint, it was love. I'd never felt so much love and support in my entire life.

Thank you, Covington. Thank you for raising me. Thank you for loving me.

Book Launch Day

Aside from my friends and family, my Twitter tribe is amazing. In little over a year of blogging, I've made incredible friends that were excited right along with me, tweeting confetti emojis, and sending me pictures of their shipping notifications. (Shoutout to Brett from The Prodigal Sister.)

I couldn't really prepare myself for all of the friendship. Honestly, I'm a very lucky girl. And if you're reading this, know that I'm so thankful. I do not take a second for granted.

So if you're curious about sales, allow me to be straight-up with you. Here are my sales to date:

1. Book Launch Party: 91 copies sold. Additionally, I sold about 6 copies in-person post-party.
2. Ebooks through Kindle Direct Publishing: 25 ebooks sold.
3. Print copies through Createspace: 19 copies sold.

Not too shabby for less than a week of publication. If you'd like me to create sales reports for this blog to help you learn more about how I sell and the steps I take to sell more, please comment below. I'd be happy to provide income reports.

Praise for #TATM

It's one thing to write a book and sell it. It's another to have people actually like it. There has been so much love for this little book so far, and even though it's not your typical, happy-go-lucky romance, I think that makes it all the more special.

I'm not going to sit here and rave about my own book. But I do want to honor those who took the time to write a review. If I'm missing anyone, please comment with your review link below.

1. She's Novel Featured Lady. Thank you, Kristen, for the honor!
2. Huffington Post Summer Reading List: Romance for Real Girls. Katie Li, you are magnificent.
3. 125Pages. 4.2 stars from Laura Nagore.
4. A Time 2 Write Guest Post. Thanks to Abi for letting me host her blog for the day.
5. Books and Ladders Review. Wonderful to meet Jamie and so happy she enjoyed the story.
6. Write Like Rowling Review. Thanks to C.S.!
7. Better Novel Project. Christine is my girl. Go check out her amazing TATM fan art.
8. Writer's Edit. I'm so thankful to Writer's Edit for publishing my first short story. They're incredibly supportive and interviewed me for their blog!

Now, back to the notebooks. I've got a second book to write.

Ten Reasons You Will Love These Are the Moments

Keeping up with all the #TATM news? We're only a week away from the These Are the Moments release on May 26th! 

Happy #TATM week! I have so many fun things to share with you this week from a Goodreads giveaway to a Twitter chat tomorrow night—join me at 8:30/7:30c to talk #TATM trivia. This weekend, I sat in my bed holding my book and I had a thought: "This is just the start."

If you're a writer or a reader or a dreamer in general, I hope you know how possible your hopes are. I wanted to share with you a few personal tidbits of my story, and why I think this is a book you'll love. These Are the Moments is a story for everyone. (But mostly cool, awesome people like you.)

Just for a refresher, here's the book blurb again:

You can't go back. You can't go back. You can't go back.

Ten years ago, Wendy Lake fell in love with Simon Guidry, who grew up and went away. Now, not much has changed. She's back at home, back from college, almost back to normal. Until Wendy's best friend gets engaged, sending Simon ricocheting back into her life, and leaving Wendy with the questions she's been struggling to ignore.

Do people ever really change? Do two people, who can never make it work, actually make it right? And most importantly, does she even want to?

And now, ten reasons why you'll love this book:

You'll love #TATM if you love love stories

How many times can I say that in one sentence, huh? If you enjoy a good tear-jerking, life-affirming love story, then this is the book for you. It's part young adult, part new adult, and all parts emotion. As a reviewer put, "[Jenny Bravo] created characters that not only rooted for each other, but had the reader really rooting for them."

You'll love #TATM if you have a best friend

You know your best friend? The one who doesn't judge you for not wearing pants? These Are the Moments features best friend trio Wendy, Vivian and Reese, who ask serious questions like, Do you feel engaged? and I have to think about weddings now? Like plan and shit? Trust me. You're gonna love 'em.

You'll love #TATM if you're a twenty-something

If you're in that what-am-I-doing-with-my-life stage where you're somewhere between a full-time job and taking a mid-day nap, then yeah, you'll love this book. Wendy works a dead-end job, lives at home, and eats a lunch that her mom packs for her. Feeling good about yourself yet?

You'll love #TATM if you're a teenager

Since These Are the Moments is a book told in dual timelines, you get to see the awkward high school years, and it's pretty fun. Get excited for prom pictures, first dates and house parties. Also kitten heels. Remember those?

You'll love #TATM if you've had your heart broken

Okay, no spoilers. But let's just say someone in the novel breaks someone's heart at some point in time. Heavy stuff, my friends.

You'll love #TATM if you like Rainbow Rowell

This is probably one of the biggest compliments I've received. A friend wrote, "Her writing style made the book really easy and enjoyable to read, and reminded me of Rainbow Rowell or John Green."

You'll love #TATM if you have a sibling

If you've been keeping up with the prequel, you already know Claudia is Wendy's sister. Six years apart, they don't have much in common . . . until they do. Well, you'll see.

You'll love #TATM if you've ever been in love

First love. Can't-get-over love. Forever love. If you've ever felt an inkling of love-like feeling, These are the Moments is up your alley. There's Wendy and Simon, Claudia and Casey, and Owen and Vivian. In other words, something for everyone.

You'll love #TATM if you like weddings

If you're weepy over I do's, then break out the tissues for Owen and Vivian's beach wedding. Add in some drama, some champagne, and we have what I call a book finale.

You'll love #TATM if you like me

Maybe you're my Twitter friend. Maybe you're my best friend from college. Maybe you are just meeting me for the first time. (In which case, hello there, you look lovely.) If you like me or the way I write on this blog, I feel pretty confident in saying that you'll like my book. *Fingers crossed.*

Getting to Know Your Readers with Sara Letourneau

Welcome to #FriendFriday, an interview-style guest post series every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. Want to be the next interviewee? Send me an email!

Happy Friday, my friends! This week, I'm happy to welcome Sara Letourneau, a writer, blogger and poet. She's one of my Twitter friends, and I'm so thrilled that she carved out some time in her busy schedule to talk about getting to know your readers today.

Let's get acquainted, shall we?

HERE’S YOUR INTRO QUESTION. TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF IN LESS THAN 70 WORDS.

Eek! Well, currently I'm revising a YA fantasy novel called The Keeper's Curse. I also review tea at A Bibliophile's Reverie (http://bibliophilesreverie.com/) and lead the Theme: A Story's Soul column at DIY MFA (http://diymfa.com/). I'm also a published poet, a former music journalist, and a blogger who hops between all of those topics. It sounds scatter-brained, but I love exploring and sharing what I learn, and what I do reflects that "philosophy."

You're a blogger, writer and poet. Tell us how you got started.

The writing came first. I've been writing ever since I was 7 years old. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with crayons and lined paper, making up stories about talking animals and strange places, and drawing pictures to go with them. Writing has stuck with me ever since then, and in many different ways. But novel writing has always been the one constant I've come back to.

Poetry was a way of expressing emotions and ideas I struggled to express verbally. The inspirations have come from everywhere: nature, relationships, current events, even the impact that creativity has had on my life. I haven't written as much poetry lately because I've been focusing on my novel, but I'm sure I'll return to it one day and I still enjoy reading it. As for blogging, it's a fun way to reach out to other like-minded people who you might not otherwise meet offline.

Let's put you to the test. What would you tell future writers about how to connect with their future readers?

When you're just starting out, take the time to get to know your audience.

Reply to your readers' comments on your articles, then visit their blogs and comment on one of their pieces. End your posts with questions in bold that grab the reader's attention and get the wheels turning in their heads. Your audience will appreciate the effort - and they'll keep coming back. This is also a good way of developing relationships with other bloggers who share your interests.

Also, don't feel obligated to be on every social media outlet. I'm only on Facebook and Twitter in addition to my blog, and I'm fine with that. It's all I can do, since I also have a full-time job and don't want to cut into my writing time too much. So, my advice here would be to do only what you have the time and energy for. Your readers will understand.

If you could be the author of any novel in history, which novel would that be and why?

This was tough. I love so many books for so many reasons that I'd probably pick a different book each time I answer this question. ;)

Today I'll pick 

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. It's an upper-end YA fantasy about a girl who trains to become a poison taster and then becomes entangled in a plot to overthrown her country's government. I love character-driven stories where the protagonist changes and grows from their experience, and

Poison Study is a perfect example. Yelena has to learn to overcome a brutal, terrifying past in order to save the people she cares about - and herself. I was so absorbed by her story that I read it in three days, and I still find myself re-reading certain scenes from time to time. If the stories I write can have the same impact on my readers, my heart would sing.

And finally, before we let you go, what's the best advice you've received and how did it get you here today?

This was more or less encouragement than advice... But during the last week of my senior year of college, one of my favorite professors - who taught writing and literature, of course - told me, "You need to get your work published!" I was already considering submitting my poetry to literary journals anyways, but his enthusiasm was like a match to kerosene. It took 5 years of writing, editing, waiting, and going back to square one before my work was finally published somewhere. But it taught me persistence, patience, and the power of positive thinking in the face of disappointment.

Thanks to Sara for spending some time with us! If you’re interested in being interviewed for the next #FriendFriday, send me an email.