Name:

Hometown: Hays, Kansas

Book Title: Battingham Castle

Genre: Romance/Mystery

Dorrance Publishing (DP): Describe your book in 10 words or less.

Susan Kosinski (SK): A young man becomes a man from lessons of life.

DP: What made you want to write your book?

SK: For many years I have had stories in my mind. One day I started writing and I couldn’t stop. My husband was amazed that I could spend every day writing almost continuously.

DP: How long did it take you to write your book?

SK: It took me two to three months to write this book.

DP: How do you choose the names of your characters?

SK: I would just think of names and hope I didn’t name someone who is an actual person.

DP: What do you do when you have writer’s block?   

SK: I have an extra addition to every book I write. I call it Characters of (name of book). There I write down all the characters in the book especially if I use the character just a few times so I can remember all the names. I also write what I want the book to have in it or where I want my book to go. I write any and all thoughts down so I can figure out what I want to say or what direction I want to go in. I must say even if I have a certain direction I think I want to go in, many times my characters get a mind of their own and go in a totally different direction than I thought I wanted to go.

DP: What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

SK: I loved Troy always being told he was upsetting to women. I also loved his innocence and boyishness and then him becoming a real, gentle, and caring man.

DP: If you were stuck on an island and had to have one person from each category with you, who would they be and why:

a. One character from your book:

SK: I would like to be stuck on an island with the main character Lord Troy Bowling, Earl of Battingham because he is a caring person who has the desire to accomplish things in his life. I feel he would be someone who would want to help me find a way off the island.

b. One fictional character:

SK: Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS. I always admired the character. He was all business but there was a hint of humor to his ways. He was demanding of his underlings only because he knew they could do the work and he wouldn’t let them slack in their duties to solve the crimes.

c. One famous person (living or dead):

SK: I would like to be stuck on an island with JF Kennedy. I was in high school when he was President. I thought he was not only good looking but he seemed brilliant to my young mind. It was truly my first encounter with politics and I admired him because of his stamina and policies. I would have liked to learn more about his ways of how he saw the US and the world.

DP: Besides writing, what are your other interests?

SK: I like to crochet and read lots of books (almost one a day). I like to volunteer and I also teach third grade Sunday School.

DP: Do you keep a journal?

SK: Not really. I have looked up other authors and one, Jeff Goins, made a comment that stuck with me. He said, “Write something every day,” and I try to but sometimes don’t get the chance.

DP: How did you celebrate the publishing of your book?

SK: I was very happy to see it in print. However, it was overshadowed by my daughter being very ill from cancer. She just recently passed away.

DP: If your book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?

SK: I’m not into actors and actresses of today. I am very disappointed in the Hollywood of today who are so political.

However, I do like Cameron Mathison from the Hallmark Channels. I think he would make a wonderful Lord Troy Bowling. Cameron never gets any older, he has stayed young forever. Sally Fields would make a pretty good Aspen. Betty White would make a good Lady Matilda Bowling. All three of the first ones named keep their young looks. Last but not least, Jennifer Aniston would make a nice Penny.

DP: What did you enjoy most about working with Dorrance Publishing?

SK: I liked working with Dorrance because they seemed attuned to my desires. They let me be involved in the process of publishing my book.

DP: Five favorite books of all time?

SK: Exodus by Leon Uris, Battle Cry by Leon Uris, The Angry Hills by Leon Uris, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

DP: One sentence of advice for other writers:

SK: Let your book flow, go with it and let the characters take you wherever they want to go.

Are you ready to publish your book? Contact us today!

The post Author Spotlight: Susan Kosinski appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Imagine you’re walking around a bookstore looking for something new to read. Usually, you pick up a book when you’re intrigued by a cover that looks like it’s from a genre you’re interested in reading. As an author, that means if you choose a cover that differentiates from the genre of your book, the wrong readers will be picking up (most likely putting back down) your book.

So how do you know what kind of book cover would match your book? Obviously, you should do your own research by looking up other books in your genre and imagine similar covers for your book. But we’ve compiled some suggestions for you as well:

1) Contemporary

Typically, contemporary covers are rather simple. Many have little cartoonish illustrations of one or two of the characters or an object that’s significant or symbolic in the book. Others will have actual photographs, whether stock photo images or perhaps the author hires models to pose as their characters. Another common contemporary cover would be a photo of a landscape. Figure out what is most relevant to your content and highlight it keeping these ideas in mind.

2) Fantasy

This is a more imaginative genre and your cover should reflect that while still remaining relevant to the content of your book. A tell-tale indication that it’s a fantasy book is if the cover has one of the following: a crown, a sword, a helmet, a throne, or a dragon (Oh and don’t just stick with dragons–illustrations of animals like lions or phoenixes are also popular for fantasy books).  Another common choice is to have an artist hand-draw characters or a relevant scene from your book. This choice is very popular, especially for adult fantasy books…just make sure it relates to your content.

3) Science Fiction

The majority of science fiction works are dystopian and many have dark overtones. Typically, the covers reflect this. It’s also common for a science fiction book cover to depict some of the technology that a reader should expect to find within the book. Whether that’s a hand-drawn illustration of a spaceship, a space gun, a spacesuit, or even a circuit board. If your book takes place another planet, it’s common to depict that on the cover. You may even design the entire city landscape on the cover. Just remember that, while contemporary novels may be light and romantic, your city would need a darker overtone and the illustration would need to clearly show a technological difference between this city and one we’d be able to find in our world today. If none of this appeals to you, check out some old science fiction covers like Dune or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and create a cover with a similar vintage feel. This is an especially good design route to take if you think your book would appeal to similar readers.

4) Romance

Obviously, these covers vary, but if you want readers to know right away that they’re picking up a romance novel, the easy solution is having a couple on the cover. There are various ways you can do this, whether it’s with an illustration or a photograph, so do your research and figure out what works best for your book. Another common choice is a girl in a beautiful, flowing dress (often running). Finally, a third good indicator of a romance novel is to have something either stereotypically romantic or relevant to the couple within your book. This could mean a picture of flowers, a butterfly, or (if your book involves letters) perhaps a set of letters. Think about what items are important to the couple in your story to help you draw some inspiration.

5) Nonfiction

When it comes to nonfiction book covers, less is more. A lot of covers depict simply the title and author in a nice font. They may play around with the actual color of the cover and font, but they will often not include an image or, if they do, it is very small. Any image or photograph that you include in the cover should be directly and clearly significant to the content. Whereas with fiction books these items can be elusive, with nonfiction they need to very clearly deal with the content. So, if the book is about the history of a city, having a photograph of the city as the cover would work. Or, if the book is about how to play the guitar, include a small photo or illustration of a guitar. You can play around with how modern or vintage it looks, but make sure the images are relevant. This isn’t the time to be imaginative. Just be simple, clear, and concise. Otherwise, you’ll have fiction readers picking up your book instead.

6) Suspense/Mystery

This genre’s cover is relatively easy. All you need is a bold font choice that takes up almost the entire cover and perhaps a backdrop of an item or place that relates in some way to the plot or title of the book. If your book involves someone drowning in a lake, throw in a photo or drawing of an eerie lake. Or, if your book involves a pocket watch, include one in the center between the title and author name. Keep in mind, though, not to accidentally give away a clue through the item you choose. For example, if the pocket watch is going to end up being the key to the mystery, choose a different item. Whatever is on the cover, astute readers will be on the lookout for it. Make sure you choose an item or location that’s relevant without being the key to solving your mystery.

The post Choosing the Right Book Cover appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

1) Introduce your Detective, Culprit, and Crime Early On

One of the most important aspects of a mystery novel is the payoff. Your protagonist needs to go on a journey, search for clues, and it needs to amount to a satisfying climax. It’s made satisfying when the reader can go back and find the clues you left them throughout the book. That may seem tricky, but the first step to getting there is making sure you’re introducing all the key elements to the story as soon as possible.

The protagonist of the story must always be ‘the detective’. Not to say that they have to work in law enforcement, but rather that they need to be the one trying to piece together the clues. Then there’s the culprit, who should also be introduced in the beginning. The longer the audience has seen that character in the story, the more shocking and satisfying the payoff at the end. Finally, experienced writers recommend introducing the crime within the first three chapters of the book (at least). That may seem tricky, but waiting longer would risk losing some readers. Mystery fans are reading for the crime. Give the people what they want.

2) Believability

Another key element to weaving the mystery novel web is believability. One of the biggest ways to ruin a mystery novel is getting to the climax and realizing the crime wouldn’t physically be possible. Your readers will feel cheated by this. It’s your job to make the crime real. This may require some questionable google searches on disemboweling and knife wounds, but we promise your readers will thank you for it. Make sure you know every detail of how the crime occurred, as though you’re a lawyer presenting to a jury in a court of law. Think of the timing, the murder weapon, the perp’s movements, motives, fingerprints, blood, hair- everything.

The other facet of believability is in the solving. Make sure your protagonist isn’t having suspicions or drawing conclusions out of thin air. Every time they get a step further in the mystery, there should be something tangible that they experienced, saw, or remember that led them there.

3) Don’t over explain, leave clues

Now, this may seem contradictory to what we just said, but hear us out. While the reader should always be able to see clearly where your protagonist’s head is, make sure you’re not over-explaining. For example, say there’s a vase in an apartment that is (eventually) going to be the place where the murder weapon was stashed. Don’t write a whole paragraph about the vase- write a sentence. You should be merely leaving clues for the reader throughout your novel. Some clues your protagonist may notice, but others your readers may notice first. Don’t make it too obvious where the reader should be looking. Otherwise, you’re taking the mystery out of mystery novel.

4) Use Red Herrings

This is possibly the best tool for the mystery novel writer. The toughest part of writing a mystery novel is trying to make the reader surprised and satisfied with your ending. It involves a very tricky juggling act between leaving clues while also not making the clues too obvious. That’s not an easy balancing act. Your best tool to achieve this is to use what are called red herrings.

A red herring is a clue or a piece of information which is intended to be misleading or distracting. In order to surprise your readers by the end, you have to lead them down some false trails, distract them, and make them miss some of your clues. You could include a character that is initially acting suspiciously. You could have your detective find a clue, only later to realize it was placed there by the villain to lead them the wrong way. You could even have an object that seems to have more significance than it really does. Whatever route you choose, distraction is the key.

5) Create Suspense through Dialogue and Character

The other tricky part of crafting a mystery novel is creating suspense. Creating a good crime is part of that, but there are a few other facets to keeping suspense consistently high throughout the novel. The first is character and character development. While the plot of a mystery novel is crucial, in order for readers to care about the journey, they have to care about the character. You want your reader to love your protagonist- to care about their safety, desires, and overall success on their journey. This will only happen if your character is well-written, so spend time really fleshing out who your detective is (as well as other important characters in the story).

The other facet of this is dialogue. Every second of your story must keep the reader on edge, so use dialogue to further engage your audience. Have a character lie, while your protagonist knows they’re lying. Have another say or do something unexpected or out-of-character. Your detective should be pulled in a lot of different directions and, once the mystery starts, virtually every conversation they have should make them feel uneasy in one way or another.

Though the prospect of tackling a mystery novel may seem monstrous, if you work hard at mapping out your plot and characters it becomes a lot less terrifying. Much like a Scooby Doo episode, the monster isn’t ever as scary as it first appears.

The post Genre Spotlight: Mystery appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.