Category: News

Blue Wild Indigo by James Jennings

Posted on by CMPR

A love triangle, the consequences of war, and a social time bomb in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision declaring segregation in schools unconstitutional. These are the foundational conflicts that make Blue Wild Indigo (ISBN: 979-8-9907945-0-4; November 15, 2024, $16.99, Original Trade Paperback) by James Jennings an epic novel, spanning two tumultuous decades in rural Oklahoma. Jennings expertly crafts tense scenes that threaten to boil over if not for the thin layer of restraint his characters are able to maintain. All the while the author poses a fundamental question:  How far will one man go for justice?

As early as his teen years Harry True knew that Bliss was the girl he was meant to marry.  When the draft board called in 1942, Harry left for Europe with a promise from his love that gave him the strength to survive when he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. Harry was finally able to return to Oklahoma, a bruised but not yet broken man. However, he was dismayed and angered to find out that his best friend and blood brother had taken Harry’s intended bride as his own.  

Harry and Bliss were destined to be together, and they were unable to fight their connection once he returned.  They often escaped to a secret trysting place only a couple of people knew existed.  When Woody Coats, a young Black man from their town, was blamed for the rape of a Mexican girl, Harry and Bliss were the only two people who could prove his innocence. They saw him miles away from the scene of the crime while they were in the midst of their affair. As the real perpetrators managed to throw the blame on Woody, Bliss and Harry were devastated by their choices—destroy their lives and those of the people they loved or allow citizen justice to mete out a vicious punishment to an innocent man.

James Jennings has deep roots in Oklahoma and uses his extensive knowledge of horsemanship and ranching to bring the dry and rocky terrain, hot sun, dusty air, and tremendous colors of the prairie to life. His ability to capture both setting and character so well gives Blue Wild Indigo a richness that, according to award-winning author Charles Salzberg, “is steeped in the tradition of Southern and Southwestern writers like Larry McMurtry and Harper Lee.”  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Jennings is a writer and trial lawyer. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is a fifth-generation Oklahoman and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. His ancestors traveled west on the Trail of Tears to what is now known as the Sooner State. He is descended from tribal chiefs, warriors, ranchers, horse breeders, scholars, lawyers, judges, and men of the cloth.  Blue Wild Indigo is his third novel.

Blue Wild Indigo
A novel by James Jennings
Plum Bay Publishing
Publication Date: November 15, 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9907945-0-4
Original Trade Paperback
Price: $17.99 | Pages: 367

Publishing Basics Indies Should Know

Posted on by CMPR

Today there are millions of books published every year.  Everyone has access to the tools to publish.  However, if you don’t know how to use them properly, you could lose money and time.  For the next few weeks we will provide information on publishing basics and other tricks of the trade you need to know.

Choosing a Publishing Method

Writers have many choices when it comes to selecting a publishing method.  They can:

  1. Query agents to get presented to traditional publishers
  2. Submit directly to indie presses that accept unsolicited submissions
  3. Partner with a hybrid publisher that will handle all of the details, but writers help pay the costs of production
  4. Self-publish through Amazon, Book Baby, Ingram Spark, or Lulu
  5. Self-publish using their own editing/design team and upload the title to selling platforms on their own

Publishing Basics

No matter how you choose to publish, you will save time and money by remembering a few publishing basics.

Editing:

There are three major types of editing, Developmental, Copyediting/Line editing, and Proofreading.

  • Developmental is what helps put the book together into a cohesive narrative with a rich plot and characters.
  • Generally, copyediting is for making sure the narrative is consistent, gramatically correct, and that there are no glaring mistakes. It’s jarring to read a book with a protagonist named David, and then later he is referred to as Daniel, oops.  It happens.
  • Proofreading is for catching those typos, commas, double words, missed words, and other smaller details.

Cost: $30 – $75/hr, depending on the type of editing.  You will find editors earning much more, but your can find legitimate help at more reasonable price points.

Design:

Jackets are designed with a front cover first and then a full spread to wrap around the pages.  Interiors are also designed and digitally typeset.  If you have a table of contents, your interior designer will help paginate correctly.  Some people try to use AI tools to generate jackets.  There are also tools on Ingram Spark and Kindle Direct Publishing that can help you DIY.

Cost: Jackets $750 and up; Interior $1,000 and up depending on the length of the book and how complex the interior is.  If you do your own research you may find less expensive designers for different genres.  Then there is Fiverr, but that’s a mixed bag.

Copyright page: 

Please go to the bookstore or your shelves, and look at the interiors of other books published by traditional companies.  Copy their format so your page looks professional.  Sign up for an identifier with the Library of Congress (LOC) so a librarian will know how to shelve the book.

Cost: Free.  You do not have to pay for an LOC number and researching format will only cost you time.

Other publishing basics include getting ISBNs and bar codes for printed books.  Everything you need to know about these things you can find at Bowker.

Compare your book to the ones that catch your eye in a bookstore, so you know your book presents a professional package.  All titles require publishing basics and if writers decide to skip them, book buyers will know.

For more information on How to Publish check out our blog page and search “publishing” and “self-publishing”

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
― Mark Twain

Maximizing Your Reach: Boosting Posts on Instagram & Facebook

Posted on by CMPR

If you are looking for ways to increase your reach on social media, boosting posts on Facebook and Instagram can be the easiest way to start out. Knowing how to effectively use these features can help you connect with a larger audience. 

Boosting posts is a paid promotional option available on both Facebook and Instagram. It allows you to increase the visibility of your post beyond the typical organic reach. This ensures it will reach a larger and more targeted audience than just those that follow you. Boosting is a simpler process than running a traditional ad campaign on social media and can be done directly from the post itself. As long as you have a professional Instagram account or a Facebook page you can get started with boosting.

Choosing the Right Post to Boost

Before learning how to boost, you need to understand which kinds of posts are most beneficial to boost. Here are some options:

  • High Engagement: Boost a post that already has high engagement through likes, comments, and shares. These posts will likely perform even better when promoted.
  • Valuable Content: Choose a post that offers value to your audience. This can look like promotions, announcements, or even just engaging content or information of value to a specific audience.
  • Clear Call-to-Action: A post with a clear call to action, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “Sign Up,” can lead to more meaningful content interactions that will help you achieve multiple goals

Setting Your Preferences

Once you choose which post you are going to boost, click the “Boost Post” button below the posted image. First you’ll need to choose your objective from the boost. Essentially, what do you want people to do when they see your ad? Prompt them to your profile if you are looking for more brand awareness or followers. Choose website visits if you are looking to drive more traffic to your website and have the audience learn more about your business. Choose other goals like engagement, messages, or calls if you are looking to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Some of these goals are available on Instagram, while some are only available on Facebook. On Facebook, you can also choose to add a button to the post that will supplement your goal by directing users to another page.

Next you’ll need to define your target audience. This will ensure your post reaches the right users. You can use an automatic audience  curated via the suggested algorithm, but we suggest you create your own based on specific preferences for this post. Think about your target audience and choose various locations, interests, and age ranges that you think apply. It will let you know the estimated audience size and if you need to add more or less information to the set.

Lastly, you’ll need to decide on a budget. The more you spend the more reach your post will supposedly get, but that doesn’t mean you need to go above your budget. We typically recommend starting out by boosting $5-$10 per day for about a week and see where it gets you. 

Monitor & Adjust

Once your post is boosted, keep an eye on its performance and adjust your next post accordingly. Track your engagement and insights to assess how well your post is resonating with the audience and how well you met your original post objective. Based on this data, adjust your content, objective, targeting, or budget for your next post to improve results. Boosting posts is all about experimentation and discovering what works best for your brand and your audience. 

Check out these blogs to get started on your social media marketing strategy and making effective content.

Creating Your Social Media Plan – (clairemckinneypr.com)

Elevating Your Social Media Graphics: Using Canva Like a Pro – Claire McKinney Public Relations, LLC (clairemckinneypr.com)

Elevating Your Social Media Graphics: Using Canva Like a Pro

Posted on by CMPR

Eye-catching graphics are essential for standing out and engaging with your social media audience. It may seem scary, but there are so many tools out there that can help you create visually appealing content with ease, whether you are a graphic designer or not! Anyone can use Canva to create simple and stunning designs that not only look good but also encourage user engagement. Here are some tips and tricks on elevating your social media graphics using Canva:

  1. Start with a template. If you don’t know where to start, don’t be afraid to take inspiration from one of the templates that Canva provides. These are a great starting point for creating graphics for any social media platform and are completely customizable to fit your brand. Select a template that fits your needs and change the colors, photos, and text to align with your content and messaging.
  2. Utilize brand kits. In branding, consistency is key. The brand kit feature allows you to upload your logo, brand colors, and fonts, to easily and quickly input these details into every graphic you make. Incorporating similar elements into all of your graphics will create a cohesive look across social media posts and offer brand recognition to your audience.
  3. Incorporate elements. Canva offers an extensive library of elements you can use to add extra creativity to your graphics. Check out all the different shapes, arrows, lines, symbols, and icons, and play around with how they can add to your design. Symbols like the heart and share button can add a call to action to your graphic. Arrows can point out important information you don’t want the audience to miss.
  4. Try the new AI features. Canva’s newest feature, Magic Studio, will create graphics and videos for you, translate text to different languages, and even write passages. Our tip is to use these things for your inspiration and then turn them into your own! The Magic Studio also has plenty of helpful editing tools like an image background remover, image expander, and text grabber. These elements can make the editing process so much faster.
  5. Keep it simple. Avoid going crazy on your graphics with too much text or too many elements. Simplicity can often lead to a greater impact through a more centered focus. Typically, we use our graphics as a simplified version of a writing or blog post and direct our audience there.

Enhance your social media presence with these tips to create stunning and engaging content for all of your feeds. Explore Canva’s many features and experiment with all the design elements they offer. Happy designing!

Check out these other blog posts to get started on social media!

How To Talk About Your Book for the First Time on Social Media – Claire McKinney Public Relations, LLC (clairemckinneypr.com)

Getting Attention on Social Media – Claire McKinney Public Relations, LLC (clairemckinneypr.com)

How Often Should You Publish?

Posted on by CMPR

A new author and writer of a series recently asked “how often should you publish?”  They said it took about a year to write the first book and another year to get the beta readers, editing, jacket and everything else together.  Although, I don’t like to tell writers they need to write faster, I do have some suggestions for being more efficient with timing so you can publish more quickly.

How Often Should You Publish?

Ideally, you want to publish every year when you do a series, so you don’t lose momentum between releases.  Readers of series are a ravenous bunch and as much as they love your first book, there are other writers on deck to lure them away.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get a book out and include a teaser of the next?  As the owner of Plum Bay Publishing, an indie publisher, and as an old hat in the book industry, here are my suggestiong to help you speed up your process.

5 Tips for Publishing a Book a Year Series

  1. Get your story out of your head and into your computer. Try creating outlines for the next book or two to help you get started faster on the next book.  Think of your series as an epic adventure story.  If you don’t do outlines, write a few paragraphs of background to start you off.
  2. After you are finished with the first draft, skip beta readers and pay a professional editor to start reviewing your manuscript. A line editor or copyeditor should be fine. You can have beta readers but if they slow you down, then getting the editing started will be faster.
  3. Combining the jacket design time with the editing is a good idea because you need the jacket designed before you do the interior design/digital typesetting (so if you want to add a graphic at the beginning of each chapter or use a special font, you can keep the branding consistent between the jacket image and the text).
  4. While waiting for the editor and jacket designer, start filling out the information on your upload platforms.  Writers can set their books up on Amazon before uploading manuscript and cover files. Ingram is the same, although you will need an ISBN which you can purchase at Bowker Identifiers. You can also buy one directly from Ingram.
  5. Allow time for promotional efforts.  While people are reading/editing/and commenting, you can start creating lists of media outlets you want to reach.  You can also update your website and begin social media promotions.

The Annual Publishing Plan

Try to write the book in 6-9months and get the rest of the process done in 3 months.  Then you will be close enough to a year between books. I’m not saying it’s easy, but once you go through the first one some of the learning curve in publishing is already over. That in itself can save you time.

For more information on promoting and publishing your book, check out our blog.