Author Raven West

You Are What You Drive – DRIVE Fast and Furious the sales of your book the only way YOU can!

Raven West ♦ January 14, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

A rather well known author once wrote; “What’s in a name?” If you paid $26,000 for a Chrysler mini-van, would it feel the same as driving a FireBird convertible? And what would have happened if Marion Morrison hadn’t changed his name to John Wayne?

For those of you who have been reading my column since I began writing for the Amazing Authors Showcase, you’ve noticed my name changed from “Robin Westmiller” to Raven West. (For those of you who haven’t noticed, you can skip ahead a few paragraphs.) I wanted to offer an explanation as to the circumstances which led me to create a new pen name and the subsequent results that decision has had on my professional and personal life.

Last May, I was visiting a friend of mine in Connecticut. We’ve known each other since Kindergarten and were reminiscing about an old 60’s television show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. I came up with an idea for my next novel about two lifelong friends who accidently become involved with an espionage plot during their 30th high school reunion, which happens to be next year. The two of us went though our old yearbook and began sketching out characters we knew who would play different roles, with different names, in the story. Her character’s name was going to be Kathleen, mine was going to be Raven.

The moment I wrote it out on the notebook, I felt a surge of energy. Instantly, I knew Raven wasn’t going to be the name of my fictional character, it was going to be my new pen name. I shortened my last name and Raven West was born. When I returned home, I immediately called my publisher and told him to re-do the covers of both First Class Male and the re-issue of Red Wine For Breakfast. I ditched my bangs, cut my hair, had a new photo taken wearing a black leather jacket, re-did my web page and re-printed all my promotional material.

Within two weeks of the transformation, I was invited to three book events, two radio interviews, three on-line interviews, a live chat, and the Barnes and Nobel World’s Largest Writers Workshop. I was also hired to teach a course at a local university, and two of my entries won first and second place at the Ventura County Fair.

But something else began to change along with the species of bird. The “Robin” persona of a small bird with a dull-red breast of “Rockin’ Robin” fame took on an entirely new attitude under the wings of the Raven, described as “A large bird with lustrous black feathers and a straight, sharp beak.” (thank you Webster’s) which I was more than adept at using, especially to sell my books.

And nowhere was that more evident then at the last book festival I attended. Any author who has ever attended these massive book fairs knows how much of their time is spent “schmoozing” with a number of looki-loos who are more interested in telling you their own story then buying yours. “Robin” spent about an hour listening and sharing and not selling a single book. Then, “Raven” took over, with her straight, sharp beak and one simple sentence coming from that beak. “Buy my book!”

Raven West did not rent a booth to stand in the hot sun for seven hours to chat. Raven West was not there to give advice, listen to other author’s woes or commensurate with unsuccessful writers. Raven West was there to sell books, and sell I did.

One man asked me what the story was about. I showed him the back cover, told him to read it and if he held it for more than ten seconds, he had to buy it. He wrote me a check. One woman started to chat about her writer’s organization, then said she never read fiction. I told her that was too bad and walked away. Another would-be author wanted information on marketing and promotion. I handed him a copy of my printed columns and told him the information would cost him $5.00. He handed me the cash. I sold ten copies of First Class Male, six of the old version of Red Wine For Breakfast and five marketing packets for a one day total of over $200.00.

When I took a break, I walked around to a number of other author’s displays, and not a single person asked me, or even suggested I buy their book. Everyone was so nice, almost apologetic. I, on the other hand practically threatened people. “Buy my book or get out of the way. Don’t waste my time talking about your book, or another author’s book. I’m not interested and I don’t care. I’m not asking you to buy them, I’m telling you to buy them because they’re THAT GOOD.”

And if they don’t like you, so what? At least they’ll remember you and they’ll tell other people what a B—- you are and the next time they’re in a book store, guess whose name they’ll remember? The first rule of publicity is that there is no such thing as “bad” ink!

Many authors I know are almost shy about their work, but if you don’t believe you’ve written a best seller, why would anyone else? If you, the author, don’t “crow” hard and long and proud, you’ll never be heard over the noise of all the other author traffic on the highway. It’s not bragging, as my children constantly accuse me of. It’s promotion, marketing and getting noticed. It’s about selling your books!

How many of you who are reading this right now, truly believe it you’re a “Best Selling Author”? How many of you feel pride in what you’ve accomplished and not some kind of shame or guilt that you feel that way? Shout your accomplishments and do it proudly, because you deserve to be noticed in your own right. When someone tries to compare me to another author, I tell them right to their face that I’m not the next somebody else, I’m the first Raven West, and let others follow me. Then, they buy my book, because if I believe I’m a successful, best-selling author, so will they. And success is contagious.

Writing is about talent, creativity, hard work and a good story. Marketing, promotion and successful selling is about attitude, self-confidence and putting your foot down hard on the gas. It’s about getting out of the traffic jam of authors who have been driving on the same road the same way with stacks of unsold books in their trunk, gathering dust.

If you’re afraid of making a bad first impression, you won’t make any impression at all and then you’ll be just another small bird with a little chirp, instead of what a fellow author recently wrote to me when I told him I was changing my name: “Raven… a darkly beautiful shadow that flies through the hearts and souls of human drama. In the soft light of dusk ..she carries off a story, a tale, to bedazzle the readers of her books…”

Robin drives a mini-van. Raven West drives a red Firebird convertible and I’m passing everyone on the road to riches!

One more thing: Buy my books!

When the Universe Calls, You’d Better Pick Up the Phone

Raven West ♦ January 12, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

There are definitely times in a writer’s life when life itself interferes with the writing process. My first novel “Red Wine for Breakfast” was published in 1999, the second “First Class Male” in 2001, (Lighthouse Press) then nothing for the next ten years when I decided to go with Createspace for “Undercover Reunion”.  

Oh sure, I have tons of outlines, characters, plots and just as many excuses for not finishing the two 50,000 word novels that have been sitting in my lap top for more years than I want to think about. All those wonderful characters remain hidden in the dark, cold cyberspace screaming for me to free them into the real fictional world!   

Make enough noise, and the Universe will eventually hear you and relay your message loud and clear. And when the Universe yells at you, you’d better listen.

So, here it is, 2014. New Years Eve to be exact and my husband and I were going to a party at a hotel miles from where we used to live. A couple got into the elevator with us, the woman commented on how great I looked (true), then the guy looks at me and says “Hi, Robin”. I had no idea who he was, since I’ve been going by the name Raven West for a few decades, it wasn’t until he said his name was Gordon that I knew exactly who he was. The faux movie producer who had optioned “Red Wine For Breakfast” many years ago.   ( read Hollywood Horror Story which actually won Second Place in Literary Non-Fiction at the Ventura County Fair in 2001).

I don’t know what surprised me more; that someone I’d not seen for more than 20 years would suddenly appear in an obscure hotel in Ventura, or that he would have recognized me (25 pounds lighter and looking really HOT), or that he’d let his hair grow down to his shoulders with a beard to match and looked like an aging hippie who I would not have recognized in a million years.

The “blast from the past” encounter was brief, but strange nonetheless.  I mentioned I had a new book out with a back story to the old 60’s television show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., he said good luck with that and we parted ways. What I hadn’t realized at the time, that encounter was just the first call the Universe was sending.  There were many more to follow, louder and more persistent than I could have dreamed.

A few days later, I decided to check out a few of my social media sites and happened to read a message on my Linkedin account from Jacqueline Van de Poll, who was very excited to hear about my book “Undercover Reunion” and had purchased a few as gifts for their upcoming Arundel Affair 2014 – Celebrating 50 Years of U.N.C.L.E. convention… in ENGLAND and asked me to send a few signed stickers she could be in the book! I immediately checked Amazon.com.uk and saw my rating had soared to 123,000, which was about a million higher than the book rating in the U.S.  

I then did a search on all things U.N.C.L.E. and much to my elation, discovered that Warner Bros. had just finished filming the movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. starring Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), set for release this year

A second ring from the Universe? Perhaps, but I still didn’t answer.

That gave me the idea to also search for the literary agent, Terrie Wolf who I had once contracted with on First Class Male and was thrilled to see that her agency was still going strong, but wasn’t taking on any new submissions. I called her anyway. Although we hadn’t been in contact since 2009 (for reasons that had nothing to do with our professional relationship), we connected as if no time had passed. We were on the phone for over an hour, catching up on all things publishing, a few personal (we had both become grandparents since last we talked) and, although she couldn’t promise anything, asked me to send her the manuscript, some bio information, media appearances, stats on sales and social media sites and she’d take a look.  

I began to compile the information by first doing a search for Author Raven West and was amazed at how many sites I was on. I’d totally forgotten about all the blog interviews, radio sites, author pages and book signings I’d been part of and, although not astronomical by any means, I did have an impressive amount of blog followers, tweeters, website visitors and Facebook “likes”.  

That damn persistent ringing from the Universe again? Maybe it was time to answer.

Then, last night I experienced the very best thing that any author could and I knew that I could no longer ignore the call. My husband received an invitation to an associate’s 60^th birthday party in Redondo Beach, about a 2 hour drive. I didn’t know the man very well, but it was a party and a good excuse as any to get out of the house on a Saturday night. Once we arrived, there was only other guest I knew and she was taking to some people when I stopped by to say hi. The last time I’d seen her, she had come to our Halloween party where she bought a copy of First Class Male.

She immediately started raving about my book to anyone who would listen, which led to everyone within earshot asking me about where they could buy the books which led me to the trunk of my car where I always keep copies of all my books which led me to sell a total of FIVE! The most books I’ve sold in under an hour at full price in years, including a recent book fair.

Of course I signed each one to the delight of the guests! Suddenly all those feelings and memories of how much I loved being an author came flooding back! Talking to fans about the characters and the stories and hearing how much they loved my work and how excited they were to have me sign their copies (take THAT ebooks) reminded me why I was a writer in the first place.

It really isn’t about the money. It really isn’t about Amazon ratings. It really isn’t about vampires, zombies or teenage angst books-to-movie strategies. It’s about the creative process and the joy of putting words on a page that no one else can. It’s about the absolute joy when someone reads your work and wants to talk about the imaginary characters YOU created as if they were real people and shares their enthusiasm with others who also want to know who these people are and their story.

The Universe called and I finally answered. The message was loud and clear; “You are a writer. It’s not what you do, it’s who you are and you will never be happy doing anything else.”

Getting so caught up in the nuts and bolts of the publishing business, marketing and promotion and sales and spending countless wasted hours tweeting and #whatever and @whatever else, I’d forgotten what the Universe was screaming to remind me. I am a writer. It’s not a job, it’s a joy. It’s not a means to an end; it really is who I am. I just spent the last 2 hours writing this blog and I’ve never been happier.

And if all of my 149 followers to this blog buy a copy of “Undercover Reunion”, I’d even be happier!