The dark art of Sock Puppetry

The Sunday Telegraph asked me to write a short opinion piece about the art of "sock puppeting", where authors use fake online personas to write reviews of their own work.
Here's the link to the published piece:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/how-not-to-blow-your-own-trumpet/story-e6frezz0-1226474800922

Here's what I originally wrote for them:

I HAVE never been a sock puppet. I have never even played with them. The closest I came was when I used to put socks on my ears, to distract my infant son while trying to wrestle him into his clothes. Hey, you find yourself doing some weird stuff when you’ve only had an average of two hours’ sleep a night for a week.

But I can understand only too well why some authors become sock puppets. I am an author and have felt the dark temptation myself.

For those mystified why there appears to be a column in the paper devoted to obscure childhood playtime, the UK has been transfixed this week with tales of “sock puppetry”, the delightful phrase to describe how authors invent fake online personas and then use them to post glowing reviews about themselves and, in some cases, use them to attack rival authors.

I can understand the need for the former – but I have to say the latter absolutely disgusts me.

British crime writer R.J. Ellory was outed for using online sock puppets he called Jelly Bean and Nicodemus Jones (that should have been a giveaway right there – nobody but a fiction writer could marry such pretension with such ordinariness) to praise his latest book and bag his rivals.

Fellow crime writer Jeremy Duns outed Ellory and threw the literary establishment into a tizz, with further revelations of dodgy reviews on Amazon and questions being asked about the whole newspaper review system as well. The accusations are that reviewers are unfailingly nice to their friends – but scathing to those they dislike, regardless of the quality of the book.

Ellory has apologised publicly, as well as privately to the authors he attacked using Jelly Bean and Nicodemus. He deserves credit for owning up and not trying to cover up his deeds. Although, as a crime writer, perhaps he understands better than most that cover-ups always end with you looking even guiltier than before.

Using a fake name to attack another author is revolting. The point Ellory – and many others – are missing is that authors might think of each other as rivals but that is foolishness. Readers don’t just pick one author and leave it at that. They have many favourites. Authors put out one book a year, if that. It is arrogant beyond belief to think readers will not pick up another book in all that time.

But to post glowing reviews of your own book, to see something online that praises your work … well, that is a sock puppet of a completely different colour.

When I received the phone call from HarperCollins, telling me they were going to publish my first book, it was one of the best days of my life and the culmination of a dream. But reality soon sets in – you are but one of thousands of books on a shelf. How do you make yourself stand out from the rest? How can you get people talking about your book?

The temptation to don the sock puppet hat and help your book along is strong. Any author who says they never considered it, in their darker and weaker moments, is in denial.

Your book is not just a piece of paper, stapled together, it is part of you. You have invested a huge amount into it and it is your child, as much a part of your creation as your real children. To see it ignored is painful, to see it abused is excruciating.  If I am at a bookstore and someone wants to read a chapter before deciding whether to purchase, it is torture. They might as well ask me to drop my pants and expose everything to them.

So yes, the temptation to help your book out is strong. But then you remember what you teach your real children, and you resist.

And, after all, how much help do reviews provide? The runaway bestseller is 50 Shades Of Grey – a book universally panned in reviews as smutty drivel.

Duncan Lay is Masthead Chief of The Sunday Telegraph and author of The Dragon Sword Histories and now Bridge Of Swords, which has been getting rave reviews, none of which he wrote. Honest!

Hot and cold in Canberra!

Canberra … without a doubt it is the perfect place for authors. The residents are almost universally educated, appreciative of authors and with enough money to indulge their love of reading.

I always enjoy going down to Canberra and have always done well there. This time was no different.

Sadly, this time I would not be travelling around Canberra with trusted HarperCollins rep Jodi Callas, who had been a victim of the reorganisation of the sales rep structure.

This meant I was going to have find my own way around Canberra … something to strike fear into the heart of even the most seasoned traveller!

So naturally I bit the bullet and bought a GPS unit. Now, ever since one of them tried to kill us both by ordering me to chuck a U-turn on a six-lane Brisbane highway, I have distrusted the things. I specifically asked the salesman at my local Hardly Normal store to show me the least idiotic one.

So, naturally the bloody thing got me lost in Goulburn, refusing to recognise the biggest shopping centre in this major country town!

Once I made it to Town & Country Books in Goulburn, with a little over-the-phone directional help from the friendly staff, things got cracking.

The highway now bypasses Goulburn but, if you are an author, make sure you stop there. Friendly people, delighted to meet an author and excited to buy books not just for themselves but as gifts for friends and family.

I had a great morning there before heading into the car, crossing the fingers and aiming for Dymocks Tuggeranong.

I arrived a little late – but it didn’t matter. Canberrans love their books and, that afternoon, they loved buying my books! I had some loyal fans such as Becky Dykhoff come out specially but just as many people buy from me from the first time.

When you’re doing a bookstore appearance, you need to have the mental attitude that anyone could be a book-lover. That isn’t the case usually but in Canberra it’s more true than anywhere else.

So I set a new personal record in a single appearance.

Friday was another freezing day in Canberra, but bright and sunny nonetheless.

First up was Dymocks Belconnen and again it was just pure pleasure speaking to the people there. Even better, Bridge Of Swords was sitting at number eight on their bestseller list, which is always a huge thrill. I planned to take a picture and tweet/Facebook it but was too busy to do so!

Again I had some local fans come along but the bulk were brand new … and always such a pleasure to talk to.

One woman and her son, who didn’t buy a book, were still a real highlight. The boy was recovering from a serious illness and had used books to get him through. Chatting with him and explaining how being an author is all about dealing with rejection, about picking yourself up and pushing forwards.

ABC 666, the local Canberra station, called me in for a quick interview, which managed to skilfully avoid any publicity about my books …!

Then it was Dymocks Central, where I was visited by some friendly faces – Jess Drake and fellow HarperCollins author Katie KJ Taylor. She’s always great value and was able to sell her trilogy to oe lady as well!

It was a bit quieter at Central but still a great way to finish off another Canberra adventure, where I managed to avoid getting TOO lost!  

 

A wild time in Adelaide

I flew out of a beautifully sunny Sydney into a wild couple of days in Adelaide with some crazy weather!
The flight down to Adelaide was probably the bumpiest one I've ever had ... you know it's getting bad when the hostesses stop serving food and make a run for their seats.
It was a little worrying, given I'd just watched The Grey, a movie where Liam Neeson crash-lands into Alaska and into a pack of man-eating wolves. Incidentally, I watched that movie with the dog,and neither of us looked at each other quite the same afterwards ...
Anyway, I landed fine and was met by HarperCollins' outstanding rep in Adelaide, Anthony Little. With him, I knew I wouldn't get thrown to the wolves!
Adelaide is a sad story, bookstore-wise, having lost almost every store I visited last time. There are many major shopping centres without a bookstore at all.
First up was the big CBD Dymocks and the weather was shocking. So bad that the planned Olympian Welcome Home parade had been cancelled!
I couldn't get out into the mall but there were plenty of people around and I met some fantastic ones, including people who bought the entre first trilogy, plus Bridge Of Swords in the one hit.
Things had been going well and I was a little reluctant to leave as we headed off to Dillons at Norwood, a big store in a nice suburb but out in the open.
That started off well; I met a young African who turned out to be one of my biggest fans! Sadly he hadn't realised I was going to be there so hadn't brought any books to sign, so I gave him a signed poster instead.
Then the bad weather hit. A huge hailstorm that cut the power to half the store and (not surprisingly) stopped anyone going out!
That was a bit disappointing and certainly cut down on the number of people I could talk to - let alone the sales.
Last one for the day was Mostly Books at Torrens Park, a small, community shopping centre with the kind of bookstore I love to support. We did very well there, although people were a bit scarce, with one of the highlights how the trolley guy Andrew ended up buying Bridge Of Swords for his father, after I gave him the spiel in about five different installments as he went past on his duties!
Second day kicked off at my favourite Adelaide store, the outstanding Collins Edwardstown, with the extraordinary Tarran doing the promotional duties.
Again, this went very well, although I was hindered somewhat by a bloke who obviously thought he was helping me by bagging out the people who ignored my greetings. Er, no, that's not helpful or very nice!
When I ask someone if they like to read and they turn around and brag how much they hate reading and how the television is so much better, I feel sorry for them, that they haven't discovered the power of imagination, and I dearly hope their children do. Not that I'd say that but this chap decided to give them character references, which was putting everyone off!
If I'd known what was coming next, I would have stayed at Edwardstown longer. Dymocks Glenelg was next cab off the rank and the weather decided to turn on me again.
Earlier in the month, I'd done a breakfast signing at Dymocks North Sydney, where the wind chill effect had the temp hovering below 3C and few people wanted to stop and talk, for fear of frostbite. That seemed like a tropical paradise compared to the howling wind and rain coming down Glenelg's main street. I lost my sign twice and only strategic placement of books saved the tablecloth. My heart went out to those brave souls who stopped to chat and bought books off me but I felt gutted for the store, that I couldn't do more for them.
Last store on the trip was Pages & More West Lakes, inside a shopping centre, where I was able to thaw out and sell a stack of Bridge Of Swords - then finish with a copy of Wounded Guardian as I was walking out the door.
So that was Adelaide, a beautiful town with horrible weather for those two days - and some great bookstores that I sincerely hope I could help a little.
In the immortal words of The Terminator: "I'll be back".
A pack of wild wolves couldn't stop me ...

First week of the official tour!

So, one week of the “official tour” is completed and now I kick off the interstate side of things, heading down to Adelaide to hit a whole bunch of new stores.

I say “official” as I went out to stores while I was working, notably my local Dymocks at Erina and Tuggerah, Unleash Books Kotara (formerly an A+R store), Galaxy and Kinokuniya in Sydney city and North Sydney Dymocks.

But the first big week of stores is over and it was generally very good. There were highlights at every store and that’s the way you have to look at it.

Every time you appear at a bookstore, stand out the front and try to talk to passersby, you are going to get knockbacks and sneers. That’s the price you must pay for speaking to people and, after all, acting like a kind of spruiker. It’s a price I’m always happy to pay but that doesn’t make it easier. For instance, Unleash Books Miranda was a case in point. Just 50m down the shopping centre was a pair of spruikers trying to flog people Oral B products. Naturally the glare from their white teeth was eye-piercing, while their patter was just as persistent. I quickly discovered people walking up from that direction were already in a bad frame of mind to respond to my line about reading. That swiftly proved a drawback, as half my traffic flow was coming past me having been assaulted with toothbrushes and tangled up in dental floss.

I also discovered that, for all its high socio-economic benchmarks, there was nobody wanting to try out the special deal on the original trilogy that Unleash was offering. It was interesting, because their I sold 40 books at their sister store at Kotara, in Newcastle, on a similar deal. Perhaps, if one believes Ten’s TV show The Shire, they need it all for surgical enhancements. More likely they are seen as well off because they don’t rashly hurl their money away by buying multiple books from authors, no matter how winning their talk is!

In the face of multiple knockbacks, not to mention negotiating the devilish car park at Miranda Fair, it would be easy to become dispirited. But instead I focused on the positives, of which there were many. For starters Bridge Of Swords was sitting at Number Five on the Unleash Top 10, one spot ahead of George RR Martin’s latest bestseller. And the people I did chat to in Miranda were wonderful – from Bel Every, who came in specially and has even created a Facebook page for me, to Ursula who couldn’t make it in that day but bought and left a copy of Bridge Of Swords for me to personalise, to all the others who bought books or just spoke to me.

Bookstore appearances are very much a “glass half-full” experience. It’s easy to get down but vital to focus on the good things.

Having said that, I struggled to find any negatives at Penrith Dymocks. Honestly, I could happily go back there every week. If you are an author on tour, put Penrith on your list. Forget about your inner-city trendy areas. Not only did I sell a record number of books that day (necessitating a frantic dash for resupply by the store owners) but the people were wonderful and genuinely interested to meet an author. I truly find the outer areas, such as Penrith, Campbelltown (when it had a bookshop), Rouse Hill and Tuggerah are always the most successful. Forget Leichhardt and Bondi – head west or north and reap the benefits!

Book Bazaar Umina was my Saturday shop, a small bookstore in a sleepy main street. But store owner Mandi is fantastic and has been a great supporter of mine from the start. Tellingly, almost half the books I sold were to readers who were coming in specially. That percentage is higher than anywhere else!

Then it was on to Dymocks Carlingford, a lovely shop run by a great bloke called Kosta but stuck in an unfortunate corner of a busy shopping centre. I was delighted to see Bridge Of Swords sitting at Number Six on his store’s Top 10 Bestsellers … beating all fantasy books and a huge swathe of general release fiction as well. We started slowly but moved closer to the escalators and finished strongly. I had some marvellous conversations with people here, several of them quickly “friending” me on Facebook or following me on Twitter afterwards, as well as a couple of budding authors. I hope to see them in print some day!

So the first week ended with more than 100 books hand-sold.

Now for the interstate portion, which will see things kick up a gear. I hit four stores last week – I’ll be at SIX over the next two days in Adelaide alone!

Great review of Bridge Of Swords!

Bridge of Swords (Empire of Bones, Book 1) by Duncan Lay
Harper Voyager
Review by Crisetta MacLeod

This story is rich in uneasy relationships. There are untrustworthy, manipulative and
bullying parents; there are lovers who deceive and are deceived; there are allies who work
together against common evils, yet do so with very differing agendas.
A long time before the story begins, the Elfaran withdrew behind a magic barrier; they have
neglected their magic over the generations, and those who have sought to preserve the
ancient skills are regarded with suspicion. A tyrant king and his minions rule Dokusen. The
wimpy, bullied heir-apparent is Sendatsu.  Although superb in combat skills, Sendatsu wants
only to look after his children when their mother dies. Outside Elfaran, beyond the barrier,
another tyrant ruler is seeking to absorb all settlements into his territory. The magic
barrier between these cultures is fading, and Sendatsu becomes an unwilling leader when he
is spirited out of Dokusen. The unlettered peoples of the outside towns have myths and
legends about the might of the elves, and their expectations of Sendatsu form the basis of
the story. Expectations, selfish motivations, and deceptions abound and you'll enjoy how
relationships and their pitfalls carry us through battles and plots. More please!

Great review of Bridge Of Swords!

Lovely review of Bridge Of Swords here, by Speculating On SpecFic:

The beauty of this book is that it takes everything we know and love about fantastical literature and uses them in an innovative way. Everything about Bridge of Swords is brilliant – a gripping plot line peppered with well executed action sequences, interesting characters driven by realistic motivations, and a new world rich in culture, history and mystery. This has been my first foray into the works of Duncan Lay and I wonder how I overlooked his work for so long!




Sendatsu is the hero of this story – an elf charged with unearthing the real reason that elves shut themselves off from the human world centuries ago. While it is easy to understand his desire to return home to his family and continue his life, I found him to be lacking in courage and sometimes wished he would man – elf? – up and take charge of his life. But this is the entire point of Sendatsu: he is the ultimate reluctant hero. He finds two strangers to accompany him on his quest - Huw the bard and Rhiannon the dancer, who have secrets and motivations of their own. The interactions and relationships between these three are fascinating to read and they drive the plot forward as an integral aspect of the book.



The world building in this book is simply superb – not only are the cultures of the elves and humans beautifully delineated and balanced, the ties that link the two races are clear and it is nice to see the lines blur between them later in the book. I only looked at the map provided with the book one when began reading – which is always the mark of incredible writing in my opinion. Duncan Lay’s writing lends a strong sense of place to this book and I really admire his skill doing so.



There is a lot more I want to say about this wonderful book, but I can’t for fear of spoiling things for readers. So I will say this: Rhiannon is a wonderful character – finally a woman who isn’t a typical cut out of ‘helpless maiden’ or ‘fearless warrior that doesn’t act like a woman unless she cries’ – but I hated the way that Sendatsu and Huw treated her. Hated it. I liked Asami for similar reasons, and hope that she gets a larger story arc in future books. Jaken, Sendatsu’s father intrigues me. Although he is portrayed as a power-hungry leader, I think he would be interesting to get to know better.



Filled with great characters and a wonderful world, Bridge of Swords is epic fantasy at its best. Everyone should rush out and grab a copy! While fans of the genre will undoubtably enjoy reading this book, it is perfect for those wanting to try high fantasy for the first time.

The Lands of Empire Of Bones

THE LANDS




Empire of Bones is set in the same world as The Dragon Sword Histories, although 300 years later and on the other side of the world.

There are no common characters and there is no need to have read the first series to begin this one.

There is one, small connection in that an event at the end of The Radiant Child had an unexpected effect on the other side of the world and began the chain of events that leads to Bridge Of Swords.

But you don’t have to have any prior knowledge of the world, nor its history and all will be made clear as Empire Of Bones moves to its conclusion.

The three lands Empire Of Bones is principally set in are very different.

First we have Dokuzen. This is a land with magic, healing, advanced building techniques and a high standard of living. Their lifestyle has hints of the Roman era, with similar technology, as well as a strong flavour of Shogun-era Japan, with concepts of honour and an emphasis on your clan and family determining your status in society. They worship this world’s God, Aroaril, but religion is not an integral part of their lives. The people’s names, as well as the place names, reflect the Japanese influence.

Next we meet Vales. This is much more a rougher, cruder community, much less formally structured, without a central ruler or anything more than a loose connection between its towns and villages. Rather than building in stone, they use wood and thatch. Principally a land of farmers, they are also miners and traders but have few, if any warriors, despite their personal bravery. Perhaps closest to Britain following the Roman withdrawal, before the Saxon invasion changed the language and the face, when the old British tribes ruled, although without their unique Celtic culture. The people’s names, as well as some of the place names, reflect the Celtic influence.

Finally there is Forland. More advanced than Vales but without the higher knowledge and technology of Dokuzen, they are able to build with stone. Ruled by a King, they have a standing army and a warrior tradition. Conquerors and aggressors, they have taken many of the southern countries by force and thirst for more. Perhaps comparable to Saxon Britain, where it was torn between a warrior code and something higher. Their names, as well as some of the place names, reflect the Saxon era.

One note about the place names in Vales and Forland (and indeed in all the other countries in the surrounding lands). There is a mystery, central to the story, around these names and why some carry certain meanings and others seem normal. As the main characters and readers will discover …