Writing Mystery Suspects

Hmmm. What. How. When. Why.

Panzer went tootling around in the Catosphere today just enjoying the ride. Our big bad kitty boy stopped in at author Elizabeth Spann Craig's site.

Panzer found a post at Ms. Craig's site about something close to his little crime solving heart: Writing about your crime suspects. Ms. Craig breaks the suspect process into four sections. First is the What Section: The number of suspects. Second is the How Section: How to introduce the suspects. Third is the When Section: The story pacing. And Four is the Why Section: The suspect's motive. Actually, the post is a mini-course in mystery fiction writing and well worth your time.

Panzer says, "You know, I do accept kitty treats for my help."

Note: This is the second post in a series and there is a link to the first post.

To read the post, tootle over to mystery suspects

Help For Book Promotion And Research

Let's go.

On today's trip into the Catosphere Panzer found a post at Elizabeth Spann Craig's blog about a subject every indie author should be thinking about. Our big bad kitty indie author knows we all need to be book promotion experts.

Elizabeth Spann Craig has gathered together a treasure trove of information on book promotion and marketing for indies. Her post includes links for a free video series for Facebook advertising, links for choosing Amazon keywords, marketing practices for authors, Amazon ebook sales, and more.

Panzer says, "I've got to go. I have to watch these videos. See you tomorrow."

To read the post, tootle over to promotion

Podcasting Made Easy

Left foot forward. Right foot back.

It's been quite a while since Panzer has been to Elizabeth Spann Craig's mystery writing site. So our big black kitty explorer decided today was the day to stop in there. He's doing the Happy Cat Dance. He found a post for you as soon as he got out of the Panzermobile.

Mystery author Ms. Craig explains how she taught herself about podcasting and using Sound Cloud. She then explains how she did an interview with herself, saved it to Sound Cloud and embedded the link at her site.

Panzer says, "Looks pretty easy to me. Let's try it."

To read the post, tootle over to audio

Thoughts in Progress: Three Fun Elements to Add to Your Mystery {+ Givea...

I never thought of that.

Panzer stopped in at Mason Canyon's Thoughts in Progress blog to visit his friend Traveler (Cat in Residence). After the two bad boys got finished discussing their respective pet humans, Panzer read a guest post by Elizabeth Craig.

Ms. Craig discusses three fun things you can incorporate into your mysteries to add a little humor. Each time you add something new to your mysteries you're opening the door to new readers and a new market.

To see what things might entice new readers to your novels, tootle over to Thoughts in Progress: Three Fun Elements to Add to Your Mystery {+ Givea...:

Understanding Writing Mystery Fiction

Catch me if you can!

Panzer was out looking for more help writing mystery fiction. He stopped in at Elizabeth Spann Craig's blog. He found a post by mystery writer Joe Benevento.

Benevento explains how the hero should solve the crimes in your mystery; not by being smarter than everyone else, but by being more suspicious of people than everyone else.

If you're interested in reading about how to set-up the capture of the crooks in your mystery, tootle over to Understanding Writing Mystery Fiction

Mystery Writing is Murder: Updates on ACX and Goodreads, Thoughts on Freebies...

That's an interesting plan.

 It's been a while since we've been to author Elizabeth S. Craig's blog, so Panzer headed out to see what he could find at Mystery Writing Is Murder.


Panzer learned about Ms. Craig's marketing strategies for her books. She's been putting some of her books up at ACX as audio books to increase her books' exposure and her income stream. She's also been marketing her books using a free book in each of her series to entice  readers to buy the others in the series.  For even more exposure to readers she's been giving away ARCs at Goodreads. Panzer thinks she's got a good marketing plan!

If you're interested in the details of Elizabeth Craig's plan, tootle on over to Mystery Writing is Murder: Updates on ACX and Goodreads, Thoughts on Freebies...: By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I thought I’d give an update on both the audio book platform that I started doing this spring ...

Mystery Writing is Murder: Top 10 Things One Writer Learned About Social Medi...

Panzer and I were out tootling around in the catosphere and we stopped in at Elizabeth Spann Craig's  Mystery Writing Is Murder blog. We found a guest post by Colby Marshall about using social media.

Now, as all of you who have been here at the Cats and Crime blog for a while know, social media is not Panzer's fete. (Remember, cats don't have thumbs, so it's very hard for them to use the keyboard!) But, my bad boy reads about it so he can tell ME what he wants done. He did find some good information in the list of 10 things to know before you use social media.

So, if you're thinking about jumping on the social media bandwagon to build a tribe of followers, read the rules first. Tootle over to Mystery Writing is Murder: Top 10 Things One Writer Learned About Social Medi...: Guest Post by Colby Marshall , @ColbyMarshall In my (very brief) career as a writer, I’ve learned a few things about self-promotion on soc...

Mystery Writing is Murder: Getting the Hang of the Business End of Things

Still looking for a costume.

My bad boy Panzer has absolutely no concept about the business side of writing.

Panzer can tell you an exciting story about his and Lori's latest adventure, but ask him how his audiobook sales are going and he'll give you the deer-in-the-headlights-look. So, when he found Elizabeth Craig's post about the business side of writing, he parked the Panzermobile at her Mystery Writing Is Murder blog and stopped for a visit.

Elizabeth has some interesting information about her experiences with her agent and the business side of her writing. You'll want to read her whole post as there are some great links at the end.

So tootle on over to  Mystery Writing is Murder: Getting the Hang of the Business End of Things: by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’m not going to say that all writers are a little foggy when it comes to the business side o...

Your Author Platform According to Elizabeth Craig

Panzer has been searching the Catosphere looking for ebook marketing ideas.

He's got some of the same questions you have about book promotion. Wondering what an Author Platform is? Wondering how to set one up? Wondering if he even needs one? And, finally, wondering how much he really needs to do to have one?

Well ...

According to author Elizabeth Craig, not as much as he thought. She breaks setting up an Author Platform into four steps.

Panzer discovered he has most of it already done. He didn't even know he was building an Author Platform when he was doing it!

So, tootle on over to Author Services At The Bistro and read Guest Author Elizabeth Craig and her writing tips and see if you already built your Platform.

The Best Search Engine for Writers

Novelist Elizabeth Spann Craig has put together a search engine just for writers. Called the Writer's Knowledge Base, it lives up to it's name.

The WKB is simple to use. You key in a word or short phrase and it searches through it's collection of blog posts. It then presents you with a list of pertinent materials. For example, I keyed in "publish" and it presented me with over 1,500 matches.

Use it once and I think you'll want to bookmark the Writer's Knowledge Base  for future searches.

Let Panzer know what you think of the WKB.