Smothered A Whipped and Sipped Mystery

Guest Post: How to Decipher a Cozy Mystery

By G.P. Gottlieb

I usually pay close attention to the first few characters introduced in a cozy mystery, and I assume that the nicest and friendliest one is probably the murderer. The book might start out with a description of a donut shop, for example. It will be written in first person by Joyce, the shop’s owner, who was tragically widowed and recently started keeping company with Bernard, a heavyset, divorced pharmacist. Felice, who owns the antique shop next door, will pop in for a donut, and might complain bitterly about Larry, their bad-tempered landlord. I think to myself, ah ha, the landlord is either going to bite the dust or murder someone.

Then Felice will tell Joyce about Fred, a man from her past who’d shown up in her antiques store that very morning. They’d been madly in love a decade ago, but he’d suddenly disappeared while they were traveling together in Thailand. She’d been stunned and hurt, had a difficult time getting back to the states, and spent years getting over him. It turned out that he’d been bashed on the head by muggers and had suffered from amnesia. He’d somehow gotten back home and had been working at the local high school for the past nine years but hadn’t remembered his and Joyce’s relationship until the previous day. Ah ha, I think this Fred character is either going to get whacked, or murder someone.

Then Megan and Nancy, two of Joyce’s employees, weigh in about Fred, Felice’s newly resurfaced paramour. Megan is a sweet eighteen-year-old heading to Wellesley in the fall, and Nancy is Joyce’s twenty-year-old, bespectacled daughter, who attends the nearby community college. Nancy tells Megan that Fred had been her soccer coach, and she’d heard rumors about an inappropriate relationship with a younger girl in the school. At that moment, Joyce will bring out a tray of misshapen donuts that they certainly cannot sell, and they’ll each have one, but I only like apple fritters, so I won’t be impressed by the caramel, butterscotch icing, and chocolate glazes. Megan will burst into tears because it turns out that she was the younger girl at Nancy’s school whom Fred had sexually assaulted. She’s probably not going to be murdered, because it’s rare for beautiful young girls to come to harm in cozy mysteries, but ah ha – she has a motive to murder Fred.

Enter Ian, a dashing grad student, and Colin, his younger brother, who is in a wheelchair, and whom Ian is watching while their parents take a 25^th anniversary trip to Thailand. While Megan bats her eyelashes at adorable Colin, Nancy smiles at handsome, square-jawed Ian. Just then, Larry, the bad-tempered landlord, comes pushing into the shop, threatening that he’s going to sue Joyce for damages because she tampered with the HVAC system. Joyce explains that the donut glazes would drip if she didn’t have air conditioning in this hot, sticky southern climate. Larry shouts that she should have called him instead of tinkering with the system, and his loud, scary voice causes antique store owner Felice to have an asthma attack. She falls to the floor, gasping for air, but Ian, Colin’s dashing older brother, finds her inhaler, helps her get it to her mouth and holds her head on his lap. Larry the landlord rushes out in a huff. Ah ha, I think, the author is not fooling me. Ian will turn out to be the murderer.

Two shots are fired from outside the donut shop, narrowly missing Nancy, but hitting young Colin. It’s only a graze, but everyone is shaken. And Larry the landlord is lying dead in front of the donut shop. Ah ha – the murderer is either Fred, the amnesiac sex offender, or Bernard, the portly divorced pharmacist. See how easy it is to decipher a cozy mystery? Suddenly, I’m in the mood for Thai food. And an apple fritter for dessert.

I love cozy mysteries!

BIO: G.P. Gottlieb (https://gpgottlieb.com) has worked as a musician, a teacher, and an administrator, but she’s happiest when writing recipe-laced murder mysteries. Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery and Smothered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery take place in the spring and summer of 2019 and a third book in the series will center on a murder that occurs during the city of Chicago’s lockdown in May 2020. G.P. Gottlieb has always experimented in the kitchen and created her delicious vegan cookies and cakes in direct opposition to what she learned in courses at Chicago’s French Pastry School. She is host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, the mother of three grown children, and lives with her husband in a Chicago high-rise that is strikingly similar to the building portrayed in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series.

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Smothered by G.P. Gottlieb

Guest Post: How NOT to Pitch Your Book to Bloggers and Reviewers

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G.P. Gottlieb’s Smothered
A Whipped and Sipped Mystery

Today’s guest is a prolific author/blogger, G. P. Gottlieb, who shares her tips for pitching. Great pointers here!—Thonie

By G. P. Gottlieb

“I would be delighted to be interviewed for the New Books Network. Thanks. Here’s my email.”

I just deleted that message. I am host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. Although I interview authors of both commercially and independently published fiction, I focus on independent presses, which I believe deserve more attention. My purview is contemporary literary fiction and I have recently also started interviewing one literary mystery writer each month. To find authors, I review pitches from publishers and publicists, read journals, get recommendations from other authors, and scroll through my social media groups.

I am also an author (my first culinary mystery was released in 2019) and know how hard it is to find readers, so I’m surprised that so many authors and publicists don’t take the time to prepare before contacting me. They don’t look me up on the NBN website or listen to any of my podcasts, all available on the site for free. If they checked, they’d see that there is a place to pitch their books, they’d notice that there are many different NBN channels, and they’d learn that I’m the host for New Books in Literature.

For my own marketing purposes regarding my soon-to-be-published second culinary mystery, I’ve spent hours researching potential mystery book reviewers, podcasters, bloggers, and other sites. Before sending a request, I check the host’s review policy, I triple-check the spelling of the host’s name, and I confirm that the host is interested in culinary mysteries. I bet that most people who accept pitches would rather get books that interest them, presented thoughtfully, than three pages of blurbs about a book they won’t read or shot-in-the-dark messages which, like me, they’ll just delete.

I like to think of it as creating a relationship instead of asking a favor of someone I’ve never met. Thonie Hevron, a mystery author who posts guest essays and book reviews on her website and in all the usual places, talks about professional courtesy. “Don’t waste another’s precious time. This business is about relationships, not what you can get from another,” she says, adding, “Some of the most satisfying professional and personal relationship I have are with authors I’ve met online.”

She’s way friendlier than me, but I finally figured out how important it is to become Facebook friends with authors I’ve interviewed and with bloggers and reviewers who have helped me publicize my culinary mystery. Even if I just follow them and they don’t follow me back, I get more of a feeling that we’re all in this together.

There is no guarantee that these suggestions will assure you a successful book launch or wonderful sales, but maybe they’ll help you establish a better relationship with bloggers, bookstore owners, and podcast hosts who just might dedicate some time to helping you publicize your book.

Be clear and upfront in the subject line. Type: “Book Review Request,” or “Guest Blog Post.” Remember that your e-mail could be one of hundreds in their inbox. One of my colleagues always responds, even if the subject line says, “You Must Read My Amazing, Award-Winning Novel.” That colleague is a sweetie-pie. I’d delete it in a heartbeat.

Acknowledge a human being in your greeting. Don’t start blabbing about your book without some kind of greeting. “Dear G.P.” is fine, or “Hi, Best Blog in the World.” Being friendly goes a long way.

Acknowledge the site before launching into a pitch, maybe say something about it. “Brilliant questions in your penetrating interview with W. Shakespeare. My novel is also set in England!”

Don’t give a host work to do. If it’s a mysterious title, explain it. If you message my Facebook page, say you’re requesting an interview and give me your FB link and email address. I’m not going to take the time to google you. And one message will be sufficient – I hate how FB Messenger interrupts whatever I’m doing.

If you don’t hear back, don’t send a follow-up request. Just put that host/blogger/reviewer in your ‘Not this time’ file. You can try again with your next book. Or the one after that. For this book, I sent out nearly 100 requests for reviews and received about 25 responses. It’s a numbers game. Just send out a lot of requests.

Don’t argue with a potential host/blogger/reviewer: If I tell you I’m not interested in ‘Mystery of the Lost Shoe,’ don’t tell me that it’s completely different from anything I’ve ever read. As my NBN colleague, C.P. Lesley, the friendly host for New Books in Historical Fiction writes, “If the host tells you she has no time in her schedule, don’t write back demanding to know when space might be available.”

Make sure to ask what format the host prefers: Don’t add attachments until they are requested. And if the host prefers reading a physical book, don’t go into a lengthy explanation about why it’s only available as an eBook. Yup, that happened once. You are asking someone to invest time in helping you market your book, so offer to send the format they prefer, even if it costs more.

Follow the host/blogger/reviewer on social media: Denise Fleischer, who reviews books and offers book promotions at Gotta Write Network says, “This is the single best way of thanking someone who helps publicize your book.” Denise also suggests that you consider the nominal fee sometimes charged for coordinating a blog tour and thank the host/reviewer/blogger on your social media.

I’m sure, or relatively sure, that I don’t need to mention this (I can ‘hear’ you rolling your eyes) but it would be nice if you conclude your request with a “thank you.”

Good luck, fellow authors!

***About G.P. Gottlieb***: (https://gpgottlieb.com)
G.P. has worked as a musician, a teacher, and an administrator, but she’s happiest when writing recipe-laced murder mysteries. Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery and Smothered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery take place in the spring and summer of 2019 and a third book in the series will center on a murder that occurs during the city of Chicago’s lockdown in May 2020. G.P. Gottlieb has always experimented in the kitchen and created her delicious vegan cookies and cakes in direct opposition to what she learned in courses at Chicago’s French Pastry School. She is host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, the mother of three grown children, and lives with her husband in a Chicago high-rise that is strikingly similar to the building portrayed in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series.

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