Virtues of the Virtual Tour

by Douglas Corleone


Rather than trek from city to city, many authors today are touring from home in their underwear.  The virtual tour continues to rise in popularity, and there is no shortage of venues in the blogosphere to visit.  No air travel, no road trips, no filling the tank at four bucks a gallon – sounds like a terrific alternative to the traditional tour.  But is it? I’m touring virtually right here right now, though I am wearing shorts and a tank top.  I live in Hawaii, which makes the conventional tour a bit more difficult – but not impossible.  So, why am I typing instead of talking to you at a bookstore?  Do virtual tours sell books? 
 
Maybe.  But I don’t think they sell all that many.  What the virtual tour does do is give an author exposure.  Before reading this, you may have never heard the name Douglas Corleone or the title of my latest novel, Last Lawyer Standing.  But if you just read that sentence, you have now.  (Please try to remember it).  Are you likely to rush over to Amazon and purchase my book based on my musings on virtual tours?  Of course not.  But my name may stick in your head – Douglas Corleone, Douglas Corleone, Douglas Corleone – and next spring when my first international thriller titled Good as Gone comes out, you may remember it.  (If you need help remembering my surname, think of the Corleone family in The Godfather saga). 

In advertising it’s well known that a consumer needs to see a product about 7 or 8 times before the product truly sinks into that consumer’s memory.  The bar I’ve set for virtual tours is 30 blogs in 30 days.  (I accomplished that last year; this year, only half as many).  So if you come across half my guest blog posts this year, there’s a chance you’ll remember my name, maybe even my face, and hopefully my book jacket, next time you’re browsing the shelves in the New Mysteries section at Barnes & Noble.  And maybe then, you’ll pick up the book, read the dust jacket.  If so, whether you purchase the book or not, the virtual tour has served its purpose. 

The virtual tour should remain part of any new author’s arsenal.  But it shouldn’t replace the traditional tour.  Nothing compares to meeting readers face-to-face and signing their books in front of them.  The virtue of the virtual tour is to give an author an additional platform, to expand his or her overall internet presence.  If it accomplishes that minor goal, it’s done its job and it was well worth the 400 or 500 words written in your underwear.  Thanks to the Stiletto Gang for helping me help you remember my name – Douglas Corleone, Douglas Corleone, Douglas Corleone – though I still hope to meet you someday face-to-face.  Let’s say next spring?

Buy Last Lawyer Standing at Amazon

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Bio: Douglas Corleone is the author of the Kevin Corvelli crime novels published by St. Martin's Minotaur. A former New York City criminal defense attorney, Doug now resides in the Hawaiian Islands, where he is currently at work on his next novel. Visit him online at www.douglascorleone.com and follow him on Twitter @douglascorleone and Facebook.

Writing from Hawaii

by Douglas Corleone

If you’ve seen the new Hawaii Five-0 on CBS, you know that Hawaii, for all its beauty, can still make an effective setting for a gritty crime series. In fact, the contrast of horrible happenings in paradise inevitably adds another dimension to the stories. Readers often experience an enhanced sense of dread as they wonder, What hope do we have if we’re not even safe in a veritable utopia?

I first moved to Honolulu from New York City in 2005. I had never even visited Hawaii before, so I was seeing the islands with completely fresh eyes. It was the perfect opportunity to begin writing about another criminal defense attorney who left the Big Apple for paradise. In those first days at my small work space overlooking Waikiki Beach, I created the character who would eventually become the protagonist of my mystery series – hotshot defense lawyer Kevin Corvelli.

To say that Hawaii was inspiring would be an understatement. The island of Oahu doesn’t only serve as the setting for my first two novels – ONE MAN’S PARADISE and NIGHT ON FIRE – it’s also my home and the only place in which I feel comfortable writing. I attribute that to the sense of calm I experience here, not only because of the perfect weather, but because of the laid-back atmosphere, the general serenity of the island’s population.

People don’t fight for parking spaces here (even though there is a terrible lack of parking in certain areas). I haven’t received the middle finger since I moved here; drivers allow you to merge and all they expect in return is a friendly shaka (the hand gesture for “hang loose”). Most islanders operate on aloha time, which is to say that clocks don’t matter much here in Hawaii. And best of all, I was able to leave my suits and ties back in the Big Apple. Here I wear T-shirts and shorts and sandals. Getting dressed up means slipping into a comfortable Tommy Bahama or Tori Richard aloha shirt.

Of course, island life isn’t for everybody. In the past two years I’ve lost four good friends who moved back to the mainland. But Hawaii works for me and my family. My wife Jill is happier here than she was when she lived in New York and Florida. My toddler son Jack doesn’t yet know anywhere else, but he certainly seems to enjoy being able to play outside and to splash in the ocean year round. And me, well, as I said earlier, I’ve found my home.

My point is, setting is as important for writers as it is for their stories. It’s difficult to imagine Raymond Chandler writing from anywhere but Los Angeles. Think of how John Grisham’s stories would differ if they weren’t set in his sometimes turbulent but beloved South. Even now emerging crime writers are marking new territory, whether it be present-day San Francisco or turn-of-the-century New York, or even a sleepy small town in rural Pennsylvania.

Some stories are remembered as much for their setting as for their characters. The same, I think, is true of authors. If my series character Kevin Corvelli and I are remembered at all, I hope we’ll be remembered for Honolulu. My advice to aspiring writers: whatever your setting, wherever you write from, make the area pop off the page, and above all, make it your own.

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DOUGLAS CORLEONE is the author of the Kevin Corvelli crime series set in Hawaii. His debut novel ONE MAN'S PARADISE won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. A former New York City criminal defense attorney, Corleone now resides in the Hawaiian Islands, where he writes full-time. NIGHT ON FIRE is his second novel. You can visit him at http://www.douglascorleone.com/