Cool new movie for Historical fans

The new movie The Duchess with Keira Knightly is about Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire--the beautiful, witty socialite beloved of all of London in the 18th century (except of course by her husband). I've always been fascinated by her and that time. I'll be interested to see how Charles James Fox is portrayed.

I have no idea how well this movie is done, but it might be worth looking at, if only for the costumes!

Info at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p hp?storyId=94662956

and: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0864761/

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

My Agent Blogging Today

My agent did a blog/interview today over at

www.muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com

He offers some good advice about agent seeking and the biz.

Jennifer Ashley

Live Radio Show tonight (9/2/08)

Tonight I will be talking (with my mouth) on Canned Laughter and Coffee radio show hosted by author Renee Bernard.

Date: 9/2/08
Time: 8:16 EST (that's 5:15 PST)
Place: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Circle-Of-Seven/2008/09/03/Canned-Laughter-and-Coffee

Or http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ and search on Canned Laughter and Coffee.

There will be a live chat at the same time, and if I can figure out the technology I'll answer questions, etc.

I'll be talking about Immortals: The Redeeming . . . well, anything Renee asks me, actually! She's a hoot, so it should be a fun show.

Looking forward to it!

The Importance of the Second Opinion

High time I did another post. I've been working my fingers to the bone after RWA Nationals, because of course conventions happen right when I have to do about fifty other things.

I haven't said much about critique partners, writing groups, and critique groups but it's a good topic.

I offer this advice:

1. Don't expect to find the perfect crit. partner/group right away. In my opinion, it's better to be on your own than be with a bad critique partner. Take time to find just the right person/people.

2. Find someone who "gets" you. If your goal is to write novels for Silhouette Special Edition, that will take a different kind of voice and storytelling style than if you're writing gritty thrillers for Random House. Your crit. partner should understand the genre and subgenre you are writing. (They don't necessarily have to write it themselves, but they should have read it and understand what the audience wants. This is true for everything from Young Adult fantasy to Harlequin to gritty thrillers at Random House.)

3. A critique group isn't a bashing session. Constructive criticism is helpful, saying "I can't believe you wrote that crap" isn't. A critique is pointing out weaknesses and saying why they're weak, and pointing out strengths and saying why they're strong. (I always start by saying what I loved before I get down to what bugged me.)

4. Wait 24 hours after getting the criticism to respond. The immediate instinct is to explain what the CP didn't think was good or didn't understand. Let it sink in--then decide whether to agree with the critique, ignore it, or ask for more clarification.

5. Find people who can turn your material around quickly, like in a day or two to a week. When you get published, deadlines are tight, and you need someone who can read fast so you can revise quickly. Likewise, if you decide to enter a contest, you need that critique so you can fix things before the contest deadline. Turn their material around just as quickly.

6. Don't believe everything your CP or crit. group says absolutely. Everything is subjective. If you have four people agree your hero is weak, your hero might be weak. If you get four different responses, then it might just be different tastes.

A true story: I once had a partial ms. critiqued by two different published authors. Each circled the same paragraph (description of the hero). One told me it caught her attention because it was wonderful and vivid, the other told me it was putrid (she used more diplomatic words, but that was the gist). Who was I to believe? (I never finished that book, btw.)

7. Don't let your ms. get critiqued to death. Give your CP or group a chapter or chunk and have them critique it ONCE. Fix it and move on. If you radically rewrite the entire book and want their opinion on the rewrite, that's fine, but again, ONCE.

8. Don't let your CP change your voice, your characters, and your plot into something they want to write themselves (and don't do that to your CP). It's ok if they don't like what you're writing, as long as they understand your audience and what you're trying to do. And a bad transition is a bad transition no matter what the genre.

9. On the other hand a CP or critique group who gushes about everything you do ("Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, I love it!") and offers no constructive criticism isn't helping you. Stroking your ego, yes; helping, no.

10. And last: Don't get critiqued to seek validation; get critiqued to make your writing stronger.

There it is, ten thoughts on critique groups.

I'm sure there's more. Feel free to add.

www.jennifersromances.com

RWA

I'm off to SF and RWA Nationals today. I plan to have a low-key RWA this year--meet with my editors, sign books, and listen. If I hear any good industry news, publishing tips, and whatnot, I'll report.

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

On Professionalism

Someone on a yahoo group posted this link to a Writer's Digest article on professionalism, and I'm offering it lieu of a post.

I am working on a post about writers's block (which I suffered last year and am happily over--I want to share the misery and how I overcame it).

I'm also working on three books, two novellas, a proposal, and preparing for the RWA National conference in between various dr.'s appointments. Hence the blog has been a bit quiet.

Follow the link below to "Don't Be a Writing Diva." I especially like #11 and #18. #2 Send your book in before deadline---umm, I'll have to work on that one. :-)

http://writersdigest.com:80/article/dont-be-a-writing-diva/

BEA and things

Over the past weekend, I went to Los Angeles to Book Expo America.

What a reader's paradise! Books, books everywhere from almost every publisher you can name--booths had authors signing free copies or gave away samples and arcs. I had to mail a big box home with all the stuff I collected (I'm still waiting for UPS to deliver it).

I signed a large stack of arcs for my September release (Immortals: The Redeeming) and gave away many bookmarks and pens.

What is Book Expo America? And why do we care?

BEA is a trade show, the American equivalent of the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair. Here publishers spread their wares and try to woo booksellers, distributors, libraries, and wholesalers to buy, buy, buy.

Many publishers simply had tables with catalogs where the publisher's sales reps could sit and chat with buyers. I saw much activity of this sort. In fact, when I approached the Penguin booth (I write for Berkley, one of their imprints), all the sales reps were engaged, so I didn't get a chance to introduce myself.

Another thing that happens at BEA and the other fairs is secondary rights sales. It's a place where publishers try to interest overseas publishers into buying foreign rights or interest tv/movie producers into offering options. This is why you want your publisher to go to BEA. :-)

(By the way, don't think you are ever too new or too unknown to get foreign rights sales or interest from tv/movie producers. It can happen to any author at any publisher at any time. This is why you need to know exactly who is getting what percentage of what rights in your first book contract. Which is why I'm always going on about needing agents.)

For me, the author, the fun was simply to see what publishers were up to (and get freebies). There were 37,000 attendees at the show, which took up two huge halls in the Los Angeles Convention center. The place teemed with people, and my feet ached from walking from one hall to the other.

A disappointment for me was that most publishers were ignoring their genre books in favor of pushing their big-name, hardback and mainstream authors. I am a huge genre fan--I read sf-fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, and the like by the ton. If I have a choice between a Pulitzer winning, Oprah-sanctioned novel and a midlist science fiction, I'll go for the midlist sci-fi every time. I think there's a lot in genre novels that gets buried by all the glitter/glamour surrounding the mega-stars of mainstream.

So, I was disappointed that most of the big publishers completely ignored their top romance novelists, their top urban fantasy writers, and others who sell tons of books and make them gobs of money, in order to look serious and literary.

That's just my opinion. Ahem.

My other publisher, Dorchester, publishes nothing but genre novels, so I loved their booth (and it was quite popular, I might add). Dorchester publishes romance, thrillers, horror, and the Hard Case Crime imprint (and I think still westerns, but I'm not sure about that).

I have a pic of the wall of their booth, showing the books they were showcasing. (Can I be smug that one of them was mine? It's one of the red covers on the yellow background. Click the picture to look at a larger version)

Another disappointment was that I didn't get much industry buzz. Since the point was to push to buyers, of course no one was going to talk about what wasn't working any more.

What I gleaned just through observation was that many publishers are pushing children's books and YA (the third book of the Eragon series was prominently featured all over the place, and I do mean all over the place).

Romance still is selling well. Any publishers (like Harlequin and Dorchester) who were showcasing their romance writers had constant traffic at their booths. (I confess I have no idea how much of that was booksellers/book buyers vs. fans.)

Paranormal apparently is still strong. At the Dorchester booth, almost all the romances showcased were paranormal. The Penguin booth featured huge posters for Christine Feehan and L.K. Hamilton (yes, they're genre, but they're also big-name hardback sellers.)

I heard that far fewer booksellers and librarians attended this year as compared to last year. I think part of that was the location. Los Angeles is expensive and difficult to get to for east coast or midwest people. (I went only because California is a short flight for me.) L.A. is a royal pain to navigate as well.

If you are an unpublished author and decide to look in on BEA, don't go with the idea you'll be able to pitch a book. Most of the acquiring editors don't go. It's for the sales side of the house. However, it's a good place to look around, pick up the publishers' catalogs, and grab the books the publishers are giving away.

Why read those other authors' books? Because those authors are the ones the publishers are showing off--usually offering advance copies of books that will come out in the fall. It's a good way to know what kind of books and writing has the publishers excited.

In other words, they're not just giving away the books they have too many of. It's expensive for the publisher to produce advance reader copies for giveaway, expensive to ship them to the expo, expensive to get the author a badge so they can come in and sign--you get the idea. They bring in what they want the buyers to notice. Good market research.

I admit I was not pursuing as much market knowledge this trip as I could have been. Just walking from hall to hall was draining, I was looking for specific publishers and authors, and I was worried about not getting back to our booth in time for the signing. Plus I was only there Friday, so if anything exciting happened on Saturday I missed it.

Here we are, from right to left: C.L. Wilson, Gemma Holliday, and Jennifer Ashley

All in all, it was an interesting, upbeat, exciting experience, and I'd do it again. Though I'll bring a bigger bag next time.

Facing Rejection

Author Karen McCullough posted such a wonderful take on handling rejection (on the blog of author Marilu Mann) that I thought I'd link to it for my blog advice today:

http://marilumann.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-blog-karen-mccullough-on-handling.html

She's spelled it out very well.

I'm off to Book Expo America to see what's up and sign arcs of Immortals: The Redeeming. Take care,

Jennifer Ashley

Brenda Novak's Charity Auction

Each year Brenda Novak raises thousands of dollars for juvenile diabetes research, and receives donations from hundreds of authors, editors, and agents.

This year I dontated a big tote bag of goodies. Included in my giveaway are signed books, tea and coffee, kitchen goodies, pens, jewelry bags and other fun stuff, all in a Jennifer Ashley / Allyson James totebag.

Click here to view the item and bid. You can click the around the site to find many, many more items to bid on while you're there, including agent or editor manuscript evaluations.

Bidding ends May 31.

Jennifer Ashley
http://www.jennifersromances.com/

Reflections of a 5.5 - year career

November 2002 marked the anniversary of my first ever publication, a romance novel called Perils of the Heart published by Leisure Books. I was on top of the world, and at the same time terrified. I thought I knew so much, but when the first book hit the shelves, I realized I knew so little.

I thought I'd share some of what I've learned since then, listed in no particular order:

1. Getting a book published is only a step. If you want to make a career of writing, you have to make plans, work hard, lose sleep, get indigestion, and keep going.

2. Authors have little or no control over the following:

• Covers
• Type size and layout inside the book
• Back blurbs
• Book size (hardback, trade, or mass market)
• Print runs
• Bookseller orders
• Bookstore placement
• Book reorders and restocking
• Reviews
• Sales

3. What made some of my books sell well:

• Good cover
• Catchy title
• Catchy premise
• Part of a series
• Books published close together
• Publisher marketing to booksellers
• Popularity of previous books

4. What had little to do with book sales:

• Reviews (good or bad)
• Online rankings (Amazon; B&N)
• Some of my own marketing efforts
  

5. It's hard to believe you can get published when NY just isn't buying, when bookstores report declining sales, when everyone around you says it can't be done unless you sleep with two agents, an editor, and a sales director. THEY'RE WRONG. Keep trying.

6. What's in your heart and what publishers are buying may not be the same thing. The trick is to combine the two. (If what's in your heart is what's selling, then you've saved a step.)

7. Bad reviews don't mean bad sales. What drove the reviewer nuts might be the exact element that readers glom like there's no tomorrow.

8. Good reviews and nice awards don't necessarily mean good sales, either.

9. Patience is a must!! Things will not always happen to your time-table. Keep a relative time-table, but learn to be flexible.

10. You're not always in the spotlight. When you are, enjoy it, bow graciously, move back to the wings, and plan your next foray into the spotlight.

11. An agent is essential to moving beyond small press. You can get into a few NY houses without one, but you need one to move beyond their midlist.

12. Agents do much more than sell your book to a publisher. They do a bazillion things you never thought of to keep you happily published, paid, and have a chance at that spotlight.

13. Writers can make gobs of money or they can make next to nothing. Just a year can make a big difference either way.

14. The key to success is persistence and consistency. Keep writing, keep submitting, keep writing, keep submitting.

15. The publishing world is "not fair." Other authors will get the things you want (more publicity, a better contract, more money--or they'll get published and you won't). Likewise, you will get things that other authors want. New authors can explode into bestsellerdom while authors who have worked patiently for ten years still haven't reached it. That is the way of things.

16. Other authors will become some of the best friends you will ever have.

17. You will pick up strange enemies who think that if they can shoot you down, you'll fail and they'll step into your shoes. Ha ha ha ha ha. It doesn't work that way. (See the "not fair" point).

18. Making a bestseller list is more about mathematics than about the book itself. You not only need a great book but 1. large print run; 2. terrific distribution; 3. quickly filled orders and re-orders; and 4. good placement in the stores (this is paid for by the publishers). If you have a great book and not the other four, it will not hit a bestseller list. (This does not mean that it will not sell well, because word of mouth is very powerful.)

19. Publishing is the most illogical, old-fashioned, uncontrollable business you can ever get into. Don't expect it to make sense.

20. Some of your books will sell better than others (or some will be published, and some won't). Learn to enjoy the surprise of a good seller, let go of those that disappoint you.

21. Pick your battles. You won't and can't win them all. Go for the most important ones and let the little things go. On the other hand, don't let too many little things add up into one big nightmare.

22. Be courteous to everyone, not just the people you think will make you rich and famous. Treat everyone like they might make you rich and famous. You never know! (And it's just good manners.)

23. If you hate what's selling like hotcakes, don't force yourself to write it. The trend won't last forever, and you'll be miserable. Remember that after you sell the first book, your editor will expect your next one to be in the same vein. Keep an eye on the market, but don't be a slave to it.

24. Don't wait for "permission" to write. Explore, enjoy, learn, hone your skills, revel in the art, write what you want to.

25. Enjoy writing!! Why on earth should you be an author if you hate it? I still love to write. I just came off of heavy deadline stress and had free time (wow). What did I do? Wrote! I still do it for my own entertainment--I've just found a way to make money at it.

Please feel free to add to this list! What have you learned since starting to write with an eye toward publication?