My editor at Dorchester, Leah Hultenschmidt, is blogging at Ninc today. Good questions about submitting, getting published, the industry today.
http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-editor-leah-hultenschmidt
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Writer's Block... Excuse me, Writer's Attitude
I've been promising a long time I would write about writer's block.
I've procrastinated by finding many other things to write about, and besides, I've been busy.
Or maybe I just had writer's block about it. :-)
This is what happened to me in 2007. In the spring, I turned in a ms. (Immortals: The Gathering, if anyone wants to know), and then
I. Burned. Out.
I didn't want to write anything. For any reason. I turned to reading, went to conferences, got check-ups, cleaned out my house, taught other people how to get published.
This wasn't just procrastination. I had another book due that summer, but any time I sat down to do it... I had nothing.
One big empty blank.
And I didn't care.
I told myself I was watching my career slip away. I told myself I was a wimp. I promised myself all nice kinds of things if I would just get the next ms. done.
I still couldn't write. Oh, I'd might get an idea and sit down and type a page or two, then the computer would be idle for days.
If I had two or three years to write a book, this wouldn't be a problem. I had three months.
And I couldn't be paid to care.
(Actually, I was being paid to care... I'd gotten an advance for signing the contract. But I didn't care.)
By the way, I never call it Writer's Block. I call it Writer's Attitude. If I can trick it, you see, I might be able to conquer it.
Exciting things happened while I had my Writer's Attitude. I made the USA Today Bestseller list for the first time. I was nominated for a Rita. I WON the Rita.
It was wonderful! The stress of the excitement also added to my burnout.
And then... my deadline was less than a month away. Panic set in. What did that do? Yes, made things worse.
It was horrible. Some days I hated myself. Other days, I just didn't care.
My deadline was looming. And guess what I got to reward myself with after that book was done? Yes, another book. In fact, I had deadlines all the way up to Sept. of 2008 by that time.
Don't think that didn't add another stone to the big weight around my neck.
Obviously, I got through it, because the book I blocked, Highlander Ever After, did get finished, turned in, published. The next book, which also terrified me, got finished, turned in, published (it came out last month).
I'm sure what everyone wants to know is how I got through the block.
I'm not blocked now (knock on wood). The joy came back. It's still here. I'm booked solid until mid-2010 with writing now. Yay!
How I Got Through Writer's Attitude without Losing My Job or My Mind
1. I know: I should have stopped beating myself up and started giving myself positive messages (it's ok to be blocked, relax, if you don't want to write, don't stop yourself doing something else.)
I flunked Positive Messaging. I beat myself up the whole ride.
2. I couldn't trick my muse (or give it positive messages). So I tricked the left side of my brain, the non-creative one.
Tricks that worked:
Taking laptop (without Internet) to a coffee house or library, and making myself write X number of pages. No leaving until they were done. I could write anything, as long as it had something to do with the novel that needed to get done.
Getting plenty of sleep. Stress is exhausting, and you can't write when you're exhausted.
Exercising. See sleep.
Cutting back on committments that have nothing to do with writing (conference appearances, volunteering, speaking). I like to "give back", but I was doing so at the cost of my own creativity.
Tricking the Right Brain
I still had to get my muse going so I had something to say when I was rested, in shape, and had freed up my time.
1. I let myself be a bad writer. I never believe that what I write is brilliant; I always believe it's crap. I feared that now I was a "bestseller" and a "RITA winner," had to be brilliant. People told me that all this meant I was already wonderful, but I had sold the books/won the prize for books I'd written nearly two years before. Who says I could do it again?
I allowed myself to be bad--or actually neutral--until I got the words on a page. To paraphrase Nora Roberts: you can fix bad writing, but you can't fix a blank page.
2. I fed my muse. I indulged in books I loved, watched DVDs, did non-writing creative things like music and art.
3. I looked for wisdom from other authors. One author (and I'm sorry, I can't now recall who it was), suggested this exercise:
Write a scene that you won't turn in, that you won't show anyone. Make it as erotic or dramatic, or whatever, as you want. Let yourself go. Never, ever show this scene to anyone! No one will judge it; no one will see it. Do whatever you feel, without inhibition.
This one helped me a lot. As I wrote my scene (which nooooo one gets to read, evah), I felt the walls I had built between myself and my stories crumble and fall.
I read it back--it was good! It had that heart-squeezing, gut wrenching emotion I had completely blocked from myself. (But no, no one gets to see it.)
I realized how inhibited I had gotten: I thought I had to be briliant all the time. Result: I second-guessed every word, every scene, every line. I worried so much about everything I wrote that I couldn't write anything.
When I wrote that scene I wasn't going to turn in, would never be published, would never be seen even by my husband . . . suddenly it was all about the story, the characters in that room, and the feeling.
The head shut up, and the heart came back.
So, I'm hoping that sharing these thoughts might help someone else break through.
The happy ending for me was: When I was halfway through the book after the burnout book, the joy of writing came back. I just went for it, let my heart tell the story. My editor loved it, RT gave it a fantastic review, and it's selling well.
If anyone else wants to share how they got through writer's block, please do!!!
I've procrastinated by finding many other things to write about, and besides, I've been busy.
Or maybe I just had writer's block about it. :-)
This is what happened to me in 2007. In the spring, I turned in a ms. (Immortals: The Gathering, if anyone wants to know), and then
I. Burned. Out.
I didn't want to write anything. For any reason. I turned to reading, went to conferences, got check-ups, cleaned out my house, taught other people how to get published.
This wasn't just procrastination. I had another book due that summer, but any time I sat down to do it... I had nothing.
One big empty blank.
And I didn't care.
I told myself I was watching my career slip away. I told myself I was a wimp. I promised myself all nice kinds of things if I would just get the next ms. done.
I still couldn't write. Oh, I'd might get an idea and sit down and type a page or two, then the computer would be idle for days.
If I had two or three years to write a book, this wouldn't be a problem. I had three months.
And I couldn't be paid to care.
(Actually, I was being paid to care... I'd gotten an advance for signing the contract. But I didn't care.)
By the way, I never call it Writer's Block. I call it Writer's Attitude. If I can trick it, you see, I might be able to conquer it.
Exciting things happened while I had my Writer's Attitude. I made the USA Today Bestseller list for the first time. I was nominated for a Rita. I WON the Rita.
It was wonderful! The stress of the excitement also added to my burnout.
And then... my deadline was less than a month away. Panic set in. What did that do? Yes, made things worse.
It was horrible. Some days I hated myself. Other days, I just didn't care.
My deadline was looming. And guess what I got to reward myself with after that book was done? Yes, another book. In fact, I had deadlines all the way up to Sept. of 2008 by that time.
Don't think that didn't add another stone to the big weight around my neck.
Obviously, I got through it, because the book I blocked, Highlander Ever After, did get finished, turned in, published. The next book, which also terrified me, got finished, turned in, published (it came out last month).
I'm sure what everyone wants to know is how I got through the block.
I'm not blocked now (knock on wood). The joy came back. It's still here. I'm booked solid until mid-2010 with writing now. Yay!
How I Got Through Writer's Attitude without Losing My Job or My Mind
1. I know: I should have stopped beating myself up and started giving myself positive messages (it's ok to be blocked, relax, if you don't want to write, don't stop yourself doing something else.)
I flunked Positive Messaging. I beat myself up the whole ride.
2. I couldn't trick my muse (or give it positive messages). So I tricked the left side of my brain, the non-creative one.
Tricks that worked:
Taking laptop (without Internet) to a coffee house or library, and making myself write X number of pages. No leaving until they were done. I could write anything, as long as it had something to do with the novel that needed to get done.
Getting plenty of sleep. Stress is exhausting, and you can't write when you're exhausted.
Exercising. See sleep.
Cutting back on committments that have nothing to do with writing (conference appearances, volunteering, speaking). I like to "give back", but I was doing so at the cost of my own creativity.
Tricking the Right Brain
I still had to get my muse going so I had something to say when I was rested, in shape, and had freed up my time.
1. I let myself be a bad writer. I never believe that what I write is brilliant; I always believe it's crap. I feared that now I was a "bestseller" and a "RITA winner," had to be brilliant. People told me that all this meant I was already wonderful, but I had sold the books/won the prize for books I'd written nearly two years before. Who says I could do it again?
I allowed myself to be bad--or actually neutral--until I got the words on a page. To paraphrase Nora Roberts: you can fix bad writing, but you can't fix a blank page.
2. I fed my muse. I indulged in books I loved, watched DVDs, did non-writing creative things like music and art.
3. I looked for wisdom from other authors. One author (and I'm sorry, I can't now recall who it was), suggested this exercise:
Write a scene that you won't turn in, that you won't show anyone. Make it as erotic or dramatic, or whatever, as you want. Let yourself go. Never, ever show this scene to anyone! No one will judge it; no one will see it. Do whatever you feel, without inhibition.
This one helped me a lot. As I wrote my scene (which nooooo one gets to read, evah), I felt the walls I had built between myself and my stories crumble and fall.
I read it back--it was good! It had that heart-squeezing, gut wrenching emotion I had completely blocked from myself. (But no, no one gets to see it.)
I realized how inhibited I had gotten: I thought I had to be briliant all the time. Result: I second-guessed every word, every scene, every line. I worried so much about everything I wrote that I couldn't write anything.
When I wrote that scene I wasn't going to turn in, would never be published, would never be seen even by my husband . . . suddenly it was all about the story, the characters in that room, and the feeling.
The head shut up, and the heart came back.
So, I'm hoping that sharing these thoughts might help someone else break through.
The happy ending for me was: When I was halfway through the book after the burnout book, the joy of writing came back. I just went for it, let my heart tell the story. My editor loved it, RT gave it a fantastic review, and it's selling well.
If anyone else wants to share how they got through writer's block, please do!!!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Writing Lean (gacked from my editor)
My editor runs a terrific and informative blog over at http://www.romanticreads.net She had a good post the other day about slimming your writing:
A couple spoke to me especially (Leah in quotes; my comments in brackets):
"--Avoid explanatory dialogue – characters shouldn’t explain things they would obviously know just for the sake of the reader. Find another way to include the information."
[This drives me nuts. I see this on TV a lot too--the characters discussing what happened between the climactic scene and the denoument: "Wasn't it lucky that so-and-so happened by in his truck to pick us all up so we didn't have to walk home after killing the bad guy? Especially since it was raining."]
"--Be wary of a lot of gazing. It’s not very action-oriented. Most readers will follow the story without it." [OK, I DO THIS!!! I try to trim it out in the final draft.]
"--Simplify as much as possible. I can’t tell you many times I’ve changed “She moved her head up and down in agreement” to “She nodded.”"
[And I think we don't need as many nods and head shakes as we put in. I know I delete many!]
"--Avoid dialogue tags that repeat the words just said. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. Or “I agree,” he concurred. Really, “said” is just fine."
[I sweat A LOT over dialog tags--most aren't necessary at all. The action and the dialog itself should tell you who's speaking. But then, sometimes you do have to keep the reader clued in to who just said what (esp. if there are many people in the scene.) It's a tricky balance.
My favorite solution is {Short action sentence. "Dialog."} or {"Dialog." Short action sentence. "Dialog."} Again, if you do that every time, it's clunky. I read my dialogs over and over again, fine tuning until I find the right balance of tags.]
Another quirk that bugs me is the overuse of name-calling in dialog--as in this imaginary conversation between me and my sweetie:
How are you today, Jennifer?
Not too bad, Forrest.
So, Jennifer, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?
Forrest, I thought you'd never ask.
Great, Jennifer, what time do you want to go?
I'm exaggerating a little, but I have seen things very close to this in published novels. No one speaks to each other in this fashion. You say a person's name to get their attention or for emphasis, then you talk without names. Same with endearments--they're sweet, but if the hero says it every time he opens his mouth, it's a bit much.
Check out Leah's blog for more slimming tips. (Scroll down to the entry; it was a couple of days ago.)
http://www.romanticreads.net
A couple spoke to me especially (Leah in quotes; my comments in brackets):
"--Avoid explanatory dialogue – characters shouldn’t explain things they would obviously know just for the sake of the reader. Find another way to include the information."
[This drives me nuts. I see this on TV a lot too--the characters discussing what happened between the climactic scene and the denoument: "Wasn't it lucky that so-and-so happened by in his truck to pick us all up so we didn't have to walk home after killing the bad guy? Especially since it was raining."]
"--Be wary of a lot of gazing. It’s not very action-oriented. Most readers will follow the story without it." [OK, I DO THIS!!! I try to trim it out in the final draft.]
"--Simplify as much as possible. I can’t tell you many times I’ve changed “She moved her head up and down in agreement” to “She nodded.”"
[And I think we don't need as many nods and head shakes as we put in. I know I delete many!]
"--Avoid dialogue tags that repeat the words just said. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. Or “I agree,” he concurred. Really, “said” is just fine."
[I sweat A LOT over dialog tags--most aren't necessary at all. The action and the dialog itself should tell you who's speaking. But then, sometimes you do have to keep the reader clued in to who just said what (esp. if there are many people in the scene.) It's a tricky balance.
My favorite solution is {Short action sentence. "Dialog."} or {"Dialog." Short action sentence. "Dialog."} Again, if you do that every time, it's clunky. I read my dialogs over and over again, fine tuning until I find the right balance of tags.]
Another quirk that bugs me is the overuse of name-calling in dialog--as in this imaginary conversation between me and my sweetie:
How are you today, Jennifer?
Not too bad, Forrest.
So, Jennifer, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?
Forrest, I thought you'd never ask.
Great, Jennifer, what time do you want to go?
I'm exaggerating a little, but I have seen things very close to this in published novels. No one speaks to each other in this fashion. You say a person's name to get their attention or for emphasis, then you talk without names. Same with endearments--they're sweet, but if the hero says it every time he opens his mouth, it's a bit much.
Check out Leah's blog for more slimming tips. (Scroll down to the entry; it was a couple of days ago.)
http://www.romanticreads.net
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thoughts on Novellas
A few weeks ago, an author friend expressed that it was harder to write a novella (about 25,000 words or 100 double-spaced pages) than to write a novel (about 100,000 words or about 400-450 pages).
I just now put the finishing touches on a Christmas novella that will come out in October and--she's right!! Since November, I've written two novellas (both for Xmas anthos for next year), and one short story (for the Mammoth Book of Vamp Romance II).
Within a tight space, you have to get deep characterization; a feasible plot with beginning, middle, and end; an emotionally satisfying romantic plot (in Romance); and enough detail to flesh out the story without going overboard.
It's a good exercise in "less is more." In novels you have a little time to explore the character's deep, dark past and how they got to where they are now. In novellas, you still have to explore the character, but in a few short bursts here and there (a pithy paragraph in this scene, a few lines of pivotal dialog in that one.)
It took me four intense weeks to write this one, and I'm exhausted!
I have gotten excellent reviews on past novellas (even ones I thought weren't that great), so maybe I know what I'm doing more than I think I do.
(Nah.)
Now it's back to novels, which I hope I can remember how to write. Plus go through the copyedits of the novel I turned in back in November. Maybe I'll go through that and remind myself what novels are.
Speaking of novellas, I had one come out Tuesday in Immortals: The Reckoning. That one took me about six weeks.
I used to write entire novels in six weeks! It takes me longer now--I spend much more time rewriting and polishing than I used to. I can't tell if that's because I'm more picky in my rewrites, or my drafts have gotten so bad it takes me longer to go through them.
Both, possibly.
But, whew, I'm done with the novella and can return to the two new paranormal series I'm starting, one for each name. Fun stuff.
I just now put the finishing touches on a Christmas novella that will come out in October and--she's right!! Since November, I've written two novellas (both for Xmas anthos for next year), and one short story (for the Mammoth Book of Vamp Romance II).
Within a tight space, you have to get deep characterization; a feasible plot with beginning, middle, and end; an emotionally satisfying romantic plot (in Romance); and enough detail to flesh out the story without going overboard.
It's a good exercise in "less is more." In novels you have a little time to explore the character's deep, dark past and how they got to where they are now. In novellas, you still have to explore the character, but in a few short bursts here and there (a pithy paragraph in this scene, a few lines of pivotal dialog in that one.)
It took me four intense weeks to write this one, and I'm exhausted!
I have gotten excellent reviews on past novellas (even ones I thought weren't that great), so maybe I know what I'm doing more than I think I do.
(Nah.)
Now it's back to novels, which I hope I can remember how to write. Plus go through the copyedits of the novel I turned in back in November. Maybe I'll go through that and remind myself what novels are.
Speaking of novellas, I had one come out Tuesday in Immortals: The Reckoning. That one took me about six weeks.
I used to write entire novels in six weeks! It takes me longer now--I spend much more time rewriting and polishing than I used to. I can't tell if that's because I'm more picky in my rewrites, or my drafts have gotten so bad it takes me longer to go through them.
Both, possibly.
But, whew, I'm done with the novella and can return to the two new paranormal series I'm starting, one for each name. Fun stuff.
Rejection--It's Not the End
I came across this agent blog, where agent humbly confesses how she let a good one get away. It's a nice perspective on why rejection should not ruin your day (or your week/month/year/life).
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com:80/2009/02/1399-tax.html
Good reading while I finish about 30 projects . . . (feels like 30 anyway; is probably closer to 15).
Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com:80/2009/02/1399-tax.html
Good reading while I finish about 30 projects . . . (feels like 30 anyway; is probably closer to 15).
Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com
Friday, January 23, 2009
How It Isn't Done
Susan Wiggs has done an excellent send up of the publication process on her blog:
http://susanwiggs.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/telling-it-like-it-isnt/
Watch and enjoy. (For the humor challenged--it's a joke.)
http://susanwiggs.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/telling-it-like-it-isnt/
Watch and enjoy. (For the humor challenged--it's a joke.)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Don't . . . and Michael Palin
A happy historic inauguration day to all!
Am proud of myself for writing 2400 words today, even with inauguration watching, lunch out, and finishing up reading a book.
The book I finished was Michael Palin's Diaries, The Python Years. I picked it up at first because I'm a big Python fan, but I highly recommend it to anyone who's ever wanted to be (or already is) a professional writer (novels, plays, television, or movies).
It's an interesting inside story of a writer's life, and I found amusing parallels in it to my own writing life (excepting the whole being rich and famous, hosting SNL, and hanging out with rock stars thing). I'm always amazed how much in common all writers have, whether they're making millions of dollars or happy when they sell 20K books, whether they're writing Pulitzer Prize winning literary fiction or scifi romance.
The second half of this post is a list I put together for a recent workshop. I was inspired by a book of Victorian etiquette entitled: "Don't"
Here are my "Don'ts" for writers:
Don’t—Expect a writing career to happen overnight. Writing a quality novel takes time, selling it takes time, having it published and released takes time.
Don’t—Email a proposal or book to an agent or editor without being very sure they take email submissions! (Most epublishers, of course, take email submissions.)
Don’t—Send a romance or mystery novel to an agent who doesn’t represent romance or mystery novels or an editor who doesn’t acquire them. Do your research first.
Don’t—Send in a sloppy submission. Make sure you proofread your ms. carefully, use uniform margins (1 inch or 1.25 inch are standard), use a readable font (Courier or Times Roman are best), and only print one side of the page.
Don’t—Ask everyone on the Internet to spam email the publisher or agent with pleas to buy your novel. That’s a good guarantee no one will read your book.
Don’t—Wait by the mailbox (or email box) after you’ve submitted your book. Immerse yourself in another project. Agents and editors will take anywhere from one to twelve months to get back to you. No, there is no way around this; publishers/agents are overworked and understaffed. Do something constructive during that time, like write another book.
Don’t—Expect to make millions of dollars on your first book. It could happen! But in genre fiction, it’s unusual to be offered a huge contract right away. Most genre novelists start out on the low end of the scale. However, once you get started, the sky’s the limit!
Don’t—Assume you have to start small (e.g., small press or epress) before you break into large press. Anyone can break into large press. Publishing with small press first is just one way in.
Don’t—Assume you have to publish with a large press. If small press or epublishers make you happiest, stay with them.
Don’t—Give up! Writing is a profession in which the persistent succeed. It’s difficult, it’s discouraging, it’s easy to find excuses to stop. Talent is good, but persistence moves you to your goals.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Big Black Wednesday
Lest anyone think I'm an ostrich or a Pollyanna, yes I do know the bad news that's come out of the publishing industry in the last weeks:
1. Random House's restructure
2. Simon & Schuster layoffs
3. bad third quarter sales reports
4. Harcourt putting a freeze on submission (note--I'd heard Harcourt was having problems for a long time, so that one didn't surprise me).
I like to keep this blog upbeat and positive, but let me get this out of my system:
It sucks! It sucks! It sucks!
Ooo, that felt good. Anyway, I've come across a couple of takes on what's going on that lend some hope:
Neilson Bookscan reports positive increase in book sales in November, up from Nov. 2007.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6619697.html?nid=2286e&rid=437355836
A look at Random House's restructure by an agent (and former RH editor).
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/12/major-restructuring-at-random-house-inc.html
Then just for a downer:
I read last night on the NPR website a bookstore owner saying she will probably order fewer books, and books she would have done a smaller buy on, she'll pass on altogether (unless there's buzz about the book, then it will get ordered).
Arghhhhh!!! If all booksellers don't order the book, how will there be buzz about it?????
What's an author to do?
How I defeat the gloom and doom.
1. I recognized I can't do much about it (breathe, breathe, let it go).
2. I think of myself as a storyteller, not a novelist.
The method of getting stories into the hands of readers might change. But that doesn't matter to me. I will continue to tell stories whether people read them in print novels, on their Kindles, iPhones, e-Readers, or watch them on television screens. I might have to change my method of writing and getting the stories out there, but I still have stories I can tell, and I will continue to tell them.
But right now, there's gonna be no room for slackers. Not that there ever really was, but I'm feeling the pressure doubled to write something GOOD and more importantly, something SELLABLE.
That means, we can't be lesser clones of the bestsellers, and we can't write books that appeal to only twelve people. We have to be good and innovative, connect with our readers, and carve out a niche for ourselves--and at the same time give the editors something they can sell to reluctant booksellers.
This is a time of change, folks. It's real, it happens, it will happen again.
How will you meet the challenge?
1. Random House's restructure
2. Simon & Schuster layoffs
3. bad third quarter sales reports
4. Harcourt putting a freeze on submission (note--I'd heard Harcourt was having problems for a long time, so that one didn't surprise me).
I like to keep this blog upbeat and positive, but let me get this out of my system:
It sucks! It sucks! It sucks!
Ooo, that felt good. Anyway, I've come across a couple of takes on what's going on that lend some hope:
Neilson Bookscan reports positive increase in book sales in November, up from Nov. 2007.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6619697.html?nid=2286e&rid=437355836
A look at Random House's restructure by an agent (and former RH editor).
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/12/major-restructuring-at-random-house-inc.html
Then just for a downer:
I read last night on the NPR website a bookstore owner saying she will probably order fewer books, and books she would have done a smaller buy on, she'll pass on altogether (unless there's buzz about the book, then it will get ordered).
Arghhhhh!!! If all booksellers don't order the book, how will there be buzz about it?????
What's an author to do?
How I defeat the gloom and doom.
1. I recognized I can't do much about it (breathe, breathe, let it go).
2. I think of myself as a storyteller, not a novelist.
The method of getting stories into the hands of readers might change. But that doesn't matter to me. I will continue to tell stories whether people read them in print novels, on their Kindles, iPhones, e-Readers, or watch them on television screens. I might have to change my method of writing and getting the stories out there, but I still have stories I can tell, and I will continue to tell them.
But right now, there's gonna be no room for slackers. Not that there ever really was, but I'm feeling the pressure doubled to write something GOOD and more importantly, something SELLABLE.
That means, we can't be lesser clones of the bestsellers, and we can't write books that appeal to only twelve people. We have to be good and innovative, connect with our readers, and carve out a niche for ourselves--and at the same time give the editors something they can sell to reluctant booksellers.
This is a time of change, folks. It's real, it happens, it will happen again.
How will you meet the challenge?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Lessons from Trade Fairs
This year I attended two trade fairs: Book-Expo America (the biggee), and the Books-a-Million trade show.
I posted elsewhere about BEA (http://jenniferonwriting.blogspot.com/2008/06/bea-and-things.html).
The Books-a-Million show was similar, on a smaller scale. Authors from several publishers signed stacks of free books (I had a beautiful swirly stack of The Redeeming that I hated to disturb.)
Other vendors such as Ghiradelli and Republic of Tea were there to encourage the bookstores to carry their products (or more of their products or their new products). The Republic of Tea sample I slammed down was mighty good. I love their tea. But I digress.
As at BEA, I noted that publishers were interested in showcasing their hardback mainstream authors and YA over genre. However, more genre authors were signing--Lynsay Sands, Julia Quinn, Stephanie Bond, and a couple mystery authors. There were quite a few Christian publishers there, and I was made aware that Christian fiction is trying new things--suspense, historical, and paranormal. Very cool.
The feeling at this show was positive and upbeat. The main complaint I heard was that the show was too short. They did half a day instead of an entire day, which I gather is a change.
The booksellers that came to my booth said several things that gave me cheer.
Nowhere did I hear complaints about book sales being down. Now, that doesn't mean they weren't (obviously), but that vibe was not in the air. Everyone seemed optimistic and upbeat. It could be that at trade fairs, you're supposed to be positive to encouage vendors to sign contracts with bookstores, but still, it was nice not to hear gloom and doom about the book industry. I get plenty of that elsewhere, real and imagined.
Here's me with my swirl of books.
I posted elsewhere about BEA (http://jenniferonwriting.blogspot.com/2008/06/bea-and-things.html).
The Books-a-Million show was similar, on a smaller scale. Authors from several publishers signed stacks of free books (I had a beautiful swirly stack of The Redeeming that I hated to disturb.)
Other vendors such as Ghiradelli and Republic of Tea were there to encourage the bookstores to carry their products (or more of their products or their new products). The Republic of Tea sample I slammed down was mighty good. I love their tea. But I digress.
As at BEA, I noted that publishers were interested in showcasing their hardback mainstream authors and YA over genre. However, more genre authors were signing--Lynsay Sands, Julia Quinn, Stephanie Bond, and a couple mystery authors. There were quite a few Christian publishers there, and I was made aware that Christian fiction is trying new things--suspense, historical, and paranormal. Very cool.
The feeling at this show was positive and upbeat. The main complaint I heard was that the show was too short. They did half a day instead of an entire day, which I gather is a change.
The booksellers that came to my booth said several things that gave me cheer.
1. The Immortals series was doing well at their stores (yay!)
2. Paranormal romance is still walking out the door like it has fast little legs.
3. Romance is the top seller at most stores.
4. My books are doing well at their stores.
(Although I take statements such as #4 with a grain of salt--are they mixing me up with someone else? or just being polite? LOL)
Anyway, I gave away a lot of books, signed until my hand was sore, and met a lot of booksellers from the southeast, an area I don't get to often.
Nowhere did I hear complaints about book sales being down. Now, that doesn't mean they weren't (obviously), but that vibe was not in the air. Everyone seemed optimistic and upbeat. It could be that at trade fairs, you're supposed to be positive to encouage vendors to sign contracts with bookstores, but still, it was nice not to hear gloom and doom about the book industry. I get plenty of that elsewhere, real and imagined.
Here's me with my swirl of books.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Losses in the Writer Community
I heard today that Michael Crichton died of cancer. Last week, mystery author Tony Hillerman also passed away.
I wasn't a big reader of Crichton, although I was certainly aware of his works: The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, his most famous, and the lesser known The Great Train Robbery, a personal favorite of mine.
I am a Tony Hillerman fan, enjoying the novels that followed Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee through various murders and other crimes on the Navajo reservation in northern AZ, NM, and southern Utah.
I'm always sad when we lose terrific authors, that their voices will be forever silent. Fortunately they both left behind volumes of great stories that we can read again and again.
I'd like to say good bye to both authors, and thanks for all the wonderful stories.
I wasn't a big reader of Crichton, although I was certainly aware of his works: The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, his most famous, and the lesser known The Great Train Robbery, a personal favorite of mine.
I am a Tony Hillerman fan, enjoying the novels that followed Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee through various murders and other crimes on the Navajo reservation in northern AZ, NM, and southern Utah.
I'm always sad when we lose terrific authors, that their voices will be forever silent. Fortunately they both left behind volumes of great stories that we can read again and again.
I'd like to say good bye to both authors, and thanks for all the wonderful stories.
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