I'm slacking here (I know), but I tell a bit about why, and how I get to celebrate my fabulous release week here:
http://www.thechatelaines.blogspot.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
How many books does a NYT bestseller sell?
I plan to do another post on Monday, but for now, I'll turn you over to Lynn Veihl who reveals the numbers of her NYT bestseller from last July.
http://www.genreality.net/the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller
In the interest of full disclosure, her print and sales numbers look much like mine have for several of my recent books. Which tells me that making the NYT list is not so much about the number of copies sold but at the velocity at which they're sold and reordered.
http://www.genreality.net/the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller
In the interest of full disclosure, her print and sales numbers look much like mine have for several of my recent books. Which tells me that making the NYT list is not so much about the number of copies sold but at the velocity at which they're sold and reordered.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Amazon: Egg on Face
Read about the whole Amazon kerfluffle here:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html?desc=topstory
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html?desc=topstory
Monday, April 6, 2009
The RITAs
Every year Romance Writers of America announces its slate of finalists for the RITA award, given to the best romances of the year.
And every year there is a deluge of controversy (some years more than others). There are also questions--what is a RITA? Who is Rita? Why were those books picked to final? Why these categories and not those? Why are ebooks excluded? (the hottest of hot buttons right now).
So here is everything you ever wanted to know about the RITA contest but were afraid to ask. (If any of the below needs correcting, please, feel free to tell me [politely...]).
1. The RITA award was established I think about twenty years ago to honor excellence in romance fiction. The award is named for Rita Clay Estrada, founding member and RWA's first president.
2. The RITA was invented to give romance some recognition. At the time, romance got zero recognition, especially category romance. Romances were often not "counted" on bestseller lists (and category still isn't). To let romance authors be recognized as having some talent, thank you, the RITA was developed.
3. Unlike the Edgars, Nebulas, and Hugos, the RITA is a contest, with an entry fee. Books may be entered by either a. the author; b. the author's publisher. (I believe anyone can enter someone else's book but I'd have to ask about that.) Most publishers enter at least some of their authors' books.
4. Non-RWA members are allowed to enter the contest, but they pay a higher entry fee.
5. The entire contest is limited to 1200 entries.
6. Judges are authors who have a. joined RWA, and b. are in the Published Author Network (PAN). Judges may NOT judge a category in which they are entered.
7. Entries are broken down into categories, which are the subjects of many flame wars. In the past, categories reflected that most entries were category romances--as time passed and more and more single-title romances were published in more and more subgenres, the categories changed. Do I think the categories need more work? Definitely. The romance genre is ever-evolving. Imho, the RITA categories are always behind the power curve. I won't get into it, because, hoo boy.
8. Judges indicates the top three categories they are interested in judging and the judge gets a box of books that are a mix of those three categories. Each book is read by five judges and given a score. Judges score anywhere from six to nine books. Scores are anonymous, and are a number from 1 to 9.
9. The top scoring books in each category are finalists. I don't know how the scores are calculated or how they figure out how many finalists there are--it's math.
10. Finalists are called, names announced.
11. Another set of books are sent to final-round judges who again score the books, and the top scorer of each category is the winner.
12. Winners are announced at the big ceremony at RWA National, and the winner takes home a shiny statue.
What does it all mean--why are RITAs such a big deal?
The RITA contest is a peer-judged contest, writers judging writers. It's also a level field (in theory)--books that had low print runs compete against books that are mega bestsellers. Few readers might not have even seen a book with a 15K print run that sat on the shelves for three weeks, but that doesn't mean it was a bad book. The RITA gives that author the chance for some recognition. RITA winning does not necessarily mean bestselling. Bestsellers are a different ball of wax (read some of my previous entries on how a book becomes a bestseller).
Why do authors care so much?
Because of that peer review. We not only want to please readers, we want other writers, people who share our profession, to think we're good too!
Why should readers care?
It's up to readers whether they care or not. The RITA represents the best romances--that were qualified to enter in a certain year of people who bothered to enter. Many authors vehemently don't enter the contest, others vehemently do, others can go either way.
Do you enter, Jennifer?
I do. What the heck? I might win and get a pretty statue. Which is how I ended up with the one in 2007 (shown above). My publishers put a line on my book cover, and we sing la la la.
Do I think some books are unfairly excluded?
Yes, I do. See my above statment about the genre ever-evolving and how the contest needs to keep up. Also method of delivery is evolving (of course I'm talking about ebooks).
I won't go into all that controversy, because it's covered well elsewhere, plus I just don't wanna. Too much stress. The RITA is problematic and problems need to be fixed. Granted.
But there you have it. More about the contest rules can be found on the RWA National website (www.rwanational.org) under Contests & Awards.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Leah Hultenschmidt blogs
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
http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-editor-leah-hultenschmidt
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.)
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