What every aspiring "Paperback Writer" should avoid:
"Dear Sir or Madam"
I guess at least it's gender equitable.
"Will you read my book?"
I presume that's why you sent it.
"It took me years to write it..."
Yikes, I can only imagine how long your next one will take. Tough to build your career with years between releases.
"It's based on a novel..."
Double yikes. Copyright infringement, here we come.
"It's a thousand pages..."
Oh boy. Probably single-spaced, too.
"I'll be writing more in a week or two. I can make it longer if you like the style."
Because a thousand pages is definitely not enough. And clearly you know where you want this to end. True story: A woman pitched me a romantic suspense at a workshop once that had a double romance. I asked how the two couples knew each other and/or how their stories came together in the book. She gave me a completely blank look, then explained that an editor had previously told her the book was too short, so she had to add this extra couple in to fill the word-count requirement.
"If you really like it you can have the rights."
Really? I can have them? That's the easiest negotiation ever.
"It could make a million for you overnight."
Of course. Sign me up. I'm sure you know it would make an amazing movie, too.
"If you must return it, you can send it here..."
Only if you've enclosed a SASE. Though at this point I can't imagine why I would possibly want to return it.
Happy New Year. Hope everyone had a restful holiday.
The publishing realm is pretty quiet between Christmas and New Year's, but a few quick notes from the last week:
1/5 - Borders replaces top management.
1/2 - DearAuthor gets the scoop on Amazon Author Stores.
12/31 - Cover images and descriptions added for June and July 2009 titles.
12/30 - January books release today.
For those who rely on the blog feed, here's the latest from the week.
12/19 - Bookscan numbers show romance sales up 83% over 2007.
12/18 - June - August 2009 titles added to Coming Soon. Links to descriptions and covers will be, um, coming soon.
12/17 - Star in a Sunday matinee! Barbara Vey at PW's Beyond Her Book blog is looking for your book videos for her new Sunday feature. Send links to barbaravey (at) gmail.com.
12/16 - Get $1.00 off Victoria Dahl's TALK ME DOWN at Borders with promo code HAR1222D.
12/15 - Vote for Best Hero and Heroine in the second round of American Title V.
I've been meaning to do a post on grammar for a while. But, man, grammar is just so boring. Copyblogger found a way to jazz it up a little with the Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words. I highly recommend checking it out. And a few of my own to add:
*lightening vs. lightning - Lightening makes something lighter. Lightning is the flash in the sky; there is no e. Ever.
*vise vs. vice - A vise squeezes something (i.e. a viselike grip). A vice is an unhealthy habit. I saw a heroine "in the vice of fear" in a book I was reading on the subway this morning and it completely pulled me out of the story.
*Then is not a conjunction like and and but. If you have two complete sentences on each side, you need to make them two separate sentences or put in a semicolon.
*Wrong: I will go to the store, then I will make dinner.
*Right: I will go to the store. Then I will make dinner.
or: I will go to the store, then make dinner
In small doses, grammar isn't so bad, right?
One question I’ve been frequently asked at conferences is: When is a good time to submit? My usual answer, “It doesn’t really matter.” We’re always looking for submissions, and even if we’re not looking for something right away, the material will still be read.
That said, there are a few times when I’m really not reading new submissions, for the most part. And I happened to think of the topic because this is one of those times. As I’m sure many of you know, most publishers shut down the week between Christmas and New Year’s. And a lot of folks take whatever vacation days they have left in addition to that. So the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always a big push to finish up the stuff that’s overdue, currently due and then try to work ahead for what will be due as soon as we get back.
The other time that tends to get especially hectic is mid-July leading up to RWA. Usually I’m trying to go through new proposals from current authors who I’ll be seeing soon or stuff I’ve already had too long and want to get through before the onslaught of new material that always follows the conference.
Again, no matter when you send in your proposal, it will always be read. But these are definite times when there’s not a quick turnaround.
This is just way too fun not to pass along! Even if you don't get a prize, you get a personalized scene with you and a hot treasure-hunter guide. Everyone's a winner! ;-)
Anna DeStefano - DARK LEGACY and HAUNTED LEGACY, paranormal romantic suspense about twins whose psychic link and special abilities make them targets for a secret government project that if successful will eventually drive the women into madness.
Elisabeth Naughton - MARKED and its sequel, the first of a new paranormal series. To stave off a war with the the underworld and protect his people from extinction, hero descended from the Argonauts must find the woman who unknowingly fulfills an ancient prophesy, only to fall for her even knowing she is marked for sacrifice.
I was talking with a colleague a few days ago about the economy, the new administration and how it will affect books, and we got into quite a conversation. We both agreed that fiction is ripe for something new and some kind of big breakout. All the authors who revolutionized various genres are getting old and stale, or just aren't writing anymore. Even Stephen King doesn't get nearly as much buzz for a new release as 10 years ago. We need a Scott Turow, a Diana Gabaldon, a Dan Brown, a Christine Feehan--in essence, a glom phenomenon. The most recent advances have been in YA with Harry Potter and then the Twilight series, but what comes next for adult fiction?
It seems as though the most emulated trends either twist something already familiar--like Turow taking a thriller but concentrating on the legal aspect--or blend two things to come up with something completely new--like Diana Gabaldon's historical fiction/romance with time-travel.
So we started looking at the cultural landscape. My buddy talked about how current times seemed very similar to the late '50s and the transition between Eisenhower and JFK. Once again everyone is optimistic for a new, young administration. Obviously, the early 60s saw a huge boom in creative freedoms and changing the status quo.
In romance, it seems the urban fantasy push has made everything so dark, dark, dark. I'm thinking we might be ready for more optimism, not that things can't be dark, but I do feel like that envelope has been pushed. I'd love to see fresh, interesting, mythical takes on old fairy tales and legends.
And I'd love to see something completely different knock my socks off. I think the publishing world is more than ready for it.
I have to admit, I really enjoyed the first book in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. But the intro of the whole love triangle in the second book annoyed me, and I didn't bother with the final two. For those looking for more, though, it's a long haul. With no books forthcoming and at least another year for a new movie, how to get that fix? Below are some of my favorite vampire books from when I was a teen that might help get you through the hump.
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
HarperCollins has recently reissued the original four novels in two volumes of two books each. To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about the plot, but I devoured these suckers like candy. When we were first starting the YA Smooch line five years ago, these were the books I brought in as an example. Apparently, Harper's ready to cash in on the Twilight craze with these as well, because they're slating a new series--Vampire Diaries The Return--to launch in Feburary.
From the cover:
Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.
Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.
Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.
The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
Don't let this intensely ugly cover keep you from a truly beautiful read. I loved this book so much I even bought a copy in French to practice my translation skills (of course, at the time my translation was so bad and they had changed the title that I didn't realize I'd bought a book I'd already read, but it sounded good).
From the cover:
Zoe is wary when, in the dead of night, the beautiful yet frightening Simon comes to her house. Simon seems to understand the pain of loneliness and death and Zoe's brooding thoughts of her dying mother.
Simon is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge for the gruesome death of his mother three hundred years before. Does Simon dare ask Zoe to help free him from this lifeless chase and its insufferable loneliness?
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