Heads up! My publisher is giving away TEN copies of Gentlemen Prefer Succubi -- and will ship to anywhere in the world! That means if you are in Europe or Australia or Canada or wherever, you can play too.
Head over to Bitten By Books to RSVP & enter. I'll be doing an afternoon-long chat on Friday that gives you more chances to win. And you can ask me anything. ANYTHING. Well, almost anything.
Woohoo for free books!
I heard through the grapevine that today, Friday December 11th is 'Unofficially Official Agent Day', where writers are encouraged to 'give back' a little to their agents on this day.
Good deal. I love talking about my agent, because she is awesome. It's hard to know what an agent relationship is going to be like until you're in one. People can tell you how amazing their agent is all day long, but the truth of the matter is that the relationship is different from agent to agent. I've had three agents so far. Neither Agent #1 nor Agent #2 were ideal relationships -- either on their part or on mine, because it's a two way street. They both have clients that adore them and continue to sell books. The fact that I parted ways with both does not make them bad agents -- just not the right agent for me.
Anyhow. After Agent #2 and I parted ways, I was a little...gun shy. I'd had two relationships I wasn't happy with, and I wasn't super thrilled to get into a third. However, I was willing to give agents another shot - if relationship #3 didn't work, I could safely say that *I* was the problem and go about this thing on my own. So when I started querying for agent #3, my query count was really, really small. I think I sent out six total queries, all to agents that had spotless reputations. Agents that had clients gushing over them and had big name lists. Oh, and I sent out to one agent that used to be a big name agent's assistant. She'd changed agencies and had built her own list, but she wasn't a household name. However, I remembered her because back in 2005, I'd queried big name agent, and her assistant -- Holly Root -- had been amazingly friendly, gracious, and prompt. It couldn't hurt, right? So I queried Holly Root at her new agency, not quite sure what to expect. Holly asked for the full, and I sent it.
A month later, I got an excited little email from her - she loved my book! Could we talk? Oh boy! Okay, I admit, as much as I wanted to be all zen about it, I did a happy jig in my chair. She liked it! So we talked and...I pretty much developed a crush. Holly was funny, she was smart, personable, knew her contracts, knew paranormal romance, and answered everything I pushed her way. I tossed a few jokes in there to test the waters. She joked back.
I was in agent love.
So when she said "I'm throwing it out there. You interested?" I wanted to say "YESSSSSS" but I forced myself to be a good little author, and contacted the other agents reading. And when the week was up, I went back to Holly, nervous but excited. I had an agent again!
It was difficult to sit on my hands when we first got together -- I was afraid to contact her and bug her. She assured me I could contact her at any time. I still sat on things and bit my nails, trying to be what I envisioned was a 'good' client. Silent. Hardworking. Silent. Did I mention silent? But then stuff would come up, and I'd send her a tentative email, usually apologizing for contacting her.
Holly would respond within hours -- always the same day -- and fixed my problems. Just like that. And she usually poked at me for apologizing too much. Within a few weeks, she had me organized and straightened out, and I was beginning to feel more comfortable about emailing her. I warned her that I might be a bit high maintenance after two previous agent experiences, and she assured me that I was fine.
From there, it has spiraled out into a relationship that I can only term as: awesomesauce. I know everyone says that you can't be 'friends' with your agent, but I think you have to define 'friends'. I talk with Holly about anything and everything in my writing career. Totally open. We are friendly and casual, but the business angle is still there. I lob ideas at her. She shuts me down if I'm heading down the wrong path, or encourages me to work on something she particularly likes. No problem is too small, no email too needy. I've had weeks where I haven't contacted Holly at all, and days where we've emailed five or six times. She has never, never made me feel like a douchebag.
And did I mention this was all before she got paid? We sold our first contract together late this summer.
As time passes, I can't imagine what I did before Holly. I throw wild ideas at her and she runs with them. I tell her my anxieties and she talks me off of the authorbeast ledge. She is ALWAYS available to talk if I need her. She contacts me with "Hey, what if we did this?" type ideas. And if I have to rewrite a manuscript, let's say, five or six times, Holly is right there reading it, even on round six. She wants to make sure we get it right. She's in, elbows-deep, on the niggly, nitpicky things of my first contract (the one she doesn't get paid on).
I love that. I love working with Holly. I hope she never changes jobs, because the agenting world will be a little less bright without her in it. /sappy
Ignore the um, lack of Nano updates at the moment! I'm still doing it, just regrouping for a new attack plan.
BUT! I have cover art to share! Pretty, pretty cover art. Wanna see?
So sweaty under that jacket. So yummy.
For those of you playing along at home, the first book features Noah, my fallen angel. This book features Zane, my dark n' sexy vampire. Love it. I can't decide which one I like more!
And if you're wanting to pick up book two, the release date has been moved up a week. Woot! So look for it on January 19th instead of January 26th. Exciting, isn't it?
Woot! It's a big deal for any author to be reviewed in Publisher's Weekly, and they liked my book...mostly!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704403.html?industryid=47141
They said:
The cosmology of this battle between good and evil approaches Saturday morning cartoon levels of unsophistication; the mystery could be solved by Scooby-Doo; and the big-breasted bombshells and hunky men are cookie-cutter romance standard, but Myles's debut somehow sustains an extraordinary, confectionery appeal. After suffering a vampire bite and enjoying passionate sex with a fallen angel, mousy museum curator Jackie Brighton is transformed into a gorgeous, sexually ravenous succubus. Guided by porn star succubus Remy Summore, Jackie is drawn into the search for a magical halo and a love triangle with fallen angel Noah and vampire bouncer Zane. Myles manages to be cleverly hilarious while making all her jokes work for the plot. These particular characters may not be deep enough to hold up through the planned sequel, but Myles's sexy, wacky humor is definitely something to watch. (Jan.)
Emphasis is mine. 
I'm pretty darn thrilled.
YAY! Finally I can show the cover for GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI:
I absolutely freaking love it. So sexy! What do you think?
Want a bit more?
So this popped up on PM late yesterday:
Author of GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI Jill Myles's next book in the Succubus Diaries series, as well as the first book in a new paranormal romance series set at a paranormal dating agency, to Micki Nuding at Pocket, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (world).
Pause. HOORAY!!!!!!! Pause.
I am so terribly excited to be doing two more books with Pocket! I love my publisher and my editor is fabulous, so I’ve been pretty much on cloud nine since RWA, when we discussed the new books.
What this deal contains:
Book 3 of the Succubus Diaries, which I am calling MY FAIR SUCCUBI. It picks up where book 2 left off, in the ongoing series of my characters that starred in both book 1 and book 2. Things will be wrapped up. Other things will be called into question. Sex will be had. It will be glorious. And fun.
(For those of you that have asked me if the books are a typical romance…yes and no. YES in that the relationships drive the entire story. NO in that it’s not all wrapped up in a bow and happily ever after at the end of Book 1. I’ve compared it to the Katie Macalister Aisling Grey series – which are totally hilarious, btw – multiple books about the same romantic couple. They’ll get their happily ever after, naturally, but we’re going to play with the relationship for a bit longer. In evil, evil ways. Fun ways, but mostly evil. I do have a definite end in mind, though.)
MY FAIR SUCCUBI (title subject to change) comes out in February 2011. Kind of a ways away – a full year out from book 2. But I’ll be posting short stories set in the same world and teasers to my website along the way, so hopefully it will not feel so long.
The book deal ALSO includes a new book, which is tentatively called HEAT. This book *is* a more traditional romance. It’s a very loose series that will be based on different sets of characters that work for – or interact with – a dating agency that caters exclusively to paranormal clients. At the agency, clients don’t like to date vampires because they’re not into corpses. Werewolves don’t date outside their kind. Were-cougars and were-foxes might mix it up with a were-bear, but never a were-deer. And pretty much no one wants to date the harpy. Naturally, this makes matchmaking a little bit tricky.
The first book stars Bathsheba Ward, the office manager of Midnight Liaisons (the dating agency). Humans are forbidden to date members of the Paranormal Alliance, but she’s been blackmailed into going out with a male were-cougar who is in desperate need of a date (even a yucky human one).
I’m really excited about this one, because it was a ton of fun to write and I can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks about it. I’m noodling with a loose sequel, and I can’t wait to tell more stories in this setting. This one is scheduled for August 2011.
I’ll be updating my webpage with more info on the new series soon enough. But right now, I’m just super excited to have more books with Pocket Books.
Hooray!
Because I'm totally guilty of this too.
How many times have aspiring authors said to ourselves "I really want to publish 3 or 4 books a year because I can totally handle it!" and then get frustrated when this whole publishing thing takes a wee bit longer than we imagine?
*raises hand* Guilty as charged. Yes, I can write fast. Yes, I've said this before. Do I have the same perception of how much I can output a year as I did when I was querying?
As Whitney would say, HELL TO THE NO.
Anyhoo, go read. Agent Holly says some pretty awesome stuff.
http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/letting-the-market-speak/
Just heard from my editor's assistant - galleys for book 2 (and the final stage for both books -- at least on my end!) are heading my way for a Thursday delivery.
Hmmm.
Work on galleys or watch Supernatural...?
Work on galleys, or watch Sam and Dean?
Galleys? Winchesters?
Oh decisions, decisions.
Are you reading these? Here's a sampling of what I've loved recently:
http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-you-missed-at-this-mornings.html << -- The Intern talks about what was hot at their last editorial meeting. NUMBERS. Yes, everyone that was worried that vampires are in or out, worry no longer! 1001 Vampires are in (but not 365 vampires).
http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/07/publishometer-how-to-tell-whether.html <<-- Editorial Anonymous's Publishometer. Hilarious. And works scarily well.
http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/2009/08/frogs-and-bears-and-chickens-and-things.html << -- Barbara Poelle used to be a stand-up comedian. Now she's a literary agent. All of her blog posts (which you can access by clicking on her name on the right-hand side) are utterly side-splitting. Look for the one about dreams. I wept. Seriously.
http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/08/print-runs-for-serious-here.html <<--Moonrat brings the srs bizness when discussing print runs. Hint: They're all made up.
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/08/be-true-to-you.html <<-- Jessica Faust points out what I've tried (and probably failed) to mention a million times. Write what you love, and write what calls to you, not what you think will sell.
http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/one-thing-id-love-to-see/ << -- My agent. Still looking for YA. She loves voice in a manuscript. And she's awesome.
http://romanticreads.net/2009/07/27/looking-for-an-intern/ <<-- Dorchester is looking for an intern. Sure, it doesn't pay cash, but it pays in KNOWLEDGE, my friends. Knowledge.
And that's all I got. I'll hold the drawing for the Amazon gift certificate tomorrow! (and we all know 'tomorrow' means 'whenever i get to it' right? right.)
I’m making an effort to blog a bit more, you guys! But I keep running out of stuff to talk about. It’s weird, because I used to love to yammer about stuff I’m working on, but now that things are contracted or heading out on submission, I get weird talking about them. Now I’m scrambling for stuff to talk about! And I doubt you want to hear about the latest cute things my cats did, or how many times I played Left 4 Dead this weekend, or how many times my husband beat me at Magic. Or the chores I did not do. So I’m going to try and keep this somewhat industry-related for a bit (and if you have something you want me to blog about, feel free to poke me in the comments).
So let’s talk about your favorite subject, and mine. Paranormals.
When I was at RWA, paranormals were brought up and discussed repeatedly. As one of the genres that’s ‘here to stay’, it’s getting as much face-time as historical or contemporary or anything else you can imagine. Not to mention that if you troll any editor or agent tweets (or blogs) online, paranormal remains a hot topic.
And as you can imagine, everyone has horror stories of ‘paranormals that went too far’.
Everyone jokes about vampires being out one moment, then being in. Big cat shifters are in. Werewolves (actually, I have no idea if werewolves are in or not). And then there was the discussion a few days ago here about if were-bears are sexy. Some say yes. Some say no. Steampunk and post-apocalyptic are the buzz words of the moment. Man-harem romances are in (like the BDB), but are quickly getting glutted. Demons remain hot, angels are a case-by-case scenario, and no one seems to show much enthusiasm when you mention the words ‘time’ and ‘travel’ together.
Here’s the thing though. Don’t be weird. Just because it’s paranormal does not give you the go-ahead to throw every wacky idea down on paper and call it a day. I’m guilty of this too! I know! I came up with an idea a few weeks ago and immediately emailed my crit girls and said “OHMYGOD I just had the best idea ever. It’s X meets Y! It’s like Z, but totally sexified up and (cue buzzword here)! What do you guys think?”
Friend One: Um.
Friend Two: Uh…yay?
Obviously they were not feeling the vibe that I was. Now it’s true that a lot of stuff doesn’t sound so hot until you read it. I had a horrible time trying to tell everyone what my succubus books were about (“It’s a girl! Who is like… a sex vampire! But not!”). And the valkyrie book that I pitched long, long ago? Yeah. Didn’t happen.
But there’s a fine line between Batshit Crazy and F#cking Genius. Know the line. Be its friend.
F#cking Genius: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (did you see that? You take the familiar and give it a twist and suddenly everyone is amazed at how clever you are)
Batshit Crazy: P&P&Z…but you make Mr. Darcy the zombie. That’s just nasty.
Or here’s another example.
Let’s say you want to write a book about shifters that run a summer camp just for shifter kids. But all the good shifter types are taken, right? (there’s a reason for that). You could go with were-cats (too overdone) or werewolves (yawn) but you’re really wanting something that will make the reader sit down and take notice. Stand out in a crowd!
So you come up with… were-armadillos.
See the box? You just punched a hole right through it.
Box GOOD: Shifter summer camp!
Box BAD: Shifter summer camp…with WERE-FREAKING-ARMADILLOS.
Seriously guys. There are bad were-animals out there. If it’s a vegetarian were-animal, it’s a bad idea. If you’ve ever had it hit your bumper on a farm road and you had to scrape it off your front tire? It’s a bad were-animal.
The trick is to delicately be inside the box, but at the same time, offer a new twist. Don’t re-invent the wheel! Give the wheel some jazzy spoke-beads and a nice flashy decal.
Shifter summer camp is a good idea but doesn’t really have that zing, right? What if all the shifters…don’t know how to shift? And they’re learning at summer camp? Or what if there’s a West Side Story rivalry between the were-dogs and the were-cats?
That’s your story. That’s how you jazz up the box.
Reminder:
In the Box: A man-harem of immortal men in search of their soulmates and saving the world from um, demons!
Box GOOD: A man-harem of immortal men (let’s make them Greek Reapers) in search of their soulmates (let’s make them rival Norse Valkyries!) and fighting over recruits for their cause (let’s say they’re hunting down souls)!
Box BAD: A man-harem of immortal men (Let’s make them Greek Reapers with skeleton hands and skeleton, um, manly bits! That only come to life when the heroine touches the skeletal peen!) in search of their soulmates (virgin widows who suffer from vagina dentata!) and fighting over (does it even matter at this point?)
Inside the box. Insiiiiiide. Box is your friend. Don't punch holes in the box.
