Some great publishing links
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.)
Overshooting the Box
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.
Common insulting things said to (or about) Romance Writers
Once people hear that you are a romance writer, it seems that no question is off limits. Seriously. The following is a list of things that I have been asked either at work, by people I know, or just in general. So instead of constantly having to answer over and over again, I am considering making a FAQ.
1) Romances must be the easiest things to write, huh? I can see why you’d do it.
Actually, no. They’re not ‘the easiest things to write’. The easiest things to write are grocery lists. Romance novels have very specific plots and structures. They are also full length novels, require just as much outlining, thought, subplots, and character development as any other genre of fiction.
2) Your husband is a lucky guy! I bet you guys have the craziest sex life.
My husband has no clue what I write. We do not ‘try out’ stuff for me to put into my books, any more than JRR Tolkien ‘tried out’ being a hobbit by walking around on his knees, or that guy that wrote the Dexter novels has ‘tried out’ killing people to see what it’s like. It’s called an imagination.
3) Your family must be so embarrassed that you write smut!
Actually, they’re really, really proud. I keep having to send them more bookmarks because they keep giving them away. Smut is “BUSTY NINJA BABES IN A HOT TUB”. My books are about relationships.
4) You’re such a smart girl – why are you writing bodice ripper rape fantasies?
I’m not writing bodice-ripper rape fantasies. My books are about relationships. There is absolutely no rape, and no one’s bodice has been ripped. When my characters come together for sex, it’s a mutual decision. Your stereotypes are also about 25 years out of date (give or take).
5) It’s all about the sex, isn’t it? Be honest.
No, it’s still about the relationship. I promise you, I could fade to black in every sex scene if I wanted to, and the main gist of the story would remain. I just choose not to, because I think it adds flavor to the story.
Nor is it all about the sex for other writers of romance. I’m sure Jane Austen wasn’t hung up on Mr. Darcy’s cock when she wrote Pride & Prejudice. Georgette Heyer never once mentioned anyone’s dong. And there are plenty of romance writers today that choose not to write sex into their romances.
6) You’re just in this for the money, aren’t you? Isn’t that why all romance authors write?
I’m into getting my books published for the money, yes. That, and the recognition. However, I am into the writing because I like telling a story. I also started out writing fantasy, but I found that the relationships between my characters was far more important to me than any other aspect of the story, and I happily made the switch. You can’t write something you don’t love or are not enthusiastic about and hope to make a career out of it. I mean, you can hate a desk job, and it pays far better than most romance writing does. If you’re just writing romance because you think it’ll make you rich, you’re better off starting your own eBay store.
7) I’d write romances but I like to write stuff that challenges me.
I’d like to take this time to point out that all romance novels have plots – some complex, some not so complex. This is just like every other genre of fiction, where you have some lighter novels, and some darker novels. If you’re not challenged by writing romance, then please, by all means, do not write it. But insulting an entire genre by simply saying it’s not what you like…well, that’s dumb. Please don’t tell me that writing stories about elves or spacemen or mystery-solving librarians is far, far more challenging than me writing about a pirate or a rake or a werewolf.
8 ) So when are you going to write something important instead of this other garbage?
By important, I assume you either mean 1) literary fiction or 2) my grocery list. In which case, my answer is 1) never and 2) still never.
9) I wrote a lot of sex in my book. This makes me a romance writer too, right?
Oh, absolutely. And I wrote about someone getting shot in my book, so this makes me an expert marksman. In all seriousness, romances have extremely specific plots and just because your book has sex does not mean that it is a romance. There are lots of movies that have sex in them that aren’t a romance. Basic Instinct, for example. Starship Troopers. That one with Glenn Close and the bunny.
Not. Romances.
10) You get your rocks off when you write, don’t you? This stuff is porn, right?
No, it’s not porn. It’s about the relationship. Nor am I writing because I get my jollies from it. I like writing about the relationship, and all aspects of the relationship. That includes the arguing and the awkward “Does he love me?” moments. All aspects.
Not porn. Remember, porn = BUSTY NINJA BABES IN A HOTTUB.
11) Are you sure it’s not porn?
Go away.
Weekend, glorious weekend!
It’s almost time for me to veg out for the weekend, and I couldn’t be more excited to do ABSOLUTELY nothing. Work’s been a bear (when is it not, right?) but I’m just so thankful that I have a job right now that I can’t (and won’t) complain. Well, complain much.
This weekend’s goals – finish off a Sekrit Project. I’m very excited about said Sekrit Project, but finishing it this weekend might be a bit of a stretch.
After that? It’s back to the novella I’m writing. And then two zombie fairy tales (because I promised!) and another novella. And then after that, I’m going to work on cleaning up ‘The Island’ for public consumption.
This is all between deadlines, of course.
(Speaking of deadlines, if you haven’t entered my Amazon.com gift certificate contest on the last post, you really should. Right now your odds aren’t bad, and all you have to do is answer three silly questions.)
Anyone have a project list they’re going to tackle this weekend?
Permission to write
Granted!
(At least to myself)
After I finish my novella (which has picked up, much to my delight), I am giving myself permission to go back to the Crackhead Project. Because I read through it last night and I still want to work on it (and love it and hug it and possibly call it George).
It’s amazing how freeing it feels to give myself permission to work on blow-off projects. Well, that, and working on a project every day exponentially increases the love you have for it.
I’m expecting my promo bookmarks in any day now. They’re arriving just in time for RWA, and I will be carting them around by the handful while at conference.
If you want to see my terrific cover art, this is the ONLY way to do it (at least for a few weeks). So if you want a bookmark, just ask me! And keep it at hand for after RWA, because I intend to have a contest where you can win something impressive. Like lots of free books, or a gift certificate, or maybe even an ipod.
Hello, my name is Jill Myles…
And I’m an idea chaser.
It’s shameful to admit, I know, but it’s true. I want to write an epic fantasy. I also want to write a YA horror novel. And a romance. And an urban fantasy. And a fairy tale novel. And a historical romance. And…I think you see my problem.
It’s not the bad TV shows or movies that are the insidious ones. It’s the ones that do something GOOD, but they do not do it GREAT. Or they take the story in a direction I don’t want to see. I don’t care about an airship full of pirates! Take me back to the part where the hero and heroine were going to kiss again! Damn!
The writer-brain is ever at work. It seems a movie and thinks of ways to make it better. It reads something it likes, and begins to add to the story. What if the writer took it this way? Or this way?
Suddenly, new ideas are assaulting my brain. This, my friends, is both blessing and curse.
Let’s say you write a few novels…we’ll say ‘twelve’. The first one is one of those kitchen sink books that no one can classify. It has time travel, monsters, historical tidbits, coming of age, evil puritans, and a hot Ojibwe dude who thinks the heroine is ugly but loves her anyway. This book is basically garbage. Sorry. The next book? Epic fantasy. Book one of a bajillion. Except you’re still learning how to write, so none of the story pieces sort of go together, and it’s kind of weird all around. The next book is a little better – it’s more or less a young adult novel featuring a heroine and dragons. Which is fine except that the heroine is a little overly sexualized/traumatized and the rest of it kind of screams to have the serial numbers filed off of it, or Anne McCaffrey might sue. So yeah. That one’s in the trunk too. The next one is Your Preshus. The one where things start to click, but the writing ain’t there yet. It’s an urban fantasy with a light, goofy tone, a heroine that is more shrill than funny, and a wisecracking horse. You still freaking love the horse. It’s not romantic, it’s not dark, and basically, it’s all wrong for the market.
Anyhow, that book is close but no cigar. Lots of bites, but no one reads the full manuscript. So you abandon #4 and you write something new, because at that point, you don’t know what’s wrong with that novel. And the next one…the next one gets you an agent. But let’s say you’re left rudderless and with still plenty of spare time while that one sells, right? So you write a few more things as your agent sells your book. Namely:
1) An urban fantasy about superheroes. It’s kind of light and fluffy.
2) A time travel romance
3) A romance that’s paranormal (kind of) and in the wrong voice (doh). Everyone pretty much tells you this idea is too weird.
4) That second book you’re contracted for. Yay you! You stuck with a genre!
5) A fantasy romance.
6) An urban fantasy. But this one is dark and srs bzns and woe. (You also kind of hate this one)
7) A light paranormal romance. Yay! There’s that genre again!
So let’s recap. You’ve sold a book! Hurray you! And your publisher says “We love this! What else have you got?”
…
And you look back at your list, and really, the only thing you’ve got is the most recent book you wrote. Sure, I can lob the time travel romance at my publisher. But time travel doesn’t sell, and why am I writing something else when my paranormal voice is so good, right? What about the fantasy romance? Bzzt, sorry. Different audience. Urban fantasy? Maybe. Which one? Light or dark? Because you can’t do both – people will expect a certain tone from your books. And heck, you might have to take a pen name and start building an audience all over again anyhow. And do you really want to do that?
A game plan is so, sosososo crucial. You have no idea. Think about what you enjoy writing. If you enjoy writing a bunch of stuff (like, say, me), focus in on one thing. Focus in on what people really seem to enjoy in your writing. Maybe your crit partners aren’t super crazy about the flying nuns in your latest book, but they sure do like the way you pulled the mystery together. Focus on that. Write more mystery. Build your brand.
Because, really. Think of an author you loved and followed for years…and then that author switched genres. WHY GOD WHY? Don’t you feel betrayed? I sure do! I still haven’t quite gotten over my favorite author’s switch to romantic suspense (a genre I normally don’t read). What if George R. R. Martin decided to write detective stories instead of fantasy? Wouldn’t all those Westeros cosplay fans feel disappointed and left out?
(Now, GRRM can do whatever the hell he wants, I think, because the audience would follow him. But little ol’ me? Not so lucky.)
So anyhow. I tell myself this because I am talking myself down from several ideas. Instead, I am working on a light, sexy paranormal novella. I’m sticking with my genre, because once you get the contract, you can’t write just for yourself anymore. You’re writing for your business as well as potential fans. And you don’t want to confuse them by writing an urban fantasy one day, and a cozy knitting mystery the next. Just sayin’.
(And if you have suggestions on what I’m supposed to do with a romance that involves the Bermuda Triangle, conquistadors, and dinosaurs, I’m all ears.)
I came, I saw, I may have possibly rewritten it a billion times…
Oh editing. I love you and I hate you. It feels like I’ve been doing nothing but editing since April (ETA – that’s pretty much the truth, actually). I had a few lingering scenes that were breaking my head on VANISHING ACT, so I logged off the internet and went and worked in the other room. No distractions, just me and my characters as I tried to force them to do things that did not feel natural (since I’d already written the climax of the story once, rewriting it in a different direction – no matter how good the direction is – still feels unnatural).
But I wrote a huge chunk and I’m happy to say that I’m done, more or less, with the edits. Except I’ve got to go back through and re-read one more time to make sure there’s no bizarre jumps in logic. At one point I ripped out almost 40k from this book and rewrote back in about 25k (some of it coming from very early drafts).
For those of you that are word count junkies like myself? Starting tally of this book – 92k.
Tally after completing the last draft? 74.5k – my goal. I’m really happy with that number. The 92k felt bloated, but I wasn’t sure where to cut. The 75k feels much more streamlined for a YA.
I expect the wordcount to bounce up a little as I go through a paper copy of the novel and re-read one last time. There’s always tweaks here and there. But I can’t imagine it getting much higher than the 75k it stands at now.
And maybe now I will go back to my crackhead project. Or work on some short stories. Have not decided, but the world is my oyster. For a few weeks, anyhow.
A rant on word count
So. Wordcount. (Yes, I’m struggling for things to blog about, and Moonrat just posted something awesome on her blog and it reminded me that I wanted to talk about this.)
Here’s a great post from an editor:
http://romanticreads.net/2009/03/12/the-economics-of-word-count-requirements/
Here’s another great post from Moonrat (who is also an editor):
http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-there-word-count-cap-for-debut-novel.html
Here’s another great post from an agent:
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html
Okay. Did you read those three? All three of them mention word count. Did you also notice how small the word counts are? 80k. 85k. 90k max.
There seems to be this mythical unicorn of a concept that longer books still sell! Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT was 700 pages long! JK Rowling’s books were enormous! Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER is a brick of a book!
All right then. Let’s recap:
1) Did you make 50 million dollars last year like Meyer?
2) Are you JK Rowling?
3) Did you write OUTLANDER?
If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions, then please do ignore word count (and me!).
If you answered “No” like most everyone else, it’s something to pay attention to.
Bloated word count costs your publisher money. I’m sorry, but there it is. You can fit three fat books on a shelf where six slimmer ones might fit. You get paid the same for both. Would you rather sell three or six? Would you rather B&N or Borders order 3 copies of your book or six? What about Wal-Mart?
I buy a lot of books at the grocery store. My favorite one has the mini-racks – little black wire brackets that are made to cup the paperbacks. They can squeeze usually about five or so books in there. Last fall they reprinted GONE WITH THE WIND, gave it a snazzy new cover, and put it on the racks. Guess how many copies of GWTW could fit in each slot? One.
When I turned in GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI, I seem to recall the word count being around 95k or so. According to Amazon, my book is 384 pages long, and I still have no acknowledgements/author notes and I haven’t gone through copyedits. It could potentially keep growing:
I had no idea my book was so freaking long, you guys! But there it is. And maybe if my book would have been 70 pages shorter or something, B&N might buy 6 instead of 5 to put on the shelf. But it is what it is. And my book might cost my publisher just a little bit more than the last guy’s because my page count might be longer than Book X. Or my print run will be smaller. You can be darn sure that your print run is going to be smaller if your book is 500 pages long. Why? Because you’re going to require a lot more space on the shelf. And unless your first three initials are G. R. R. (and add an M), space is at a premium.
You want those pretty co-op slots at the front of Barnes & Noble. You want as many of your books squeezed into those slots. If your doorstopper makes it to co-op and you only have two on the shelf, and both sell, do you think they’re going to re-stock your book right away, or do you think an employee is going to wander past and just fill the blank slots with whatever is closest?
I visit a lot of writing boards. And word count ALWAYS ALWAYS comes up. And there seems to be this common misconception that “It’s okay for a fantasy novel to run longer!” or “Romance novels that are 500 pages still sell!” Usually these misconceptions come from one of three things:
1) Writing guides or writing books that are 20 years out of date, when the cost of paper wasn’t an issue, and when bookstores weren’t optimizing space like they are today.
2) The books that are 500 pages long were actually from authors that continue to have a backlist in print because they’ve sold so well for a dozen years (see OUTLANDER or GWTW).
3) That book is just that damn good.
And hey, maybe you’ve got #3. I’ve got confidence in my writing, but I know if I went back to my editor and said “Book 2 is going to be about 200k, is that all right?” she would probably need a drink. Or three. And then start writing me a tough letter about how I needed to chop my word count. Because she can’t go to marketing and say “About that book 2? Yeah. It’s going to be 700 pages long.” Marketing won’t like that. Publishing is all about the numbers, and you just threw off your profit margin by a landslide.
There was a great post from Anna Genoese a few years back about how every book considered for acquisition is immediately entered into a P&L spreadsheet to see how much money the company can make. I don’t have the link anymore (unfortunately) but it’s a real eye opener. You’re not writing a work of art for the publisher – you’re pitching a product to them. It’s all about the bottom dollar, baby.
Don’t get me wrong. Longer books still sell. Someone’s always going to pop on the message board and say “I sold my 170k book for a six figure advance!”
Wow, that’s awesome! Lucky you! You just hit the equivalent of the publishing lottery!
Some people also get 7 figure deals right out of the gate! Or tons of promo and publicity! And a 20 city book tour and a blurb by Stephen King!
And then there’s the rest of us. 
What I’m trying to say here…if you’d rather have the odds in your favor, take a long, hard look at your word count and see if you can’t shrink it a little.
When I queried my first book, the word count was 110k. I got nowhere, so I revised and dropped it to 100k. Got some interest. I *really* got interest when I mentioned that my book was in the lower 90s. Agents want something they can sell, and I imagine something that’s an easy sale makes it that much easier to get an agent. A long word count is automatically going to put you in the ‘long shot’ territory.
(And wow, this got totally Ranty McRanterson, didn’t it? My apologies!)
Second editing pass – done!
WHEW.
I’m still working on VANISHING ACT (which was once called UNNATURAL). Started with a draft of 89k. The file I’m now staring at is 66,866 words. Sure, I may have had to sacrifice most of the last 5 chapters (sob) and there’s one I yanked out entirely because I’m going to have to rework it from scratch, but this editing pass is done. This draft was by far the worst one.
For those playing along at home, this is draft #eleventybillion and one. Kidding. I honestly don’t know how many drafts this is. I think I edited this book 6 or 7 times before I said to my agent “Hey, can I make it a YA?” She said yes, so I edited it again, and sent it back.
This round was to fix the (tons) of suggestions she had, to shorten the draft, and to type in the mark-up changes I’d written out on paper.
I have a list of notes for stuff to fix in successive drafts (like we talked about in the prior post) and the list is here:
1) Make R a conspiracy theorist – check his dialogue and actions
2) D threatens L via J – make sure to add this in and to correct their interactions — this changes J’s motivation
3) L’s personality = too old. Fix!
4) Connect gym scene (okay, so I have no idea what I meant when I wrote that one down, but I’m sure I’ll understand what the hell I’m talking about when I actually get to the gym scene again)
5) J should be able to hear W’s thoughts starting at page 206. Note to self–Either this scene needs to change or I need a workaround.
6) School lunch room (correct prior scenes showing private kitchen)
7) p213 – helmet?
Add in chapter of doom.
Some of these are a snap to fix. Like, say, #3. I just basically do a word-search for his name, tweak his dialogue and body language so he actually sounds his age. Some of it (I’m looking at you, #8) is going to break my brain.
But whew. Feeling a major sense of relief here as I move forward! The hardest stuff is done.
