Crafting Your Career: Brenda Novak

Posted On May 18, 2009 by AdrienneGiordano Print This Post

Crafting Your Career: Brenda Novak

Filed Under Adrienne Giordano, Brenda Novak, Writing, Writing Career Strategies

brendanovak300 Good morning and welcome to Crafting Your Career. We are thrilled to have NY Times bestselling author Brenda Novak as our visiting professor today. Brenda has three novels coming out this summer-THE PERFECT COUPLE, THE PERFECT LIAR and THE PERFECT MURDER, all part of her popular Last Stand Series. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, she’s raised over $500,000. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

The thing that is not listed in Brenda’s bio is how big and generous her heart is. As an added bonus for us, Brenda is giving away a Brenda Novak tote bag filled with goodies and a $50 gift certificate to her online auction for diabetes research. Just post a comment or question for Brenda and your name will be included in the drawing.

Learn more about the auction in her post and bid often because she has great items on the list.

Class is now in session.

Adrienne: What strategies did you use to help you become a NYT bestselling author? Do you have a sense of what tipped the scale? Marketing? Writing great books? Diabetes auction? Website? Or did all these things coincide at the right moment?

Brenda: I think the strategy that served me best was to take advantage of every opportunity that came my way. These days it often takes more than being a great writer to get ahead. There are a lot of great writers out there. You also have to be a good businessperson. So I’ve always tried to do that–to be a “complete package.” I believe success in writing starts with a solid book, of course. You have to have a great product to sell or nothing you do will bring people back to your product if they’ve tried it and they don’t like it–but marketing can make a difference if you have that foundation in place. I try to do plenty of speaking engagements, maintain an interactive and appealing web site, run fun contests, making myself available to fans as much as possible. All these things drip into the bucket of success, I think plain old luck plays a part, too. <g>

Adrienne: How did you keep yourself motivated while trying to get published? Did you have an agent prior to being published?

Brenda: I did have an agent. I kept motivated by having my expectations in the right place. I didn’t expect to become an overnight sensation, so I wasn’t disappointed when it didn’t happen that way. I expected it to be a long journey, sometimes painstaking, and filled with disappointment. But I ultimately believed in myself, and I think that has to be there. You have to believe in yourself or no one else will believe in you. Fortunately, I did have an agent for my first sale. I was lucky enough to final in the Golden Heart at the same time an agent was expressing interest, and I think that sort of solidified the deal. She took me on and sold that first manuscript to HarperCollins. It’s the only historical romance I’ve had published because I was orphaned before it ever came out, but I still love that book. LOL.

Adrienne: How long were you writing before you were published? How many books did you write before you hit the NYT list?

Brenda: It took me five years to teach myself the craft of writing and to finish my first manuscript. I had five little kids and couldn’t devote a lot of time to it back then. Now it’s a full-time job for me.

I hit the list with my 8th single title. I’d also written quite a few Superromances by the time I hit, but those aren’t really contenders for the list (they’re only out for three weeks, for one reason).

Adrienne: How did you get started with your auction?

Brenda: When my son was diagnosed with diabetes at five years old, I knew enough about the disease to understand that he would need constant care, and that his care would not be comfortable for him (lots of shots and finger pricks per day), but I was blown away by all the side effects that go hand in hand with this disease. I couldn’t bear the thought of watching my son go through what so many people with diabetes suffer and I really wanted to do something to make a difference. I had very little resources at the time (and all those kids, remember! LOL.) so it took me a couple of years to come up with just the thing–but then, one night I was at a silent auction for the elementary school and as I stood there looking around it hit me that I could do the same thing on my web site and invite my fans and publishing associates to get involved. Since then I’ve watched the auction double each year. Last year, we raised $252,300. And every year I grow more impressed with the people who come together to help me do this. They are amazing!

Adrienne: Tell us about your auction.

Brenda: Every year, in the month of May, I run my online auction for Diabetes Research. The auction takes a full year to plan and pull off, but it’s a labor of love—for all the people who, like my son, suffer from diabetes.

My very first auction ran in 2005 and was a huge success. Together with my generous donors, which included some of the biggest and brightest stars in publishing, I raised $34,982, which went directly to research. In year 2, we did even better and raised $62,705. In year three, we more than doubled at $141,700. Year four, we raised over $250,000. We’re definitely on a roll – each year gets bigger, brighter and better.

You can get involved – either by donating an item or by bidding when the auction starts in May.

auctionlogo_lowrez This coming year, instead of waiting to add items in the months just before the auction, we’re going to start adding them as we receive them. So keep tabs on the 2009 Auction Spotlight page. We’ll keep you up to date with some of the best and most amazing donations you can bid on next year.

Each year, I offer a fabulous prize package to the person who places the most bids over all (even if that person doesn’t end up winning a single item). The 2008 winner received: