When some writers pursue publication, they only consider the large New York publishing houses. But the great news is that in addition to the “big boys,” the publishing world is home to a number of smaller presses and e-publishers. What does that mean to an aspiring writer? It means she must be savvy and research the best distribution option for her work. Today, Christi Barth joins us to talk one of those options—small print—and her publisher, Eternal Press. Christi, thank you for chatting with us about your publication experience!

Kelsey: Christi, could you give us an overview of Eternal Press?

Christi:  They sell both print and ebooks through a variety of sites, such as Amazon and Fictionwise.  Based in Canada, they were recently purchased by Damnation Books.  They have a professional, great staff and a supportive group of authors.

Kelsey: As you know, “Sold! stories” keep unpubbed writers optimistic. Could you share how you sold to Eternal?

Christi:   I’d been corresponding with them – submitted the full, and they said they liked it, but wanted to see one major revision, cutting out both scenes in a certain character’s POV.  Painful?  You bet, especially since one was a sex scene I’d slaved over.  But I made the change (because at that point I was willing to do anything to get published!), and then sat on tenterhooks for a week.  And to be fair, in hindsight they were completely correct.  I had absolutely no business introducing a new POV ¾ of the way through the book.  I guess editors do know what they’re doing!

We went to DC for Easter, and our hotel had computers in the lobby available to guests w/free WiFi.  We came back from breakfast – I checked my email.  Came back from the Air & Space museum – checked my email.  My parents thought I was nuts, because I hadn’t told them what was going on (I didn’t want to jinx it).  But finally at 5:00 the email came through (and yes, I squealed loudly enough to startle several other hotel guests passing through the lobby), and at dinner that night I got to share the good news!  Followed promptly the next day with sheer panic when I opened the contract and discovered they wanted me to come up with a concept for the cover.  Yikes!

Kelsey: What are some of the advantages to writing for a small press?

Christi:  Oh, how I wish I had experience publishing in NY to be able to properly compare and contrast the two!  I do know from a great workshop in my local RWA chapter that apparently small presses are much more willing to listen to/actually produce the cover art you request.  Sure, I didn’t have an idea at first, but when I did, the heroine had the right color hair, the setting was right – they followed my idea to the letter.

The biggest advantage is that small presses are willing to take chances.  That doesn’t mean they publish any old story that rolls in the door.  There is still a high rejection rate.  But small presses can work outside the trends.  For example, in my upcoming release Act Like We’re In Love the hero is a movie star.  Not off living the high life with caviar and starlets, but working in a small town dinner theatre.  Nevertheless, at RWA Convention last year I had several agents and published authors tell me to stop writing it.  They’d heard that because of the bad economy, nobody would publish a book glamorizing the excesses of a movie star lifestyle.  Sure enough, once I started pitching it, I received quite a few rejections from agents who read the full and loved it, yet called it ‘unmarketable’.  But happily, Eternal Press is willing to publish it.

Kelsey: How do Eternal’s distribution and marketing functions operate?

Christi:  Ah, there’s the rub.  This is the major challenge of writing for a small press.  We do have a wonderful woman who works in promotion, but I’d say the majority of the marketing falls on the author.  Every review I received, I went out there and snagged.  I did the legwork to set up every blog interview.

Kelsey: What, if any, challenges have you encountered in writing for a small publisher?

Christi:  Well, RWA still doesn’t consider me published after two sales, so that is an ongoing frustration.  To me, the lack of a $1,000 advance doesn’t matter.  People – people I’ve never met all across the country – are purchasing my book.  Period.  I’ve now worked with two great editors and cover artists at EP, and I can’t imagine anyone at a bigger publishing house being any more responsive or professional.

Kelsey: Do you see writing for a small press as only one part of a comprehensive career plan or can a writer sustain her career with a publisher like Eternal?

Christi:  As with other smaller publishers such as Samhain and Ellora’s Cave, the erotica authors do very well on EP, and build up quite a following rather quickly.  I think (Going out on a limb here – trying to be politically correct!) that if you can churn out a good story quickly, it is quite possible to sustain a career with a small press.  I am grateful for the opportunities EP has given me. But don’t we all dream of the 25 city book tour with a limo and hordes of screaming fans?  In the long term, I do view it as an important stepping stone to a New York publisher.  .

Kelsey: Is there anything else you would like to share about writing for Eternal or your books?

Christi: My experience with them has been an invaluable tool, and helped me become a better author.  And bottom line, my books are out there, brightening people’s days, which is all I ever wanted.

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Thanks so much, Christi! RU crew, how many of you are published with smaller presses? Do you agree with Christi’s take on this part of the publishing landscape? Everyone, feel free to ask Christi questions as she’ll be popping in on and off today!

Stop by Wednesday when radio host Bruce Sallan discusses the state of gender affairs in today’s culture.

Bio:  Christi Barth spent years performing in musicals, singing about love and giving people a happy ending in every performance.  Then as a wedding planner she spent every day immersed in romance.  Now she writes it!  After winning several writing contests, she debuted her novel Carolina Heat to rave reviews.  Her next single title romance Act Like We’re In Love comes out in October.  She lives in Maryland with the absolutely best husband in the world (sorry ladies, it’s true!).  Visit her at www.christibarth.com.

Many of our readers have faithfully followed the first half of our yearlong series of lectures on different romance fiction sub-genres.  Today, we’re excited to talk about a sub-genre that has seen an explosion of creativity in the past few years. Paranormal romance started out with vamps and shapeshifters, but has moved into different worlds, heavenly realms and age ranges (who can deny that Stephanie Meyer made the vampire cool/kewl with pre-teens, teens AND their mothers?).

We’ve snagged three wonderful visiting professors for today’s lecture. Please welcome New York Times bestselling author Angie Fox, best known for her Accidental Demon Slayer series, and debut author Erin Kellison! Dorchester editor Leah Hultenschmidt will also stop by throughout the day to respond to comments and questions. RU crew, you’re in for a treat!

Kelsey: Ladies, what’s your opinion of the state of paranormal romance today?

Angie: Paranormal romance is hot, hot, hot. I keep hearing that it will slow down, but I haven’t personally seen that yet. As a writer, I just sold a new paranormal romance series. As a reader, I’m having a great time finding new authors and keeping up with favorites I’ve been following for years. There are so many authors out there creating fantastic new worlds. You have your authors who write darker, like: JR Ward, Laurell K Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon. As well as those of us who pepper our stories with lighter moments and humor, like Charlaine Harris, Katie MacAlister and MaryJanice Davidson. My books are more in that vein as well.

The wonderful thing about paranormals is that there aren’t any limits as to the kinds of characters and worlds a writer wishes to create. As long as you make me believe, as a reader, that something is possible, I’m on board.

Erin: A stroll past the romance section at Wal-Mart will tell you paranormal romance is doing great. The genre is explosive. Why? Paranormals, to me, have it all. The subgenre allows for new world building limited only by the imagination, while tapping into and heightening basic human concerns and fantasies. Tone varies hugely as well, from light, comedic turns to dark fantasy, and everything in between. Even time period varies. Further, paranormals have a cross-genre appeal, even hopping the aisle at the book store. For example, my debut Shadow Bound is shelved in the Barnes and Noble fantasy and sci-fi section, while elsewhere it’s romance. Go figure. I don’t think demand is going to ebb any time soon. The main concern, I think, is how to stand out in a market where there is an abundance of fantastic authors.  

Kelsey: Why do you write paranormals, and do you write in other sub-genres?

Angie: I had someone ask me the other day if I ever planned to write about good ole humans and I had to think. Humans? Hmm…wait. There have to be a few humans in my books somewhere. The biker witches are human. They might count if you forget about their spell work. Seriously, though, I’m having too much fun with the paranormal right now. I love creating entire worlds where I get to make up the rules.

There are so many interesting things you can do. For example, when I sat down to write the Accidental Demon Slayer series, I had no notes about a sidekick for my heroine. But in the first book, when Lizzie learns she’s a demon slayer and there are some very scary, very angry creatures on her tail, she takes comfort in her dog. As I was writing, I thought, ‘This is a sweet moment. Now how do I throw her off?’

I made the dog say something to her. Nothing big. After all, he’s only after the fettuccine from last week. And he knows exactly where Lizzie can find it (back of the fridge, to the left of the lettuce crisper, behind the mustard). It amused me, so I did it. Thanks to her unholy powers, Lizzie can now understand her smart-mouthed Jack Russell Terrier. I had fun with it. Pirate can say and do things that Lizzie can’t. He’s such a kick to write. And that’s the beauty of a paranormal.

Erin: I love and have always loved fantasy and sci-fi.  I grew up on Tolkien and Star Trek. Then, in the sixth grade, I read my first gothic romance, Jane Eyre, and I was changed forever. Combine the two and I am in heaven. Right now I just write paranormals, but I can see myself doing romantic suspense because I love danger and have a murderous streak J. Eventually, I’d also like to try my hand at YA.

Kelsey: Angie, how do you think this sub-genre has changed in the last five years?

Angie: Paranormal romance has expanded with the imagination of its authors. I’m convinced vampires will never go out of style, no matter how much readers enjoy delving into other things. It seems like fresh, different takes on vampires will always sell well. In addition, authors are writing some great books about werewolves and other types of shifters, mermaids, Greek gods, witches and even fallen angels. I think the genre will continue to grow and change and become even more interesting.

Kelsey: Erin, we’re hearing that even paranormals are becoming a harder sell to editors. What do you think made your writing stand out and ultimately sell?

Erin: When I started Shadow Bound, I was looking for a mythological figure with the same kind of pathos so popular in vampires, but with opportunities for fresh world-building. I found it in a banshee, who became my heroine. (Banshees are heralds of death.) She let me have fun playing around with the concepts of life, death, and immortality. My best guess is that the premise resonated with what was already selling, yet offered a different take and a new world to explore.

I sold out of an RWA contest. I’ve heard people praise them and dismiss them. I’m in the first group. I received hugely varying scores for the exact same submission. In fact, the day I got The Call, I got some first-round scores back, too. One judge had given me a don’t-quit-your-day-job kind of score, so I understand the frustrations of contests. However, they are a viable way to get your work in front of and read by an agent or editor. I was fortunate enough to find myself on the desk of an editor at Dorchester.

Kelsey: Angie, what do readers tell you they love about your paranormals?

Angie: The characters. I write about a reluctant demon slayer, a gang of geriatric biker witches and a talking dog – and I let them do what they want.

Like in A Tale of Two Demon Slayers when Pirate the dog finds a dragon egg. The thing hatches and he decides he has a pet. I mean, how fun for a pet – to own a pet. Lizzie the demon slayer is not happy about that. She has enough going on and doesn’t think her dog needs to own a pet.

So she tells Pirate to find a new home for Flappy the dragon (Pirate named him, not Lizzie). So Lizzie is battling evil people and losing track of what Pirate is doing. He keeps promising to find a new home for the dragon, but instead Pirate is hiding the dragon, and loving the dragon and teaching him tricks. Every time Lizzie realizes the dragon is still there, it’s gotten bigger and bigger and, well, it’s just one more thing she can’t quite control.

Kelsey: What do you think it takes to be a NYT bestselling author of paranormal romances?

Angie: Make the story big. I had an agent tell me that if I wanted to sell, my characters had to take bigger chances, have more to risk and lose. It’s easy to say, but a hard thing for a writer to do. It’s a vulnerable, risky place to be. I knew my first book was big enough when instead of ending my writing sessions thinking, “I hope that’s good enough to impress an editor.” I ended them thinking, “No. I didn’t not just write that. I did not just make my character defend herself with a toilet brush and a can of Purple Prairie Clover air freshener.”

Also, you want to have a plan going in, but also be willing to let the story take you where it wants to go. When I began the Accidental Demon Slayer series, I started with a kernel of an idea that amused me. What if a straight laced preschool teacher suddenly learns she’s a demon slayer? And what if she has to learn about her powers while on the run from a fifth level demon? And wouldn’t it be interesting if she’s running with her long-lost Grandma’s gang of geriatric biker witches?

I started writing and let the story evolve based on the characters and that central issue of what happens when a reluctant heroine is thrust into a series of extraordinary situations. And I knew the story was working when I couldn’t wait to get back to the keyboard every day.

Kelsey: What advice do you have for writers who want to break into this sub-genre?

Angie: The key ingredients are: a love of books, a dedication to telling the best story possible and lots of determination and drive to keep writing, writing, writing.

I wrote three books that didn’t sell before I wrote The Accidental Demon Slayer. Those three books were rejected by everybody in town, with everything from written notes saying things like, “your death scenes are too funny,” to “not for us” rubber stamped on my original query. But if I’d have quit after any one of those three books, I never would have written my fourth book, which sold and ended up hitting the New York Times list.

Erin: Go for it. Trust your voice. Understand the basic elements of your subgenre and the industry. Write your heart out. Pursue every avenue to get your work on an agent or editor’s desk. When you finish one book, begin another. And most importantly, protect and nurture the joy of writing.

Kelsey: Angie, what are your predictions for paranormal romance in the next one to three years?

Angie: I think it will continue to grow. There are a lot of people writing paranormal romance right now, so the stories that sell will be the ones that are fresh and different. And that is great news for paranormal readers.

Kelsey: Erin, please feel free to share any other comments on paranormal romance or publishing in general.

Erin: I recommend to authors on the verge (who have a complete manuscript, are actively sending it out to agents/contests and pitching at conferences) to be already working on acquiring information on the business side of publishing. For example, I had begun a messy file of marketing tips. When I was putting together my marketing plan, I was so glad that I had amassed that information. Similarly, I had an idea about the process the manuscript would go through to publication and was basically familiar with each phase. There are so many firsts and so much to learn that having a little background is vital. 

Also, paranormals often sell as a series. I recommend having a good plan for the scope of any following books, with blurbs and/or outlines prepared. One of the first questions asked by my agent and editor was, Do you see this as a series? Do you have plans for subsequent books? My agent requested blurbs on the next two books immediately. It was a tremendous relief to go into this situation at least somewhat prepared and with a basic working knowledge of what to expect.

Strong plots are a necessary part of a good novel, but I think it is the characters and the fun things we discover with them that keep readers coming back.

***

RU Crew, now it’s your chance to ask questions about paranormal romance or anything else the strikes your fancy. Erin and Angie will pop in to chat. Also – don’t forget to grill Leah Hultenschmidt from Dorchester!

Come back on Monday when writer Sally Bayless will continue her series on Confessions of a new writer.

Angie Fox is the New York Times bestselling author of the Accidental Demon Slayer series. She claims that researching her books can be just as much fun as writing them. In the name of fact-finding, Angie has ridden with Harley biker gangs, explored the tunnels underneath Hoover Dam and found an interesting recipe for Mamma Coalpot’s Southern Skunk Surprise (she’s still trying to get her courage up to try it).

Angie earned a Journalism degree from the University of Missouri. She worked in television news and then in advertising before beginning her career as an author.

Visit Angie at www.angiefox.com. You’ll find freebies galore and answers to burning questions, like What is Your Biker Witch name?

Erin Kellison is the author of the Shadow Series, which includes Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall.  Stories have always been a central part of Erin Kellison’s life. She attempted her first book in sixth grade, a dark fantasy adventure, and still has those early hand-written chapters. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English Language and Literature, and went on for a masters in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on oral storytelling. When she had children, nothing scared her anymore, so her focus shifted to writing fiction. She lives in Arizona with her two beautiful daughters and husband, and she will have a dog (breed undetermined) when her youngest turns five.

You can contact Erin though her website, www.ErinKellison.com, where you can also sign up to receive her newsletter.

Today at RU, we’re continuing our bi-monthly series where we’ll follow debut author Laurie London on her journey from a newbie writer to publication. If you missed Laurie’s first lecture, please be sure to back track for a peek. Today, she’s going to chat with us about her search for an agent, and how she landed Emmanuelle Alspaugh as hers. Emmanuelle will also drop by today!

Sold! But first, Revisions and Submissions

After signing with an agent, my road to publication may veer off from what others have experienced. Maybe you have or will go through these same things and maybe you won’t. Please don’t think there’s a right way or a wrong way. I can only recount my own experience.

Once the agency agreement was signed, Emmanuelle sold my manuscript, right? Yes…but not until I made a few more changes. These weren’t major fixes, just little tweaks here and there to further tighten and polish. Now it was ready for submission to publishers (and I began to drink heavily).

During this time I took a character workshop by one of my favorite writing instructors, Linnea Sinclair. I’ve learned so much about craft, attitude, and the business of writing from her. This next thing I did helped me turn my story world and characters into something bigger than just a good manuscript. Granted, I’d already planned for this to be an open-ended series and had synopses and pages written for books two and three, but I took a step back and considered the world as a whole because of her advice.

I’d always done character templates for my major characters, but this was the first time I’d heard that a publisher could ask for them. Linnea said they invariably ask for information like this on Friday at noon and they need it by 5pm. She said she was teaching us to be professional writers. We must think like one and we must be prepared. (Yes, she’s like a drill sergeant or a masochist boy scout, but she whipped us into shape.)

With this in mind, I polished my character worksheets. Then I decided to take it a step further and create a Worldbuilding document to keep the details about my world in one place and to avoid inconsistencies. (Some refer to this as a series bible.) Thinking it was for my eyes only, I used fancy fonts and silly spellings, things that sparked my creativity and that I thought were fun. I did some historical research and wrote a lengthy, single-spaced document on vampires, complete with annotated references. I discussed their form of government, their biology, major historical events that tied into human history, special powers, traditions, societal structures, etc. much of which will never make it into the books. I wrote it as if I were doing a college term paper for Vampire Sociology 101.

Offhandedly, I told my agent I’d put together this document to help me keep all these details straight. Guess what? She wanted to see it. So I nixed the fancy fonts and spellings, quickly proofread the thing, and sent it to her. Turns out she loved it and used it as a selling tool for the whole series.

Let me set the scene on what happened next: I’m in a PTA meeting that is running long when my phone rings. My book’s been out on submission for a few weeks, so I’m a wreck anyway, but when I see that it’s Emmanuelle calling, my heart kicks into overdrive. I excuse myself, run out to the steps of the school, and answer the phone. She says an editor who loved the story wants a series overview. In ONE page, she told me to include the overall series arc, the number of books I envisioned, the characters, the major settings, and a 2-3 sentence premise outlining the conflict in the next two books. Oh, and she needs it by the close of business. That was in two hours. Holy crap, Linnea was right!

Fortunately, I’d also followed the advice my author friend Alexis Morgan gave me (I talked about this in my last RU post), so I knew these story details and was ready. It was a matter of cutting and pasting stuff into a new document. Of course I still labored over it, but within a few hours, I sent the overview. Then waited.

The submission process reminds me of showing horses. You hurry hurry hurry to get yourself and your horse ready. You rush to the show pen, not wanting to miss your class, then you sit around and wait. As in forever. With a nervous stomach. (You learn quickly how to use the restroom while wearing chaps.)

It was at this point when I attended the Emerald City Writers Conference in Seattle. It killed me not being able to share any of this excitement with my friends, that editors were reading my story and liking it. The submission process is stressful enough when you’re sitting behind a computer and can’t email anyone. Imagine seeing your writer friends face to face.

Then came the agent and editor dance of negotiating, finagling, cajoling, and whatever else they do. And on a rainy evening in October 2009, while having dinner with a friend because we didn’t want to sit outside during a high school football game, I got a text from my agent. She and my new editor were at a cocktail party and she closed the deal!

Because I’ve already taken up enough space here at RU, if you want to read about The Call or The Text, I’ve detailed the silly stories on my blog. Warning: one of them involves a toilet. (http://laurielondon.blogspot.com/2010/01/call.html)

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Do any of you want to share your submission stories and experiences? Have you done a series bible or overview? If so, I’d love to hear what you put into it. Mine is definitely a work-in-progress and I’m always adding more as I learn more about my story world and characters.

RU crew, stop by tomorrow when Debra Holland will help us make the impossible possible: Understanding Men.

Laurie’s Bio:

A graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in Business Administration and a former tester/programmer for a Fortune 500 company, Laurie London now writes from her home near Seattle where she lives with her husband and two children.

Her debut novel, BONDED BY BLOOD, A Sweetblood Novel, is tentatively scheduled for publication February 2011 by HQN. EMBRACED BY BLOOD, the second book in the series, is coming July 2011.

Her writing has won and been a finalist in several prestigious contests including the Beacon, the Emerald City Opener, the Marlene, and the Orange Rose.

She’s a member of GSRWA, RWA, RWAOnline, SCBWI, and two book clubs – one of which she helps coordinate live online author chats with readers from around the world.

When not writing, she can be found running, reading, or riding and showing her horse. Someday she hopes to qualify for the Quarter Horse World Show – that is, if her horse doesn’t get hurt again.

Today, I’m dancing a jig over both our topic and our visiting professor. Ann Charles is not only a talented author, she’s also an astute businesswoman. We’re fortunate to have her visit RU to talk about a topic that will be new to some of you, familiar to a few, and the bane of others’ existences! When you hear “platform,” what comes to mind–Shoes? Diving? Politics? If you didn’t immediately think of your writing career, then by all means, read on!

And especially exciting news: one lucky commenter will win a platform “mini-consultation” with Ann, which will include either a pre-determined number of email exchanges or a 30-minute phone conversation. And she’ll also give away a copy of Jacquie Rogers’ book, “Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues,” and a CD from Justin Saragueta (the musician who created the song for Jacquie’s book trailer)!

Welcome to RU, Ann!

Question:  How many of you unpublished authors are wondering if you should take some of your valuable writing time and use it to begin building a platform before you even land a contract with a publisher?

Answer:  Do you want to get published and stay published? If you answer “Yes,” then your answer above is also a resounding “Yes!”

This is not to say you shouldn’t continue to study the writing craft and learn how to create the best book you can—and finish the book. Those things are givens.

These days, though, writing the best book you can is just half of the equation. Times have changed in the last few years, and things in the publishing world are moving quickly, so there is no time for foot dragging. A platform is a must if you hope to break into the business and form a reader base that will impress your publisher enough to keep you when times are tough.

What is a platform?

Many fiction authors don’t know what a platform is, so don’t feel alone if you are part of this group. When we’re done here, you’ll be in the know and ready to start building.

Your platform is the combination of all of your efforts to make your name and brand available to both industry professionals and readers. It’s how you are communicating and sharing about yourself and your books; it’s the audience you have accumulated and will continue to grow.

As an example, we’ll look at a snapshot of some of my platform elements, because I can talk freely about me without risking a snippy retort from me—at least, that’s what my therapist says.

Because I don’t currently have a book out for public consumption, my platform has been focused on growing an audience of peers and industry professionals. I have a website that contains not only bits about my books for editors and any interested authors who visit my site to peruse, but also articles and workshops for my fellow authors. I speak to local writing chapters (RWA and non-RWA) about craft and promotion, I write articles and columns which are published in both writing-related newsletters and nationwide magazines, and I guest blog (just as I am today). I also have a second website, which I created with Jacquie Rogers, called 1^st Turning Point. Like Romance University’s website, we have columnists and guest columnists and reviewers, who write articles and share them with other authors on the subject of promotion, publicity, and marketing.

You can see how my platform revolves around building name and brand recognition within the publishing industry. Why is this important? It’s simple—recognition equals success. Think of authors who you know by name but not necessarily in person, and not because of their books. How and why do you know of them? Because they’ve worked hard to build recognition through their respective platforms.

You are in charge of your own success.

I cannot emphasize the following enough: You and you alone are responsible for becoming a successful, long-standing, world-renowned author.

While the right agent, editor, and publisher have a hand in your success, their part is enhanced by your efforts to secure their partnership and help them to sell you, not simply from them offering you a contract. You can have the best book out there, but without a well-developed reader platform, the chances of you succeeding are akin to lottery odds.

So, why do you need a platform? Because you want to be wildly successful. We all do. Very few writers fall backwards into success. Most of the bestselling authors work their hineys off on self-promotion alongside writing great stories. Some of them are fortunate to have a publisher throwing a little extra cash at them, but most will tell you that they still put a lot of their own hard-earned cash into promoting their names and books.

(Note: There is one group of authors who don’t have to worry about platform building as much as the rest of us—category book authors. This is due to the audience their publisher has already built. For example, Harlequin has built a platform of readers by providing specific, reliable kinds of reads. However, if you are a category author and would like to move into the single-title game, some platform building would make the possibility of that move much more feasible. How can it not?)

If you wait to begin building your platform until you land your first contract, you’re going to have to work twice as hard, twice as fast to succeed. Why? Because in addition to writing the second book optioned in your contract (and remember, the second book HAS to be better than your first or you’ll fail fast in this business), you’re going to have to split your time to work on promotional efforts. And guess what? You thought learning craft was hard and time-consuming; wait until you dive into the promotion and marketing pool. For the first few months, it’s like trying to doggie-paddle while wearing concrete flippers.

Why not begin building your platform now, while you have the time, while you’re not under contract and deadline, and being held accountable for your writing by anyone but you? It makes perfect sense. We all have families, jobs, friends, a life. If you want to spend time with any living beings after that contract arrives, a little investment in platform development could save you from being the focus point of a group intervention later.

How do unpublished authors get started building a platform?

This is a huge subject that I can’t possibly cover in a paragraph or two, but I’ll throw out some high-level suggestions.

• Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as an author and promoter. Then figure out how to build off your strengths and how to overcome your weaknesses.
• Think about where you want to be in a year, three years, five years—and I’m not referring to your craft skills here or how many books you want to write in that amount of time. Do you want to be writing articles for nationwide magazines in a year? Presenting workshops to mid-sized groups in three years?  Giving keynote speeches or playing god over your own forum in five? Write it down. Then figure out how to build up to that. Remember, baby steps here. Too much too soon and you’ll get overwhelmed and drown.
• Think of some of your favorite authors—not those whose books you just adore, but those whose careers impress the heck out of you. Consider these folks your role models and study them. Watch them (from afar, please—they don’t like it when you stalk them, I’ve learned), monitor their virtual and physical platform building efforts, pay attention to how they are growing their career and audience. Now apply what you’ve learned to your own platform.
• Find another author (or two or three) who is around the same platform-building level as yourself, whose mentality you like, and whose optimism gives you energy. Offer to partner with them on this endeavor, working together to brainstorm new platform building opportunities and cheer each others’ platform successes. Two brains are often better than one, so long as you find the “right” brain for you.
• Step outside of your safe zone—repeatedly. Does just the thought of speaking in public give you the hives, but you like the idea of someday teaching a class? You can either take baby steps to build your self-confidence, or you can try your hand at online teaching where public speaking is only required from behind a virtual curtain.

Find Your Tipping Point.

Two final words: Tipping Point. Many of you have heard of this saying in regards to at what point you will tip the scale of success in your favor. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about your own personal tipping point, as in at what point will you become so overwhelmed that you shut down and this platform building goes from being fun and exciting to tedious and repulsive.

I’m a busy plate spinner. Those who know me can attest to this. I seem to always have ten things going at once at all times, and those around me sometimes worry about my stress level. When I take on yet another plate to spin, my husband often asks me, “How much more can you do?” The answer is I don’t really know. I haven’t found my tipping point yet. But you know what? I keep saying, “Yes.” And you know what else? I keep reaping greater rewards because I pushed myself just a little more.

So, push yourself. Success isn’t easy. Nothing is free. But if you feel that tipping point drawing near, take a breather and keep the same pace for awhile. Just don’t stop. 

Recommended reading:

Here are a couple of books that will help get you started on building your platform:

Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz

The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books by Stephanie Chandler

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RU crew, I know you have a bazillion questions for Ann so let ‘em roll! Don’t forget: one lucky commenter will will win a platform “mini-consultation” with Ann, which will include either a pre-determined number of email exchanges or a 30-minute phone conversation!

Be sure to drop by Monday when author Bella Andre is here with a special treat: Feng Shui for Writers.

Ann’s Bio:

Ann Charles has been an unpublished author for over a decade now. She has a marvelous agent who believes in her and continues to stand by her through thick and thin, all the while working to sell Ann’s manuscripts. Ann has been a finalist in the Golden Heart, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest, and (recently) the Daphne du Maurier. She is also the co-creator of 1^st Turning Point (http://www.1stturningpoint.com/), where authors can go to learn, share, and teach all about promotion and marketing. If you’re interested in learning more about platform for the fiction authors, stay tuned, because Ann and her fellow Platform Coach, Jacquie Rogers, are writing a non-fiction book on that very subject. If you’d like to donate your free time to being Ann’s personal assistant, she’s always taking applications—just kidding…sort of.

Good morning and welcome to a special edition of Anatomy of the Male Mind! We’re veering from man-speak to hear what author Karin Harlow (and her agent!) has to say about literary agents.

Read on for Harlow’s Guide to Literary Agents.

All Agents Are Not Created Equal

Neither are all doctors, lawyers or Joe the Plummers.  In every profession, there are the slugs, the duds, the hot shots and the go-to people.  In every profession, there are lazies, liars, cheats and those who are just kind of dozing happily in the sunshine, not a care in the world. Then there are those who are honest, knowledgeable, hungry and Johnny-on-the-spot. Literary agents are no different.

Just because I love my agent, does not mean you will.  And while the agent author relationship is one based on business and we must always remember that for the match to work, I believe there has to be simpatico.

I cannot urge you enough not to enter into a publishing contract without the expertise of an agent.  Publishers will ask for everything, they are, after all, in business.  There are so many clauses, and the language can be ambiguous to one who isn’t versed in legalese.  Just because it’s written in a contract does not mean it cannot be negotiated down or out.  And you have the right to negotiate.  This is YOUR career.  Do not give it away.  And please, don’t ask your real estate agent or your friend who is an attorney to look over your contract and give their seal of approval.  At the very least, if you cannot find an agent you’re comfortable with, please do yourself a huge favor and call literary agent and contract attorney Elaine English.  For something like 300-400 bucks, she will review the contract and she will advise.

All agents are not created equal.  Some will lay down and roll over, some will fight tooth an nail. Some will get you some things but not all things. Not that the best agent in the world can get you everything, there are deal breakers.  Some agents are wimpy and will encourage their authors to speak on their own behalf to their editor about things not pertaining to the actual story.  I have a problem with this.  While I won’t tell you her exact verbiage, when I signed with my agent, she boiled it right down to, “You be the artist and worry about the book, let me be the beotch and I’ll deal with everything else.”  And so it is.

There are small boutique agencies and there are the big high-profile agencies.  There are the agencies that are just a one man or one woman show.  There are pros and cons for each.

I personally like a big agency behind me.  My agency has agents who a handle all sub rights.  These include but are not limited to foreign, audio, Hollywood, etc.  They have a legal department and a marketing department. The agent’s assistants are not agent wannabes, they are employed solely to assist the agents.

I think going with a junior agent at a prominent agency is not a bad thing.  I think going with an established agent with a good track record who branches out on their own is a good thing. I think someone who has limited experience and decides to throw up a shingle is not a good thing.  Buyer beware.  Listen to your gut. It’s never wrong

Many agents bundle submit. This is where they package a bunch of work and send it off to an editor.  And it usually sits.  There are such things as agent slush piles.  Frankly, I don’t care to be grouped with a bunch of other authors in a package and sit.  I want my agent to have the clout to make a phone call that will be taken, chat me up, then follow up the conversation with the work for a quick read.  But not all agencies are created equal.  Not all agents have the ears of the editors.

This is why it is imperative to do your homework before you query.  I had an author ask me the other day how I liked my agent because she had offered representation. Not the time to be asking questions. Ask your questions before you submit!  Why blindly cast your net out there?  What happens if you get an eel, are you going to take the eel up on their offer for representation because they offered?  Or are you going to toss that sucker back into the water and keep fishing for what you came for?

There is one hard and fast rule that I should have mentioned first and foremost:  Money flows from the publisher through the agent to the author (and, yes, split accounting is not uncommon, but some agents get offended if you ask for it.  IMHO that’s their problem. The publisher would rather not, more bookkeeping for them, but they do it, providing it’s all set up at contract time.  Not after.). Money does not flow from the author to the agent. Never pay your agent for editing, reading, book doctoring.  If an agent refers you to the aforementioned (book doctor or pay to edit) hang up the phone, and get an unlisted number! With the exception of your agent’s industry standard of 15% domestic sales and 20% foreign, there should be no exchange of money from you to them. Some agencies charge authors for postage and misc office expenses.  I have a problem with that too.  To me that is their cost of doing business that should come out of the 15% you pay them, not your cost of business on top of their agency fee.  However, many would beg to differ.  If this is the case with an agent you have queried and done your homework on and whom you really want to represent you, fine, set an annual amount, in writing, which should not exceed a couple of hundred bucks, and have the agent reimburse you when she sells your ms.  Many would beg to differ there as well.  I’m just putting it out.  For the record, most literary agents do not charge a dime for doing their job until there is a sale at which time they take the appropriate %.

I personally would not agree to more than a 30-day termination with my agent.  Anything longer is preventing you from hooking up with the agent you are replacing the old one with. And be professional.  Send a registered letter at the very least.  Don’t be surprised if your soon-to-be-ex agent blows up on you.  They are human after all, and I have seen some so-called professionals act very unprofessional.  That said, if there is trouble brewing, or concerns looming, and if there is a fixable issue with your agent, communicate your concerns, give him or her the chance to explain/defend and make better.  Don’t be rash.  But, sometimes, just like in life, relationships can and do run their course and its time to move on.  Be professional.  Always.

So, I asked my agent the other day about two houses that I had heard were not accepting paranormal submissions.  Her response paraphrased: “I haven’t heard that House A and B aren’t looking for paranormal, but I haven’t gone out with a new paranormal in a while. I know several agents who have recently sold para’s and I know House A bid on a few of them.”   We both agreed that we thought perhaps people were being told this when the house/s aren’t interested in an actual project. My agent followed up with: “If they read a para and it blew their socks off, they are going to buy it or try and buy it, believe me…”  I believe her.  She went on to say, “Overall, I think publishers are being uber-selective about anything they buy in any genre…I think houses are open to buy anything, any genre as long as it stands out as fabulous.

“Publishers are looking for contemporary stories with romantic themes but also family themes –like a series where each book takes place in a particular community or town or something.” But my agent has good luck selling all genres lately.  She has done contemporary deals, historical deals, romantic suspense deals, paranormal deals, erotic deals and women’s fiction deals in the past six months.  My agent is happy.

What has she had difficulty selling? “’chick-lit-y’ books” – even if she loves them, she feels like she has trouble selling them.

I asked her what her biggest pet peeve was: (lol and this is a conversation we have had many many Many times!)  “My biggest agent pet peeve is that authors choose to believe as fact, things they hear from other authors or from blogs, etc…and often walking away thinking they are somehow getting screwed because they aren’t getting ‘x, y or z’ which they heard someone else is getting… You can’t know someone’s situation unless you are actually in it. There are two sides to every story. Take everything you hear on blogs, etc with a grain of salt.  Writers also need to remember this business is not personal, it’s business.  It’s about numbers.  One author isn’t going to get more than another author just because the publisher or editor ‘likes’ them more than another author.”

What should an author expect from her agent? “Authors need to find an agent they trust and work together with them to grow/build their careers.  Just because an author has past experience in business (not in publishing) does not make them an expert in business.  Agents are a great resource if they are good, authors need to use that… that doesn’t mean an agent is always right, but working together as members of the same team is going to work a whole lot better than alienating people….  And even if an author is upset, it’s nice to try and still treat people with respect…  it’s really upsetting to work really hard on an author’s behalf and get treated without the most basic forms of common courtesy… THAT’S BAD BUSINESS believe me!”

And so there you have it!   Or most of it anyway.  There is a lot I didn’t include today for the sake of not boring you all to tears, but feel free to ask me questions, and if I can’t answer, I’ll ask my trusty agent!

Harlow

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Thanks, Harlow!!

RU Readers, here’s your chance to ask questions about agents from a lady who will give it to you straight. What do you find the most daunting about the agent hunt?

Join CJ Lyons on Friday where she’ll discuss the elements of an effective pitch during our Pitch-O-Rama! CJ will help commenters refine their pitches just in time for Nationals.

Harlow’s Bio:

A full time writer, Karin spins dark tales of suspense, love and things that go bump in the night. Drawing from her life as a cop’s wife, her stories resonate with authority and reality. When Karin isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling the California coast line with her husband and one or more of her four children or getting together in far off places with her writing buddies.

You can find Karin at www.KarinHarlow.com, www.facebook.com/KarinHarlow, www.Twitter.com/KarinHarlow, or contact her her http://karinharlow.com/contact_karin.php .

Today, we’re fortunate to have agent Scott Eagan visit RU to talk about how category romance authors benefit by having an agent. Scott was generous enough to write a short lecture and answer a few questions as well. Feel free to pose your questions for him in the comments.

Welcome, Scott!

This issue of category romance authors having an agent came up when I first opened Greyhaus Literary Agency in 2003. I was actually sitting in a session, listening to a panel discussion from editors when someone asked if it was necessary to have an agent when pitching to a category house. What amazed me, at that time, was the answer. This editor began first with the answer I already knew – “We accept both agented and unagented submissions.” O.K. so far, so good, but then the editor continued, “However I have to say that we actually prefer unagented submissions.” Arrghhh, screeching tires, “what did this editor say?” They preferred unagented?

Fortunately the moment of panic didn’t last for that much longer. She went on to discuss the issue of contracts and the fact that they use a pretty standard contract with not much room for negotiating. What she was really saying is that there really wasn’t much need for it. Over the years though, I have come to the conclusion that, while for contract purposes, the agent might (please note I say might) not be necessary, there is indeed a strong argument for having an agent. In fact, I don’t see much of a separation between having an agent for a category house or for any other house.

I do think there is a misconception that all agents do for writers is negotiate contracts. While I am sure some do, there are also a lot of agents out there that do a lot more. An agent is really that one reader that has the ability to see both sides of the equation when it comes to publishing. They can see that creative side of the author, but they can also provide that “inside” look at what editors and book buyers are really wanting. That is a valuable resource.

I have seen a lot of great category writers out there that suddenly find their career coming to a standstill as they wonder why the editor just wasn’t happy with that last project they sent off. They scream, “what do you mean they didn’t want my next book?” The agent, in all likelihood, could have prevented that from happening. Not because they can argue for another book and negotiate the next deal (although they can do that), it is because they can prevent a writer from making a huge mistake with that next work in progress.   

Category writing is difficult in the fact that a writer has to maintain the single voice and theme of the house, without becoming too repetitive in terms of style and voice. Take the “baby” stories. How do you find different ways of telling the surprise baby theme? I am a firm believer it can be done and it just takes some team work and the agent can help with that. While the writer might think they have a new story, the agent, as that outside reader can look at it with truly an objective eye and make sure the writer doesn’t just copy what she has done before.      

I think there is also another element that we don’t often think about. When I first opened Greyhaus there were a lot of publishers out there that would accept unagented submissions. That number has dwindled significantly. Instead of dealing with the “slush piles” the editors have passed that stack down to the agents. So, now we are the ones that get to deal with the stories. To the editor, a writer that has an agent has already had the story approved one time. In other words, the editor is confident in knowing it has already passed muster.      

As an agent, I love working with category romance authors. These are writers that are truly dedicated to the craft and their genre. It takes a lot to keep those books coming and not lose focus. It isn’t easy to keep finding new and unique stories and still maintain that theme the editor is looking for.       

I want to reiterate a comment I made earlier. I really don’t see much of a difference between having an agent for a category house or any other house. Having an agent gets a writer a lot of benefits they might not normally get with simply their critique group.

Kelsey: Can you share with our readers how you work with your clients on the creative aspect of the writing process?

Scott: I am a firm believer in working with my writers through all stages of their writing. Of course, each writer is different and some of my clients have stronger support systems at home to assist that process. Still, the more interaction I have with the writers from the beginning is always a great help.

One of the biggest reasons I want to work with the writers is a time management issue. The Greyhaus Literary Agency writers have always been known for their fast turnaround times on times on projects. When an editor wants revisions, we always get the projects in under the deadline. When there is a need to create a new project due to a need with a publisher, the Greyhaus writers are always some of the first called. By working with writers early on in the process, we can eliminate the sometimes lengthy process of having to go back and seriously over-haul a project.

As many writers know, having to make global revisions on a manuscript, after it has been written is difficult. Changes that you make to the first part of a story, you often find there is a domino effect or a trickle-down effect to that change. If I can catch projects early on, before we get too far with the idea, we can generally get the project moving faster without that serious “back tracking.”

If you are a Greyhaus client, we often start with developing a list of potential projects that you think you might be interested in writing. When I see this list, I can often shape the direction you want to head. Sometimes the project you want to write might not be the one that an editor would want first. Sometimes there is simply a need for another project. Together, we discuss those ideas.

I also like to look at projects after the story gets going. I will frequently read projects at the first, third and fifth chapters just to make sure we are on track. Again, this is just to keep the writer heading in the right direction.

I do think the added bonus is that I can frequently call editors and discuss potential projects. Many times, I will have editors that request one story over another in the early drafting phase. Truly, another added bonus of that “hands-on” approach I take here at Greyhaus.

Kelsey: What trends are you seeing in the category romance market?’

Scott: Why does everyone ask this question? Trends are really a tough call considering what seems to be hot right now will not necessarily be hot later on. In the case of the category romance lines, I really don’t see much of a difference between what they are doing and what the single title romance lines are doing. Also, each of the things I am seeing varies from one subgenre to the next. Let me just bullet point this one.

• Paranormal – More and more angels and demons and less of the vamps and were’s. Of course, in my humble opinion, the writing is still the same with just a change in words. I am also seeing more of a shift to what was once called “urban fantasy” in this paranormal line.
• Contemporary – While we still see many of the same issues we have always seen in category, I do think more and more of the traits from the women’s fiction genre are creeping in. Writers are trying to bring in more and more of the controversial issues into the stories. We’re talking the things that make headlines in newspapers now.
• Romantic Suspense is really trying to do more than simply kidnapping issues. I think, due to the rise of the single title Thriller and Suspense writers (Steve Berry and the like) writers are trying to incorporate those ideas into their projects. Simply put, we are seeing more of an international feel to the stories.
• Historicals, as most of you know is one of my favorite. In the category lines, the writers are really adding a lot more depth to their stories. Instead of just placing the stories in a specific time period, the authors are tying the stories into major event in history. Reading authors such as Bronwyn Scott and Nicola Cornick will show you just that. These are big stories in a small package.

That should give you a feel for what is going on.

Kelsey: What category lines are aggressively looking to acquire new authors?

Scott: Be careful of this one. Just because someone is acquiring does not mean you should go out and write the stories. Still, there are some genres that really struggle finding great authors. One in particular is the Medical romance line. These are tough to write but if a writer is in the field, they have an added advantage.

I think the easier way to look at this is to focus on what is pretty swamped right now. The Teen line, Romantic suspense/mystery, historical and urban fantasy is really tough. Everyone seems to be writing these.  I would always recommend working on those powerful contemporary stories.

Kelsey: Could you give us a feel for a category author’s career arc? Is it still possible to make a career writing  category romance?

Scott: Writing category romance is always tough. The key is to be able to come up with constantly new ideas and yet, at the same time, maintain the central idea that is inherent to that line. Writing the same thing over and over again is really a sure sign to eventual failure in the line.

This is also a line that production is really key! Since the marketing for the category romances is different from many of the single title authors, keeping your name out there on the shelf and in the face of the public is even more important. This means fast and consistent writing. My category writers are currently producing 3-4 full length books a year, combined with numerous smaller stories for the category electronic lines (somewhere between 3 and 4 of those). These authors are also writing under other names with other houses. Right now though, the focus is keeping their name out there.

Staying in the single line is not a problem, but I always encourage writers to find a way to branch off, either into 1 other category line, or even into a single title line. Remember though, as soon as you branch off, this means the category production could potentially decrease. You don’t want that to happen.

I do believe it is important to establish yourself as a brand name within a category line. If you think about the category romance authors, you will find that you come back to the same names over and over again. This is due, not so much with the simple quality of a single book, but the consistency of their writing over time. In other words, to build your brand name in a category line is going to take a while. You can’t just do that in one year.

As far as making a career of writing category, this one is tough. Again, it is all a matter of production. You cannot make a career writing only 3 books a year. Finding authors making a career of their writing is really tough. Many are supplementing with single title books, or if they are fortunate, have either a job or spouse that is assisting with the income.

In the end, I would never encourage a writer to consider giving up their day job to write until there is some certainty, and even then, there is never a guarantee.

***

RU Crew, what questions do you have for Scott about the agent/category author relationship or other agent-related issues? Fire away!

Don’t forget to join us Wednesday when Laurie Schnebly talks about the Greek guy we all love: the Alpha Male!

Bio:

Scott Eagan is the agent at Greyhaus Literary Agency. Opened in 2003, Greyhaus has focused exclusively on the romance and women’s fiction genres. Scott draws on his two MA degrees in Creative Writing and Literary as well as his undergraduate work in literature and writing to provide hands on assistance to his writers. Scott is actively looking to acquire category romance authors. Please review the website for specific details but please remember, when submitting, be prepared to: A) know which category line you are submitting to; B) be able to explain either in writing or in a discussion how the story meets the criteria for that line; and C) be able to have either additional stories or works in progress that also fit that same line.

Today at RU, we’re continuing our bi-monthly series where we’ll follow debut author Laurie London on her journey from a newbie writer to publication. If you missed Laurie’s first lecture, please be sure to back track for a peek. Today, she’s going to chat with us about her search for an agent, and how she landed Emmanuelle Alspaugh as hers. Emmanuelle will also drop by today!

Queries, Pitching, and Agents

On the first step of my debut author’s journey, I talked about what I did to make myself feel like a real writer. Many of you weighed in and shared your experiences and stories. Whew, it’s nice to know I’m not the only paranoid one. Can I let you in on a little secret? (Move in close to the screen because I don’t want this getting out.) I still worry like that sometimes.

The next step was to find an agent, but I didn’t want to lose myself in this stressful process. What did I do?

Contests/Conferences Being the chicken that I am, I first focused on those agents who judged my work in contests. Personal connections are important to me, and I wasn’t quite ready to query the agent field at large. Fortunately, being a finalist in the Emerald City Opener, not only was I able to schedule several group pitch appointments, but it also qualified me for a private appointment with the agent or editor of my choice.

Pitching Because I’ve done public speaking before, I didn’t think I’d be all that nervous. After all, it’s about being prepared, right? I typed several versions of both long and short pitches. I practiced them at Pitch Fest where a published author sits at each table and gives suggestions to those who will be pitching the next day. Turns out I was a nervous wreck! Talking at business and PTA meetings, as well as to the city council, isn’t the same as talking about what your imagination created and having someone judge whether they want to see it.

Since everything worthwhile is worth getting out of your comfort zone, I sucked it up and pitched anyway. Even though I read my pitch from a piece of paper so I wouldn’t forget (they don’t expect you to be an expert orator—they just care about the story), I made some good connections and received several requests. As a result of a few other contest finals, I received a few more requests.

While I Waited After sending out the requested material, I wasn’t sure what to work on next—especially considering I’d envisioned my story as a series. I knew I needed to keep writing, but I didn’t want to pin my hopes on one idea. Alexis Morgan (RITA nominee who writes three paranormal series) advised me to write the first three chapters of book two, then set it aside to work on a completely different story world. That way, if book one never sold, I wouldn’t have wasted time writing a whole second book. Additionally, if I were knee-deep into another story world that excited me, a rejection would be less disappointing.

Because I couldn’t decide which characters to focus on, I wrote the first several chapters plus synopsis for books two and three before setting them aside. (This became important later during the submission process.) Then I wrote a short story for a Nocturne Bites Pitch contest, worked on a YA ghost story that had been sitting on my computer for awhile, and plotted out and wrote the first few chapters of a historical paranormal. My Sweetblood story world became a distant memory.

Query letter Fast forward a few months later. All but one request came back as a rejection. They were nice, with the invitation to submit other manuscripts, but they were rejections nonetheless. While I waited for that final rejection (let’s face it, we’re just hoping for a nice one, not a debilitating one, right?), I took CJ Redwine’s query class.

I knew the next step would be to query agents I hadn’t met, so I needed to polish that less-than-perfect query letter. She had us research a list of ten agents and helped us with our hooks. At the end of a week, I had a kick-butt query letter and a list of agents I’d like to work with who represented my genre. If you have any doubts about your query letter, I’d encourage you to take CJ’s class, because you’ll get awesome feedback and suggestions to make it better. She’s also a contributor here on RU. (Click Query Writing 101 on the category list to your right.)

Agent Referral I was literally ready to hit send on those queries, when that last rejection popped up in my inbox. But this rejection was a little different. It was from an agent I pitched to at ECO and chatted with in the bar. She liked my manuscript enough to pass it along to another agent friend who might be looking for an exact story like mine. Not only was I thrilled, but the agent, Emmanuelle Alspaugh, was on my list. After a short period of time, Emmanuelle emailed me that she’d read my manuscript and wanted to chat on the phone. I knew this was good, but I tried not to get my hopes up.

Revise Turns out she liked the story but thought it needed a few changes. Would I consider them? Since I wasn’t under any illusion that my story was perfect, I agreed to hear her thoughts. She made some excellent observations, none of which altered my vision for the story. She didn’t tell me how to fix them—that was up to me. I revised the story and sent it back a few weeks later. During this time, I also contacted one of her author references.

Turning a Negative into a Positive I decided to plan for the worst. I mean, seriously. After barely starting the agent search process, what were my chances? If Emmanuelle told me it wasn’t for her after all, at least I had a much stronger story now. I also had very positive feedback not only from her, but from other industry professionals that my writing was pretty decent. Like a pitbull, you’ve got to hang on to any positive you can find, while trying to forget about the negative, in order to move forward again.

The night before she called, I bought one of those expensive agent directories mentioned in the query class, convinced that if I didn’t, I’d jinx things. In the morning, I verified the email addresses on my agent list, pulled up my query letter in Word, opened my email program in another window, and waited for the phone to ring. Of one thing I was certain (or at least this was the self-talk I used), if she ended up declining, it simply meant I hadn’t found the right person to represent my work. I would not let the day end without doing something positive—I was ready to send those queries.

Turns out I didn’t need to. She said she loved it, knew she could sell it, and offered representation. Given that I’d prepared myself for a different outcome, I was pretty shocked. I think I may have even cried. I’d found someone who was as passionate about my story, my characters, and my world as I am—which, as I’ll touch on in my next post, is important not only in the submission process, but also one’s writing career.

***

Do you have a trying-to-find or already-found-an-agent story you’d like to share? I’m hoping Emmanuelle will be able to stop by today and answer your agent questions too. (And if she comes on before me, it’s because she’s in NY and I’m still sleeping here in Seattle.)

RU crew, stop by tomorrow when John Warwick Arden will continue his search for love.

Laurie’s Bio:

A graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in Business Administration and a former tester/programmer for a Fortune 500 company, Laurie London now writes from her home near Seattle where she lives with her husband and two children.

Her debut novel, BONDED BY BLOOD, A Sweetblood Novel, is tentatively scheduled for publication February 2011 by HQN. EMBRACED BY BLOOD, the second book in the series, is coming July 2011.

Her writing has won and been a finalist in several prestigious contests including the Beacon, the Emerald City Opener, the Marlene, and the Orange Rose.

She’s a member of GSRWA, RWA, RWAOnline, SCBWI, and two book clubs – one of which she helps coordinate live online author chats with readers from around the world.

When not writing, she can be found running, reading, or riding and showing her horse. Someday she hopes to qualify for the Quarter Horse World Show – that is, if her horse doesn’t get hurt again.

Welcome our second look at the erotic romance sub-genre. If you missed Eden Bradley’s lecture on erotic romance earlier this month, be sure to hit it as well. Read on for New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight’s insights and predictions on the erotic romance. Welcome, Angela!

Kelsey: What’s your opinion of the state of erotic romance today?

Angela:  Anybody who walks into the romance section of a bookstore can probably answer that.  You’ve got historicals and erotic romance with paranormal or romantic suspense in various doses.  So erotic romance is still hot.

Kelsey: How do you think this sub-genre has changed in the last five years?

Angela: There’s a lot more erotic romance out there now than there used to be, which makes it more difficult to stand out from the crowd and establish a following.  This means that you have to be more than erotic or kinky or whatever – you’ve got to write books that give something more than a warm, wet feeling below the waist.  Your books need a solid plot and a solid romantic conflict so the reader wonders whether the heroic couple is going to get their happily ever after.  And then they get a good Happily Ever After ending that makes the reader feel good.

Kelsey: What advice do you have for writers who want to break into this sub-genre? Any trends writers should avoid or embrace?

Angela: It depends on what you’re targeting.  If you’re trying to break into e-publishing, readers want what they can’t get in the bookstores.  That means male/male romances, which NY still isn’t accepting.  Or you can go really, really balls-to-the-wall hot with BDSM, etc.  But that’s tricky as hell to write, because if you go too far, you get a creep for a hero.  You have to make sure you have a reason for this guy to want to use a riding crop on his lover beyond wanting to hear a woman scream in pain.  A good safe reason is because he knows it’s what SHE wants. You must clearly establish his primary considerations are A.) it’s what she wants and B.) that she’s safe when he gives it to her.  So even as he’s playing at being a dominant bastard, he’s watching her like a hawk to make sure he isn’t really hurting her. 

If you’re going for NY publishers, you need to make sure you’re hot, but you stay away from things that are going to squick most readers.  That means no icky bodily fluids, except  blood (if he’s a vampire). And NY houses still aren’t really doing gay romances for the most part. 

I think the real key to standing out in either e-pubbing or NY is to be really creative.  Think WHY these characters need to do what they do sexually.  Make it IMPORTANT to them.  Next, see what other writers are doing, and DON’T DO IT THAT WAY.  Find a way that’s outside the box.  I took King Arthur and made him a vampire.  Nobody was doing that.  So if everybody is doing vampires in leather, for God’s sake, do not do vampires in leather. 

Example: I decided to do a werewolf novella a couple of years ago, and I decided that instead of doing the standard wolfie, I would do a werewolf in the future.  They used nanobot engineering to make him a werewolf. Then I had to come up a reason why they did that.  Well, the world he lived on was so insanely hostile, you had to be a werewolf to survive. 

Then to make it kinky, I decided he’d been captured and enslaved, and the heroine buys him. To keep her sympathetic, I decided she bought him because she needs a bodyguard she can absolutely trust because she controls him.   You see how this works. 

THINK ABOUT IT.  Do NOT use the first thing that pops into your head, because odds are, that’s a cliché.  That’s why they call them clichés.  Original is the fourth or fifth thing you think of, not the first. 

Then take your time plotting, and find a really fun way to accomplish your goal.  The more fun you have, the more fun the reader will have.  

Kelsey: Do you have any insight on “erotic romance friendly” agents and publishers?

Angela: There are a lot of them now.  For e-pubs, I like Changeling Press and Loose Id, because I know the owners and they’re not going to screw you.  For agents, Deidre Knight is good, and of course my own Roberta Brown, but I’m not sure Roberta is acquiring. For NY, there is Berkley Heat, of course, as well as many others.

Kelsey: What do you love about writing erotic romance and what do readers tell you they love about your books?

Angela:  I love the challenge.  The one thing people bitch about most when writing love scenes is that it’s all tab A in Slot B. To me, that’s what makes it challenging. 

Don’t just tick through the positions: okay, we did it missionary before, so this time we’ll do it standing up against the wall.  You want to vary it, but your real approach needs to be how will these two people make love differently than anybody else you’ve written?  Because no couple makes love the same way. 

Sex is like a song.  All songs are made up of notes, right?  But songs are wildly different depending on who is singing those notes, and what kind of song they’re singing.  How will your people sing differently?

Kelsey: What do you think it takes to be a NYT bestselling author of erotic romances?

Angela:  I guess it takes not doing the really easy thing.  You need to give your characters strong internal, external and romantic conflicts, which interact to create a plot that is about more than sex.  And you need to have solid writing skills that you actively develop.

Join RWA and Passionate Ink, the Erotic Romance chapter of RWA, and go to every class at Nationals you can get into your schedule.  Or if you can’t afford that, go to Bill Stephens Productions and cough up $100 for the year’s set of CDs that have every Nationals session on them. Or download the individual sessions if that’s all you can afford. But the session CDs are the best buy.  I get the CDs every year, and I always learn something from them. Find them here: https://www.billspro.com/order/rwa/index.html

Kelsey: What are your predictions for erotic romance in the next one to three years?

Angela:  I think NY will eventually start doing M/M.  Other than that, I have no clue.  I think they’ll be doing whatever is big in E-publishing now.  And I think e-publishing is the wave of the future, because it’s environmentally and economically a much better way to go.  No print costs, no shipping costs, no overhead except for the cost of editing and doing covers and running a website.  And when the reader is through with the books, they don’t end up in landfills. 

The problem is preventing piracy, which is a bitch and a half.

I want to thank you for inviting me to blog with you, and I want to invite all of you to my website, http://www.angelasknights.com/.  You’ll find excerpts of my books, including my book on writing, as well as my artwork of computer generated hunks.  Thanks!

Angela Knight

***

Thanks again to Angela for hanging out with us at RU. Readers, what questions do you have for her about erotic romance or avoiding the “easy out” in your writing?

Be sure to stop in tomorrow when debut paranormal romance author Laurie London chats with us about her agent search. Her agent, Emmanuelle Alspaugh, has agreed to drop in as well!

Angela’s Bio:

Angela Knight is the New York Times bestselling author of books for Berkley, Red Sage, Changeling Press, and Loose Id. Her first book was written in pencil and illustrated in crayon; she was nine years old at the time. A few years later, she read The Wolf and the Dove and fell in love with romance. Besides her fiction work, Angela’s publishing career includes a stint as a comic book writer and ten years as a newspaper reporter. Several of her stories won South Carolina Press Association awards under her real name.

In 1996, she discovered the small press publisher Red Sage, and realized her dream of romance publication in the company’s Secrets 2 anthology. She went on to publish several more novellas in Secrets before editor Cindy Hwang discovered her work there and asked her if she’d be interested in writing for Berkley. Not being an idiot, Angela said yes.

Angela lives in South Carolina with her husband, Michael, a polygraph examiner and hostage negotiator for the county’s Sheriff’s Office. The couple have a grown son, Anthony.

Welcome to Crafting Your Career! We have an amazing interview with New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu and PassionFruit Games, the developer of her romance-themed game TIGER EYE: Curse of the Riddle Box (April 28 release date). I don’t know about you all, but my mouth literally dropped open when I first read Marjorie’s announcement on her blog. Talk about crafting your career into new realms!

Marjorie will be on the road today, so she won’t be able to stop by and answer your questions. BUT, PassionFruit’s producer and studio director Melissa Heidrich will pop in a few times to answer your questions about the gaming side.

First up, we have a wonderful interview with Marjorie, then PassionFruit’s interview follows. I hope you enjoy reading about Marjorie’s amazing, ground-breaking journey. I know I did.

MARJORIE’S INTERVIEW

Tracey: Marjorie, thank you for joining us at Romance University! Can you take us back to that moment when you “knew” you had the chops to make it as a published writer?

Marjorie: Sometimes I’m still not convinced!   Every time I begin a new project, it feels as though I’ve never written before.  It’s always new, and the struggles are almost always the same: telling the story, finding character, having the endurance and resolve to go all the way.  Never gets easier.  The difference is that now I know, for the most part, what to expect — and while there’s no way to avoid those pressures that come from writing, I’ve learned how to deal with them in ways that are more effective, and quite a bit healthier.

Tracey: What is your writing process? Plotter? Panster? Something in between?

Marjorie: Mostly a panster.  I consider “plot” to be a work in progress.  Usually I start off a story with a notion, a broad idea.  I go with the flow, follow the decisions and motivations of the characters — and as I proceed, the plot unveils itself.   Outlining comes into play around a third of the way through — about the time when I get stuck — and at that point I sit down with pen and paper and try to figure out the rest of the book.  Or the next few chapters.  Sometimes I realize I need to backtrack.  Sometimes I keep moving forward.  Until I hit the next bump. Eventually, I bump my way into an entire novel.

Tracey: What’s the best writing advice you can give to unpublished writers? How about for established authors who would like to achieve New York Times bestselling status?

Marjorie: Writing advice:  Read.  Write.  Read.  Write.  Be stubborn.  Don’t give in to rejection. Read.  Write.  Research publishing guidelines.  Stay classy when dealing with others. Read. Write.

Writing is a learning process.  And everyone has a different process.  But at its most basic, those are the things I believe people need to remember as they work toward their dream of being published.

As for the rest…there’s no formula for getting on the Times list.  I’m told that it’s all about volume of sales, especially around your release date.  I try to do some publicity, I try to drum up interest about my books, but at the end of the day, all you can do is just sit tight and hope for the best.

Tracey: As a writer, you have stretched your wings into some amazing and unique venues. Can you tell us how those projects came about?

Marjorie: I sold my first novel, TIGER EYE, through the slush pile.  First three chapters, query letter, no agent (that changed when I had my contract in hand), and no contacts.  I was very fortunate — in the right place at the right time.

Soon after, at a lunch with my agent, Lucienne Diver, the subject of comic books came up (it was Halloween and her son was a very adorable Spiderman).  I told her that I loved the X-Men, had always wanted to write comics…and it just so happened that Pocket had signed a licensing agreement with Marvel to produce prose novels based off those characters.  Lucienne knew the editor, I submitted a proposal, and eventually wrote the X-Men novel, DARK MIRROR.  

The folks at Marvel liked my work on the book, which opened the door to other opportunities.  A few years later I was given the chance to write the mini-series NYX: NO WAY HOME, which led to DARK WOLVERINE, BLACK WIDOW, X-23…and who knows what else?  It’s been incredible fun.

You mention on your web site that you used to write fan-fiction. Can you explain what that entails for readers unfamiliar with the term?

Works of fan-fiction are, generally speaking, unauthorized stories written by fans about characters or settings in movies, television, novels, comics, and so on.  They are almost never professionally published, and readership tends to consist of other fans.

My first exposure to fan-fiction was with the X-Men.  I loved the cartoon that was on Fox in the 90′s, and in undergrad, I finally got online (I didn’t have personal internet access until college) and discovered websites filled with fan-written stories about those characters.  Some were awful.  A few were sublime. Mostly, though, they were just a lot of fun.  Eventually, I tried my hand at it — and it was a great learning experience.  No pressure.  No expectations except pure entertainment.  I always loved to read and write — always, from the time I was little — but I really do believe that writing all that fan-fiction was a kind of bootcamp that helped me practice dialog, timing, characterization, plotting, and so on.

Tracey: Tell us about your latest project with PassionFruit. How did it come about? What was your involvement during development? When will the game be released and how can readers get a copy?

Out of the blue, really.  Melissa contacted me with the idea, and I was like, “Whoa, wow!”  I was really impressed with the work that she and her team had done for Her Interactive, but more than that, I trusted her to do right by the book.  It helped, too, that we were friends in high school!

As for my involvement, I wrote the script — something that wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous help of Mari, the creative director, who distilled the novel into all its most essential parts — the bits that would translate best into the game.  Melissa and the others also involved me in choosing the look of the characters, the voice actors, and so on.  It has been a wonderful experience, but I have the luxury of sitting back and watching all the good parts, while Melissa and the PassionFruit team have been deep in the trenches, actually building the thing!

The game will be released on April 28 is PC format.  The Mac version will follow a few weeks later.  Folks can learn more about the game — see the trailers, clips, read the designer blog — and order it — at: http://passionfruitgames.com/

PASSIONFRUIT GAMES’ INTERVIEW

Tracey: Are the players moving around in a 3-D environment?

PassionFruit: Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box is a “casual game,” which traditionally takes place in a 2D world and doesn’t require a great deal of navigation.  Like most other casual games, Tiger Eye focuses on puzzles and mental games rather than action and movement.

Tracey: What platforms does it support?

PassionFruit: Tiger Eye will be available as a downloadable game for PC and Mac.

Tracey: What does a cut scene mean?

PassionFruit: A cut scene is simply a sequence during which you “cut” playing the game momentarily to sit back and watch story unfold through graphical (and usually audio) representation.  Cut scenes can be rewarding because they usually indicate you’ve reached certain milestones in the game.  In Tiger Eye we be feature cut scenes that are fairly cinematic, with voice-acted characters and custom music.

Tracey: Will there be involvement during the cut scene?

PassionFruit: The only player involvement we’ll expect is sitting back and enjoying the advancing plot!

Tracey: Will choices in the game effect relationship development?

PassionFruit: Most players we polled prior to making the game said that they’d prefer the game to stay true to the original plot from the Tiger Eye novel.  Therefore, we’re not straying from the story very much, and the player won’t be able to affect the outcome of Dela and Hari’s relationship.  The player will need to solve various riddles and beat minigames to see the relationship progress.

Tracey: Are there multiple endings?

PassionFruit: In terms of story, no, since we’re staying true to the original story’s plotline.  However, the game offers multiple “ranks” the players can achieve depending on how well they do in the game, and if players reach the highest rank, they’ll unlock some special goodies!

Tracey: What’s the player’s objective?

PassionFruit: The goal of the game is to help the two main characters, Dela and Hari, decipher multiple mysteries pertaining to the riddle box, while finding a way to safely escape China.  To progress through the game the player will do things like find metal swords hidden in scenes, solve word puzzles that defuse bombs, and play a psychic minigame that allows Dela to harness her special powers over metal so that she can escape assassins.

Tracey: How long did it take you to develop the game from concept to product?

PassionFruit: We started production in early October 2009, and we plan to finish the game mid-April, so it’ll be about 6.5 months of total development time.

Tracey: What factors led to your decision to convert Marjorie Liu’s book to a game?

PassionFruit: Many!  First of all, we wanted to make a romance title.  Games for women are taking off, but almost none are actually based on a good steamy romance novel – and we know there are a ton of romance enthusiasts out there (both first-time and veteran gamers) who’d love to experience a romance novel in the form of interactive entertainment.  Second, we needed a novel that would translate well into a game. A paranormal romance (featuring fantastical creatures like shapeshifters and characters with superhero-like abilities) made a lot of sense – much more interesting and flexible gameplay is possible when magical elements are “allowed.”  We found that Marjorie Liu’s Dirk & Steele series had just the perfect blend of passion, exciting adventure, magic, and mystery!  The final clincher, of course, was that Marjorie and I were friends back in high school – and so when I contacted her with a game proposal more than ten years later, I was ecstatic that she agreed to embark on this project together!

* * *

Thanks Marjorie and Melissa!!

RU Readers, what do you think? Do you see romance-themed games being the next “new thing” like audio books? I can’t wait to receive my copy of TIGER EYE: CURSE OF THE RIDDLE BOX!

Join Kelsey on Wednesday as she explores the fine art of manscaping!

Marjorie’s Bio:

Marjorie M. Liu was born around Philadelphia, spent her formative years in Seattle, and now resides in the Midwest. She went to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, for her undergraduate studies, majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with a minor in Biomedical Ethics. She then attended law school at the University of Wisconsin, graduated in May 2003, and was admitted to the bar a couple weeks after. Marjorie loved law school. Did not like being a lawyer. Which is why she decided to become a writer.

She’s studied and traveled extensively through Asia, and spent some time working at the US Embassy in Beijing. She loves to read, she loves to write, but what she loves best of all is proving to herself that dreams do come true.

Oh, and she likes poodles. And cats.

Welcome to another fantastic installment of RU’s yearlong series of lectures on different romance fiction sub-genres. Today’s post focuses on the erotic romance. Read on for author Eden Bradley’s insights and predictions on the erotic romance. Welcome, Eden!

Kelsey: What’s your opinion of the state of erotic romance today?

Eden: The market has been a bit glutted in the last few years, which happens when any new sub-genre is introduced and becomes popular. The same thing happened with chick lit a few years ago. Publishers are cutting production in response to tough economic times, and erotic romance has definitely taken a hit. But when the field narrows, the cream will rise to the top, and I believe the end result is that readers are getting higher quality fiction. Publishers are being very choosy in taking on new authors, and even an in-house author must write really amazing stories to get a new contract.

Kelsey: How do you think this sub-genre has changed in the last five years?

Eden: While the e-publishers have always been willing to take risks with more challenging material, New York has been slower to follow suit, for obvious reasons. Higher overhead means taking a risk can cost them a lot more money. But as publishers are coming to understand what readers are looking for in erotic romance, they are allowing writers to take more chances with their work, to approach more difficult subject matter. We’re seeing a lot of male/male erotic romance, ménage, and one of my last Bantam/Delta novels, A 21^ST CENTURY COURTESAN, and my first Harlequin Spice novel, THE LOVERS, (out in January 2011), contain female/female scenes, which is something most New York publishers have shied away from in the past. Writers are getting to write more outside the box as publishers discover how open-minded readers are, and how interested they are in exploring sexual ideas in their reading they might not want to approach in real life.

Kelsey: What advice do you have for writers who want to break into this sub-genre? Any trends writers should avoid or embrace?

Eden: In years past I would have advised to write the book of your heart and find a market for it. But because of the economic climate in publishing right now, if you really want to get published, write to market. Find out what’s selling, and if it’s not completely outside of your comfort zone, give it a try. Get your foot in the door, then, when things calm down and business improves, you’ll have an established relationship with an editor and you’ll have more freedom to write that book of your heart.

As far as trends, understand that any book on the shelf was probably contracted one to two years earlier, so what was a trend then may have passed now. Pay attention to editor and agent blogs, go to writer’s conferences and hear what editors are asking for now. And talk to published authors when you can. Our editors and agents keep us current on market demands.

Again, e-publishers are a bit more flexible, and their production process is much faster, so in e-books, reading a publisher’s newest releases will give you a good idea of what’s selling-and what sells in e-books and New York are often two different things! Always do your research.

Kelsey: Do you have any insight on “erotic romance friendly” agents and publishers?

Eden: Again, writers should do their research, but the Internet makes that easy. Most agents will have their client list on their website, so you can see who they represent and what genres they sell in. Finding out which publishers deal with erotic romance is even easier. Just go to Amazon and look under erotic romance. Print books and many e-books are listed there, although there are a number of e-book publishers who aren’t on Amazon. But if you Google erotic romance you’ll get a ton of information.

Networking with other writers is probably the best way to get current information. For instance, if you look me up on Amazon you’ll find a number of erotic novels from Bantam/Delta, but they dropped erotica at the end of 2008, so the information has changed since those books were released. Other writers are also very willing to share information about things like calls for submissions. There are a number of ways to connect with writers online and in person, including joining Romance Writers of America, or places like Romance Divas, an amazing romance writer’s website and discussion forum with over 3,000 members.

Kelsey: What do you love about writing erotic romance and what do readers tell you they love about your books?

Eden: I love getting inside my character’s heads and seeing what makes them tick-that’s what fascinates me. And since people are their most vulnerable in intimate situations, sex is a great catalyst for self-discovery. Sexual chemistry is a crucial element to explore in a developing relationship, whether the sex scenes are on the page or behind closed doors. But so much happens between two people during sex that I think the reader misses important elements in the relationship arc if they don’t get to ‘see’ it happen. Plus, it’s just plain fun to write!

Readers have told me how a well-written sex scene can draw them into the story and into the character’s heads, making for deeper emotional impact, which is always the goal of a romance author. And I’ve had a lot of reader email that addresses how they love to sink into the sexual fantasies on the page, giving them a chance to explore things they wouldn’t dare to try themselves.

One of my favorite themes to explore is BDSM and other forms of ‘extreme’ sex. I think this just raises the emotional stakes and makes for greater depth of character. And it’s always a great seller. I’m working with Berkley Heat under my new pen name, Eve Berlin, and writing very romance-focused BDSM books for them. My first Eve book, PLEASURE’S EDGE, will be out in October 2010. Some of my most popular Eden books have always been BDSM-themed, and the Eve books are really written in direct response to reader demand.

Kelsey: What are your predictions for erotic romance in the next one to three years?

Eden: I think that as the economy recovers—I know I keep going back to that, but it’s had a huge impact on the publishing industry—we’ll see erotic romance lines expanding and producing more books, and New York publishers taking on more challenging themes. I don’t think this is the sort of trend that will disappear after readers have had their fill, as happens so often with other sub-genres. I truly believe that the blossoming of the erotic romance market is a direct reflection of modern women becoming more comfortable with sex and their perception of themselves as sexual beings. And that’s not going away any time soon.

***

So RU readers, what are your opinions of the state of the erotic romance? Would you like to see more? Who are your favorite authors in this sub-genre? Eden will stop by on and off today to answer questions.

Be sure to stop by Monday when author CJ Redwine provides another amazing query letter critique!

Eden’s Bio:

Eden Bradley writes dark, edgy and often romantic erotic fiction. The author of a number of novels, novellas and short stories, Eden writes for Harlequin Spice, Bantam/Delta, Berkley Heat (as both Eden Bradley and Eve Berlin), Samhain Publishing and Phaze Publishing. Her novel FORBIDDEN FRUIT was profiled in Cosmopolitan magazine, and several of her books have been Romantic Times Top Picks. Her debut novel, THE DARK GARDEN, has been praised as ‘…the most beautifully written BDSM novel ever…’, and was a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award nominee.

Eden appears regularly on Playboy Radio’s ‘Night Calls’, and conducts workshops on writing sex, writing craft and world building. When she’s not writing, you can find her wandering museums, shopping for shoes and reading everything she can get her hands on. A California native, Eden lives in Hollywood. You can visit her websites: http://www.edenbradley.com/  , http://www.eveberlin.com/ or her group blog: http://www.smutketeers.com/.