Words from the Wise

J A Konrath has been summarising some of his words of wisdom over on his always stimulating blog *- and several resonated with my few remaining brain cells, crispy as they are.

‘Before you make the key, study the lock.’

‘It’s about what you have to offer, not what you have to sell.’

‘You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than landing a publishing deal. But understanding the market and working to improve your craft can have the same effect as climbing a tree in a thunderstorm, carrying a long iron rod.’

The last quote is particularly relevant in light of the recent interview with Neil Nyron, who said this -‘Whenever I get a new ms, here’s what I want to see:

1) Something different, a situation or character or voice that I haven’t seen hundreds of times before (or if they are familiar types, presented so damn well that I can’t resist them);

2) A sure command from the very first page - I want to feel immediately that the author knows what he or she is doing - if it’s wobbly, I’m just going to move on to another manuscript;

3) Something extra. This is hard to describe, because you only know it when you see it, but for me it’s a special intensity, a fierceness or passion that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

After all that, I’m interested in who the author is, because if the author has something about him or her that’ll help us gain attention for the book, give us a leg up amidst the sea of new fiction pouring out, then that’s helpful.’

Then, later..
‘Action or detail? The answer is both - I want to get swept away, get the adrenalin pumping, and that’s what the best thriller writers do so well. They don’t give you time to hesitate - you have to keep turning the pages. I often think of the writer and the reader at opposite ends of a rope, and the writer is pulling the reader forward, steadily, inexorably, not letting the rope slack or the pace sag, until the reader ends up, exhausted but happy, at the last page.

I also like the thriller writer to create his own universe, if appropriate, and invite the reader into it. That’s always been one of Clancy’s secrets - he brings the reader into his world, makes him feel he’s learning things no one else can tell him, whether it’s about technology or geopolitics or the way institutions think and act. Cussler does the same thing in a different way. He digs deep into history and technology, then transforms them into complicated interlocking what-if storylines and set-pieces.’

Neil S. Nyren is senior vice president, publisher and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. He came to Putnam in 1984 from Atheneum, where he was Executive Editor. Before that he held editorial positions at Random House and Arbor House. Some of his fiction authors include Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, John Sandford, Dave Barry, Daniel Silva, Ken Follett, Randy Wayne White, Carol O’Connell, James O. Born, Patricia Cornwell and Frederick Forsyth.
At one point in 2007, he was the editor of 4 out of the 10 New York 10 Bestsellers.

For the full interview - go here:
http://murderati.typepad.com/murderati/2007/03/neil_nyren_no_l.html
*http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2008/03/your-daily-inspiration-booster-shot.html#links

You can make your own conclusions from these selected extracts, but they have consolidated my own personal views that to be a professional PUBLISHED working CONTRACTED writer in 2008 you truly need a deep understanding of craft, creativity and business.

In other words. You must become an artisan.

A professional entrepreneur.

Trying to persuade another human being to invest their time and energy and money in the product you are trying to sell.

And sorry if that upsets the ‘artistes’, but that is the reallity of the publishing business as I see it.

From interviews such as this, I take away a range of key challenges and questions for my work.
For now - On with the show.

How to write a Great Query Letter

'How to Write a Great Query Letter' is available as a Free E-book from the lit agent author Noah Lukeman.

Go here to download it...http://www.lukeman.com/greatquery/download.htm

There are so many resources out there on how to submit, but for the US market, many agents only ask for an inital Query letter= which can be sent by E-mail, so this is could be the only chance you might have to demonstrate your work.

No pressure at all then.

Category Crime

I noticed this item in the Bookseller Mag from last week -

Mills & Boon plots serial crime wave

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/52815-mills--boon-plots-serial-crime-wave.html

'Mills & Boon is to launch a crime and thriller series in its first venture beyond romance publishing since it was founded 100 years ago.

Black Star Crime kicks off in August with five titles, and will initially publish five titles every two months.

The heavily-­branded short novels will be priced at £3.99.'

“Since 2001, crime and thriller sales have increased by 70%,” said M&B marketing manager Oliver Rhodes. “There were two ways for us to go. We could either do what everyone else is doing, and do it better, or carve out our own niche and try to create a unique proposition. The idea is that if people find something they like they can go back and find something similar. It is a brand promise.”

Black Star Crime will include a range of genres, from cosy mysteries to hard-core thrillers, with authors to include new names as well as more established writers.

M&B has liaised with Working Partners to generate some of the concepts, as well as acquiring titles itself, and is adamant the quality of the ­stories is paramount.

Launch titles include Runaway Minister by Nick Curtis, Streetwise by Chris Freeman, A Narrow Escape by Faith Martin and Murder Plot by Lance Elliott.
"This brings the best of our experience together,” Rhodes said. “We have been very successful with Mira crime authors such as Alex Kava and Paul Johnston. Also we are the only publishers with the know-how to make a fiction series work. We think this has massive potential.”

M&B will spend around £100,000 on its launch marketing campaign, and is due to start presenting the series to retailers this month. The company is keen that the brand is not tarred with the M&B brush, and that it is kept as far as possible from its romance publishing.
“This has to get dedicated space in store or we’re wasting our time,” said m.d. Guy Hallowes. “It’s important that the books are racked together, with enough space to make impact.”

Two things come to mind.

1. They are aiming to create a NEW brand of crime book supported by the Harlequin Brand but kept separate from it. A category crime book.

2. They have used an outside company to source material. From what I understand, Working Partners is a marriage broker between agents with authors who can write in the genre, and the client who needs a book written to a specific brief.

With this in mind, I suspect they will not be interested in un-agented submissions, but I will certainly be following up on that one.

Undiscovered Stars

What are agents looking for in new authors?

Well one agent actually tells you what he dreams of finding in the slush pile.

As you know, Donald Maass is a literary agent in the US who wrote a brilliant book on story telling. He still has an agency - and each month they produce a list of work they would love to see coming into their Submissions Dept. Such as this -

'December, 2007 - Romances We'd Like to Read

We are speaking here of single title romance. That means excellent writing, strong characters, high personal stakes, layered plotting and more.

As usual, this is not all we’re looking for. Our intention is not to suggest paint-by-numbers plotting or to limit authors’ scope. We do hope to promote discussion of what would be fresh and exciting in romantic fiction.

*An inspirational paranormal.

*An Asian or Latina paranormal, not using Euro-centric mythology.

*An historical military romance; e.g., special forces in the Middle Ages, a la “Sharpe’s Rifles”.

*A literary romance like The French Lieutenant’s Woman: manners, morals, aching hearts, a heroine who belongs to another.

*A triple-generation romance: three generations of women in one family all find love, and conflict, at the same time.

*A stylish romance featuring an elusive free-spirit, a contemporary Holly Golightly.

*A serious romance about a soccer mom with a secret life.

*An ex-CIA agent who plans her wedding and struggles to keep her engagement intact while taking down her arch nemesis.

*A marriage of convenience in reverse: A Regency man and woman must do everything in their power not to marry.

*A time travel romance in which both protagonists travel through the ages—and never meet. '

This list certainly made my head spin with lateral thinking. I do have one partial which would work with a twist on the CIA premise, but there are 10 ideas here.

What do you think?

http://www.maassagency.com/thismonth.html

Katie FForde

Katie Fforde has wonderful news - as reported in The BookTrade yesterday - http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/12244

Kate Elton, publishing director of Arrow, has acquired two new books by Katie Fforde. The new contract, agreed with Sara Fisher of AM Heath, is for a very substantial six-figure advance.
A major sales and marketing push has resulted in sizeable sales growth for Katie Fforde over the last few years. Her most recent novel, GOING DUTCH, was a Sunday Times hardback bestseller for three weeks, and a big repackage in 2008 is set to increase sales even further.
Katie Fforde said: 'I'm thrilled to have a new contract – the team at Random House are brilliant and I'm incredibly lucky to have them.'
Kate Elton said: 'Katie is not only one of our most important authors – a wonderful writer whose trademark combination of warm humour, engaging heroines and delicious heroes have made her a firm favourite across the whole market - but also a complete and utter pleasure to work with. I'm delighted that we have a new deal.'

Something to celebrate! Go Katie!

Harlequin Line Closures

In her blog yesterday, US literary agent Kristin Nelson announced that ‘The rumor is now official. Harlequin is closing its NEXT and Everlasting lines.’*

I have not been able to validate that claim - no press release that I can find from the New York office or e-Harlequin PR, but these agents are close to their editors. Let me know if this rumour is not correct.

This must be a difficult decision to make for any publishing house when they've invested so much time and energy into developing the authors and promoting these lines, which are intended for the older reader.

And seriously bad news for the authors. These stories are not the kind, which could easily be rewritten into other Harlequin lines.

I know how gutted I was when the decision was made to close the 'Bombshell' line after I had just submitted a manuscript to that line.

‘Hen Lit’, or ‘Empty Nester Lit’ or whatever the media is calling it these days, has been praised as a new dimension in women’s fiction, where the heroines are not all 20 something city girls working in the fashion business etc.
In the UK we have Transita**, and stand alone books from various publishers, such as Elizabeth Buchan’s ‘ Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman’, but no dedicated line outside Harlequin.

As a reader, there are no doubt excellent business reasons for the closure, but frankly it does not make sense to me, considering the current demographic on the growing number of older working women with large disposable incomes.

As a writer I despair.


What's playing on my YouTube right now? The scene from 1989's "Say Anything" with John Cusack and the boombox.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M_J-lxK8uCY

*http://pubrants.blogspot.com/
** http://www.transita.co.uk/

RNA Conference Prep

Time to think about the RNA conference - next weekend!! Help!
Are there useful articles out there about how to get the best from Conferences? Silly question - I was exhausted by the second search.
Most relate to the RWA conference in the US where there seems to be a lot of time spent pitching to agents and editors. Having looked at articles like this:

http://www.gabrielleluthy.com/art_conferences.htm

there appears to huge pressure on delegates to perform. How stressful is that?
Having been to one RNA conference in Penrith last year, I can honestly say that I felt the format of the UK conference was much more balanced. Yes there were tons of networking opportunties and I met loads of well known published and unpublished authors with fantastic tips, but it never came across as a high pressure selling business meeting. And all of the workshops were useful for lateral thinking or directly relevant to my work.
Or perhaps I have the wrong impression about the RWA conference, not having been there myself? Quite possible. The internet must be selective by definition.

Advise from Agents on How to Get Published

I came across this link to the Folio Literary Agency through Romance Divas, and it is well worth reading the advice from these very experienced agents on both the content of submission letters and the general process on the route to publication, even though it is US biased.

http://www.foliolit.com/

then look under submissions and resources. Many of their clients are romance writers.

Little Black Dress- Editors

I noticed this press release in today's Publishing News:

Headline promotions: As part of its commitment to building its fiction lists. Headline has made a number of promotions "designed to strengthen its commissioning power" and reflecting the strength of its year-old Little Black Dress imprint (see feature in this week's PN). Catherine Cobain becomes Senior Commissioning Editor, Headline and LBD; Sherise Hobbs Senior Commissioning Editor, Headline; Claire Baldwin, Commissioning Editor, LBD; and Leah Woodburn, Editor, Headline.