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In an effort to make editors seem less like something to be hunted in the wild, (My first editor, Hilary Sares, made that comment at a conference once–I thought it was pretty darn funny, and true.) Harlequin is starting podcasts with their editors. To learn all about it, and plug in, check out this release.
I don’t want to be one of those authors who has been using the same picture since her high school prom, so when they offered a good price at portraits at the Love is Murder Conference, I slapped on my battle makeup and plopped down on the stool.
Which do you like? (you can’t say none…)
Click on them to see a bigger version. I think I like #8 best…Once I pick one they will retouch it (one only) as part of the price I paid. So, look at those crow’s feet now, baby. 
Boy, that just makes you want to trot right out to Amazon
I am at the copy edit/AA (galley with other publishers) stage. At this point you have read the book WAY too many times. At this point with Unbound I wanted to crawl under my couch and hide. Seriously the thought that I should call Harlequin and offer to give them their money back (to avoid the public humiliation that was sure to follow when the book actually went live) pounded through my brain more than once. With Guardian’s Keep I didn’t feel this way, but I so loved Kol….
Now, Wild Hunt…sigh. It was a booger to write, and I spent more time revising it before even sending it to Harlequin than I have the other two, because I really wanted it to be good.
I can’t say that you will think it is good, but I can say that at this point when frequently hearing just the title of my upcoming release sends a shudder through me–I like it! And that’s enough for now.
Sometimes there are things just worth passing on, don’t you think? I found a few today.
The first is about Cheetah Girls author Deborah Gregory feeling she was used by Hollywood. People always think selling to Hollywood in any way automatically brings with it a huge payoff. But considering how many novels Gregory has written and the time frame, when you break it all down it is far from a staggering amount. She does get that prestige though…must be enough for some.
Still on the money theme, here are two blogs about what average advances are. I’m sure neither of these are scientific, but they are interesting. Link one and Link two. On this same note, you can get a feel for romance advances by visiting Brenda Hiatt’s Show Me the Money page. Again, this isn’t exact. It all depends on who reports, plus there are some groupings that may not be the best. For example, if you look at Hiatt’s listing you will see that Kensington and Zebra are lumped together, meaning Zebra, Brava and Aphrodesia are lumped together. Since two of these come out first in trade paperback and one in mass market, the dollars given probably don’t really represent any of them accurately–but for a general overall look, it’s still an interesting list.
Madison, Wisconsin has blasted through the record of most snowfall in a season here. Old record–76″ We’re currently at 79″ with more on the way tomorrow. I am beginning to have Montana flashbacks as I watch the big trucks rumbling around, hauling off snow to be dumped in the city parks. Must be a sledders paradise!
A member of our local chapter Bobbi Dumas, who moved here from D.C., wrote a piece on the snow, and it was published in the Madison State Journal yesterday. I thought I’d do my own “ode to the snow” and Bobbi, by posting a link here. :)
Copyright is such a complicated thing. And no one in romanceland seems to be discussing this case, but I find it fascinating. Does Rowling “own” her characters because she created them? How far exactly does that fact take her rights? Would this case be seen differently if she had fought the web site as soon as she learned of it instead of waiting until she found out they wanted to put everything in book form and sell it?
To hear the NY Times take, go here…
Oops! Meant to post this last week. This month’s offerings at YourVirtualBookBag.blogsome.com
SIMPLY SEXUAL
by Kate Pearce
Publisher: Kensington Aphrodisia
Regency-set erotic romance
ISBN: 978-0-7582-2354-8
January 29th 2008
Romantic Times: 4 stars
“This book has something for everyone: hot sex scenes, a sexy hero with a tragic past, a smart and compassionate heroine, intrigue, danger and Regency London at its most decadent! Valentin and Sara are a steamy match made in heaven, and as their sexual relationship deepens, so will the reader’s appreciation of Pearce’s storytelling talents. Val and Sara’s sexual antics are varied and believable, and their happy ending is sure to satisfy romance lovers.
Summary:
Neither Valentin nor Sara expects their hasty marriage to actually evolve into a love match. Val suffers physical and emotional scars from his years as a sex slave in a Turkish brothel, and Sara is young, innocent and doesn’t understand why her husband can’t completely trust her.
But they must learn to rely on each other’s strengths when Val’s business, family and the couple’s happiness are threatened by an unknown enemy. (Aphrodisia, Feb., 304 pp., $13.95)
—Rhomylly Forbes
Forecast today is for wind chills of -10 to -40. I will not be leaving my house….maybe all week.
The book signing yesterday was a success, in that we had a good time, there was a lot of mall traffic and we sold a few books. It was looking a bit sad in the beginning for my sales–people seemed a bit intimidated by my cover (which I love), but then a few paranormal readers showed and I left without feeling like a total failure.
Lunch was also a success. In attendance were Kathy Steffen (Medallion), Christine Merrill (Harlequin), Kathryn Albright (Harlequin), Jenna Reynolds (now author with Ellora’s Cave) and me. In case you wonder what a group of published authors talk about here’s what we covered:
That’s about it for our talk, probably the exact same conversation any group of writers might have.
So, that’s it. It’s cold and yesterday was fun. Aren’t you glad you took five minutes to read this post? Oh, I also woke up at 4 a.m. and realized I have a deadline for a proposal in three weeks and I really need to get serious about it.
And later I will post a pic from the signing. I would do it now, but it would mean journeying into our cold basement and I’d much rather sit here nice and warm with my space heater blowing on me.
Stay warm!!
Another crazy day ahead of me. January was a blur of crazy days and the non-stop snow didn’t make them any more sane.
Today I have spin class–which I am going to because I had to skip the last two weeks. Then I’m meeting some writer-types for lunch, then I have a book signing at Waldenbooks at West Towne Mall in Madison, Wisconsin. Kathryn Albright and Kathy Steffen will be signing with me.
Then you get into the normal life stuff–like the library and Target. The fun never ends–especially since at that point I will be dragging two horse anchors (excuse me, children) along behind me.
Remember when you were seven and Saturdays basically meant getting up, eating a donut and watching Scooby Doo? Those were the days. Now I run in fear if someone shows me a donut. (Do you know how long I’d have to spin to burn that thing off?)
On other fronts, I have news. Harlequin is starting a fun new program called Nocturne Bites. They are 10 to 15,000 word short stories that will be available as downloads only from eHarlequin. If you are familiar with Spice Briefs it’s the same idea. I’m not sure what the price will be. Spice Briefs are under $3. Anyway, I’ve been asked to write one–so I’m looking for ideas of a character people would like to know more about. I’m thinking a hellhound. Thoughts? It’s going to be a short, sexy read with some action because I gotta have that action.
I’ve also been asked to participate in another project for Nocturne, but I’m not going to say too much about it just yet. I will say it is something outside of my Unbound world. I just started on it, but I think it is going to be fun to write. Always good to try something a little different now and again…
This was my second Love is Murder conference. It was fun. I met some new people: Jamie Freveletti (who said lovely things about my appearance, so you know she’s a woman of discriminating taste and judgement), Carolyn Haines 
(who owns a husky, so must be a fabulous person with patience galore), and John Helfers (who admired my hell hound twist, so obviously brilliant). I reconnected with people I’ve met before Joan Johnston (who is switching from historical western romances to romantic thrillers). And saw old friends (way too many to list).
Love is Murder is a mystery conference. This year Tess Gerritsen was one of the guests of honor. And there were a number of romantic suspense authors in attendance–Ann Voss Peterson, Patricia Rosemoor and Sherrill Bodine (plus others). Since Tess started with 
Harlequin Intrigue and there was such a presence of other Harlequin authors, I found it even more startling (than usual, there was some last year too) to hear romance and Harlequin-specific bashing. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t every panel, but it was there. And some of it wasn’t bashing so much as misconceptions. But it was still disturbing.
The worst was a male author who was sitting next to Tess Gerritsen on a panel when he refered to Harlequins as being “formulaic” writing, then snickered. What was incredibly mind-boggling about this (aside from the fact that he was sitting next to Tess who started with Harlequin Intrigue) is the fact that his most recent book seemed to be targeted to women–had a female protagonist. And I actually heard more than one reference to the fact that women are the biggest buyers of books, and 
authors (outside of romance) are trying to figure out a way of getting a piece of the pie. I have a free tip for anyone wanting to get into the female market–don’t denigrate what we read/write. Oh, and few less mentions of breasts might be a good start too. (same male author)
While he was pretty blatant, there were other examples. I could see the expression in one man’s eyes when I talked about my books–the laughing oh-yeah-you-think-you-are-legit look. Comments that romance had “rules” or a “formula.” Most times these comments weren’t even meant to be insulting. They were stated as fact. At one point I had to ask for someone to outline this formula for me because I’ve been writing romance for a number of years and I’ve yet to be handed any kind of guide or directive.
Perhaps the problem is that apparently a number of years ago, Harlequin had some list of things they didn’t want to see in some of their category books. And some of those guides still generally hold (heroine/hero shouldn’t be married to someone else or have sex with someone other than each other in the book), but these things are not hard set rules and no different than the unwritten expectations of other genres. There are themes that are believed not to sell as well in suspense (so editors may avoid those), and in mysteries you usually need a murder, and the crime solved by the end. But for some reason for romance this has been translated to mean that there is a “recipe” for a romance, that the writing isn’t real, that the skill is not the same. And that my friends, is B.S.
For a slide show of all my pictures from Love is Murder 2008 go here. And let me end by saying that even with a few misconceptions/prejudices Love is Murder is a great conference and one I will probably return to.
Random books from my shelf...
