Archive for June, 2009

Blank Books

Jun 30th, 09 / 5 Comments

We’ve talked about blank books before, and generally agreed that we like them.

A lot.

No surprise that I’ve acquired a few more. I was in the stationary store and they had a new size that I thought would be handy – that in-between size, which is big enough to write entire paragraphs on each page, yet will still fit in a purse. I admired them, thought about buying one, decided to buy one, then saw the sign – buy two, get one free. You know what happened: I brought home three.

Now we’re in the honeymoon period during which I think they’re too nice to use. I have them on my desk and keep rearranging them, admiring their covers. (These are the faux-embossed-leather ones.)

Once upon a time, my blank books stayed in the honeymoon period forever, but I have actually been using them. I only have one left, which was why I stopped to check them out in the first place.

What about you? Do you love blank books? Do you write in them? Have you bought any pretty ones lately?

And the big question – WHAT do you write in them?

Miscellaneous Musing

Making the Most of Writing Contests

Jun 29th, 09 / 0 Comments

(I wrote this article for my RWA chapter newsletter, but thought some of you might find it interesting as well.)

There are lots of contests for published authors, so many that it would be easy to spend a good bit of money on entering them all each year. And if you didn’t win, you might think that your money had been wasted. I don’t agree with that. Although winning contests is obviously the ideal, there’s a promotional benefit even to entering. You can make the most of that benefit by being strategic with your entries. This article is about my strategy for making the most of writing contests – it’s only one plan, but it might give you some ideas how to maximize the potential of your own contest entries.

First, let’s talk about how contests work.

In the rest of the publishing world, contest nominations are an honor for the author. They happen without the author’s influence – that is, the books are nominated by booksellers or readers or reviewers, depending upon the award. The nominations might be made online, or determined on the basis of sales, or the books selected for consideration on the basis of reviews. The criteria will vary from contest to contest but ultimately, a list of finalist titles is prepared and a jury is selected. That jury – typically comprised of people influential in the book world or in that specific genre – will read all of the books that are finalists, convene and decide which book(s) should win. Some juries vote. Some juries have to all agree. The rules vary but the winning book(s) is often announced at a gala or conference.

In the romance genre, things work a little differently. Typically, a contest is run as a fundraiser for a chapter or writing organization. This means that whoever enters the book in the contest must pay an entry fee and supply a certain number of books for the judging. Although it’s theoretically possible that anyone could nominate any book, this fee means that the author often nominates his or her own work. Sometimes publishers enter work into contests, but given the sizes of their lists and the number of contests, this is by no means a sure bet.

My point is that, in contrast to other literary awards, the romance author plays an active role in putting his or her own titles into the nominating process. Entering contests, then, is a form of self-promotion and one that you can manage.

It’s easy to justify the value of entering one’s own books into competitions like this, but also easy to spend a lot of money on entering contests. Any author with more than one release in one year can be looking at some serious change, even if the author uses up with his or her complementary copies of the book instead of buying more. On the other hand, contest wins can be really good marketing opportunities, as well as welcome strokes for the ego. The key, as is usually the case, is in the balance.

Whenever there’s a marketing issue, I like to have a plan. Here’s how I decide what to do about contests each year:

1. Set an annual contest budget

Every marketing plan needs a budget. A budget forces you to pick and choose, to get the most from your money. I set a budget each year for contest entries – it could be $200 or $300. It varies, depending upon what else is in my marketing plan for the year, what my total marketing budget is for the year, and how many releases I have that year. It’s never $500, though.

Each entry costs me $25 on average for the entry fee (some are $30 or even $40, but $25 is pretty typical) plus $15 in postage to send the books to the conference coordinator. (Postage is high for me, because I live in Canada.) So, if I plan to spend $200 on contests for the year, that allows me to make roughly five contest entries.

Note that this doesn’t include the copies of the book that need to be sent along with the entry. Each contest requires three to five copies of the book in question to be submitted for judging, although some require more. Because I use my complementary copies for these entries as well as other promotion, I also have a copy budget. I won’t use more than 20 of the comps of any given title for contest entries, and prefer to keep it closer to 15. Again, the other promotion that I have planned for the year can push this copy budget higher or lower.

These two budgets work together – if I have more than one release in a year (as is usually the case) then I have to make some choices.

2. Decide on a target audience

Every marketing plan also needs a target audience. Who do I intend to reach with these contest entries? What’s the point of spending money on entering contests? What do I want to get out of this element of my marketing plan?

My own thinking is that booksellers and readers are the tastemakers in the romance genre. These are the people who drive the popularity of a series or of a specific author. These are the people who can build your brand. Booksellers also provide information to readers and are readers I actively pursue. As a result, I enter contests to promote visibility among those tastemakers.

One way for me to do that is to look for contests that are judged by readers or booksellers. When my target audience is the judge, every book that I send – whether I final or not – is being put to work. That’s pretty good value.

There are other audiences, of course. You might want to target librarians, or build your market in a specific geographic area, or introduce yourself to a specific subgenre niche. Contest entries can be part of a broader plan to better establish your brand in the marketplace.

You might also enter contests strictly for the bling and the affirmation – in that case, your ego is the target audience. Enter the contests with the prettiest and sparkliest awards, or the ones that host the best award galas, maybe the ones that will allow you to meet people who are established fans of your work.

What you want to achieve will help you to make your choices.

3. Assess the prizes

A contest can reach the target audience in other ways than having them judge the contest.

For example, because my target audience is readers and booksellers, I also look for contests that actively promote the winners and/or finalists to readers and booksellers. Some contests print a poster of the winning titles and distribute it to a list of bookstores. Some contests put the covers of the winners and/or finalists on their website, with a hotlink to an online bookstore. Some contests have an editor or bookseller present the award at a ceremony – if that was a ceremony held at an industry event attended by other booksellers, that would be even better.

You might be interested in gaining visibility with a specific agent or editor. Many contests are hosted by chapters who award the prizes at their regional conference – if an editor or agent you’d like to meet is going to attend that conference, their contest might be a strategic one to enter. Guest editors and agents often meet the finalists – or you might get asked to the same reception. (You’ll need to plan for the expense of attending the conference, too, of course.) Editors and agents also often work in specific subgenre niches – if your dream editor or agent has many authors in a particular subgenre and you want to be one of them, entering a contest that caters to that subgenre might be smart. Your dream editor or dream agent might very well become more aware of you and your work, especially if you make the finals or win.

There are many ways that a contest can promote the winners, and some will do it in a way that dovetails better with your marketing or career goals. The promotion done for winning titles, or the networking opportunities created for finalists, might be more important to you than any trophy.

4. Submit strategically

Even given all of these ways to narrow the field, there are inevitably choices to be made. When I have a number of titles released in a given year, I have to choose between my babies as well as choosing between contests. It’s just not possible – or reasonable – to enter every book I publish in every contest. It’s probably not effective to focus all of my efforts in this one area of promotion.

So I choose.

We’ll all make decisions in different ways, but here are some of the variables that I consider in addition to those listed above:

• Local Resources

Think about your own RWA chapter’s contest(s) and/or the contests of other writing organizations in your vicinity. The home town team always has an advantage in any kind of contest. Most marketing plans begin locally, because supporting those we know is just human nature. Enter contests where people know you. Have a look for other alternatives beyond RWA, as well – if you write romantic suspense, your local mystery writers’ chapter or mystery bookstore might provide some good contest options or networking connections for you.

• Market Niches

Some contests are geared to certain market niches – a good example of this is the FF&P PRISM which celebrates paranormal romance. If you’re building your career within that subgenre, it makes sense to try to build your visibility in that niche by entering such a targeted contest. For example, I usually enter the PRISM because pararnormal and fantasy romance is pretty much my favorite subgenre to write, and I like to maintain some visibility among people who read and write it. (I also think the award bling is pretty fab.)

• Other Obligations

You may have to consider the expectations of the contest, and the timing of your delivery to those expectations. The Ritas, for example, require those authors who enter the contest to also judge the contest, albeit in another category than the one(s) that author entered. Because I find that I am always up to my eyes in the winter and not really in a position to read six or eight books in a hurry, I often pass on entering the Rita. I can’t be sure that I’ll have the time to do the judging on time, and that’s not fair to other entrants. C’est la vie.

• Linked Titles

Another consideration is what to do with linked books. As a reader, I’m not one for starting in the middle of a group of linked books – I always start with the first book. That’s because the first book is the one that needs to hook readers and build awareness of the series – it’s also the one that will introduce the reader more gradually to the worldbuilding of that linked series. As a result, when I have to choose, I’m more likely to enter my first book in a new series in contests than subsequent titles in that same series. (And no, I haven’t yet decided what to do next year, when both of my series will be in full swing. Everything in its own time!)

• Competing Against Yourself

Similarly, when confronted with two choices – two books in the same subgenre, for example – I try to choose the book that is a stronger reflection of that niche’s expectations. That’s not an easy call, and when I’m really stuck, I’ll alternate the books, entering each in a different contest than the other. I try to avoid entering my books to compete against each other – of course, when one is by Claire and one is by Deborah, that’s fine!

• Repositioning Your Brand

Perhaps the most strategic use of contest entries is to use them to flag a rebranding. When an author changes course or alters the focus of her work, a contest placement or win can help increase awareness of that transition – even entering can get a few people talking. Contest entries help with increasing the author’s visibility in that new niche – this is especially true if the judges are booksellers, as they are the ones who often spread the word. When recharting a career path or trying a new subgenre, look to enter that new book in contests judged by booksellers or contests that actively market the winners to booksellers. It’s also common for editors and agents to glance over a list of finalists, especially when one of their own authors reaches the finals, and that can increase industry awareness of your new course. I’m more likely to enter the first title in a new project in contests than the last title in a concluded project – I want to look to the future.

5. The Plan in Action

Here’s an example to illustrate. In 2008, I had three titles released. First was KISS OF FIRE, the first title in my Deborah Cooke Dragonfire series for NAL Eclipse, a series which features dragon shape shifter heroes in a contemporary setting. KISS OF FURY, the second title in that series, also was published in 2008. As Claire Delacroix, I also launched a future-set series with FALLEN from Tor, a series which features fallen angel heroes in a post-nuclear pre-Apocalyptic setting. They’re all fantasy romances, but very different from each other – and the two series have very different tones. I decided to enter KISS OF FIRE and FALLEN in contests, but not KISS OF FURY. Even though I love that book just as much as the others, I chose to keep the focus on the launch of each series.

The books have done pretty well – KISS OF FIRE was a was a nominee for Romantic Times’ Best Shapeshifter Romance (I didn’t enter that one) and won the Colorado RWA’s Award of Excellence for Best Time Travel, Futuristic or Fantasy Romance. It is also a finalist for the Orange County Book Buyers’ Best Award in the Paranormal Romance category. FALLEN took third place in the Wisconsin RWA’s Write Touch Award for Best Paranormal Romance and is a finalist for the FF&P PRISM Award for Best Futuristic Romance. I have my fingers crossed for both of those remaining contests.

No matter how it shakes out, I’m quite pleased with the results of this bit of my marketing plan. I have a new piece of bling on my shelf from the Colorado RWA for KISS OF FIRE. Also the FF&P chapter puts the covers of all three finalists in each category on their website for the better part of a year, so FALLEN’s gorgeous cover will be displayed there until next summer, no matter what place it takes. I’m convinced that I got some good visibility for my books and maybe found a few new readers as well.

That’s not bad for a couple of hundred bucks and a few trips to the post office.

Angels, Dragonfire, Promoting, Publishing, Writing

Famous People

Jun 26th, 09 / 2 Comments

This week, both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away. Both deaths made me sad. I’d read several articles about Fawcett’s fight with cancer that shook me – remember that iconic poster of her in the red swimsuit, laughing? It was hard to believe that she could be sick – or in her sixties. It seems to me as if she was cheated, as if life didn’t play out to expectations or fulfill the promise of the gifts she had. I supposed her death was a relief for those who knew her, as it would end her suffering, but I thought she was awfully young. Sad stuff.Michael Jackson died suddenly, although certainly he had faced his own challenges in recent years. Again, there’s the sense of someone who had so much going for him, but then everything fell apart in his hands. When I was a kid, he was this cute little squirt in the Jackson Five, just an irrepressible charming little boy. Again, he was young – to die at 50 is to only get to play half the game, IMO. I find it particularly troubling when really talented people die early. This world needs all the creative energy it can get.

So, today, I’m a bit blue.

What do you think when famous people die? How do you feel?

Miscellaneous Musing

This is a Test

Jun 25th, 09 / 5 Comments

Yesterday, I knit a swatch. Some of you may remember my fascination with Kauni Effektgarn. No surprise that I bought some and have been scheming as to what to knit with it. So, yesterday, with a pretty good plan for the yarn, I knit a swatch.

A swatch is a kind of test run. Using the needles you plan to use for the project, you knit a square that is maybe 4 x 4″. This gives you the chance to check your gauge, to see how the wool looks knit up, to try out the pattern stitch. You can wash the swatch to see how it will wash up or block.

A lot of people dislike knitting swatches, and I admit to having been in their company. A swatch can seem like a waste of time, especially when you’re ready to get knitting. You can check your gauge by casting on the sleeve first, for example, because there’s less to frog (than the whole front of the sweater) if you’re wrong. That also lets you feel as if you’ve started on the main project. Some people think that swatching is a waste of yarn – others unravel their swatches once completed.

The thing is that knitting a swatch is a lot like writing an opening chapter for a proposal. Unpublished authors often need to write an entire book before submitting their work to a publisher, but once published, there’s the opportunity to submit proposals. A proposal will vary, depending upon the editor’s preference and the author’s publishing history (and probably the level of enthusiasm at either end). It generally includes one to three sample chapters (those would be the opening chapters) and a synopsis. It can be as little as a paragraph that summarizes the hook. I find it’s not very useful unless it includes a short synopsis and – for a romance – the Meet.

Why is that? Well, there are always lots of ideas and possibilities, but some work out better than other. Just as one yarn of a certain thickness will be better for a particular pattern (because of its drape or softness or something), some ideas become books more readily than others. The best way to find out which yarn to use is to knit a little bit – the best way to find out which ideas to pursue is to write a little bit.

Characters, like yarn, are opinionated – I often find that putting two characters in a setting sparks a chemistry that is unexpected. That can be good or bad. They can run off with the story, giving it life and vigor, or they can refuse to play along. They can be vivacious, charming and sexy, or they can be toads – passive, silent and enigmatic. (I like toads in the garden, just not in my books.) It’s better to know before being committed to writing the entire book.

The sample chapter also gives an editor a chance to decide whether she likes the idea (the setting, the characterization, etc.) before the author writes the whole book. Just as a chapter can help you see that an idea doesn’t have enough to sustain a whole book, a swatch can help you realize that a certain yarn isn’t the right yarn for the project. That saves a lot of time.

It only feels like wasted time if the yarn was perfect or the idea was sublime.

The other advantage to knitting a swatch – the one that has no parallel to writing – is that you can be mean to a swatch with a clear conscience. You can abuse a swatch in a way that you would never abuse a whole sweater, and sometimes you learn something that way.

For example, people knit Kauni on 3.5mm or 3.75mm needles. It feels like sock yarn to me, so those needles seem too big. People say that the yarn fulls a lot when it’s washed and not to worry if it looks lean before hand. Hmm. It would really have to full a lot if knit on 3.5mm needles! But it’s a yarn that remembers the barn, and my experience with those yarns is that they DO full a lot.

My inclination was to knit it on 2.5mm needles, but I compromised and knit it on 3.0mm’s. The results weren’t enormously encouraging – the swatch had a nice hand but I could see through the stitches. That meant that the threads carried behind in the fair isle pattern were visible through the work. Ick! I finished the swatch, thinking I’d have to knit another on smaller needles.

Then I washed it. I handwashed it in cold water. It fulled a bit. I handwashed it in hot water. It fulled some more and softened a great deal. I learned that there are intrepid European knitters who chuck their finished Kauni sweaters into the washing machine to finish them. A 100% wool fair isle sweater! That’s a recipe for doll clothes in my world. But I chucked the swatch into the washing machine and held my breath.

It came out beautifully. It’s so soft and the yarn has fulled wonderfully. It’s still a little looser than I might have preferred but feels so good that I’m casting on with 3.0mm needles.

I just have to work up to being able to toss the whole finished sweater into the washing machine! Fortunately, it’s going to take some time to knit it.

Knitting, Writing

Moving Targets

Jun 24th, 09 / 2 Comments

Here’s a meatier post for all of you – with many thanks for your patience. I know things have been a bit lean in terms of content around the blog lately, but now that Niall is well on his way to his H.E.A., I can get back into my rhythm again.

I was thinking this week about moving targets, of the book market variety. Popular fiction, like romance, is a reflection of popular culture – as you’ve heard me say seven zillion times or so – so it’s constantly changing. As consumers (and that means readers) we’re always looking for the next new sensation. We are incessantly trying something new, then becoming bored with it. As producers (and that means writers) we need to somehow stay ahead of that curve.

Since RWA’s National Convention will be held next month in Washington, D.C., I thought it might be useful to have a peek at this, in action. Meet our Aspiring Writer (A.W.) who has her very first pitch session at this conference. She’s meeting an editor with a big New York publishing house, the very editor and the very house that A.W. has carefully researched and targeted as the best fit for her book. She’s prepped and practiced, she’s gone to the bathroom a couple of extra times (she’s a little bit excited) and now her name has been called for her editor appointment. This is it! She’s sure she’s going to get a request to submit.

Editor (stands to shake hands): Good morning, A.W. How nice to meet you.

A.W. (tries to be cool): Good morning. I’m very pleased to meet you. I know you edit Ms. NYT-Bestseller and I’m a huge fan of her books

E: As am I. (They both sit down) Well, then, tell me about your book.

A.W.: Well! It’s a vampire romance. The hero is a vampire and the heroine is a witch… (Brief synopsis ensues.)

E: What’s the obstacle between them?

A.W.: Well, she’s a witch, like I said, so she’s sworn to the reid. You know, “do whatsoever you will but harm none”.

E: So, she rejects him on principle, because he drinks blood?

A.W.: Right. But he’s just so sexy that he’s irresistible. And, you know, he’s not entirely happy with the need to drink blood either – he thinks he’s a monster himself and has to fight to accept the demon within. Being in love helps him control the hunger so he’s kind of addicted to her.

E: Um hmm. Any other plot elements?

A.W. (thinking desperately): Well, there’s a demon who is her familiar.

E: Tell me about him.

A.W.: Oh, he’s kind of mischievous and tries to force them apart. He’s a minor character but I could give him more lines.

E: What else?

A.W.: Um, it’s set in Iowa, and uh, it’s really really sexy. It’s a vampire novel, a sexy one, and I know those sell really well right now. Like Ms. NYT-Bestseller. My book is similar in a way, but the vampire is a bit darker…

E: We’re a bit over-inventoried in vampires right now. What else are you working on?

Ooops. A.W. expected to have the editor ask for the manuscript by now, but that’s clearly not happening. Why not?

I’ll guess.

The paranormal romance market has been on the move over the past decade. In 1994, I wrote an historical featuring a shapeshifter hero. A MAGICIAN’S QUEST was published in August 1995 and other than its exotic setting (medieval Morocco) the main conflict was the hero coming to terms with the beastly side of his nature. In 1998, my medieval ENCHANTED was published, which featured a hero condemned to become a wolf half of the time – that book was about breaking the curse so he’d be a normal man all the time. These two shapeshifter novels could be sold in that time because shapeshifters were new and novel – exploring the notion of what it meant to be a shapeshifter was “fresh” enough for the work to sell.

Shapeshifter romances were never as “in” as vampire romances – or at least they haven’t been yet! – but even so, that internal conflict, in and of itself, is no longer enough. The battle against the beast within is old news. The fight to assimiliate into society and have a normal life has been done. You’ll find the same thinking in vampire romance, or time travel romance, or any of the various paranormal romance subgenres. We need something new in order for the work to catch our interest.

At various points in time, we as readers have been enamored of vampires, or historicals set in Scotland, or sexy Regency romances, or erotic romance. There will be other infatuations. The point is that for brief moments, an aspiring author can get an invitation to submit work on the basis of that one qualifying detail alone. Publishing houses see something that works and want more of it.

But it doesn’t last. It really is a fleeting moment – you might get lucky or you might miss out. As we read more and more of the books in each targeted subgenre, we become a bit jaded. We want more than the basic hook. At least five years ago, just another vampire romance wasn’t good enough. We wanted something more, something special, something fresh.

And to be fair to A.W., this kind of sea change happens sooner within the publishing house than in the writing community. That’s because they’re putting together packages and cover copy and sales tips for each book in the list, and as the umpteenth romance in a particular subgenre comes across each individual’s desk, they need to know why this one is special. Editors read the most – including what doesn’t get bought – so they start looking for the change first.

Remember also that editors at print houses are at least a year ahead of readers. If you buy a book on July 7 which is the first title by a new author who is being promoted heavily by the house, and which just went on sale that day, that book manuscript was purchased at least a year ago. For a new author, it might have been bought closer to two years ago. There’s been a whole lot of work cross that editor’s desk during that interval. Unfortunately, you can’t know what that work was, or what the editor bought – you can only pick up that July 7 title and hope it tells you something about the editor’s taste.

Two years ago.

You can, however, assume that such subgenre elements will move in one predictable direction. As these hot-ticket elements become more popular and more mainstream, they all evolve in the same direction – they all require a deeper romance and better character development. In a sense, the hook or the element becomes part of the market at large and the story itself (the characterizations, the dialogue, the action, the romance) becomes the discerning factor. So, it can’t just be a vampire romance or an erotic romance – it also has to be a really good romance.

The other thing that happens – although this is harder to predict before it does happen – is that genres infect each other. When I sold Dragonfire to my editor, she told me that one thing she liked about it was the mythology of the Pyr and the worldbuilding. She told me that she saw that as key to the success of paranormal romance series, and that it was particularly what she looked for in a new series.

The intensity of the worldbuilding probably originates from the fantasy market, but the fantasy market has been around for a long time without this cross-over – I suspect the more immediate impetus is television series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This series and other similarly popular paranormal series posit an entire hidden universe right beneath our human noses, one populated by otherworldly creatures with their own agenda. The protagonist – or protagonists – stands on the cusp, with one foot in each world, often as a gatekeeper. This notion slid into the romance section and the paranormal romance subgenre, colouring the expectations of readers. One vampire alone isn’t that compelling anymore. We want him to be part of an entire vampire world, one with lots of other vampires and lots of issues.

So, I think that A.W. would have had a better chance of getting a submission request if her vampire romance had been part of a series, one that peeled back the veil on a whole ‘nuther parallel universe. She argued that her book was similar to those of Ms. NYT-Bestseller, who this editor bought and published with great success, but the point is that Ms. NYT built her audience when the market was in a different place than it is currently. Ms. NYT was the fresh voice then, not the one mimicking another established writer. What A.W. needs to do is be the fresh voice for the future, to write something that builds upon the notion of a vampire romance in a new and innovative way.

How is she going to do that? By keeping her eyes open and being aware of popular culture. By not being so quick to toss out her “odd” or “outrageous” ideas – no matter what her critique partner thinks of them. By going to the Spotlight sessions at RWA National and not just listening to the publishers’ presentations but looking for patterns. What are people buying and why? No one will tell her what to do. She has to figure it out for herself, and then make it happen.

Nobody said this was an easy business, but as writers, we are the source of new trends and ideas. Don’t take the easy path. Make your book, even if it is the umpteen gazillionth vampire romance, stand out from the pack.

Make it fresh!

Angels, Dragonfire, Miscellaneous Musing, Publishing, Writing