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ADVICE TO MYSELF AS A NEWBIE AUTHOR

October 27, 2007 by in category Archives tagged as

I’m a go-for-it, goal-setting kind of person so I had to really think hard about the advice I’d give myself if I were just starting out. My mind drew a complete blank, because I never look back with regrets. Every day I learn something new about writing, the craft, the business and the interactions between authors and friends.

When I first started out, I was forewarned not to sell to a flat-rate publisher, but my gut instincts told me, this would be a good move. I wrote 3 books for the Kensington Precious Gems line and still keep in contact with those authors today. As it turned out, my next sale was with Harlequin Historicals and having those Precious Gems books in print, meant something. It provided me with credibility as a published author, got me a very decent advance and established me as a sell-on-proposal author. Nothing but good came from that controversial decision. I trust my instincts and always have.

There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of self-doubt in the publishing world. Writers are always second-guessing themselves, so if you have good instincts, you’re halfway there. Ultimately you have to go with what your heart tells you – I’m a big believer in that. If you fail, you can only point your finger at yourself and say, “Next time, I’ll try harder,” or “Okay, I learned from that, now I’ll do it differently.”

I really believe events in life happen for a reason and that eventually everything will fall into place. With a positive outlook, the glass half full philosophy – lemonade really can be produced when you’re handed a bagful of lemons.

So what would I have done differently?

I could say, nothing.

But that’s not entirely true. I’ve learned a good deal about promotion these past few years. I see newbie published authors struggle with this all the time. They ask themselves how much promotion should I do when I can barely meet my next deadline? What avenues do I tap into that best suit my needs? Your first book might have taken years to write; honing, polishing and revising so when you finally have to deliver a book on deadline, you’re stumped and can barely get the words on the page, much less promote it.

So my advice to myself would be to have learned the ins and outs of promotion a little bit earlier on. As a category author, what kind of promotion works and what doesn’t? How do I best reach my readers and garner new ones? How much do I spend? Are there easier and less expensive ways to do what I’m doing now? And the big one, how do I know it’s working? How do I gauge my own personal success?

I find that now, I’m spending half my time working on promoting my books and half my time writing them. It’s truly 50/50. I’ve sought advice from professionals, read everything I could on promotion, taken workshops and trusted my own instincts when it came to decision-making.

The second piece of advice I might give myself, would be to write for one line, solely. There are definite advantages in doing that, but there are disadvantages as well.

The advantage is that you build a readership more rapidly. If you’re a prolific writer and can produce several books in one year, the readers recognize you and you tend to do better in that one line. Establishing yourself as a writer of hot, sizzling love stories, or fun, light-hearted romps or military thrillers will bring you readers who will love what you write, eagerly await your next story and always buy your books. Every author wants to be an “auto-buy.”

I write for two lines, Harlequin Historical and Silhouette Desires. I’ve split them down the middle, writing equally for both.

I feel writing in two time periods keeps my writing fresh and compelling. When I’ve had my fill of urban alpha males in the corporate world, I mosey on over to my western writing roots and delve into my cowboy stories. And when I tire of no indoor plumbing, I head back to the contemporary settings. It’s ideal for me in a craft sense. I love writing both.

Having been involved in various lines folding, I feel it’s a little safer writing for two lines. It’s the “cover-your-butt” philosophy that seems to work for me. But is it wise to have two very diverse readerships? Honestly, I don’t know. There comes a time when you have to distinguish between what’s right for you business-wise and what’s right for you as an author? What’s most important is that you write what you love and you love what you write.

Then everything else falls into place and you take that tall drink of homemade lemonade.

Charlene Sands
www.charlenesands.com
Winner 2006 National Readers’ Choice Award
Bodine’s Bounty – November 2007
The Corporate Raider’s Revenge – January 2008
Taming the Texan – March 2008

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The 80’s Are Coming

October 26, 2007 by in category Archives tagged as

by Sara Black

Sitting behind the register at my work I often know what it is to be a fish in a bowl. Only I get too see a lot more than the same boring family day in and day out. Passing by my window is an eclectic bunch of people, men holding hands, women holding hands, little old man in black suits with long curly locks, trendy young women on their way to eat, men who dress far better than me talking on their cell phones, and tourists in sandals and shorts with backpacks slung over their shoulders.

Lately I’ve been noticing the trendies, including the workers at the techno-beat filled hair salon next door, have a familiar style. Over sized T-shirts with metallic prints, leg warmers, leggings, large dangling earrings, and pointy boots. I haven’t seen any power suits or shoulder pads, but this may not be the right area of town. The 80’s appear to be on their way back.

I was too young during the 80’s to really accrue any humiliating pictures. I think you need to be a teenager to really emberass your later self with fashion choices. I do remember in about 3rd grade wearing some kind of ensemble that involved high tops, short green leggings, and a pink hair band and thinking that I was really cool, but this didn’t last long. A lot of people view the fashions of the 80’s with a horror normally reserved for the moment you spill a hot drink on your mother-in-law. They were a little, ridiculous, weren’t they?

Then I think about bustles, and corsets, and removing a rib or two for that perfect waist, or wearing a giant, white powdered wig, and really, leg warmers with high heels are relatively innocent.

Still, fashion remains mainly a spectator sport for me, something I observe from my fishbowl. I’m more into 70’s styles anyway.

Sara Black has a degree in Cinema/Television from USC. She watches far too much television, eats way too much sushi and is always writing a romance novel. This is the seventh in a series of posts on Pop Culture.

She will not be found in a pair of leg warmers anytime soon.

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ROLLING ON AN ACORN

October 24, 2007 by in category Archives tagged as

By Jann Audiss

For the last several years, I have been fortunate to spend time a few terrific days with close friends in a home on the north shore at Arrowhead Lake. We read, discuss our writing, watch movies, take walks and generally chilling out from our hectic work schedules and life in general.

Our days start at just before sunrise. Clad in hats, coats, gloves and wrapped in blankets, we sit on the deck sipping coffee from steaming mugs. Every morning we hope to see the local beaver swim by. It’s a quite time. We look out over the lake whose mirrored surface is broken only by the ripples of the occasional fish as it jumps to catch a bite for breakfast, or by the small wake left by paddling ducks. It’s paradise.

We usually take our retreat in October. On daily walks through the neighborhood we revel in the leaves as they start to turn the rich, vibrate colors of autumn. The oak trees drop acorns by the bushel. This time, one such oak tree dropped two particular acorns that found their way under my right foot. My ankle turned painfully and down I went. Needless to say, I let out several unladylike words to the astonishment of the local squirrels watching from near by.

After I crawled on my hands and knees to bed that night, I decided that a trip to the local ER was in order. While I sat in the examining room waiting for the doctor, my imagination began to work overtime. I must have dreamed up at least five or six different scenes between hero and heroine. There was the “can’t get out of the bath” scene. The “ER doctor who makes an after-hours house call to check up on his patient” catches her in a very provocative position after she drops her crutch. The “local Ranger finds the heroine crawling along the trail on her hands and knees.” The hero who…

I think you get the idea. It vividly showed me how a writer draws from her experiences. Although I can’t recommend spraining an ankle, I can advise that you take advantage of your adventures for everything they are worth. There’s nothing like “writing what you know” from first had experience.

In a special note – my heart goes out to all the residents in Lake Arrowhead and throughout Southern California who have been devastated by the fires. To the men and women who are on the front lines fighting to protect lives and property and those working in the evacuation centers – God Bless.

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The Lone Writer

October 24, 2007 by in category Archives tagged as

A World in Flames

I realize this is a writer’s blog. I like to think it’s more about a writer’s life then just about the act of writing itself. Otherwise, this would be a pretty boring place and OCC/RWA is never boring. As such I decided to take this opportunity to blog about something I am a little too close to: smoke and flames.

On Sunday night, my family and I left the Orange hills in search of Chinese food. As we were driving we saw big plumes of smoke in the distance and thought “Oh no! Something is on fire.” On our way back from dinner it was dark and we could no longer see smoke. But we did turn on the TV to see what was going on. Malibu fires, San Diego fires, Agua Dulce fires and (as if that wasn’t horrifying enough), Santiago Canyon fires. I stayed with my parents and watched the news as towns where old schoolmates once lived fought for survival. My parents’ house is on a hill on one side of a valley. On the other side we can see Santiago Canyon Road, and parts of the 241 freeway. There are mountains, some closer then others. At around 9pm my sister shouted “look out the window” The entire right hand side of the mountain nearest ours was aflame. I’m not talking about smoke, I’m talking about bright orange flame.

After some debate my years of education paid off and I won an argument against my mother!
Her logic? It’s pretty far away.
My logic? You are about to sleep for eight hours. That fire has 40 mile-an-hour winds behind it, there is NO WAY that fire is eight hours away.

My father, a doctor, headed to the hospital just in case he was needed on hand. The rest of us evacuated to my apartment further north. As we drove away, two cars full of people, papers and clothes I could only be grateful

It wasn’t until we reached safety that we started thinking about all the things we hadn’t packed. A portrait of my grandmother, childhood momentos, irreplacable things that we could have packed quickly if it had occurred to us.

A lucky shift in the wind saved my childhood home, and I am grateful. But if there is one thing I’ve learned, there are two kinds of pain. There is the pain of the physical loss of a loved one, and also the pain of the emotional loss of a cherished memory.

In the days ahead, many people will face challenges. I urge you, and your families to think of what you cannot live without. Make a list, take pictures, do whatever it takes, but don’t leave yourself vulnerable to a double loss. Your home can be replaced, you and your memories, cannot.

Be safe, be well, and be careful.

-Dana Belfry

Dana Belfry is an aspiring author and a proud member of the OCC/RWA. She happily lives near the beach, rollerblades as often as possible and constantly comes up with story ideas. She is currently working on a contemporary single-title. Visit Dana at her blog at http://www.danabelfry.com/blog/

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Bookseller’s Corner

October 20, 2007 by in category Archives tagged as

Hey there bibliophiles,

This is the strangest fall, because for the first time in 25 years I haven’t been planning my Autumn Book Sale. Weird, unsettling, a little crazy making and( because I usually use the “extra” money to pay my property taxes) sorta scary. I told someone the other day it was like divorce. I was really glad to lose the cranky customers, fighting about money and property maintenance with the landlord and the day to day sameness of it all.

What I miss are my wonderful customers/friends, the freedom of working for myself, the tingly feeling of got when a really rare book came in and just getting to touch it.

I’m still grieving my loss, I know this is what I had to do do to save my sanity, my health and not having live in a box on the street, but I really miss seeing all those people who loved my books as much as I did. I miss opening boxes all during the week and seeing the new book covers on the racks and calling my author friends to tell them that their books were in and I was had been hand selling them. I miss decorating the store windows for Halloween. Silly, yes, I know, but I JUST REALLY MISS IT!

I got over being married, I’ll get over this. I just don’t know when, but I’ll let you know.

Don’t cry for me Orange County, BUB was supposed to be immortal. I never wanted to leave you but hey *hit happens

Michelle Thorne
www.bearlyusedbooks.com
agreatreadoccrwa@aol.com
1998 RWA Bookseller of the Year

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