Taste of Kiwi

I’ve decided my favorite part of writing is getting the first draft down. That’s when I’m happiest and I plod along, writing 2000 words a day. (Around 10,000 a week since I try not to work on weekends). Lately I’ve been in edit mode for books I’ve contracted. I like working with my editors and making my book sparkle, but I get to a stage where I’m so sick of my book the thought of reading it once more makes me want to scream. I grit my teeth and do it, because that’s part of being a writer. It’s my job.

All this editing is good news though, because it means I have lots of releases: June, July, August and September. Check out my coming soon page for further details. And I can get back to doing the part I love most – creating new books.

It was fun working on Lucky Charm again. (working title). My word count stands at 13,200 as of today. Lucky Charm is a historical set in 1940 England. I really enjoy this era since it comes with lots of inbuilt conflict. I’m also working on book eleven in my Middlemarch series plus a werewolf story. Yes, that’s three things at once. Somehow everything is working. One book is close to done, one is about half done and the other I’ve just started.

I love it when my inbox brings good news. Today I sold a sci-fi romance called Resisting Tamaki to Ellora’s Cave. Yay!

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When we returned from our recent holiday, we applied to the RSPCA to foster pets. A few days ago, we received an invitation to attend a training course, which takes place this weekend. I’m actually really excited about having a pet around the place again (even if the pet is only on loan). It has been very quiet without Scotty. Our walks aren’t quite the same without a dog to watch over.

There are a variety of animals available to foster, ranging from kittens, cats, puppies, dogs to rabbits and guinea pigs. We’ve said we’re interested in fostering dogs and will consider rabbits and guinea pigs. Hubby had a rabbit and guinea pig on the farm as a child, but I’ve never had either as a pet. They give training etc along with all the paraphernalia required for each pet. I’m sure we’d be fine rabbit foster parents.

They said it’s possible some of the people attending the course might be asked if they’d like to foster straight away, so a foster pet might be closer than we think.

In writing/publishing news, Carina Press officially opened it doors today. I’m so excited to be part of this new publishing venture and can’t wait for my historical to hit the virtual shelves. Unofficially that will be in September. I’ll let you know as soon as I have an official release date. Meantime, go and check out the launch releases at Carina Press. There’s something there for every discerning romance reader.

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If you have questions about e-publishing, author Vivi Andrews has written an article with the answers. Here’s the link to knowledge about e-publishing.

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Why is it on days that you’re really busy everyone decides they simply have to talk to you? I had one of those days today. My edits arrived from Carina Press. No problem. They were expected. I had breakfast and sat down to work.

Bang! Bang! Someone was at the door. Sighing, I answered it and came face to face with a woman who wanted to convert me to religion. I politely said I wasn’t interested, but she was a tenacious one. I finally informed her I was busy and shut the door. I sat down and half an hour later, the phone went. It was my sister. I know if I’d had said I was busy, she wouldn’t have minded, but she’s been going through chemo, and I wanted details. (She had an MRI yesterday and will know in a week if the treatment has helped or if she requires more radical treatment) Fingers crossed! Anyway, I finished talking to her, and decided I’d quickly check my email. That was a mistake because there was another set of edits waiting for me, this one from Ellora’s Cave.

Somehow, I think it’s going to be a busy weekend. I leave you with a relaxing holiday shot, meanwhile I’m off to attack more edits.

The person surrounded by fish is me. Mr. Munro and I did a helmet dive while we were in Bora Bora, Tahiti. It was so much fun and definitely makes my list of most memorable experiences. Note the stingray on the left of the photo.

I’m doing a guest post at Coffee Time Romance today on Friends with Benefits and The Bottom Line.

And, if you haven’t already, check out my guest post at Manic Readers about The Other Side of the Fence.

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This post is inspired by Heather at The Galaxy Express and her post, Attention, please! This is your heroine speaking.

Dear Author,

I salute you. You sit for long hours in front of the computer as you labor over our stories. Without you none of us would be here. Mostly, you do us proud but I’d like you to consider the following:

1. Please, please don’t make me go down to the basement when there is a killer on the loose. Credit me with a little common sense and help me do something intelligent.
I don’t want readers to snigger at me and call me Too Stupid To Live. I deserve more than that, don’t you think?

2. I know popular opinion says heroines are slender and pretty, but how about making me stand out from the crowd? Make me sexy–sure, I like sexy as much as the next girl, but I can be sexy and an average size. Give me a few curves. Don’t you know I enjoy food? Oh, and if you give me curves, don’t go on and on about my size. I’m happy, really I am.

3. Please don’t take a stereotype and foist it on me. I’m not a hooker with a big heart. I’m not an ice princess. I’m not a geeky librarian. Give me individuality.

4. I like alpha men–really, I do, but at least give me a spine so I can stand up to them. No wimps should apply here.

5. I’m not perfect. I know that, but do you know it too? Give me some flaws and balance them with some of the good stuff. Make me human because readers will like me better that way.

6. Give me a snarky voice. I’m cool with that, but don’t make me snark all the way through the book. Readers won’t like me if I do that. They might call me a bitch, you know, and wonder what the hero sees in me.

7. Likewise, if my hero is going to be a bastard, let him fall off his high horse at some stage. Make him see the error of his ways or at least let me use my knee in his private parts. It might hurt him, but it would make me feel better after all the verbal abuse.

8. And finally, if you’re gonna make me have anal sex, please, please, please give me some lube.

Yours faithfully,
A Heroine.

What would your heroine write in a letter? Readers, what do you think the heroine should write?

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Today I read a magazine article about the birth order of children and how it affects their lives. Experts believe that birth order definitely influences a child’s personality. It also has a bearing on their career choice and the way they deal with relationships.

I found the article interesting because I have a brother and a sister, both younger than me. It was fascinating comparing the first, second and last born characteristics with my family.
First born children love to succeed, they’re good leaders, are good at solving problems, and easy to work with. They can also be overbearing and insensitive, overly concerned with rules, have high stress levels and strive too hard for perfection.

I definitely like to succeed (who doesn’t?) I take charge (sometimes) and I’m good at problem solving. (yes, that’s true—I’m a facts and figure person). The stress part is true, but I constantly work to keep the stress levels down. I worry too much about order, process and rules—sometimes. Insensitive? Sometimes I can be tactless, but I don’t think I’m insensitive. My family and friends might disagree. I’m not sure.

First born children are often company directors and have valuable and enjoyable careers. In truth, I’ve never aspired to be a company director. I like being my own boss and enjoy the creative writing process even though the business drives me nuts at times.

Middle born children are independent, know how to keep a secret, are mentally tough and are good mediators. On the negative side, they can be cynical, they might feel too much on the outside, may be uncooperative and bottle up their true feelings.

Middle born children can be mysterious and keep to themselves. Yes, this is my brother. They’re willing to do things differently. Yes, again. My brother is very innovative. They see issues from both sides. This actually sounds more like me, but no one said this is a perfect science.

On the down side, they’re often stubborn and unwilling to cooperate and they keep opinions to themselves. Yes, to all of this, but I’m also stubborn when I feel the need.

Middle born children are good in mediating roles (nope, can’t see this one at all) and entrepreneurial roles (definitely! This is my brother) and they enjoy building close working relationships.

I know that some writers use this research when developing their characters and give their hero and heroine the quirks associated with their birth order. It’s definitely something to keep in mind when working on your characterization.

Source: Lifestyle Magazine June/July 2000, The New Birth Order Book: Why you are the way you are by Dr Kevin Lernan.

For those who are interested, I intend to blog about last born and only children later this week.

Are you a first born or middle child? Does any of this sound like you? Does it sound like your brothers or sisters who have these positions in your family? And for the writers out there – have you used birth order when developing your characters?

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I do my very best thinking in the shower. I think about my day. I think about my current work-in-progress and plotting problems. I think about my goals. The only problem with doing my thinking in the shower is that I can’t take notes. By the time I get out of the shower, some of my brilliance is forgotten. So, imagine my excitement when I saw Stepcase Lifehack’s post on Productivity PrOn: 5 Unusually Useful Nightpads and found a mention of some special notebooks.

Here they are — Aqua Notes – the waterproof notepad.

I wonder if they ship to New Zealand because I want some!!

Where do you do your best thinking?

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This is part two about the pros and cons of writing for different publishers. Part one appeared yesterday.

Pros and Cons of Writing for Different Publishers (part two) by Brenna Lyons

Choosing your publishers: Risk Management?

Splitting your investments- This is actually another reason that many people choose more than one publisher. There are authors who have experienced the fall of a publisher and had to scramble to place all their books again. Understandably, they don’t want that to happen to them again, so they keep their eggs in different baskets. But…

Watch your percentages in high risk baskets- You have to look on choosing publishers as risk management much as you would view investing your money. What makes a high risk? A new company. A company that doesn’t have a full, competent, experienced staff. A company based on a “radical new idea” for shaking up the industry. An owner who doesn’t have a solid business plan. An owner that lacks people skills…or depends too highly on people skills and too little on business sense. A business that has already had financial and interpersonal blow-ups. You can take on some high risk, as long as you balance it with low to moderate risk publishers. It’s a good idea to weight your basket toward low and moderate risk companies and not high risk. Even the most aggressive planning doesn’t advocate putting all your resources in high risk. Placing all of your work with high risk carries the high risk of losing it all.

Do your homework with ALL publishers- Having more than one publisher does not make you all knowing. No matter how much you might like to claim you can, you cannot “spot a good company or bad” at a hundred paces, though it is usually easier to spot warning signs of a bad risk than it is to say with conviction that the company is a good one at a glance. You have to research all prospective publishers and assess their risk factors. For more information see my two part series about choosing a publisher. Part one. Part two.

New companies/old associates: does experience translate?- As I said earlier, it is never a good idea to choose a company just for…the company you would be keeping, though choosing not to work with someone you clash with may be a very good idea. Just because someone has good ideas for marketing her own book does not mean the person is capable of marketing an entire company. Just because someone was an EIC for five years does not mean that person is skilled as a company owner and will make the right decisions for the company when given all decision making. Not all experience is equal, and friendship is not business savvy.

You can actually hurt your chances rather than help them- Choosing the wrong publishers can hinder you toward your goals….which we will cover more in contracts. But, you can also hinder yourself by spreading your books too thin. Conventional wisdom says that it takes roughly three books with any publisher to start making a name with the company…and making decent money. It is almost impossible to break even and build an audience when you have one or two books each thrown in a half dozen venues.

Special concerns when you have more than one?

Contract provisions to watch out for- You have to be very careful, especially with the contract you sign. There are contracts that specify that the author is expected to keep a web site for only the publisher’s books…or that the publisher will not link to your site if you don’t comply. Forcing you to split your audience (or not giving you the same exposure they give every other author) is counterproductive to your aims of building an audience, and you should not sign something that does it. Always keep your contractual obligations in mind when signing a contract. Can you live to each contract you sign? How long will your rights be held up? How soon can you move to another publisher if things don’t work out? Do you have an “out clause?” Never sign a contract that gives blanket first refusal rights. Why?

Splitting series and related books- You do not want to be forced into a position where you have to split a series or related books from a series because you have signed first refusal to someone else. Keeping related books together is usually a good idea. Putting out shorts in anthologies that relate back to an established world somewhere else, while not overly appreciated by the anthology publisher in some cases, are a different matter. I look on them more as throwing out bait. It’s further exploiting the idea of bringing readers from one company home to another. Always spell out how far that “series” ranges in first right of refusal clauses. If you write the same world in another timeline and with new characters, is that still the series? If you write related books not on the same world (don’t you love science fiction?), is it still the series? The first is debatable. The second is arguably no, even if you see characters from the series there.

Pen Names- Never allow a company to own your pen name. That both steals your word of mouth from you and forces you to split your marketing. Instead of selling YOU and the books. You are forced to sell YOU and YOU and the books. This is a bad idea all the way around. The closer you can bring your pen names, assuming you aren’t writing in clashing genres like erotica and children’s, the better it is for you. It is always better to spend $100 promoting Brenna Lyons than $60 promoting Brenna Lyons and $40 promoting Brenna Stuart, with no apparent connection between them. If you are separating two adult reading genres, you may want a single site that splits into the pen names/genres. That allows for possible carry-over from one pen name to the other from regular readers. If your genres are children’s and adult, you may want two different sites entirely! In fact, it’s probably preferable that you do it that way.

Brenna Lyons is a bestselling, award-winning author in spec fic indie press. With 21 series worlds and stand-alones, it’s not a surprise that Brenna works with between six and eight publishing houses at a time and fields ten or more releases every year. You can reach her at her site http://www.brennalyons.com

Thanks so much for the informative posts, Brenna! If anyone has any questions just ask them in the comments section.

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I’m a member of the Marketing for Romance Writers loop. There’s a wealth of knowledge available in this group, mainly promo and marketing advice but there are also discussions about other writing related things such as publishers. Late last year the subject of writing for different publishers was raised. Author Brenna Lyons had such awesome advice about the pros and cons that I asked if she’d write a post for me on the subject. Over to Brenna…

Pros and Cons of Writing for Different Publishers (part one) by Brenna Lyons

Why do it?

You’re a prolific author- It is possible to overload the system of a single publisher, if you submit everything you write to that one. Can you imagine the havoc that could cause with a prolific author?

You write in several genres- It’s a solid fact that authors who write in many genres may not be able to place all of their books with a single house. If you sign with a publisher for your fantasy erotic romance books and then you write a straight fantasy book, that publisher is likely not your market.

To work with publishers/authors/editors you enjoy- This is not my favorite reason to change or add publishers, but some people do choose publishers this way. For me, it is more important that I think the people I will be working with know what they are doing, are pleasant (or at least tolerable) to work with, and have a smooth-running system that I feel will work well for me.

Getting in on special collections or projects- This is actually a good reason to join a publisher…if your other concerns are met as well. Think of it this way. Even if it’s the collection you think is perfect for you, if the contract and staff are far less than ideal, you are better off taking your personal ideas elsewhere. Remember that this is your career!

A new concept or contract option that you enjoy- Unfortunately, some authors are so dead-set on making sure a particular thing is addressed at their next company that they allow themselves to be blinded to the less savory aspects of the company they target. You have to keep the full package in mind. It is typically easier to convince company B to add something you want than to convince company D to change half a contract that you don’t like to suit you, just because it already has that one item covered.

In addition, a new concept in publishing is good…if it works. Keep in mind that many of the more radical designs don’t last very long. A company that gives you 75% of cover price sounds great…until you find out that you won’t be able to sell a quarter of the books you did with your old publisher.

The pros to having more than one publisher?

Reaching new readers who haven’t read you before- There is no denying that you will likely reach some readers at the new company who are not regular buyers of the old one. However, while some readers buy a company, many readers buy the author. That means that, once introduced to you, the readers are typically willing to follow you from publisher to publisher…as long as they are comfortable with the publisher sites…or they follow you to one-stop places like ARe/OmniLit or Fictionwise, where they can buy books from you with several publishers at once.

Name building at double or triple the speed…maybe- This sounds good in theory. But while it is true that you are reaching more readers, there is typically an overflow of readers that read both houses…or one company may have a large audience while another is new and has a small one. You can’t count on doubling your publishers meaning that your double the readers who know you.

Less wait time for editors/release date…maybe- You may very well reduce your wait overall, since you are waiting editors at several publishers, so you can get four books through in the time you might have gotten one or two through at a single publisher. However, you may lengthen your wait on a particular book.

Not being pigeonholed into one genre or style- This is one of the most widely-stated reasons for people choosing to have more than one publisher.

The cons to having more than one publisher?

Planning ahead to fulfill your contracts- You have to keep an eye on what you agree to do and when. If you have three books coming in for edits, you better have everything out of your way and be prepared for some long nights and days getting those edits done in the 30 days you have to do all three! And, you don’t want to burn out.

The “Prolific Trap”- When you’re prolific, you often get contacted by your publishers saying things like, “We have X going on. You’ll put something into that, right?” This is where you get into an interesting balancing act. Do you say “I can’t” and get on a publisher’s bad side? Do you say “yes” and figure out a way to make it happen? That depends on your comfort level.

Glutting the market on your name- It is possible to put out so many books that the readers can’t keep up…or don’t want to keep up. At what point do the readers’ eyes glaze over? The problem is that there is no set number I can give you. If you write really well, that glut may not come for a long time.

Expectations of publishers- Your publishers have certain expectations of their authors. The problem comes when you either have conflicting schedules…you should be in chat with B at the same time C is doing a list game you should be taking part in…or you are get used to the expectations for one and have problems changing gears.

Keeping your mind in the game: which publisher is which- You could make a file of printouts or a database of guidelines and house styles a prerequisite for having more than one publisher. Worse, it’s easy to start resenting one company for not being more like another. You can suggest changes gently, but if they don’t want to change, you either have to live with it quietly or not sign them any more books. You are under no obligation to stay with a company that doesn’t offer what you need as an author PAST what you have already contracted.

Arranging SOME crossover readership to aid in the transition- You want to find new readers, but you also need the old readers following you along and bringing new readers with them by word of mouth. Having some distribution channels or promotion channels that overlap is a wonderful thing.

The “Leave your other publisher at the door” problem- Imagine a well-meaning reader or reviewer congratulates you on an award finaled for with a publisher on the wrong list…or someone mentions a series from publisher B in publisher C’s chat. Though it is beyond your control, and no matter how skillfully you handle it, it will still be held against you to a certain degree.

Come back for part two tomorrow.

Brenna Lyons is a bestselling, award-winning author in spec fic indie press. With 21 series worlds and stand-alones, it’s not a surprise that Brenna works with between six and eight publishing houses at a time and fields ten or more releases every year. You can reach her at her site http://www.brennalyons.com

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Author Adrienne Kress has an interesting post called It’s Not About the Odds. She talks about the luck required in getting a publishing contract and how you can slant those odds in your favor by doing a great query letter.

Rebecca at Dirty Sexy Books has a tongue in cheek post about urban fantasy stories. If you’re not really sure what an urban fantasy is read the Ten Commandments of Urban Fantasy.

Margie Lawson has a guest post at Routines for Writers. It’s all about writing body language and verbal cues–an important thing in good characterization.

And finally, You Are What You Eat, Foods That Improve Your Sex Drive is an article by Elizabeth Black that makes for very interesting reading. Stay about from fried foods and rich cream sauces – that’s all I’m saying!

I’m reading a book called The Wolf Almanac by Robert H Busch. It’s research for a new idea I have, and you might have guessed from the title that my story will feature wolves.

What are you reading at the moment?

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