She interrupts me. I interrupt her. Elle A. Muse is unfortunately not amused…
I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.
Carina Press editor Angela James blogs about why publishers don’t often send personalized rejections. Well worth a read.
My favorite personalized rejection over the last year? “Your story made it to our ‘perhaps’ pile, but sadly we can’t publish them all.” It made me laugh. The editor also apologized for the length of time it took to receive a reply, which is always nice. (No, it wasn’t Angela James!)
Do you have a favorite personalized rejection line? Paraphrase it for me, baby.
According to the latest Knight Agency newsletter, the genres that I and Penny write, romantic comedy and erotic romance, are both Dumpster-diving these days. Out of a score of 5, both romcom and erom are currently rating a 1.75 on the Yes, It’s a Hot, Hot Trend! scale (my terminology there). Yerk. 1 = Long Shot, 2 = Deep Discounts according to TKA agents. Urp. So, yeah, while I am attending RWA National in Nashville this summer, odds look bad that I’ll make NYC in 2011. And I really want to go to NYC. So, tell all your friends and neighbors, forget trends, buy Cindy’s books! Penny’s, too!
However, TKA also sees a bright side:
Now, before you check out our awesome survey, we must issue a disclaimer. Just because our agents said romantic comedy wasn’t at the tip of anyone’s tongue these days — doesn’t mean you should send your beloved manuscript, which just so happens to be romantic comedy, to the scrapper. Mon Dieu! For all we know, you could be the next Jane Austen.
That’s what I like about the ladies over TKA. They always give me hope.
Okay, let’s see, I just submitted a requested contemporary romance manuscript to a publisher, which rates a 3 on the trend scale (“Respectable Mid-Lister”), and now I’m about to return to revising my romantic comedy/mystery. Urp. Make that a “romantic suspense.” Romantic suspense is currently rating 4 “VIP – High in Demand” on the trend scale. Except, um, I think it would be mighty apparent to any editor reading my “romantic suspense” that it’s actually a “romantic comedy/mystery” in sheep’s clothing. Yes, I’m sunk.
The problem with me is I have a light voice. I love writing with a light voice. Even when I write dramatic, there’s a humorous element. And that’s how I like it. So there.
Maybe someday I’ll actually catch a trend at its crest. But it never seems to work out that way. I’m either ahead of the trend or behind it. Penny’s foray into erotic romance is an example. Of course, Penny, darn her, also tends to write light. What’s wrong with the woman?
Time to dust off my paranormal YA idea? Because paranormal rates a 4.5 right now (5 being “Hot Trend-Front of Store Placement!”) and YA paranormal rates a 5. (I have a feeling dark paranormal is doing better than light paranormal, and of course light paranormal would more naturally lend to my voice). Now, remember my post about pacing and trends and books that sell when otherwise they might not (see Monday)? You got it, the book I speak of there is one of the top two selling genres according to the TKA breakdown. But the book still has a huge pacing issue, in my opinion. Which leads me to ask, if its genre weren’t in the top 2, would it have sold?
That’s trends for you, though. They exist to torture writers and satisfy readers. Really, when God created Trends, Trends said, “I need a purpose! A sense of drive! I don’t feel myself when I don’t have a goal.” And God said, “Not to worry, I shall now create writers and you can drive them crazy. Because I have a hankering to brainstorm how to create fig leaves, so I need you to go away.”
Back to trends. The problem comes when publishers buy, buy, buy to take advantage of a hot trend (and who can blame them? They’re businesses, they want to make money) and then the market becomes overly saturated. And then the publishers start dropping authors who are no longer earning them enough money (so they can stay in business), and then these same publishers start looking for the next hot trend and the previously hot authors suddenly find themselves orphaned. Without a publisher. Not because they aren’t talented. But because they haven’t written something that suits the current trend. I have had this happen to so many published writer friends over the last year, I can’t tell you. It’s enough to make me chew on my eyeballs.
Believe me when I say that publishers have no idea what the next hot trend will be. They’re gazing into cloudy crystal balls as much as the rest of us. And writers either follow the trends once they discover them, or kinda/sorta attempt to follow them but realize their heart isn’t in it. Or they eat a lot of packaged macaroni and continue to write what they love.
Like me.
Why?
Because I’m dense. And that’s how I like it.
Agent Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency is hosting the I’M IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE Submissions Festival on her blog until February 14th. Here are some deets:
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I am currently accepting pitches here on the blog for any novel that falls within one of the genres I am presently seeking (list below), as long as there is some sort of romantic relationship in the book. It does not have to be the focus of the book; this does not have to be a romance novel. But most novels have a little flirting or romance in them, even if it’s not the primary subject, so this is going to include plenty of projects.
Accepted genres: Literary fiction, contemporary/mainstream fiction, women’s fiction, historical fiction, romance (including contemporary, historical, paranormal, and romantic suspense), young adult fiction (no children’s or middle grade please), steampunk, and urban fantasy.
Your book needs to be completed and ready to be sent out. This means revised and edited and in a state that makes you proud.
Note, when Nephele says “here on this blog,” she means over THERE on HER blog—not on my blog! I’m just being cordial and passing along the information.
More information can be found on Nephele’s blog, including exactly what is required and how to pitch your project.
I’m reading a novel right now that’s the first in a series, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out for the longest time what was bugging me about this book. It’s a new-to-me author and the cover is intriguing, so I was really looking forward to the read. But although the author has a good voice and knows how to string her sentences together and has a knack for scene endings, the book isn’t…moving for me. This is when I realized that the pacing suffers in this story. I’m at the halfway point, and I feel like it should have occurred 25% through the book instead of 50% through. I’ve read a lot of what feels like filler, including flashbacks I am finding completely unnecessary (and in fact wonder if an editor asked for them to be included, so clearly do they point to their intention) that then lead up to a great scene ending compelling me to read on…and then my interest lags again until the next scene ending that piques my interest.
My obsession with the pacing of this novel got me to thinking about trends in publishing and how, when a trend in writing is hot and especially if there’s an author out there currently making a killing off this trend (because they broke the ground) and publishers want to cash in, well, sometimes novels are bought that wouldn’t otherwise get bought. I’m not familiar enough with this author’s sub-genre that I can comment on whether or not I feel this book should have been bought. Publishing is subjective, after all. But the big feeling I do have from reading this book is that, okay, just because your novel is the first in a series featuring the same characters does not mean it’s okay to take up the entire first book “introducing” the characters and their world. Because that’s what this book feels like to me. Like the author knew full well going in that the hero and heroine’s relationship would continue in Book 2, and thus the slow build-up. The VERY slow build-up. The completely avoidable very slow build-up. It’s driving me nuts. And yet I’m continuing to read just so I can find out, when I finish the book, if pacing really is the issue with this book…or it’s my limited attention span.
I’m halfway through formatting a requested manuscript to a publisher’s specifications. My eyes are literally crossing, so I decided to take a break. Remember back in the old days when you just typed up the manuscript and mailed it in? And the typesetters worried about formatting? It still works that way with a lot of publishers, but more and more publishers are asking writers to submit their manuscripts pre-formatted to their specs. Not “just” epublishers, either. Because I’m a Capricorn and prone to paying attention to details (when I feel like it), formatting a manuscript is something I don’t take lightly. If an editor is seriously considering two manuscripts, and one is wonderfully, perfectly formatted while the other is chock-full of mistakes, which do you think she’s more likely to acquire? I fool myself into thinking it would be mine.
So, what are my writer buddies up to? Any submission tales to recount? Can you identify with my formatting issues? Or is it something you don’t even consider when you submit a manu?
I haven’t totally familiarized myself with Windows 7. Formatting and submitting the manuscript has to take precedence. Now that I finally have all my old programs loaded (and it appears that all will work in Windows 7, although one or two might be tad glitchy), it was time to take a break from playing with the new operating system and get back to work. I’ve charged my new netbook, but I’m a long way from checking her out.
Oh, I have to buy a new scanner. Mine is too old for any Windows OS since XP. I’m giving it to My Liege…for his office (I like to call it his “hovel”)…in the crawl space. Yes, indeedy, my husband’s home office is in the crawl space. That’s where I worked between computers. It’s really quiet in there, but you can’t stand up straight. And the dog always wanted me to lift her in. Which of course I did. She laid at my feet beneath M.L.’s desk as I worked on his docked laptop.
Don’t ask my why his office is in the crawlspace. It’s not like I forced him to work there. Okay, maybe I did.
Once I get this manuscript off and have played with Windows 7 to my satisfaction, I’ll take some pictures of the hovel and post them for your enjoyment. I think I already have a picture or two somewhere in my files, but the eyes remain too crossed to go look for them.
I’m back on-line!
I’m in the process of setting up my new Dell (named Dylan, a unisex handle). When I finish that, I have to set up Daisy, my new netbook. I’ve never even had a laptop before, so I’m excited. Daisy is purple. She’s a Garbera daisy. 🙂 (Not sure of the spelling there).
I like Windows 7, but I need to familiarize myself with it—badly. Today I mainly installed my virus software, then figured out how to update the license so Daisy can use the same software. Then I got a handle on my overflowing in-box. My local geeks (I’m not insulting them—their business name has Geeks in it) initially told me I wouldn’t be able to run Eudora on Windows 7, but when I went to pick up the computer, lo and behold, Eudora was installed. I don’t know if this is because Eudora CAN run on Windows 7, or because I purchased the Professional edition, which allows programs that aren’t compatible with Windows 7 to run on a Virtual XP thingie.
The first thing I need to do tomorrow is change the screen resolution. It’s too tiny for eyes “of my age.” And then begins the slow, laborious process of installing programs. I figure, between two new computers, I should be all caught up by the weekend.
Okay, I just hit some weird button on this crappy entry-level keyboard that is changing all my apostrophes into è. I donèt know how this happens, but I made the same thing happen on the full size keyboard My Liege has hooked up to his old laptop. Itès irritating. I have to restart the computer to get it to stop happening.
Ièm not used to a regular keyboard. I use an ergonomic keyboard. However, lo and behold, when I went to hook up my old ergonomic keyboard, I realized Dylan only accepts keyboards with USB connections. The nerve! My old keyboard had a circular connection. With Dylan requiring a USB connection for the keyboard, I realized that 4 USB slots in the back would not be enough for my purposes. I need 5: scanner, printer, modem, keyboard, mouse. The nerve! So, seeing as I needed a new keyboard anyway (I was told I could buy a thingie to convert my circular connection to USB, but half the letters are worn off the old KB anyway), I had to decide between buying a new, wired ergo keyboard along with a USB pod so I would have more USB connection slots OR buying a new wireless ergo keyboard with wireless mouse that only requires 1 USB port between them. I opted for the latter option. Ièd better set it up first tomorrow, because I never accidentally make my apostrophes turn into è on ergo keyboards.
The nerve!