I’ve been a bit quiet lately…under deadline.  This is what happened:  When I was in New York, I talked to Caitlin about maybe writing an e-book novella for the Dark Protector series to be released between HUNTED (book 3) and book 4.  Now, we haven’t negotiated for books 4-6 yet, so I was being optimistic.  Early August is when we start talking the next deal.

Well…Caitlin talked to Megan, who liked the idea of a novella and would like to publish it in April, the month before HUNTED is released.  This is very exciting…but…Megan needs the novella by the end of August.  So, after several emails back and forth with Caitlin, I decided the novella should be about Max, who is Janie’s bodyguard.  He is in both FATED and CLAIMED, so seemed like a good choice.

Max is actually a rather funny guy, originally from Russia.  Yeah, who knew?  His love, Sarah Pringle, is a teacher who, ah, just escaped from a mental institution.  Really. 

Anyway, this is why I’ve been away from the blog a bit.  I’ll do better.  🙂

Well…I’m back from New York and have been working on page proofs for CLAIMED, which will be released in November.  I thought I’d take a break and talk about New York and the conference.

LOVED IT!

I went a few days early with Debbie and Stephanie (you’ve met them in earlier happy birthday blogs) and Jessica, our friend. We toured Ground Zero (Cried and am so humbled by the heroism of many Americans), the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building; Macy’s…Time Square and so on. 

We also went to Rock of Ages, which was awesome!  The singing rocked (pun intended)—and I’d go again right now.  Here’s a rather funny picture of Jessica and Debbie – I hadn’t read the sign on the wall when I sent the picture to Tony.  He thought it was hilarious.

© Paul Hakimata

Debbie and I jumped on a train (the wrong train) to head to New Haven, Connecticut to see our cousins Neil and Jennie.  Turns out we had to change trains.  We couldn’t
find the other train…ran all over the station in Stamford…up and down nonworking escalators…and finally found it. Yeah, Neil…it was no big deal.  🙂

We hung out with our cousins Jimmie and Molly in NYC.  Molly is friends with the owner of an Irish pub, SWIG – so we spent some time there with the Irish folk and ah, vodka.  Lots of vodka.

The girls left and the conference began.  The literacy autographing was amazing—it was held on the sixth floor and the line started on the first floor of the Marriott Marquis.  I sat next to the wonderful Rebecca York, and we chatted in between people buying our books. 

Being a Zanetti, I was at the end, which worked out quite nicely because the really big authors are against the far wall, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s line went by my table.  Many of her fans stopped by, intrigued by the cover of FATED.  Yeah, Kensington’s graphic arts department does an amazing job.

The opening session was awesome with questions answered by Best-Selling Authors Steve Berry, Diana Gabaldon, and Tess Gerritsen—who all said…don’t give up.  I sat with my buddies from the Pacific Northwest, Åsa Marie Bradley and Teresa Woodworth–see pic.  We tried to meet up again, but our schedules were crazy.  I’m hoping to see these two at the IECRWA meeting this weekend and compare notes.

I went to lunch with my editor, the magnificent Megan Records…who always manages to find a fun restaurant with amazing food. I even had apple pie.  The Kensington party was held at the Kensington offices and it was AMAZING.  It was the first time I really saw how tight-knit the company is and how it is a family owned company.  I toured the offices, saw the excellent art work…and all the books. The views of NYC are spectacular.   Books are everywhere in the office.  I knew they would be…but it’s different seeing books lining every hallway, on every desk, in every corner.  I could live there.  Seriously.  Here’s a rather blurry picture taken at the event with my phone.

At the party, I hung out with the uber-talented Erin Kellison…and even managed to snag an ARC of her upcoming SHADOWMAN release from her editor, Alicia Condon.  If you haven’t read Erin yet, you really should.  Her books are
fantastic.  She’s also a sweetheart and a lot of fun to hang with.

I finally met Caitlin in person, too!  She’s been my agent for about a year and a half…so it was wonderful to sit down and talk to her.  We talked about my characters like they’re real people…which was so much fun!  My sisters gently remind me once in a while that my characters aren’t real.  Caitlin thinks they are!  🙂  After lunch we walked down to the Liza Dawson Agency, where there was a tea with Nancy Yost and her clients.  I got a chance to chat with both Robyn Carr and Marie Bostwick—very funny ladies, and a bunch of editors showed up as well.

The Kensington book signing on Friday was the first ever Kensington book signing at
RWA, and I was very honored to be included in the signing.   Here’s a picture of Kate Douglas I managed to take before things got crazy.  I sat next to MingMei Yip, and her books were gone before I could grab one.  Mine went pretty fast, too.

With all of the meetings and lunches (yeah, it was rough :] ), I didn’t make it to as many workshops as usual.  But I did sit in on Jennifer Crusie’s workshop on writing and Wonder Woman.  It was fantastic.  If you ever have a chance to see Jennifer speak, GO!  She’s one of the most inspirational and just plain funny presenters I’ve ever seen—you walk away with tons of new knowledge and a smile every time.  She reminded us all that we’re Wonder Woman (in full uniform) and we put on the business suit to go out and promote…but that underneath it all, we always have brass boobs.

It was a wonderful trip—though I’m glad to be home.  🙂

Pitch with finesse, not a hammer…

There are many good sites that give direction about pitching to editors and agents at a conference.  So I wanted to approach the situation from a different direction. 

1)      First and foremost, remember that…AGENTS AND EDITORS ARE PEOPLE, TOO.

Yeah, I said it.  And I’d even go as far as to say they’re a lot like writers.  We all love books and chose this industry because of the good stories.  Many people who enjoy getting lost in books are kind of…shy.  So keep in mind, the agent/editor you’re pitching to might also be a little nervous.

Don’t sit down and instantly barrage them with your story.  Pretend you’re meeting them for the first time (which you probably are), and act accordingly.  Say…  “It’s nice to meet you.”  Ask them how the conference is going for them. Ask them the best part of the conference…or if they had been to any good workshops yet.

2)      Try not to go all fan-girl (or fan-boy) on them.

Remember the kinda-shy part?  Well, if you start gushing about how great they are…they’ll probably get uncomfortable.  HOWEVER, you know who they love?  Their AUTHORS—and their BOOKS.  Tell them how much you enjoyed AUTHOR x’s last book and how surprised you were by who the bad guy turned out to be.  The agent/editor will warm up…and hey…you have something in common.  You both loved the book.  (Caveat – don’t tell them you loved it if you didn’t.  Honesty counts.)

3)      Have confidence in your book—and do your research

Yeah, you’ll be nervous. That’s okay.  But you need to have confidence in your book.  Don’t apologize for pitching it.  When the time comes, and it usually does with the agent saying, “So…tell me about your book.”  Start with your pitch…and let them know right off the bat what kind of book it is.  IE.  “I’ve written an 85,000 word dark paranormal that I think will fit in the Brava line.”  That way they know where to put it.

4)       Tell them about the characters, plot, and twists…but more importantly…how is it different???

So you’ve written a vampire book for Brava.  Yeah.  There are tons of vampire books out there…so what makes yours different?  In my case, it was the science involved…the fact that vamps and shifters are just different species on earth…much like humans.  Then a genetic virus was created…

So while you’ve shown what type of line the book should belong to…how does yours stand out?

5)       Remember that you love your book!

This is fun.  You’re discussing your book – those characters you adore—with someone else who also loves books.  Enjoy yourself—when the agent/editor asks you a question, dive in.  Get philosophical about the black moment.  Gush about the hero.  Admire the heroine.  Smile…and have fun.

“We should not see print and electronic literature as in competition, but rather in conversation. The more voices that join in, the richer the dialogue is likely to be.”
–N. Katherine Hayles

Today Fated is now available in electronic format…Kindle, Nook, Sony and the rest.   I am so excited about this…having not found out until last month that e-book was a possibility.  There seems to be a great debate going on whether or not e-books will completely replace print books.

I don’t think so.

Keep in mind, this is just my opinion.  But I like the feel, smell, idea of a print book as well as being able to browse in a book store.  Yeah, Borders just filed for bankruptcy protection.  But that’s to reorganize (like GM) not disappear.  And Barnes and Noble seems to be doing well.  I do think that the e-book market will continue to build.  In fact, a couple of my favorite authors are in e-format only.  You can bet I buy their books.

I like a book on a plane…especially during take-off.  To escape the idea of take-off actually.  And I can’t turn on my Kindle until we level off.  So yeah, I’m happy to have a print book.

My print book collection will continue to grow.  As will my e-book collection.  And I don’t think I’m alone here.

BTW – N. Katherine Hayles is a literary critic and professor at Duke.

Hi all!  I’ve been interviewing industry professionals the last month or so during the countdown for FATED to be released.  As you know, the release date is next Tuesday, Feb. 22nd!

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know my editor at Kensington is Megan Records.  You also know that her authors fondly refer to her as ‘magnificent.’  Yes, the alliteration works well with her first name.  But it’s also true.  She’s fantastic to work with and even took time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us today.

1)      I was hoping you’d share your statistics for 2010.  How many queries did you receive?  Out of those, how many partials and fulls did you request?  How many new authors did you sign?  How many of your current authors did you re-sign?

I don’t keep stats on queries, but my guess is that I request about 50% of the time. I got roughly 300 submissions, out of those I signed 5 new authors. I re-contracted 3 authors.

2)      What makes for an excellent work day for Megan Records?

I have a ratings system. I rate the day’s good happenings from 1-3, and bad things from -1 to -3. Any day that totals 3 or over is an excellent day. Examples of excellent things: a new quote or the promise of a read from someone really big, extra special promo news, making “the call,” reading an awesome new manuscript from one of my authors, etc.

3)      You work with a myriad of different authors.  Do you find your style adapts to each one?  Or is your process pretty much the same with each author?

I have the same general process, and then adapt according to the needs of each author. For example, some authors prefer specific edits, whereas with some, I can say, “This part with the killer? Not buying it,” and they can go in and fix it. In order to maximize the talents of each author, I have to be willing to adapt.

4)       Are you looking for any type of book in particular right now? 

I am always looking for AWESOME. That is all.

5)      How far into a book do you usually know it’s a keeper?

Honestly, I don’t usually know until the end. I can like a book just fine, and read the whole thing, but be able to put it down and forget it. My “keepers” are ones that I think about the next day, and a week later, and then I try to convince other people to read. It’s a necessary distinction…I currently have 600 keepers at home, and that’s not including my own authors’ books (which are all keepers!).

6)      If you weren’t an editor, what career path would you choose?

You mean I should have had a back-up plan?!? I think I’d probably be a computer programmer.  I do enjoy puzzles and have always been good at technical things. 

7)      I notice most of your authors are on twitter, facebook and have their own blogs.  Do you check in with these sites once in a while?

Yes, I follow and friend my authors usually, but I only check out blogs once in a while. Back when I was a baby editor, I was much more attentive, but then I kept acquiring authors and now it’s too overwhelming. I would get NO work done!

8)      Is there any advice you have for new writers?

RESEARCH. And I’m not talking about researching facts for the actual manuscript (which is also necessary). I’m talking about researching publishers, editors, agents, query letters, the publishing process, etc. With all the information available on the internet today, there is absolutely no excuse for sending me a query addressed to “Dear Editor” about a cozy mystery (which I have zero interest in).

Slight tangent: If you are sending me a query about a cozy mystery because you have queried every editor you can find who represents cozies, they have turned you down, and you are now thinking, “Well, it never hurts to ask!”, don’t. It does not come off as daring, it comes off as, “Cannot follow directions,” which, in case you weren’t sure, is bad. Most likely there is something not right with your query, your manuscript, or both. Revise.

Okay, back to main point. Before you even THINK about sending that query, you should be researching which publishers are likely to publish this sort of book, which editors seem to like books similar to yours, etc. If you can’t be bothered to Google my interests, I assume you can’t be bothered to make edits, promote your book, or anything else I would ask of my authors.

Let me put it this way: I am much more likely to forgive an earnest, well-researched query that is a bit unprofessional (e.g. names all the author’s children, their ages, and their schools) than a query addressed to Mr. Records.

Kensington does take unagented submissions.  There’s more information on their website under submission guidelines.   So, thanks everyone for dropping by my blog today.  I hope you’re enjoying the interviews this February!