1) Romance readers have some serious depth.  I spent several emails with one fan about the philosophy of good vs. evil and whether the Kurjans even had a chance to be good.  Loved it!

2)    Any jackass can leave a review on goodreads or amazon.  My favorite was the gal who sent people to buy her book instead.  Classy.

3)    Readers like the heartwarming stuff…even in a sexy book.  I’ve had more comments about how cute the big, bad, vamps are with little Janie. 

4)    People who tell you the ‘sex is too much’ in book one…have already preordered book 2.  Yeah.  You know who you are.  🙂

5)    If someone tells me how wonderful the “world building” was…the sex may have been too much for them.

6)    Getting stressed about aspiring authors dropping your name to your editor or agent is just silly…they’re used to it.

7)    It’s a high-low profession.  One day a national magazine recommends your
book…the next day another national magazine doesn’t like your characters.  Keep it steady by remembering…it’s all about the story.  Forget the rest.

8)    Promotion and social media are a must.  But writing the story should always come first.

9)    Your editor is on your side—completely.  Anyone who thinks it’s a battle between the author and the editor…probably doesn’t have an editor yet.

10)  It’s okay to say ‘no’…even if you’re a nice person and really do want to help people.  Unfortunately, there’s only so much time in the day, and hopefully you have a life too.  Protect that.

UPDATE:  I used random.org to draw numbers corresponding to the names of people commenting on this blog, FaceBook and Twitter–and the two winners are:   Kylie Rae and Asa Maria Bradley!  CONGRATULATIONS to both of you — I’ll be sending you an email to see where to send these.  Thank you to everyone who entered–I’ll do another giveaway on the Brava Blog on August 5th.

The magnificent Megan sent me CLAIMED ARC’s, and I’d love to give TWO away.  So, here’s the deal.  Leave a comment below for one chance to win.  The comment can be about anything–just say hi.  For another chance, follow me on twitter and tweet about the chance to win.  You can retweet my tweet about the contest, or you can create your own.  Remember to put @rebeccazanetti in it so you get counted.  For a third and final chance to win an ARC, like me on my facebook author page, and leave a comment on my wall.  THREE chances to win…and you don’t have to do them all if you don’t want.  (Contests that make you do all three drive me crazy.)

I will use random.org to draw a name after midnight, PST on Wednesday–so the contest is open until that time.  I’ll send ARC’s anywhere in the world, no geographical limitations.  Also, if you win, I’d really appreciate it if you put up a couple reviews – at book sites such as Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, etc.  Thanks and good luck!

So, have you seen an ARC up close?  Do you like the orange?  What do you have planned this week? 

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.  🙂

Hi there!  I haven’t even seen these yet…but my editor is on Twitter today giving away an ARC of CLAIMED.  If you’re on twitter, tweet  #zanettiarc   to @meganrecords  for a chance to win!  (And let me know what they look like).  🙂

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.  🙂