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Filed in: events | pitching | publishing | travel | writing Tags: networking | RWA conference | writing journey
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I’m off to conference for the rest of the week. I probably won’t be blogging here unless there is…*ahem*…news.
In case anyone’s wondering — YES! I’m a wreck. An absolute basket case. For a bunch of different reasons. The outer sense of zen calm I may exhibit *snicker* is only a defense mechanism to hide a squirrelly bundle of nerves.
But it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t at least attempt to reflect a little and put some order to all this. Last night I was thinking of all the RWA conferences I’ve been to. Each one sticks in my mind as a milestone.
- 2006 – Atlanta: My first writer’s conference ever. I stayed by my lonesome in a free room I got from hotel points. I hardly knew anybody and I had 8 chapters of my first novel done. I attended workshops back to back and tried to soak up everything. This conference motivated me so much. Real people did this, I could do it too!
- 2007 – Dallas: This year I was able to rope one of my critique partners into staying with me in a dinky hotel room outside of the conference hotel. My book was still about four chapters from finished. I was too scared to pitch — in fact, I didn’t even know how to sign up for an appointment! I met my beloved Romance Divas including Crystal Jordan who had received an offer right on the eve of conference! I watched Trish Albright, my chapter-mate, vie for the Golden Heart® award. She didn’t win the pendant, but she did win a contract with Dorchester. That’s the real prize, right?
- 2008 – San Francisco: I jumped in with both feet. I had two books complete by now. The first one took 2 years, the second one, two months. (disclaimer: first draft only) I pitched to agents and editors for the first time and received three requests for fulls and a couple requests for partials. I schmoozed at chapter parties. I volunteered and lugged books around until my back was sore. I did that magic thing people always mention — I “networked”.
- 2009 – Washington D.C.: I’m going to conference this year as a Golden Heart® finalist with the support of my wonderful agent and so many friends. Butterfly Swords is sitting on the virtual desk of publishers. I can hardly sleep with excitement.
RWA conference gives me a marker to stop and say, am I getting closer? Every year, this conference has given me new hopes and dreams. Sky’s the limit this year, I truly believe that.
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Filed in: publishing | writing Tags: motivation | publishing challenges
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I received comments back from an editor who placed me first in a contest. Despite overwhelmingly positive feedback, the response is threatening to throw me into a tail spin.
Without going into gory details, I must reaffirm:
- I knew this was going to be hard when I started
- I couldn’t have written these stories in any other place, they are what they are
- It’d be this hard no matter what
- The real reason is that the writing’s not good enough yet (believe it or not, this is here to cheer me up)
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Filed in: new releases | publishing Tags: delilah marvelle | publishing challenges | school of gallantry
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 I “met” Delilah when I joined Hearts Through History, a historical romance online chapter. Her recent dilemma has given me some daunting insight into how tough the publishing business can be. I admire her spirit and wanted to give her a chance to tell her story.
Best of luck to you Delilah!
***
When I was in high school, I had a dream. I was going to be the next Stephen King. Heh. Yeah. Stay with me. Please. I knew my ideas were fabulous and I knew all it would take is for an editor to look at it and they would offer me up the moon and the stars and best of all, a contract. I had my girlfriends read everything I wrote. And they kept telling me, “This is fabulous! It’s SO funny! Hilarious!” Seeing it really wasn’t supposed to BE funny, I immediately changed course realizing I actually had a better handle on being funny than scary. I also figured adding a romance into it would even make it better since that is what I loved to read.
I then entered college as an English major. I was going to be teacher and write during the summers. Even then I was a smart girl who knew I wasn’t going to make jack and that I needed a job to support the “creative” one. Throughout all of college I wrote historical romances. One right after another. And kept submitting. And submitting. And submitting. And kept getting rejected and rejected and rejected. In the meantime, I got married. I had two kids. I joined RWA. I got critique partners. I did honed and honed and honed the crap out of my writing. And kept writing and getting rejected. I eventually racked up over 200 rejections and had written over 40 books in those 11 years of trying to get published.
When I finally sold my first historical romance, MISTRESS OF PLEASURE, and my second book, LORD OF PLEASURE, I was beside myself. It didn’t feel real. To FINALLY arrive at a destination I had been traveling toward for 11 long years seemed like a mirage. Which fortunately, I quickly snapped out of. Because after all, most of my friends are all published and unpublished writers and the stories they all have told me throughout the years made me realize I had to fight with fists up for myself every step of the way. I knew publishers did little to no promotion for their authors, so I spearheaded my own promo, ready to be more than just an author. And even though I was budgeting very well and spending countless hours networking and promoting on websites and blogs, doing tons for free, I still ended up spending $7,000 on my first book. Which was way more than my advance. But hey, every business starts in the red. Right?
Then the reviews started coming in about my series set in 1830 London England about a school that educates men on the topic of love and seduction. People loved it! Wow. It got nominated for awards. Wow. Readers are e-mailing me raving. Wow. Readers from France, Austria, Poland, South Africa and from all over the U.S and the world.. Wow. It just kept getting better and better. I was beginning to feel as if every penny I spent was all worth it (even though my family and I weren’t going on any vacations and were eating out of cans). Because all that mattered was that my publisher loved me and my readers loved my series.
Come contract time, I’m ready for whatever they wanna throw at me. Or so I thought. Mistress of Pleasure, though completely sold out and unavailable anywhere (unless it’s a used copy, some going for a ridiculous amount of $40.00), hadn’t done as well as my publisher had hoped. So without waiting for the second book to come out to see if the series was even worth saving, I get a rejection from my own editor citing lack of sales.
I have to say this rejection felt more personal than any of the other two hundred and some rejections I’d received. Because it was no longer “Your book isn’t good enough” it became “Your sales aren’t good enough.” Since when is an author supposed to be a market guru AND a fabulous writer? Eck.
I love this series. The men in it make me laugh and it broke my heart to think that my readers will never get a chance to read about Lord Brayton, my glorious male virgin. The only alpha virgin I’ve ever written about. Then I realized something, why I am letting a publisher decide what is worth holding on to? Shouldn’t that be a reader’s job?
Ah. Herein lies the purpose of my post. I am challenging everyone, be they readers or writers to help me do something that’s never been done before. Save a series from a death sentence given by a publisher. Can it be done? Who knows. But I eat challenges for breakfast and I hope you do to. Please join me in saving my series. Come August 4th, tell everyone you know (yes, even you’re 72 year old grandfather) to buy the book, Lord of Pleasure. In doing so, you’ll have a chance to win one of three $50 Visa Gift Cards. How? Check out my website for details at www.DelilahMarvelle.com
That said, thank you for all the support and love everyone has already shown me by allowing me to blog about this. Feel free to post and repost this to everyone under the moon and the stars. To all you readers out there, thank you for supporting us writers. To all you writers out there, don’t ever give up on your writing. The moment you do, you give up on yourself. Which is why I’m not giving up on my series.
Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle
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Filed in: publishing | writing Tags: motivation | nathan bransford | publishing challenges | recession
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This week, I slipped into a moment of fear and doubt. Fear and doubt is common in my Adventures in Romance, but I’ve tried to keep myself from using the market as an excuse. I’ve pretty much heard from Day 1 how hard it is to try to go outside of the tried and tested boundaries of romance, but this week agent Nathan Bransford reiterated that fact in his post about the current recession and difficulties in the publishing market:
Nathan Bransford – Stepping up your game
I enjoy NB’s blog immensely and have developed a bit of an agent crush on him. (Which is nothing against my lovely agent! It’s just an internet thing.) His tone is thoughtful, even-keeled and optimistic — while also being realistic. He’s super knowledgeable and open with advice. So when NB expounded on my deepest publishing fear, my heart sank a little.
According to NB: “Publishers right now want the surest of sure things that are so sure it beats surety over its sure head. And agents have to adjust what they take on accordingly.
I don’t know if you’ve heard this news either, but there are very few sure bets in this business. So editors have to be really really really really really really convinced that they want to invest in a project in order to take it on, particularly for debuts, and particularly particularly for previously published authors with a mixed track record.”
It’s nothing I haven’t heard. Nothing that everyone isn’t saying, but — *sigh*. If I was writing something tried and true, I could just as easily bemoan that everyone says they want something fresh. It’s a losing game. The only way to win, is not to play.
Nathan did go on to say as writers, all that should tell us is that we need to step up our game. I like that part. I’m going to stick to that, put my pollyanna attitude back on, and ignore how hard it’s supposed to be.
Stolen from Dumb and Dumber:
Jeannie: Just give it to me straight! The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
NY: Not good.
Jeannie: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
NY: I’d say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Jeannie: So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
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Filed in: Announcements | publishing | writing Tags: brags | contest final | fire and ice | request
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Okay, not that nefarious. I had reached the point where I thought no agent would ever take a chance on my book so I started entering a slew of contests to try to get in front of editors.
I just saw on the ChapterLink loop that Butterfly Swords finaled in the Chicago-North RWA’s Fire & Ice contest. I entered in four chapter contests this year and finaled in three, one of them being a double final. Fire and Ice is the last one I entered so no more of these little highs. My contest days may be done. Oh no, scary thought!
Would my nefarious plan have worked out? I’ll never know.
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Filed in: book reviews | craft | events | friends and family | pitching | publishing | slice of life | The Bookshelf | travel | writing Tags: chocolate rose | lara | morwa | romance writing | rwa | rwa contests
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 I had a great day today.
I gave my first writerly talk and I didn’t implode. Even though I’ve taught high school, every single time I address a group of people, I still get butterflies. It never goes completely away. I think people had a good time and hopefully learned something about pitching and querying. My main goal was to demystify what it involves and give people tips about being as prepared and as comfortable as possible.
I also received a lovely Chocolate Rose for our local chapter contest where published authors critique and judge first pages from the unpublished authors. Intrigue of the Dragon Court, my first baby, was awarded first. That’s the actual picture of the award. 
And in addition to seeing my chaptermates, who are an energetic, lively bunch of people, an online writer buddy drove two hours to attend the meeting. She asked me over lunch about the benefits of joining RWA. Whenever I get that question, I start to gush. I know many romance authors have made it without being an RWA member and truly, it’s not for everyone. But it is for me, for these reasons:
- I’ve always been close to a strong, supportive local chapter. The monthly workshops plus additional programs such as writing loops, critique groups, and mentorship programs are worth the membership fee times ten.
- I need to see real people. I need the face to face connection to keep me motivated. I’ve met some of the most wonderful writers through LARA who encouraged my writing and made me believe that real people can do this. When I moved, MORWA put me instantly in touch with a new group of friends who have pushed my writing in leaps and bounds over the last year.
- RWA National Conference. Going to National conference every year for the last three years has taught me so much about the industry and the lowered fee for members makes it worth it.
- One way to show this is not just a hobby. If I want to show that I’m a serious writer, membership to professional organizations seems like a must for me to put on my writing resume.
- And I’m all about the contest loop. You don’t have to be an RWA member to enter all of them, but again, the added cost makes membership worthwhile. Contests have been integral in getting my foot in the door with agents. I can track the effectiveness of my query process to the day that I started putting contest finals and wins on the letter.
- Days like this. I learned tips from Angie Fox about how to craft a killer story that works from start to finish. I networked with friends and authors in every stage of their career, had tortellini for lunch and chatted about everything from poodles to e-publishers. Can’t beat this for a Saturday!
I know many, many successful authors walk this road without RWA membership, so I’m not saying you can’t get by without it. I’m just saying, I can’t get by without it. As with all things, you can get as much out of it as you want and I try to squeeze out every last drop and gulp it down.
Going to enjoy some chocolate now. If you haven’t joined, but were thinking of it, here’s the link –> RWA National Organization
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Filed in: book reviews | new releases | publishing | The Bookshelf Tags: barbara scott | historical romance | listen with your heart | review
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“Listen With Your Heart” is a new release by Golden Heart® winner, Barbara Scott.
In Chicago, late 1800s, Morgan Gable grows up surrounded by the life of the theatre. As a young girl, she is touched by Irish singer Daniel Connolly’s performance after a brief encounter where he emerges as her knight in shining armor. Throughout time, amidst her father’s downward spiral and her mother’s continued absence, her childhood crush develops into something much deeper.
Daniel Connolly is the sort of man who loves completely and with all his heart — even when he knows he’s given his heart to the wrong woman. Caught in a tragic marriage to a woman who does not return his devotion, his soul is torn apart when she dies suddenly in a fire, one of many sparked by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Daniel’s friends scheme to exorcise the ghost of his ex-wife Helene. Unfortunately, they’ve employed Camilla Browne, a charlatan with a projection box. Camilla has tricked Morgan’s father into her servitude and presents Morgan in disguise as the manifestation of Helene. Morgan destroys the projection box and spoils Camilla’s plans. In the aftermath, Daniel arranges to marry Morgan, both in an attempt to banish the memory of his dead wife as well as to avoid being deported back to Ireland.
Listen With Your Heart incorporates many fascinating historical details – the Chicago Fire, the projection box, likely some form of a Magic Lantern used for “spirit summoning”, and the Fenians — a secretive Irish Brotherhood with underworld connotations. All of these elements provide a fascinating backdrop for the love story between Daniel and Morgan. At times, you almost wish there was more time to explore some of the plot points. Daniel’s son from his past marriage is deaf and his education and relationship with Daniel and his growing acceptance of Morgan provide some very endearing moments, yet this subplot is abandoned by the end of the story to follow up on another subplot involving Helene’s involvement with the Fenians.
Aside from some rough spots at the beginning as the story transitions from Daniel and Morgan’s past to their reunion and arranged marriage, the romance between them is beautifully rendered. Daniel is a tortured hero who treats Morgan with heartbreaking tenderness despite his lingering memories of Helene. Morgan is a strong, believable heroine who is able to harbor an unrequited love without appearing weak and pining. Ms. Scott does an incredibly wonderful job of creating Daniel and Morgan as real people with wounds and with rich pasts that color their every action.
The story is strongest at its center where the romance flourishes. The subplots take a backseat and it is more than enough to watch Daniel and Morgan learn about one another, navigate around each other’s vulnerabilities and burrow deep into each other’s hearts — as they burrow deep into yours.
Listen With Your Heart is a very special romance. You will care for these characters and their deeply emotional journey and you can’t help but fall in love with them.
Listen With Your Heart is available from Desert Breeze Publishing. Buy it here!
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Filed in: Announcements | new releases | publishing | The Bookshelf Tags: bound to please | crystal jordan | erotic romance | lillian feisty | on the prowl | releases | shape-shifters
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ON THE PROWL by Crystal Jordan
Meet the Cruz brothers. They look human—except for the golden sheen their eyes take when they’re aroused beyond control…and the way their claws come out when it’s time to play rough. They’re Panthers, ancient shapeshifters, and their survival depends on mating to bring out their wild sides…
Undeniable
When Antonio, the strong, sexy new leader of the Panther pride, meets luscious Solana in a dark alleyway, their passion lights up the night. But she’s an outcast, an impossible mate—and her touch makes him lose all control…
Irresistible
Ex-model and businesswoman Andrea doesn’t need anyone—until she meets Miguel, who tempts her mind with daring games and teases her body with dark, forbidden pleasure she can’t resist…
Indescribable
Wild twins Ricardo and Diego do everything together—and their women appreciate the teamwork. Until shy Isabel takes refuge in their pride, and both want to claim her. Of course, sometimes two mates are better than one…
Places to get it on the web:
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s
Amazon
Chapters.ca
——————–
BOUND TO PLEASE by Lilli Feisty
FROM FANTASY TO ECSTASY
Ruby Scott is a beautiful, quiet event planner who leads an oh-so-respectable life. Yet the things that go on in her secret fantasies are anything but. She has every intention of keeping her hidden desires under wraps-until she meets a gorgeous, hard-muscled man ten years her junior. Mark St. Crow is a gifted, up-and-coming musician who collects erotic art and loves to “play” women as much as his piano. After one night of uninhibited passion, Ruby realizes there’s no turning back. But as she surrenders to her deepest needs and lets Mark control every forbidden thrill, her passion for him builds. Can the wild, intoxicating nights they share lead to a love that will last forever?
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s
Amazon
Chapters.ca
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Filed in: Announcements | publishing | writing Tags: agent hunt | butterfly swords | Gail Fortune | queries | representation
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Jeannie Lin is represented by Gail Fortune of the Talbot Fortune Agency.
That felt really good to be able to say that! This has been a long, long road and I know a new journey is just beginning. It’s nice to have an advocate by my side for this leg of it.
Think good thoughts for Butterfly Swords!
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Filed in: Announcements | publishing Tags: agents | queries | random
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I’m hoping to have news today. Big news. Agent hunt news.
For everyone who’s been holding my hand, I’m sorry to be such a spaz. I was hoping to be a ninja about it and not say a thing until the deed was done…but I was weak and needed multiple shoulders to lean on.
I’m actually only typing this blog post because I need something to do with my hands.
I need to go work out and get rid of some of this adrenaline before I pass out from it.
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