Update on NAL - from RWA National 2007
*** From Cindi Myers’ eNewsletter ***
The Spotlight on New American Library was presented in the form of a dialogue, with the presenters asking questions and getting feedback from the audience. Participants were Claire Zion, Editorial Director, Executive Editors Kara Cesare and Ellen Edwards, and Senior Editors Laura Cifelli and Anne Bohner.
They began by polling the audience about what they were reading and writing. A couple of things stood out — a number of people indicated they wanted to read more historical romance without paranormal elements — but few people in the workshop indicated that’s what they were writing.
The editors asked if people were tired of vampires. Some indicated they felt the market was ‘saturated’ while others said “it depended on the author,” and that some books aren’t as good. The editors said they’ve seen a trend in writers moving away from vampires into other fantasy elements such as werewolves and dragons.
The editors asked if the workshop participants like old-fashioned gothics, particularly gothic historical romance. They asked if having a lot of sex in the book made a difference and it didn’t seem to with this audience. Comments from the audience indicated that “old-fashioned gothics” to them were stories with weak heroines, told in only the heroine’s POV. Maybe stories with stronger heroines that included the hero’s POV with a dark gothic feel would be better.
The editors said they’ve heard that people miss light, contemporary romance — not necessarily comedy, but straight-forward contemporary romance, but not many people in the room seemed to feel this way.
The conversation turned to historical romance. One person commented she wanted more medievals, while someone else said she’d like more “meaty, angsty historicals.” Several people wanted historicals set after 1900, but the editors when asked directly admitted they weren’t actively seeking these. Others in the audience indicated they wanted more western-set historical romances. The editors said in the past these had not sold well, so publishers had gotten away from them. If the editors found a strong voice with a good story that was a western historical, they would consider making an offer.
The editors asked if what people watched on TV effected what they were reading. With this audience, that didn’t seem to be the case.
They asked if anyone had purchased a book because they saw a book trailer — a few people had, and were enthusiastic about book trailers. More participants indicated the book trailers don’t influence their buying habits. Several people said there are too many trailers out there, while others felt it was difficult to translate a written story into the visual medium of a trailer. The novelty of book trailers has worn off. Also, a poorly done book trailer can hurt their opinion of the books. There was also debate that book trailers might appeal more to younger readers who are more visual.
Next the discussion moved to online reviewers. The editors asked if there were any particular online reviewers people paid attention to. The people in this group indicated they weren’t influenced by reviewers.
The editors report they feel the market is strong for both dark paranormal and light and sexy paranormal.
NAL works primarily with agented authors, but will accept queries from unagented authors.
*** This information is from Cindi Myers’s eNewsletter. Subscribe by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ***
Update on POCKET BOOKS - from RWA National 2007
*** From Cindi Myers’ eNewsletter ***
I’ll begin with the Spotlight on Pocket Books from the Romance Writers of America annual conference in Dallas, Texas. This Spotlight was presented by Editorial Director Maggie Crawford, and Senior Editors Lauren McKenna, Micki Nuding, and Abby Zidell. Pocket books is division of Simon & Schuster. They publish hardcover, trade and mass market paperbacks, with the core of their publishing program in mass market, particularly women’s fiction. They publish historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense and both historical and contemporary paranormal romance.
This year Pocket participated with Gather.com to sponsor a First Chapters Writing Contest at Gather.com specifically for Romance Novels.
Senior Editor Abby Zidell, the newest addition to the Pocket editorial team, began the presentation. She indicated she’s very interested in acquiring romance and women’s fiction. She’s not interested in seeing anymore vampire stories.
Micki Nuding acquires historical and contemporary romance as well as erotic romance and women’s fiction. Pocket is publishing both single title and anthologies of erotic romance. Pocket publishes women’s fiction for all different ages, including 60s and over. She likes lots of variety and isn’t specifically looking for vampires either. She loves a very sexy read with strong sexual tension, alpha heroes who aren’t jerks, strong heroines and humor.
Lauren McKenna works on urban street fiction, begun by rapper 50 Cent and on MTV Fiction, which is celebrity nonfiction and teen fiction. She also works on women’s fiction, including commercial literary fiction, both historical and contemporary. Lauren also acquires both historical and paranormal romance and some Chick Lit. She really likes “dark and strange” heroes — “the more messed-up the hero, the better.” She cautioned that the market for Chick Lit has declined, and that to sell these days, stories need to be ‘different and topical.” Lauren said she’s not a kid person, so don’t send her books where the heroine’s goal is to chuck it all and raise a big family, but she loves dogs.
Maggie Crawford edits a number of Pocket’s best-selling romance authors. She shared that she sees the most growth with new authors in paranormal, but their historical romance program is also gaining strength . Maggie loves vampires and family stories.
Like many of the editors at this conference, these editors said they’re looking for authors with strong voices. They’re open to melding of sub-genres and have no hard and fast rules. Length is not critical for them, but anything over 100,000 words is going to be hard to sell.
Pocket does not accept unagented submissions. However, if you have pitched to a Pocket editor at a conference and the editor has asked to see the manuscript or a proposal, that is one way for unagented authors to get in the door at Pocket. Pocket has published a couple of first time authors in the past year.
*** This information is from Cindi Myers’s eNewsletter. Subscribe by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ***
Update on ST. MARTIN’S PRESS - from RWA National 2007
*** From Cindi Myers e-Newsletter ***
I’ll begin this week with the Spotlight on St. Martin’s Press from the Romance Writers of America national convention. Executive Editor Jennifer Enderlin, Associate Editor Rose Hilyard and Senior Editor Monique Patterson presented the Spotlight on St. Martin’s Press.
The Spotlight began on a light note with Jennifer singing various original songs about St. Martin’s, which were quite amusing. From there the workshop moved on to Jennifer talking about what caught her eye about specific books. She began with Janet Evanovich’s first book, One For the Money. She read from the opening of the book and talked about the rhythm of Janet’s words which is a strong part of her style.
Her second example was from Tell Me Lies, by Jennifer Cruisie, illustrating how she sets up the conflict in her story, then has the heroine do the unexpected, which makes the reader relate to the character even more than if she’d done the expected thing.
Example number three was from Blue Moon, by Lori Handeland. Jennifer bought this book on a partial and the book won the 2005 Rita for Best Paranormal. The first page has a strong sense of voice, a clear sense of the setting and a clear sense of the heroine and a secondary character.
The fourth example was from chick lit author Emily Giffen’s first book, Something Borrowed. The opening of this book is not a ‘hooky’ opening, but it quickly establishes that the book is about a decades-long conflict between two friends. This illustrated how an opening that engages the reader can work, even if it’s not a strong hook.
In contrast, the next example was the opening of Tan Lines, a book out next summer. (Unfortunately, she did not give the author’s name.) It wasn’t actually a book that Jennifer bought, but she said she would have bought the book based on that opening line. (The line is “There are ten thousand nerve endings in the clitoris, and this son of a bitch couldn’t find any of them.”)
Rose Hilyard spoke next. She said she’s looking for all sub-genres of romance. She is drawn to voice and characters. She likes really strong heroes. Lisa Kleypas is one of her favorite romance authors. She also looks for very high concept stories. She sees high concept as a way for a new author to get attention.
Monique Patterson acquires about 50% African-American fiction and 50% romance – contemporary, historical, paranormal, urban fantasy and a limited amount of literary fiction and commercial nonfiction. She is also looking for unique voices. She also really enjoys world building. She wants to be able to feel the setting and have it be a character in the book.
Jennifer said she’d be interested in finding a really good western historical.
The editors were asked to talk about the last new author they bought and what attracted them to it. Rose recently bought a very sexy urban fantasy time travel with a powerful heroine who is both a witch and a vampire. She was attracted to the freshness of the idea and the author’s voice. Monique talked about author Mary Walker, a debut author whose book is about a single mom with three children who meets a man and gets involved in a very dark world of addiction and her struggle to come out of that. The strong voice and characters drew Monique to this story. Jennifer spoke about Beth Harbison’s Shoe Addicts Anonymous, a hardcover about four women who bond over their addiction to shoes. She described the book as funny and warm.
In response to a question from the audience, the editors spoke about “What Not to Do” when querying an editor — Don’t address them by the wrong name (Jennifer has been addressed as Jennifer Underline and as Kate Duffy,) don’t use neon paper, don’t try to get cute and oversell yourself, and don’t get defensive about rejections. Be professional.
These editors will consider queries from unagented authors. Monique also prefers one chapter with the query letter, but she stressed this only applies to her. Jennifer wouldn’t mind “a few pages” of the first of the book with the query. Word count for manuscripts is ‘generally’ 100,000 words, but that’s not set in stone. Even first-time authors are offered multiple-book contracts from the beginning with St. Martin’s.
*** This information is from Cindi Myers’s eNewsletter. Subscribe by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ***