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 ***

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