Dh and I spent the past two days going to movies. We saw the strangest film called Kung fu Hustle. It was truly a bizarre movie. Not the kind where you wish you could have the hour and a half of your life back, but the kind where you leave there going ‘hmm…huh’. We also saw Triple X and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They were both entertaining in their own way. Dh said Hitchhiker’s Guide doesn’t follow the book, but it was okay anyway. And Triple X…well, we were looking for a bang, bang shoot ‘em up. We found it in this brainless entertainment.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I think we may go see the Interpreter. We’re still undecided on Kingdom of Heaven. From the previews we caught today, the next big films for us will be Batman, War of the Worlds, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the Fantastic Four.
Is it just me or are the movies becoming less plot filled? Blink. Blink. Blink.
Archive for May, 2005
I’m still trying to come down from last week’s conference. I met so many wonderful people and gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from the publishing talks. It’s certainly made me take a look at my writing schedule. I want to take advantage of these opportunities while they’re out there, which means I have to write A LOT faster. I also have to be smart about what I write. Currently, I’d like to get into two different markets. That means I have to finish two books of at least 75K in length by the end of August. That’s still taking longer than I’d like, but some things cannot be rushed.
On a completely different note, I wanted to say I appreciate all the thanks you guys have sent my way for posting the publishing info. I think it’s interesting that people hold this type of information back. I experienced this sort of behavior when I lived out in California. I used to think it was extremely selfish of people when they didn’t share their knowledge, now I realize they were just scared. They thought if they shared what they knew that someone would ‘beat’ them to the opportunity or take their place. Not particularly logical, but then again, fear never is.
My acting coach used to say when you kept knowledge inside of you, you were keeping your power. And to a degree he was right, some things shouldn’t be shared…at least not right away. That said, I never want to get to the point in this business where I’m so insecure that I can’t share basic publishing news without worrying that it’ll take something away from me. How can something be taken away that I don’t even have?
What do you guys think? Should info be shared freely or only with certain people? Should you keep it to yourself? I’m genuinely curious to hear your opinions.
This spotlight was another one that held MANY surprises. I’ve read a few Warner books and thought they were good, but a little on the safe side. I think after hearing their talk, they’re looking to change that opinion. Not that they knew what my opinion was…but you get the picture.
Like Harlequin, Warner is looking for a Desperate Housewives kind of book. (Suburban housewives acting out of character, etc.) They welcome submissions from 85K-100K.
Currently, they have a lot of vampire submissions, but are still open to good stories. In other words, if you have a good vamp story, send it. They also want light paranormals and dark paranormals. And, like all the other publishers, but Dorchester, they are looking for really SEXY reads. They said they want them in regular contemporary romance, historical, and paranormal. They emphasized this several times.
Also, Warner is on the lookout for kick-butt heroines like Laurell K. Hamilton’s books. They specifically mentioned her by name as a comparison for what they want. They said they’d love to see a combo of romance, erotica, horror, and fantasy. Pretty interesting, eh? I certainly thought so.
They’d like to see more narrative non-fiction. They gave an example of a non-fiction book they have coming out called 50 First Dates, which chronicles a woman’s dating habits. Their 5 Spot line is searching for chick-lit and matron-lit. Again, the type in the latter books will be bigger for ‘older’ eyes. Like Harlequin, they’re looking to put extras at the ends of books just like DVD’s have. These will range from alternative scenes to things found on the author’s website.
I guess I was shocked because I really didn’t expect Warner to actively pursue such a wide range of genres. It’s not often a publisher mentions being on the lookout for the next Laurell K. Hamilton type book and also Desperate Housewives type novels. They did say that if you query and you haven’t heard from them after 6 weeks to please send another letter.
This pretty much wraps up the sessions. Sorry I couldn’t make it to the Dorchester talk. I’ve yet to figure out how to be at two places at one time…but I’m working on it. 
If you have any questions, fire away. I’ll try to answer them.
I attended the talk given by Anna Genoese and Melissa Singer. All I can say is WOW! Tor is making a huge push to get their name out there. They are taking chances on genres that other publishers wouldn’t touch with a telephone pole.
Taking a deep breath in preparation. Here’s an example of the ‘genres and sub-genres’ they have books coming out in: Western, Women’s Fiction, Paranormal Chick-lit, Chick-lit, Paranormal Romance, Religious Thrillers, Speculative Historicals, Mystery, Thriller, Egyptian Stories, Southern Gothic Fantasy (aka ghost stories), High Fantasy (think magicians), Horror, Humorous Horror, Paranormal YA, Time-travel, Futuristics, Paranormal Erotica, and Erotica.
I honestly couldn’t believe the combos of books they’re releasing. It was truly impressive and beyond daring. It was nice to see/hear that a NY publisher would take a chance on a book that didn’t exactly fit in the ‘neat’ categories established at other houses.
Both women made a point of saying that Tor/Forge is working on expanding the company, growing name awareness, and publishing the best books possible. They accept queries, but no longer email queries. They said it would take approximately two months to hear back from a query. A query consists of a 2-5 pages synopsis plus the first three chapters (approx. 60 pages). They said if a chapter ends on page 65, then please send it in. They don’t want you to stop mid-chapter.
Anna is actively looking for everything, including erotic paranormals. She wants an emotional commitment in the story, even if it doesn’t end with a typical happily-ever-after. These stories should be from 70K-90K, not longer. They also said that if they request a full manuscript from you that it’ll take at least 6 months for the editors to get back to you. I believe Natasha Panza is who is acquiring for their new chick-lit paranormal and chick-lit line.
I’m going to include St. Martin’s talk in with this entry since the companies are affiliated. Kim Cardascia (an associate editor for St. Martin’s and very nice girl) spoke for thirty minutes about what St. Martin’s was looking for. She said the stories had to be ‘VERY’ books. (As in very sexy or very scary or very heart shattering or very funny, etc.) They are still actively looking for paranormal and historical, but she said it’s more difficult to get them to buy your story because they’re super picky now. She suggested sending in a query plus the first page of your manuscript. They want manuscripts in the 90K-100K range.
Kim accepts most anything as far as genres go, but admitted she’s really bad about taking a long, long time to get back to you. Jennifer Enderlin is dealing with women’s fiction. (I think she may be on maternity leave until June. If I have her confused with a different editor, I apologize to Ms. Enderlin and to you all.) I got the impression if your story is hardcore paranormal that you’d want to query Monique Patterson over Kim.
Let me start by saying that I’m a tad…okay, more than a tad brain fried. RT had around 1000 people attending. I met many wonderful readers, writers, booksellers (giving a quick shout out to Eleanor and Heather from Australia), and reviewers. Saw several friends, who I hung out with because this is our only chance to get together during the year. Had a wonderful dinner with my Kensington editor. (Well me and several other Kensington authors.) It was nice to finally meet her, Hilary, and Joan. All and all it was a lovely conference.
Now, onto the good stuff. Boy gang, I’m not sure where to begin. I attended every major publisher talk, but the Dorchester one. It was at the same time as Tor/Forge. (And I really needed to hear what Tor/Forge was looking for. 
The news could not be brighter for those of us who write spicy or in the paranormal genre. Woo Hoo!!!
I’ll start with Harlequin. As some of you may have heard, they’re launching a new line called Spice. Originally, I’d heard that it was supposed to be straight erotica. That has changed. They’re now accepting manuscripts from 75K-90K that can have a HEA (happily-ever-after), but doesn’t have to have one. They do not want anything over 100K. I spoke with Dianne Moggy (Harlequin’s Editorial Director Global Single Titles) and she told me that they’re really looking hard for stories. The submissions they’ve received so far have been nothing but continuous sex scenes. (ie no story) So get those submissions in now.
They’re also launching their Next line in a tall format (think along the lines of trade size). The cool thing is they’re charging mass market prices for the new tall books. The Next line books are around 80K and geared for women in the next stage of their lives. They’ll have slightly bigger type for ‘older’ eyes.
Harlequin is also growing its romantic suspense market. Mira will have the grittier thriller/suspense reads. You have to query them first and they have approximately a 90 day turnaround time. HQN will also seek romantic suspense titles where the romance is a larger part of the story than the suspense. HQN and Mira are launching a 12 month hardcover program starting in 2006. They’ll be a little cheaper than regular hardcovers. (It’s a test to see if readers will buy hardcovers at a lower price.) On top of all that, Harlequin will launch a new line of inspirational suspense or love inspired suspense as they call it. Should be pretty interesting.
They will continue to put out single title historicals through HQN and Mira. The latter is looking for straight historicals (no romance) and regular romance historicals. Both Mira and HQN are looking for paranormal historicals. HQN is still looking for other kinds of paranormal too. Harlequin is still releasing their category historicals, but only through direct mail. That said, their Mills and Boon branch is avidly acquiring historicals.
Several of the publishers, including Harlequin mentioned adding extras to the ends of their books just like DVD’s do. Harlequin said this would occur in their Signature line. This may include character breakdowns, alternate endings, deleted scenes, etc. I thought that was pretty interesting. Also, everyone seems to be looking for a ‘Desperate Housewives’ sort of manuscript.
Wow, this is a long post. I’ll give you Tor, Warner, and St. Martin’s over the next couple of days. I’ll end this ‘phone book’ with news from Kensington. They are officially starting an erotica line. This line will be separate from Brava. Hilary Sares and Audrey LaFehr will head up this new line. It’s so new that they aren’t even sure exactly what it’ll be called or what they’re looking for. They also don’t, as of yet, have a launch date. It is open to short 25K or long 100K stories that can be paranormal (yes, you read that right), mystery, or contemporary. Romance can be included in this new line. (Think EC level romantica.) They are asking that you send in any and everything. 
Hope that helps. More to come tomorrow.
Hey Guys! Boy have I missed chatting with you all. I did manage to meet a few of you at the Romantic Times booksigning. Waving hi to Jax, Tracy, and Angie W (who didn’t recognize me ;). I told you that picture was old. LOL! (wg) I have LOTS and LOTS of publisher info for you all. Truly exciting news coming from New York. I’ll post at least part of my notes tomorrow. I hope you’re all well. Talk at you soon.
