I have been trying to figure out how to put this post together, since I have so much information to share. I guess I’ll start with what the publishers seem to be looking for. Amy Pierpont, Sr. Editor at Grand Central Publishing is looking for time-travels and westerns. Dianne Moggy, Editorial Dir. of Harlequin Global single title is looking for sexy historicals, contemporaries, suspense and paranormal. Betsy Mitchell, Executive Editor and VP of Del Rey/Random House is looking for UF and UF romance. Heather Osborn, Editor at Tor is looking for paranormal romances in the vein of Angela Knight, Christine Warren, etc.
Jennifer Enderlin, VP and Executive Editor at St. Martin’s Press gave everyone at the table an interesting four point editor check list about authors.
1. Do I love this author’s writing?
2. Do I like working with this author?
3. Is this author reliable?
4. Does this author sell?
The thing to note is that you don’t have to meet all four, but you’d better meet at least three. If you meet less than that, your continued success would be determined by which ones you met. If you meet none of these, then it’s time to part ways.
One thing that was said in various talks through the course of the weekend was that as writers we owe the reader the same experience repeatedly. That does not mean that you have to write the same book over and over again, but you do have to deliver the same ‘experience’ to the reader.
Lou Aronica delivered the best presentation of the weekend. He’s been an editor for several publishing houses and now writes. I’m going to paraphrase his talk. Forgive me for jumping all over the place. He says that there are only two ways to breakout as an author: 1. Follow someone to the top. (ie ride the wave of a trend) 2. Create your own signature. Take popular story tools and change one aspect. Make it your own.(ie ‘One For the Money’ by Janet E. and ‘In Death’ series by J.D. Robb)
Editors ask themselves a few questions, when they’re considering breaking out a novelist: 1. How is this writer different from all the other ones out there? (more commercial)
2. Do people care about this difference? If they can answer those questions positively, then they may choose that author to breakout. What does that mean? They’ll move the author to the top of releases. They’ll do co-op ads for the author. And they’ll do other special things specifically for the author. The number one thing they are looking for in a writer is a commitment to consistency. You MUST deliver the same experience or accept that you won’t be a success. You cannot be all over the place in your writing. (ie I’m going to write a cozy mystery. Next time I’ll write the next Star Wars. After that I’ll deliver a Regency.)
Lou also mentioned that from here on out the writer should assume that they are on their own when it comes to marketing. Either you’ll get no support or bad support. He said that some of the worst ways for an author to market themselves is by spending money on media, newspapers, magazines and television. Advertising doesn’t sell books because of the multiple impressions needed and because those areas don’t market to our audience. He said that Freelance Publicists are a waste of money because again, they aren’t marketing to our audience. The day of the Booktrailer has come and gone. He also said the same about bookmarks. Lou said that they only way to successfully market your work these days is to do it online. Bring your ‘book world’ to life online. Figure out a way to make it ‘real’ to readers. People buy fiction to live in the world that the writer created. Market to your market, but don’t do what everyone else is doing. Look for online marketing groups.
If you’re interested in getting into graphic novels there are six things that publishers look for: 1. Adaptation 2. License Foreign material (ie Japan Manga) 3. Small Presses 4. Larger popular books 5. Old obscure superheroes re-imagined. 6. A lot of non-fiction is adapted. The way for a writer to break in is to either submit a script or find a small press that’s doing a lot of graphic art and try to write something for them. They suggested reading Scott McCloud and Wil Eisner, if you’re truly interested.
I think that’s about it. If you have any questions, I’ll try to answer them.
April 3rd, 2008
You always do a great conference summary, Jordan, and this is no exception. Thanks so much for sharing all the info you gleaned! Your efforts are very much appreciated.
by Saskia April 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 amI’m glad that you liked it Saskia. I did forget to mention that Target is the ‘new’ Wal-mart to the publishers now, since Wal-mart has stopped reporting their sales numbers. That’s also why the names on the ‘lists’ changed dramatically over the last few months. We’ll probably see more and more publishers pushing Target in the future.
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 amThanks so much for all that info. It seems paranormal is still big despite whispers to the contrary elsewhere. I think they want different paranormals, not the same old, same old.
by Suzanne Perazzini April 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pmSound like an exciting trip.
Great post, Jordan, the comment Mr. Aronica makes about advertising really has the ring of truth. A lot of money can go down the drain for nothing in that venue.
by BernardL April 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pmSuzanne, The general impression that I got was that they were still buying, but the market was MUCH tighter. The same was said about the young adult market. They definitely want something different.
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pmBernard, Lou’s talk was fantastic. I mean really fantastic. He’s so knowledgable because of his previous jobs. Knows how the publishers think and what they do behind the scenes. It was an eye-opener. A lot of the places that authors feel they have to spend money are just a big waste of resources.
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 pmGood report, Jordan, thank you! Not sure whether it’s encouraging or not–but good report.
by raine April 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pmThanks for sharing the info Jordan. I find all of it, especially the advertising bits, very interesting. And enlightening.
by Karen Erickson April 3rd, 2008 at 2:45 pmRaine, I didn’t think it was too bad. Despite the news, most people were upbeat and hopeful.
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pmKaren, I found those particularly interesting myself. Definitely has me rethinking my investments.;)
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 3:06 pmWow Jordan, thanks for the recap of the conference. That’s some good stuff to mull over.
by Vivi Anna April 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pmVivi, I found it very interesting. The bit about publishers turning to Target after Wal-mart dropped the numbers ball is very interesting indeed.
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 3:57 pmHey there, girlfriend! I’m so glad we had a chance to spend some time together. GLAD you made it out of New York. It took several tries for my sis and I to get a flight out of Chicago. ‘Til next time! Wish you were coming to RT!!
by Delilah Devlin April 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 pmHey Delilah, Me too.
I heard that you guys had a heck of a time too. Must’ve been something in the water. 
Definitely next time. 
by Jordan April 3rd, 2008 at 7:49 pmThanks for the info, Jordan. It’s interesting to note Lou Aronica’s comments about online promotion.
by Shelley Munro April 4th, 2008 at 7:00 pmImportant to note that of the four questions on Jennifer Enderlin’s list, the writer has direct control over two of them: being pleasant to work with and reliable. Something to keep in mind.
Blythe
by Blythe Gifford April 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pmShelley, I found Lou’s talk to be incredibly enlightening. Seriously good stuff.
by Jordan April 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pmBlythe, Absolutely, the writer has control over those items. I just thought it was interesting. Sometimes people need reminders.
by Jordan April 6th, 2008 at 12:39 pmWow. That was so clear and informative. Very helpful. Thanks for sharing it! It kind of reminds me of one of your cooking class posts, distilling it all down to the important stuff and sharing it.
by Caryn April 6th, 2008 at 4:30 pmCaryn, LOL! That’s for the imagery. Now I’m hungry.
*ggg*
by Jordan April 6th, 2008 at 6:52 pmQUOTING>>>>>>The number one thing they are looking for in a writer is a commitment to consistency. You MUST deliver the same experience or accept that you won’t be a success. You cannot be all over the place in your writing. (ie I’m going to write a cozy mystery. Next time I’ll write the next Star Wars. After that I’ll deliver a Regency.<<<<
Jordan, you realize that if I’d read this a year or two ago, I’d be having a panic attack…
One thing my editor at Berkley doesn’t expect me to do is to NOT be all over the place. Maybe I’m misreading here, but I write fantasy, paranormal, romantic suspense, contemporary…and I have no intention of picking one or the other.
I’ve always written like this. I have worried about it before and finally just caved and talked it over with my editor and my agent, but they are both fine with me writing all over the place. As long as I don’t abandon one series for something new, that is…
by Shiloh Walker April 7th, 2008 at 10:31 amdaggone, where did my comment go!
ARGH
Grumble.
Anyway, Jordan there was a time when reading the consistency/not all over the place line would have had me panicking.
I write all over the place. I always have. I don’t want to change that or box myself in. Yeah, I’ve worried about it, to the point that I finally caved and talked it over with my editor and agent. As long I don’t abandon one series to gallivant all over the romance-genre land, they are fine with my doing a paranormal for this book, a hunter for the next, a contemp for the next and then back to the paranormal…
I might be misunderstanding it here, but I just wanted to put that out there.
by Shiloh Walker April 7th, 2008 at 10:34 amShiloh, The commitment to the experience is the key here. Obviously it’s not good to jump all over like crazy, but you’ve built an audience with epublishing, so you have readers already used to your style of writing. I think you’re in good shape because you do deliver the same ‘experience’–not necessarily the same genre, but the same experience. That’s what readers count on.
by Jordan April 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pmSorry Shi! Not sure what happened.
by Jordan April 7th, 2008 at 12:10 pmAhhhh…lol so if I don’t go pulling a chick-lit out of my hat, I should be okay?
~not a slam against chick lit, just in case people are wondering~ I just figure that’s a probably a polar opposite from me. :p
And not a prob, Jordan. I think it might be on my end. The PC’s been acting weird.
by Shiloh Walker April 7th, 2008 at 8:36 pmShiloh, Yep, that should cover it. *ggg*
by Jordan April 8th, 2008 at 10:14 amBTW… *G* you know, when is Red due out?
Wanna swap? *insert charming smile* I have a psychic paranormal, or a Hunter book, or a romantic suspense, or….
by Shiloh Walker April 8th, 2008 at 9:01 pmShiloh, LOL! It’s not due out until November, but I’m sure something can be arranged. *ggg*
by Jordan April 8th, 2008 at 10:58 pmOh… so far away! No! Can’t wait.
*G* So if you’re serious….wanna email me? Or should I email you?
And can I brag that I got it? I got one book but sniff…was told I couldn’t brag.
Didn’t keep me from enjoying it immensely though.
by Shiloh Walker April 12th, 2008 at 6:30 pmShiloh, Drop me an email after you get back from RT.
by Jordan April 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am