5 Agent Insights

I'm continuing with sharing some of the tidbits I picked up when attending the Pennwriters conference. One session I attended, How to Succeed for Writers: Agent Insights and Tips, was led by Marie Lamba and Roseanne Wells, both of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. You'll notice I only have five things to share from the hour long presentation. Both agents were energetic and interesting speakers but in this workshop, they spent all their time talking and allowed little time for questions.

Here is what they shared about their particular agency.

1. Make sure you know what the agent wants to represent. I think we'll all heard this before. Do your research before submitting.

2. On the other hand, at their particular agency if they receive something they think another agent in their company would like, they will pass it around the office.

3. Speaking as if it was a pet peeve, both agents warned writers to make sure you use professional salutations on all correspondence including email.

4. They do expect you to have a social media presence before you contact them. They shared that if they were considering two different projects of equal appeal, they would chose to represent the writer who had an established online profile.

5. Another recommendation from the agents was for a writers to educate themselves on the entire process of a book going from submission to publication. This would help the writer be patient during the sometimes lengthy times between contract and actual book release.

Not a lot of WOW information to be shared here. I think there might have been if there had been a chance for more questions.

Do you write emails with the same professional manner as a snail mail letter? What question might you have asked these agents if given the opportunity? Would you have found this presentation interesting or would you have been on Twitter like I was during some of it?

Cloudy With a Chance of Cloudy

I'm busy working on edits on The Marine's Heiress. Actually it's a total rewrite using the rough first draft as an outline. I'm suffering a lot of uncertainty as I work through the middle third of the book. It's not a saggy middle. Lots is happening and the story is moving forward. I think my characters are interesting and worth investing in but....

This book is being written under my pen name, Susan Kelley, and is intended to be a science fiction romance like its predecessor, The Marine's Queen. My concern is the romance. Is there enough in the book? I hope to send this novel to my romance editor by this time next month, but I'm worried about it. Have I let the science fiction story overwhelm the love story?

I'm fortunate enough to have a lovely swimming pool. I vacuumed it one week ago and within two hours, it started to turn green. A very pretty, translucent green. Realizing I didn't shock it as recommended after vacuuming, I attended to that. It cleared up for a bout an hour and then turned green again. I double shocked it. Cleared up and then clouded again. I knew I was out of my league in pool diagnosis though I guessed the ph balance was upset. So I went to the pool store, ask the experts, and heard how all the recent rain, especially acid rain, would disrupt the pool balance. The nice man advised me to double-doubled shock and then bring in a sample of the pool water to them for analysis if that didn't work. They would be able to tell me exactly what I needed to add to clear the water. Today my pool is no longer cloudy.

Asking the experts was so much easier than stressing while I tried to figure it out on my own. The pool experts can tell me exactly what I need to fix the problem. Applying the same principal to my writing, I'm going to stop worrying about the balance of science fiction and romance in my new book and let my editor tell me if it needs something added or something deleted. I'm going to write the book as feels comfortable to me and wait for the test of the experts.

Who do you go to when you feel uncertain about your writing? What part of your writing do you most often question? What percentage of romance does a book need to have to be a romance?

Unpredictable

There are lots of quotes about making  plans and how God laughs at us. Life is uncertain and can surprise us in every facet of our world.

Few of us followed the exact career path we had planned on when we started out on our own. I'm sure some of the readers of this blog are still going to find a few zigzags along the way to a fulfilling job. Many of those twists and turns are not things we can see ahead of time.

Personal and family relationships can be very unpredictable. I have four sisters and two brothers and all my relationships with those siblings are a little different. I would never have thought when growing up that miles and miles would separate us. Now my own children are grown and starting to scatter. My youngest son moved to Colorado yesterday to begin a six month internship that will

Colorado

hopefully lead to a good job placement ... anywhere.

Writing careers are like that. At times I've felt that my writing would develop into writing all epic fantasy, my first love for reading and writing. But I've been so pleased by the performance of some of my recent romances and have enjoyed writing them, that I now think my career will likely stay divided into my Susan Gourley, fantasy author and Susan Kelley, romance author. And I'm feeling very comfortable with that.

What unexpected turns has your life taken in your career, your home, and perhaps your writing life? Do you expect to have twists and turns along your path to fulfillment?

Tortured!

I'm waiting to receive my manuscript back from my new editor at Crescent Moon Press. First Dragon is the first book in my latest epic fantasy series. The book has three main characters sharing the danger, battles and ... well ... difficulties of epic proportions. I know I have a good plot but I'm a little worried if I've made things difficult enough for those three people. Have I tortured my protagonists enough?

I think of all the books I love, the movies I enjoy, and I know the best ones are the ones where the main characters suffer greatly and then overcome it all. 2012's offering of hero movies certainly followed the formula from Dark Night Rising and The Avengers.

Besides my epic fantasy novels, I also write fantasy romance under the pen name, Susan Kelley. I have a contract for another novel with my publisher coming out later this year. Romance usually requires a 'happily ever after,' but that doesn't mean the characters shouldn't be tortured before they get there.  I know I've done a pretty good job of it in some of my previous novels. One Good Woman might be the one with my most tortured characters who finally find happiness. I love those characters because they react to the adversary in their lives in complete opposite ways yet somehow both come to the same point of healing and redemption.

Have I tortured my characters in First Dragon enough? I guess my new editor will let me know. Do you torture your characters? Do you ever worry you're too nice to your protagonists?

Low Pricing: Does it Work?

Does pricing your book at a very low price work? The small independent press who publishes my romance novels, New Concepts Publishing, is doing its best to help author sell their books.  A few months ago, they informed me they would be reducing one of my earlier fantasy romances to the low price of $1.99 in an attempt to stimulate more sales and hopefully some new readers for my other books. Sometime this week I should get my statement for the last quarter of 2011 and be able to see if there was a bump in my sales for that book and if it translated to more sales for the rest of them.  Of course, I might not see it until the next statement since it takes a while to get sales numbers back from third party ebook retailers.

Maybe then I'll have an answer to the question I started this blog with instead of guessing, hoping and repeating what I've read elsewhere.  There are many authors who have posted on other blogs of the thousands of dollars they've made by self-publishing and pricing their books at prices well below those decided upon by the big NY literary companies.  I know there are numerous examples of those hard-working and well-deserving writers, but I'm also sure there are thousands more authors trying to follow their lead and still only making pennies.  How can I join the elite ranks of those bringing home a real pay check from their books?

It's not a secret or magic.  Word of mouth, or word by blog, or by reviews, is still the best way to let people know about and want your book.  But readers won't spread the word unless they like your book.  So the secret, the magic, is writing a good book.  A great book with memorable characters and an intriguing plot.  Then make it available for a reasonable price.

Available for $1.99

New Concepts set my book, One Good Woman, at $1.99.  OGW is the fourth book in The Chronicles of Solonia, a fantasy romance series.  This fourth book is the shortest of the series with only about 80,000 words so it makes sense to price it lower than the others.  Of course, I think it's a good book and it received excellent reviews.  It will make you laugh, cry and cheer for the young couple who rise above their damaged pasts and find the courage to face the future.

One Good Woman, written under my pen name, Susan Kelley, is available for Kindle and all other ebook retailers. 

Do you wonder how the price wars will turn out? Have you tried offering one of your books for free for a period of time? Did it work out? Have you ever found an author you liked by sampling some of their free work?

Cover Gratitude

Many authors know the feeling of helplessness when it comes to cover art. When you self publish you have control over what cover represents your work but even with small publishers, you may be at the mercy of the powers that be.  I've been lucky and liked all my covers but one.  My complaint about that one was the heat level.  The extremely risque cover wasn't equal to the sensuality level of the book and I thought it mislead readers.  Some probably purchased it expecting something erotic in nature and others probably didn't purchase for the same misconception.  I'm over it, though that book has been my worst seller of my romance line under the name, Susan Kelley.

Viola today, I received the cover for my newest romance novel, A Tiger's Courage.  The artist, Alex DeShanks, got it exactly right.  Hair color and length for the protagonists is correct and the overlapping pictures capture the desert setting of the story.  To top it off, the title and my name are both in this exceptionally cool font.  I love it!

Do you have a great cover story, good or bad?  How much say do you have in the final appearance of your book cover?

K: Kelley and Other Pen Names

Pseudonyms and pen names are common in the field or writing.  I suppose there are many reasons to use one and I'll speak of only a few. 

An obvious reason not to use your real name would be another, perhaps more famous, author with the same name.  The name, Gourley, though well-known in my little corner of the universe, isn't a concern from me as a writer.  I warn any one with the same name not to write books under this famous moniker.  Just kidding.

Writers of erotic romance might use a name other than the one on their driver's license if their day job might frown upon their work. 

Some authors, like moi, write in more than one genre.  I use the pen name, Susan Kelley, for my romance novels and my real name, Susan Gourley, for my epic fantasy series.  I wouldn't want a writer to purchase one of my fantasy novels expecting a love story or even a 'happily ever after.' 

I won't tell how I decided on the pen name, Kelley, but there is a definite reason.  It's not my maiden name though I know authors who use their maiden name for their pseudonym.  Do you use a pen name?  Did you pick it for a certain reason?  What other issues might drive a writer to use a name other than their own?

Romance by Susan Kelley

I have two writing lives.  In one, I'm an author or YA and epic fantasy.  My first published series, The Futhark Chronicles, has the first two books now available with books three and four coming out next year.  I have another fantasy series I hope to find a home for this year.

In my other persona, as Susan Kelley, I write fantasy romance.  I have five romances published already, another under contract to be released later this spring and one I'm busy working on right now.  I'm doing the second draft, something that for me usually means a total rewrite.  I managed nearly 10K words this weekend between laundry and cooking. 

This day reminds me of all the romance I'm lucky to have in my life beyond that I read and write.  My husband never forgoes a chance to shower me with gifts.  He buys me flowers at least four times per year and often he'll have a gift card to a bookstore attached.  He knows what I love.  (I love him most of all)

People ask me who I model my heroes after in all my books not just the romances.  My husband always jumps in and says they're all him. 

Well, he's not a great swordsman or an expert horseman.  He's never taken on otherworldly demons or evil witches to save me and our children.  But he has always worked long hours to see we have everything we need.  He sat for hours during my labor in the hospital holding my hand.  He's been a role model for our children and their friends, coaching their sports teams and playing games in the front yard.  He'll do the laundry or the dishes without being asked.  He is a hero.  And if some foul demon creature bursts into the house someday, I know he'll take up the fireplace poker and step in between it and me. 

Did you remember your every day hero today?  Happy Valentine's Day!

What About Me?

Does that title sound like a country song?  I want to thank the four fine authors I featured this week on my blog.  I hope their interviews sparked your interest in some of their exciting books already released and some yet to come.  Today I want to talk about me. 

All of my romance books are available on Fictionwise.  I have two romance series, The Chronicles of Solonia and The Tigers of Salubria. 
The Chronicles of Solonia is a complete series, starting with The Greater Good and continuing with The Lesser Evil, A Ruthless Good and ending with One Good Woman.  Every book in this futuristic romance series received excellent reviews. 
The Tigers of Salubria is a fantasy tale of a group of legendary warriors and opens with To Tame a Tiger.  The second book, Tiger's Mate will be published sometime in 2011. 
Most readers of this blog are more familiar with my fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles.  The Keepers of Sulbreth is available at most retail bookstores, big and small, in print and ebook.  It also has received nothing but excellent reviews as the first book in an epic fantasy series or as a YA title.  The second book, Beyond the Gate, is due for release tomorrow.  Amazon has been a little slow getting it up on their website but Barnes and Noble has it available as do some other ebook sellers. 

So load up those eReaders with some great reading.  I hope you enjoyed meeting my friends and perhaps visited their blogs as well.

So what books have you read during the Christmas break? Have you shrunk the size of your TBR shelf or grown it higher?  (Is that correct grammar? LOL)  At least with my eReader, my TBR shelf is invisible to all but me.

Sticky, Stickier, Stuck

It happens to every writer. You get stuck on a scene. For some reason you can’t make it work. You type a few lines and then delete. I’m sure I’m not the only who has written the entire scene and then wiped it away and tried to start over. Sometimes I can’t get the mood right or I decide I need to try it from a different POV. Or the scene commits the sin of not moving the story forward.

Sometimes I can work through it by walking away from the keyboard for a little bit. I’ll walk around the block or even just out to get the mail. In the summer I might go outside and pull a few weeds, sweep out the garage or the deck. All mindless activities to let my mind linger on the scene problems and search for a solution.
Sometimes I get up and fix a cup of tea or warm up my coffee. In the evening I might pour a glass of wine and sip it while I stare at the cursor, demanding the words rise to the surface of my thoughts.
Another thing I do is put on some music or even some favorite movie I’ve watched tens of times before. I usually pick something that matches the scene giving me trouble.
When nothing else works I try to power through it. I write a noun, a verb and create a sentence. Then another sentence. Often this works for me more than anything else. I sit there until there are words in the document. If it ends up being terrible, I slash and burn it in the editing process.
What do you do when stuck on scene? Is there a particular type of scene that gives you more trouble than others?

Best Gifts for Readers

New Word:  Palmary-outstanding, great, best

As in I'm going to be interviewing some of my friends during the week between Christmas and New Year's day and they're all palmary writers.  Everyone of them have published books that would fit perfectly onto anyone's new eReader.  Perhaps you'll receive one of those coveted gift cards to a bookstore.  What better place to spend it than on authors who make sure you get your money's worth on books you'll want to read over and over again.

Cate Masters will visit on December 27th and share news on her latest romance releases.

Natalie Damschroder will pop in at December 28th and fill us in on her newest release and give a hint of what else she had in the pipeline.

Megan Hart, well known for her hot romances, has a new suspense novel coming out in the new year and will tease us with some details on December 29th.

Fellow fantasy author Jon Sprunk graces us with a short interview on December 30th and tell us about his fantasy novel and the sequel coming next year.
I hope you have some time to relax and read over the holidays.  I wish it for all of you.
Will you be getting or giving books, bookstore gift cards or eReaders as gifts this year?

Love Coffee Time

Not only do I love to drink that dark brew with all its healthy benefits, I love the review site, Coffee Time Romance. They gave me my first review ever for my first romance novel, The Greater Good.

The Greater Good is the first book in The Chronicles of Solonia. The Lesser Evil and A Ruthless Good followed that first book and this past December I ended the series with One Good Woman. And this week Coffee Time Romance blessed the book with a five cup rating of excellence.

It's sad to end a series I've loved and especially this one. The idea behind this series was the nagging need that drove me to try my hand at writing. Thank you, New Concepts, for believing in me and all the readers who bought the books and proved their faith.

Thank you, Coffee Time, for the wonderful words and support. And thank you, Lotoya, for your excellent review.

Read it here.

Is Coffee Time a place you go to read reviews? If not there, what sites or sources do you visit to check out a book before you invest?

Ten Things

I realized today I forgot to share ten things about me when I was thanking Helen Ginger for honoring me with the One Lovely Blog award. I'm not sure my life is so interesting but here goes.

1. I am one of 7 children and now have 6 of my own. I love a crowd at Thanksgiving.

2. I coached my third son's little league team and those boys still call me coach even though they're freshmen in college now.

3. I grew up on a dairy farm and often rose at 4:00 AM many days to milk the cows.

4. One of my very favorite hobbies is doing jigsaw puzzles, the tougher the better.

5. I bake bread at least once per week. I'm always experimenting with different ingredients.

6. I've been a high school teacher for nearly 30 years. Yes, I'm counting the days until I retire.

7. I keep my fingernails cut very short because I can't type with nails.

8. My favorite candy is swedish fish. (I don't care that much for chocolate.)

9. My grandfather was a bootlegger during prohibition.

10. I have a sister who lives in Forks, WA.

Sometimes writers only share things with each other about the craft and our careers. So now you all know a little bit more about me. Nothing worth blackmailing me for.

One Lovely Blog

Super duper thank you to Helen Ginger for One Lovely Blog Award. If you don't have Helen's blog bookmarked, you really should stop by. She always has something interesting to say and usually provides some great links to useful information for writers.

As a recipient of the award I get to pass it along. The choices are so difficult because I follow so many great blogs. Here's a few I can't resist mentioning.

Natalie Damschroder

Ava Quin

Rowena Cherry

These three super ladies often make me laugh, sigh and especially get back to work. Rowena is a pirate hunting captain of the literature seas. Natalie has answers to every question one might need an answer to when it comes to writing and Ava always has some entertaining video up to make me smile.

I hope you'll visit them and leave a comment and hopefully they'll pass on One Lovely Blog to someone else.

Bless This Mess

What does it take to bring comfort and keep the creative vibes flowing for a writer? Some of us like complete silence and others prefer the background sound of music pounding out a beat to fit the mood of our story.

What about our physical surroundings? For me, warmth is the top priority and after that is something to put my feet up on. My day job, the bill-paying one, expects me to be on my feet all day. When I write in the evenings and on weekends, I like to rest my poor tired legs on a soft stool.

Then there are the tools of the trade. I used to think that meant my computer and the journal I kept all my characters and world building straight in. Now I know better. Convenient to hand must be my Flip Dictionary which I love over any Thesaurus and my massive Websters Universal College Dictionary with the incredibly small print. On the other hand is my 2010 weekly schedule book. One or two reference books helping me with my current WIP. This book they happened to be my mineral and crystal reference, Herbal Medicines and a lore book about all kinds of legends.

Spinning my desk around I can grab one of my three ring binders I use to keep my different series and all their paperwork organized in. Since I'm published with three different publishers I often refer back to their guidelines for formatting issues. Each one has a few different things in the style they prefer. Here I have lists of contact information, copies of contracts, hard copies of any interview or review for those books and of course, color copies of the covers. There is one for my newest fantasy series but since I haven't sold it yet the binder is a bit empty.

As you can see from the pictures, I actually work at two desks. One is a simple writing desk ($99 at Office Max) where I work on my laptop. Often the surface is covered with sticky notes reminding me of tasks I must complete or simply the time of an appointment. The other desk holds promotional items, files of things I'm getting to someday and usually one or two magazines I'm going to read someday. Here is my the folder I toss my tax receipts in until I take the time to organize them. There I put my alpha smart until I'm ready to use it again. So many untended but not unloved folders languish there with half started or outlined novels. Someday.

My chair is a simple one I paid less than $50 for at another office store. And a little bookshelf with my most used reference books on sits by my left hand. I have a bunch more of those but I have to get up to get them.

The room itself is a small sitting room at the front of the house I made into my office. It even has a fireplace and gets the morning sun. Completing the entire comfy set up is a folded paper towel I use as my coaster for cups of coffee or hot tea, iced seltzer water or perhaps a goblet of chilled wine. I'm finishing up my ice coffee right now and will probably had one glass of wine later tonight.

How do you arrange your writing area for comfort? Is it private or does the family interrupt you constantly? Do you do anything special to keep different WIPs organized and separate in your mind?

Lovely review for One Good Woman

What a pleasant surprise today when the author liaison from my publisher contacted me about a new review for One Good Woman from TwoLips Reviews. I didn't even know they had my book on their list to check out and there it was.

Not only did the reviewer, Merrylee, say wonderful things about One Good Woman, her words made it obvious she had read the previous three books in the series and loved them also. She put into words many of my own feelings about the ending of The Chronicles of Solonia Series.

In a few short paragraphs she summed up the goals I had with this last book of leaving my loyal readers satisfied with not only the outcome of the relationships in the various books but also the future of the societies depicted in the series.

Romance writers always talk about the HEA, happily ever after, and how it is an intricate part of a romance. I'm positive this book and the ending of this series has provided a very HEA even if the characters suffered some torment to get there.

Have you ever read a romance series loyally only to be disappointed not because it ended by how it ended?

Shoot, Score, Goal!

A very busy week has passed since I set my goals last week. The good news is I scored a 4/5 on completing them.
I did finish Beneath the Mountain, book #4 in The Futhark Chronicles from Medallion Press. I did have a lovely over night visit with my mother where we stayed up too late talking and drank too much coffee.
I did work on that last, weedy, messy flowerbed. Looks better and I didn't get any more poison on my legs. Yippee.
I did try a new wine, well, a new Zinfandel. Isn't my favorite but the good news is I drank most of it anyway so I'll splurge for another new one this week sometime.
My lone failure was in working out five days out of seven. I only managed three though I could count the two hours I spent in the pool as a fourth. I used all kinds of muscles to keep my balance on that raft. Okay, it was only three workouts.
I'm going to wait until tomorrow to set my writing goals for next week. I have to thing which project I'm going to do next. In the meantime, I always celebrate finishing a book by reading something from my TBR pile that I've been putting off because I want to read it too much. Big decision. I have about four of them sitting there.
Another thing I always do after finishing a book is clean up my writing area. It's not too messy right now, but I can't really see any desktop either. So while that fourth book is transferring from my AlphaSmart to my computer, I'm going to shove some papers around. Thanks to my friends for the encouragement to reach my goals.

Diving In Again

I'm about to say good bye for another week or more. I received my first edits back from my editor for To Tame a Tiger. She said it's all pretty good and not much needs done, but it's still a 104,000 word book that has to be read slowly and carefully. So I might not be blogging for a little while.
On some other good news, I queried my editor at NCP about One Good Woman last night and she said 'sure, send it.' A response in less than 24 hours. You gotta love that. Andrea is so nice. She's usually very efficient also, so hopefully I hear back on that within a few months.
So I'm going to select a movie to put on in the background and then dive right in to breach once more. I hope to surface by the end of next weekend.

A Hard Week's Work

Setting my weekly goals is really helping me stay on task. I did finish those edits for Medallion and send them back for The Keepers of Sulbreth. I had a wonderful editor who gently led me through the process.

I did go see the kids play their sports. Some excitement, some boredom and even a little sunshine instead of bitter rain.

I did some promotion on my yahoo groups. Does anyone know if that really does anything for sales or directing people to a blog or website?

I visited my favorite blogs most days. I do really enjoy that. It provides a real feeling of connection when I'm sitting at my chaos-plagued writer's desk and yearn for a gallon-sized goblet of wine.
Today I actually planted some ground cover around the maple tree in my front yard and squirted a little chemical death on a few stubborn thistles determined to crowded into my flowerbeds.
I'm calling last week a success in the goal department. I have to keep it going so forgive me if they're all starting to sound the same.
#1 - Get back to editing 'One Good Woman.' Yes, I've decided on a title for the fourth book in the Solonian Chronicles. I'm nearly half way as I hoped to be this month despite the pause to work on The Keepers of Sulbreth.
#2- Clean up my writing desk and organize my expense list and income spread sheet.
#3-I'm going to make my writer's meeting next Saturday, someway, somehow.
#4-I'm going to make some changes on my website. I think I have some deadend pages. Duh.
#5-I'm going to do a little more outside work. No promises on how much, just SOME.

Now #1 might have to be adjusted if I get my manuscript back from The Wild Rose Press to do first edits on To Tame a Tiger.
Thanks for all the support over the past two weeks. I'm going for number three.

New Cover

I'm still working on my edits for Book#4 in The Solonian Chronicles, but I have to do a small interrupt here to show off my new cover for To Tame a Tiger coming soon from The Wild Rose Press.

Isn't it lovely? This fantasy romance is hopefully the first in a series and if all the covers are so wonderful, I'll be thrilled.

Now back to my weekly chores with one added:

Chore#FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT: meet 7 day deadline for Medallion on edits for The Keepers of Sulbreth.