Blunt Talk from Bucky Sinister

Some sage advice, especially that last sentence:

"Here are a few tips that would make that initial contact smooth from my perspective.

"Be familiar with the publisher. Mention books the publisher has done by name. Publishers are interested in finding books that will sell to the readers who bought previous titles. This also shows that you are not blindly submitting from a list you made from The Writer's Market.

"Don't submit any manuscript unless you think it is finished. Don't waste anyone's time with a work-in-progress. Edit it until you think it is ready for publication. It won't be, but that's another phase of the process.
Be able to compare your work to other authors, preferably contemporary authors. No matter how unique and special you think your story or writing style is, you do have similarities to at least three authors who are currently publishing. Name them. If you can't, ask a well read friend to figure it out for you.

"When asked what the book is about, be able to say it in 10 words or less. Get your pitch down to under 30 seconds. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius may be the smartest title ever from a marketing standpoint. The more demographics and categories you can work into one line the better. "I'm a lesbian David Sedaris," or "A coming-of-age story for badly aging punks," or "a feel-good recollection of my mother's battle with cojoined twin misoplexia," or "Augusten Burroughs meets Edgar Rice Burroughs. It's about growing up gay raised by apes."

"I've worked in this business for the last 12 years. I learned what I know the hard way. I went to college but learned the profession on the job. The publishing industry burns the writer out of some personalities, but it's only strengthened mine. I strongly suggest that if you're interested in being published, move to New York and get a job at a publishing company. You'll learn more about editors, publishers, and writers than I could ever tell you about in an article. You'll make better contacts and connections than any other way possible. Until then, write another novel. Don't worry about the current one. Keep writing, outdo your last effort, and rejection slips be damned."

For the complete article, go HERE.
In fact, go to that site (part of the NaNoWriMo challenge) and find tons of good counsel. Especially if editing is your nemisis.

Elements of Romantic Suspense

Roaming through the bookstore over the weekend, I discovered several romantic suspense novels were shelved in both the romance section and the mystery section. Now, that's nice, isn't it?

This jives with Diedre Savoy's take on this sub-genre:

"Many people believe that any romance that includes a mystery or suspense subplot constitutes romantic suspense. In my mind, however, a romantic suspense mixes both genres fairly equally. One strand (romance or suspense) does not significantly overwhelm the other. From the beginning of the story, the reader knows that your protagonists will both a) fall in love and b) solve whatever mystery you have set up....

"...[D]istinction is made between a mystery (where your protagonists must figure out who is responsible) and suspense (where your protagonist knows or finds out early in the story who is responsible. The question is how much damage this person will be able to cause before he or she is stopped). "

For the rest of the article, go HERE.

But if you really want to learn from a master, go to Nora Robert's take on the romantic suspense novel:

"There must be a relationship -- that ongoing, developing relationship we expect between the covers of a romance novel. There must be an unknown -- a suspicion, a mystery, a danger that we expect between the covers of a suspense novel. Therefore, the outside tension is just as vital as the emotional and sexual tension and its construction must be just as meticulous.

"The mystery and its ultimate conclusion must be just as visible, just as believable and just as important as the romance and its final consummation. There are not two separate stores with a common link. It is one full, complex story where separate elements merge and affect each other. Two levels where the writer is in charge of setting the balance and keeping the reader involved.

"Any novel contains basic elements such as plot, character, setting, dialogue and narrative. Both mysteries and romance are build on a certain framework. Romance novels celebrate relationships. By their very nature they represent the standards and values of society. Seeking a mate, starting a family. Mysteries are our morality plays where evil is ultimately found out and punished by good.

"The mixing of the two results in a variety of genres and sub genres. Romantic suspense, mysteries with a dash of romance, romance with a dash of mystery. Women in jeopardy, the hard boiled or soft boiled detective novel that flirts with a relationship, the gothic, the cozy...."

Nora Roberts goes on to recommend Mary Stewart - using her Nine Coaches Waiting as an example.

She continues down a mystery road - recommending Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, particularly, as well as the work of Sue Grafton (her Kinsey Milhone series); Elizabeth George; Victoria Holt; and Nancy Picard.

"The fun of reading romantic suspense is to play along, and at the end when the solution is revealed, to be able to say -- yeah, of course, I should have guessed. And to say, when the relationship is resolved -- they belong together. I'm glad they worked it out.

"You must give the reader these two levels of entertainment so they are satisfied with the romance and its outcome, satisfied with the mystery and its outcome. And there should probably be a connection between the two."

For her full article, go HERE.

Lisa Gardner has offered some good advice as well, in an article appearing HERE.

"Romantic suspense is about impending danger and blossoming romance—and none of it is meaningful if we don’t care about the characters. Moreover, many beginning writers make the mistake of inventing intelligent, clever protagonists, but then pit them against slow, stupid villains. The match of wits should be even, or your conflict and tension will be contrived.

"... As the saying goes, the world was made round so we could never see too far ahead. Syd Field’s book on screenwriting techniques is still the best plotting advice I know. Basically, start with a bang, build tension, offer a few resting moments, then throw in complication after complication until it appears all is lost. At that moment, your protagonists will refuse to give in, launch their final bold attack, and since this is popular fiction, emerge triumphant.

"By definition, a romantic suspense novel is still targeting the romance market. Remember why romance readers read—for escape, for entertainment, and for happily-ever-after. If your book becomes too hopeless or too negative, you risk losing your reader. As a result, you must seek to modulate tension. Plot twists, escalating tension and harsh setbacks should be followed by fresh ideas and new plans for attack. Your protagonists can feel cornered, afraid, and overwhelmed, but they should never, ever be hopeless...."

For all of Lisa Gardner's advice go HERE.

Where to read good romantic suspense? Check the awards given out - as well as the nominees - over at Romantic Times. There, the categories alone are interesting, as for example, the nominees for 2005 in the Mystery and Suspense category:

CONTEMPORARY MYSTERY

BLOODLINES Jan Burke Simon & Schuster (Jan)
EYE OF THE WOLF Margaret Coel Berkley Prime Crime (Sep)
DEAD SECRET Beverly Connor Onyx (Dec)
CHILL OF FEAR Kay Hooper Bantam (Jul)
CASE OF LIES Perri O'Shaughnessy Delacorte (Jul)
CROSS BONES Kathy Reichs Scribner (Jun)

TOP PI/PROCEDURAL NOVEL

ENTOMBED Linda Fairstein Scribner (Jan)
A CLEAN KILL Leslie Glass Onyx (Jun)
S IS FOR SILENCE Sue Grafton Putnam (Dec)
LAST WITNESS Jilliane Hoffman Putnam (May)
SUSPICION OF RAGE Barbara Parker Dutton (Feb)
DEVIL'S CORNER Lisa Scottoline HarperCollins (Jun)

TOP HISTORICAL MYSTERY

SUSPENSE AND SENSIBILITY Carrie Bebris Forge (Feb)
THE SUDBURY SCHOOL MURDERS Ashley Gardner Berkley Prime Crime (Jun)
LOCKED ROOMS Laurie R. King Bantam (Jun)
MURDER ON LENOX HILL Victoria Thompson Berkley Prime Crime (Jun)

TOP FIRST MYSTERY

FUNERAL MUSIC Morag Joss Dell (Apr)
THE HISTORIAN Elizabeth Kostova Little, Brown (Jul)
MOST WANTED Michele Martinez William Morrow (Mar)
MURDER UNCORKED Michele Scott Berkley Prime Crime (Oct)
KITTY AND THE MIDNIGHT HOUR Carrie Vaughn Warner Aspect (Nov)

TOP SUSPENSE

SINNERS AND SAINTS Eileen Dreyer St. Martin's (Sep)
VANISH Tess Gerritsen Ballantine (Aug)
COUNTDOWN Iris Johansen Bantam (May)
CATEGORY FIVE T.J. MacGregor Pinnacle (Oct)
NOTHING TO FEAR Karen Rose Warner (Aug)
DEAD RUN P.J. Tracy Putnam (Apr)

TOP AMATEUR SLEUTH

ELEVEN ON TOP Janet Evanovich St. Martin's (Jul)
GRAVE SIGHT Charlaine Harris Berkley Prime Crime (Oct)
DATING IS MURDER Harley Jane Kozak Doubleday (Mar)
LOVE HER TO DEATH Linda Palmer Berkley Prime Crime (May)
BUBBLES BETROTHED Sarah Strohmeyer Dutton (Apr)

Word Counts and Book Length

Word Counts and Book Length - Novella vs. Novel, etc.

From Lori Copeland, an easy to follow word count listing:

Novella
20-25,000 words
80-100 pages
10-12 pages per chapter

Short Contemporary
50,000-60,000 words
200-240 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Long Contemporary
70,000-80,000 words
280-320 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Short Historical /Mainstream
90-100,000 words
360-400 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Long Historical/ Mainstream
108,000-120,000
432-480 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

From another source, posting at Wikipedia:

Epic: A work of 200,000 words or more.
Novel: A work of 60,000 words or more.
Novella: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 60,000 words.
Novelette: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words.
Short story: A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words. (1,000 words minimum by some definitions)
Flash fiction: A work of less than 2,000 words. (1,000 by some definitions)


What's the distinction?

Novellas and Novels and Novelettes are not only good names for cats, but labels for various types of books. This article at Wikipedia provides a good starting point if you're interested in studying the distinctions between them and say, the short story.... and for a list of novella examples to peruse:

Animal Farm (1945) George Orwell
Anthem (1938) Ayn Rand
The Beast in the Jungle (1903) Henry James
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) Truman Capote
Cascade Point (1983) Timothy Zahn
Casino Royale (1953) by Ian Fleming
A Clockwork Orange (1962) Anthony Burgess
The Decameron (1353) Giovanni Boccaccio -- a collection of novellas; the novellas in it are generally recognized as the first novellas
Different Seasons (1982) Stephen King -- a collection of novellas
Four Past Midnight (1990) Stephen King -- a collection of novellas
Heart of Darkness (1902) Joseph Conrad
The Metamorphosis (1915) Franz Kafka
The Old Man and the Sea (1952) Ernest Hemingway
Oroonoko (1688) Aphra Behn
The Pearl (1945) John Stein****
Shopgirl (2001) Steve Martin
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) Robert Louis Stevenson
The Turn of the Screw (1898) Henry James
The War of the Worlds (1898) H.G. Wells
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe (1986) Douglas Adams

Remaindering - Lee Goldberg's Real-Life Explanation

Lee Goldberg writes murder mysteries and the occasional TV script (bet you've seen one) as well as a good blog - which provided this great, short explanation of remaindering:

"Harley Jane Kozak's book DATING DEAD MEN has been remaindered...meaning the publisher is going to sell their stock of unsold copies to booksellers by the pound (so the formerly $24.95 books will end up in the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble for $4.98). When your books are scheduled to be remaindered, the publisher first offers you the opportunity to buy as many copies as you like for a buck or two. Harley writes:

" 'Anyhow, a few days later, when the actual Remainder Notice from Random House arrived in the mail, it turned out to be 2,740 books @ $1.43 a book. Meaning that the two thousand dollars I’d rounded it off to turned out to be . . . a tiny bit more. Okay, $3,918.20. Plus tax.
Which led to another not-so-fabulous dilemma.
Where does one put 2,740 books?'

"It's a hard offer to resist. I know, because I've fallen for it. I have hundreds and hundreds of copies of BEYOND THE BEYOND and MY GUN HAS BULLETS in my garage. Now, a decade after they were published, I have resorted to giving them away in bookbags at conventions and at signings for my new books -- using them, basically, like promotional bookmarks. Even so, I've hardly made a dent in my stockpile. My advice to Harley -- resist the urge. Buy a 100 of each and let the rest go to the remainder bins of America."

Marketing Plan Needs to Accompany Book Proposal

According to Terry Whalin, you need a marketing plan for your book -regardless of whether or not your work is fiction or non-fiction. Why? It's a business, and a part of accepting your work involves a risk analysis dealing with, yes, money.

He explains:

"Here’s the financial information that I didn’t understand (since I’ve never self-published): for every book (fiction or nonfiction), a publisher is going to spend $50,000 to $100,000 (real dollars) to take your manuscript and turn it into a finished book. These numbers are with a modest advance to the author (say $5,000) and zero marketing dollars. These costs are production, cover design, editorial work, etc. on your book. Publishers receive thousands of submissions from would-be authors. I’m the part-time Fiction Acquisitions Editor at Howard Publishing. I’m looking for six to eight full-length novels a year—and I’ve received over 250 submissions from individuals and literary agents. I’ve rejected some quality fiction because of the volume and limited spots. And that is just my story so imagine these numbers multiplied on other editor’s desks. And if you read Book Proposals That Sell, you will see that editors do a lot more than read manuscripts.

"Let’s pretend for a minute that you are the editor and have to wade through these volumes of material to find the books for your list. You have two manuscripts. BotIh manuscripts are excellent, fascinating stories. One manuscript has a marketing plan and the other doesn’t. As the editor, you will be held accountable for your choices (within the publishing house). It’s a business to sell books. Which manuscript will you choose to champion to the other editors, the publishing executives (sales, marketing, etc.)? Editors risk for their authors. Your challenge is to prove to be worthy (actually more than worthy) of this risk."

For his complete article on this topic, go here. To download a free audio version of Pyromarketing - a book by Greg Steilstra which Mr. Whalin enthusiastically recommends -- go here.

Remember, this is a free download for listening - you have to spend money for the visual. Part of Steilstra's own campaign - he's betting that the audio isn't a sufficient competitor to the visual that it will take away customers, and may even attract purchases of the hard copy.

Mystery Writer Joe Konrath Talks Money

Joe Konrath is the author of the Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels murder mystery series. He has a great website, and a great blog -- and he offers lots of great information on both.

For instance, recently in a blog posting describing his marketing to libraries campaign, he noted:

I earn 55 cents for each paperback sold, $3.44 for each hardcover, and between $5 and $8 for each audiobook.

How Librarians Choose the Books They Buy

According to writer Joe Konrath, "libraries do their ordering from catalogues supplied by the publisher, by catalogues supplied by the distributors (Ingram and Baker & Taylor,) and through reading reviews in Library Journal, Kirkus, PW, and Boolist, plus others. Patron requests and word-of-mouth also are a factor."

Konrath provides a detailed description of his marketing campaign targeting these librarians at his blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, in his November 21, 2005, post. It's worth the read.

Inspirational Romance - Growing Readership Per Publishers' Weekly

Robin Lee Hatcher provides the following information about writing inspirational romance (read that to be Christian romance):

"According to Publishers Weekly (11/21/05), Romance novels have a 39.3% market share, General Fiction 12.9%, Mystery/Thriller 29.6%, Science Fiction 6.4%, and Other Fiction 11.8%. (In paperback mass market, romance has about a 55% share of the market.)

"CBA/Christian fiction falls, I believe, into that "Other Fiction" category.According to SIMBA Information (a Bowker company that is "widely recognized as the leading authority for market intelligence and forecasts in the media industry"), the Romance category was estimated at $1.7 billion in sales in 2004. IPSOS (another marketing research firm) reports that Inspirational Romance had $54.5 million in sales in 2004. While it represents only 3.2% of the total market, Inspirational Romance has grown 26% in the last five years compared to only 5.3% for the whole Romance category."

Robin Hatcher should know. She's an accomplished writer of over 56 books in both the Christian and secular arenas. As Robin explains,

"I cut my writing teeth in the historical romance market, publishing 27 general market historicals and three contemporary "category" romances before I followed my heart to write novels with Christian faith as an integral part of the story. As of this date, I've had 17 CBA releases with two more to follow in early 2006. Of those 19 CBA books, twelve would be categorized as romances (historical and contemporary). The other seven, more issues-related women's fiction, still have dashes of romance in them."

What is inspirational romance? A librarian at the Durham County library made a reading list of 24 novels she felt exemplified this sub-genre in November 2000. However, recent guidelines provided by publishers Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing are more informative.

Accordingly, I've posted their inspiration lines below, with the publishers' descriptions of the various lines and jumps to the guidelines.

Steeple Hill

Steeple Hill Cafe - "This new sub-brand within the Steeple Hill Women's Fiction program will be dedicated to publishing inspirational fiction for the hip, modern woman of faith. This distinctively smart and spirited new line of books will depict the unique and varied situations women encounter as they learn important lessons about life, love and the power of faith. "

Steeple Hill Love Inspired - "The Love Inspired line is a series of contemporary, inspirational romances that feature Christian characters facing the many challenges of life and love in today's world. Each story should have an emotional, satisfying and mature romance; however, the characters should not make love unless they are married. These are "sweet" romances. Any physical interactions (i.e. kissing, hugging) should emphasize emotional tenderness rather than sexual desire."

Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense - " This new sub-brand within the Love Inspired line is a series of edge-of-the-seat, contemporary romantic suspense tales of intrigue and romance featuring Christian characters facing challenges to their faith…and to their lives.
Each story should have a compelling mystery or a suspenseful situation threatening the hero and the heroine combined with an emotional, satisfying and mature romance; however, the characters should not make love unless they are married."

Steeple Hill Women's Fiction - "This new Steeple Hill program will be dedicated to publishing inspirational Christian women's fiction that depicts the struggles the characters encounter as they learn important lessons about trust and the power of faith. We are looking for compelling and thoughtfully developed stories that promote strong family values and high moral standards. These complex stories are character driven. They should provide readers with an uplifting and satisfying ending, and they can be written in the first- or third-person narrative and can be single or multiple point of view."

Barbour

Heartsongs Presents -- "The main element of a Heartsongs Presents inspirational romance is the sweet love story. A very close second is the inspirational theme and content. All manuscripts in the Heartsongs Presents inspirational line should present a conservative, evangelical Christian worldview. "

Highly Successful Authors Put In Their Two Cents' Worth on the Money Question

Recently, two very successful authors helped us all by providing commentary on the business end of publishing. Yes, I've eventually get around to posting more about writing - but I need to learn about these realities if I am pursuing more than a hobby here. And I am. Assuming you are, too, dear reader -- you need to know this stuff, too. Sigh, I know, I know.

First: Tess Gerritsen - who writes a great blog, as well as a great book, discusses first books, and book deals.

Second: Sara Donati, who also writes under the name of Rosina Lippi, offers some plain truths on her great blog. You need to keep coming here, she offers publishing info and advice, regularly. And the organization is fantastic.

From Tess Gerritsen (for the full post, go HERE to the 11/08/05 entry):

"First, let's dispose of the "first book" question. Because the answer on that one is, it's a total crap shoot. First book advances are completely unpredictable and involve a lot of hocus pocus, because no one really knows the potential of a first-time author. Some first books get a pitiful advance of a thousand dollars. Then there's Elizabeth Kostova who earned a two million dollar payday for her first book, THE HISTORIAN. Which, incidentally, turned into a very good investment for her publisher, as the book will almost certainly recoup that astronomical advance. Obviously the range for first-book advances is all over the board, and depends on factors as diverse as who your agent is, whether you've got a compelling personal history, whether you're a hot looking stud....

".... It's no secret that publishing is a business, and the goal is to make money. Or at the very least, to break even. If you follow the announced deals in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY or the online website PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE, you'll start to get an inkling of what multi-published authors are getting. But you can also guess, knowing typical royalty rates, what an author is probably worth in real dollars. With major publishers, hardcover royalties tend to run around 12 - 15% and paperback royalties tend to be around 6- 10% of cover price. So a writer who's sold 25,000 hardcover copies has earned $75,000 in royalties in hardcover sales alone, and his next book deal should certainly reflect that. His next advance should be, at a bare minimum, $75,000. (And we're not even talking about paperback earnings yet, which will be on top of that.) More likely, the next advance will take into account continued growth, and will probably reach well into six figures.

"But once you get into the stratosphere of NYT-bestselling authors, the numbers may no longer be anchored to real sales figures, but may soar much much higher. From my own observations of the business, authors who consistently place in the bottom third of the NYT list (Positions # 11 - 15) are worth at least a million dollars a book, North American rights. We're talking combined hard/soft deals here, since most publishers now retain paperback rights. If you consistently place #6-10, your deals go even higher, into multi-million dollar range. Once your books consistently place in the top third, the deals become wildly unpredictable, because now we're talking Harry Potter and Dan Brown territory. Eight-figure book deals are not out of the question."

From Sara Donati:

"The money an author makes from a given book usually comes in two ways. The advance is the upfront money, 5 or 10 or 200 thousand dollars, or, occasionally, more. The book is published, the book starts to earn (hopefully), but the author doesn't get any money until the advance is "earned out" -- that is, if author X is supposed to get (for example) 10% on a cover price of $20, and she received $10,000 as an advance, she won't get anymore money until 5,000 copies of the book have sold.

"If she takes the $10,000 advance on an unwritten book and can't write it? The money has to be repaid.

"If she gets an advance of $200,000 and the book only sells a total of 1,000 copies? She doesn't have to pay back the advance, but the publisher is unlikely to buy another book from her.

"...A publisher offers you a contract, and an advance. The amount of the advance doesn't have to do with how good the novel is, or how much they like it. A million dollars does not equal an A+. The advance is their best guess on how many copies of the book they can sell. No matter how much the acquiring editor loves your novel, the publishing house does not want to overpay you. End of story.

"...I hasten to add that I do know how much money I make a year in total, all royalties and advances, domestic and foreign. Since I've started publishing novels in 1999, my annual income has fluctuated between 400,000 and 170,000, with the average around 220,000. Something to remember: this will not last forever. Sooner or later, this well will dry up.

"The information about advances and pay outs becomes more important if there's a new contract being negotiated. Publisher X says: well, we'd like to offer you more but her last novel didn't pay out... or Agent X says: look, she's had four novels pay out within a year each, you've got to do better."

The Perspective of an Acquisitions Editor

The only acquisitions editor that's talking to writers out there on the web, at least that I can find, is Terry Whalin at The Writing Life. Since an acquisition editor is the key player in buying my book, I definitely want to hear what he has to say. And Mr. Whalin explains a lot ....

From this week's entries:

An itemization of the "big six" in publishing, along with their imprints (i.e., subsidiaries).

His perspective on agents, and how to find a good one.

A tremendous recommendation for the landmark book, On Writing Well by William Zinsser.

A discussion of the use of longer magazine articles as a springboard for a book proposal - with recommendations to look for these articles in O Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and the New Yorker. The evolution of Janice Latus's article "All the Wrong Men," from magazine article in O to book proposal to Simon & Schuster's win of a resulting bidding war is referenced.

A lengthy discussion on how few books succeed - and how few proposals make it to book form, prior to that - that somehow leaves you less than depressed. In fact, if you're confident in your work and your vision, it's really rather encouraging.

And, yes, he's written a book, as well. It's called Book Proposals That Sell.

If you're writing for the love of writing, I don't suppose that this stuff means much to you. But my dream is more than that -- I want to see my work bound and shelved in a Barnes & Noble, as trite as that might be. And, that means I have to understand the publishing business, like it or not. Mr. Whalin's efforts to help me in that endeavor are very much appreciated. So much so, I thought I'd share them with you ....