Amazon vs. Tradition by DL Larson

I have been trying to get the attention of an agent for more than two years now, or even a publisher. I'm old school in most things, so I've stuck with the tradtional way of publishing my work. Frankly, I'm tired of the run-around by tradtional houses. I'm tired of being polite and waiting my turn - for months - only to receive a letter at how interesting my work is, but it's just not what they are looking for at this time. Six weeks ago I received an email from an agent, that yes, they had received my material and everything looked good and they would get back to me as soon as possible; the waiting time might be five months from this message.

Five months! I checked my records and realized it had taken them one month to respond to my query. So basically I have another three months to wonder if they have forgotten about my work, lost it or changed their policy and chose not to respond at all and simply deleted it. In three months, I'll have to decide what to do. I have the choice of looking, searching for another possible match for my book and begin the tedious process again, or I can go another route altogether.

So my question is, why oh why is the publishing world in such an uproar over Amazon taking over their business? They are not doing a very good job. Frankly they have been stuck in the same, slow, nonproductive methods for a long time and panicked when another business developed a better way of doing things. The publishing houses still refuse to turn from their slow-poke ways.

Amazon reminds me of Wal-mart in so many ways. I live in a small town, surrounded by other small towns. There are two huge Wal-marts within thirty minutes of my home. Between me and the Big W, most of the mom and pop stores have dried up. The grocery stores in most small towns have gone under, as well as the pharmacies, hardware stores and clothing stores. They simply can't compete with the big store. Amazon has done the same thing in the publishing world.

I always tell my kids there are two kinds of people in this world: learners and nonlearners. I'm betting the publishing world is on one side of that equation and Amazon is on the other. It is also the first time there is no "middle man" between authors and readers. Direct connect is a new concept for writers; perhaps that is why it has taken me this long to step out of line that feels like a slush pile and realize I too can do this on my own.

I'm terrified in a giddy kind of way to take this step, but it's time. I've waited around for a train that is not coming. I need to move on.

Any advice?

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Romance Writers, Want a Reasonably Priced Conference? Spring Fling Early Registration Closes Oct 31

If you can't afford going to RWA National's Conference or just like going to writing conferences, you may wish to consider going to this one, very reasonably priced, with Editors, Agents, Bestselling Authors, and tons of workshops. I'm not just saying that because I'm doing a workshop there on Blog Book Tours.(G)

** Permission to Forward Granted and Encouraged **


2012 SPRING FLING WRITERS' CONFERENCE - EARLY REGISTRATION CLOSES OCT. 31ST
April 27-28, 2012
Hoffman Estates, IL

Chicago-North Romance Writers of America is pleased to announce the
line-up of headlining speakers, editors and agents for the 2012 Spring
Fling Writers' Conference:

FEATURED SPEAKERS
New York Times best-selling authors:
Sherrilyn Kenyon, Mary Balogh and Simone Elkeles

EDITORS
Tessa Woodward (Avon Publishing)
Shauna Summers (Ballantine Bantam Dell)
Megan Long (Harlequin)
Martin Biro (Kensington Publishing)
Tera Kleinfelter (Samhain Publishing)


AGENTS
Ginger Clark (Curtis Brown LTD)
Cori Deyoe (3 Seas Literary Agency)
Scott Eagan (Greyhaus Literary Agency)
Sara Megibow (Nelson Literary Agency)
Paige Wheeler (Folio Literary Management, LLC.)

WORKSHOPS ON CRAFT AND BUSINESS PRESENTED BY PUBLISHED AUTHORS, AGENTS AND MORE
Amy Alessio, Sarah M. Anderson, Mary Balogh, Barbara Binns, Sherrill
Bodine, Laurie Brown, Wendy Byrne, Ginger Clark, Gretchen Craig,
Dyanne Davis, Scott Eagan, Simone Elkeles, Barbara Caridad Ferrer,
Susan Gibberman, Blythe Gifford, Ruth Kaufman, Megan Kelly, Keena
Kincaid, Maureen Lang, Carrie Lofty, Lindsay Longford, Morgan Mandel,
Sara Megibow, Susan Meier, Courtney Milan, Allie Pleiter, Terese daly
Ramin, Tiffany Reisz, Patricia Rosemoor, Denise Swanson, Julie
Wachowski, Margaret Watson, Sheri Lewis Wohl

PITCH PERFECT WORKSHOP
Perfect your pitch the day before your agent/editor appointment.

HOT NIGHT CRITIQUES
Bring a love scene--no matter how sweet or steamy--for small group critique.

PUBLISHING SPOTLIGHTS
Avon (Tessa Woodward)
Ballantine Bantam Dell (Shauna Summers)
Kensington (Martin Biro)
Samhain (Tera Kleinfelter)
Sourcebooks (Danielle Jackson)

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION RATES END OCTOBER 31ST
Chicago-North RWA Member: $144
RWA Member: $164
Non-RWA Member: $174
RATE INCREASES TO $184 NOVEMBER 1ST

For more information about Spring Fling 2012 and to register, please
visit: http://www.chicagospringfling.com/

For more information about Chicago-North Romance Writers of America,
please visit: http://www.chicagonorthrwa.org/

Questions? Contact us at: conference@chicagonorthrwa.org

If you do show up and you see me around, please say hello!


Morgan Mandel


Killer Career is 99 cents on
Kindle and Smashwords, also
in print for $13.95.

Forever Young-Blessing or
Curse is almost ready.

Two Wrongs will soon be
re-released on Kindle and
Smashwords.

Just Perfect by June Sproat

My YA short story, Just Perfect, is out on Kindle. Here is the back cover blurb…

Caroline Jane Edmonds, CJ to her friends and family, has the perfect summer planned. She calls it the TSL summer: tanning, swimming and love, and not necessarily in that order. As a matter of fact, she’ll take it in any order, just as long as it comes.

When the first day of summer rolls around, CJ’s on top of the world. But that world gets pulled out from beneath her feet when her father decides, without consulting CJ at all, that she needs a summer job. He even picks out the job: working at the miniature golf course and driving range for the park district where he is the director. Now all she has to do is combine her ideal summer plans into her new job and she’ll have a hole in one, otherwise her whole summer will be way below par.

Perfect, just perfect!

Have a great week!

Best,

June

http://www.junesproat.com/

Cloning

Other than an addiction to "Star Wars" in which entire story lines revolve around cloning, I've never given it a whole lot of thought. It was interesting when Dolly (Wasn't that the name of the cloned sheep?) came about. But the idea of trying to clone humans seems creepy and macabre.

However, lately, I've given it some more thought. Not seriously. Not that I think ethically it's okay. Not in any real sense. But rather, I have so much to do and not nearly enough time to do it that I thought if there were more of me, things might get done.

I could use a clone (or two or three) at work. To help keep up with paperwork, planning, and supervision.

I could use a clone at home to make sure the house gets cleaned: really cleaned, not just the 'wipe down the bathrooms on the weekend so they're not gross' kind of cleaning. The windows need to be washed, the yard needs to be cut down, the ceiling fans and the baseboards and the crown molding need to be dusted...

I could use a clone for my writing career. I have a novella coming out in a couple of weeks (Yikes.) and have a ton of blogs to write for my tour. I haven't actually done any new writing in ages. And I can't keep up with fellow authors who have blog posts. It would be nice to be able to connect with them.

Yes, a clone or two or three of me would be awfully nice right now. Just to help me keep up and get back on track.

Until next week,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Update of WRITERLY MUSINGS by Rob Walker

                For some occupations, most in fact, not knowin’ where you’re goin’ from the outset of a project is the kiss of death. Organize, outline, plan, storyboard it…all necessary for many forms of writing as well but a novel?  Not entirely true, no, and in fact even now, writing this blog, I dunno where I’m going until I get there. An old saying has it that “I don’t know what I think until I see what I say.”  With writers in general, I suspect that is true.

                Another thing about writers, as with any artistic types, there’s constant self-analysis and self-criticisms of our work; if reviewers only knew. They don’t have to tear us down; we do a fine job of doing that number on ourselves.

                Another issue about writers is the notion that for money, even fast money without any hope of returns on that money, as in pay for hire, we will never say no.  In general, I subscribe to the never say no to a writing job or an editing job or any job that pays you for putting words on paper, or helping someone else to do so as in ghost writing.  But there are limits after all.  The term pay for hire is a circumstance wherein an editor or publisher wishes to pay you a flat fee to write it and go away.

                Let us say one or two thousand for a writing job and you are never to darken their door again. You have no rights to the work. You were hired to write it for another.  Yet it is to be a book on shelves in bookstores.  It may or may not have your name on it. Most of the Idiot Books, those reference works like The Fool’s Guide to whatever are done as pay per hire.  I say if you really need the money, go for it, but as a general rule, try to avoid such deals.

                When you are hired to do a ghost writing job, it’s about take the money and don’t expect or pursue any additional funds. When you edit someone else’s work it remains their work, not yours, and you should expect no more funds accruing to you unless you have worked out a contract that stipulates this down to the percentages. Else all you can expect—if that—is a mention in the acknowledgments.

                Now getting down to when an editor gives you a green light on a spec manuscript. If you are given a go-ahead based on a spec script (speculation), the nature of the beast is no money changes hands until which time spec becomes contracted script.  If you are lucky enough to have a correspondence or any sort of relationship with an editor, and you are talking about ideas with said editor, you don’t own ideas, and anyone can take up that idea and run with it, so you want to do your best to convince an editor that this idea is not only great but that you are the perfect person to write it.  When an editor in a publishing house asks you if you can write such and such a book, THEN I go by you never say no to an editor RULE. Besides, I LOVE a challenge.

                Once way back in early 80s, I was turned down by an editor I had worked with on a previous couple of books.  I was amazed at the rejection of this work. I got on the phone and got Jane, and I pushed her on giving me some real reasons as to why it was rejected, something other than the vague generalities in the letter.  She said, “It’s too short; we’ve moved from doing 60 thousand words to 80 thousand, and we’re up to our eyeballs in mysteries. We are in need of horror.”

                I shot back without hesitation, “Give me a contract and I’ll add a monster and 20.000 words!”

                Jane said, over the phone, “Yes, okay, I’ll put the contract in the mail. Go to work!”

                That is the exception, but I have also had editors contact me to ask if I could run with an idea the house was kicking over for a series. After two or three sentences on the idea, I stop listening and say, “I can do it, sure!”  My four-book Decoy Series came of that.  My Instinct Series came about the opposite way—I proposed it as a series idea to an editor who fell in love with the concept.  Same with my Ransom series.

                I’ll leave it at that this week as I am quite busy working on bringing about my WIP, and recently was challenged by the editor of an upcoming anthology that will have a Titanic Anniversary Theme to write a ‘titanic’ story for it. I was recommended to the editor by someone who had read my last Kindle title which no editor would touch at 150,000 words, two-books entwined and defying categorization or pigeon-holing. Thus far, I have 44 titles on Kindle. A little something for every taste.  My next will be entitled BISMACK 2013 but it will be more in keeping with 80,000 words.

Rob Walker

www.robertwalkerbooks.com
also at Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Plaxo, LinkedIn, DL, MMA, and more

Family Reading Night by DL Larson

Many schools and libraries host a Family Reading Night each year. Our local PTA is having a family reading night the last Friday in October. This year business owners have been asked to be the readers. I too, as the children's librarian, have been asked to join in on the fun. I already have my books selected, contemplating my Halloween costume and I'm toying with the idea of a small craft to go with one of my stories.

Authors, if you are looking for recognition, this is a great opportunity to do a community service and spread public relations. Don't confine yourself to your own community, call around to see if neighboring towns are hosting a reading night and then offer to help. Even if the books are already selected, what a compliment to be acknowledged as a local or state author giving your time to be a part of the event. If the selections haven't been chosen, what an opportunity to read a portion of your own, published or not. As an added draw, have a comment box, idea box, "how does it end" box. The last ten minutes of the evening you could read these aloud. Folks love hearing what other people wrote.

As I read this week's blogs, I realized something wonderful and worrisome. As writers we visit many blog sites and that's great, but writers as a rule tend to be a tad introverted in "real" company and I hope we are not substituting internet connections over up-close and personal opportunities ... like volunteering to be a reader at the local family reading night, book club, or school visit. If you haven't gotten out there to mingle with readers in awhile, maybe it's time to make an adjustment in your promotional techniques.

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Link Us To Your Blog(s)

I keep hearing that even though popular networks such as Facebook and Twitter exist, blogs are still an excellent way to gain followers for whatever you wish to market, including books. That being the case, I thought we could share blog links and, if you'd like, also mention something about your blog(s).

If some of you are like me, you probably contribute to more than one of them, so let's keep it to four for each person. After that, I'm afraid our readers may get glassy eyed.

Here are mine:

Double M's Take on Books, Blogs, Dogs, Networking & Life - http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
My personal blog about what the title says. I also hosts guests from time to time. This used to be a daily blog, but now I try to get a blog in once a week, since I've been busy working on my Forever Young-Blessing or Curse manuscript.

Acme Authors Link - http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com/
My group blog, where I post every Wednesday. The members here write romances and mysteries. We post writing tips and share our writing lives, and at times host guests.

Make Mine Mystery - http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/ - My posting days are the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, but lately I've also been doing all the Mondays, since we're short a few members.
As you can guess from the title, our members all write mysteries and our focus is on that genre. At times we host guests.

The Blood-Red Pencil - http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/ - My posting days are the 1st and 2nd Tuesday of the month. This blog is comprised mainly of freelance editors and some authors like myself. We offer editing and writing tips and also host guests occasionally.

Your turn. Tell us about your blogs and don't forget to include the links.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com/
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/



Make Mine Mystery




Acme Authors Link