For less than the price of a large latte

Over the past few days, I have downloaded two books to my kindle which have helped to revitalise my interest in writing. Both from the micro-publisher Who Dares Wins. The first was Bob Mayer's newly revised take on the business of publishing and writing -- Write It Forward. One of the first things he suggests doing is revisiting your goals. I blogged a bit about this on my Fill the Well Friday column for PHS today.
The book is heavily biased towards micro-publishing and is not as slick as you'd expect from a more established publisher. There are a few copy editing errors (after ten I gave up counting) plus the formatting could have been better. The ease of jumping about the book in kindle was not there. I contrast this with the Brandilyn Collins which did allow me to jump between sections.
I also objected to some of his figures. With my publisher, Harlequin, 90% of first time authors do not fail. Harlequin is very careful in its selection and I would say a high proportion of the authors (maybe even as high as 90%) succeed in selling more than one book. Harlequin is looking to build authors and their careers. But I do accept other publishers are not as focused. But then Harlequin has always listened to its readers and seeks to fulfil that promise. They are choosy about the authors they take on. They have also have more unagented authors than the larger publishing houses. this is because Harlequin understands its product and does not need necessarily the agents' filtering system.
At one point Mayer also comments about how no one goes in and says that they want the latest Random House. Interestingly Mike Shatzkin made the same comment on his blog this week. For most publishers this may be true but not for all publishers. Harlequin has one of the most enviable brands in publishing. People do go in and grab the latest Harlequin. They speak about their Harlequins. Eventually they go for the individual author but they do tend to look with favour on the whole publisher in a way that no other publisher enjoys.  They have done so for years. It is one of the reasons why they are able to offer lower royalty rates for series (and why authors continue to chose them as their publisher) -- the author gets the benefit of the brand.
Ignoring the power of the Harlequin brand  or pretending it doesn't exist is wrong. Harlequin has carved out a good position in digital and that is mainly done to the intelligent forward thinking of the people at the top of Harlequin. They put the time and effort in early. They also continue to lead and innovate. They also produce a high quality product with tremendous attention to copy editing and formatting.  I also have every expectation that they will soon figure out a way to deliver their books by subscription to whatever device so their readers can get all the books in their chosen series on the first day of the month without having to individually preorder month after month. Amazon kindle has subscriptions for newspapers and magazines. They will get it for Harlequin, even if it is just the month that the books hit the retail market. *rant over*
I agree with Shatzkin and Mayer that the future is digital and that Content is King.
The book We Are Not Alone -A Writer Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb is a hugely practical guide to using social media without allowing it to overwhelm you. Again it has a few copy-editing errors but in the main is sound. It did give me some hints and tips. And if such things interest you, get the book.
For the price of two lattes, I have learnt a lot and become really refocused on my work. My editor is off on holiday and I will get the current wip finished before she gets back. It is my challenge!

Contest winners and more articles

My daughter has been drawing contest winners.
From my newsletter contest -- It was Penny W and Pat (Shreky Shrek) Emails have been sent.

With Totebags -- It was Lori Patterson and again an email has been sent.

My sister sent me an article from National Public Radio about Harlequin and romance. I was pleased to see my friend Sarah Mallory's book -- The Wicked Baron getting a mention. US News and World Report lists bodice rippers as its number 3 recession beater. Top was home gardening and Hollywood. I know for some the term Bodice ripper grates like finger nails on a chalk board, but at least it conveys fun escapist reading. And I suspect they wanted to make sure that people did not think it was romance in general but the romance genre in publishing.
Hopefully though people in the media will start taking the genre seriously rather than simply dismissing it.

Personally I never mind bodice ripping as it conveys something that is fun and light. Far too many people treat historical fiction as heavy weighty tomes and are frightened to pick one up. Bodice ripping means that it is accessible. The fact that the history in my books is reasonably accurate and that I hope my books will make non historians interested in history is beside the point. First and foremost, I write good page turning stories. And if the only way to get that across is for some to call them Bodice rippers, then so be it. I suppose Escapist Women's Fiction doesn't have the same ring.

The big question they ask is why, and the answer is obvious. Page turning reads which fulfill the Harlequin promise to its readers. People read these books again and again because they feel emotionally satisfied at the end. There is nothing wrong with escaping for a few hours and at the end feeling like the world is a brighter place.

Still doing my revisions and trying to increase the intensity of characterisation, plus refereeing between stressed out children who are revising for exams...

Nightline on Romance

My aunt emailed me about the piece and then the very lovely Margaret Moore had a link to the video. ABC's Nightline (the US equivalent of the BBC's Newsnight) did a piece on Harlequin.

The CEO, Donna Hayes, was brilliant but then having met her, I wouldn't expect anything less. If you want a role model for a highly successful woman, look no further.

Harlequin is doing very well out of the recession and the US media is just starting to realise (the deadpan readings of the various book not withstanding)

I think the presenter was surprised when Ms Hayes dismissed the need for men as a target audience. Harlequin Enterprise is focussed on women's fiction. It sees no need to change.

I was pleased to see historical mentioned.

Go Harlequin! Escapist Reading is great fun!