The Ups And Downs To Getting A Contract

April 13, 2017April 13, 20172 Comments

Next in our publishing origin stories is ROBIN LOVETT’s whirl wind journey to her first big five book deal. (Don’t forget to check out Alexis Daria’s story.)

I was lucky. Getting an agent came pretty easy for me. Well, easy if you count writing three books before sending out my fourth to query. I made decisions based on market research, what I’d heard at writing conferences from editor and agent panels. I gave up on my dystopian romance book and wrote an erotic contemporary–because that’s what they said was selling. And it worked, for getting an agent at least.

Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins asked for a Revise & Resubmit (R&R) then signed my dark erotic romance. There’s some stuff I can’t tell you about here — see Kim Bell’s The First Rule of Pubclub. This was winter 2015.

But my luck ran out there. Unfortunately, for that book, the ending is not happy. It was on submission for a year and did not sell.

That’s right–a year.

christmas movies muppets michael caine the muppet christmas carol why do you delight in torturing me GIF

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The Road to the Book Deal

April 12, 2017April 16, 20173 Comments

In honor of Sunday’s topic, this week the hosts of #RWchat are telling our own publishing origin stories. Here’s Alexis Daria’s journey.

Where to begin? It would be easy to start last month, when everything happened at once. Or in January, when I sent out the first queries and fulls, and entered the Golden Heart®. November, when I finished the first draft. July, when I developed the proposal. Or even the last days of May 2016, when I got the first inkling for the idea and jotted down notes.

But really, this has been a long road, and I have to go back even further. Not all the way back, to when I was a pre-teen just starting to experiment with long-form stories, although even then I knew I wanted to be a published writer. But a few years, at least, to when I decided to take writing seriously and give it the same fair shot I’d given art.

::cue flashback screen wipe::

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The First Rule of Pubclub

April 11, 2017April 26, 20173 Comments

Publishing is a lot like fight club—especially traditional publishing.

A lot of the mystery swirling around getting any questions answered in publishing are chalked up to the fact that the experience is different for everyone. Timelines are different, deals are different, everything is different. And that’s not a lie.

But it’s also not the whole truth.

There are also things, as an author, that you’re just straight up not allowed* to talk about. So in lieu of talking about the forbidden subjects, we wanted to do the next best thing and at least talk about what the forbidden subjects are, so you know why we’re not talking about it.

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Coming April 16th… Origin Stories

April 9, 2017April 9, 2017Leave a comment

Graphic by Alexis Daria

We all come from somewhere, and what happens in our past informs who we are and the decisions we make. Our characters are no different. Creating a rich character backstory is vital to any hero or heroine’s story of the future.

As a fun treat, your four #RWchat hosts will each be posting our “Writing Origin Stories” this week. We’ll be sharing how we got into publishing romance – how our experiences are informing our decisions now.

It’s a bit of a celebration for us, because last week, Alexis Daria announced her publishing deal with SMP Swerve which means…. *drum roll*….

All four of your #RWChat hosts – Kimberly Bell, C.L. Polk, Alexis Daria and me, Robin Lovett – are all officially agented writers with traditional publishing contracts! Huzzah! We want to share our stories (the good and the horrible) with you for how we’ve gotten to where we are.

Keep an eye out for our posts this week!

See you for our Origin Stories chat next week, Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST.

~Robin Lovett

Coming April 9th… Spring Goals

April 2, 2017Leave a comment

Graphic by Alexis Daria

So, remember those New Years goals? How are they going? Do we even remember what they were?

Now’s the time to assess how the year is going so far. Are we on track for where we want to be? Are there things in the way of our goals? If so, are they things out of our control or within our control? How can we readjust our goals accordingly to keep us motivated and encouraged in the coming months?

Join us with your ideas and thoughts. Or come to lurk and learn. See you Sunday 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern.

~Robin Lovett

We made #RWchat stuff!

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017Leave a comment

We wanted #RWchat stuff to wear, drink out of and write in, so we thought we’d share them with you. (Including the ones that say “Romance Writers do it on Sundays.”) There’s over a dozen different styles of shirts and tank tops for women and men.

The Zazzle store happens to be 25% off today. (Tip: to see all the products, you’ll need to change the content filter from “safe” to “off”.)

Enjoy!

: #RWchatter Notebook

: #RWchat T-shirt

: Romance Writers Do It On Sundays

Coming April 2nd… Publishing Process

March 26, 2017Leave a comment

Graphic by Alexis Daria

Getting a book written and revised is just the beginning. The path from there to publication is tumultuous. Whether it’s traditional or self-publishing, there are multiple rounds of edits to go through with an editor. Knowing and learning how to work with an editor is an intricate relationship to navigate. Since the days of writing one book per year are pretty much gone, there’s the problem of juggling a publishing schedule and managing more than one project at once. How do you do it?

Come share your expertise, learn from the experts, and ask us your questions, Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST.

~Robin Lovett

Coming Mar. 26th… Style & Voice

March 19, 2017March 25, 2017Leave a comment

Graphic by Alexis Daria

Word choices and sentence structures are the nuts and bolts of our writing. Our prose – the phrasing, the author voice – is what holds readers’ attention and attracts them to a particular author. But how do we work on this? Is author voice something we can control? How do we study the style of writing and improve our ability to communicate stories?

Come with your ideas and questions! Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST.

~Robin Lovett

Mining Your Past

March 13, 2017March 14, 2017Leave a comment

Content Warning: Domestic Violence

I had a whole thing I was going to write about. About how the hosts of #RWChat used to be graphic designers, opera singers, butterfly pinners (we know it’s entomology, but it’s more fun this way), and summer camp directors. The list of things we used to be, before we became romance authors, goes on and on and we’ve all taken pieces of those things forward to make us better at being what we are now—whether it be surviving critique, setting schedules, or designing covers.

That’s the basic idea of mining your past, but it’s not the only one—and apparently I want to talk about the other one, because I sat down to write a funny post about jobs and skills and this is what you’re getting instead. (I’m sorry. We’ll let Robin go back to doing the blogs any minute.)

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Coming March 19th… Mining Your Past

March 12, 2017March 12, 2017Leave a comment

RWchat 3-19-17 The first time you sit down to write, and every time thereafter, you’re not showing up to the page empty handed. You bring all your past experiences, jobs, relationships, and skills with you. Sometimes they work their way onto the page, but other times, they help your career in more subtle ways.

Opera singer. Photographer. Sales superstar. Butterfly pinner. And that’s just us over here at RWchat HQ! In the next chat, we’re going to talk about using the skills you’ve picked up in the past to help you in your present and future as authors.

Come join us Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST!

~Alexis Daria