Alison Kent's Blah Blog

Gotta do it. Have a huge chunk of my nonfiction project due on the 8th, so gotta go underground till then. (And by the time I get back, I should have my contract so can actually tell you what I’m doing!) I’m extending my GOES DOWN EASY giveaway until the 8th for that reason, and have updated the post below to reflect that. I’m also going to give away TWELVE copies rather than six, so get to entering. (Hint: The answers are found in a book from 1999 where Jack first appeared.) And don’t forget to enter the Access Romance Holiday Contest that starts tomorrow!

See ya in a week! When I’m back? I’ll have a website surprise! (I hope!)

Oh, and I did just launch a new one. Check out Susan Spencer Paul:

I haven’t given away anything for awhile, and I received author copies of GOES DOWN EASY today so I think it’s time! I’ll give away 6 copies but you have to answer a question about the hero, Jack Montgomery. If you’ve followed my blogging at all, you’ll know the book in which Jack first appeared. The question is a two parter meaning you can answer either part. If you answer both, you will get a copy of RED LETTER NIGHTS as well!

1) What instrument did Jack play in high school, and/or 2) What was the name of the band he established after graduation?

Send your answers to me via this link (giveaway AT alisonkent.com < — replace the AT with the @) and I’ll pick 12 winners from those with the correct responses on December 8th at noon CST. Good luck! (I’ve closed comments to this post so no one inadvertently answers here! Oh, and the answers are only found in the previous book where Jack was introduced!)

The ACCESS ROMANCE HOLIDAY CONTEST is back!

I hope to be back with an original post tomorrow, but today has to be more linking. I want to talk more about full time writing since my post below stirred up a bit of controversy in the comments. In the meantime, I stole the following from Wendy Crutcher:

“The struggling Harlequin Historical line seemed to be on a deathwatch in mid-2005. Harlequin even issued a release stating it would stop acquiring for the line. But the company changed its mind in early fall, and thankfully for fans, the line will continue with some improvements, according to Senior Editor Linda Fildew. ‘When we took the decision to keep faith with what still remains a popular genre in North America, we realized we would need to refocus Harlequin Historical.’ For 2006, that means new locales and time periods, like 19th-century Nova Scotia, Regency Malta and ancient Rome.”

And having nothing to do with historical romances but an interesting post nonetheless, Lee Goldberg has excerpted a bit of a PW article on RWA. In his comments, I’ve excerpted a bit of an RWR article which enforces even further the personal rightness of my decision not to re-up my membership. But aside from this current logic which is lost on me, I’ve discovered an amazing fact since backing away from RWA.

Read the rest of this entry �

Sara Donati lists her auto-buy authors here and says:

(…) here’s a list of authors whose new novels I buy automatically, without reading reviews and stopping to check my bank account.

Here are the ones that I buy. That, in fact, I usually pre-order the minute they’re available. (Note: This doesn’t mean I *read* them right away!)

Chris Bohjalian
Sandra Brown
Harlan Coben
Michael Connelly
Lisa Gardner
Tess Gerritsen
Tami Hoag
Emma Holly
Judith Ivory
Alex Kava
Laura Kinsale
Dennis Lehane
Jodi Picoult
Greg Rucka

You?

From Jenna Petersen’s post on The Feed and Caring of Your Favorite Authors

1. Buy your favorites the week they come out. This may seem weird, but bestseller lists are not based upon how many books your favorite author sells. They are based on how quickly they sell those copies. (…) Bestseller lists are based on velocity and you have the best chance of getting velocity the first week of sales. So if you have a choice, try to buy your favorite author’s book in the first days it hits the shelves.

For a look inside the workings of a copyeditor, check out Deanna Hoak’s Journal.

Congratulations! It’s a baby novel! A great post on the publishing process from author Elizabeth Bear.

(Can I mention here how much I wish Live Journal would upgrade their server!!!!??? Such a great author’s community there, but dang those pages take forever to load!)

Anyhow, my biggest wake-up call in the biz was the fact that instead of 1) submitting, 2) selling, 3) receiving contract, 4) receiving advance, 5) writing, etc., to describe the process, it’s often more like 1) submitting, 2) selling, 3) writing, 4) finishing, 5) receiving contract, 6) receiving advance. As in, you finish the project before you ever see a contract or a dime because the book has to go into production!

By the way, if you’ve noticed an over abundance of links these last couple of weeks, that’s my way of sharing good stuff with you without a lot of effort on my part. My effort is currently all being poured into my writing. I hope soon to get back to actually having the energy to say something brilliant on my own.

Be sure today and tomorrow to check out the roundtable discussion on erotic romance at Romancing the Blog!

In the meantime, more from Nadia Cornier of Firebrand Literary on The Great Blog Experiment.

Also, check out her post on Authors Breaking Out where she says:

While the book contract may seem like the pinnacle for an unpublished author – it takes only a few moments after signing on the dotted line to realize there is a lot more to think about than just writing and selling that first novel. That’s why a lots of published authors don’t simply think about “that next book deal.” Any writer truly interested in writing as a career needs to think about writing a break out novel. The subject of a very popular how-to title from Writer’s Digest, Writing the Breakout Novel, agent Donald Maass talks about what goes into taking a career through writing and releasing what he calls the ‘break out novel.’ Now, a lot of people have a lot of different definitions of what the break out novel is. I think it’s a mixture of what the author writes, how the agent sells, how the publisher acquires, how the editor edits and then how – ultimately – the reader’s gush. But, as always, it starts with the authors.

I’ve snipped a few of my favorite things (half, actually) from author JA Konrath’s post What I’ve Learned So Far but do go check out the rest as well as the faboo conversation that follows. (In fact, spend some time in his archives. Good, good stuff!)

Write a good book. While this is a no brainier, so many new writers blame everyone but themselves for their lack of publication credits. If you want to succeed, you have to learn the craft.

Readers are more important than peers. When I first got published, it was incredibly important for me to be accepted by the mystery community. Now, not so much. I treasure the friends I’ve made, and will continue to make more, but I’m no longer worried about seeking approval.

Give back. If you’ve had any degree of success, send the elevator back down. Talk to new writers. Offer advice. Teach. Give blurbs. Post publishing tips on your website.

Have a plan. Don’t expect anyone to help you, guide you, or take care of you. Learn as much as you can, set goals, and figure out how to reach those goals.

Stay grounded. It’s very easy to get caught up in the hype. Get real. You aren’t curing cancer. You’re an entertainer–don’t think that you’re more than that.

Don’t compare yourself to other authors. Someone is always going to have more money, larger print runs, more fans, and better deals. Competition is healthy, but it should be with yourself, not with others.

Learn to turn it off. I’m still struggling with this. Being a writer defines me as a person, and I can’t seem to ever get away from it. I’ve had one vacation in three years, and during that vacation I did booksignings. Know when to relax. And when you learn how, teach me how.

And from author Mark Terry even more advice on the book, the book, the book.

At Magna cum Murder Harlan Coben got ever so slightly testy at one point and said, “What matters is writing a good book, not how nice your bookmarks are.” Then he seemed to think better of the statement and tacked on, “That stuff’s important, but it’s the book you need to focus on.” (…) It’s all bassackwards if we devote our primary energies to sales and not the creative process. Marketing and sales are important, but so is a good book. So here’s the hardest real truth about the best ways to sell your book.

Also, in the comments section of an entry below, I posted a link to an entry where JA Konrath posits the following.

What makes an artist legitimate? Since art is subjective, there’s only one true measure of an artist’s success… the number of people who buy the art.

The discussion that follows the post is worth checking out.

Well, I’ve been trying diligently to post a morning and afternoon entry, but as you can clearly see, I screwed up my time stamp on today’s post and you got two first thing, argh! The thing I love about WordPress is the time stamp. I currently have almost a week’s worth of posts ready to go live!

Anyhow, to make up for the morning, I’ll share with you another faboo writing post about the dangers of safe writing from Tamara Siler Jones.

Same-o, same-o doesn’t get noticed. Following the crowd just means you breathe their dust. If you’re already established, write whatever you want. It’s cool, really. Some writers could publish the contents of their refrigerator or ruminations on belly button lint and sell a bazillion copies. If editors don’t know you from the belly button lint, though, you need to get noticed. Writing safe, beige “seen it a million times” is, well, boring.