Tuesday, December 07, 2010

The Fifth Day of Bookmas

Welcome to day five of our Bookmas Giveaway contest. For those who missed the rules, hop back over to the November 30 post and give a quick read.

And of course, before we start today’s contest, we need to announce yesterday’s winner.

Yesterday’s question was: Can you name the two authors Kim calls "Joe Schmo" and "Jane Doe," whom she said were her favorites when she interviewed for an internship?

And the answer is Dean Koontz and Nora Roberts.

Congratulations to Kaycee Kacer. Please email your contact information to blog@bookends-inc.com and we’ll get your prize out immediately.

Now on to our contest . . .

On the Third Day of Bookmas I hinted at today’s question, something that really came into my head by accident.

As an editor I loved creating ideas for new books or series. In fact, as an agent I do the same today. The difference is that as an editor I could get pre-approval from my boss, which meant if I found the right author I knew I could buy the book. As an agent it’s more of a risk. I am often asking the author to write a proposal in the hopes that we can sell it to an editor. However, we’ve come up with some great ideas at BookEnds and we’re proud of the authors who have been able to execute them with a great deal of success.

The thing about an idea created by someone else is that it’s not your idea; the truth, though, is that it is your book. No matter how great an idea, the success or failure depends entirely on the author’s ability to make it so. I can have the most amazing, marketable idea in the world, but if the author can’t execute it brilliantly, it’s not going to be that great. And of course, the success of a book depends entirely on the author’s brilliance to create the characters and stories that will grab the readers.

Many years ago I read Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and fell in love. I was a young editor in a terrific new romance, a romance with New York City, and I couldn’t get enough of anything to do with that city, especially the city’s history. I read The Alienist, all of Edith Wharton’s novels, The Mole People by Jennifer Toth, and Low Life by Luc Sante, to name a few.

During that period of time I developed an idea for a series of books based on this romance of mine. Can you name the series that is still being published today and its author? Keep in mind, other than coming up with the idea, I take no credit for its success. That’s entirely in the hands of brilliant writing.

The winner will receive three novels.

For clues, check out these authors . . .


Lorna Barrett

Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor
Sally MacKenzie
Paige Shelton
Amy Patricia Meade
Ellery Adams
Angie Fox
Gina Robinson
Erin Kellison
Bill Crider
Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Bella Andre
Elizabeth Amber
Krista Davis
Heather Webber
Avery Aames
Kim Lenox
Joyce and Jim Lavene
C. C. Hunter
Cricket McCrae
Anita Howard
Wendy Lyn Watson
Erika Chase
Elizabeth Joy Arnold



Jessica

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Gaslight by Victoria Thompson?

Booklady said...

Dang it if I had not been in a meeting, I could have chimed in earlier. It's Gaslight by Victoria Thompson. One of my favorite series.

Kristina said...

Victoria Thompson "Gaslight Mysteries" Series

Daryl Wood Gerber a.k.a. Avery Aames said...

Wow, you all are quick. What clue or clues did it for you?
~
Avery

Unknown said...

The ones that led me to my answer were Sally MacKenzie, Gina Robinson and Paige Shelton. Then a lot of fast googling ensued.

Jodi Henry said...

Hi there,

I am hosting a query letter blogfest from Dec. 12-18th and thought you migh be interested in stopping through, as we have several adult sci-fi and fantasy authors signed up.

The gist of the fest: each entrant posts a query letter on their blog for everyone else to critique.

I thought it would be great if I could get a few agents interested in the event. Whether to sweep through and look for something they've been waiting to hit their emails or to leave comments it would be great to see you there.

If you are interested, please use the link below to find the announcment and the list of entrants.

http://jodilhenry.blogspot.com/p/query-letter-blogfest-page.html

Jodi Henry
Turning the Page

Sally MacKenzie said...

Oh, darn. I'll have to see if I can be more obscure tomorrow. I don't know yet what tomorrow's puzzle is, though, and my brain seems to go off on its own...and like when I write, I always feel it's best that I follow. But you guys are good! I could see Gina's would help, but Paige's wouldn't have given me a clue if I didn't already know the answer. Clearly, I would not be winning if I were playing!

Anita said...

Hey Sally,

Ingrid Bergman was in a movie called Gaslight. So was Angela Lansbury who I used in my clue. :-)

Seems like Paige and I were on the same ... uh, page. Heh.