BookEnds Talks to Maya Reynolds

Maya Reynolds
Bad Girl
Publisher: NAL Heat
Pub Date: September 2007
Agent: Jacky Sach



(Click to Buy)


Maya Reynolds has had a varied career path on her way to becoming an author. She trained to be a teacher and later became a stockbroker, but quit after ten years to return to graduate school. She became a psychiatric social worker and eventually took charge of operations for the public mental health system of Dallas.

Maya called upon her experiences to write her first novel—a contemporary erotic thriller titled Bad Girl.

Author blog: http://mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com.

Bad Girl: Sandy Davis told herself that her hobby of spying on neighbors in the high-rise across the street was just a game; it didn’t hurt anyone. No one knew. Until the night the phone call came . . .

“You’ve been a bad girl.”

He calls himself Justice. He has a pastime, too. Watching Sandy watch others. He has the photos to prove it. Now it’s his turn to play—by making Sandy pay the price in exchange for holding on to her naughty little secret.

As the sensual dance between two strangers begins, so does Sandy’s fear that she’s moving closer to the edge of extreme desire—and inescapable danger.

BookEnds: Where did the idea for this story come from?
Maya: I’ve always loved edgy thrillers, and I was looking for a storyline that would combine a hot romance and a suspenseful plot. Sandy’s peeping begins after her boyfriend dumps her, leaving her feeling vulnerable. Now she’s caught up in a situation spiraling out of her control.

Writing the novel offered me the opportunity to explore the boundaries of passion and intimacy with a likeable heroine and the man who both excites and terrifies her.

BookEnds: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Maya: Begin early to think of yourself as a professional. When you do that, you make different decisions than you do when you think of writing as your hobby. You begin to set regular times aside to write, and you don’t allow yourself to be distracted by friends, email, and phone calls. During my writing time, I don’t answer the phone or read emails. I’m on the job, and I respect that time.

BookEnds: What else did you do right on your way to being published?
Maya: I started my list of possible agents very early—while I was still writing my first manuscript. By the time I was ready to query, I had a list of agents I’d researched and whom I knew could do a great job of representing me.

Another thing I did right was to research the publishing industry. I learned who the publishers were, how to avoid getting scammed, and the terms that the professionals used to describe the business.

BookEnds: Did you make any mistakes?
Maya: I can think of a couple: First, I waited too long to join professional organizations like RWA and Sisters-in-Crime. The workshops and networking opportunities are invaluable. And, second, I waited until I finished my first manuscript to look for critique partners. The time to find critique partners is while you’re writing your manuscript, not after you’ve finished it.

Feel free to ask Maya questions in the comments section. She’ll pop in during the day to answer them.

Talent or Learning: What Makes a Writer an Author

I was scrolling through the Absolute Write message boards recently (a great Web site by the way) when I came across a very interesting discussion on whether or not writing is an innate talent or something that can be learned. Like many posters I have to agree that it’s a little of both...and it’s a little more.

I think anyone can learn to write. Like one poster said, it can be compared to throwing a football. Anyone can learn to do it and with practice and perseverance anyone can become reasonably good at it. But talent is what I think sets authors apart, just like it sets football players apart. While everyone on the field works hard to learn the game, not everyone walks onto the field with an innate talent to shine. Peyton and Eli Manning are good example of this. Presumably both have the same background, the same training and were taught the same skills. In fact, you could even argue that Eli, as the younger brother, might have had a little more training since the kinks were worked out with Peyton. Why then is Peyton so clearly the better player? Talent. Something that can’t be taught or learned. Peyton just has more of a natural ability for the game (in my humble opinion).

But I think there’s a third element we’re missing and that’s finesse.

I have a friend who is a professional skateboarder and during a recent discussion about many of the young up-and-coming skateboarders he mentioned that while a lot of them have skills, not a lot of them necessarily have the finesse that makes a really successful skateboarder stand out. I think the same can be said of authors. When you read a really amazing author, one that takes your breath away, it’s not the talent and it’s not the learned skills that wow you. It’s that author’s finesse. His or her ability to string words together in such a way that actually make you want to stop and read again.

Let’s go back to football. As a Minnesota Vikings fan I’ve been watching Randy Moss’s career from the beginning. Why is Randy Moss such star? Especially since he’s never even been to a Super Bowl (except as a fan) and he’s never really stood up to all the hype. Simple. Finesse. While many will argue that he might be one of the biggest jerks in football. Okay, maybe behind Michael Vick, none can argue that watching him play is like watching a ballet. That guy has style and when he makes one of those catches it will actually take your breath away. He has talent, he definitely has finesse, and now he just needs to spend a little more time learning the game and yes, you will have a true star on your hands (if he doesn’t get too old first).

Writing skills can be learned. You can learn to plot, you can learn to create characters and you can learn to string words together, but some of us have a talent for it. Some of us have an innate ability to string words together and don’t need to think about characters or plot because building both come naturally. And beyond that, there are a lucky few with real finesse. An amazing ability to wow just about anyone with their writing. And let me clarify, they aren’t necessarily literary authors. Finesse can come in many forms and in many genres.

So what are you thoughts? Is writing a talent or a learned skill?

--Jessica

Parting Ways . . . An Author's Decision

If you’ve been following the blog I’m sure many of you remember the story of the agent who fired bestselling author Jennifer Cruisie. But what happens when a published author feels that she needs to make the decision to fire her agent? How does the author make that very scary change? What happens to the author’s work, whether it’s sitting on an editor’s desk or the agent’s, and what does said published author need to woo a new agent?

As for how an author makes that decision, I think I’ll have to leave it up to the authors to tell me. Granted it’s not easy, deciding that your agent isn’t right for you, firing her, and suddenly flying solo (at least until you can find someone new), but making the switch is usually a lot wiser than sticking with someone simply out of fear. Remember how the agent search is like dating? Well, having that relationship is like marriage, and certainly no one expects or plans to have to be out there again and start “dating.” But just like some marriages, some author/agent relationships aren’t meant to last forever.

What happens next really depends on the author, the agents, and each and every individual experience. Typically, though, if you are planning to continue in the same vein of what you’ve already been writing successfully, you won’t need a proposal to find a new agent. You’ll simply need to set up some interview times. When I’ve been approached by authors looking for new representation I’ll always ask for a copy of a proposal or manuscript if part of the reason you’re switching is to go out in new and different directions. If not, I’ll only ask to see a copy or two of some of your published works. Even if I’ve read you before I might want to refresh my memory and make sure that I feel I can represent your work. After all, reading for pleasure is a lot different than reading for representation.

Most important, though, I’ll ask what your goals are, what direction you’re hoping to take your career in, and what exactly you’re looking for in an agent. I don’t need you to give me all of the dirt and tell me how horrible your previous agent was, but it does help to know why you’re leaving her. I need to know whether or not I think your goals are realistic for me. In other words, whether I think I can do what you didn’t feel your previous agent was doing for you.

The biggest question asked was what happens to the author’s previous work—those handled by the now-fired agent? Obviously anything that was contracted will remain under representation by your previous agent. In other words, she’ll still be the agent of record for those projects. As for what happens to submissions that she made and that might still be sitting on an editor’s desk, that depends on your contract with the agent. In the BookEnds contract we ask that you give us four months from the time you’ve fired us to finish any outstanding projects. In other words, we certainly will not continue submitting, but we would handle deals from outstanding submissions that come in within that four-month time frame. Of course, there are ways to circumvent this, and if you really felt that the relationship had deteriorated so much that you can’t imagine another minute with said agent, you could certainly have a discussion about transferring all of those materials to the new agent.

If you don’t have a contract clause that stipulates how long the agent has to finish up projects after the relationship is dissolved, you could give her a fair amount of time and then ask that all submissions be pulled. I would definitely try to work that out with her once you’ve let her know you’re dissolving the relationship. Not only is it important for peace of mind, but your new agent also needs to know that she’s the only one working for you.

Whether or not a new agent would take on these outstanding projects depends on a variety of things, including the direction you want to take your career, whether or not the new agent feels that outstanding work is your strongest, etc. This would have to be something you’d discuss when offered representation by a new agent.

Parting ways with your agent is a daunting and scary task no matter the circumstances. My best advice is to first have a discussion with your agent about any concerns you have with your relationship. She might not even know that you’re unhappy, let alone why, and a serious and frank discussion may make all the difference. If you’ve had that conversation, or tried with no response, and have come to the decision that you are left with no other choice, then it’s time to make the cut. Remember to keep it professional and everything will go smoothly.

Jessica

What Is a Packager?

I knew the time would come when eventually someone would ask me to explain what exactly a book packager is because, yes, when Jacky and I originally started BookEnds we began as packagers, and so many of you let it slide for so long that I guess it’s time I explain what that means.

Book packaging—sometimes referred to as book producing—has been an integral part of publishing almost since the beginning of publishing time. Just like writers need agents, publishers need packagers. Packagers essentially make a very complicated book project easy for a publisher to take on.

In some ways a book packager is a mini publisher: they do everything a publisher does with a book except distribute, sell, market, and publicize. A packager’s primary job is to make complicated books easy for a publisher to publish. In other words, the packager takes on the responsibility of editing, designing, hiring writers, getting approvals, and finding artwork for a book. While many packagers deliver books to publishers only when they are printer-ready, others work to put the project together but still rely on the publisher for final editing and design. Obviously how much a publisher pays for a book will determine how much work the packager is required to do.

One perfect example of a packaged product is New York Public Library Desk Reference. Just one of the many reasons why this is a prime example is that it’s a licensed book. In other words, because you’re putting someone else’s name on the book you’re going to be required to get approvals and permissions throughout the process. A royal pain for anyone, and especially a publisher, but something packagers do very well. While I don’t know the intricacies of how this particular book was packaged, what I can surmise is that when Stonesong Press packaged this book for Macmillan Publishing they took on all of the responsibility for hiring authors (in this case contributing editors), designing and editing the book, obtaining necessary artwork, and getting all permissions and approvals from the New York Public Library.

Most projects sold by a packager are sold on proposal alone. An agreement has already been reached between the packager and the licensor and a proposal is put together by the packager’s editorial team. Writers and illustrators are only hired after a publisher’s contract is in hand. Once a deal is made the packager will know exactly how much money (based on the advance they received) they have to hire the team necessary to create a great book. Rarely do authors writing for packagers receive royalties. Usually the advance is divvied out, almost in totality, to writers, illustrators, and designers, and royalties are reserved for the packager and licensor.

To learn more about packaging you can go to the American Book Producers Association web site, and for some interesting tidbits on packaged books . . . many R. L. Stine titles, The Pill Book, a series of books based on the television show Charmed, almost any desk reference you run across, and Backyard Bird Song.

Jessica

Friday's random thoughts

It's Friday and I've had a busy week so I wanted to share some random thoughts with you. First off let me tell you what a bang my week started off with. On Tuesday I concluded an auction that moved one of my authors to a new house. All last week I was taking bids and negotiating with editors. It was a terrific way to end my summer and a fun new way for the author and I to start the fall.

In other client news, in the last two weeks I've received emails from more than one client sharing ideas they have for new projects. I have to say, I'm very, very excited. There are some cool ideas out there and I think my clients are grabbing on to them. And last night I read a partial from another client. I had read this partial previously and rejected it. The idea was sound, but the execution needed work. The author and I talked extensively and she spent a good portion of her summer rewriting and working on it. And can I say brilliant?! It's absolutely amazing and for those of you hoping that I'll venture more into fantasy it looks like we're starting to head in that direction. I'm so excited to talk with the author more about it and get it into the hands of editors.

You all have had me thinking too. In my post on market updates someone asked whether or not there was romantic suspense that didn't include law enforcement or the military. While I knew there was, I had to think a little.. The answer is of course, yes. The newest Lisa Jackson contains neither and I know there are others, but I'm going to turn to you. Any titles or suggestions for someone looking for romantic suspense without a military or law enforcement hero?

And lastly, I just read that author Madeleine L'Engle passed away last night and I have to admit this was sad for me. A piece of my childhood has passed on. If you've never read Madeleine L'Engle do so now. I only remember reading her A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy, but remember them as if I read them yesterday. Meg is an amazing character and the books literally bring you to new worlds.

Have a great weekend everyone!

--Jessica

Understanding Bestseller Lists

If you’re published it’s guaranteed that at least once each week you check Amazon and B&N.com for your rankings and Bookscan for your title. Right? But do you really know what you’re looking at or how these numbers relate to one another or your sales?

They don’t. At least not really. Every list from the New York Times to Publishers Weekly to Bookscan to whatever other list you’re looking at uses its own system to generate rankings, and keeps its own list of reporting bookstores a closely guarded secret, for obvious reasons. If you knew, for example, that the New York Times list was based on the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, Beatrice’s Books on the Upper West Side, and Joe’s All American Books in SoHo, your method of publicity would be to have all of your friends and family go to those three bookstores on the day your book releases and not only buy them out but also order 50 copies each to be shipped when they arrive. Imagine. Voila! Instant list. How great would that be?!

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Rankings aren’t generally based on how many copies sold (although that can be a factor), but on rate of sale. Meaning how many copies your book is selling each day. For example, selling 50 books on Monday but none the rest of the week isn’t going to rank you as high on the list as selling 8 copies a day every day for the rest of the week. For obvious reasons your rating helps these list makers to determine your future success as well as current successes. This is why you so often hear publishers talk about how a book is rating versus how many copies a book has sold. I would much rather have a book rating steadily than a book that once sold 75,000 copies. Remember that tortoise? Slow and steady wins the race.

In addition to ratings the list will also look at predictive algorithms that I can’t even begin to understand. These algorithms will not only take into account your rating, but also previous successes. For example, an author who has been consistently selling well for many years will likely get a higher ranking than one who jumped on the scene just last week. Based on previous performance, list makers can make some prediction of how Longtime Author might do. How exactly these numbers are finally determined is something that’s endlessly speculated over, and I’m sure you can do a Google search to find a vast number of theories.

So how can you judge how your book is doing based on rankings? I’ve found that Bookscan numbers and online Barnes and Noble can give you a pretty good idea. If you’re ranking below 1000 on B&N.com you’re selling very well. Amazon, however, is an entirely different story. No one gets how they determine their numbers, but it seems that it’s based on immediate sales and not necessarily ratings. Therefore one purchase of 50 copies could easily give your book a jump from a 100,000 ranking to 10,000. It’s unlikely that 40,000 other people bought your book at that exact moment.

In the end, how does all of this affect your career? In other words, do publishers even care? Yes and no. Publishers do care about the official Barnes and Noble lists, and major lists like USA Today or the New York Times (because you have to sell a lot of books to hit those), but when it comes to your ranking on B&N.com or Amazon they really don’t pay any attention at all. In the end the only thing a publisher cares about is your overall rating and sell-through. In other words, how much of your print runs have you been able to sell through.

This information came from my own experiences as well as conversations I’ve had over the years with other publishing professionals. I’m sure you have your own information and/or theories and I’d love to hear more about what you might know about these mysterious rankings.

Jessica

Julia Templeton on Her Path to Publication

Julia Templeton
Return to Me
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Pub date: August 2007
Agent: Kim Lionetti



(Click to Buy)

Author Web site: www.juliatempleton.com

I just blogged over at the Idea Boutique (http://ideaboutique.blogspot.com) about my new release, Return to Me, an erotic vampire historical, so rather than repeat myself here, I thought I’d talk about my long, hard path to publication instead.

My path to publication started when I tried my hand at writing a time-travel/ghost story set in Regency England. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I enjoyed the process. It took me almost a year to finish the book and it was quickly rejected by every New York publishing house.

I discovered RWA shortly thereafter, and went to a workshop given by Linda Lael Miller. Linda mentioned she started out writing short contemporary stories for publications like True Love magazine, in order to build her publishing resume. Although I wanted to write historical romance, I figured I’d give first-person contemporary short stories a try. I finished the first story a few weeks later, and sent it out. Imagine my surprise when weeks later I received an acceptance letter. I was over the moon. Motivated by my success, I ended up writing a total of six stories for the same publication before I tried my hand at writing another historical romance.

Unfortunately, before I could finish that second historical, I became deathly ill with a chronic bowel disease, had a radical surgery, and basically lost all desire to write. It was the darkest time of my life, and it would take many months before I finally sat down at my computer and wrote a dark Regency historical romance. Six weeks later I sent it out to Kensington, and I received a call shortly after from an editor who said she loved it and wanted to buy it for their new Precious Gems line. I’ll never forget the exhilaration I felt at that moment, and I can honestly say I thought I was well on my way. However, every proposal I submitted to my editor from then on was rejected, and soon I started to lose confidence, but I never stopped writing.

Looking back, I should have been spending time trying to land an agent, but I think my lack of confidence got the best of me. I continued to submit stories on my own, but with little results. I also finished the second historical romance I had put aside during my illness, and eventually sold it to Hard Shell Publishing.

About this time, a good friend of mine told me about a new company called Ellora’s Cave, who was publishing spicy stories. Since I wrote sensual stories, EC seemed like the perfect publisher for me. My friend and I decided to cowrite a Regency historical romance and submit it under a pen name, and we were thrilled when it sold. We went on to write another book together, but also submitted and sold our solo work as well. My publishing credits with EC helped me land my first agent. We got along famously, but I didn’t receive a lot of feedback from her, and because I was getting rejected from some of the NY publishing houses, I felt I needed something more. Though it was extremely difficult, I decided to let her go. I took my time researching agents, and asking a lot of authors about their agents. Kim Lionetti’s name came up and I decided to query her.

While I was submitting to agents, I queried a NY publishing house about an erotic historical romance I was working on. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a phone call from the editor the very next day. She told me her company was starting a new erotic romance line, and she noticed I’d been writing erotic historical romances for Ellora’s Cave, and wondered if I would be interested in writing a novella for a historical anthology. I couldn’t say yes fast enough, and I have to say Border Lord was one of the easiest books I’ve ever written.

Kim signed me shortly thereafter, and sold my medieval romance The Bargain to Berkley. I’m currently working on my third book for Berkley, and I hope it’s just the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship.

So there it is—the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s been a long, bumpy, frustrating road . . . but I love writing, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Market Update

It's been a while since I've posted on a market update and while I've been meaning to get to it all day it isn't until now that I've finally had a chance, when I’m sitting at home and enjoying a magnificent glass of Cantina Faccagnini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. So please excuse any and all typos.

I've been very busy the past couple of weeks. I took on an exciting new author and helped her sell her book to a great publisher--as well as let a number of other editors see her work (I promise to discuss this in more detail later). And I helped a more established client make a very successful switch to a new house, at auction nonetheless. Needless to say it's been a very exciting August and a lot of fun for me.

One of the things I like most about selling and submitting books (besides the obvious of course) is that it truly gives me an opportunity to find out what editors are actively looking for. Often I've learned that what they say is one thing, what they actually do is another and when I submit them something is when I truly discover what they want.

So what am I hearing these days? Funny paranormal romance is all but dead. Okay, maybe not dead, but really scaring editors off. Some publishers are saying they've seen a slip in orders on those types of books and, specifically, those chick lit/paranormal romance type covers (think Mary Janice Davidson's Undead series--although I know her sales haven’t slipped). What they're looking for instead? Dark, sexy, romances (and covers do and will reflect this). Does it mean you should simply shelve your funny paranormal? Not at all, but you might want to consider making it darker or even spinning it into a mystery since mystery editors are still very actively looking for this type of book.

And guess what romance lovers? Historicals are back! We've been predicting it and waiting and guess what, it's here. But it's not necessarily the historical of days gone by. No, of course not. Nothing is ever that easy. Editors (and of course agents) are looking for darker, sexier historical romances with a historical voice. While I do think the more contemporary voiced historicals are doing well, that really strong historical voice is back. Think Elizabeth Hoyt. I've mentioned her work before and editors are talking about her too. Of course they are also talking about our own Sally MacKenzie.

And in terms of romance I'm hearing it again and again. Romantic suspense. Everyone is looking for it and it's not easy to find. We're a picky lot, agents and editors, and we want dark, we want scary and we want it to be original and different. Not an easy task I know, but we are all actively seeking romantic suspense.

What to do if you're not writing in one of these areas? Don't worry. This is just what is being talked about today. Tomorrow can be entirely different. And of course this is just a small segment of book market news.

I've also been talking to a lot of nonfiction editors and green books are hot, but maybe too hot. Lists are filling up fast on this subject and already editors are starting to move cautiously. One editor compared it to the yoga craze. Every publisher jumped on board and jumped on with five different books. Almost instantly the bookshelves were overflowing and they fear the same with "green" books.

No news right now on mystery, suspense or thrillers other than to let you know that editors are looking for that something special that sings. I'll keep you posted...

--jessica

Promises Made, but Not Kept

I was directed to this recent post on C. S. Harris’s blog, When Bad Things Happen to Good Writers, and asked to comment.

In the story C. S. Harris shared, an author was wooed over to a new publishing house and promised the world—promotion, marketing, and co-op money (money the publisher spends for special placement in bookstores). When push came to shove, however, the publisher did not follow through on its promises and the author did not see the sales she needed to earn out her advance. Needless to say, once the contract was complete the publisher bailed. An author who doesn’t earn out rarely gets a new contract.

The questions I was asked were: If a publisher promises promotion, marketing, and co-op money, why wouldn’t it be written into the contract, and what can an author do to protect herself? Should or could this be something that’s written into the contract, and how often do publishers break such promises?

Let’s start with the obvious. Rarely do such promises get written into the contract. Why? Because the publisher does not want to commit to how they are planning to spend their marketing and promotion budget one, two, or even three years in advance. And from a business perspective this is understandable. What if the market changes? What if the book you sold them is really hot now, but the market drops considerably a year from now? And from an author’s perspective, I’m not sure you would want such a commitment in writing either. What if they only commit to ads and suddenly would consider changing their mind, but don’t have to. They’ve got ads and only ads in writing. Or, what if the publisher has committed heavy promotion to three other authors pubbing at the same time as your book. While your book might now, given new market trends, be the hot new book, they don’t have the money to give you.

I’m not sure exactly how the situation C. S. Harris described played out and what was said. My experience is that publishers rarely “promise” marketing and co-op when they offer. Often what they’ll do is suggest they might go that route, but I always caution my writers that while they are saying these things now, we will have to wait and see and hit them again when we’re getting closer to the pub date. Did the author and agent call to remind the publisher they were promised these things or just assume they would happen? And were promises really made or just suggestions?

I truly doubt the lack of paid co-op and marketing were the sole reason for this author’s failed sales numbers. It’s very likely the books she had out from the other publisher started to fall off. In other words, her numbers slipped well before publisher #2 got to publication and that, probably more than anything, was the reason the promised marketing never happened.

Jessica

A Reader Challenge

I was thinking recently what creatures of habit we all are. If we’re romance readers we read romance, and SF fans tend to stick to SF, but how often have you ever ventured outside of your comfort zone when it comes to reading? I tell my authors all the time that to truly be successful you need to learn to push yourself. You need to write better, scarier, sexier, more mysterious and more suspenseful books. You need to be willing to push yourself beyond your own comfort zone. While we strive to do that in our writing, do we do that in our reading?

Have you been avoiding erotica because it’s not for you or feel that you’d hate cozy mysteries because they’re too tame? Have you even read one? I never read a fantasy until I worked in publishing (okay I never read a romance either). And I’ve only read a few SF novels. And yes, gulp, I’ve never read horror. And that’s embarrassing. As members of the writing/publishing community we all need to be willing and able to push our own limits with what we read. So here’s my challenge to you. Pick up something you’ve never read before, in a genre you have yet to truly explore, and see what you think.

I was thinking I’d try some SF and I was thinking Jim Butcher might be my author of choice. Looking for suggestions? If you think you might need to read a cozy mystery, erotica, a western, or even a business book, try this terrific Web site: www.bookends-inc.com/our_books.html.

Otherwise I ask you, dear readers, to share some of your favorite books in various genres. If someone wants to explore your favorite bookshelf, what would you recommend?

On another note, check out Romance Bandits (http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/), where I'm guest blogging today.

Jessica