The Meet Kendra Clayton Kindle Promotion!

For a limited time, the Kindle edition of Schooled in Lies is only .99 cents! So, what are you waiting for? Click here and meet Kendra Clayton for less than a buck. And the best part is, it's DRM free so you can read it on multiple devices!

Later!
Angela ; )

Schooled In Lies
Sneak Peek! (Click cover to turn pages)

Professional Editing: $630.00
Cover Image & Design: $204.00
Interior Layout: $89.00
ISBN: $125.00
Setting Up Boulevard West Press: $150.00
Uploading files to Lightning Source + Proof: $100.00
Registering copyright: $35.00 (online)

Having a new book out after 2 1/2 years...PRICELESS!

Schooled in Lies is now available for preview and purchase on Scribd! Print edition coming December 18th!



Later!
Angela

KENDRA'S BACK!!!!

Just in case you were wondering what I've been up to...

The best thing about high school is that it’s over.

GED instructor Kendra Clayton’s high school days were nothing to brag about. So she’s not too thrilled when on top of having to take a class to renew her teaching certificate or be fired, she gets roped into serving on her high school’s reunion committee.

Spending time with her former classmates is even less fun than having a root canal. Then to make matters worse, Kendra and the other committee members start receiving strange messages and having freak accidents. When one of the accidents results in a death, Kendra is convinced it’s murder. Unfortunately, neither the reunion committee nor the police take her seriously.

To try and prevent another death—and to keep from worrying about all the time her sweetie, Carl, has been spending with his scheming ex-wife—Kendra digs into the lives of her fellow committee members and uncovers enough secrets, lies, and betrayal to make her head spin. When a second murder occurs, Kendra realizes she needs to watch her back in her search for the truth before a killer turns her into another buried secret.

Coming Soon!

An interview with Sue Grimshaw of Borders
By Patricia Sargeant

Sue Grimshaw of Borders graciously visited my local writers chapter, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, Oct. 17, 2009. I'd meant to recap my notes from that meeting for my Oct. 19, 2009, Crime Sistahs Blog post. As usual, I had the best of intentions but didn't quite follow through. My apologies. However, I hope you agree late is better than never. I've finally typed - and proofed - my meeting notes and have shared them below.

Although Sue is the national romance buyer, this includes romantic suspense. However, she doesn't buy African American titles in any genre. That's handled by another buyer, a gentleman. Sadly, I've misplaced the e-mail Sue sent me with the other buyer's contact information. I'll contact her again and share his contact information with you.

I found Sue's information about working with book sellers and the method book buyers use to evaluate new releases interesting, and I believe it translates to other genres. Sue works a lot with editors and encourages authors to e-mail her at SGrimshaw@BordersGroupInc.com if they have questions about promoting their books or would like her input on their covers.

So, here are my notes from the October meeting. I hope you find them interesting.

What’s a typical day like for Sue Grimshaw?
Sue said there aren’t any typical days with perhaps the exception of Mondays, which tend to be more consistent. She reviews sales by category then by title, focusing on the top 100 to 200 titles. Waldens and Borders try to grow debut authors and introduce their books to readers.

Regional buyers purchase local authors and individual stores highlight their local authors. Sue suggests authors get to know book stores’ general managers. If the general managers know you’re a local author, they’ll promote you.

Wednesdays and Thursdays, Sue meets with publishing representatives to discuss upcoming releases. Borders works about six months in advance, and purchases titles about two to three months in advance. They discuss with publishing representatives which authors and what genres are important to the publisher. During the meeting, they review book covers. Many times covers are changed after a discussion with the rep.

Additional observations on purchasing considerations:
- Publisher’s promotional support is very important. What is the publisher willing to do to push the title and grow its author? Does the author get the front of the store? Does the author have a cover quote? Will the publisher provide the manuscript for review?
- Borders looks for exclusive opportunities, such as receiving the release’s first chapter to post on its Web site before the title is released.
- With debut titles, Sue looks at the release’s genre/subgenre and comparison authors. Who does the debut author write most like?

Additional cover observations:
- Yellow typically is not the strongest color for a cover.
- Cover quotes from bestselling authors or authors who are on their way up are hugely important in considering whether she’ll purchase a release. Make sure the author’s quote is pertinent to your book and that the quoting author writes in your subgenre.
- For debut titles, covers are closely scrutinized. Studies show authors have about 20 seconds to catch a reader’s attention for their book.
- Face outs are really important.

How can authors best work with Borders to promote their books?
Get to know the store managers on a personal level even before you sell. For example, do your writing in Borders café.

What are readers looking for?
Readers are reading more back-to-back series. That’s what they’re reading the most. A lot of customers chose to read the releases as one big book. They’ll wait until the last book in a trilogy is released, for example, then read all three books together. The series doesn’t have to be a trilogy. Authors could have just two connected books. Borders will restock an author’s backlist if the author needs to keep their presence on the shelf while waiting to launch back-to-back releases.

Do pseudonym help authors?
Buyers are always looking at an author’s past sales history. However, when an author takes a pseudonym, it’s understood the author is trying to start fresh. In that case, buyers toss out the sales history and work with the author to start over.

What can you tell us about Borders' affiliate program?
If you provide a link on your site for visitors to purchase your release from Borders, sign up for the affiliate program. You’ll receive money for books purchased from Borders through your site. Check out Borders Web site, www.Borders.com, for more information.

The Key to Success, and the Key to Failure
From Persia Walker

Just thought I'd share this old, but still very relevant video. Much of it relates to a time when the economy was much different. Still, it has a lot to offer in terms of personal development.

Writers conferences

By Patricia Sargeant

I attended my local writers chapter's annual conference last weekend. Special guests were a national bestselling romantic suspense author, two electronic press publishers and two literary agents. The conference agenda included craft and business workshops.

The guests also participated on a panel discussion regarding the publishing industry. No one had a crystal ball to tell us what the next "hot" genre or subgenre would be. Everyone talked about doing your research on publishers and literary agencies before submitting to editors and agents. In fact, pet peeves included letters addressed to "Dear Sir; Mme." instead of being addressed to the specific editor or agent; and nonfiction submissions. So we should all definitely do our homework.

As I usually do after an event - whether a workshop, conference or book signing - I spend a few days mulling over what I got from the event to decide whether it was time - and money - well spent. So, what's the verdict?

1. The industry panel discussion was good, but I've heard that information before. I think in the future I should make more of an attempt to ask thought-provoking questions. After all, a Question-and-Answer session really is only as good as the questions.

2. The craft workshop I attended was interesting. But again, it didn't generate new insight for me. I tend to prefer craft books. They offer more information than a one- or two-hour workshop and I can.

3. I chose not to participate in the pitch sessions. I have a literary agent with whom I'm very comfortable, and I don't have a project I think would work well in the electronic press format.

OK. Three significant negatives there. Then what do I find attractive about conferences and even book signings?

The networking opportunities.

The two-day conference offers much more time and many more opportunities to chat with authors and inspiring authors about the market.

- What are you hearing?

- Which editors/agents are looking for what types of stories?

- Which editors/authors are moving from which houses?

- What lines are opening?

- Which ones are closing?

- Who's jumping on board and who's jumping off ship?

Information like this is very helpful - if not now, then at a later point in your career.

What was the last conference you attended and how did you benefit?

Millenia Black | Taking Care of Business: Book Industry Racism...Where is Oprah?

Millenia Black | Taking Care of Business: Book Industry Racism...Where is Oprah?

Millenia Black's take on racism in the publishing industry raises troubling questions.

Rant for the Day: Using Misspellings to Indicate Speech Patterns
By Persia Walker

As an editor at Gentle Pen Editorial Services, I see this time and time again: writers using egregious misspellings to indicate speech patterns, specifically poor grammar and poor pronunciation. My response is always the same: Don't do it.

I'll keep the reasons short and sweet:

1. It makes your copy difficult to understand.
2. It makes your copy difficult to understand.
3. It makes your copy difficult to understand.

Anything that makes your copy difficult to understand slows down your story and kills reader interest. After a while, the reader (ahem, that does include your editor) will want to toss your book against a wall.

So what do you do when you want to indicate a character's inability or unwillingness to speak standard English? Use standard English, at least as far as spelling and punctuation are concerned. You can play with the grammar and syntax, but you may not play with spelling and punctuation. (Okay, you can, but only to a very, very, very limited degree.)

Example:

"Whatchu doin callin me at dis time ah mornin? I'ma gonna wup you till you cain't stand iffin ya do dat agin!"

Laugh if you want to, but folks, it's painful writing this. No, I didn't get a manuscript with this exact sentence. I would never hurt or embarrass an author that way. However, I have received manuscripts -- and I do mean way too many -- that contain page after page of these oddball phonetic misspellings. I have never given in to the urge to throw these manuscripts against the digital wall, but I admit that in one case, I gave up. I just couldn't plow through pages and pages of such gobbledygook.

I had to tell the author that I had no idea whether her story was good. Why? Because I simply couldn't get to it. The wall of nonsensical misspellings she had erected wore me down. It obliterated any insight into the story she was trying to tell. She was insulted. I never heard from her again. It was a shame, too, because the synopsis of the story indicated that it was worth telling.

Back to the above example. You might say, what's the problem? By themselves, these sentences are easy to understand. But imagine pages and pages and more pages of dribble just like them. Pretty soon, you'd be sick of it. Any reader would be. Reading pages of idiosyncratic misspellings is like being forced to repeatedly listen to a very bad joke that wasn't funny to begin with.

Let's try rewriting the sentences with normal spellings, but keeping the odd syntax.

"What you doing calling me at this time of morning? I'll whip you till you can't stand if you do it again."

OK, I did noodle with the tenses in the second sentence a bit, but mostly I just corrected the misspellings. Now, the sentences are readable and perfectly convey the folksy vocal pattern of the speaker.

A few "gonnas" or "ain'ts" aren't going to destroy your readability, but any more than that and you're entering risky waters. You're damaging your story and doing a disservice to your readers. So please, stick to standard spelling. Develop an ear for how people arrange their words and formulate their sentences, for phrases that they rely on.

For those of you who would never use misspellings to indicate dialect, I apologize. I just had to get this off my chest. Now, I've got to get back to work, editing another one of those manuscripts. Grrrr....

Cover Me

By Angela Henry

Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’ve been busy working, writing, and preparing for the publication of Schooled in Murder, book #4 in my Kendra Clayton series. One of the things I’ve been doing a lot of lately is studying book cover design. Let’s face it; people do judge a book by its cover. A beautiful and eye-catching cover won’t make me buy a book. But it will make me pick it up and read the cover copy. Since I’m self-publishing Schooled in Murder, it is very important to me to have an appealing and professional looking cover. And I’m happy that this time around I’m in total control over what it will look like.

Because I work in a library and am surrounded by books on a daily basis, I’ve been able to determine what works best in terms of capturing my attention as a reader. But publishing companies have their own ideas when it comes to covers. Most get the stock photography treatment. I’m assuming they use so much stock photography because it’s affordable. And I ought to know because I found the cover image for SIM for six dollars on Fotolia.com. But a lot of stock photography is royalty free, meaning anyone can use it, which often results in multiple books getting the same cover.

Case in point: Take a look at the covers for Jill Nelson’s Let’s Get it On, Brenda Jackson’s Some Like it Hot, and Maureen Smith’s Touch of Heaven. Three hot covers with the same hot guy. As much as I love the cover image I've picked out, I'm not sure I could use it knowing it's been used for another cover. Sadly most authors don't get a choice. They have to take what's given to them.

So what captures my attention as a reader? Color. I love bold covers with vivid color. But I also love black and white images with a pop of color. I have no problem with people on the cover as long as the image conveys what the book is about, like the gorgeous, kick ass cover for Seressia Glass’s upcoming urban fantasy novel, Shadow Blade, which by the way I can't wait to read! If you have a suggestion for an eye-catching cover you’ve seen lately, or if you’re proud of your own book cover, I’d love to see it. Please post the link in the comments.

Finding Your Voice
By Patricia Sargeant

Your writer's voice is the most powerful selling tool you possess.

I think I've discussed this before on this blog. I'm certain you've heard it before. But it's worth repeating. A lot of writers stumble over writing "rules," and forget that - beyond the goal/motivation/conflict; the Hero's Journey and the point of view - the most important thing to develop is a strong, unique voice. Sometimes that means breaking the rules. But that's a subject for another blog. Right now, I want to talk about the voices.

I've heard agents and editors say that what drew them to one author over another is the selling author's writing voice. The author they pursued had a strong voice, a unique way of telling a story. They connected with that writer's voice. It excited them.

I have a hard time describing my voice. Do you? It's easier for me to describe someone else's voice than it is to describe my own. Do you have the same struggle? I think it's because we're so close to our writing. We know we enjoy what we've written, but it's hard to say why.

I read a writing craft blog the other day posted by a freelance editor who explained that one way to determine what your voice entails is to identify your favorite part of the writing process. Do you like to plot? Then your writing strength lies within the story. Do you prefer dialogue over description? Then you probably have a fast-pace storytelling style. Do you enjoy crafting your characters and letting them direct your story? Then your voice is character-driven.

What approach do you prefer? Or do you take another direction with your writing?

One last tip that you may have heard before. The best way to develop your writer's voice is to write. Write often, write a lot. The more you write, the more developed will be your writer's voice.

Write on!

Write What You Know ... Hmmm?
By Persia Walker

When interviewers are looking for questions to ask me, they often seize upon the fact that I worked for a while (a relatively short while) as a journalist. They usually come up with this question or some version thereof of: "How does your journalism background help or hinder your writing as a novelist?"

To give you some background information, I worked as a news writer for The Associated Press, among other entities, for a while. What did that experience teach me as a writer? To write fast, to see writing as a job with deadlines, and to assume that I would have to do research. Most importantly, it taught me that I can learn just about anything I need to know well enough to write an intelligent story about it.

... Which is why I always find it so odd, but interesting, when people tell writers to stick with "what they know."

This is not to say that I don't find it good advice. It's fine advice, but when taken from a different angle. Yes, write what you know. But don't stop there. If you don't know something, then find out about it. It's only when you feel that you "know" a subject that you'll feel comfortable writing about it.

So, yes, write what you know -- but don't let not knowing stop you from writing about something. Take initiative. Learn.

(Appropos: After finishing this post, I decided to catch up on my blog reading. While perusing agent Janet Reid's site, I found an entry called "Make MORE Mistakes, Not Fewer." It contained this sage advice:

5. Write what you don't know. I recently attended a panel sponsored by the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and it was interesting to me that five of the six authors had created a protagonist in their own image. That's all well and good, but I'm much more interested in the people I don't see every day. The one author who mentioned her protagonist was a Pakistani terrorist was the author I went out and bought the next day.

Also, I was reading an essay by author Laura Lippman. She touches on this very point to. Make sure you listen to the conversation with her, too.)

Past or Present Tense?
By Persia Walker

Most writers are trained, consciously or subconsciously, to write in the past tense, yours truly being one of them. But there are others who go for the present, who find it the better and more natural mode of expression. I've always wondered about them.

I've always written in and preferred to read novels written in the past tense. Stories written in the present tense have somehow always struck me as slow, ponderous, and even sometimes pretentious. All of this, of course, is highly subjective, and could be simply a matter of habit.

The other day, for example, I wrote an email to a friend, describing the plot of my new "bestseller." I automatically switched to the present tense. (Synopses are, for whatever reason, usually written in the present tense.) Not to be immodest, but I managed to convey drama and urgency in this less than brief email -- all the while using the present tense, the supposedly slow and ponderous present tense.

Hmm, I wondered. Why should the present tense be fast-paced and gripping in a synopsis, but slow in a novel? Was it all a matter of perception?

When writing, I tend to pepper my manuscript with notes. These notes are invariably written in the present tense. By the time I review these notes, weeks later, I've forgotten that I've written them. They strike me with their freshness -- and their present tense-ness. Written while in the grasp of some inspiring thought, these notes are often taut mini-scenes. My usual practice has been to simply rewrite them in the past tense and flesh them out a bit. Sometimes, however, I've felt that the scenes have lost something in the recasting. And sometimes, I've been strongly tempted to leave them just as they are, in the ponderous present tense I so otherwise eschew.

Yesterday, I dug out a battered copy of Dean Koontz's book Intensity. I wanted to see how Koontz handled a scene in which the protagonist confronts the sadistic killer holding a teenage girl in his basement. I also wanted to see the chapters in which Koontz probes the killer's mind. I remembered that he used multiple points of view, using one chapter to reflect the killer's thoughts and the next to express the protagonist's. What I didn't remember was that Koontz used the present tense for those chapters given to the killer and the usual past tense for those given to the heroine.

The contrast was jolting. It was uncomfortable, but effective. Time slowed and I was transported into the killer's mind. I felt as though I'd entered a time warp, as though I were floating in evil miasma. The change in tenses not only showed, but made me feel, how the killer existed in his own world, a place where time -- and ethics -- as the rest of us know it, did not apply.

If the present tense chapters underscored the killer's mind-bending insanity, then the past tense ones, where the story clipped right along, underscored the heroine's strong, if terrified, sense of sanity.

Should I attempt the same technique, I wondered? Why not? Maybe it was time I became a little inventive, a little more flexible. I couldn't see myself writing the entire book in present tense, but chapters here and there, for sure. Especially chapters that explored the killer's mind.

I decided to go for it. I would use a mixed bag of tenses. I would actually write in -- gasp -- the present tense.

The manuscript is still in its early stages, still subject to major changes. We'll see how it goes.

In the News
By Angela Henry

Check out Walter Mosley's essay in Newsweek about why Americans are obsessed with crime.

John Ridley remembers Chester Himes in the Huffington Post.

Stephen Carter likes to keep his readers guessing in this Q & A for USA Today.

Attica Locke discusses her new thriller Black Water Rising.

Sleep Don't Come Easy is MystNoir's featured title for August.

Kyra Davis will be having a signing/chocolate tasting at Cocoa Bella Chocolates in San Francisco on Saturday August 8th. And you still have time to enter Kyra's contest to win a trip to San Francisco.

Later!

Using Genealogy Software to Discover Your Characters

By Persia Walker

So I finally did it. I broke down and bought genealogy software. Yes, I'm an amateur genealogist, but in the end, that's not why I cracked the piggy bank. I did it to get help with discovering characters and organizing their familial relationships, not mine.

The story I'm now working on involves a fairly complicated family history. I tried using outlining software to keep it all straight, but without success. I could've just done it the old fashioned way, with a pad and pencil, but then I would've ended up with squiggles all over the place. So computer software it was.

As a Mac user (tried and true), I first turned to Reunion. It's a great piece of software, but I couldn't get it to generate the family trees I wanted it to.

Even so, I would've gotten it, but the price. At $100 a pop, Reunion would've had to write the family history for me.

Then I found the other Mac-friendly software, My Family Tree. Nifty. More than nifty. Quite satisfying. I downloaded a demo and then after playing around with it for about half an hour, decided that the $49 price (which is only $4 more than what I'd budgeted for such a software) was a fair and decent price. It even offered a few features that Reunion doesn't offer. I spent another couple of hours entering data for all the characters, their kin and kindred, into the program.

Sounds like a waste of time?

It wasn't. The program asks all kinds of good questions: birthdays, deathdays, days of marriage, education/graduation, etc. It asks not only when but where events occurred. In posing these questions, it prompts you, as the writer, to think about coming up with answers. Plus, there's a world history window that tells you what was going on in the world during any given character's lifespan. A specific event might not be immediately relevant to your story, but it will flavor your character. There are certain events, for example, that freeze time. Many people remember exactly what they were doing when they learned that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, and now many can say the same about Michael Jackson. Most will have a favorite song that, when heard, reminds them of their high school prom, or freshman year in college, or the girl that got away. A program that offers such convenience as a world timeline can help an author tease out the events that might or might not have impacted or influenced his or her character, i.e. ground a character in his or her period.

My main complaint with My Family Tree is that the timeline feature does seem to be a bit glitchy. I added Michael Jackson's lifeline in there as part of the current storyline (the character loved his music). When I tried to add his date of death, the program kept changing it from June 2, 2009 to January 6, 2009. Huh? But otherwise, I'm happy. I've generated relationship sheets that help me keep track of each generation, how the people are related to one another. Will I include all of that information in the final work? Most likely not. But I'll (a) be able to write with more confidence (always a good thing) and (b) avoid certain faux paux. I remember wishing I'd had such a program when writing Harlem Redux, when I began The Palmer Affair, The Quilt, and now the untitled book I'm now working on. (Note: If you're wondering why you never heard about The Palmer Affair or The Quilt, it's because they're one of the five or so books on my hard drive that are 85%-90% done, but not quite there yet.) After several manuscripts without this genealogy software, it's good to have it. I've actually gone back and even plugged in Lanie's information. It's wonderful to see what was going on in the world around her. Again, I do wish that the folks behind it would work on the glitches in the Custom Database, but other than that, I'm happy with My Family Tree. It was a good buy and a useful tool for a writer.

Setting the Scene
By Patricia Sargeant

I love to learn the inspiration and motivation behind writers' works, whether they're creating songs, screenplays or books.

In an interview with L.A. Banks about her Vampire Huntress Legend series, Ms. Banks explained the battle between the huntress's army and the vampires serves as an analogy to the battle between drug dealers and our communities.

Have you read any of the Vampire Huntress Legend books? I have, and I can definitely see the comparison. It's fascinating.

In a documentary on George Lucas's body of work, he explained while trying to develop the script for Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, he had a clear image of the scene in which Indiana Jones battles the Nazi caravan. Do you remember that scene?

Lucas said once he had this image, "all" he had to do was figure out what came before that scene and what came after it. That's all.

When developing my first published romantic suspense, You Belong to Me, one of the first scenes that came to me was the one in which the hero confronts the heroine in her hotel room to try to persuade her to sell him the film rights to her book.

One of the first scenes that came to me while developing On Fire was the scene in which the hero saves the heroine from a burning building.

As a writer, can you share with us one of the first scenes that came to you for one of the books you've written? As a reader, is there a particular scene you've read that especially resonates with you?

Another Great Time-Waster for Writers
By Persia Walker

I'm an expert at distracting myself from writing. Today I want to share with you my latest discovery: face transforming. But this isn't just the run of the mill "cartoonize-me" face transforming that some of us (ahem) know and love. It's transforming on a new level, the level of the scientific. And it's free!

The University of St. Andrews has this very interesting website that allows you to upload a photo and then morph it, so that you see yourself as you might appear if you were of a different age group, ethnicity, or -- and this was the best -- painted by a great artist!

So this is what I'd looked like if the good Lord had made me as Asian. Not bad. When I compare the morphed versions with the original, I'm surprised at how many of my features lend themselves to other ethnic groups: the brown eyes, the broad nose, the narrow eyes. What do you think?

I've always had a secret yearning to know what Modigliani or Mucha would've done with my portrait. Thanks to St. Andrews, I have a chance to find out.

The St. Andrews site offers you the option of several perceptions, including but not limited to seeing yourself (or someone else) as a baby, teenager, young adult, older adult, a member of the opposite sex; as Caucasian, East Asian, West Asian; as seen through the eyes of Botticelli, Modigliani, and Mucha. You can also do a Manga version. (I tried it. It was the one version guaranteed to make my narrow eyes look big! A bit too big.)

Now how does this help your writing? I can't say that it will. But I don't think it'll hurt it, either. It always helps to take a different slant on things, including yourself. Just off the top of my head, I'd say it would be fun to upload a photograph of someone you see as a character in one of your books. Morph it and see how a change in age and/or ethnicity affects your perception of your character. It might even help you crystallize vague ideas about your character, make specific and detailed choices. It might help you enliven a character who seems asleep on the page. If nothing else, it'll provide at least 15 minutes of happy distraction!

Here's the long form of the link:
http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//Transformer/index.html

Best wishes for healthy fun and creative distraction!

Continuing Education
By Angela Henry

I’m constantly amazed on a daily basis about how much I still have to learn about the ins and outs of the publishing biz. Fortunately, for those of us with inquiring minds, there is a ton of info online made available by people in the know. Here are some of my favorites:

Pub Rants is the blog of literary agent Kristen Nelson. Nelson dispenses wisdom, knowledge, advice, and industry insight from an agent’s perspective. She even posts sample query letters by some of her clients as examples of what kinds of queries caught her eye as well as sample pitch letters she’s sent to editors.

Ever wonder what happens to your book after a publisher acquires it? Then Pimp My Novel is the blog for you. Written by an anonymous person who works in the sales department of a major publisher, blog topics include explanations of such mysterious publishing terms as Nielsen Bookscan, Sell through, and just what it means when your book has been skipped.

As someone who has a project currently on submission, The Intern has been an invaluable blog. Written by an actual unpaid intern at a publishing company, this blog covers what happens after your manuscript arrives in a publisher’s mail room, what goes on in those editorial meetings, and why who your manuscript is addressed to can make all the difference in the world. Good stuff.

EReads is the blog of agent Richard Curtis. Okay, full disclosure, Richard is actually my agent and he happens to be one hell of an insightful man when it comes to the publishing biz. Some of the posts on his blog are actually essays he wrote twenty or more years ago and are almost scary in their accuracy in predicting publishing’s current downward slide.

Now, go forth and be informed!

I Just Fell in Love ... With A Website
By Persia Walker

Debbie Ridpath Ohi's wonderful site, InkyGirl.com, promises a slew of daily diversions for writers. That's an understatement. With cheerful comics and inspirational bits of news, Ohi will not only help you happily distract yourself, but also, somehow, actually get you to writing more than you thought you could!



Right now, she's urging folks to take on the 500-Words-A-Day Challenge. (We just missed the 10,000-Words-In-A-Day Challenge! Whew!) Take a break from your writing. Go on over to InkyGirl.com, get refreshed, get inspired, and have fun.

Tweet Tweet!
By Angela Henry

I finally broke down and joined the Twitter revolution. I'll be tweeting about my MystNoir blog updates as well as book stuff and whatever else that comes to mind. So click the link below and follow me, pretty please!


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The Way Back: Blog # 7
By Gammy L. Singer

To be on top is a tenuous position—the bottom, tenuous--and the middle is mostly unrewarding. Who would want to be a writer? That’s an underlying theme of Olivia Goldsmith’s (The First Wives Club? died of complications of plastic surgery at age 54?) 1996 novel, BESTSELLER. Why hadn’t I read this book before? If I had, would I have become a writer? Oh hell, probably. For the same reason people become actors, or dancers, or artists—they’re built that way, in the genes, in the destiny. Whatevah!

I discovered the book on my weekly trek to my local library. There it was, sitting quite unremarkably on a shelf. I was of course drawn by the title. See? Titles do count. The color was eye-catching too, pink and red. What do those colors say? Pink, a woman’s book. Red, expect some spice. Well, it is a dishy book, exposing the underbelly of publishing.

When I started reading I didn’t want to interrupt to figure out who was actual and who was made up, (but it required some mind-muscle to figure out who was who, not knowing all the super-players in the book world), but the author provided an index of all names, pages of names which thudded with name-dropping regularity throughout the book. Authors, publishers, editors intermingled with fictional ones, and the revelations so dicey I figured, well, those people had to be fictional. Not true.

Underneath the title on the cover, the copy says, “Every Book Has a Story,” and that’s what the premise is. The stories of five authors, whose writings range from the literary to the profane. Five authors, five lives—oops, one is dead, but her mother pushed the book to publication, she's alive. There’s also a publisher, Gerald Ochs Davis (G.O.D.) who insists on publishing himself and giving himself a million dollar advance, and then plays with the numbers, rifling book sales from midlist as well as bestselling authors. There's also a “good” underdog editor and a crazed one. It’s wild reading, guys. You ought to check it out. Very eye-opening for this author, with publishing practices put in the context of these character's lives. Interesting reading.

Loved all the quotes heading each chapter, by writers, or about writers and writing. Had to sort out the fictional from the real there as well. For instance, this quote is attributed to G.O.D.--see above--and I had to figure out if it was a real publisher--see below.
“The year I returned to active publishing there were five varied manuscripts submitted to Davis & Dash; five manuscripts, each by a different author, each with different aspirations. All five made the enormous jump from unpublished manuscript to published book, but only one among them was destined to make the next leap to become the bestseller.”

Some other yuks, randomly chosen quotes from the book.

Chapter 51.
“Let every eye negotiate for itself, and trust no agent.” -William Shakespeare-

Chapter 56
“The publisher is a middleman, he calls the tune to which the whole rest of the trade dances, and he does so because he pays the piper. –Geoffrey Fisher-

Chapter 27
“A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The waste basket has evolved for a reason.” – Margaret Atwood-

Chapter 66
“An absolutely necessary part of a writer’s equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.” -Irwin Shaw-

Chapter 34
“I’d like to have money. And I’d like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that’s too adorable, I’d rather have money.” –Dorothy Parker-

What I gleaned from the novel’s subtext. Fear operates at every level, through every human being. But each of us is in charge of ourselves, after all. We can choose to be fearful on this path, or not. I choose not. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!

I will not be fearful--on my way back!