Writers in the Storm

Linda O. Johnston is the author of 27 published novels, with more to come.  She currently writes the Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, a spinoff series from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries, also for Berkley.   The second Pet Rescue Mystery, THE MORE THE TERRIER, will be an October release.   She additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne--the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters. The next in the series, GUARDIAN WOLF, is an August release.

Thanks for joining us here at Writers in the Storm, Linda.  And thank you for offering your latest Pet-Sitter mystery, HOWL DEADLY , to someone who comments on your blog.  So, Writers in the Storm readers, comment and suggest away to get your name in the hat for the drawing of HOWL DEADLY.  One entry per person (though we'd love you to comment more than once!)  We'll post the name of the lucky winner next Wednesday at the top of the blog.  Good luck--and happy reading!

This is my first blog for Writers in the Storm and hopefully it won’t be my last.  I thought that networking would be an appropriate topic, since that’s one reason I’m here.  I know some of the Writers in the Storm bloggers thanks to my own networking.

Writing is a solitary profession.  Many writers have day jobs and continue them while they write.  Others, like me, end their day jobs.  I’m a lawyer, and I used to take on a lot of part-time law projects when I stopped lawyering full time.  Now, those projects are harder to get, although I love them when I can find them.  Meantime, writing keeps me quite busy.

Which means I work alone a lot of the time.

That’s one reason I belong to so many writing organizations.  I’m a member of Romance Writers of America and attend meetings of two local chapters: the Orange County, California, chapter, and the Los Angeles Romance Authors.  I also belong to Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America, and attend meetings of their local chapters.  I’m also a member of the Thriller Writers of America.

I additionally attend writing conferences.  I recently enjoyed the Romance Writers of America National Conference at the end of June in New York City .  This year, I’ve also attended Malice Domestic, for cozy mystery fans and authors, in the Washington , D.C. , area, as well as the California Crime Writers Conference, held early in June jointly by the local Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America chapters.

At each of these events, I meet other published authors, aspiring authors, and readers--and enjoy them all!  Plus, I learn more about the market, what’s selling and what isn’t.  I learn a lot and, I hope, also help to teach others what I know about our profession.

If you’re a writer, published or not, I strongly urge you to network.  To join at least one writing organization and attend meetings.  If you don’t live in an area where it’s easy to get to meetings, most of the organizations have online chapters, and that kind of networking is fun and helpful, too.  I also recommend that you join a critique group.

When asked which of the organizations I’d recommend most, I always say it’s the Romance Writers of America if you’re a fiction writer, whether or not you write romance.  That’s because the group is great at inspiring and encouraging writers.  It helps at whatever level of your career you happen to be.

Of course, reading blogs by other writers is a form of networking, too, especially if you comment.  So, please comment on this blog!  I’ll even encourage you by holding a drawing where one commenter can win a copy of HOWL DEADLY, the eighth in my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries in which Lauren Vancouver, protagonist of my new Pet Rescue Mysteries, is introduced.

If you have any ideas for future topics you’d like to see me write about here, at Writers in the Storm, please let me know in a comment, too.  You can also visit me at my website, www.LindaOJohnston.com, or friend me on Facebook.  I also blog every Wednesday at KillerHobbies.blogspot.com.  No, I don’t tweet yet on Twitter, but maybe someday.

So, how do you network? Your experience may be the spark for someone else! Besides, it will  enter you for a chance to win her latest Pet-Sitter book, HOWL DEADLY.

Charlotte Carter joins us today with some inside tips for writing continuity series.  I was thinking there would be spreadsheets and teeth-gnashing, but she makes it sound almost easy.  Almost.

Anyway, for those of you who have an interest along this line (no pun intended) she's got some valuable tips for you to consider.  And as usual, she makes it seem like a fun thing to do.

Hi, all. Charlotte Carter here.

The key to writing a continuity series is communication and keeping close track of the details.

In the course of my 20 years of writing fiction, I’ve authored several author-created continuities and connected books. They’re fun to write and readers enjoy revisiting characters they’ve come to love. Keeping track of the details is almost easy; only occasionally does a character change eye color from one book to another. Oops!

In the past few years - in addition to writing for Love Inspired - I’ve been writing continuity series for Guideposts Books, most of them cozy mysteries.

These continuities are BIG. Some run as long as 30 individual, related books.

The recent Hope Haven Hospital series had a guide (or bible - note lower case) 55-pages long. The guide includes information about the characters - height, eye color, occupation, what kind of car they drive, etc. This series has a cast, almost literally, of thousands, all of whom have spouses, children and relatives a’plenty. Worse, for each book three months pass. They’re getting older, retiring, marrying, having babies. (Envision author with crossed eyes.)

To add to the complexity, Guideposts series have multiple authors, typically six, and more if the series continues for several years. This is where COMMUNICATION comes in. Nowadays, that’s usually via a Yahoo group.

If I’m writing book #3 in the series, the author of book #1 has just completed her book. I need to know if that author has described Jane’s house or the church Jane attends. While she can and often does share that information with me and the other authors, the editor hasn’t yet approved the descriptions or maybe Jane’s odd habit of chewing gum. That tidbit of information has not yet been added to the guide.

YIKES!

I write merrily on my way, a wad of gum in Jane’s mouth. By the time my book is in the editor’s hands, she tells me in rewrites that Jane no longer chews gum.

SAY WHAT? I’ve used Jane’s gum to stick an important clue to the bottom of Jane’s shoe. Now I have to go through the entire manuscript ridding Jane of her favorite mint-flavored gum plus find a clever way for Jane to discover the critical clue that used to be stuck to her shoe. (Ah, the next door neighbor kid chews gum, drops a piece in a critical spot and voilá! Jane finds the clue. Whew....)

So, you may ask, what are the Pros and Cons of writing a continuity of this sort?

First, the flat rate paid is comparable to the earn out for most category romances. Once you’re on the team, the work is steady as long as the series continues. It’s also a creative challenge to take someone else’s characters, locale and storyline and make it your own. Unlike stand-alone books, the publisher does all the promotion, which allows the author to concentrate on what she does best – write. I really like that. I also enjoy getting to know talented authors.

The most obvious con is that many authors want to write THEIR story, not someone else’s.  Deadlines are tight. If an author doesn’t write fast or procrastinates, she’ll be in trouble down the line.

I should also mention, in the case of Guideposts Books, the publisher invites experienced authors to participate in a series and there is often an audition chapter required.

In my case, I get the best of both worlds – the steady and interesting challenge of writing books in a complicated series and the fun of writing my own stories for Love Inspired, sometimes even connected books such as Big Sky Reunion (4/2011) and Big Sky Family (11/2011).

What is it about reading a series or connected books that appeals to you?

Happy reading...
Char
Charlotte Carter
www.CharlotteCarter.com

This week’s Sensational Summer Friday guest post is from Sue Grimshaw!

Sue was the romance book buyer for Borders and Waldenbooks stores for more than a decade. As of April this year, Sue is Ballantine Bantam Dell’s Category Specialist & Editor At Large.

A highly sought after expert in her field, Sue has consulted with publishers for many years. Over the last decade, she has been an honored speaker for romance writers and readers at numerous conferences and workshops. You might remember her as the host of the “Borders True Romance” program where she interviewed the world’s most accomplished Romance writers. 

Bonus: Click here to see Sue in action during her fabulous interview with Nora Roberts. 

At BBD, Sue is working primarily with the digital end of the business thus learning how to ride the waves of the changes that are ongoing of late in the romance industry. Below is a summary, in her own words, of her amazing journey.

Life’s Funny Changes . . .by Sue Grimshaw 

First of all, I must thank Laura Drake for offering me some 'post' time with you all.  As we emailed back and forth about a topic, we decided you all might be interested in hearing about my 'Life's Funny Change,' from bookseller to editor!  So here it goes . . .

January 2011, I received a call from a publisher (name withheld so as not to incriminate anyone), asking how I was, would I be ok and so forth.  I thought, wow, how kind of them to contact me to see how I was holding up (because as far as I knew things were still fine at Borders).  I thought they must be misinformed because we were doing great – ordering books, shipping and selling them. 

That afternoon, we had a town hall meeting within our organization, announcing that we were unable to pay our bills, however, employees will be paid.  Oh My.  That is when I first realized that bankruptcy was indeed looming.

So, now I’m thinking – oh crap!  I should have been more aggressive and discussed opportunities with said publisher (hindsight and all that).

The next day, another publisher called, asking if I’d be interesting in submitting a proposal for a job.  I said, YES.

February 13^th, evening  – after 3 weeks, I was still working on my proposal for said publisher. I had also been working on my resume, getting it up to snuff.  Sadly, however, I was working myself into a tizzy worrying about where I’d go, what I’d do, etc. 

That evening, my husband and I talked about my options. I said, “Why can’t someone hire me to work on the internet, managing their website, doing their social media, and also be willing to train me to acquire and edit books?” 

Of course, Bill told me to get my head out of the clouds and we continued to discuss other options.

February 16^th, 2011, bankruptcy was announced . . . statistics show that only 10% ever make it out of that nasty hole, so I knew it was time to make a job change.  I was still working on my resume and proposal and was, unfortunately, behind schedule. 

I was trying really hard to compile my talents, and thinking I had little to offer:

• I sell books to readers
• I promote them on a blog site and do videos
• I travel and speak to authors
• I work with publishers to suggest authors for their lists, etc. 

On top of it all, the market sucked, book retailers were downsizing and digital retailers wanted someone with an HTML background . . . and, I’m not able to relocate. 

 The ‘tizzy’ was getting the best of me.

February 17^th: call from NYC publisher with a ‘job offer’ — the ‘job offer.’  I swear, to this day, I think there was a microphone in our living room, because when Scott (the publisher) called me and told me about the job available at BBD, it was nothing less than what my husband and I had just talked about that Sunday night . . .blessed?  Yes.

Well, you know the rest.  I did have other wonderful offers, but bottom line for me was that I really wanted to become an editor – that was the KEY selling point.

So now, here I am, Category Specialist & Editor At Large, for Ballantine Bantam Dell.  I work from home in Michigan and travel to NYC monthly.  I continue to travel and speak at various RWA chapter groups, and reader groups too.  Life is busy, fun and I’m learning soooooooooooooooooooo much!

I totally loved my job as a bookseller – the years I spent with Borders were the best.  But life has its funny changes and my new role at BBD could not be any better.  I work for an amazing company that has an amazing team that is willing to work together and support one another.  Our goal is to be the best, all of us, not just any one person, we are a team and that ROCKS for me.

I’ve had just 4 months under my belt at BBD, so things are still new.  Our Romance At Random website launched on 6/28 with the introduction of our new LOVESWEPT line.

LOVESWEPT will be re-launching 8 titles in August, with new titles monthly. Our brand new title, releasing in November, is BECAUSE OF YOU by Jessica Scott  (the first book in her COMING HOME SERIES). 

I’m working with our editing team now on line edits – those are interesting . . . BBD is all about quality, so I am getting the best training around.  There is a lot to learn about editing . . .  some of it is intuitive, some is opinion and some is craft.  I’m thrilled to have this opportunity. 

Elisabeth Barrett is another debut author in our LOVESWEPT line – her books publish in 2012.  And there are two more authors who are now accepting contracts, as our list continues to grow.

 

Why is Romance at Random exciting for writers?

The LOVESWEPT line is a digital first published imprint, with books ranging from 30K to 90K words, retailing from $2.99 to $4.99.  Like the LOVESWEPT’S of old, the imprint is author focused, meaning that our goal is to grow these authors into some of the new, big best sellers wihtin our print and digital lines.  We are also reviewing our LOVESWEPT backlist for reissue.  

I must say, we’ve been overwhelmed with the positive feedback from our industry —  everyone has a LOVESWEPT that they love and remember. These LS fans are as energized as we are to bring back the line, with old favorites and new authors.

Why is Romance at Random exciting for readers?

The Romance At Random website is a perfect opportunity for us to create a community of romance readers and exchange ideas about books, promotion, authors, and so on.  Every week, 5 randomly chosen commenter’s win a FREE book, winners are posted on Sundays.  I’ve noticed so many of my friends from the Borders True Romance site joining us at Romance At Random, which is extremely gratifying for me. 

We are working on all sorts of plans to generate excitement and traffic to the site, in order to offer our readers something unique and special, that they can’t get everywhere else.  Bottom line: Romance At Random is a romance community for all to come and enjoy.

Future plans are to attend ROMCON in Denver CO, August 5-9. I think reader events are the way to go – especially with the new digital frontier. Then it's on to New Zealand August 16!  I’m becoming the world traveler, LOL!

Well, you know the old saying, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’  For me, there is no truer statement —  I’m proof positive that you can!   Who knew a bookseller could one day grow up to be an editor!

Thanks for having me at Writers In The Storm!  So, now you’ve heard my saga . . . do you have one of your own? One of life’s funny changes?

Happy Romance!
SueG

Sue Grimshaw ∙ Category Specialist & Editor at Large∙ Random House Publishing Group
www.romanceatrandom.com
http://www.facebook.com/RomanceAtRandom