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First Signing

April 18, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , ,
Monica Stoner, Member at Large

Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America gives their authors roses for each sale. As a member many years ago, I dreamed of the day I’d stand up at the front to receive my rose, and my acceptance speech. Eventually I decided those would only be dreams. Until I saw an e-mail stating: “Black Opal Books is actively looking for new and special manuscripts.” What the heck, I thought. Might as well be rejected by a new press as an established press. I did a final polish, had a few critical friends beta read, and sent it off. There were dog shows in Phoenix, and I actively avoided looking for computer connections to check while we were gone.

Come Monday, I turned on the computer, connected to my e-mail, and began to scroll messages. And–what? A message from “editor” at “blackopalbooks.” Wow, this would be the fastest rejection I’d ever had. Oh well, might as well get it over with.

“We like your book, and would like to publish it.” I stared at the screen. Turned off the e-mail program. Started it again. “We like your book and would like to publish it.” Still the same words. So I printed it out, just in case it was a computer glitch. Yep, it said the same thing. So I called my husband into the room. He looked at the screen, looked at me, and said, “Cool.” Just to be sure, I sent the excerpt to my friends, whom I see once or twice a year, and stay in touch electronically. They concurred, and sent virtual high fives.

It took twenty four hours to decide if I would accept the offer. Actually it took ten seconds, but I pretended to need to think about it. Yeah, right. I was valiantly attempting to follow the advice given in so many lectures and on line discussions. In actual fact I intended to grab for the brass ring and enjoy the ride. Which I did.
The day “My Killer My Love”came out was the day my husband was admitted to the hospital and the next eight months were a challenge on all levels. He lost the battle with cancer and diabetes in January of the next year, and in the months since then I’ve learned to readjust and rebuild. Come April of this year, events combined to bring me to Southern California, including a Saluki specialty held in Tom’s honor, a gathering of our dog friends after the show, and another gathering for his family, non dog friends, and former students. This would help close many of the connections he had made throughout his life.

And, yes, it was the same weekend as the Orange County meeting. I could have my first book signing among the people who had the greatest effect on my life as a writer. What would be better? Too bad it was the same weekend as the RT Convention in Chicago, but so many of those I remembered from before were still in California.

The roses came home with me and are in a Mikasa vase one of the dogs won years ago. One rose for “My Killer My Love,” the book I signed in April. One for “Teach Me To Forget,” coming out in May, just a few weeks from now. Life does go on.

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e-magings: Show Don’t Hide: The Necessary Pilcrow

April 16, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , ,
Last year, when my writing partner, Anne Farrell, and I decided to reissue our Precious Gem as an e-book, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I had to convert our messy, oft-changed, WordPerfect manuscript into a clean Word document. I’d always preferred WordPerfect, suing Word only when absolutely necessary, and knew very little about the program. Thanks to the useful Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker, I learned how to format paragraphs that automatically indent and I became acquainted with the Show/Hide feature in Word that reveals the document formatting.

I figured I was the only dummy in the writing game who didn’t know that, but it turns out, I wasn’t. Like a lot of older writers, I grew up in the typewriter era. So for any other Luddites out there, this is how you turn on Show/Hide. Click on the pilcrow (the little paragraph symbol at the left of the image) to reveal your formatting.


Another thing I learned is to never use tabs to begin a paragraph. In the example below I added a Tab before the second sentence, as shown by the little right-facing arrow. To remove all Tabs from a doc file, click in Find, type in ^t and Replace them all with nothing. In a blink of an eye, all your Tabs will disappear.


There’s a lot more to formatting a book for self-publishing, and I do recommend the free Smashwords Syle Guide to anyone who is thinking of doing so. Anne and I were able to get our book uploaded and Lex Valentine made us a fabulous cover, which I’d like to share. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Children’s librarian Amanda Lloyd values privacy above all else. Three years ago her wedding ended in disaster when her groom was arrested at the altar and the story of the ‘Embezzler’s Bride’ appeared in the supermarket tabloids. The experience has left her determined to avoid being caught in the public eye again. Until she meets a sexy single dad with a scandalous past.

Ex-racer Mitch Delaney is a public figure whose life has been plastered across the tabloids more than once. But he believes that anything worth doing is worth a risk, and he wants Amanda in his life. But when they draw the attention of the tabloids, his custody of his son is threatened. Amanda has waited twenty-eight years for the right man. But will happiness come at too high a price?

(Previously published as Private Affair, Kensington Precious Gem #121 by Lyn O’Farrell)

There’s more about Worth The Risk at my website, including an excerpt.

Linda Mac aka Lyndi Lamont

Websites:
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FINDING YOUR VOICE

April 15, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

“I don’t even have to see the cover of the book to know I’m reading one of your novels.”
That was the nicest compliment a reader has ever paid me. After years of practice, success and failures, constantly trying to improve my writing, it was wonderful to know that I had finally crossed a threshold: I had found my voice. For other arts, voice is almost instantly identifiable. Fine artists, for instance, communicate through color choice and brush stroke; for musicians it is in melody and instrumentation. For writers creating a recognizable voice is a bit trickier.
Our art cannot be covered up by color nor enhanced by sound; it cannot be appreciated with a mere glance or as background to another chore. A reader must invest time, attention and money to appreciate our work. These limitations make voice critical to our success in an increasingly crowded field. If we do not connect with our reader, drawing them in with our words, format construction and storytelling, they will dismiss us and move on to someone who does.
Voice is personal and intimate. Writing in a true voice puts the author on a limb and opens her to both praise and criticism. We wouldn’t write if we weren’t willing to take a chance that our voice will touch someone, move them to action, make them think, make them cry, but it is a gamble whether our most honest voice will be appreciated. If you’re ready to take a bold step, to write with abandon, to search for your true voice, here are a few thoughts that might help you find it.
Identify what you love about your favorite author. Is it pace? Characterization? Expository talent? Emulate, never copy, her style. A reader doesn’t want a cookie cutter author; they want a refreshing voice that reminds them of their favorite author.
Recognize your verbal comfort zone. Some authors embrace analogy, metaphore and any number of literary conceits; some don’t. If you’re comfortable with short clipped sentences in the vernacular, embrace that style and make it yours.
Establish your energy level. Does your first sentence slap your reader upside the head, or do you prefer a long, slow climb that settles the reader before you let them into the fray? Whichever it is, don’t let anyone try to change that.
Voice is not just a writing style it is point of view that is shared in dialogue choices, character and plot development.
Be proud of your voice. There is no right voice for an author or a genre. Evidence? Epic romances share space with glitz and glamour and all of it gave rise to chic lit. Each author’s voice was valid in the genre in its heyday, and each was unique and fresh when they hit the scene so do not discount yours if it doesn’t match the mainstream.

It is your job to discover your voice. Explore it. Nurture it. Refine it. Claim it. Present it. Be proud of it.

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Cover Art Corner

April 14, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as ,

Today, I’m starting a quarterly series on cover art. I’ll be asking for people to send me questions which I will answer in future posts. To start out, I’ll give you all some information on who I am and who I do covers for.

For those of you who don’t know me, I write under the pen name Lex Valentine, but before there was a Lex there was a Winter. Winter’s been around on the internet since the early 90’s. That’s when a friend got her the domain name winterheart.com. (Yes, I really have had the domain for more than 15 years!) Winter has also been messing around with websites and photo manipulation for about that long although not in any real serious way.

So, now we’ve established that I go by both Lex and Winter and that I’ve had winterheart.com a long time, I want to roll the calendar forward to 2006 or so. I started writing in a serial story online and we gathered photos of celebs to depict our characters. I ended up making banners and avatars for the characters and learned to swap heads on photos. (Guess whose head was swapped on that image of “Al & Lex”, two characters from the serial story?) This is really where I started learning Photoshop. I took a couple of classes that the company I worked for paid for, but really, what I learned was all trial, lots of error, and some video tutorial watching on YouTube.

When I was first published, my publisher at Pink Petal Books was ecstatic to learn I knew Photoshop and I started doing covers for her, including all my own covers. Over the years since then I’ve started doing covers for MLR Press and it’s imprints Passion in Print and Featherweight Press. I’ve also recently begun doing covers for MuseItUp too.

Last year one of my covers for Pink Petal Books won an EPIC ARIANA Award for best erotic contemporary cover. Competition is fierce in the ARIANAs and I was honored to win one. I’ve had numerous covers final but there is nothing like winning!

Currently, I do a lot of work for authors who are self-publishing the books they get their rights back to. A couple of weekends back, I did a total of 13 covers! Well, it did include two series with similar covers but it was still a lot of work.

At any rate, what I do involves a lot of communication with the author. I use the information I get about the book to come up with a cover that is visually appealing while still conveying something of the story inside. This isn’t always easy to do. Some authors have a very clear vision in their head of what their cover should look like, regardless of whether they have an artistic eye or not. They want what they want. I try to give authors what they want whether I think it’s appealing or not because the most gorgeous cover that I think will sell lots of books may not be at all what the author wants for his/her book. And if the author isn’t happy with it, no matter how beautiful it is, they will treat it like it’s ugly and unhappy authors don’t say complimentary things about cover artists.

I really like it when the author gives me a sense of the book without telling me what to put on the cover. I like a little freedom to create something I think will appeal to those who look at it. It’s a tough line to walk though and authors can be all over the charts in terms of how easy or difficult they are to work with.

In the end, what I really want is for the cover to sell books. I want the author and publisher to be so happy with sales that they are happy to work with me again.

I’m going to close today with a slideshow of covers I’ve made. I want you all to look at them and think about them and what makes them appealing or not appealing to you. And then I want you to comment on this post or email me with questions or comments about the covers and what you liked or didn’t like and why. I’m going to take all those comments and use them to tailor my next post about cover art.

Until next time,

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April Calls for Submissions & Adams Media

April 3, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as ,

 A member of OCC/RWA sent me the Adams Media guidelines. They may not sound instantly familiar, but I’m sure you’ve heard of the Cup of Comfort series.  
Adams Media Romance Guidelines

Our new direct-to-ebook romance imprint is launching soon! We’re open to romance submissions in five popular subgenres: romantic suspense, contemporary, paranormal, historical, and erotic romance.

Within those subgenres, we are flexible about what happens. It’s romance, so there must be a happily-ever-after, but we’re open to how your characters get there. You won’t come up against preconceived ideas about what can or can’t happen in romance or what kind of characters you can or can’t have. Our only rule is everyone has to be a consenting adult. Other than that, we’re looking for smart, savvy heroines, fresh voices, and new takes on old favorite themes.

We’re looking for full-length novels, and while we prefer to work on the shorter end of the spectrum (50,000 words, give or take), we’re not going to rule you out because you go shorter or longer.

If you have a finished novel you’d like for us to consider, please just drop editor Jennifer Lawler a line at editorcrimson@gmail.com with a brief description of your work–please, no attachments until I know you’re not a spambot. That’s it! I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can–within a few days for queries and within a few weeks if I request a full.
http://www.adamsmedia.com/call-for-submissions?et_mid=544028&rid=3006668
COVET  Submission Guidelines

We’re seeking paranormal stories with fresh voices, between 60 and 70K words in length. Stories need a romantic trope and an alpha hero at their core, with paranormal elements woven into the storyline. For example, a story could have the best friends to lovers trope and the best friend happens to be a vampire. The paranormal element is secondary to the trope and shouldn’t eclipse their growing relationship.
Covet will cater to everything from Greek gods, to witches, to vampires, open door and closed door sex scenes, funny and dark. Voices like Erin McCarthy, Shelly Laurenston, Gena Showalter, and Nalini Singh are good examples of the kind of exciting, fast-paced voices, which will appeal most to Covet readers.
Specifically, we want:
·      Quality storytelling that engages the reader and transports them to another world or time
·      Dynamic, engaging dialogue
·      Lush worlds and environments
·      Fast-paced stories
·      Active story lines. A minimum of narrative sequel.
·      Stories focused on the heroine and hero falling in love; their trope is the main focus. The paranormal/fantasy element is the secondary focus.
·      Bold authors who aren’t afraid to push creative boundaries
·      Prolific authors who can write three to four books a year are a plus
·      Manuscripts must be 60-70k words in length
We accept both agented and unagented submissions, though agented submissions receive first priority.
http://www.entangledinromance.com/2012/03/06/introducing-covet-our-new-paranormal-category-line/
Secret Cravings
This new line of romance will feature the hero or heroine with a disability. They can be military hurt in combat and now need a wheelchair, someone with a spinal cord injury, someone with hearing loss, blind, etc.
Secret Cravings Publishing is taking submissions of short stories of up to 5k – 10k words for a onetime payment of $50-$100 depending on the length of the manuscript. Any genre; steamy to Burn the page erotic stories wanted. These stories will be released individually with their own cover. One each Saturday of the week. Submissions will be ongoing—no deadline. Check our general submission guidelines for things we do not take. Send submissions to submissions@secretcravingspublishing.com
Crimson Anthology
The Breathless Press Crimson anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, and be original stories. There is no other theme besides having something to do with vampires. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. Deadline: Feb. 4, 2012 – July 31, 2012. Published: Feb. 1, 2013. http://www.breathlesspress.com/Page/submissions#Themes
Warriors of Rome
Help Riptide Publishing launch their Historical Warriors line with gay and trans stories about warriors during the time of the Roman Empire. Stories can focus on Rome (from the Eternal City to its provinces), or on Rome’s enemies. Explore barracks life with Roman Legionnaires and their officers, or follow Germanic tribes and Gauls as they rise up against the invaders. Let us fight alongside the Persians and Carthaginians, or join forces as auxiliaries and allies with the glory of Rome.
Of course, soldiers weren’t the only ones to take up arms. Gladiators fought and often died for the entertainment of the masses. So too did slaves to earn their freedom, and simple farmers to protect their land against the Roman invaders. We’d love to hear their stories, as well.
We’re seeking historicals for this call, which means research is crucial. Our editors will only select stories that are faithful to the period in which they are set. If you use paranormal elements or magical realism, be sure they fit into the time period; conquerors and conquerees alike have their superstitions, of course, and we welcome those elements as secondary—but not primary—foci in your submissions. All levels of eroticism are welcome and erotic content is encouraged, but sex is no substitute for the plot, character, and worldbuilding we’re seeking for this call.
Length: 25,000 to 35,000 words, or 50,000+ words;
Genres: Historical (some supernatural elements allowed);
Heat Levels: Any;
Ending: Any;
Orientation: Gay or trans;
Submissions Due: May 15, 2012;
Acceptance Letters Sent By: July 1, 2012 for novellas, July 15, 2012 for novels;
Anticipated Release Date: December 2012. Submit to: submissions@riptidepublishing.com. For more information, visit http://www.riptidepublishing.com 
 
— Louisa Bacio
Love Knows No Bounds

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