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Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened is one of the absolute best debut romances I have come across in all my years [...]]]> Updated: The winners are  1) 3beans;  2) Patti;  3) Jane A;  4) Clementine;  5) Maya S.;  6) Mia;  7) peggy h;  8) Willa;  9) Loosheesh;  10) Camilla

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Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened is one of the absolute best debut romances I have come across in all my years (and they are many) of reading romances. When I was reading it I was reminded of novels like Judith Ivory’s Black Silk, Pam Rosenthal’s The Slightest Provocation and Patricia Gaffney’s Wyckerley trilogy; books that didn’t flinch from putting their characters in thorny situations; books which portrayed communities; thoughtful, often introspective books in which each word was carefully chosen.

At the same time, I also thought A Lady Awakened was unlike any other romance I’d read before. The morning after I started reading it, I began sending Jane emails containing the following sentiments:

I only had time to read the first chapter last night but I was so wowed by it that I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about how amazing it was.

I’ve just gotten to the end of chapter five. I can’t get over how much I’m enjoying this book.

I don’t get the feeling of this author taking her cues from anyone else; it’s like she’s bringing out her own ways of seeing, voicing them in an arrangement of words that no one else could compose. Being completely true to her vision.

Such smart writing, I just admire this book so much.

Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to interview Ms. Grant. Below are her answers to my many questions.

Janine: Tell us a little bit about how you got started writing. Also, how did you come to write in the romance genre? What made you realize this was the genre for you?

Cecilia Grant: I have a supremely non-inspirational “How I Became a Romance Author” story. I wasn’t one of those kids who was writing from the time I could grip a pencil; nor did I spend my adolescence swiping Johanna Lindsey or Rosemary Rogers off a relative’s shelf. (Not when there were the truly eye-popping Harold Robbins and Sidney Sheldon to be swiped instead.)

The sorry truth is that well into adulthood I decided on a whim to try writing, and I picked historical romance because I figured that was as close as I could get to the sprawling, wordy 19th-century studies of domestic life that were what I really wanted to write.

After a few pompous, ill-researched, frankly godawful efforts that were stamped all over with my ignorance of the genre (I think at this point I had read maybe three actual romances in my life), it dawned on me that romance must have requirements beyond being a story in which a couple of people fall in love. So I started reading them and, maybe even more importantly, found the online community and started to really think about the genre and its place in the world of literature as well as in the culture at large.

You know that thing Jane Austen said, about working with a fine brush on a two-inch bit of ivory? I suspect that resonates with a lot of romance authors the same way it does with me. There’s something poignant, hopeful, subversive, and defiant, all at once, about choosing so small a canvas as the emotional intersection of a couple of individuals. It’s a way of asserting the importance of things that are so often dismissed as trivial. Falling in love does matter. The private dramas of the human heart do matter. People who died hundreds of years ago, and never left a mark on history – their lives matter.

Janine: What was your road to publication like? Was there a lot of rejection along the way?

Cecilia Grant: Not a lot of rejection, but not a lot of risking rejection, either. I was writing for years before my ferocious internal editor (who moonlights as a ferocious pre-emptive slush-pile gatekeeper) allowed me to send anything out, and even then it was only after I’d finaled in a contest and had some manuscript requests. Then, when four requests met with four rejections, she ordered me to scuttle that book and start writing something better. Which turned out to be A Lady Awakened.

Janine: Describe A Lady Awakened in a few sentences.

Cecilia Grant: Desperate to keep her estate, and housemaids, out of her brother-in-law’s hands, strait-laced widow Martha Russell recruits scapegrace neighbor Theo Mirkwood to help her conceive a child that she can pass off as her late husband’s. What ought to be a simple, straightforward bargain turns out to be anything but, as the two clash on everything from bedroom expectations to the importance of duty to the merits of Mrs. Edgeworth’s Belinda.

But with mandated daily proximity, they eventually begin to glimpse one another’s better qualities. And that’s when things get complicated.

Janine: What was the genesis of A Lady Awakened?

Cecilia Grant: I think it began with my love for really over-the-top romance plotlines. I’d come across a few books with the “desperate widow + virile stranger = fraudulent heir” premise, and, fabulous as it is, I couldn’t help thinking that in real life it would be a recipe for the most awkward, excruciatingly un-sexy sex you could imagine.

Then it struck me that awkward, un-sexy sex could make a great hole for a hero and heroine to have to dig themselves out of. So for maximum awkwardness I cast the story with a pair of opposites: a sober-minded woman impatient with indulgence of any kind, and a straight-up man-whore who thinks their bargain will be all his dirty dreams come true.

Janine: How long did it take you to write the book, from start to finish?

Cecilia Grant: About two years, counting time wasted due to a stupid mix-up. Someone had told me I should ignore Word’s word-count figure and just assume 250 words per page, without telling me that this rule came from the days of nonproportional fonts.

I was somewhere past 100,000 words, with a quarter of the story left to tell, when I found out my mistake. I couldn’t just cut here and there – I had to restructure the whole plot. Which ultimately I think was a good thing. But I have a boatload of deleted scenes that I can’t even put up on a “deleted scenes” page on my website because they no longer make sense.

Janine: The conflict between Martha and Theo at first appears to be a conflict between responsibility and irresponsibility, as well as between sensuality and self-denial. What is it that drew you to writing about these themes?

Cecilia Grant: My subconscious probably has a more interesting answer, but consciously, all I can say is that the themes, like pretty much everything else in my writing, came directly out of the characters. As I constructed Martha and Theo, and put them through their paces, these were the issues they kept returning to, and this was the ground on which they wanted to clash.

Janine: Let’s talk a little bit about the awakening theme. One of the things I loved about this book was that Martha’s awakening wasn’t so much an awakening to sexual pleasure, but rather an awakening to possibilities she hadn’t foreseen in both her relationship with Theo and in her other relationships. I wondered as I was reading the book if you were consciously riffing on the genre convention of the sexual awakening, and whether that convention was one of the things that made you set out to write this type of arc for Martha.

Cecilia Grant: My agent came up with the title, and it initially gave me pause because I’ve been adamant from the start that this isn’t a sexual-awakening story. (Martha knows how to have an orgasm; it’s just not about to happen through intercourse with a guy she barely knows and doesn’t think much of.)

The title grew on me, though, and took on a kind of perverse, ironic logic. Partly because it’s an acknowledgment of the fact that this story premise usually would be a set-up for a sexual awakening, and partly because Theo absolutely assumes he’s going to be presiding over one of those. And then of course the story does turn out to be about awakening – to a world beyond the narrow one she’s regulated for herself; to the validity of viewpoints that don’t happen to agree with hers, etc. – just maybe not the awakening you’d first expect.

I suppose there is some riffing, mainly in their early encounters, which I think of as a sort of skirmish between a hero who knows his role by heart and a heroine who never got the script. But too much riffing gets in the way of telling the story, so I tried not to go overboard.

Janine: I’m also fascinated by the idea of the rude awakening, and in A Lady Awakened, Theo has one of those. He has had a lot of success with women in the past, so it comes as an unpleasant surprise to him that Martha is at first underwhelmed by his lovemaking. I loved those scenes because they were so different! And I wondered where you got the courage to write them. Can you talk about where they came from?

Cecilia Grant: (Courage? Uh-oh. Is this where I find out I’m the only person in Romanceland with a thing for bad sex?)

I guess the bottom line is that I just don’t think sex has to be good in order to be compelling. And sex in romance novels tends to be so relentlessly spectacular that those rare occasions when it’s otherwise have an immediate visceral appeal to me. Think of the first encounter in Anna Campbell’s Untouched, where it’s a revelation for him and… a big fat disappointing nothing for her. Or those awful flashback scenes in Sherry Thomas’s Not Quite a Husband, where he’s doing everything he can think of for her and she’s all but physically shoving him away.

It’s a genre-fiction author’s job, isn’t it, to make her characters uncomfortable; to subject them to disappointments and disasters. Why should we let them off the hook in bed? Getting naked with someone you don’t know that well can put you in a place of extreme vulnerability – What if he’s disgusted by my mismatched breasts? What if she goes and tells all her friends I only lasted thirty seconds? – and I think we’re passing up a golden opportunity if we don’t occasionally make our characters’ worst fears come true.

Janine: On one level A Lady Awakened is the story of a severe widow and the seemingly feckless son of a baronet attempting to conceive a fraudulent heir. But on another level it is a story about community, about a community coming together, and about putting community before oneself. Did you always know that the book was going to deal with this topic, and be steeped in Regency era village life, or was that something you discovered through the process of writing it?

Cecilia Grant: I had no idea, when I started, that the story would go there. But at some point I had to get them out of the bedroom and interacting with other people, and once I did that, the community started to take shape.

Also, within a few chapters it was clear that most of Martha’s flaws, the areas in which she needed to experience growth, sprang out of the fact that she was self-reliant to a fault. She didn’t trust other people’s judgment, she had an aversion to asking for help, and she didn’t know how to make friends.

So it naturally followed that a big part of her journey would be learning to recognize the value of community, and that, at that critical moment where the protagonist typically has to leave her friends behind and face down Darth Vader on her own, she would have the opposite task: to reach out to people all up and down her spectrum of acquaintance and say, “This thing I thought I could do alone, I can’t. I need your help.”

Theo’s journey dovetailed with Martha’s. He was way ahead of her in the social-skills department, but what he needed to do was step up to the responsibilities of a landowning gentleman. And for him it made sense that he’d find his way into that through caring about the individual people who depended on him. Again, that aspect of the plot really came out of the characters.

Janine: Your characters are out of the usual mold and felt very much like real people. What is your characterization process like? How do you build these people?

Cecilia Grant: It’s odd to hear readers say that, because both these characters were very broad in the initial conception. (Theo, in particular, I first started writing with a mantra of “Part Bertie Wooster, part Beavis and Butt-head.”) If they do come off as real, I suppose it might be because I try not to skimp on their flaws, particularly the petty, un-sexy flaws. So Theo is spoiled, complacent, and inclined to screw things up, while Martha is self-righteous, withholding, and a bit of a hypocrite.

As to process, because I write in close 3rd-person POV, I like to start by finding the characters’ voices. Before I knew what Theo looked like, where Martha had grown up, or what internal motivations powered them, I knew that he had a playful and sensual appreciation for words, and that she observed a formal, impersonal tone even in her private thoughts.

Once the characters have voices, they can start talking and reflecting, and then I can figure out the rest. In general, I like to follow a guideline I once saw attributed to the agent Donald Maass – “Write a heroine whose heart opens to more than the hero” – as well as my own corollary, which is “Write a hero who’s thrown off balance by more than the heroine.”

Janine: What about your plotting process? Do you begin with an outline and a complete sense of the plot, or do you begin writing and see where the story takes you?

Cecilia Grant: I’m still in search of a plotting process. I keep reading all these craft books – Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat series – and thinking, yes, I’ve discovered the secret; now I’ll be able to plot efficiently, but so far none of those methods has worked in practice for me. I just sort of wind up the characters and set them spinning and hope they pick up enough plot-lint to sustain a book. Then I go back and try to squash it into shape, with properly spaced turning points and all that.

Janine: Describe a typical writing day. How many hours do you work? How many words do you typically write in an hour?

Cecilia Grant: There’s really no such thing as a typical writing day, because my schedule varies depending on whether I’m working that day, whether it’s my turn to make dinner, whether the kids need chauffeuring someplace, etc. Of necessity I’ve learned to write ad hoc, in a notebook I always carry around, though I do dream of having my own office with a door.

My word-per-hour average is not impressive. I’m in awe of those people who can knock out a thousand words in an hour. I can spend nearly that much time writing and re-writing a single sentence.

Janine: What aspect of writing comes most easily to you, and what aspect is most challenging?

Cecilia Grant: The blank page is the most challenging. Putting something where there was nothing just daunts me to no end.

I’m not sure there’s any aspect I’d say comes easily to me, but what I enjoy most is writing moments of intimacy – which might be sex, or might be the exchange of first names – and awful, can’t-believe-this-is-happening arguments, where people are saying things they’re later going to regret.

Janine: What authors have influenced and inspired you, both in the romance genre and out?

Cecilia Grant: The writers I like best don’t tend to influence or inspire me, because they do what they do so consummately that there’s nothing for me to add in that direction, if that makes sense. The closest I come to feeling inspired is when I read certain authors – Pam Rosenthal and Alex Beecroft spring to mind – and think, “Boy, you’d better raise your game if you’re going to write in the same genre as these guys.”

Janine: Tell us a little bit about your next book, A Gentleman Undone.

Cecilia Grant: Card counting, reckless trysts, and high-octane angst, with a smattering of probability theory: Martha’s soldier brother, Will, is the hero. He’s home from Waterloo, haunted by dark secrets and debts of honor, just ripe for some determined young lady to haul him out of the darkness with the strength of her love – except instead he falls for a cold-blooded cardsharp who’s a) another man’s mistress, and b) so twisted-up and angry as to make Will look like a paragon of stability.

Here’s a mini-excerpt from an early turning point in their relationship: heroine Lydia has just shown him how she can stack a deck after a single look at all the face-up cards.

By the time he set down the king of spades he was sitting up straight, his whole face alight with such a look as Paris of Troy must have worn when those three goddesses showed up to demand he judge one of them most beautiful.

No man had ever looked at her that way. No man would likely ever do so again. But he made her insides feel like clockwork for a moment, ingenious subtle clockwork instead of fallible flesh, and it occurred to her she might stay in that moment forever, given the choice. She might bask wordless in such a transformative gaze for as many moments as remained to her life.

No. Not transformative. This was who she was, quick and gleaming and intricate. She’d known that already. Now someone else knew.

She suggests they join forces at the gaming table, and in spite of the attraction that he knows could be his undoing, he agrees. All kinds of complications ensue. Available May 29.

Janine: Do you have any more projects in the works? What can we expect in the future?

Cecilia Grant: I’m up to my elbows in the story of Martha’s and Will’s barrister brother, Nick. He’s struggling to advance his career in the wake of Will’s scandalous marriage (hope that’s not a spoiler!), while running interference in the social-climbing schemes of his mentor’s daughter, a girl who believes her rare beauty would be wasted on anything less than a viscount. I haven’t titled it yet, but it should be out in about a year.

That’s the last book of my contract, and I’m not sure yet what’s next. There’s been some talk about a prequel novella featuring the eldest Blackshear brother, and a couple of other supporting characters in the series have meanwhile been lobbying me for romances of their own. But I also have an idea for a new series, this time with a vocational instead of familial link between the books’ protagonists, so I might start on that. I’ll alert the world via Facebook, Twitter, and my blog when I know more.

Thank you so much for having me, and for the thought-provoking questions.

Janine: Thanks for answering so many questions!

A Lady Awakened is released tomorrow and Dear Author is giving away 10 copies, either print or digital to 10 random commenters.  We really believe in this book and want to get it into the homes of as many readers as possible.

Update:

Here are the winners of one of the re-released Gaffney titles:   1) Karenmc 2) Vidhya 3) Asia M 4) Evangeline Holland 5) Danielle D 6) Brenda C   7) EmilyW   8) Kathryn 9) TaraR 10) Frekki

Please scroll to the bottom to fill out the form. Thanks.

Jennie and I are the original Patricia Gaffney fangirls. Back in 1997, I read [...]]]>

Update:

Here are the winners of one of the re-released Gaffney titles:   1) Karenmc 2) Vidhya 3) Asia M 4) Evangeline Holland 5) Danielle D 6) Brenda C   7) EmilyW   8) Kathryn 9) TaraR 10) Frekki

Please scroll to the bottom to fill out the form. Thanks.

Jennie and I are the original Patricia Gaffney fangirls. Back in 1997, I read my first Gaffney, the brilliant and controversial To Have and to Hold, and proceeded to write its author an embarrassingly long and gushy fan letter. Around about 2001, we were reprimanded for discussing her books too much on the AAR boards. And, I’m not sure I should be relating this — Jennie stop me if I shouldn’t — but in those days, Jennie was fond of referring to Ms. Gaffney (along with Laura Kinsale and Judith Ivory) as part of “the Holy Trinity.”

Needless to say, when Jane emailed the two of us to tell us that some of Patricia Gaffney’s historical romances were being reissued electronically, and ask whether we were interested in doing an interview, we leapt on the chance like terriers on a gourmet dog biscuit. (Ms. Gaffney is surely worthy of a classier analogy, but the enthusiasm of a true fan knows little of class).

Here are the questions we came up with, and the author’s answers:

Janine: Open Road has recently reissued six of your historical romances in e format: Fortune’s Lady, Another Eden, Crooked Hearts, Sweet Everlasting, Lily, and Outlaw in Paradise. Are there plans to also reissue Sweet Treason, Thief of Hearts, Wild at Heart and the Wyckerley trilogy, which consists of To Love and to Cherish, To Have and to Hold and Forever and Ever?

Pat: Yes, eventually.

Janine: Any word on when those will be available as ebooks?

Pat: No, not yet. Soon, I hope.

Jennie: Do you miss writing historical romance? If so, what do you miss about it?

Pat: Well, first, I really miss being part of the Holy Trinity.

After that, I miss knowing what I’m doing.

You know there’s an f-word associated with romance. Not “formula”— framework. A romance is a courtship story with a happy ending, so I always knew, before writing a word, that I was going to have a heroine and a hero (vs. “protagonists”), they would fall in love, overcome the obstacles keeping them apart, and live happily ever after. On that framework you can hang a thousand different stories, but underneath them all, there it is, the scaffolding. Steady as a rock.

Now—now I can write anything. I can kill off your favorite character in Chapter 10! I’ve still got a framework, but it’s widened out to “tell a coherent story and try to make it interesting.” Those are really all the rules I have to go by. Which makes the whole enterprise much harder.

Janine: In a video you recently made, you discuss the way a cancer diagnosis gave you the impetus to write your first book, Sweet Treason. What was it that kept you from writing before you got that diagnosis—

Pat: Fear.

Janine: –and how did thinking you might not have long to live affect the way you viewed writing?

Pat: Nothing to lose. Fear (of failure) had kept me from even trying to write, even though it was just about all I’d wanted to do since age 8. Now I was almost out of time, with nothing to show for my life. I was horribly depressed, positive it really was curtains for me. I figured I had about two more years. Might as well go for it, try to write the sort of book I’d been having so much fun reading—historical romance novels.

Jennie: Sweet Treason has a rather controversial rape scene – how do you feel about that today? Do you think you’d write it differently today?

Pat: What can I say? It was the ’80s.

Yes, I’d write it differently now, 25 years later. But readers were different then, too, don’t forget—Sweet Treason won the Golden Heart award. She said defensively.

Janine: Fortune’s Lady was inspired by the Hitchcock movie “Notorious,” which stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. What was it about the movie that made you want to write your own version?

Pat: Oh, I love “Notorious,” especially that final scene when Cary Grant finds out evil Claude Rains and his mother have been poisoning Ingrid Bergman. So he rescues her, and they can’t stop kissing long enough to say how much they love each other, and then he carries her down the stairs while evil Claude and his mother watch helplessly as their Nazi cronies close in on them, and then Cary and Ingrid drive away and live happily ever after.

I just moved Fortune’s Lady to the 18th century and pretended it was my idea. The evil villain doesn’t try to poison the heroine, but he does try to hang her.

Janine: It’s been over a decade since I read Thief of Hearts and what I remember is that the hero impersonated the heroine’s husband, the setting was aboard a ship, which made a stop in Italy, and eventually, there was sex in a closet. How am I doing?

Pat: You’re bringing it all back to me. Keep going.

Janine: The setting of this book makes me think about your settings, which were a bit more varied than the Regency, Regency, Regency, Victorian, Regency that we get in today’s historicals. Did you have fun researching those settings, and do you have a favorite?

Pat: Some fun, but I’m not a historian, so I’d eventually get impatient to move along to the writing part. One of the nicest things about book-writing is the balance among the three components, conception, research, and composition. By the time I’d get sick of dreaming up the idea for a book, it was time to research for it, and just when I’d get sick of that, it would be time to write it. Ideal job for the short attention span.

As for the variety of settings, chalk it up to a low boredom threshold. Except for the Wyckerley trilogy, I don’t think I’ve ever set two books in the same time and place. It used to worry me. “Shouldn’t I be trying to get associated with something?” I’d ask my editor, and she’d say, “You’re getting associated with being versatile.”

Favorite setting . . . whenever women’s clothes were the prettiest. So—Regency? No, Gilded Age. I think.

Jennie: Lily was one of my early favorite romances, and still holds a warm place in my heart. Do you feel like a romance like Lily – long and tempestuous, with separations and an ultra-tortured hero – could get published today? Or has romance changed too much?

Pat: I haven’t been keeping up with the market very well lately, so you’d know better than I. Lily is one of my favorites, too, and it was great fun to write. I just kept throwing trouble at that poor girl. (She has a baby in a cave!) Not sure why, but sometimes I really enjoyed making my heroines suffer. Maybe it’s that I knew they were going to win big in the end, and I was looking for balance. Heroine-ly equilibrium.

Janine: Another Eden featured a heroine trapped in an abusive marriage – and the hero was the architect her husband had hired to build their summer house. In Sweet Everlasting the heroine had also been abused – by her stepfather. Though the hero, a doctor, fell in love with her, he wasn’t certain that love could transcend social barrier of class.

There’s some similarity in the themes but these two books also marked a transition for you because Another Eden was your last book for Dorchester under the Leisure imprint and Sweet Everlasting your first book for Penguin under the Topaz imprint. I have always found your Penguin books more sophisticated and wide ranging. Does that have to do with the editors you worked with at these houses or with your development as a writer?

Pat: Must be the latter, because I’ve had fantastic luck with editors from the beginning. Alicia Condon edited my books at Leisure, and I have nothing but warm thoughts and good things to say of her. Her assistant was the wonderful Audrey LaFehr—who moved to Penguin just before I did and became my editor there. Smooth transition: one great editor to another great editor. Lucky me.

Speaking of themes—looking back, I see that class as social barrier is an enormous one in almost all my romances. Class, or some form of mistaken identity—those are the two I came back to again and again.

Janine: Crooked Hearts and Outlaw in Paradise are both humorous westerns with con artist protagonists. Your recent novella, Dear One, in the J.D. Robb headlined anthology The Unquiet, has a “psychic” main character. What is it that appeals to you about con artists?

Pat: And in the anthology before that, The Other Side, my story’s hero was a fake ghost detective. So I guess I do love con artists. The trick is making them likeable in spite of their profession. I think Crooked Hearts works because they’re both con artists, so you never feel one’s being taken by the other. They’re flim-flamming each other simultaneously.

Janine: The heroine trapped in an unhappy marriage was a theme you returned to in To Love and to Cherish but this time your heroine fell in love with her husband’s friend, who, to make matters worse, was a minister. To Love and to Cherish is a book which many consider among the finest books written in the romance genre. Christian Morrell (Christy for short), the hero, is such a sweetheart, and yet for all his innate goodness, he’s more appealing than many romance rakes. What gave you the idea to make a romance hero out of a vicar and how did you pull it off?

Pat: I think what prompted this story was that, in the 20 or so years I’d been reading romance novels, I’d never come across a hero or heroine who gave a moment’s thought to whether sleeping with his/her beloved was a “sin,” in the old-fashioned sense. They had plenty of misgivings, doubts, second thoughts, fears, neuroses, and qualms, but no moral reluctance to hop into bed. As a former Catholic schoolgirl, I found that odd. As if there were an elephant in the room no one was acknowledging.

So, rather than give some poor heroine a religious conscience, which would just be dull, I decided to give one to the hero. And to make it extra hard on him, I put him in the business of morality—a minister. I guess it’s that sadistic streak in me again. At least it’s not gender-specific: I like ’em all to suffer.

Janine: Anne Verlaine, the heroine of To Love and to Cherish, was a cynic and an atheist. I loved the role reversal in this book — that the hero was the trusting innocent, and the heroine was the cynical one. Was it risky to write this type of book in 1995? And looking back on it, why do you think it stands the test of time?

Pat: I think I was starting to get the hang of this writing business, and beginning to feel confident enough to ignore some of the conventions. Anne Verlaine—except for being prettier, smarter, younger, and nicer—is me. I was writing about myself. In first person, even, via her journals. Anne’s journals were the most fun I’d had in writing up to that point, and it was because, turns out, first person is my natural voice. I’ve written three of my five contemporaries in first person since then. In fact, one of them I wrote originally in third, then went back and changed it all to first. (Nightmare.)

Janine: To Have and to Hold is my favorite book in the romance genre, and topped our Top 100 Romance List here at DA. To say that its “hero” is morally ambiguous is perhaps an understatement. Sebastian offers Rachel, a convict released from ten years of imprisonment, the position of his housekeeper, in order to have her at his mercy. I think it can be fairly stated that Sebastian is the villain of the story for half the book. My heart was in my throat during the scene in which Sebastian turns on a dime (I don’t want to give away how and why) and changes the course of his life.

What was it that drew you to make a protagonist out of a true, corrupt rake, and how did you get so many readers to root for him despite his many transgressions against the heroine? What do you think makes his ultimate redemption convincing to so many readers?

Pat: Saintly Christy needed an antidote?

It’s hard to reconstruct all my choices and motivations for that novel, and other people—you and Jennie, for instance—have written about it so eloquently, I feel comparatively inarticulate. Speaking just for myself, what makes Sebastian bearable, even likeable, is that (a) he’s very funny, (b) he’s self-aware and never makes excuses, and most of all, (c) being bad doesn’t make him happy. Oh, and (d) after he reforms he gives Rachel a puppy. What a guy.

One little writerly trick I used, not a very sophisticated one but still effective, I think, was to introduce him first. I could easily have started with Rachel getting out of prison, but I wanted you to imprint on Sebastian and assume he would be your hero. Because I knew he was going to need every bit of stored-up goodwill he could possibly get.

Janine: You “went there” in To Have and to Hold – Sebastian uses Rachel’s dependency on her position in his household to force her to sleep with him, and something that makes him unusual in the genre is that he doesn’t try to make excuses for himself. It’s not a case of mistaken identity. He doesn’t think she’s a slut. He’s not out for revenge. As far as we know, he wasn’t abused as a child. He’s not so overcome with passion that he can’t control himself. Can you speak to why you made this choice with his character?

Pat: I didn’t want him to have any excuses. That would’ve been copping out on his character. Plus I was sick of borderline rapist heroes having all those excuses—your list is excellent. (I used one myself, the old “But I thought she was a prostitute!” in Sweet Treason. ) I think with Sebastian I was testing myself, seeing how far I could go. I remember, during the writing process, repeatedly asking myself, “Are you really going to do that?” And each time the answer was yes. I just kept pushing it, pushing it. It was a little bit perverse, a little bit in your face. It’s a wonder the book worked.

Janine: Rachel was also a fascinating character because of her horrifying experiences in prison. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered another romance heroine like her. Before To Have and to Hold, no other romance had made me so deeply conscious of the inequities inherent in the class system. Reading about the conditions Rachel faced – having her hair shorn, being given a number in place of her name, being forbidden to look at or even smile at other inmates – horrified me and made me angry. She’s probably my favorite heroine in the genre so I’m curious about how she came to be and why you chose this background for her.

Pat: Thank you. It’s true, Victorian prison conditions were utterly appalling, beyond “Dickensian,” completely barbaric. And my research was accurate, I didn’t exaggerate anything. If she’d been a man, or a woman in some prison other than Dartmoor, Rachel might have had to climb on a treadmill. A treadmill. The mind reels. Why did I choose that background for her? Same reason I made Lily give birth in a flooding cave, or made Cass almost die from hanging in Fortune’s Lady. The worse the better! It raises the stakes, it puts the reader on the edge of her seat, it conflicts your characters within an inch of their lives. It’s fun.

And Sebastian needed an opposite number as unlike him as I could think up. Again—balance. Powerful and powerless; decadent and pure. Rachel had to be helpless, “erased,” reduced to a figure of her own basic survival, in order to make her final “victory” over Sebastian, if you will (and that works if you’re right and he’s actually the villain for the first half of the story), succeed in narrative terms.

Janine: Forever and Ever had a heroine who was a mine owner and a hero who was a union organizer. What started out as a clash over mining conditions grew into a romance. You also dealt with miscarriage and depression in this book. Are those subjects as heart wrenching to write about as they are to read about?

Pat: Not at all. As you may have gathered by now, I enjoy putting my characters through the wringer.

But if I had to do it again, I think I’d let Sophie Deene keep her baby. Why did I make her have a miscarriage? That was so terribly sad. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Which I’m not ashamed to say, because isn’t that phrase, “it seemed like a good idea at the time,” almost the definition of growth?

Janine: Before I close the subject of the Wyckerley trilogy I want to ask about William Holyoake, the secondary character whose story is woven throughout the three books. I loved William! And I thought it was wonderful to see a bailiff get such a significant role in the story. Was the triangle between William, Sidony, and Jack something you’d planned on from the beginning of To Love and to Cherish? Because I have to tell you, by Forever and Ever, I was completely in William’s corner.

Pat: I know, he was lovely. I modeled him on one of my favorite characters in fiction, Gabriel Oak in Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. I like his stalwart patience, his steady intelligence, and under all that, his passion. Gabriel gets the girl in the end—and, yes, I planned from the beginning for William to get Sidony. They had some rough sailing before their happy ending—but hey, that’s my job.

Jennie: I once read that you wrote Wild at Heart in part in response to Alice Hoffman’s Second Nature, not liking the lack of HEA in Hoffman’s book. Since moving into a genre where more ambiguous endings are the norm, have your feelings about the HEA changed?

Pat: Such interesting questions.

No, I still love the HEA. All of my women’s fiction novels have, if not 100% delirious, at least extremely upbeat endings. Still, a part of me worries that that’s not very grown-up. Real grownups read books with “realistic” endings. There’s a new play out with the fun title Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies. Yes, that’s the most realistic ending for a book I can think of, but would I want to read it? Not much.

But that doesn’t stop me from making fun of my friends who have to read the last page of any book they’re considering buying lest, God forbid, they should get depressed. I make fun of them, and yet—I feel the same way. Right now I’m looking at a newspaper article on “50 Notable Works of Fiction” for 2011. Here’s a novel about abused children. This one, about Hurricane Katrina, “evokes the tenacious love and desperation of classical tragedy.” This one is “a harrowing portrait of men at war.” Here’s another one about abusive priests. This book’s “sad heart” is about a couple whose lives unravel after the loss of their infant son. This one is “Savage with a soupcon of tenderness.” I think I’d rather read one that’s tender with a soupcon of savagery. If that.

All of which is to say, I’m still that same ultra-sensitive—okay, cowardly—Gentle Reader who wanted to fix Alice Hoffman’s book. (I mean, really. Have you read Second Nature? What a horrible ending.) So as a writer, one of my responsibilities is to create stories whose satisfying endings are, in their own contexts, deserved, believable, and just right.

Jennie: Do you have a favorite among your historical romances?

Pat: To Love and to Cherish.

Jennie: Why?

Pat: I just had it all going on.

Jennie: You are best known for your women’s fiction novels, including the bestselling The Saving Graces. Do you approach writing women’s fiction differently than you did writing romances? What are the differences?

Pat: I’ve talked about the absence of the romance “framework” making mainstream fiction harder to write. That’s the downside. The upside is the broader range of stories I can tell. I can write a whole book about mothers and daughters (say), or friendship, and even though I’ll probably include a romantic relationship or two, simply because that’s life—there is such a thing as romance, after all; it’s not just a fantasy!—I don’t have to make it the book’s focus. Unless I want to. So that’s freeing.

Otherwise, no, I don’t approach the two kinds of stories differently. That surprised me at first, finding out that a book is a book. They’ve all got beginnings, middles, and ends; they all need compelling characters and smart pacing, plenty of conflict, and themes people care about.

Jennie and Janine: What are your favorite books? Who are your favorite authors/literary influences?

Pat: Recent favorite books—I loved Room by Emma Donoghue. Loved The Help. Anything by Alice Munro, the best short story writer in the world, IMNSHO. Elizabeth Stroud’s Olive Kittredge. Anything by Ann Patchett. Jane Smiley’s The Age of Grief. The Master, by Colm Toibin.

Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy were my literary influences when I wrote historical romances.

Jennie: Had you stayed in romance, can you see yourself following some of the trends now proliferating – e.g. paranormal, vampire, steampunk?

Pat: Paranormal’s never been exactly my cuppa (all my characters in Nora’s paranormal anthologies are faking it), but I can certainly understand the appeal. Steampunk is pretty cool. Maybe I’ll start a new subgenre: geriatric steampunk.

Jennie: Are there other genres you’d like to explore?

Pat: I’d like to write a murder mystery.

Jennie: How much do you consider saleability when you are deciding what to write?

Pat: Honestly, not at all. Writing’s hard enough, even when it’s your passion. If I threw money into the mix, I’d be paralyzed.

Janine: Would you ever consider writing historical romance again? And would it help if we offered to come to your house and do your chores?

Pat: What I really need is dog walkers. Let’s talk.

****

Dear Author would like to introduce new readers to a classic author.  To that end, we’ll gift 10 readers a digital copy (either from BN, Kobo or Kindle) of Patricia Gaffney’s digital re-releases: Fortune’s Lady, Another Eden, Crooked Hearts, Sweet Everlasting, Lily, and Outlaw in Paradise.  Just drop a comment in the comment box.  You can find out more about her books at http://www.openroadmedia.com/authors/patricia-gaffney.aspx

]]> http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/interview-giveaway-patricia-gaffney-putting-characters-through-the-wringer-for-your-reading-pleasure/feed 73 http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/dear-author-intro-interview-julie-rowe-author-of-icebound http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/dear-author-intro-interview-julie-rowe-author-of-icebound#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:00:20 +0000 Alyson H http://dearauthor.com/?p=36915 The courageous true story of Jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald, the doctor who had to operate on and treat herself for breast cancer while serving at a research facility at the South Pole, stuck with me for years after I first heard it.  It’s why Julie Rowe’s debut IceBound, set in that same extreme environment, caught my [...]]]> The courageous true story of Jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald, the doctor who had to operate on and treat herself for breast cancer while serving at a research facility at the South Pole, stuck with me for years after I first heard it.  It’s why Julie Rowe’s debut IceBound, set in that same extreme environment, caught my attention.  Emilie Saunderson is a doctor, too, a new arrival to the South Pole station, which is under the perfectly capable supervision of Tom Wolinski.  Carrying her own griefs, Emilie is the one who sees that beneath Tom’s drive to be the perfect leader is the fear of being close to anyone.

Opening line:  “I must be crazy.”  Dr. Emilie Saunderson stared out the porthole window of the cramped Twin Otter airplane at the frozen landscape of Antarctica.

A six word memoir for your protagonists:   Tom: Tough times leave you bleeding…forever.

Emilie: Grief’s hold is hard to break.

The original inspiration or trigger points for the story:  The inspiration for this story came at a conference workshop. An editor mentioned how she liked exotic settings, so I thought what more exotic location is there but Antarctica. I spent time working in the North West Territories of Canada when I was younger, so I know about cold weather living, the dark nights of winter and the crazy things people have to do to cope with isolation.

Your favorite line, scene, or moment from IceBound:    I think my favorite line is this one: “Antarctica, and the people who come here, aren’t like the rest of the planet. Gravity still works, but that’s about it.”

An unexpected detour you took while researching the book:  You mean I can only pick one? Researching this book was so much fun because there are so many unusual and insane things about Antarctica. I write medical romance, so the fact that the incidence of appendicitis in Antarctica is so much higher than anywhere else led me on a merry chase to discover why. But no one knows why. There’s a research project in there somewhere.

How did the unusual setting for IceBound influence your characters’ traits and arcs?  The setting greatly influenced the characters. The setting is, in some ways, a character of its own. I used the extreme conditions to amplify each character’s conflicts, personality traits and journey. The isolation makes it impossible for these two damaged people to run from each other or their problems, and facing their individual demons is something they’ve both been running from for a long time.

Your next release takes place in Alaska.  Are you on a mission to make parkas sexy, or is there something else that draws you to this kind of setting?  There is definitely inherent adventure in it.  

Parkas are sexy…when they come off! I love taking people to places they might not otherwise go – the polar regions are some of the harshest, yet beautiful places on earth. I’m thinking about a new story set in Iceland…all those glaciers and hot springs have so much potential.

I love the “Crazy Cold Facts” page on your website.  Would you share a favorite fact here?  One of my favourite facts is this one: “There are at least two active volcanoes in Antarctica, Mount Erebus (3794 m/12,448 ft) is the highest and has a permanent molten lava lake.” It’s amazing to me that both extremes in climate (hot and cold) can exist in the same place.

IceBound is your first published novel, but is it also your first novel?  No, I wrote for over ten years before I sold IceBound to Carina Press. I’ve now sold them a second manuscript (which finaled in the 2006 Golden Heart contest) and I’m working on revisions on another manuscript I wrote two years ago. Unfortunately most of the manuscripts under my bed aren’t worthy of publication (they suck!).

What would you like to tell readers about Carina Press?  What should writers know?

Readers, Carina Press is the place to find a story that’s different; good story telling, but set in an unusual place (like Antarctica!) or with non-conventional characters. I read a lot of the other Carina Press authors’ books and always find something fun, exciting and different.

Writers, if you’ve been told by agents that they don’t know how to sell your book, or by editors that they don’t know how to market your book, Carina Press is the publisher to submit to. They want those stories that don’t fit inside your typical romance novel box.

Your oddest or most reliable writing habit:   Okay, I’m about to out myself as a weirdo, but…lots of writers like to have music playing in the background to help set the mood, right? Me, I prefer to put M*A*S*H episodes on as background noise while I’m writing.

 Your favorite book when you were 10 years old:  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

 What other authors would you recommend for medical romance?  Harlequin Mills & Boon in London England has had a medical romance line for over 60 years. We don’t see them often on this side of the pond, but I know several of the authors who write for them. I recommend anything Dianne Drake, Lynn Marshall, Laura Iding, Wendy S. Marcus and Jessica Mathews.

You can find more about Julie and her books at www.julieroweauthor.com.  IceBound is available now, and her next release, North of Heartbreak, comes out in the spring.

Updated.  The follower winners will be receiving a digital code to use as a giftcard.

According to the romance wiki, Loveswept debuted in 1983 and published 917 titles.  Some of the [...]]]>

Updated.  The follower winners will be receiving a digital code to use as a giftcard.

1) Rhianna 2) MaryK 3) Renda 4) willaful 5) MarieC 6) VALERIE VALICENTO 7) Meagan 8) 

Lisa J 9) Laura Florand 10) LuchaLori

According to the romance wiki, Loveswept debuted in 1983 and published 917 titles.  Some of the biggest names in publishing (including those who shun their romance roots) released series books through Loveswept like Kay Hooper,  Iris Johansen, Sandra Brown, and Janet Evanovich.  It was primarily a contemporary romance line but it also had some historicals (I recall Iris Johansen’s Wild Silver, vividly) and was best known for the breadth of its stories. It seemed like “anything goes” was the motto.

Loveswept has been revived and is being steered by long time romance reader and former Borders’ romance buyer, Sue Grimshaw.  The line will be bringing back the old titles and mixing it with new acquisitions.  I can’t wait.   The following is a small preview of what is coming from Loveswept

*****

From Sue:

Hi everyone!   Thanks so much for stopping by Dear Author today & checking out our post!

First & foremost I’d like to let everyone know we’re offering a giveaway – 10 ebooks — randomly chosen by Jane — if you are a winner Jane will have you email us for your FREE book!

Sound like a plan?

So, let me tell you what we’re so excited about & what has taken the industry by storm . . . or surprise & great support <G>

Random House is bringing back the LOVESWEPT line of romances — some new & some old beginning 8/8/2011!!  Readers everywhere have been thrilled with the news & soon to be LS followers are loving the ebook launch.  Eight books are on sale 8/8 including:

Writing for Loveswept – a little reminiscing from Karen Leabo, Debra Dixon & Deborah Smith & something new from debut, Jessica Scott:

Karen Leabo:I started submitting manuscripts to the Loveswept line when it debuted in the 1980s. I was a fan from the beginning (I still love the Delaneys!) , and I was thrilled when I finally sold to them. Alas, I only wrote seven books for the line before it closed, but those are some of my happiest publishing memories. My Loveswept editors encouraged me to write books that reflected what was important to me, books that I really, really wanted to write. Finding a welcoming home for my quirky, out-of-the-box stories meant so much to me. I wrote action/adventure, paranormal and romantic suspense as well as the ever-popular cowboys, brides and babies. The freedom to write anything I wanted was exciting, and I still cherish those books as some of my best.

My first Loveswept was called “Hell on Wheels,” and it was about storm chasers—you know, those crazy people who run around the countryside trying to find tornadoes? To research this story, I actually tagged along with a group of “professional” storm chasers, possibly the closest I’ve come to dying for my art. The book was published in March of 1996, exactly two months before the hit movie Twister. (Ah, timing is everything.)

I am thrilled that my Loveswepts are being re-issued as e-books. Electronic reading has changed my life—I have three e-book readers. I love finding backlist books from newly discovered authors as well as old favorites (I’ve already pre-ordered Lightning that Lingers by Sharon and Tom Curtis).  I’m looking forward to finding a whole new crop of readers as well as re-connecting with those who might remember me from way back when.

Debra Dixon: Many years ago, when my agent called to tell me I’d sold my first book to Loveswept (Tall, Dark and Lonesome), I sat down in the floor and stared at the phone.  I knew I was supposed to say something professional and collected.  I said, “Are you sure?”

Not my finest moment…or maybe it was.  Because in that moment, I became a Loveswept author.

Some months later, I remember sitting quietly at a dinner of Loveswept authors: Tami Hoag, Deborah Smith, Iris Johansen and a couple more names you’d recognize.  These amazing women had written books on my keeper shelf.  Geez!  I looked at them all and wondered if my editor had lost her mind when she invited me into the inner circle.  But that’s what Loveswept did.  They believed in writers.  They nurtured the stories.  They were never afraid to take a chance.  They never blinked when I said, “I’m doing a book about an ice skating nun and an ex-navy SEAL.” (Hot As Sin)

At that same dinner I wondered how to tell Deborah Smith she’d taken my dessert coffee.  “Excuse me.  You’re 1/3 of who I want to be when I grow up as a writer.  You see, I want to be the literary love child of Tami Hoag, Stephen Hunter and Deborah Smith. Yes, that’s right.  You.  You’re fabulous.  Now, stop bogarting my coffee.”

She did eventually realize she hadn’t ordered coffee.  To make amends, she became my new BFF in spite of, or maybe because of, the fact we’re completely different.  She’s tall.  I’m short.  If you hand us the same story idea, you’ll never recognize it as the same idea by the time we finish working it over. That’s what I loved about Loveswept.  They didn’t own a cookie cutter.  They let you run.  They let you bring something new and exciting to the table every time.  You couldn’t scare the editors. I tried.

More than fifteen years ago, I wrote a dark, hit-woman heroine.  (Bad To the Bone)  I told my husband, “I’ve done it this time.  There is no way they can publish this.  I’ll have to buy it back, you know.”  Foolish me.  Loveswept has never been afraid to push the envelope.  I think my editors invented the “bring it on” gesture Morpheus gave to Neo in the Matrix.  They believed in their authors.  Then and now.

I’m not sure what reaction I expected when the relaunch was announced, but it wasn’t the very specific list of titles every reader began compiling on the spot.  Titles, authors, plot lines.  The readers are ready.  They have shopping lists!  They’re practically giddy to see the books available again.  Okay, that’s me.  I’m giddy, but I was a reader before I was a writer.  There are some books I can’t wait to get my hands on again.

I’m hoping you guys feel the same way about Tall, Dark and Lonesome.  I love this book.  My first.  Imagine if your boss sent you back to the one place filled with hard memories  you’d tried to leave behind.  Imagine that magazine editor plopping city-slicker-you in the middle of a vacation cattle drive for the sake of a story.  Imagine the guy on the front of this cover running that cattle drive.  And then imagine everything going wrong.  Don’t you love it when that happens?  I do.

Deborah Smith:  It was a dark and stormy night when I got the phone message that told me I’d become a Loveswept author. Okay, actually, it was a cloudy, cozy-cold night in January of 1987. I found a message on my phone, started shrieking, and my husband ran into the den to find Farley, our ever-present Cairn terrier, chasing my feet as I danced with joy.

We were still in the disco-exercise era—remember Olivia Newton John in her candy-colored workout clothes?—so Farley was happy for any excuse to sink his teeth into my pink, fuzzy, leg warmers.  I looked as if I’d waded through a knee-high river of cotton candy.

Dance, Cotton-Candy-Calves, dance! My dream had come true. I was a Loveswept author.

Fans adored the Loveswept line for its inventive plots and quirky humor; I will never forget the honor of being invited to events with Loveswept stars such as Iris Johansen and Kay Hooper. At one such gathering, a dinner, I sat next to a newcomer like myself. Her name was Debra Dixon. She was perky and confident and clearly had no problem fitting in with the VIPs of the romance-writing world.

I was in awe of everyone at the table that night, including her. So much in awe, in fact, that I distractedly stole her dessert coffee.  It was years before she confronted me about the theft. By then we were good buddies—and future publishing partners—so she graciously accepted my apology. I do notice, however, that she has always put an extra foot of space between us at meals since then, and, when her coffee arrives, she lines up the condiments around it.

I wrote fifteen Loveswepts between 1987 and 1991, and each one was a great adventure. Loveswept authors were encouraged to push the envelope, and we did. Comedy, intrigue, super-villains, psychics, ghosts, exotic settings, over-the-top plots, red-hot romance and then some—very little was out of bounds, as long as it was written with a passion for unforgettable characters and plots.

Legends, the novel that’s been chosen for Random House’s re-launch of the Loveswept imprint, is one of my favorites. It stars a billionaire corporate raider and the Scottish heroine who kidnaps him and then holds him hostage in her homeland. Boy howdy! A rich, handsome man locked up in a jail cell with me, I mean my fictitious heroine, holding the key. That right there is a good-enough fantasy for any dark and stormy night.

With or without wearing pink, fuzzy, leg warmers.

Ah, not quite.

I now understand why published authors smile and shake their heads when new kids on the block are so effervescent and confident. The journey for Because of You was a long one, through multiple titles, iterations and complete rewrites.

It started back in 2007. I was away from my kids (then 7months old and 2 1/2 years) for the first time in Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. My husband was deployed again and call me old fashioned but I didn’t think that hanging out at the bar was the right place for a mom with a deployed husband. So I would take my happy little self off to the local Barnes and Noble and read or write on the weekends. I’m kind of a nerd in that books offer me comfort and solace. They always have. I like to say the best thing about being in Iraq was the time to read because there were no dishes to do, laundry to fold, etc. You know, when there aren’t mortars and rocks going off. But that’s another blog for another time.

I remember the exact moment the first words of Shane’s book came to me. I was sitting in a classroom in Building 4 on Fort Benning (affectionately known as Building Snore due to the relentless classes required for Officer Candidates). One of the Ranger candidates was chewing out one of his classmates for being lazy. Can’t say that I’d argue with him for that one. The bottom line was this guy had a combat patch from the 75^th Ranger Regiment and I remember thinking that his frustration wasn’t with soldiers who didn’t know any better but rather, with soldiers who were unwilling or unable to train.

That prompted the original thought behind Shane Garrison, a guy who devoted everything to train his soldiers for combat.  Shane’s story has stuck with me over the years despite numerous rejections and lots of frustration. Many writers advised me to put it away and write something else.  “Maybe not this book” or “maybe it’s time to write something else”. And I did. I’ve put Shane and Jen beneath the bed a dozen times over the years, only to have them start nagging at me, urging me to give them just one more shot. Because of You was the book that would not die, would not let me put it away. At least not for long.

Their most recent shot came in the form of a blog post from Sue Grimshaw. Right after SEAL Team 6 that had finally gotten Bin Laden, the romance world went nuts for all things military, particularly Navy SEALs. Sue wrote a great post about military heroes and mentioned that she was looking for a contemporary military romance that was NOT, oddly enough, romantic suspense.

What’s the worst that could happen, right? If she passed because it wasn’t ready, then well, Shane and Jen would simply ended up back beneath the bed where they’d been for the last year. So I shot her a Direct Message (DM) on Twitter. I said, hey, I saw your blog about military romance that’s not suspense and I just happen to have one, would you be interested? And lo and behold, she dropped me a note back almost immediately that said yes, shoot it over.

I emailed the file and figured it would be a couple weeks before I heard anything. Publishing takes time, as we have all learned, so imagine my surprise when I see a DM “didn’t get anything” about four days later. Well crap. So I double checked the email and resent the file and went back about my life. I’ve had lots of submissions where I never heard back, so again, I figured I had time. But the really cool part about the email was a little voice in the back of my head that whispered hey, I’ve got an editor who was waiting for my book. Sue surprised me again with a great note within 48 hours. “Hey I really like this but are you open to revisions?”

Um, hell yeah!

At the time, I didn’t know that I would be the launch for the relaunch of Loveswept as a digital first line. Needless to say, the news kept getting better and better. Not only did Sue acquire Shane’s story, she picked up two other books in the series, the series that started my writing, the series that spoke to the thing that burns in me. I’ve tried writing about something other than soldiers but I always come back to the men and women who inspire me every single day.

So I’m beyond excited that you get to experience Shane and Jen. Technically, this is the 2nd book I ever wrote, but there have been so many rewrites and overhauls, its more Iike the 10th or 11th. But Shane is the 2nd hero I’ve ever put on page and oddly enough, he’s stayed relatively consistent over the different iterations. It’s always been about his men and it’s always been about learning to love someone other than leading soldiers.

I always say, the good Lord Himself could command the First Cavalry Division but the day would come when He would change command. The Army will find someone to replace you, no matter who you are. The thing Shane had to learn was to let go, to find another way to give back, and to realize that there was more to him than just a good soldier. And Jen was the perfect person to guide him through his crucible.

So I hope you enjoy Shane and Jen as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them over the years. I’m excited and grateful to Sue and the entire team at Random House for bringing me into the fold and giving my stories the chance to hit the page. Thanks so much for having me here today!

I’m thrilled to announce the August 2 release of The Many Sins of Lord Cameron, the third book in the Mackenzies series, which began with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (reviewed here).

 Not only am I excited to see a new book hit the shelves, I’m also happy that Berkley [...]]]> From Jennifer Ashley, author

I’m thrilled to announce the August 2 release of The Many Sins of Lord Cameron, the third book in the Mackenzies series, which began with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (reviewed here).

 Not only am I excited to see a new book hit the shelves, I’m also happy that Berkley has picked up the rights to and is re-releasing The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (book 1), which has been out of print for some time. The book has a new cover and is once more available in bookstores and in e-format.

The reason for my great paroxysms of joy is that the Mackenzie series almost died right out of the gate.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, which features a hero with Asperger’s Syndrome, came out to amazing critical acclaim and more reader buzz than I’d had for any other book.

At the same time, there were quite a few distribution problems in both print and e-formats. Readers had a hard time finding the so-much-talked-about Madness of Lord Ian. I spent most of my time in those first couple of months answering hundreds of emails from frustrated readers who could not find and read the book.

At the same time, the publisher began to have internal problems, and I knew that I’d need to find the series a new home.

The trouble is, most publishers do not like to pick up a series in the middle, unless it’s already a blockbuster, or the author is already a blockbuster. Publishers prefer to launch a debut author or at least a debut series.

Why? So they can package and market the series with a coherent, consistent look and marketing plan, the better to sell it to the distributors and bookstores. Unless a series is already a huge, top-of-New York Times, blowing-out-the-numbers success, it’s unlikely an author can leap houses with his or her series.

I was extremely lucky to know Kate Seaver at Berkley—she bought my very first romance at Dorchester and worked on my historical romances until she departed for Berkley a few years later. She’d also purchased books from me under my Allyson James pseudonym at Berkley.

So when I was looking for a new home for Jennifer Ashley, my agent contacted Kate. Keeping in mind that publishers don’t like to buy a book mid-series, I was expecting to have to abandon the Mackenzies (as well as the Shifters Unbound books), and start all over again.

Not something I wanted to do! Both the Mackenzies series and the Shifters series had haunted me for a long time, and I’d been so happy to be able to write them. I was looking at seeing them both dropped, and this was quite distressing.

Happily for me, Kate not only wanted the next three books in the Mackenzies series, but, when the rights to Madness of Lord Ian came free, she picked up Madness as well (plus Pride Mates, book 1 of the Shifter series). The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie is re-releasing, with a new cover, the same day as The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (August 2).

And so it goes.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on Cameron’s book. I love horses and used to ride extensively, so I got to put my firsthand knowledge of horses and their (real) personalities into the novel.

Another aspect I enjoyed was exploring the character of Daniel, Cameron’s son. Daniel’s mother died when he was an infant (rumors are that Cameron killed her), and so Daniel was “raised” by the four Mackenzie bachelors.

Daniel has become a favorite not only of mine, but of readers as well. After Hart’s book (up next in April), I will write related books, including Daniel’s book (tentatively titled The Life and Love of Daniel Mackenzie). Another book will be about Elliot McBride (brother to Ainsley of Many Sins of Lord Cameron), who was captured and imprisoned in India for a time. His journey back to life will be told in his book (tentatively titled, The Seduction of Elliot McBride).

I have a page on my website devoted to the Mackenzies series: http://www.jennifersromances.com/NewSite/Mackenzies/mackenzie_main.html, which includes character bios, forthcoming books, blurbs, the Mackenzie family tree, and the introduction of the McBride family.

I hope readers enjoy the Mackenzies, and I’m thrilled to be able to put Madness of Lord Ian back into readers’ hands.

From Kate Seaver, Sr. Editor, Berkley / Penguin

When Jennifer’s agent called me about the possibility of publishing the rest of the Mackenzie series, I was thrilled! I’ve been an avid fan of Jennifer’s writing since I bought her first historical romance. At Berkley she and I had continued to work on her paranormal romance titles under her pseudonym Allyson James, but I adore Jennifer’s historical romances and The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie was one of my favorites.

A hero with Asperger’s Syndrome is so unique, and Jennifer’s talented writing made it one of the most compelling romances I’d read. I wanted the three remaining—and just as intriguing—Mackenzie brothers to also have their stories told.

Not long after that, the opportunity arose for Berkley to also publish the rest of Jennifer’s Shifters Unbound series. Suffice to say, it was Christmas come early for me! In Pride Mates, Jennifer introduced a unique Shifter world, and I wanted her to have the opportunity to continue to develop that world—and I wanted to see more of the gorgeous guys.  Primal Bonds (book 2), which came out in March, blew me away. The world building and emotional love story—with Jennifer’s trademark humor—is wonderful! More is coming up in that series with January 2012’s Wild Cat.

It’s a real treat for me as an editor to work with Jennifer on both her historical and her paranormal romances. I love these two series, and I’m pleased Berkley was able to make the first books in both of them available again. It was important to me that readers be able to read and enjoy the complete series.

So August is an exciting month! Both The Many Sins of Lord Cameron and book one in the series, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, are on sale.

I’ve wondered about Cam since he was first introduced in The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Did he really kill his wife? How could this horse crazy man find love? But Ainsley is his match in every way and keeps Cam on his toes. I love horses and grew up riding, so I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Cam in his stables and smiling as he learns about love from Ainsley, who has enough grace and grit to challenge him.

I hope you enjoy Cam and Ainsley’s story as much as I did, and either reread the first book in the series or have the pleasure of discovering another Jennifer Ashley gem!

Tara Parsons is the Senior Editor of HQN. HQN publishes contemporary, suspense, paranormal, and historical romances. They will publish 87 titles in 2012.

The big news is that current Spice authors are being moved into Harlequin’s other single title programs. Harlequin’s flagship romance brand, HQN, will absorb the existing Spice novels that meet the [...]]]>

Tara Parsons is the Senior Editor of HQN. HQN publishes contemporary, suspense, paranormal, and historical romances. They will publish 87 titles in 2012.

The big news is that current Spice authors are being moved into Harlequin’s other single title programs. Harlequin’s flagship romance brand, HQN, will absorb the existing Spice novels that meet the HQN promise; the existing Spice novellas contracted will be published through Harlequin digitally under the Spice banner but no new Spice novellas will be acquired. The print titles will be published in either trade paperback or mass market, to be decided on an individual basis. Additionally some Spice titles might be moved to the Mira line. The purpose of this is to provide better distribution to the Spice authors. This was tested with some of Spice’s key authors, including Sarah McCarty whose Spice books were rebranded under the HQN imprint with revised covers and picked up by other distributors under the new packaging.

I asked if the Spice books moved to HQN would be romances as opposed to the other types of stories sold under the Spice banner and was told yes.

We then discussed the various types of romances sold under the HQN brand. Tara Parsons is not actively looking for contemporary romances because the line is full of really strong voices but says that there’s always room for another great new voice if they find one:

• Susan Mallery’s very successful Fool’s Gold series continues with a new trilogy, ONLY MINE, ONLY YOURS and ONLY HIS.
• Virna DePaul, new to HQN, brings a romantic suspense to the market in April of 2012 called ”Shades of Desire.” Tara called DePaul a “young Linda Howard.” The photographer heroine has gone blind but prior to her blindness she took a photograph of something she should not have seen.
• Series author BJ Daniels has a growing groundswell of readers. She hit the USA Today list with her Desire titles and has become a highly anticipated author particularly in Western romantic suspense. Her new HQN title will hit stores in August of 2012.
• Lori Foster also writes a strong contemporary series with romantic suspense elements. She’s just hit #8 on the New York Times bestseller list.
• Newcomer RaeAnne Thayne will be writing about “Hope’s Crossing”, a town that has seen economic hard times, crime and is now in the process of being revitalized. Her first book with HQN came out last month, “Blackberry Summer,” and her next book, “Woodrose Mountain,” will come out in January 2012.

HQN is on the lookout for paranormal romance and more romantic suspense. One paranormal romance author Parsons and I discussed was Eve Silver, Rita nominee. She’s writing a dark paranormal series based on Greek and Japanese mythology; “Body of Sin” comes out in September

Parsons says that their historical offerings continue to evolve as they work on the best way to market and package the genre. They’re not actively seeking to add to their historical roster at the moment. Current authors they publish in the historical genre include Brenda Joyce, Kasey Michaels, Nicola Cornick, Charlotte Featherstone, Judith James and Delilah Marvelle. Parsons called Nicola Cornick, “A smart woman’s historical romance. Smart and sexy.”

Carrie Feron is the Editorial Director at Avon.  Avon publishes approximately eight original print romances and four digital-first titles each month .  Morrow Trade is a companion line that publishes a mix of women’s fiction and romance.  Avon Impulse is the digital first arm of Avon.  The same team that works on Avon books, [...]]]>

Carrie Feron is the Editorial Director at Avon.  Avon publishes approximately eight original print romances and four digital-first titles each month .  Morrow Trade is a companion line that publishes a mix of women’s fiction and romance.  Avon Impulse is the digital first arm of Avon.  The same team that works on Avon books, including the editorial, production and marketing staff, work on Avon Impulse books.

Another non Avon author to join the Avon Impulse line is Lena Diaz writing the romantic suspense / thriller, “He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not,” on-sale 8/9/11.

I asked to interview someone at Amazon Montlake and was invited to send in questions. These are the answers I received.  Some answers are vague corporate answers but others were more substantive.

How many releases does Amazon Montlake plan to publish in a month and how frequently? I.e., will it follow a traditional publishing [...]]]>

I asked to interview someone at Amazon Montlake and was invited to send in questions. These are the answers I received.  Some answers are vague corporate answers but others were more substantive.

How many releases does Amazon Montlake plan to publish in a month and how frequently? I.e., will it follow a traditional publishing schedule such as releasing so many a month or will it release titles on a weekly basis like some of the epublishers or even daily?

The first title we are publishing in our Montlake Romance imprint is Connie Brockway’s “The Other Guy’s Bride.” We will share information about additional titles in the coming months but it’s fair to say that we are more focused on publishing a wide range of engaging romantic novels we think readers will love than trying to hit a specific quota.

How is Amazon Montlake acquiring books? I.e., are you taking unsolicited submissions or just agented submissions? Are you watching the self-published ranks?

We review books that have both been independently published and are submitted to us by agents. Montlake Romance is not currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts.

Will Amazon Montlake titles be available to nook, kobo, sony readers? I.e. readers who use the epub format?

Montlake Romance digital books are available exclusively in the Kindle Store. Kindle books are available across all of the most popular devices that people use today, such as the Kindle, PC, Mac, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, iPhone, iPad and iPad touch.

Will Amazon Montlake titles be DRM free?

This decision is up to every author.

What types of subgenres will you be publishing. It looks like historical and contemporary so far.

Montlake Romance is dedicated to publishing across a wide range of romantic subgenres.

Amazon has had a spotty history with erotic content. Will you be publishing erotic romance? And if not, what type of heat level should we expect.

We do not have any erotic romance books to announce, and we can’t speculate on future plans.

What is the length of the Amazon novels you will be publishing? (Because Amazon doesn’t publish word count, readers often end up paying for really short works and ending up disappointed)

Our first book is a full-length novel; should we have any shorter length works we will aim to make this clear on the detail page so that customers know what to expect. Right now, both print and digital books have page count listed on their detail pages.

Will you be releasing more unedited work of authors? I was really disappointed with the quality of The Other Guy’s Bride and am worried about Amazon’s finished quality.

We occasionally make sample chapters available from works in-progress. Connie is still writing “The Other Guy’s Bride,” but we put up what we call a “teaser chapter” when we announced the Montlake imprint. We intend to continue to do this, and will edit the teasers – but of course, the final work may change considerably when it’s actually published. We’re heard from our customers that they’ve been very happy with the quality of our finished books.

With romance, readers have a specific idea of what the ending should be like. What is Amazon’s definition of a romance novel?

Romance fans have very clear expectations, and we will do our best to exceed them. There is a growing diversity among our customer base across many sub-genres. But in the end, all of these romantic stories need to be smart and emotionally satisfying.

Will you have review copies?

Yes.

Will the books have geographic restrictions or will anyone from anywhere in the world be able to buy them?

We intend to sell our works everywhere on our global platform that we have the rights to sell them.

There are authors who read Dear Author. I know they are interested in knowing what types of terms that Amazon will be offering such as royalties and advances. For most traditionally published houses, the ebook royalty and print royalty is the same from house to house and is non negotiable. Is there anything off the table for Amazon?

We look at each book and author independently, and will not discuss our business relationships with authors.

Do you have any plans to move the novels into film production as you have your own film production company within Amazon?

We do not speculate on future plans.

Will Montlake be run out of Seattle or under Larry Kirshbaum?

Montlake Romance is headquartered in Seattle.

What will the price points be for Amazon Montlake books?

Pricing will depend on a variety of different factors. The price for “The Other Guy’s Bride’s” is $8.13 in paperback and $4.99 in Kindle format.

What are you looking to publish in terms of romance? I.e., we hear a lot that certain stories won’t sell in traditional publishing. Courtney Milan, one former Harlequin author and now self published author (her Unlocked is selling quite well on Amazon) stated one of the reasons she left was to have more creative control.

We are dedicated to publishing engaging romance novels we think our customers will love. Stay tuned for future announcements.

See also Sarah Wendell’s interview with Courtney Miller, Sr. Acquisitions Editor for Amazon Montlake.

Deb Werksman met Grace Burrowes at the Washington Writers’ Retreat. Werksman had a few minutes between appointments and said “tell me about your books” as she does to every author she meets. Grace shared that she had written 19 unpublished manuscripts, all regency romances. The stories were written about the Duke of Moreland and [...]]]>

Deb Werksman met Grace Burrowes at the Washington Writers’ Retreat. Werksman had a few minutes between appointments and said “tell me about your books” as she does to every author she meets. Grace shared that she had written 19 unpublished manuscripts, all regency romances. The stories were written about the Duke of Moreland and his 8 surviving children. He is obsessed with the succession is pushing his three surviving sons to marry and have legitimate offspring.

She is a lawyer who specializes in family law, particularly in abuse. She also has a degree in music, grew up on a farm and owns horses.

Deb asked for Grace to send Deb 3-4 of the manuscripts. Grace sent 4. Each one of the stories had something good about them but Deb felt she couldn’t bring them to market until she read the 4th one, which turns out to be “The Soldier.

Deb then called Grace and says “send me four more.” In the next 4, she found “The Heir” and “The Virtuoso.” These stories comprise the three sons of the Duke of Moreland. With the hook, Deb returned to the editorial department and was able to sell the series as “The Duke’s Obsession.

They have signed her for nine books. The next three stories will be about the sisters beginning with the October release of “Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish.”

The Heir was released in December and was initially passed on by Walmart, but after the PW award naming “The Heir” as the historical romance of the year and armed with other positive reviews, the sales team repitched the book and Walmart picked it up in March. “The Heir” went on to achieve New York Times bestselling status in May, nearly 6 months after its original release.

The are going to be discounting all of Heyer’s books to $1.99 for Heyer’s birthday.

Sourcebooks will also be updating existing published books with buy links for other connected series books and other information for the reader.

I asked Deb and Leah Hultenschmidt what they were looking for and Deb said “fresh” stories. Freshness can be as simple as a different locale. For example, they have three cowboy authors. Carolyn Brown’s books are set in Oklahoma and Texas. Joanne Kennedy stories are in Wyoming, big sky country. CH Amarand’s books take place in small town in ranch country.

Another example is Mary Margaret Daughtride writes Navy Seal books but Sourcebooks has signed Anne Elizabeth who writes West Coast SEALS.

Deb is looking for

• Contemporary: southern, western, small town, romantic comedy
• Commercial women’s fiction
• Selective paranormal
• Romantic suspense with law enforcement

Leah is looking for

• Historical paranorals
• Small town southern contemporaries
• YA

I asked whether Sourcebooks is going to do a digital first publishing line and Dominique Raccah, the owner of Sourcebooks said that “when the right model comes to her.”

Raccah also said that the new publishing environment allows publishers to get information directly from the readers from everything from what covers they should use to the titles to a purchasing problem. The interchange with readers is a powerful tool for publishers.

Sourcebooks usually develop 17 cover concepts for each book so that they arrive at exactly the right cover for the book. Deb admitted that some books have had 190 titles attached to them before arriving at the right one.

They will be launching their Retro Romance line in December. A few of the authors [...]]]> Heather Osborn is the current Editorial Director for Samhain. The current romance Samhain publishing schedule is 4 to 6 a week. They don’t anticipate changing this release schedule as more books flooding the market would likely canabalize their existing sales.

They will be launching their Retro Romance line in December. A few of the authors they have signed to the line include: Debra Mullins, some of her older Avon historicals; Patricia Hagan, an 8 book historical saga; and Karen Kaye, Native American historicals. These books will not be modernized but they will be recopyedited with brand new covers.

All the covers from Samhain will have front cover branding by logo in the bottom right hand corner. Samhain Romance, Retro Romance, and Horror will all have their own logos. A new website will be launching to highlight all three “lines”.

Less than 50% of what they publish is erotic romance. One of their better selling print books is “Come Rain or Come Shine” a collection of kisses only sweet romances.

The explosion of digital publishing has allowed them to publish nearly anything. Heather would love to see authors submit traditional regencies.

They plan to launch a new line every year so that in five years, they will have a YA line, a science fiction/fantasy line, a mystery line. However, they don’t want to grow too large, too fast. The next line that they launch will likely be a science fiction/fantasy line in 2012.

The Retro line has escalating royalties. 30% off the third party cover price for the first 5,000 copies 35% and 40% off the cover after 10,000 copies sold. They recognize that the book has been polished before them.

Heather believes that Lorelie James will be their next NYTimes author.

They don’t see raising prices. Their price points are $2.50 to $6.50. They are thinking about lowering prices for the backlist such as reducing the first book in the series to $.99. The free giveaways have been very successful for them. For example, in the beginning of September, they had a free giveaway that lasted two weeks. In the first two weeks, they had 100,000 downloads. In the following two weeks, they had 30,000 sales of the same book.

They prefer to feature authors in the free giveaways who have an extensive backlist and are still publishing with Samhain. They also try to avoid giving multiple promotions for one author. They do 36 giveaways a year at the free price point.

They have seen a huge rise in the popularity of straight contemporary romances set in a small town.

Heather is looking for paranormal romance, steampunk, and contemporary romance with no babies.

Formats:

Nook is surging, trending in growth in the same pace that Amazon did. Amazon is two years ahead of the nook. Nook is about a third of the Amazon sales and Kobo is about a quarter of what nook does. Apple is growing but very slowly.

They will continue to provide as many formats as the readers demand. They tried to stop offering the RocketBook format but received many emails objecting to this.

Sales:

They are focused on third party sales. It was a big commitment to be a retailer and Samhain’s strength is in publishing, not retailing. They don’t care where the reader buys the book. The new site will have links to outside sales vendors so that the reader can either buy the book direct from Samhain or follow a link to their favorite etailer.

Covers:

The cover art is much more important because that is the first interaction with the title. At least to get the reader to click on it and read the blurb. The blurb is designed to hook the reader. They are seeking out new cover looks and try to match the cover to the content.

Netflix is a no:

I asked whether they would ever be interested in offering a subscription access or Pandora like access to their books. They don’t think that a subscription like the Netflix model is fiscally responsible.

Two debuts that she is excited about include Cecilia Grant’s “A Lady Awakened” (hhttp://www.ceciliagrant.com/) that will release in January 2012 and Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary series that will be released in the [...]]]> Shauna Summers is the executive editor for the Ballantine, Bantom, Dell imprint. She edits authors such as Suzanne Brockmann, Shana Abe, and Lara Adrian.

Two debuts that she is excited about include Cecilia Grant’s “A Lady Awakened” (hhttp://www.ceciliagrant.com/) that will release in January 2012 and Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary series that will be released in the summer of 2012. I’ve had the opportunity to read “A Lady Awakened” and I felt like I hadn’t read these characters in a romance before. It was an amazing read and I’ll be excited to start talking about it later this year and hopefully have a giveaway for it in the late fall.

Molly O’Keefe’s previous books have been published by Harlequin Superromance and these books will be bigger stories that are in the vein of early Jennifer Crusie and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Funny and emotional. The first book, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, is about a hockey player who is one concussion away from serious and debilitating injury. He is being forced into retirement but unhappily. His father is an old rich Texas guy who gets engaged to a MUCH younger woman. But this is all a ploy by the estranged father to get his kids to come back so that he can make amends. The first two books will be published back to back in summer 2012 with the third in 2013.

Shana Abe is writing a YA series set in the Drakon world with a tentative title “Beautiful Dark”. The first will be released in the fall of 2012.

Some highlighted fall titles include

• The Secret Mistress by Mary Balogh
• Another two in one former Signet releases (sorry I forgot to get the titles)
• Maya Banks’ fall trilogy set in the Highlands

Spring will see Lara Adrian’s 10th book in the Breed series. This will be in hardcover and is titled “Darker After Midnight”. It will be the last book in the Breed series and the next series from Adrian will be a spin off with younger characters.

Suzanne Brockmann will start hardcover series beginning with “Born to Darkness.” The concept is that in a slightly future Earth we have tapped into the full extent of our brain and thus are faster, stronger, with telekinetic powers.

The BBD publishing philosophy is that they acquire strong voices and have no set publishing schedule. Some months may have more releases than others. The new digital Loveswept line will operate under the same philosophy. There will be no set number of books that they will release although the plan is to launch with 8 titles and one release a month thereafter, either a digital reprint of a former Loveswept line or a new original fiction piece purchased new for the Loveswept line.

All of the editorial staff can and will acquire for the Loveswept line. Any good romance, any subgenre, any length. They are unsure about erotic or m/m and will be exploring that for the future. The digital publishing program is very fluid and they only want to publish books that they really love. The Loveswept line may be a place to publish more niche material that is great but may not have a wide reaching audience.

They are paying a negotiable advance and 25% off the net for royalties.

The price point, which will excite readers, is $2.99 to $4.99, probably based on length.

In January 15, 2011, Bella Andre (http://www.bellaandre.com/) launched a new title under the name Lucy Kevin. Lucy Kevin had no cross pollination with Bella Andre name and was unknown before the release. “Falling Fast” shot up to #4 on the BN Bestseller list and Andre sold 25,000 copies of the title in one month. [...]]]>

In January 15, 2011, Bella Andre (http://www.bellaandre.com/) launched a new title under the name Lucy Kevin. Lucy Kevin had no cross pollination with Bella Andre name and was unknown before the release. “Falling Fast” shot up to #4 on the BN Bestseller list and Andre sold 25,000 copies of the title in one month. Her print runs for her books had never been that large. Her latest self published release “The Look of Love” went to #19 on the bn.com list within three days of the release this month.

Bella Andre began writing for Ellora’s Cave in 2003. She found she had a natural aptitude for erotic romances. She proceeded to sell two series of erotic books to Pocket which were published in trade paperback and a mass market series to Random House.

In 2010, Bella Andre’s career seemed dead. She did not have a new contract but she did have her four backlist titles from Ellora’s Cave. She decided to put up her first book, Ecstasy, on Kindle and then promptly forgot it. She eventually was able to sign a contract with Grand Central under the penname Bella Riley. It is a sweet series set in a small town called Emerald Lake. Home Sweet Home is the first book in the series and will be released in September 28, 2011.

When she checked into the account later that month, she found she had sold $238 worth of books and she was thrilled.

What happened next, she could not have predicted. The following month, Andre earned $4,000 in sales from her backlist title and self publishing as a career began to become a viable concept.

When asked if she would have signed the Grand Central contract today, Andre replied with a long pause followed by an uncertain response. When asked about the advantages of traditional publishing, Andre cited print distribution and access to markets like Walmart and Target. While her digital reach is quite large, there are still a number of readers who only read print who can’t access the new Bella Andre titles unless they choose to order the POD titles from various vendors.

After she has a new set of data, Andre will be better able to make decisions about a traditional publishing program. Andre’s decisions are largely data driven. She tracks her sales, her releases, her prices in a precise manner. She analyzes the data using her economics degree from Stanford. She has developed personal relationships with retailers like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and even Apple. At the Apple iBookstore, she has had the #1 erotic novel for over a month and 4 straight contemporary novels on the top 100 romance bestseller list for the past 4-6 weeks.

Andre credits her current success to the secret of self publishing. Hard work. Andre repeatedly says that she works all the time. Her husband has taken over many of the tasks that Andre used to perform for the family so that Andre can maximize her business venture.

As Andre speaks about the process of publishing, she becomes very animated. The business aspect is very appealing to her.

As a reader, I am most concerned about quality and Andre agrees that a book that is not a quality product most likely will not succeed. However, every self published author will have a steep learning urge. She has released books with errors in them and then pushed out new, proofread versions after reader complaints. With every new title and exposure to bigger audiences, Andre’s anxiety about the quality of her titles increases. She is always focused on putting out the best book she can with every release because she believes this is the best way to show the readers how much she respects them and is thankful that they continue to support her.

I asked Andre what is the most effective thing she’s done to promote her self published books. Andre thinks it is the fact that she sends a personal email to every reader who has ever written her when her new titles releases. The email will reference their last correspondence so that the reader knows that this is no automated, stock response. This process takes her at least a week.

Andre believes that the fan relationship is even more important when you are a self published author.

She is also a believer in free giveaways to increase your audience. Her two free giveaways have reached nearly a half million people. If only 1% come back and buy her books, the giveaways are a success but the response has been much more positive. Most of the time, the people who are availing themselves of the free giveaways are readers who would not have purchased her. She has received comments on her Facebook page that readers have never read a book like x before or that the giveaway prompted a purchase of her entire backlist.

At some point, the free giveaways have diminishing returns and the freebie is discontinued.

Her self published books are variety of lengths from novella to 75K and the prices reflect the word count. A short story will be priced at $.99 and the full length novels at 75K words will be $5.99. Andre is always tweaking the price, running sales on the weekend, using price to leverage more sales.

Her writing process is a quick first draft and then many revisions. She has a great set of beta readers and critique partners and feels with their help has good content editing but hires out copyediting and “many, many proofreaders.”

When asked about the most challenging aspect of self publishing, Andre states that she “works all the time.”

The self publishing model is built on regular volume publishing and while there will be a few authors who are successful self publishing only one book a year, the majority of successful self published authors will be ones with a robust publishing list.

She has seen an uptick in her print book sales but primarily with the series from Pocket even though those books are $11.99 versus the lower priced books from Random House. This is attributed to the fact that her three self published titles are sequels to the Pocket books. She’s driving readers to her traditionally published titles.

And we’re giving away [...]]]> This week Romance Writers of America hands out the RITAs, its highest awards in eleven romance sub-genres, plus a special category for debut authors.  As an occasional contributor to Dear Author, I’m delighted to host again the nominees for Best First Book as part of the Intro Interview series.

And we’re giving away books!  For part one today, you can put your hand up for Marcella Burnard’s sci-fi Enemy Within or for a bundle of the three YA novels honored in this category:  The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells, and I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan.  All four of these novels also happen to be nominated in a second category.

Let us know in the comments which you’d like to win, or if you have a favorite you’re rooting for. Tomorrow will feature the historical and action/suspense novels.

Opening Line:

MARCELLA BURNARD, Enemy Within:

Sun glinting off the barrel of a gun stopped Captain Ari Idylle dead in her tracks.

JULIE KAGAWA, The Iron King:

Ten years ago, on my sixth birthday, my father disappeared.

AMANDA HOWELLS, The Summer of Skinny Dipping:

There are summers you’ll always remember and summers you’ve forgotten even before they’re through.

ERIN MCCAHAN, I Now Pronounce You Someone Else:

I was switched at birth.

Main Character’s Six-Word Memoir:

Marcella Burnard: So many degrees of betrayal.

Julie Kagawa: Dangerous faeries and star-crossed love.

Amanda Howells: Sixteen: discovers true love and herself.

(Note:  Attempts to contact Erin were unsuccessful, but her book will be included in the YA bundle.)

What my heroine does for a living:

Marcella Burnard: She had been career military, captaining an Armada Prowler, but her commanders have just taken all that away.

Julie Kagawa: High school student.

What makes my hero heroic:

Marcella Burnard: He has the power and the motivation to destroy the heroine. It would be expedient. He chooses the hard way – hoping he can help her redeem herself.

Julie Kagawa: Brave, loyal, impossibly stubborn, will uphold his word no matter what.

Amanda Howells: He’s honest and seizes the day.

A favorite line/scene/moment from the story:

Marcella Burnard: I’m fond of the Art of the Blade rules running through the story and how they use them against one another.

Julie Kagawa: Oh, we’re playing nice, now?”  Puck remained seated, looking anything but compliant.  “Shall we have tea, first?  Brew up a nice pot of kiss-my-ass?”

Amanda Howells: There’s a quiet moment in the book that I like a lot: it’s when Mia begins to mature and to realize that her perspective on things–on love, on her family, even on herself–isn’t necessarily accurate. It’s a moment of maturity, when she begins to understand that there are different ways of seeing the world around you. She reflects on this when she’s out on the beach looking at the night sky:

“I stared up at the stars and thought about light, how bright and powerful it had to be to travel so far, all the way across the galaxies to our eyes…Or maybe it was our eyes that were powerful. I’d never thought of it that way before.”

I wanted to tell this story because…

Marcella Burnard: These two people walked into my head and said, “Keyboard. Now.”

Amanda Howells: As a young girl I loved sad love stories and I loved summer novels and I especially combinations of the two. So I wanted to try my hand at it. I also wanted to write a summer story that stuck with the reader after summer was over.

An unexpected research detour I made while writing the book:

Marcella Burnard: Learning about the different types of viruses and how they infect the human body. It’s completely logical, but until I did the research, it hadn’t occurred to me that diseases naturally select for lower morbidity. This was important stuff for a story involving biological warfare agents.

Amanda Howells: While doing general setting research for the book, I came across the juicy essay collection Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons by Steven Gaines. In this book I learned of Dragon’s Head, a disastrous, gaudy, scandalously over-the-top dream of a house that a tacky, shady millionaire tried to build in Southampton and which ignited a furious battle of insider vs. outsider. The story of this mansion gave me the perfect house to act as a backdrop for Mia and Simon’s summer love story. It enriched my story considerably.

I’ll never forget the reader/fan/reviewer who…

Marcella Burnard: wrote to say she’d served in Iraq and knew PTSD up close and that I’d gotten her experience of it right. She liked that my heroine didn’t want someone else to fix it for her.

Julie Kagawa: Told me reading my series helped her get through her husband’s death.

Amanda Howells: The YA bloggers Sara and Stephanie, of Novel Novice (www.novelnovice.com) really blew me away with the series they did on me and my novel. Of course it was flattering to have so much attention, but it’s especially satisfying when bloggers are not only passionate about the books they like, but also literate and articulate, as these girls are. Sara and Stephanie went all the way with my book, digging deep into it and asking me really thoughtful questions. They are awesome bloggers, and true friends to the YA writers they like.

What’s great about my sub-genre:

Marcella Burnard: In science fiction romance, if I can find a remotely scientific basis for something, I can give a character attributes no one on this earth has. Geeky? Sure. But it’s fun.

Amanda Howells: Summer romance novels are, like summer itself, a true escape from routine, and perennially satisfying to return to. Summer love + an evocative beach house +  golden sand + the ocean= a sub-genre that will never die.

When I got the call about the RITA nomination, I…

Marcella Burnard: thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest.

Julie Kagawa: Think I squealed in my editor’s ear. (Sorry, Tashya.)

Amanda Howells: was completely surprised.

If I win, I…

Marcella Burnard: May spontaneously combust – not entirely sure, but babbling like an idiot may be involved.

Julie Kagawa: Want to thank everyone who helped me get here.

Amanda Howells: will be completely surprised.

Number of books I wrote before selling:

Marcella Burnard: Four. Enemy Within was book five. The first four – let’s just say the learning curve is painfully visible.

Amanda Howells: One.

How I found my agent:

Marcella Burnard: I looked through the RWA list of agents, picked out the few who accepted science fiction, investigated each, and then queried my top picks. Luckily, the story resonated with the fabulous Emmanuelle Morgen.

Julie Kagawa: I met my agent at a writer’s conference in Louisville, KY.  My very first words to her were: “Uh…hello?” as I didn’t know she was an agent at the time.  Thankfully she overlooked my awkwardness. ;)

Amanda Howells: Fellow writer friend.

Biggest surprise as a published author:

Marcella Burnard: Other people thought the story was fun, too!

Amanda Howells: How hard it is to make any money–note to aspiring writers: there’s no such thing as easy money. So take that off the table and write from the heart.

Oddest or most reliable writing habit:

Marcella Burnard: Listening to video game sound tracks based on what I’m writing.

Julie Kagawa: Turning off the internet when I really need to get serious.

Amanda Howells: Writing on tiny scraps of paper, wherever I go, then piling them on my desk in a tower, under a paper weight. When the tower gets too high, I spend a few days inputting the notes on my computer. One’s best ideas and lines rarely occur at the desk–mine don’t anyway. These note-towers on my computer are gold to me.

Where I find inspiration:

Marcella Burnard: Pff. How much time do you have? :D

Julie Kagawa: Anime, manga, and video games.

Amanda Howells: in books, in my life, in my dreams (I dreamed the title of my novel before I wrote a single word), at breakfast, on the bus, in the car, overhearing others…in short, everywhere!

A book or author I recommend again and again:

Marcella Burnard: Robin McKinley, Linnea Sinclair and Nalini Singh. Not necessarily in that order.

Julie Kagawa: Neil Gaiman.

Amanda Howells: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The Great Gatsby–of course.

A hobby/interest/passion of mine beyond the book world:

Marcella Burnard: Sailing, science, World of Warcraft

Julie Kagawa: Kung Fu, sushi, and video games.

Amanda Howells: Walking: on beaches, in mountains, on city streets. Walking and writing go together.

What I’m working on now:

Marcella Burnard: Book three in the series – tentatively titled Enemy Storm

Julie Kagawa: A post apocalyptic vampire novel.

Amanda Howells: I don’t want to speak too soon.

Come back tomorrow for interviews with the rest of the authors.  The RITAs will be announced July 1 in New York City.  Congratulations and much gratitude to the authors.

Links:  Marcella Burnard Julie Kagawa Amanda Howells Erin McCahan

Concern: These new rates aren’t actually better [...]]]> I asked Harlequin about a couple of things regarding the new royalty rate as well as whether Bob Mayer’s claims that Harlequin was inserting a non compete clause in its new contracts to prevent authors from self publishing. Here is their response (from Donna Hayes, CEO of Harlequin)

Concern: These new rates aren’t actually better than what we were already earning — maybe worse.

Response:

Series: on a $5 book, a series author receiving 6% of cover would earn royalty of 30 cents per copy; at 15% of net receipts, she’ll earn 37.5 cents per copy ($5 x 50% discount to distributor = net receipts of $2.50. 15% of $2.50 is 37.5 cents).

Single Titles: on an $8 book, a single title author receiving 10% of cover would earn royalty of 80 cents per copy; at 25% of net receipts, she’ll earn $1.00 per copy ($8 x 50% discount to distributor = net receipts of $4.00. 25% of $4.00 is $1.00).

The net receipts calculation is transparent and we are comfortable moving to a net receipts model for digital sales.

Concern: Some authors are included and others are not.

Response: We had to select an effective date for the new rates to be implemented. Some programming work will need to be done for Harlequin to move to this new net receipts royalty model. We chose Jan 1, 2012 as the effective date. So authors who are active Harlequin authors at that time, will receive the revised digital rates. And the new digital rates will apply to front and backlist units sold as of Jan 1, 2012.

Concern: If a Harlequin author leaves Harlequin after Jan 1, 2012 , the digital royalty rates will be reversed or reduced to what they previously were.

Response: No. Obviously we hope that authors will continue to publish with us, but if they stop publishing with us they will continue to received these new digital rates when we sell their digital copies.

Concern: Series royalty of 15% of nr is less than the single title royalty of 25% of nr.

Response: The series royalty is less than the single title royalty because the Harlequin brand is an important purchase trigger for readers. We invest heavily in the Harlequin brand and the brand is a key influence in the purchase of series books. In single title fiction, the author becomes the brand and sells the book and in nonfiction, the author platform and subject matter sell the book.

The difference between series and single titles exists in the print cover price model of royalties as well.

Concern: Harlequin is asking authors to agree to a self publishing non-compete clause.

Response: No, Harlequin has not asked for this or included it in contract negotiations.

The changes we have announced provide all current authors with higher royalty income than we are contractually obliged to provide. If Harlequin authors want clarification on these points or any others, we encourage them to contact their editor to discuss them.