If Your Heart Jumped Off a Bridge, Would You

It's fundamental, writers are told repeatedly, not to try following market trends but to write what's what we're passionate about. Don't write something you don't love just because it's selling better. People will know when you're faking it. Follow your heart...

Yet, we also have to sell what we wrote if we want to go from being a writer to being a published writer.

Agents and editors frequently answer the question, “Would you have rejected Twilight?” Most say they would have, in a heartbeat.

What I ask myself is, “Would you have pitched it?” And the answer is no. Had I written that book, it would be sitting in the back of the hard drive somewhere never to be seen by anyone. I may well have never even bothered with revising it from the rough draft. Because while I could clean up the language, there's no changing the fact that the story is slow, Bella isn't the strongest MC in the world, there are a wide array of logic-holes in which to sink, the vampires _sparkle_, the hero spends most of the book stalking a teenage girl a century younger than he is (creepy! And she's flattered by it? WTF?), and it's at least twice the length it should be. Everyone knows vampires are overdone and impossible to sell. And all this from a writer with zero credentials?

Meyer says when she sent out queries for the first book, she didn't know any of this was wrong. People had to explain to her later exactly how lucky she was to have found an agent, let alone a publisher. Her ignorance may have been the reason she's now a word-famous multi-millionaire author. Well, that combined with managing to create a story that spoke to millions of people. We never would have known she'd done it if she educated herself out of trying to see it published though, if she'd moved on to something with a sane word count, a stronger MC, less sentiment, more plot, and something less overdone than vampires.

So if your heart is set on a slow and wordy vampire romance, maybe you should leap off the bridge with it. Yeah, there's a good chance it will get broken when it smashes against the rocks of reality at the bottom. But maybe it won't. And maybe, either way, it's still the right path.

And, yes, I'm talking to myself here. I have far too many stories being ignored because I lack confidence that I can sell them. It's in danger of happening to Shadow. (Seriously. There was a Twitter conversation a few weeks ago where a few agents were going on about how they were seeing way too many ghosts all of a sudden. They weren't trying to fling my spirit on the ground and dance on it in stilettos, but...)

Thing is... The people saying not to force something that isn't there are right. So I'm sitting here quoting Polonius on repeat... Above all, to thine own self be true. If it were easy, we wouldn't have to be told that though.

 

PS – I finished my National Novel Writing Month novel today. I'll likely talk more about that later.

 

A Couple of Insights

After leaving his wonderful comment about differentiating between vanity and self-publishing, my beloved said something insightful about the whole Harlequin mess. He said it sounded like Harlequin had been taken over by someone with a business background but no understanding of the industry.

Ah! Yes, indeed. To people used to selling just about anything else, Horizons and the paid critique service sound like obvious ways to make money. They wouldn't see anything unethical about making offers people are free to ignore. Not even doing it as a big respected name that aspiring authors are going to trust. As far as they can see, that just makes the idea better! They're completely baffled by the vehement rejection of what they thought was such a brilliant idea everyone should be doing it.

Are they still unethical leeches if they don't understand they're doing anything wrong? That's an old debate – is evil defined by its actions or its intentions? Maybe they aren't horrible people. That doesn't mean they aren't trying to accomplish horrible things.

And I had an insight of my own a little while ago. Someone had asked Twitter what we thought of the Harlequin situation. I tweeted, “Doesn't change my opinion of Harlequin authors or editors but the company management lost my respect. I'm disgusted with them.”

The thing surprising me in my statement was the sudden inclusion of the editors. I don't think I'd really thought of them before having to summarize my feelings so succinctly, beyond not wanting to have to field the phone calls I'm sure they've been inundated with all week. But now I've considered the implications for them, I feel really bad for them. In fact, I'm thinking it might actually suck more to be one of them than to be a Harlequin author. And it's no more their fault than it's the writers', this all came out of management.

And now that I'm sympathizing with new people... What about the parts of management that had no say in any of this? Yikes... No fun. At all.

The Soap Opera Continues...

Looks like I may have been right about Harlequin assuming the Romance Writers of America wouldn't do anything in response to Horizons.  Kristin Nelson posted this lovely announcement.  Harlequin is surprised!  And somewhat understandably upset that the RWA issued their decree through an announcement to their authors prior to saying anything to Harlequin about it.  They've conceded to author concerns far enough to announce a name change.  They haven't said what to yet, but assure us it won't have "Harlequin" in it.  That still doesn't change any of the other ethical objections, but it's a start.  Had they done it from the beginning, this massive drama may have been less flamboyant.

But, wait!  There's more!  This isn't the first time an authors' organization has expressed dismay with them!  The Mystery Writers of America had already contacted them concerning the eHarlequin Manuscript Critique Service.  I had to read that last one a few times for it to truly sink in.  Harlequin is running a paid critiquing service.  Paid critiques are one of very first signs new authors are taught to look for to spot scammers, folks.

The MWA had a cooler reaction than the instant blast from the RWA and gave Harlequin until Decemeber 15th to respond to their concerns before removing the entire company from thier list of approved publishers (and their authors from consideration for Edgar Awards), but of course there are fewer mystery writers published under Harlequin lines than romance writers under them.

I'll try to be quiet about this now, but it's hard...  And surely the folks over at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America are going to have something to say eventually...

UPDATE:  And, yes, SFWA had issued a statement!  A very well written and not at all permissive one.  The word 'scathing' springs to mind. Read it here.

 Also, my beloved made a wonderful comment on the last entry in regards to how to tell a vanity press from a self-publisher.  Go check it out here.

A Little More On Horizons

Jackie Kessler posted an excellent guide to the Harlequin Horizons situation here.  She points to some details that had escaped me previously, including Harlequin's stated intention to include contact information for Horizons in the rejection letters sent to authors submitting to their traditional lines.  Yeah, they're going to send out letters saying, "Your writing isn't worth publishing.  But if you want to give us money to print it anyway, here's the address."  And at that address, they'll assure you that if you print this way you might get noticed by their editors and claim that having a bound copy of your novel can help you get an agent. Which is blatantly false unless a heck of a lot of agents have been lying to the whole world.

Jackie also gets into whether or not Horizons is really a self-publishing set-up or not. Her conclusion, with which I am inclined to agree, is that it's not. It's a vanity press. What's the difference? In self-publishing, the author pays all costs and pockets the profits. In a vanity press, the press is making a large amount of money off of the author. Sort of like when Wal-Mart takes your money to make a photo book for you. Would you say you were published because you had a book about your last summer vacation printed for your grandmother? Because I've done that and I'm pretty sure it doesn't count. There's nothing wrong with making Grandma a book. In my experience grandmas like that sort of thing. And there's nothing wrong with Wal-Mart profiting over it. But you'll note that Wal-Mart doesn't have a little icon on their photo center page inviting you to click on it and become a published photojournalist. And I'm pretty sure you aren't given a link there when you submit a photograph to Time and they turn it down.

I'm not sure if the above is as inherently nauseating to people outside of the writing community as it is to those in it, but to me it's pretty revolting. And there are plenty of rants around the blogosphere assuring me I'm not alone in that. This is the main basis of the RWA's objections and why they're willing to punish established authors from Harlequin's traditional lines in order to express their disgust. I suspect it's also why I haven't seen any of those authors bashing the RWA. I haven't seen any of them outright lash out at their publisher yet either, which is a well ingrained no-no to most writers, but I wouldn't want to be a Harlequin editor fielding calls from my authors this week.

 

Who's Publishing What?

Wow. Big news out of Harlequin has started a lot of talk amongst the bookish this week.

Harlequin has announced the formation a new imprint. But people aren't cheering they way they did when Harlequin Teen was announced. And why's that? Because Harlequin Horizons is ::gasp:: for self-published books.

Lots of folks are really upset about this. They're talking about how it cheapens Harlequin's name. They're wailing about taking advantage of people by taking money to publish them. They're revoking Harlequin's rights to Romance Writers of America's conference resources...

Yeah, that's right. The company that is romance to a lot of people, the company that publishes over half of the romance novels in America, is being cold shouldered by the RWA. The announcement was clear that Harlequin is not being barred from the annual RWA conference, just that they're not being given free space or... Okay, I haven't made it to an RWA annual conference yet, so I'm not altogether certain how much they're losing here. But I still get the impression the RWA is seriously biting their thumb at the house in retaliation for introducing Horizons.

Personally, I don't quite get it.

Part of the uproar appears to be based on the choice to go with Harlequin Horizons as a name rather than simply Horizons. If it were just Horizons, it wouldn't be that different from other houses who have their fingers in self-publishing endeavors. But the logo doesn't look anything like any of the traditional Harlequin line's and I'm thinking that if you're savvy enough that you look at it and know it's owned by Harlequin, you're savvy enough to realize it's the self-pub line.

I don't see myself holding anything that comes out of Horizons against anyone from other lines. It's not as though I've enjoyed everything Harlequin's ever printed in the first place, that doesn't lessen my love of the Harlequin authors I do enjoy or my respect for anyone involved. I sort of doubt that many people in the general community are even going to notice the line much. It's not like they're going to start seeing Horizons books in the supermarket aisles. They'll be relatively rare. Plus, Harlequin readers are used to looking for just the line they're interested in anyway.

The allegations of scamming are more worrisome to me. Harlequin is a big and respected name, people trust them. That the Horizons site is going on about how people from the parent company will be monitoring sales and may pick up more popular titles for one of the traditional lines makes me nervous. They aren't making any promises, they do have lawyers. Yet there's an implication that paying money to print your novel could result in you becoming the next Barbara Cartland. And maybe that's possible. But it's a long shot from probable, even if you have the skill and allure of one of the greats.

My certainty that there are people out there willing to go broke and break their own hearts thinking this is a way to bypass the usual process of getting into traditional publishing makes me sad. Sure, they do it all the time with other self-pub companies, but having a big name house behind the printing and an assurance that the house is actually paying attention... The ethics seem objectionable even though I'd never deny that Harlequin has a right to make money.

But... Maybe I'm going under a faulty assumption here. Maybe this is just a reflection that the industry's changing. Maybe this is future and the rest of us just need to catch up.

Self-publishing isn't always a bad choice. For a lot of situations, it works. And I've read self-published books I enjoyed immensely. I've also read some that made it painfully obvious where the assumption that self-pubbed books are unedited trash that would never be touched by a traditional house came from. I can see why people aren't stoked about being on an imprint with a similar name to the latter books'. Which goes back to the part where people would have been a lot less annoyed had the name simply been Horizons...

All in all, I feel nervous and uneasy about the imprint. And I shouldn't feel that way. If different choices had been made, I think I could have been very excited about Harlequin offering a POD line. A subsidiary line where marketability was less of an issue but there was still some amount of quality control would have been something I could cheer on. But this... I don't know, maybe I'm uncomfortable because it's been presented to me with a lot of negativity or maybe it's just that they've partnered with Author Solutions rather than someone a bit more respectable. All I know is that if someone who is open to seeing the value in self-published books is feeling this ambivalent, someone somewhere has done something wrong.

 

ADDITION:

Oh...  Looks like the RWA's declaration could bar Harlequin authors from receiving any RWA awards.  Yipes!  I haven't looked up the stats, but I'm betting a sizeable chunk of RITAs usualy go to Harlequin authors.  And, of course, all of their current authors signed up not having any clue this was going to happen.

And I'm torn...  I know I'm upset with someone.  But am I upset with the RWA for shafting folks because their publisher has a self-pub line, something which I firmly believe has no reflection on the merits of their traditional line authors, or am I upset with Harlequin for putting people in this mess?  Or, more aptly I assume, for being arrogant enough to assume this wouldn't happen despite the RWA rules appearing to be pretty clear because OMG! they're Harlequin!

Is anyone taking bets on who's going to come out on top in this mess?  What are the odds?  And who's favored?

My Favorite Things

I've been busy the last few days.  My local ski area had their opening weekend and I was there!  My town had its first snow.  All my favorite NFL teams won their most recent games.  I've made several soups, from scratch and not cans.  And I've made a lot of progress in NaNo.  I've just had my second five thousand word day in a row.  And, better yet, I've got this thing plotted right up through the end so I actually have some idea where I'm going now.

In light of all that, I didn't have time to write a full post for here.  But I did have an idea rattling in my head and I'll put it up here as a Getting to Know Andy offering...

Kindly excuse me for masacuring a well-beloved song.  I have no musical talent whatsoever...

My Favorite Things 

Hedgehogs and kitties
and mountains and beaches.
Skiing, and football,
and good breweries...
These are a few of favorite things.

Novels and writing
and creative moments.
Playing and laughing.
My boy and his father.

Texting and Twitter
and my RSS feeds.
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the wind blows
When the rain falls
When it's night outside...
Then I'm happy and pleased as can be
for these are a few of my favorite things.

What's My Age Again?

Last night, Twitter's #yalitchat featured two hours of discussion with S. Jae Jones, aka JJ, a new member of the editorial staff at St. Martin's Press, who was there to introduce a genre she and her boss are calling “New Adult.” In a nutshell, New Adult bridges the gap between Young Adult and adult literature. The first time I saw the word, I squealed and laughed and clapped and was very geekishly thrilled.

Most of us at the chat were very excited about the idea. Some seemed a tad confused. And a few folks came across as fairly antagonistic. One person in particular stood out to me as being against the label, repeating saying that a lot of mainstream adult lit focuses on the age group already so no distinction is needed. I was a little confused as to why he was in #yalitchat to begin with, honestly, as the same argument was made against the emergence of the Young Adult tag once upon a time. It seems to me that the argument of “It's out there, let readers find it themselves” can be extended to preclude any sort of genre distinctions at all. There's some merit in that, but I personally appreciate being able to find books I'm likely to enjoy without having to pick up hordes of things my grandmother would enjoy first. I already spend several hours a week browsing for books, I don't need to make the process harder.

There are two things about the concept of a recognized New Adult label that I really like. The first is that I want to be able to find these things easier. The second is that I want these books to see print more often. Even though I'm past thirty now, I mostly read YA and it isn't just because I write it, it's because in general it appeals to me more. The sense I got from JJ is that her vision is to blend more mature focus with the more accessible and fun voices of YA. She says she's targeting herself and I think our tastes have a lot in common. Except she's into skydiving, which I think is crazy. Then again, people have told me I'm crazy for strapping sticks to my feet and sliding down mountains, so... =)

The fellow who kept saying the age group is covered kept quoting examples of general fiction. And I conceded he may have a point about that. Since I read remarkably little general fiction I don't really know. I do know that in urban fantasy and paranormal romance, the characters tend to be either in high school or past their mid-twenties. In the exceptions, they're people who we are told are younger but who act as if they're at least thirty and somewhat stodgy. There are a lot of ideas and roughs that I've pushed aside due to the fact that the characters are too old for YA and too young and/or immature for adult. I love the notion of having somewhere to classify them.

None of this has any effect on SHADOW or the marketing thereof. SHADOW is Young Adult, not because Drew is still in high school but because of the themes and tone. However, I've been holding off on rewriting my dragons again in part because I wanted to make the leads younger than they were in the original, but not young enough for the story to be YA. And I have a bunch of faerie stories that I wanted to revise into what would be New Adult, but that wasn't an option before so they've just been sitting there. I've actually been toying with the notion of posting those tales as an on-line serial. Which I may still do for a variety of reasons, but this makes me feel I have more choices available.

JJ has much more discussion on the New Adult concept on her blog, www.sjaejones.com, which is worth checking out if the idea intrigues you at all. She's also on Twitter as @sjaejones and doesn't seem like she'd be averse to answering questions if you have any for her.

In the meanwhile, I must be back to my NaNo project... 22k and rising!

 

 

National Novel Writing Month and Me

We're nine days into NaNo. Historically, I'd be well over half done by now. Last year, I hit the fifty thousand mark on this date. This year? My official tally is presently hovering just under 15k. It's a total I usually pass by day three.

On one hand, it's a respectable number of words. I'm right on target to reach the 50k mark at the end of the month.

On the other hand... It's so much less than I'm used to. Something's wrong. The question is, what? It's not the story, I know that much. It's me.

My brain is sluggish, hardly awake. The million thoughts that are usually there aren't. It's quiet. Too quiet.

It could be Depression. I've had recurring experience with the condition. The apathy fits.

It could be an aspect of ADHD. Just my brain being in an inattentive phase rather than the mental hyperactivty I'm used to.

It could be burn out. Exhaustion.

It could be a strange symptom of dehydration. This desert I find myself reluctantly living in is killing my skin, maybe it's murdering my brain as well.

It could be that I'm daunted by the amount of work ahead – sure, a rough draft's fun. But then there's months to years of rewriting. And then the agony of trying to get someone, anyone!, anywhere in the publishing industry to even look at the thing, let alone profess their undying love of it and overwhelming desire to see it in print.

I could simply have lost heart.  Maybe the odds are too daunting, the pain too assured.

Maybe it doesn't matter why I've lost my motivation. Maybe I don't need to know that to find it again, to rediscover the joy of making things up. I was hoping NaNo would help me with that. So far, it hasn't yet...

 

----

My National Novel Writing Month History:

 

2006 – WERESTORY. YA Paranormal Romance. Girl gets bitten by a Were and winds up at a school for shapeshifters. 50K in 16 days. Draft completely finished at 64k in 20 days. Current Status: Endless revision. Came up with a Big Revision Idea near the end of summer that I'd like to explore later.

 

2007 – SHADOW. YA Paranormal Romance. Girl dies. Her spirit's tossed back in time by the trauma of her death, but she has no idea when or how she died. 50K in 13 days. Draft complete at 69k in 17 days. Current Status: Revised until summer '09. Sent out a few queries, got some requests for partials which were politely rejected. Revised, then revised again. Now need to summon the energy to bug more people with it in the hopes that the revising fixed whatever the other people didn't like.

2008 – EARTH AND FIRE. Paranormal Romance. My first attempt at non-YA. Shapeshifting Dragons in the Cascades. Reached 50k on Day 9. Reached 80k and realized that my story was too big. Why, exactly, were a relatively low-ranked Guardian and a bartending jewelry designer handling something that the federal government would have been all over the second there was a hint that a Senator was threatened by or involved with the bad guys? Lost several chapters due to computer wonkiness. Started over with a more personal less world-is-at-risk plot. Reached 50k again before the end of the month, but never finished the rewrite completely because my mother-in-law came to visit, it was Yuletide, and then I had to move. Current Status: haunting the back of my mind and influencing my car buying. (My family just picked up the exact same car the hero drives. I attempt to drive it a tad less recklessly than he does. =) I will complete a story about these characters one day. But I don't know when.

2009 – Imagine. YA Paranormal Romance. Girl has imaginary friends who are real. Her wandering throughts start affecting things around her. Bad things start happening, but she's not sure if they're her fault or someone else's. Status: creeping along at 15k.