HelenKay Dimon

Despite attempts to the contrary by Delta, I am home. My luggage, however, is not. Since many of the free books I’m giving away are in that bag, I am extending the RWA contest one more day. Delta assures me the bag will arrive on my doorstep at some point this afternoon, so never fear – the books are safe. At least I think that’s true… And, since I picked up many a free book, I will give away three sets. I have historicals, paranormals, contemporaries and whatever else there is. Likely the winners will get 3 books (from different genres), but I’ll have a better idea once I have my stupid bag!!!

Saturday’s events consisted of hearing a very good luncheon speech by Christina Dodd. For those tired of rejection and having trouble finding time to write, Dodd took 10 years to get published and was rejected many times during that time. It wasn’t until she focused on her goal, made writing a priority and learned some basics, that she got The Call. Now she’s a NYT bestseller. Her usual genre is historical romance. However, her newest is Trouble in High Heels, which is a romanatic suspense. Have it. Plan to read it.

I attended some PAN (Published Author Network of RWA) workshops. Okay, I attended two. One was on “the numbers” (Amazon ranking, Bookscan, bestseller lists, laydowns, sell throughs, etc.) and what they all mean. The bottom line on what the ranking/bestseller numbers mean is this: not much in terms of reality, but something in terms of publishing house happiness and author achievement. The second seminar was on promotion. Bottom line on this one is exactly the same as what I learned from my promo blogging last week: ummm. It was one of those panels where one NYT bestseller does a great deal of self promotion and another NYT bestseller does nothing other than have a website a friend set up for her. You figure it out. I give up. Just write the best book you can and see what happens from there.

I did meet many, many lovely authors and readers. Even better, I now know the thrill of having a reader rush up to me, pull out one of my books and describe it better than I ever could because she loves it so much. Very cool.

What I’m about to do is risky since I know I’ll forget someone, but I chatted with some authors who, on personality alone, would get me to buy a book written by them (most I already buy due to the great writing anyway). In an attempt to get you to buy them, here is a list of suggestions (in no particular order):

-Trouble by Ann Christopher
-Ask For It by Sylvia Day
-Bound by Sasha White
-Hell on Wheels by Karen Kelly
-A Very Merry Christmas by Gemma Bruce (and others)
-Deep Breath by Alison Kent
-Run For The Money by Stephanie Feagan
-Share the Darkness by Jill Monroe
-Enslave Me Sweetly by Gena Showalter
-The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
-The Bachelor Preferred Pastry by Shirley Jump

Thanks to hotel internet service that tends to work for about 60 seconds before freezing, posting about Thursday’s events was not a possibility. Really, nothing that exciting happened on a conference level anyway. So, let’s skip Thursday for a second and start with Friday. I like to call Friday How To Drive The Hubby Crazy Without Even Trying Day. It all started with a simple luncheon. Passionate Ink threw its first ever lunch. My hubby came to the conference but spends most of his days hovering by the pool or working out in the gym. I thought he might like an opportunity to see the Georgia Aquarium, partake in a meal catered by Wolfgang Puck and enjoy a few hours of gawking at the pretty Passionate Ink ladies. That was the theory.

One speaker talked about the popularity of menage in erotica. The hubby was all for it so long as the participants were women and, you know, he could watch. Upon learning that the Man/Man/Woman grouping was most prevalent, he lost all interest in the subject. Then came a speaker who talked about the popularity of Man/Man romance written by women. Honestly, no one at my table admitted to a great love for these allegedly popular works. The hubby looked horrified and whispered to me: “You don’t write that, do you?” More than likely he was remembering that I had sent copies of my newest release to his aunts right before we left for Atlanta. I’m sure he had visions of these women, all of whom I would estimate to be in their seventies, paging through that. I assured the hubby I wrote one man/one woman romance. Just as he started to relax again, a speaker mentioned pushing the boundaries and cited fisting as an example (if you don’t know, look it up because I’m not explaining).

So, after depositing my hubby at the pool, I attended the Spotlight on Pocket session. The basic idea is that Pocket doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, wants agented work and all editors appear to buy everything. Pocket has teamed up with MTV for a YA line (60,000-70,000 words). Pocket also is venturing into urban fiction. Think gritty and graphic and young. Also think about rapper 50 Cent since releasing his autobiography led Pocket down this road. Submit to Lauren McKenna for those and for angsty romance because she said she likes angst. Submit to Micki Nuding with funny because she doesn’t like the angst.

I also attended the Kensington Spotlight – you know, in case Kate Duffy decided to announce that I was no longer an author there and forgot to tell me first. Kensington’s guidelines remain the same – there are no guidelines. Audrey takes email queries. Kate and Hillary aren’t impressed with queries, so just send as much as you have and they’ll take it from there. For those waiting, Kate said she is running about 8 months on submissions but is hoping to tackle her pile when she gets back to the office and cut the wait down to 6 months. Kate also does not buy for Aphrodisia and freely admits it’s not her thing.

Sulay Hernandez (now an Assistant editor) is looking for AA and latina works. And, a new AA editor should be announced in August (now that Karen Thomas has gone to Warner). Bottom line: don’t worry too much about word counts; multiple submissions are fine; all books are coming out as ebooks too; and books are always 30% off on the Kensington website if you’re in the mood to buy. Also, Stacy Barney is working on YA books for Kensington. She has two series starting soon. No sex – described as Gossip Girls without sex.

In the never-ending Aphrodisia v. Brava debate, the editors say: Aphrodisia is about sex and Brava is about romance. Hillary Sares (the main Aphrodisia editor) says the term “erotic romance” with the imprint is a misnomer. The books are not really romance and don’t have to be. Use of the title is for marketing – Kensington wants the books in the romance section and wants to reach romance readers. That’s it. And, the only legal on the sex is that it be legal.

Friday morning started with a wonderful breakfast with Kensington authors and editors. Really, really lovely. I’m not sure if Shirley Jump has forgiven me for posting the link to the Mrs. Giggles’ review of her book, but Shirley was gracious and did not throw food at me, so I consider the morning a success.

Some general thoughts on Thursday’s workshop line-up – snore. The highlight PAN speaker didn’t do anything for me, so I spent some time chatting with my editor, met Sulay (see above, who is beautiful and young but very likable anyway), intruded on Walt and Alison’s break and refused to leave them for about an hour, hunted down Booksquare then challenged her to review a book at PBR that I’m dying to know something about but don’t want to read, and met some wonderful authors including Ann Christopher (speaking of beautiful…) and others.

And, I forgot to mention that I met Lori of AAR at the Literary Signing. She was nice enough to track down authors of books she recently read and liked. She somehow ended up at my table. So, yes, we love Lori and AAR.

For those who have read this far without falling asleep – Viva Las Bad Boys! is officially out. Go buy it.

More tomorrow…internet service depending.

Went to my first signing as the person giving the autograph rather than the person seeking the autograph. Pretty cool. Unloaded all but one copy of Viva Las Bas Boys! – yay!

Met Jordan – she’s lovely. Met Walt and Alison – yes, they need a better vacation planner because visiting Atlanta in July (almost August) with press passes still qualifies as work even if you called it a vacation. Met some of the very friendly folks I chat with here and on PBR, such as Alyssa, Stacy and Jennifer Y. Visited with Ms. Booksquare for 2 seconds – since I owe her a drink, I know she’ll find me later. Met authors and readers – always fun – and am forgetting to name someone specifically, so I apologize in advance for any oversight. I’ll have photos to post later.

And, ummm, acted as author Susan Donovan’s PR person. I was supposed to sit next to Susan at the signing. I showed up. Her books showed up. Her fans showed up. She did not. Had to field many questions about her whereabouts. Not knowing Susan, I was more than a bit tempted to make crap up. I refrained…somehow. But, really, she owes me money because many a disgruntled fan grumbled at me for her no-show.

Tomorrow the workshops start…

I take off this morning for Atlanta and the annual RWA conference. This evening is the Literacy Signing. If you’re in town, stop by and say hello…you know, so I’m not sitting there by myself for three hours. That kind of thing is never good.

My plan goes like this: stare in awe at Nora; follow around authors I admire until they trip over me so that I can then cough up a weak “hello” and apology; get books; listen to smart people (and some not-so-smart) chat about different book-related subjects; get more books; eat bad food (by this I mean tastes bad, not yummy but bad for you); say hi to my editor and try not to accidentally spill tea or some other offensive thing all over her; see some friends I haven’t seen for a year (since the last RWA Conference); get more books; meet people I follow online through blogs or whatever just to make sure they are real and all; and, find/harass some folks I enjoy finding and harassing. And, yeah, have I mentioned the part about getting books?

I hope to blog from the conference. Last year you basically had to hang upside down outside your room window to get reception. Let’s hope this year goes a bit better. While I’m gone or right about the time I get back, I’ll have an interview up at Twists & Turns and another at Access Romance. I’m also the Tell a Tale at AR for the beginning of August, so stop by and chat.

Now, in light of all those books I plan to collect while at the conference, I’m doing another giveaway. The hubby nearly weeps when I come back from RWA with a box of books. This giveaway will help him sleep better. So, post here now through Sunday and you’ll be entered to win books. I don’t know what they are since I don’t have them yet, but they’ll be good. And, if they aren’t – who cares since they’re free. Depending on the number of books I collect (and then am willing to let leave my little hands), I’ll give away either one or two sets of books. Winners announced Monday.

They – whoever “they” is – say book sales don’t happen in summer. That’s not right as far as I can tell. Here are some examples of the utter wrongness of that theory.

For those who love Eloisa James, here’s some book sale news that should make you happy:

FICTION: WOMEN’S/ROMANCE
THE LIST, which brings together three NYT bestselling authors, Julia Quinn, Connie Brockway, and Eloisa James in a humorous, sexy tale of a nobleman handed a list of potential brides, but told that with his reputation, he’s unlikely to win any of them. He discovers that winning a woman’s hand may not be the problem, but desiring to kiss it – and keep her – is another story, to Lucia Macro at Avon, in a good deal, by Kimberly Witherspoon and David Forrer at
Inkwell Management for James, and Steve Axelrod and Damaris Rowland at Rowland & Axelrod, for Quinn and Brockway (NA).

FICTION: WOMEN’S/ROMANCE
Eloisa James’ DESPERATE DUTCHESSES, a mix of wit and scandal, about a group of wild duchesses and the wilder games they play, from high stakes chess to strip dominoes, to Lucia Macro at Avon, in a major deal, in a multi-book deal, by Kimberly Witherspoon and David Forrer at Inkwell Management (NA).

In the “why have I never heard of this woman” category, here’s an impressive deal:

FICTION: WOMEN’S/ROMANCE
ANNIE FREEMAN’S FABULOUS TRAVELING FUNERAL and forthcoming THE SUNDAY LIST OF DREAMS author Kris Radish’s next three novels, continuing her exploration of female friendship, personal transformation, empowerment, and support through life’s challenges, ranging from coping with loss to discovering that your estranged daughter is running a sex toy shop in Manhattan, again to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell, in a major deal, for seven figures, by Ellen Geiger at Frances Goldin Literary Agency (world English).

I get a bit crazed with the argument that goes something like this: chick lit is ruining the ability of women to write in other genres. It’s ridiculous, really. Do people say James Patterson’s success makes it impossible for men to write in any other genre or anyway that is different from Patterson and still be taken seriously? Of course not. That’s ridiculous, too. The really frustrating thing about the whole “chick lit ruins women” argument is that it tends to come mostly from female authors who write outside of the chick lit genre. Ladies, a little support for each other, huh?

Where did all this come from? Over the weekend I read two editorials on a new book called This Is Not Chick Lit. The book sounds good. The editorials are annoying in a “this proves women can still write responsible literature” kind of way. Blah. I plan to buy the book despite all that crap.

Yesterday’s winners are: Pat and Sue A. Congrats! Send me an email and I’ll get the books out to both of you.

On a new subject… I was reading through the August 2006 RWR and saw a letter to the editor on the issue of defining romance. Janet W. Butler is not pleased. She appears unhappy (I may be making the understatement of the year by using that word) with the idea of RWA defining romance in a broader scope than one man/one woman. She objects to the idea of romance being defined instead as “two people” and in doing so manages to reference the “slippery slope” theory, use the word “pedophilia” which always scares the hell out of intelligent people and raise the possibility of RWA being overtaken by fringe groups.

Now, I’m not a fan of the old slippery slope panic. Having worked for a time on Capitol Hill, I heard the term on an almost daily basis and in every context imaginable. My basic view is that we all pull out the slippery slope argument when we really don’t have any other argument. It tends to be more of a scare tactic than anything else. Used here, immediately following a statement about another group promoting pedophilia, the argument appears once again to be used to shock. I’m not easily shocked, so it doesn’t work for me.

That being said, Butler has some interesting points that should be discussed. If you take away the hyperbole, emotion and vitriol, there is a basic argument here that RWA should stand for one man/one woman romance and if people want something else, that should be under the umbrella of a different group. My guess is that this theory has a much stronger basis within RWA than we hear about, but the group isn’t vocal for fear of being called narrow-minded or whatever. For me, love and romance come in many forms and RWA needs to be an ever-changing and growing organization. Having said that, Butler’s underlying point shouldn’t be ignored. I just wonder if this is an issue about which we can all have a rational dialog without resorting to name calling and more scare tactics. Hard to say. If you want to read Butler’s comments, I’m including them here in full. Read the rest of this entry »

The winner from yesterday is – Sharon. Congrats!!! Email me and I’ll get the book out to you.

So, what did I learn from this exercise? That I’m more confused than ever, maybe?? No, that’s not true. I think the answer is that different promo attempts appeal to different people. I know that sounds obvious, but I do think we’re all out there looking for that magic pill. The secret code. We want to figure out a way to reach readers and not annoy them. I certainly don’t want to annoy folks like Bookseller Chick. She has power in this equation…and she hates bookmarks. Good to know.

I did this not only because I want to reach readers. I also want to effectively spend my dollars, do promo that makes sense and not drive myself into the ground with useless activities. I heard Carly Phillips speak earlier this year and her view went like this (I’m paraphrasing): I don’t know what promo works, so I won’t stop doing what I’m doing now in case the promo I give up is the one thing that worked. I’ve heard Nora Roberts speak on this subject. Her view boils down to: write the best book you can and don’t waste all of this time on promo. Easy for her to say, maybe. But when people snickered and rolled their eyes at her, Nora pointed out that she wasn’t always bestselling author Nora Roaberts and she didn’t do all this promo stuff to get there. From a poll Alison Kent conducted last year (I think), I learned that readers like to see excerpts. Notice I now have excerpts on my site. And, from Shannon McKenna’s lesson or non-promo and wild publishing success I’ve learned that I don’t have a clue what I should be doing.

Ann Christopher made a comment here that made me laugh. She said: “Sheesh, HelenKay! I’m an obsessive-compulsive marketer, and you’re my worst nightmare! How can you be totally impervious to all my efforts??” I feel your pain, Ann. Marta Acosta and I were emailing back and forth on another issue and she pointed out that she buys bookmarks but doesn’t collect them herself which might not make sense. This also made me laugh because I do the same thing. But Diana Peterfreund made a good point on her blog in response to this discussion. Basically, she said to keep in mind as authors that we’re doing this stuff not because we personally like X or Y, but because we’re answering to readers likes and dislikes. True.

So, what do I do – keeping in mind I have no idea whether any of it works or not:

1. Contact Earthly Charms and get bookmarks made for my books. I send them romance reader groups across the US and I send them to contest winners and anyone else unfortunate enough to get a piece of mail from me.
2. Placed an ad with Sylvia Day in RT for our August Brava releases. It’s gorgeous and right there at the beginning. I’m also in a group ad in the next RT.
3. Have a website and keep it updated.
4. Blog and make it a priority to do so almost every single day.
5. Drop in at local bookstores and sign stock of my books.
6. Have my name on a few romance reader sites.
7. Try to write the best books I can.
8. Try to promote other authors and books whenever I can – but as I choose and not as part of a group of blog promotion.
9. Recommend books to others.
10. Do book giveaways.

I don’t know if any of it does any good, but I do it. As a bonus, if you have a final thought and post, I’ll pick two more namesand giveaway two more copies of Viva Las Bad Boys!

Yesterday’s winner – Karen T. Congrats!!! Email me with your address, and I’ll get the book out to you.

For those sick of questions, I’m also blogging at Access Romance’s All A-Blog today.

For those ready to answer and waiting for one more chance to win Viva Las Bad Boys!, here’s today’s question: so does anything work for you, or do authors only need to write a good book?

Let me start with the second part of the question first. I call this the Shannon McKenna phenomenon. Shannon writes for Brava. She lives in Italy. She doesn’t go to conferences, or do online chats or do a great deal of promo as far as I can tell. She has a website, but it’s usually not updated (notice how her News blurb is from February). She’s on the Brava author website, but I don’t think she’s all around the internet as many other authors are. She writes for one publisher and doesn’t write 10 books a year – more like 1 or 2. She’s also wildly popular and her books hit bestseller lists and Bookscan. She’s doing something right and not doing promo. So, what’s the explanation for that?

What works for me and what doesn’t:
1. I don’t click on banners – ever.
2. I don’t read excerpts on author websites.
3. I don’t buy or not buy books because of reviews, but I do pay more attention and look into books after reading reviews.
4. I don’t collect bookmarks or promo knick knacks (except pens because, really, we can’t have too many of those), but I do look at bookmarks when I get them and think they’re cute.
5. I don’t attend author chats on sites. Frankly, I usually forget about them.
6. I tend not to go to author signings, though I plan to get better at that since I like to support authors when I can.
7. I love to browse around a bookstore. I look at covers and read blurbs. If a book is on the New Release table or turned out, I notice and look. Many times I then buy.
8. I look at ads in the Sunday book review sections of newspapers (our household gets 3) and enjoy RT for the articles, ads and to see what’s coming out.
9. I enjoy author blogs and have purchased books because I enjoyed particular blogs.
10. I expect author websites to be reasonably updated and always want to know what’s coming up and if an author made a new sale.
11. I try new authors all the time. If I liked the first book, I wait (impatiently) for the next and have a general idea when it’s coming out.
12. If someone I trust or like or an author I enjoy says XX book is good, I’ll get it. But, cover quotes, “RITA AWARD” or bestselling author stamps don’t mean much to me. I’m guided much more by covers and cover blurbs. Those book ads on blogs don’t work for me at all, but a recommendation that feels more like the blogger has a connection to the book does work

That’s me. You?

Yesterday’s winner: Lara Rose – congrats!! Email me with your contact information.

Today’s topic: ads, covers and banners. You visit websites and see banners for authors and books. Some of these are on sites you might expect to see ads and banners like Romance Junkies, Novel Talk , All About Romance and others. There are some sites where you might not expect to see ads, but they’re there – ex. Smart Bitches. You pick up RT and see glossy ads about this new release or that one.

So…

(1) Do ads and banners affect you at all? Do you see them? Notice them? Click through or go look for more information based on something you’ve seen?

(2) Do you subscribe to or buy RT (or other similar magazines)? If so, do the ads do anything for you?

(3) Ever buy a book as a result of an ad or banner?