Updates and Reminders from Deb

posted by Deb Werksman

RWA Data Released!

If you haven't already seen it, check out RWA's independent survey on the romance fiction readership and marketplace--fascinating! www.rwanational.org

Fabulous non-fic book about romance fiction!

Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan's BEYOND HEAVING BOSOMS--you will laugh out loud and your bosom will heave. Smart, smart, smart of course, and really, really interesting. I learned a lot. More info at www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com

A word about advances!

When you are talking about/hearing about/negotiating about advances, be sure to ask what marketing is/was/will be provided...if any. Otherwise, you're not comparing apples to apples. Marketing budget won't be part of the contract, but the question to ask is what the publisher provides and what the author should expect to pay for out of her own pocket.

RWA Nationals!

The National Conference is only a month away. Sourcebooks has a lot happening at National, including:

• Friday July 17, 11am Danielle Jackson our Casa publicist from Sourcebooks on a panel about marketing with Michelle Buonfiglio (Romance B(u)y the Book) and authors Lori Foster and Julie Peterson
• Saturday July 18, 11am-the Sourcebooks Spotlight! Hear all about the new and exciting things happening at Sourcebooks.
• Saturday July 18, 3pm-the Sourcebooks Author Signing-for the authors with books in stores! Come and meet your favorite Casa Authors in person.
  

I'm also taking pitch appointments, so please sign up to see me! I'd love to hear about your book/s! If you find that I'm booked up, please let me know and I'll see what I can do about designating another time slot informally to take pitches.

A FEW THINGS THAT MAKE THIS EDITOR HAPPY

• email submissions (vs. heavy, heavy paper)
• subject line gives book title/subgenre. For example: "Romeo, Romeo award-winning romantic comedy submission"
• email body includes actual, real time info

--what the book is (subgenre)
--length
--title
--whether it's part of a series and what the subsequent books are
--word count (actual, digital, using Word "word count" function)
--author's publishing history including sales (of copies of books to readers)

• Attachments are all named THE SAME:

--romeoromeocoverletter.doc
--romeoromeosynopsis.doc
--romeoromeomanuscript.doc

• Every part of the submission includes author or agent's contact information (including phone number)

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

• Single title romance fiction (including series', trilogies, etc),
  
• all subgenres,
  
• 90,000ish words
• Authors with a track record who'd like to go to the next level
• Debut authors with something new/fresh/exciting
  

And don't forget those all-important 4 criteria:

1. a heroine the reader can relate to
2. a hero she can fall in love with
3. a world gets created
4. a hook that allows me to sell the book in 2-3 sentences