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My sister-in-law emailed me about a book her husband brought home from Barnes & Noble that was replete with errors –she counted dozens. “There’s three or four mistakes on every page.” She didn’t get beyond the first chapter. She asked me how mistakes like this can happen. I typed up a long email about how a book goes from draft to publication:

· Author writes book.

· Editor reads book. Likely asks for some changes or highlights problem areas.

· Author revises book. Sometimes step two repeats.

· Book gets line edited and copy edited (for some houses, these are separate steps and the author incorporates the line edits into the electronic file, which then goes onto production. For my house, this happens at the same stage.)

· Marked up hard copy is returned to author often with “queries”– inconsistencies or questions the copy editor had (i.e. “Your heroine was blonde in chapter one but a brunette in chapter three . . . did she get a dye job? Explain.”)

· Author answers queries, makes any additional changes to the book (sometimes inserting or cutting complete scenes), “STET’s” copyeditor changes she doesn’t agree with, then sends the whole manuscript back in.

· Production puts all the changes–line editor, copy editor, and author–into the document and produces “page proofs” which are also known as “galleys”–they are formatting for print.

· Author is sent page proofs. Major changes are discouraged–if you make too many, you’ll be charged for them. But this is the place to catch any mistakes–typos, anything you missed in copyedits, tweaking words here and there, making sure the line editor/copy editor/author changes were made correctly, making sure someone doors that are open stay open and doors that are closed stay closed, unless someone is walking through them . . .

· Some houses, like mine, have professional proofreaders that read the page proofs along with the author. Any page proof changes are sent back to the production coordinator who transfers all changes to the master document from all everyone.

Lots of checks and balances, but also room for error. Mistakes happen. I’m usually pretty forgiving of mistakes provided there’s not too many.

But dozens of mistakes in the first chapter alone? I asked my sister-in-law who the publisher was. She said iUniverse. Ah-ha, I said. She then explained that the author was signing at the local store and my BIL bought the book from him.

I’m not here to diss self-published novels–even big NY houses have errors in their books. But most readers don’t notice who the publisher is when they buy a book–and most readers think the errors, no matter who the publisher, are the author’s fault.

Sometimes they are.

I had one typo that my mom found in THE PREY (a missing word.) I had one reader point out a plot inconsistency. (My villain said to himself that he was nervous to be “going back to Texas,” but on a previous page I had made the point that he’d never been in Texas.) Good catch. I remember in the page proofs of the same book I had a character leaving the room twice. I caught that one, but not the Texas reference.

But when I was reading the page proofs of THE KILL, I noticed that many of the changes on the copy edits hadn’t been incorporated into the proofs. I panicked a bit, emailed my editor, and she told me that production was already aware of it. Whew.

Even with all the checks and balances, mistakes can happen. A good friend of mine with her debut novel coming out in May 2007 posted on my blog that four people had read her book specifically for errors before it went to her editor, and all of them found different errors.

So don’t blame the author, or the publisher, or the copy editor, for the occasional mistake.

That said, sometimes the mistakes are glaring, like my Texas problem in THE PREY. Or when the map I used for Seattle in THE KILL didn’t show an impassable barrier and I had a person biking through it

Without mentioning authors or titles, what is the worst mistake you’ve seen in a book?

Mission: Nanowrimo

Please be advised of the following:

Agent:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, begins on November 1st, in the year 2006. Upon acceptance, you will be challenged with writing a novel (50,000 words) within a month’s time. Essential to the mission is your intellect, ability to let go of procrastinating tendencies, creativity, and letting your free-flowing writing-self shine through. Your mission will be activated when you register at the nanowrimo.org web site. Should you fail at your mission in any way, shape, or form, there is no one to blame but yourself (okay, and maybe a pie in the sky goal: only 17% of agents who attempt this dangerous mission actually succeed) and the originator (that would be me) will disavow all knowledge of your actions.

Whether you choose to accept this mission depends upon your personal level of masochism. If you thrive when faced with challenges and deadlines, you are likely to succeed. If, however, your hair stands on end at the mere idea of pressure, if you turn to chocolate in excess when stress knocks at your door, if you have, well, a life, this mission may not be for you.

If you choose to accept this mission, advise me (username: m-girl at nanowrimo and/or via email) of your status prior to November 1st.

You will need several items for your mission: a personal chef (or supportive family members willing to eat canned soup, frozen pizza, and take-out for the next month), a few bucks cash–per day–for the essential caffeine boost at your nearest Starbies or the like, the ability to go with little or no sleep, your amazing talent as a writer, and your drive to complete a novel before the end of the year (think back to that New Year’s Resolution).

You will be debriefed on the success of this mission when you reenter the land of the living on December 1st. Until then, you are undercover, but not alone. Join me, m-girl, at nanowrimo and here as I track my progress. Be one of the 17% and join me on this mission. Do you have what it takes?

This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. (Wow, wouldn’t it have been cool if I could have made that happen?!)

I don’t have the same readership as other authors who write exactly the same sort of book in the same genre. What’s special about my readers is that they are intensely loyal and caring. They’ll go the extra mile to spend their hard-earned dollars buying my books and the books of other authors like me.

My readers hear the promo all other readers do and tend to buy the books as the other readers do too. But these readers also support the careers of authors like me single-handedly.

How can authors like me not love and adore our readers? They’re incredible.

Authors like me are marketed only to these readers, and not the greater genre market. Most of us don’t have a choice, unless we have been deemed universal by the Powers That Be. They put the words on our contracts that stipulate we can only write books specifically for our readers, who are also like us. If I wrote a book with characters that weren’t like me, it wouldn’t be accepted.

People like me, as do all people in most things, have several options.

The first option is to quit, give up, and walk away.

The second option is to take the route women’s fiction author Millenia Black is taking.

Some background: Millenia is that rare, rare self published author who lands a major agent and a multi-book contract with a major traditional NYC publisher. But Millenia is taking Penguin/NAL to court. She filed a complaint in Southern District Court of New York the first week of October.

Millenia stated on my blog that she took care her book would be considered in the same as any other woman’s fiction book, and it didn’t stipulate that the characters be like her in her contract. But apparently her publisher stood by the collective imperative shared by the publishing industry that authors like us, unless deemed universal by the PTB, must be niched. They did so over Millenia’s protests.

So she wrote her second contracted book with characters that didn’t look like her. She said her publisher accepted the outline (I wonder if they assumed the characters in the outline were like Millenia—because after all, our books have little difference in content), but it refused to accept the final book unless Millenia changed her characters and made them like her.

Millenia stands by her right to be treated as any other author of like work and is willing to put her career and probably thousands and thousands of dollars on the line. She’s willing to endure abuse and rage from all sides for 1) taking a stand that’s taboo in this society for people like us to do, and 2) for criticizing the niche that benefits many authors like us and many of our readers prefer also.

Talk about a tortuous narrow and crooked road with rocks hurled along the way.

Read the rest of this entry �

This summer a friend of mine who is always reading financial advice books was obsessed with her Latte Factor. Knowing that I want to buy a house next year, she kept telling me that I needed to cut back on mine. While I don’t have an addiction to overpriced beverages, I am rather addicted to the printed word. So I decided that I was going to drastically reduce the number of books I bought.

I started off well. Weeks went by and I didn’t set foot in a bookstore. When I actually did visit a bookstore I would make a list in advance of what I was going to purchase, and I would not deviate from that list no matter what I saw sitting on the shelves. I was strong. I was determined. I was going to eradicate my Latte Factor.

I have a confession to make. Last week I fell off the wagon. Hard.

I won’t tell you all the gory details (I’ll leave those for my next Bookaholics Anonymous meeting), but let’s just say it involved a special promotion for educators/librarians and visits to multiple bookstores over a three day period. I was on a book bender, and no Latte Factor was going to stop me.

When I returned home with my newly acquired booty I felt no remorse. I had books! Lots of books! Shiny, new books! And like a proud new mom I couldn’t help but brag about them to everyone, including my Latte Factor friend. While my friend was happy for me, she couldn’t help but ask “Why did you buy those books? Couldn’t you get them books from the library?”

I get this question a lot. Friends, coworkers, even my mother seem confused by why I would rather buy books instead of check them out for free from the library. After all, I’m a librarian. I work there, so it’s not like it’s an extra trip. Plus I do a good portion of the fiction ordering, so most of the titles I want to buy at the bookstore are already in my library’s collection.

After giving this serious thought, I have three theories as to why I buy rather than borrow books:

THEORY #1: Books are a vice and buying them is an addiction/sickness much like alcoholism. Biblioholism is defined as the “habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess” and those suffering from it should seek immediate medical intervention.

THEORY #2: I’m a bibliophile, a collector of books. Whatever I buy is just an addition to my hoard, I mean collection.

THEORY #3: While I may get a rush from purchasing a new book and while I do have a decent collection going, that’s not the real reason I buy books. For me it’s all about ownership. I like seeing the books on my shelves. I like knowing I can reread a book whenever I want because it is waiting for me on my shelf. When I talk about a particular book or author, I like being able to say to the person, “Here. Borrow my copy and let me know what you think.”

So the next time I am asked why I buy books, I’m going with Theory #3 as my excuse. Why do you buy books?

Back in August, PBW issued the challenge—”write and publish a new short story, novellette, novella, or novel of your own in e-book form* and post it for download on your weblog, web site, or any host site on October 31, 2006.”

Many stepped forward to accept, myself included. It’s something I hadn’t really considered doing until her post. Why would I give away a story I could submit to one of my publishers, after all? Since impulsively raising my hand, I’ve given the concept of free reads a great deal of thought, and I think they could be either the best or the worst promotional tool on an author’s website.

The best: Here’s an opportunity to attract a reader who’s reluctant to spend money on a new-to-her author. You can show off your best stuff—your voice, the way you tell a story, the type of scene you do best. Highlight your strengths in a compact format. Bring the reader into the genre you’re actively pursuing—perhaps you’re known for contemporaries, but you have some futuristic releases coming up. A short, futuristic story showing your ability to write that kind of story could help promote your upcoming books and boost sales.

The worst: Again, you could be attracting a new-to-you reader. If you pull some ancient, amateurish, oft-rejected story out of the bottom of the draw and slap it up as a free read, you might lose more readers than you gain. If you think this is an opportunity to show off a genre that’s a radical departure from everything else you write, you might confuse readers. And if you don’t have it edited and proofed by somebody whose judgment you trust, again, you may drive readers away.

With all that in mind, I’ve nearly got mine ready to go. I don’t really regret the time spent on a story I won’t be selling because it was a story I really, really wanted to tell without conforming to any guidelines. But I still can’t help but wonder if the time spent is worth it.

So, to you readers—do you ever read free reads offered by authors? Do you use them to make buying decisions? If a free read leaves a poor impression, will it turn you away from that author in the future?

Good promotional idea…or risky venture?

Last month a gentleman e-mailed to ask for my assistance in selling an idea to my publisher: romance novels, he wrote, should carry perfume ads and come with free samples. (He was hoping Harlequin would reward him for that tip–to the tune of a penny per book.) I sent a polite reply expressing my lack of interest in the project, but wondered how he could be unaware that magazine publishers once did something quite similar–until readers got fed up with all the smelly inserts and started cancelling their subscriptions.

I thought of that e-mail the other day, when I learned that Danielle Steel has launched a new perfume carrying her name. The Internet Writing Journal goes on to say:

We think every author should have his or her own fragrance. Think of it:

“Judgment by John Grisham.”
“It by Stephen King.”
“The Da Vinci Scent by Dan Brown.”
“F is for Fragrance by Sue Grafton.”
“Shadow by Neil Gaiman.”

I can’t see people lining up to buy fragrances called “Judgment” and “The DaVinci Scent”, but this might have the makings of a fun game: If some of your favorite romance authors lent their names to perfumes, what might those scents be called? Tell us below, in the Comments. And don’t be afraid to get a little silly–you’re among friends.

I love to read!

Maybe I’m strange to confess this, since the world we live in is a technological one with a generation of young men and women whose favorite source of entertainment is the PC. Rarely, do I see “reading” listed as a hobby, instead I know their eyes prefer to be glued to a LCD display where sound and visual stimuli enchant our sons and daughters with its instant gratification. No longer do they take flight of fancy on the wings of a imagination to create worlds from their vivid imaginations.

I love to read!

For me, reading is not only a source of entertainment, but a place where I could escape from the drudgery of life and the crazy f%%% up world we live in.

I read all genres. I love the thrill of action-adventure and the intensity of suspense, but the passion of romance continues to compel me with its ability to make me feel good about life and myself. In my world of romance, I am able to journey to places I can only dream of visiting. I’ve sailed along the canals of Venice, skied on the slopes of the Alps, and danced under a crescent Paris moon.

I’ve always seen a book as a story of an individual’s journey of self-discovery. In the stories I write, I want to introduce readers to heroes and heroines who are just like they are, imperfect and slightly flawed, who because of circumstances in their lives are forced to confront who they are. I expect to see them develop as characters who we can admire and aspire to be like. I want my characters to be good people.

I’m still one of those individuals who believe that a person’s life is made better and richer when he or she discovers the joy of reading. I’m sure those of you who are reading this BLOG have experienced the thrill that comes when you turn the first pages of that book you just purchased in the bookstore a few minutes ago. Sitting there in the parking lot, you’re already reading the first chapter eager to devour “just-a-tiny-bit” of the latest Nora Roberts or Brenda Jackson before head on home.

I’m one who believes that we were destined to be readers. Unfortunately, not everyone feels that way. Sadly, they don’t know what they’re missing.

I love to read!! Don’t you?

by Angela James

Recently, Nadia Cornier wrote a column here about the agent panel at NJRW. In the comments, Michelle said, regarding authors finding answers to more basic questions about agents:

Why people haven’t learned how to utilize the internet to accelerate their publishing learning curve is beyond me… Aspiring authors need to spend more time doing their homework on the internet so they come across as sharp and on-the-ball in person.

That comment struck me because I was also at the NJRW conference. I sat on the editor panel, representing Samhain Publishing. The only electronic publisher present. After the conference, an author approached me and asked,“ You mentioned digital release first and then print. What IS digital release?”

Truthfully, I was a little floored. I realize there are people who are largely unfamiliar with epublishing but never did I expect someone, who has aspirations of being a part of the publishing industry, to not know what an ebook is. And I quizzed her (gently). “Digital release is the same as an ebook. Are you familiar with ebooks?” I received a head shake to that and took a few minutes to explain what ebooks are and how they’re read. She walked away with a puzzled and somewhat disinterested expression on her face (or so I interpreted it). And I walked away rather dazed at someone wanting to be published not knowing this information.

Some of you, I know, are thinking to yourselves that epublishing isn’t important enough to know about so don’t see a problem with this conversation. Setting aside that debate for now (reluctantly!), even those wanting to break into the NY publishers need to be familiar with the different forms of publishing. Why? Because more and more publishers are recognizing the viability of releasing their books in electronic format. Traditional “print” publishers don’t want to just contract print rights any more, they’re not as interested in a book that has digital rights contracted elsewhere (say with my publisher). They want the whole shebang. Harlequin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Putnam, HarperCollins and more—they all release print books in ebook format. Often, the ebook release is simultaneous with print release, because readers are demanding more books in ebook format due to the ease, convenience and instant gratification of ebooks .

So it brings me back to Michelle’s comment. Aspiring authors need to spend more time doing their homework on the internet… What does all this mean for aspiring authors? Andrea Kane spoke about this at her keynote speech at the NJRW lunch. Today’s aspiring authors face things that authors of twenty years ago didn’t. Things like digital release, internet promotion, website upkeep, message boards, edits via email and emails from fans seeking instant contact.

It makes me wonder, in today’s fast-paced and uber-competitive world of romance publishing, where the mid-list author must get his or her name in front of fans via as many methods as possible, is there room in the publishing industry for aspiring authors who aren’t internet savvy? Is the internet a necessary tool for keeping up with not only promotion and fans, but also marketing trends, or can an author make a name for herself without ever knowing what a digital release is?

On a writer’s loop I frequent, there’s been a really fascinating discussion about jealousy amongst writers. Most of those participating are women. A great many of those who shared spoke about devastating comments from other writers when it was time to celebrate.

I’m quite sure jealousy appears in every endeavor, and it’s particularly prevalent when luck plays such a major role in success.

The publishing world isn’t fair, the best and most talented don’t always win, and frankly some of the biggest winners suck. The Just World Hypothesis doesn’t play.

The Just World Hypothesis is a kind of core belief that most people have that goes something like, “I am safe in the world so long as I do good. Events in the world operate in a lawful and non-chaotic manner, and if I am a good person, I can expect that the world will treat me fairly”. *

In Writing, the JWH is more along the lines of, “I go to monthly writer meetings, I read all the how-to books, I check out the proper blogs every day, and I’ve written a really, really good partial, therefore, I will be published”.

In reality? Not so much. So when Jane Newbie, who hasn’t gone to nearly as many meetings, hasn’t read half the books, and doesn’t even have her own website gets published, it’s damn hard not to be snarky about it.

This, in my opinion, is pretty normal. What bothers me is that lots of times, the folks who deserve to celebrate their successes don’t. Because it feels like bragging.

Bragging, in my completely un-humble opinion, is a girly concept that needs some serious tweaking.

Most men that I know have no problem telling the world how terrific they are and how much they deserve what they’ve gotten. Women bond. Not the same thing at all.

Bonding is great and wonderful, and it’s part of what makes women so terrific, but can’t there also be something that’s not bragging, but still allows those who have worked incredibly hard (or not that hard) and have finally gotten something fabulous to share proudly?

Let’s say I got a single title deal for a humungous amount of money. It’s perfectly acceptable for the news to come out on Publisher’s Lunch, but it’s probably not okay for me to post about it on my blog if I a) actually say the amount of money, and/or b)say it without any humble disclaimers. The humble disclaimers matter more. And they have to be just the right amount of humble to offset the amount of good news.

Why? Is there another way? Have you shared really great news and had great feedback from that? Or have you shared really great news and been kicked in the shins? Have you finally achieved your dream of being published only to find you’ve had to find a new circle of friends? Or perhaps you’re still warming up the bench, and it’s getting harder and harder to find the joy in your friend’s success?

The whole jealousy thing doesn’t stop you know. It just changes as your career changes. So, is there a way to celebrate and stay humble? Or do we need to do away with the humble altogether?

*Paraphrased from an essay by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.