EREC

New Press: Wicked Women of Color--veinglory

2008-07-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

Website

"An invite-only publisher of Interracial and Multicultural Erotica and Romance."

"...from June 15th 2008 to August 15th 2008, we will be accepting queries from unsolicited authors."

Both of the owners are also the only authors published so far. It is not clear what the terms of publication would be. Appears to be ebook only. Sales are via Lulu.com

Writing Schedules--pepper

2008-07-04T10:05:00.001-07:00

I know it's a holiday weekend for a lot of y'all (I myself have big plans of watching 1776 and playing Guitar Hero), and so I should probably wait if I want a response, but this is on my mind right now, so here we are.

Every once in awhile, a debate about quality vs quantity flares up on the blogs, with the implication being that people who are very prolific are not very good. This is both true and false, as is any generality you can ever apply to the human race (excepting this one. This generality is completely accurate). People who write too many books per year at the behest of a publisher, or because they're frightened of not making enough money (especially ebook writers) might see a decline in their quality. Alternately, people who write that much because they're inspired by ideas or because it's a comfortable pace might keep the same high quality from book to book. Or there could be about a dozen other possibilities. I don't know.

I do know that I am very prolific with my partner, Vivien, and less prolific on my own (though there are various reasons for that). I know how it might look to have several releases in a single month, let alone a single year. But then I got to thinking about something crucial that I don't see get mentioned often. Writers who want to write as career treat their writing as a career. Being professional doesn't just mean behaving on blogs, being classy at conventions, and not getting into big, public fights with your publishers. There are a hundred little things that go into the definition of professional.

For example, I believe that professionals should work full-time. That's 35-40 hours per week. While I was in grad school, I kept up that schedule, though it wasn't easy. Now that I'm out of school, it's much easier to write eight hours a day and not feel like it's taking up my whole life, and I do other jobs here and there to keep a steady paycheck. My point is though, if somebody works on their craft a minimum of 40 hours per week, should people expect an author to be prolific? Is it a sin or a crime to get a great deal of work done at your "day job"? I honestly don't believe people who warn against sacrificing quality for quantity take that opinion to their day job. Can you imagine conversations with their boss if that were the case? Yes, ma'am, I know this had a deadline, but I felt it was more important focus on quality instead of working hard and meeting your standards of high quality and timeliness.

Stephen King writes at least six hours a day, every day. Every day. He takes his birthday off, and as he said Writers write. That's all it is. It is as simple, and as complex, as that. I was reading a book about freelance writing, and the author indicated he wrote every day except he took one day off per quarter. Ray Bradbury said Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed. I've seen James D. MacDonald say on Absolute Write over and over as soon as you finish your novel, start writing a new, better novel.

Now I'm not saying one must be prolific to be a professional writer. I'm not saying one must write full time to be a professional writer. But I am saying it shouldn't come as a surprise when professional writers write and publish a lot of material from short stories to novels. Some are lucky enough (or stupid enough like me) to write (and do writing related duties) 160-200 hours every month. One way or another, that's going to have a profound effect on the amount of material and the quality of the material.

Wales Book of the Year Cock Up--veinglory

2008-07-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

I cannot imagine how horrible it must have been for Tom Bullough to be announced as winner of Wales Book of the Year, only to be told it was a mistake and sent back to his seat. Not only is the honor snatched away but also the ten thousand dollar prize that means a lot to a hard working writer.

On his blog the author writes: "I should say, to win the Wales Book Of the Year prize for ‘The Claude Glass’ was my absolute dream. No other prize could possibly have meant so much. It is a book exploding with love for Wales, the only pure result of ten years living in damp, remote, amenity-free cottages on an annual income sometimes as little as £4000, and I was so honoured to be included on the shortlist I was pretty much in tears. So, after a build-up of an hour and the announcement of Gareth Miles as the winner in the Welsh language category, you can imagine what it was like to be announced the winner in the English language category. Hundreds of people applauded. TV cameras zoomed in. I hugged Charlie, got to my feet and went to the stage… Only for the announcer to announce that he had made a mistake and that Dannie Abse had won instead."

You can read more about Mr. Bullough's novel, The Claude Glass, here. Hopefully the interest raised by the media coverage of the humiliating cock-up might help sell a few more copies of the book, although I doubt it will be ten, thousand pounds worth....

First line finalist--veinglory

2008-07-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

My first line came from a piece of erotica I wrote for Phaze, published under their Heat Sheet Snuggler line in 12/06. It's called "The Ice Butterfly" and more information can be found on my website (though I like the excerpt on Fictionwise better; I should probably get around to changing that, lol):

viviendean.com/ice.html

Contrary to what it says on the Phaze website, it's *not* romance. There's no HEA. It's a 10k mini-adventure with erotic interludes, so I always just think of it as erotica. As for the first line...I knew I was working with a shorter word count and I wanted to create a visceral response from the get go. The main character is Tomas Dalmau, a sentinel who polices the paranormal world, and his mood at the start of the story is very on edge. I wanted the reader on edge, too. That slight sense of annoyance and weariness that his circumstances would evoke. He also has a very definitive worldview, and I wanted to try and hint at that.

Found Words--veinglory

2008-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

"Do any of you even understand a fraction of how this business works?" [Aquaria]
"I’ve got a pretty good handle on it, thanks." [Nora Roberts]

"Even if you're happy to be in it just for the dream — money is a way of keeping score." [Jules Jones]

"Lemme be frank, Tease is NOT an e publisher. They are a Small press pub with an e book option..." [Stella]

"...I, too, am a [person of color]--it's just that God chose to curse me with pastels." [Celina]

"...style sheets are conventions, not commandments. They do not so much define orthodoxy as defend against heresy." [Bruce O. Boston]

In brief...--veinglory

2008-07-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

It looks like infamous "agent", Barbara Bauer, finally bit off more than she could sue.

see also:
Judge throws out literary agent's lawsuit against Wikimedia
When Agents Strike Back!
Dumb is Forever

And don't forget:
WRITER BEWARE'S THUMBS DOWN AGENCY LIST
The Abacus Group Literary Agency
Allred and Allred Literary Agents
Barbara Bauer Literary Agency
Benedict & Associates
Sherwood Broome, Inc.
Capital Literary Agency
Desert Rose Literary Agency
Arthur Fleming Associates
Finesse Literary Agency
Brock Gannon Literary Agency
Harris Literary Agency
Martin-McLean Literary Associates
Mocknick Productions Literary Agency, Inc.
B.K. Nelson, Inc.
The Robins Agency
Michele Glance Rooney Literary Agency
Southeast Literary Agency
Mark Sullivan Associates
West Coast Literary Associates
Writers' Literary Agency & Marketing Company

Behind the First Line--veinglory

2008-07-01T16:02:00.001-07:00

You may rememeber the winner of our first line contest: 1st Place: "Aneirin saved my life the day I met him, and saved it twice again before he finally killed me." [All that Glitters -- Aislinn Kerry]

From the author: My opening for All that Glitters actually came about because of another first line contest. Last **summer**, Samhain Publishing held a "Best First Line" contest, and a friend of mine was pressuring me to enter. I was standing in my kitchen one morning, contemplating the overwhelming dullness of all my opening lines (All that Glitters's was particularly terrible), and feeling slightly relieved that that fact excused me from going to the trouble of polishing something up and entering it into the contest. From out of nowhere, I heard Kynan's voice in the back of my head, giving me that sentence -- and sounding particularly smug about it, too. he had every right to be -- that first line played a huge role in getting All that Glitters accepted and published.

You can learn more about the book and read an excerpt at my site, aislinnkerry.com/atg.html

Meanwhile at NCP--veinglory

2008-07-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

"Our office has sustained damage from a severe thunderstorm and our phone and email is temporarily out of service. All emails will be answered as soon as our service has been restored." [NCP]

It could easily be true; it is also a bingo square if you are playing along at home.

Glass Ceiling, Sticky Floor--veinglory

2008-06-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

While I roll my eyes when people say ‘oh, e-publishing is also so risky and terrible’—there is a reason to accentuate the negative when assessing prospective publishers for your work.

Look at it this way. If you ask: how many books do you want to sell? The answer is clearly: lots. But this is not something specific and empirical to help in selecting a press. If you ask: what number if sales in the first year would you consider so low you would regret your choice of publisher? The answers will vary depending on how ambitious and how realistic an author is. And if the publisher’s average sales or the lower end of their range are below that threshold, you need to cross them off your list.

‘How many could I sell’ is a best case scenario limited only by the e-book glass ceiling, that is factors such as the limited uptake of e-books and the lack of a universal format or reading device.

‘How few might I sell’ is a damage control question determined mainly by publisher liabilities such as a lack of skills, experience and funding.

If you choose an e-publisher at random there is a fairly large chance it is stuck to the floor, and a very small chance it is pressed to the ceiling. We need to keep this in mind when trying to divine the meaning of the latest sparkly website and opening day rah rah announcements.

I want all authors to head for the sky and get at least as far as the ceiling, but you absolutely have to hitch a ride with an e-publisher going in that direction. No amount of post-publication arm flapping will make up for hitching your book to the e-publishing equivalent of a lead balloon.

So not romantic--veinglory

2008-06-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Snagged from Monica Jackson's blog. When alphas go wrong... so very wrong.

http://view.break.com/527579 - Watch more free videos

Opening up the Happy-ometer--veinglory

2008-06-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

I am still updating the SALES page and adding more data.

Do you remember the happy-ometer? It involves sending me the answer to the following:

I am satisfied with the performance of my publisher [name of publisher] -- Y/N

So far I have the minimum requred 10 responses only for Ellora's Cave and Loose Id who scored %100 yes. They are keeping their authors happy.

Because it is a very simple measure I am going to open the happy-ometer to all publishers of any type and authors of any genre. All you need to do is send me the answer to that question to veinglory[at]gmail.com. If I get enough responses I will move the happy-ometer information to its own page.

MARKET: Daddies -- Jules

2008-06-28T02:15:00.000-07:00

This one's a print erotica anthology, and thus out of our usual remit. But since our Glorious Leader has been whining about the lack of silver fox porn, I thought I'd point it out as encouragement to you all to write some. :-)

DADDIES: GAY EROTIC FICTION
Editor: Richard Labonte
Publisher: Cleis Press
Deadline: Aug. 15, 2008

For the erotic anthology DADDIES: Gay Erotic Fiction (Cleis Press, Spring 2009), I'm looking for short stories (max 6,000 words) about the lust and the love of younger men for older men, of twinks hankering for silver foxes, of young men drawn to sexual Daddies, of spunky lads just coming out who want to learn the erotic ways of the world from a man with the meat of years on his bones. Everything goes, from sexually playful to hardcore S/M, for this collection about relations between men of different generations.

Deadline: Aug. 15, 2008. Submissions to: Richard Labonte ; please put "Daddies" in the subject line. Original stories preferred, though reprints will be considered.

Found at Erotica Readers association. No pay rate given for this one, but there are a lot of other Cleis anthologies listed at the moment, and the rate is typically $50 plus two contributor's copies. Speaking of which, I did a trawl of ERA's anthology listings, and arranged them by closing date at my LiveJournal.

NCP cont.

2008-06-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Finding themselves in a deep hole the PTB at New Concepts Publishing proceed to try and dig their way out

"Notice of Breach of Contract and Intention to Resolve
In as much as author ... Sydney Somers has refused to honor her obligations to this company regarding completion of her novels Howl for Me and One Dark Knight. And, in as much as New Concepts Publishing has invested money in art, editing, and promotion of these two books as well as other considerations and Ms. Shalon Stewart having been informed of this circumstance has stated the intention of not completing the projects, New Concepts Publishing has taken such steps as they deem appropriate to resolve this situation.

[sarcasm]Well, that clears that up then.[/sarcasm]

The NCP 26

2008-06-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't know on what basis all of these authors were released by NCP. But if you are in the market for some reading you might want to take a look at some of their websites, and some of their books available elsewhere. Just a suggestion :) I don't have links for them all yet and am not 100% sure some of the links are right but I will tidy this up as I go. If you know a link for one of them feel free to drop it on me via a comment. Just spreading some author love. If we can get a good, accurately-linked list, even if it doesn't sell books it might give their Google pagerank a little pick-me-up.

Jan Springer
Ellen Ashe
Tracey Ranson
Louise Crawford
Tawny Stokes
Ellen Fisher
Kelly Caddell
Stephanie Bedwell-Grime
Karin Huxman
Barri Bryan
Anita Moore
Michelle M. Pillow
Sydney Somers
Ciarra Sims
Fiona Neal
Autumn Dawn
Shirley Martin
Ashley Ladd
Eden Robins
Shelley Munro
Joy Nash
Angelica Hart
Cynthia Barry
Penelope Marzec
Heide Katros

NCP Howler--veinglory

2008-06-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

Howl for Me is listed as a new release from New Concepts Press with the authors named as Marlee Eastman, Marie Morin and Sydney Somers. On her blog Ellen Ashe quotes Sydney Somers as saying, in part: "I have no idea who the two other authors are on the cover on what their involvement in this project is. It was not an anthology. I wrote three chapters of a proposal for a full length novel a year and a half ago and that was ALL that NCP ever received from me. HOWL FROM ME as it is being released from NCP is not a story that I wrote and completed and I encourage my readers not to purchase the book...". Um, wow.

edited to add: see more Sydney Somer's website here (thanks Kayleigh)

Edited again to add a link to NCP's shit list. Long, isn't it?

Pickled Cupid's Picks--veinglory

2008-06-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

It isn't always easy to tell what on the Pickle Cupid blog is serious and what is tongue-in-cheek. But their picks for top e-publishers seem to be in earnest. Here they are in preference order:

Loose-Id
Ellora’s Cave
Double Dragon
Liquid Silver
Red Rose
Samhain

For comparison Teddy's picks in alphabetical order (is his blog dead?):

Amber Quill Press
Aspen Mountain Press
Belgrave House
Cerridwen Press
Changeling Press
Cobblestone Press
Drollerie Press
Ellora’s Cave
Liquid Silver Books
Loose Id
Man Love Romance Press
Samhain
The Wild Rose Press

And the EREC top 5 in sales volume order:

Ellora's Cave
Loose Id
Amber Quill Press
Samhain
Liquid Silver Books

No list is perfect but the e-publishers whose names crop up repeatedly are presumably doing something right. It looks about right to me.

Evidence for the defence--veinglory

2008-06-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

It comes up pretty often, the idea that typos in a message are evidence of impaired intellect, or at very least bad manners. So when I found this slip of paper in one of my books I felt secretly a little pleased. You see this short note was typed up by the late Edwin G Boring. Prof. Boring was without a doubt a brilliant and courteous man and also a great writer. Amongst other things he founded the first independent psychology department at Harvard and wrote one of the most important texts on the history of psychology. He also can't type for toffee.

Of course when you have Prof. Boring's level of accomplishment a few typos just show an endearingly human side. And this was one little note to a close friend. The rest of us letting loose with our transpositions and homonyms on the open Internet have neither defence. (I hope no one objects to me posting this little snippet, I am not quite sure where copyright would fall on a 60 year old piece of ephemera, and I will be happy to take it down if requested by a member of the Boring family).

Pub Weekly Article

2008-06-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

The New E- in Erotica. Publishers Weekly with an up-to-the-second realisation that a lot of ebooks have sex in them, oh and women like M/M. A big pile if duh for the ebook reading public, but nice to see it out in the mainstream, I suppose.

New Market: Love Stories Magazine

2008-06-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

I happen to be rather fond of romance short stories--both reading and writing them. However the market tend to be limited. there are a few anthologies, some sigle e-short markets and some magazine who might slot a story in between the recipes and the horoscopes. There also seems to be something afoot over at Grass Roots Magazines with a new magazine in the works called Love stories.

"The overall theme should involve short stories of love and romance. These stories may be contemporary, historic, inspirational, paranormal, or any other theme as long as love and romance are the main thrust of the story. Story length should range from 3,000 to 5,000 Words. While we will accept any story having to do with love and romance, we are currently seeking stories with some sexuality incorporated into the plot to stimulate interest and allow the reader to live vicariously. However, stories should not be overtly graphic or pornographic in nature. Suggestive phrases should be used in the place of reference to body parts and inappropriate language."

Payment is $300 for a story and $50-75 for a poem (a paying romance poetry market, that's like finding a unicorn!).

YADS, Egads--veinglory

2008-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Display sites are getting more confusing by the day. The standard YADS (yet another display site) just lists blurbs and covers and links to a point of sales. The financial model will be a combination of advertising and/or selling a 'prestige' service with extra perks and/or selling author services like promotion or self publishing. YADS can be fun, especially if they develop a social networking element, but they are almost always a waste of time in terms of selling books.

Another model is the content site. The site seeks writers to provide content, money is made mainly by advertising which may be shared with the writer (e.g. Publicbookshelf). The difference is that when you sell 'content' you do this instead of publishing. It might be a viable use of reprints but perhaps not even then. Fiction general doesn't usually function too well as content, and if you go this path you may as well put up your own ads. I notice these types of sites offer fairly vague contracts without clear length of contracts, earning share etc.

Novel Storm is another variation where authors post books and people can pay to read them online. Basically this replaces advertising revenue with direct charges. I am really not convinced that is a profitable model, but okay. However I feel there are some problems with saying: "You can earn money from your posts and as always there is the prospect of having your work published." Because if you entire work is available and on sales, your book is published already. And if you intend to publish your work digitally I strongly suspect their are better ways to do it. Better than paying to submit your novel with the option of paying them to publishing it physically.

People can get very enthusiastic about these kinds of sites and their various way of spinning the YADS and content models but I would be astounded if their offered better earning potential, a better learning experience, a better contracts or in fact a better anything than working with a reputable e-publisher.

Back Up, Now!--veinglory

2008-06-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Now, I didn't have a terrible deletion incident, although I've had a few in the past. I did realise that the sales tracker data exists as a single file on my laptop. The same laptop I never got a case for, cart everywhere, cart through airports and leave in hotels. So I stuck it in my gmail account as a back up. I know nothing online is 100% secure but I don't store any names in it anyway.

A lot of my stuff used to get put on discs that now are completely unreadable. Bugger. If anyone has other back up tips please share them. Online, Google docs, flash drive?

Meanwhile I have been dropping lapsed data from the sales tracker and now both Wild Rose and Freya's Bower are below the reportable level. So, if you don't remember updating your data within the last year, now would be a good time :)

I have just updated the first month sales data, showing Samhain moving into second place after Ellora's Cave.

AVERAGE FIRST MONTH SALES
[updated June 20, 2008]
Ellora's Cave--728 copies (24 books)
Samhain--229 copies (18 books)
Loose Id--205 copies (43 books)
Amber Quill--203 copies (9 books)
Liquid Silver--138 copies (10 books)
Torquere--122 copies (10 books)
Cobblestone--71 copies (31 books)
Freya's Bower--[insufficient data]
Wild Rose--[insufficient data]

SL Publishing

2008-06-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

The most confusing thing about SL Publishing is that it is relatively hard to work out what they are selling. Some kind of subscription deal for access to yaoi/slash fiction, I think? I get the feeling their readership is most built in from more direct connections/communities. But a 'what we are selling' blurb would still be nice for cold callers like myself.

Seeking large press authors--veinglory

2008-06-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have the latest version of the sales tracker up on our main page. I am reasonably happy now that the data set (over 180 books!) gives a ballpark idea of sales in this genre and format. But I feel like a little perspective is still needed. After all, sales levels for e-books are one thing, but just how good are the other options?

I am looking for authors who are published with major erotic romance imprints such as Harlequin Blaze or Avon Red (or any press larger than Ellora's Cave), and who are willing to share sales data. The data would be anonymous and not broken down even as far as the specific publisher and will based on at least three authors and at least 5 books. If you have a book currently on sale, or on sale within the last 365 days, that is published with a large erotic romance imprint please consider letting me know 1) publisher/imprint (for my information only) 2) sales at the first statement (first quarter?) 3) total copies sold to date--and if relevant 4) sales after one year.

For more information please email me at veinglory at gmail.com

What happens when you lose the point-person....

2008-06-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

A lot of online initiatives revolve around a single person. When money or large scale inconvenience are on the line you need to get that person to provide some emergency contact information. This need not be complicated, just a few people who know them in meat-space and can let you know if they lose their internet, or even actually have something very serious happen to them. Case in point:

FF&P PRISM CONTEST NOTICE

*Permission to forward*

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have lost contact with our Prism contest coordinator, Victoria Stark. We have exhausted our resources (email, phone, snail mail, friends), and she has not responded back to us. If anyone has been in contact with her, please let her know the board is trying to get a hold of her and for her to please respond ASAP. The last we heard the contest was proceeding as expected and the entries were about to go to the judges. Unfortunately, we have no proof this happened. We have three volunteers willing to drive to NY to get the materials from her if she has failed to send them out, but we need her to respond before that can happen. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and plan to move forward with the contest if we can get the materials returned. In the future, we plan to utilize online resources to ensure one person is not responsible for the whole contest.

If you have entered the Prism contest, please email the following address with your name, email address, name of book(s) entered, and category entered: contest at romance- ffp.com.

Thank You,

FF&P Board

Edited to add:

*Permission to forward*

Since we have been unable to contact the Prism coordinator, Victoria Stark, the board will now take over the contest. Thanks to everyone who made the attempt to contact her or who gave suggestions and well wishes. We appreciate the support.

If you are a Prism entrant and have not contacted us, please do so at contest@romance-ffp.com by June 30th. After that date, we will have to assume we have all entries. We will need your name, email address, name of book(s), and category entered.

Thank you!

FF&P Board

Love in an Old Climate--veinglory

2008-06-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

The thing about erotic romance is that, for the most part, the love object has to be something you might conceivably find hot. Now I try to argue that that line can be seriously blurred so long as the story is told through the eyes of a protagonist who finds the love object hot. But I get that there are limits.

I happen to like older guys. But they do have to be rather fit, hot older men. In general sex and the apologetically elderly is a squick. I mean look at this article about the tribulations of romance (and sex) in retirement homes. These are thing most of us, clearly, don't want to have to think about. It is easier if older people are Rockwellian archetypes that knit, whittle and tell stories by the fire. (Not spank, wank and use a leather sex swing).

Online we come across notions that older heroines (over 40) have too much baggage for romance and are relegated to women's fiction. As I am now closer to 40 than 30 and decidedly baggage-free (unless you count the dog) I am with the commenters that suggested this was something of a broad brush. Some people can be single and sexy at sixty, others can't manage it at all at 20. In fiction everything should be possible.

However there is clearly a range of feelings and interests. There are erotica anthologies specifically about older women (Ripe Fruit) and erotic romance (Gray Pleasures, first spotted at Karen Scott's blog). Can anyone come up with other examples where one of the main characters is at least 50? My search for MM with a real silver fox is ongoing and so far unsuccessful.

Ultimately I hope old can be sexy, if not now then at least by the time I get there. (70, right? 40 isn't really old in the age of Madonna)

Edited to add, for a more positive take on dating over 80 check out this excerpt from "Assisted Loving".