I'm still a bit raw from yesterday. But, without it I wouldn't have had a few realizations I think will serve me well.
1. Writers want to learn to be better, and so we soak up any instruction we can. You can teach someone how to write better prose, hence the attention spent on eliminating passive voice and weak verbs, starting with a hook and ending each chapter on a cliff. But what sets authors and writers apart are better stories. Can you learn how to tell a better story? Sign me up.
2. I did learn what I wanted to know. Experienced authors are given more leeway. I didn’t know Blaze is bought by author not line. Since that is the case, name recognition earns them that right. Before, I was opportating under the illusion most people do as I do and simply read what comes in the box or has the best blurb and first paragraph.
3. I'm touchy about people who bash category. They'll read one book and if it doesn't sparkle they toss it aside and write off the whole genre. 95% of category is amazing, tight and intense and every word matters. When I trip over a book that isn't amazing, I know that others will use it as an example and it unnerves me. I needed to know why they are published...and I found out. At least with Blaze. It's a stretch, to see if readers want to go in that direction. It's a gamble, and publishers stack the deck by using a known author.
4. Semantics suck. Really. I said something about authors getting a bye - meaning they didn't have to stay within the fences and were allowed gates not available to new authors - and others read that as being able to type drivel and get it in print because of their name.
5. Virtual timing blows. I think out loud, and sometimes as I am typing. So as I came to conclusions yesterday about what the point of this whole mess really is beyond the nastiness, my anger abated and my hands stopped shaking. However, people read what you wrote with shaking hands and don't realize you're not angry anymore and just hurt and trying like h*ll to learn something from this.
6. I don't see what others see. I went back and copied the conversation that started the ball rolling, and I don't see my comments the way others do. Probably because I know the motivations behind them, and I tend to think the best of everyone. Others saw annoyance in the editors post, I still see clarification. Others saw me as coming back at her with attitude, I see me trying to sort out what it all meant.
I hate that all this went down because it makes new writers afraid to voice their opinions. People were so anxious about the editor chat last year they were emailing me questions to ask becuase they knew I didn't care if I sounded like a novice, and they wanted to seem professional. Well, who learns from acting like they already know?
What does this all mean now? Probably nothing. Even I'm nervous to post my learnings on eHQ...writers need to know Blaze is bought by author, it changes the way you approach writing for them. They're like an imprint, not a line. I want to ask if this is the way all lines are going, if Blaze is trailblazing for the rest to see what will work in the evolving market. But not today. Who knows what might happen.
9 comments:
In the interest of being helpful, I want to answer your question--first, no one ever bought Blaze by the line. I don't know where you got that idea. Sure, some people walk into a store a pick up all four/six books, but that hasn't been a trend for years. Yes, the line helps. Readers will try new authors because of the line. But they also look at author name. It's a bit of both, depending on the circumstances.
Honestly, readers haven't really been buying by line for years. Bookclub numbers are way down for a lot of lines--not so for others. And since bookclub royalties are only a smidgen to an author (2% versus 6% retail) we don't concentrate on that number much.
But my point is that it doesn't really matter, in my opinion, if they buy by line or by author. Either way, books should be the very best they can be and every author in the line has a vested interest in the other books being strong. Rising water floats all ships.
I think you've been told that since readers buy by the line, all the books have to be the same, at least in some respects? Yes, all the books need to keep with the theme (red-hot read for Blaze) but they can vary in a thousand ways otherwise. And yes, in my opinion, in that, Blaze is trailblazing.
Where did I get that idea? Romance writing in a nutshell or one of the other eighty romance writing books I read :) They all lump category into a heap and I'm realizing each line is like a mini-imprint. Actually, not so mini. Blaze does 72 books a year - that's more than small publishing houses.
I think the Q&A I'm doing at RD in May will help clarify it for me, and for other newbies. Instead of approaching it as category and expecting each book to be a similar tone, I now think of it as approaching each line as a different publisher which opens up the kind of books that can be expected. I know its psychological framing, but it helps me.
I also think struggling writers get the idea from the guidelines, from reading the line, and from our rejection letters. My latest talked pacing, a friends verbage, another repetition. So when we see that in published books, we're more aware of it.
What I've learned, Jenna, is that what isn't accepted by one author is accepted by another--which means, it's all in the execution.
And it doesn't matter if you're published or not. I remember a book I submitted to Temptation a few years back that was rejected because they didn't want "a deserted island story." Nevermind that my heroine had several boats and could leave her island at any given moment (not exactly deserted) or that the line had published island books both before and after. They didn't want *MY* deserted island book. I hadn't pulled it off in a way the senior editor at the time liked.
Luckily, I sold that book years later as MAKING WAVES, a single title.
Also, my book wasn't as "light" as the two books I'd done previously, so it was a voice thing, too. Harlequin likes to build an author before they let them stray. With me, I started to change my tone when I moved to Blaze. My light books stayed in Temptation. It totally worked out.
With a lot of patience and perserverance, that is.
On the books and such--there was a time when category books were bought by the line, but it was a long time ago. Bookbuying habits change a lot--especially in today's tough market. That's why Harlequin keeps changing, adding new lines, altering packaging. Just trying to keep on top of things!
This has been a really intresting topic to follow. I honestly have always lumped 'lines' together as well. I don't buy from the bookclub, but I head for a certain line when I'm at the bookstore. I may not buy all the books in a line, but I rarely buy a category book outside the lines I regularly follow.
Great information - hope it wasn't to harsh to be the one instigating the conversation!
*hugs*
This is interesting to note as I've generally bought for the line too. I am a book club member for Intrigue because that's what I'm trying to write and because I love mysteries. Lately I've also been in to Bombshell for similar reasons and I just buy those at the store whenever I like the blurb on the back. While I do have some favourite authors I have just assumed that the lines followed similar themes and have never bought category because of a certain author. I do buy my mainstream novels for certain authors though so I guess it goes that some may do the same in category but it's just news to me that that's how they are buying from the authors - how do new authors get in then? Makes it a bit hard doesn't it?
I'm wondering if there's a bit of confusion here about buying by author and not by line. The point I was making in one of my other posts was that *within* the line, there are certain authors who consistently sell at a certain level. Not saying that if author X writes for 5 different categories, a reader is going to read every one of those categories, but if they read Blaze and like author X, they are going to pick up the next Blaze by author x, and the next, and the next. So each author is trying to build her own audience because it really does matter how your book sells within the line compared to the other books out that month. And per the senior editor, there are authors who consistently sell at the top of their month, no matter what their cover looks like, what the back cover copy says, or what the book is about. It's the author's name selling the book. Which Harlequin is finally realizing after years of thinking all authors were interchangeable puzzle pieces who really didn't matter.
Of course Blaze is still open to buying new authors. The top names of tomorrow are the new names of today. They can't rely on a few authors to write 72 books a year, especially because so many Blaze authors also write in other arenas such as single title, Brava, etc.) I mean, just look at some of the top Blaze authors-- Alison Kent, Nancy Warren, Isabel Sharpe, Karen Kendall, Kimberly Raye, Julie Leto, Julie Kenner, Tori Carrrington, Stephanie Bond...they are all writing big books for other publishers, but are bringing their audiences with them to their Blaze books from other venues. Which is why sometimes you will seee a Blaze with the author's name large and above the title--Harlequin is trying to grab some of those Brava or Avon or Pocket readers to get them to follow their favorite authors into Blaze and, hopefully, get them hooked on the line so they might start reading other new authors within Blaze.
Doing those big books elsewhere, however, means a lot of authors have time to do only 1 Blaze title a year, maybe two. But Harlequin is thrilled to have single title authors sticking with Blaze even if it's only 1-2 titles a year because they bring an audience with them that helps all the authors in the line.
So, bottom line, there's still plenty of room for newer authors to fill those slots and rise with the line to build loyal audiences of their own.
Leslie
Very interesting, something I think we can all learn from, even those of us who have no intention of writing. I am content to be a reader.
I don't buy the line. I buy by author, or more importantly, storyline. (I once read a storyline by a fave author and it turned me off so even though i loved the author, I had no interest in the book). So that means I might be just as likely to pick up a new author as I am an established author. Btw, I love category, and a lot of my fave authors got me hooked on their category books.
I somewhat agree established authors get more leeway, but then the stakes have been raised with each book. Like Julie mentioned, she still gets rejected for storylines that have been told before - it's bound to happen. Unless you're writing royalty (Nora, Stephen King, JK Rowling) I don't think too many people have a lot of say. But publishing houses are there to make money, so yeah, it would make sense to me that an established writer is going to get more say-so then someone just out of the gate. Goes with the territory of any career, but it doesn't mean risks aren't involved. It's how we learn, and how we pay our dues.
One more comment: the internet is a powerful tool, and I've learned, just from IM'ing people who know me (like my own mother!) that the simplest comment can be twisted and turned until it is the exact opposite of what you thought you said. So whenever I send a comment out, I know that I may be subject to some misinterpretation, however off-base that misinterpretation is. Not seeing someone's facial expression or hearing the tone of their voice means a lot of different conclusions can be made by said comments. That being said, does that mean I haven't been on the exact opposite end of the situation? Not at all. I just try to believe it was meant in the best way possible. It's all I can do - I can't control another person's reaction any more than they can control mine. But that's okay - I'd rather spend my time reading :)
Anyway, I've rambled enough. I hope you had a nice Easter holiday :)
Jenna, by "buying by line" did you mean readers buy with the line or BOOKSELLERS buy the line?
It seems to me, your arguments make more sense if you meant BOOKSELLERS - "Barnes and Noble is going to buy and stock X amount of all 6 new Blaze books this month".
Until this very discussion, I thought author didn't matter to B&N - they would buy the same X amount of ALL 6 BOOKS in the line.
(I guess, then, if they make the decision to REORDER an author that sold-out, that would be different - but I've heard that they DON'T reorder category within the same month like they would a single-title.)
But, if B&N DOES buy according to author - then a better selling author may get 20 more books on the shelf than other Blazes???
That, I did not realize. That would make Blaze more of an "imprint" than what I thought of category...
And, I am a member of the Blaze subscription and read what comes in the box - now that I am writing, I'm trying to pay more attention to author's names so I can support them.
Thanks, Jenna!
Sarah - I was surprised by that too! I know that my local Borders doesn't reorder category - so I was glad to learn that more marketable authors get bigger sales.
I'm looking at Blaze as more of an imprint now. Have you done the cover survey on eHQ? It looks like they are thinking of tagging them like NEXT and having them look more ST. That should help us all get a better feel for the line.
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