Literary Notes

Hooray for Fio--she's back in the saddle again.  Yes, she picked up her notebook and went over the first three chapters of Phillipa's story yesterday, and today she'll review three more chapters. It's been a long time coming and  feels so good!
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Fiorella attended a little get-together of about six neighborhood ladies last week where the hostess mentioned that Fio is a writer, igniting interest which Fio hopes will leads to sales. Word of mouth is still the best advertiser there is. Thank you, Kathy.
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Fio's going to get on her bandwagon now and complain about men's fiction--thrillers--being considered respectable and women's fiction--romances--being snickered at. It's sexism, plain and simple.

Romance as a Business

Fiorella heard a very good talk at her local Romance Writers of America meeting last night, but it was also disturbing.  The speaker was charming, likable. organized, and knew what she was talking about, which was how to pound out book after book and sell, sell, sell.  The answer, of course, is IT--information technology--and the speaker knew her programs backward and forwards, totally unlike the traditional image of the romance writer whose husband discovers her the next day, asleep at the card table she's set up in the kitchen, with her pages sprawled in front of her.

And totally unlike Fiorella, who angsts it out on the couch in the den or upstairs in her supposed office with her computer balanced in her lap, who writes and rewrites, who strives for originality, who has messages of hope and strength she's trying to get out.

Whatever happened to the romance of romance writing?   Whatever happened to the story?

Romantic Frenzy

What's happened to the romance industry?  We're all killing ourselves to write way too many books in way too short a time.  And we find ourselves not only having to sell cheap, but also having to fund give-aways and other expensive self-promotions--yet the market is so saturated that it's hard for a newcomer to stand out.

Something's gotta give.

Going Against Mother

With fear and trembling, Friend Jeanell is sending out email messages asking friends and family to pimp her latest book on Facebook.  It's scary because Jeanell can feel her mother's disapproval hovering over her.  Her mother did not approve of self-advertisement.

 

Welcome to the World, Little Lamb

Methinks your Fiorella has come smack-dab up against the reality of a writing career, that it is a business, 180 degrees away from Fio's world of daydreams.

She went through all the steps--entering contests, winning contests, getting a great agent who got her a big publisher, working with a great editor.  But her book, for whatever reason, has not been embraced by the waiting world, as she had assumed it would be.  And now that the second book in the contract is at the publishers, her agent wants her to write a new book in a different setting.

Which leaves Fio is in a quandary about what to write that will be well-received by her agent, a publisher, and readers, yet contain the messages she wants to get out.   And--oh--be a story Fio wants to tell.

Onward!

Fiorella learned something yesterday as she sat waiting hour after hour for her car to be fixed.  She learned her writing self-consciousness had been totally healed.  Yes, Fio hauled out her laptop and revised two chapters while she was in the dealership--and one of them included a love scene.

And when she spotted a young woman reading a paperback while waiting, Fio put a smile on her face, asked what she was reading (a romance), announced herself as a romance writer, and gave her a promotional bookmark.

To top it all off, one of the technicians sought Fio out and asked if she had written the book in her car that had her name on it.  Then he told her his wife writes romances and is trying to get published.  Fiorella recommended RWA, gave him her card, contact information, and a bookmark, and told him to have his wife get in touch.

What a day!

Selling the Book

Fiorella has been busily engaged in recruiting people to pass along bookmarks advertising her and her books, the one coming out in September and the one coming out next year.  She hit up her cousins in Ohio, Tennesse, and Georgia first, then branched out to friends and people who had expressed an interest in her literary career.  Everyone she has approached has graciously asked for bookmarks, which means Fio is arranging to get more printed.

Would you like some?

Another Step Along the Way

Fiorella really does have a publicist!  Her name is Fareeda Bullert and she's sent Fio a list of what she's going to be doing to publicize WHAT THE HEART WANTS.  (1) Fio's book will be ballyhooed on her publisher's mailings to consumers, bloggers, and reviewers. (2) Fareeda will also make galleys available to reviewers, provide excerpts and giveaways to certain bloggers, track and schedule review coverage, and provide copies to bloggers and readers.

Now Fio has to figure out what she can do to market the book. One thing for sure, according to the statistics regarding who is reading this blog, WHAT THE HEART WANTS should sell well in Russia.

Into the Maelstrom

Remember how Fio had a bad reaction to the pain medications she was given for her most recent surgery?  That it was like she had entered another world, a place in which there were no rules, a place she couldn't figure out how to deal with?  Well, she feels exactly the same way as she stands on the brink of the publishing world.  In fact, she feels like she's looking down into the pit of Tolkien's orc factory.

One reason Fio decided to concentrate on writing was that the career path seemed so clear and regulated.  First she would sit on the couch and write a book, then she would win contests, then she would get an agent, then the agent would find her a publisher, then the publisher would pay Fiorella a boatload of money and publish the book.  But, apparently there's a lot more involved--marketing, monetizing, and mayhem, none of which Fio is adept at.

Pray for Fio.