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Volume 11
Issue 8 RWA® Chapter 108
September, 2003
FCRW’s 2003 Board of Directors
President: Kat McMahon (407) 857-8644
Vice-President: Pamela Cross (904) 824-4333
Secretary: Shannon Juliao (904) 321-0419
Treasurer: Donna Owens (904) 215-6036
PAL: Vickie King (904) 260-6401
Membership: Cheri Anne Brodeur (352) 384-0790
Newsletter: Cheri Clark (386) 758-7935
Historian: Tara Greenbaum (904) 220-7664
From The
Editor
Encore!
By Cheri Clark
This is a rerun of last month’s
message because I didn’t get any response or articles!!!!! Come on, y’all.
Your editor needs original
articles. Surely you’ve benefited from researching your current
work-in-progress and can share a piece of unique knowledge with the membership.
Remember, I’m an editor. I can tidy up your articles for publication. You’ll
get national exposure, too, because I share all FCRW original articles with EditorLink, the Yahoo!
Groups devoted to RWA® newsletter editors worldwide.
Thanks!
Cheri
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM FCRW!
September birthdays:
4 Ellen Breen
7 Lydia Filzen
8 Joanne Rock
KISSES to Vicki Hinze on
her 3-book contract with Silhouette for their Bombshell line!
KISSES to Susan R Sweet [Adrift]
and Cheryl Norman [Full Moon Lullaby], whose books are now
available at www.wingsepress.com.
KISSES to Judy Gilbert for making
the final round in the 2003
Touch of Magic Contest with A Cowboy's Blessing. Congratulations!
KISSES to Dolores Wilson, who took 2nd Place in the Dixie First Chapter Contest. Way to go, Dolores!
HUGS to Sue Sweet on her recent shoulder surgery and upcoming back surgery. Speedy recovery, Sue.
Please send your HUGS &
KISSES and other member news to Cheri Clark by September 22, 2003 for the October
issue of the newsletter.
FCRW
Bylaws
The bylaws committee is pleased to announce that
we have finished revisions and will have the revised version to the Board for
their approval within the week. Once that's done, then you all will be
receiving a copy in the mail to look over for 30 days, along with a SASE
(self-addressed, stamped envelope) and a proxy ballot.
At the end of the 30 day period, we will be voting
on them at the next meeting, Please try to be there. The date will be announced
in the bylaws packet you will be receiving and on the website.
Please, only make out the proxy ballot if you do not plan on being at
the meeting when the bylaws vote is taken.
If you will be at the meeting, you will not need the proxy, but you can
carry a proxy vote for anyone who will NOT be there. So, if you do not
plan on attending the meeting, make out your proxy and give it to someone you
trust to vote for you who will be there.
This vote is vital to the ongoing operation of FCRW. We need a 2/3 vote
of the entire membership to either pass or defeat the new bylaws.
That means everyone must vote.
MESSAGE FROM THE PREZ: Kat McMahon
Dear FCRW Members,
October elections are fast approaching and
many positions will be open.
Please consider what time you may have
available to contribute to the chapter.
As most of you are aware, I will be stepping down as President.
I would like to take this opportunity to
thank everyone for the support and encouragement I realized in the last several
months. Being a member of any board can
be difficult and challenging, but FCRW is very important to me.
Not only have I grown tremendously as a
writer, but I have met some truly amazing people. So please, each of you take a moment to
consider what this chapter means to you both personally and professionally and
consider volunteering for both board and chair positions. This chapter runs so well because of the
cumulative efforts of everyone.
Sincerely,
Kat
PS. If
you have not sent your dues to either Donna Owens or myself, please do so
ASAP!!!!
Grammar
Guru
By
Cheryl Norman
THE FALSE CONDITIONAL
The subjunctive mood is used when a writer employs a hypothesis contrary to fact. For example, “If I were to win the lottery, I should be wealthy.” “If I were to win the lottery” is the hypothesis (because I don’t buy lottery tickets) and “I should be wealthy” is predicated on the conditional assumption.
A problem arises, known as the false conditional, when no condition contrary to fact is involved. For example, “Everyday when I’d start to write, I would be working on my new book.” “Would be working” is a false conditional because the conditional “Everyday when I’d start to write” isn’t contrary to fact. The correct wording is “Everyday when I’d start to write, I was working on my new book.”
Another example: “When I entered the contest, I would be counting the days until I received my score sheets.” Should be: “When I entered the contest, I counted the days until I received my score sheets.
You may not be familiar with the term “false conditional,” but chances are you’ve struggled with it. False conditional are very common errors in writing.
Cheryl Norman’s Full Moon Lullaby is available
from www.wingsepress.com. Her grammar
columns are available at her website at http://www.cherylnorman.com . She welcomes grammar questions at Cheryl@cherylnorman.com
Three Myths of
Epublishing
By
Jennifer Dunne
(The
following articles courtesy of STARbursts, the newsletter of the Southern Tier
Authors of Romance)
Before
you can make an informed decision about whether or not epublishing is a correct
career choice for you, you need to understand the realities of the epublishing
market. Here are three common myths
about epublishing.
1.
Epublishers will print everything.
There
are epublishers who will print everything, usually for a fee. There are print publishers who will print
everything, too, also for a fee. These
are vanity presses, and the savvy author will not try to build her career on
them. Most reputable epublishers have rejection rates comparable to large
publishers. Aside from the vanity press
issue, another source for this myth is that newly established epublishers need
a large influx of material to start publishing, and there are new epublishers
popping up all the time.
2.
Ebooks are print publishing rejects.
This
myth also has some validity to it. Many
first-time ebook sales are from authors whose manuscripts were already shopped
around the print publishers, and turned down not because of poor quality, but
because their book didn't fit the publishers' defined markets. After authors sell to epublishers, however,
they often continue to sell new manuscripts to those epublishers rather than
trying to shop them to print publishers, even when those manuscripts could fit
conventional market parameters.
3.
No one makes any money in epublishing.
There
are some epublishers whose authors make the equivalent of pocket change. Others
have authors who can support themselves on their writing income. Royalties
depend on the quality of the book, the saturation of the market, and the
author's ability to market herself.
Pros and Cons of
Epublishing
By
Jennifer Dunne
Still
not sure if epublishing is for you or not?
Here are five reasons to go the epublished route, and five to hold out
for print publication.
Pros:
-
Highly targeted markets
-
Publisher cares passionately about each book
-
Can be significantly faster
-
Open to books that are "outside the box"
-
Can be a stepping stone
Cons:
-
Less money
-
Publisher may be overextended
-
Can go out of business quickly
-
Limited distribution and recognition
-
Requires more marketing
Jennifer
Dunne has sold ten novels and novellas to epublishers. She is a three-time winner of the EPPIE
Award, the highest honor for epublished books of all genres. Read excerpts at www.jenniferdunne.com..
Get your copy of FIRST CHAPTERS!
FIRST CHAPTERS, by Elizabeth
Sinclair, is a step-by-step instructional booklet on writing the first
chapter of your novel and including all the elements that an editor looks for
before she requests the full manuscript. It covers: hooks, inserting background
info judiciously, forming the reader-questions that keep them reading and much
more. A bonus section explains the difference between a cover and query letter,
when to use which, and how to write them. $7.95 including postage
Order at www.elizabethsinclair.com
NEXT
MEETINGS: SATURDAY September 13, 2003 Hops 9826 San Jose Blvd. WORKSHOP FOLLOWING LUNCH AND MEETING SATURDAY October 11, 2003 11:00 AM-3:00 PM Hops
Jacksonville, FL
BREAKING IN, OUT or UP!
Part 2
©2003 Vicki Hinze (from Aids4Writers)
In Part 2, we're focusing on
Breaking Out. Let's look at the most frequently
commented upon Fact-or-Fiction challenges on the topic.
Straight Skinny on "Fact or Fiction" Challenges
Fact or Fiction #1: Writers must "break out."
Straight Skinny: This is fiction. A widely held view, but fiction. If a writer
is content writing category and loves it, why must she break out? There is no reason
to do so. Similarly, if a writer is content and fulfilled writing genre
fiction, there is no mandate to break out to mainstream.
Breaking out is a personal choice. Many who do so find that the grass isn't as
green on that side of the fence as they'd hoped. They've lost the
stability of lines and category, the identity of genre, and they're floating out
there without anchors.
Lines and genres are anchors--for readers' easy identification but also with
booksellers and distributors in classifying your book so they know where to put
it on the shelf and how to market it to its potential reader base.
Remember there are levels (of people who deal with and handle and make
decisions on the book) between the publisher and the reader who do not read the
books.
Fact or Fiction #2: Writers who break out make a lot more money writing single
title than category.
Straight Skinny: Not always. While you can make more money on a single title
book than on a category book, the majority of unknown writers make far less.
And an indefinite shelf life isn't a given. Booksellers shelve four to
eight weeks. After that, your book must earn its space in the store by selling
well. The publisher might or might not choose to keep the book in print.
These are issues largely out of the writer's control. So while you can make
more money and enjoy a longer shelf life, it isn't a given or automatic that
you will do either.
Fact or Fiction #3: A writer's break out book has to be totally different than
her other work.
Straight Skinny: Not so, though this is sometimes the case. The objective is to
bring your readers with you, not to leave them in the dust. So your break out
book often is similar but has a broader scope.
There's an excellent reference book on the break out novel written by Donald
Maass on the market. Read it to get a firm grasp on the specific elements
typically found in break out novels. I made myself a "cheat sheet"
checklist
on them and it's two-pages long. Excellent reference book on this subject.
Fact or Fiction #4: A writer needs to write a break out novel by her third
book.
Straight Skinny. Again, often quoted, but fiction. A writer writes a break out
book when she writes it. She then works with her agent and publisher to decide
when to market it. Timing is crucial in the marketing phase, not in
the writing phase.
Fact or Fiction #5: Attain a certain sales level and the publisher breaks out
the writer.
Straight Skinny: Not exactly. Say you're writing single title romance. When you
started, your print run was a modest 20,000. Your sell through was 70%.
With your next three books, your print runs increased to 80,000. Your sell
through was 60%. Now you've written book five. It's strong--but it isn't a
break out book. It's the same kind of book, targeting the same reader base, and
of the same scope and complexity as the previous books.
The publisher well might promote the book heavily to maximize sales (great
news) and your sales level could be elevated (great news), technically, this
isn't a break out book. You've tapped more deeply into the existing reader
base, but the potential reader base isn't broader than the potential reader
base for your former books.
Fact or Fiction #6: Aside from writing a great book, there's nothing an author
can do to insure a break out book's success in the market.
Straight Skinny: The publisher can do a lot more than the author, but the
author isn't helpless. She can support her book, do lectures and readings, book
signings--which are done to build good will with the booksellers more often
than to sell to readers.
An author might want to invest in a promotional plan targeting booksellers,
librarians, and/or her reader base. She might find it beneficial to hire a
publicist, who should do more for an author than the author can do.
How much impact an author can have on sales varies so widely it's not
predictable. What impact promotion and marketing have isn't predictable. But the
more people aware of the book, the greater the selling odds for the book.
Fact or Fiction #7: A publisher tells you when it thinks you're ready to write
a break out book.
Straight Skinny. Perhaps sometimes this is the case, but far more often the
writer writes a "book of her heart" that shoves hard at the
boundaries and then presents the book to the publisher.
BOTTOM LINE ON BREAKING OUT: If you're switching genres or trying something
you haven't done before, write the entire book. Consider it an investment in
your future. Remember, you're a proven author, but only when you're writing a
type of book you've already written. Otherwise, you're new and you have to
prove yourself and your ability to transition.
Next month, we'll discuss Breaking Up in Part 3.
I hope this helps!
Blessings,
Vicki
Vicki Hinze
c2003
FIRST COAST ROMANCE WRITERS, INC.
PO BOX 32465
JACKSONVILLE, FL 32237
THE COASTAL CONNECTION
Published nine times per year by the First Coast Romance Writers, Inc.
Other RWA® chapters may reprint articles if proper credit is given to the
chapter and the author. Article contribution is welcome and may be edited for
length. Copy deadline is the 20th of the month preceding
publication. Mail or e-mail: Cheri Clark, Editor, The Coastal Connection, PO BOX 847, Wellborn, FL 32094-0847 clark_n@bellsouth.net . Publication herein of market news, etc. does not imply
endorsement, recommendation, or warranty.
FCRW is a nonprofit organization that meets the second Saturday of each
month (or as noted in the newsletter) to exchange writing tips, marketing news,
and to provide support and encouragement to members. Yearly membership dues of
$15.00 will be pro-rated, payable each July. FCRW members must be in good
standing of Romance Writers of America, Inc. The chapter’s focus is, and will
remain, on writing romance fiction. Both published and unpublished writers are
welcome.