Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Getting Hooked
I took a chance and entered Samhain Publishing's Best First Line Contest. I made it through round three before getting axed (That's the only Soprano's reference you'll find on this blog. LOL!). It was great practice and really reinforced the idea of the power of words. It is important to choose words that not only convey what you mean, but can do double duty to move the story along while carrying the maximum force.

For instance:

The sun rose higher in the sky as the temperature climbed.

becomes

The morning sun climbed toward its zenith, making an already warm, summer day unbearable - even in the shade.

Clearly, the second sentence has more information about what type of day, the season and a range of time (not quite noon).

Kudos to Samhain! I still have some favorites in the contest and hope they continue to make it through.

Speaking of hooks, one of my crit partners,
Terry Spear, is presenting a wonderful class on writing hooks. The workshop title is Happy Hookers! Engaging the Reader from Start to Finish on November 1-30th. Click here for more information.

Off to write & enjoy SUMMER!!!
posted by Liz @ 9:59 AM   2 comments
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Sales of Romantic Fiction
Interesting statistics compiled by Romance Writers of America and featured this week in Publishers Weekly. The article discusses the number of romance novels published in 2004, how readers obtained the last novel they read and where readers purchase the bulk of their books. Romantic fiction posted sales of $1.2 billion, far ahead of science fiction/fantasy ($512 million) and mysteries of ($405 million). Read the article in its entirety here.

I don't know why people put down romance novels when everyone wants to be romanced! Seriously, who doesn't want to find someone to love and appreciate them as they are? Answer: no one. Read a romance. They're not your mother's romance novels.

Where do you purchase your novels? I don't have a set place to buy books. I look for them pretty much anywhere and because I subscribe to
Romantic Times, I know what's coming out that interests me beforehand.

Certain bookstores have better romance sections than others while still others break out romance into niches, such as paranormal, suspense, etc. Frankly, I think the reason some bookstores have romances sectioned in what might appear to be a haphazard manner is so that you'll stay in the store longer looking for a particular book and in the meantime, find other books that may appeal to you . Trust me, I've fallen for this marketing tactic more than once.

If a store has a buyer who loves romance, then the store will have a great selection. This reminds me the librarians in the town where I grew up. When new books arrived, I received a call at home to let me know what they thought may interest me. I loved that! It was the height of customer service. To this day, they still ask my family about me. I'll have to go in and visit. Of course, it'll be even better when I publish my own and can autograph them personally. LOL.
posted by Liz @ 7:48 PM   6 comments
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