I didn’t go to San Francisco for the big RWA Conference–just couldn’t make the trip this year. While the event was going on, I eagerly surfed the blogs, looking for every bit of info that I could find. I was hoping to discover some great industry news. I wanted to know–what are the editors looking to buy? What are they turning away from? What’s going on?!? Ah!!
When I turned on the Today Show last week, I was thrilled to see a segment on the RWA–and when I saw Saskia’s book, RECKLESS, flashed on the screen, I smiled for the rest of the day. (I love Saskia–she’s pure class.)
Now, folks are returning home from RWA–and I’m hoping to get more industry news/gossip (the good kind). Did you go to RWA? Do you have any news you’d like to share with a desperate woman? Or, are you like me–are you suffering from the RWA blues?
August 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
hahaha Cindy! That stuff’s just not on my radar. I do want to know what is going on, because info is always beneficial, but I don’t care what editors are looking for (subgenre/topic wise.) I’m going to write what I want and get it out there however I can. If it finds an audience large enough, it won’t really matter if editors were “looking for it.”
I mostly am sad about not going to RWA because there are a lot of cool peeps I would have loved to have met for the first time.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hey, Zoe! Oh, I’m always curious about what’s selling well–heck, I’m always curious about everything.
There are some people I would like to have met, though–like, um, you! Hopefully, I’ll meet you in person soon.
And, wow–it’s quiet in here today? Everyone out enjoying the last gasp of summer? I know school starts down here next week. I’ve got one sad ten-year-old niece…
August 6th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
hahaha Cindy, yeah I know I come off like a snot saying crap like that. I don’t know what I hope to accomplish saying it. *head desk* One day I’m going to figure out how not to sound like such a bitca.
Yay, I’d like to meet up with you as well, definitely! We’re about 6 hours away from each other. Sometime we’re gonna have to find a midpoint and meet.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Hey Cindy!
I made it to RWA and it was my first conference and I had a blast….met a lot of women I’ve befriended in the cyber world, and I met my lovely agent Laura for the first time….she is way cool! The city was cool…I crashed the Harlequin party…saw a ton of authors letting loose, and I got to have dinner on Saturday night with Brenda Novak and Christine Feehan! She is amazing and so down to earth…I attended several workshops….YA seems to be huge, and getting even bigger….paranormal is still hot…chick lit is not! LOL…..
August 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hey Juliana, I think the problem with Chick Lit is that so much of it has gotten so “valley girl.” I think if it could be smart writing, with some sarcastic humor, it could work. At least I hope so, cause I can’t write without sarcastic dialogue.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Oh, Zoe, you could never sound like a snot. You sound like a woman who speaks her mind–what’s wrong with that?
Hi, Juliana! You know you just made me horribly jealous, right? Novak and Feehan??!! ACK!
August 6th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
hahaha Cindy, you’re biased cause you’ve seen me not be a snot enough times that it overrides it. I think we tend to see others often in the context in which we first see them. If someone seems like a snot at first it takes a lot of “not a snot” to override that. If someone was “not a snot” at first, more is easily forgiven.
But I admit to being highly neurotic about the whole thing.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I was in SF, too. Had a ball. Ran into Laura everywhere, which was fun.
Also talked to Ann Aguirre several times - she’s a gem - and when she told me how Laura was talking up my soon-to-be-debut, she was an even bigger gem. 
As for industry news…hm…yes, paranormals are still hot, but almost everone said no more vamps or werewolves. Just too many on the market. My brain is mush right now without my morning java (it’s still brewing!), but if I think of any other industry tidbits, I’ll pass them along.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Oh…what I fogot to say was next year in DC all the Bradford clients should plan to meet. I know so many of you by name, but not face. Would be fun to put the two together.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Hey Zoe…the funny thing about chick lit is that agents are marketing it as anything but….and I think as long as a story is well written and capitvates, it will sell….so love your sarcastic self! and yeah,Elisabeth….I saw Ann at the literacy signing and she’s as cute as a button….gave me the arc for her new book coming out…I read it…it’s awesome!
August 7th, 2008 at 8:56 am
I have RWA envy too Cyn. I heard too that YA is still big, and paranormals are still good but narrowing. Historicals are making a come back although I’m not sure they really went away.
I agree with Elisabeth. the BB’s should meet in DC in 09. We could have a huge party and get drunk in Laura’s room and jump on her bed.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am
hehe Juliana, I just don’t get these word gymnastics. Everybody’s just trying to repackage the same exact stuff and trick us into believing it’s different. Though if not calling it chick lit sells more books, who am I to argue? I say more power to you, cause I like my chick lit.
Hey Elisabeth, this is what bugs me. About the vamps and werewolves thing. If I started a vamp/werewolf story today, by the time it could go through the entire agent search, publisher search, production schedule, etc. and was on a shelf, there would be room for more vamps and werewolves.
A couple of years ago I wrote a novel about an incubus (partly because there weren’t many/any out there), that is just now about ready. But by the time it got to a bookstore shelf, from this moment going through that process, the “wave” of the Incubus/Succubus would likely be past or the “hotness” of the market would have passed.
The trends just move too fast for anyone to listen to them. And the book industry itself moves too slow to keep up. When it takes you almost 2 years from initial interest to bookstore shelves for a first novel, that’s a long time. And markets can change in that time.
It’s also highly frustrating I think for a writer, who’s book was actually ready at a point when it could have hit big as the “next big thing” to come to market only to be viewed as a copycat because of how slowly everything moves.
A lot of things about this industry I’ve always found very frustrating.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Elisabeth–glad to hear you had a great time! And a Bradford get-together sounds great!
Juliana, I totally agree–as long as a book is written well and can captivate a reader–I think it will sell.
Ah, Vivi–party in Laura’s room! LOL. I’m there!
Ah, Zoe–you’re right. Trends are such fickle beasts–better to write what you love and make the “trend” follow you.