I’m just back from the Romance Writers National Conference in San Francisco and almost a week of rubbing shoulders with many friends who are now successfully published authors. (And bouncing off Laura Bradford more times than I can count…I imagine the poor woman thought I was stalking her!) I found myself looking around the room and remembering how it was when so many of us, now published, started out in the business, when we used to go the conferences, hoping for the perfect pitch to an agent, the chance to connect with an editor—the possibility of getting published.

For me it was a longer journey than most, and I’ve made no secret of my twenty years’ worth of rejections, of honing my craft, of searching for that one perfect story that would finally catch an editor’s eye. In my case, it was a combination of finally hitting all four cherries in a row—I had a well-written, sexy paranormal serial selling online at a time when New York editors were finally reaching out for erotic romances, a genre that had quickly risen in popularity through the growing ebook market.

I’d sent my collection of short, connected stories to my agent, Jessica Faust of BookEnds, LLC, who in turn submitted them to editor Audrey LaFehr at Kensington. Kensington Publishing was ready to enter the erotic romance market and my serial, Wolf Tales, was chosen as the vehicle to launch the new imprint, which didn’t even have a name until shortly before the book actually released.

It was a wild time—most new imprints take at least a year to get off the ground. Aphrodisia launched about six months after conception, which meant production was shoved into high gear, copy edits and galley proofs were completed with a turn-around time of two or three days rather than the usual ten, and I went from “aspiring author” to published author so fast my head was still spinning when the first book hit the shelves.

It was actually a fairly smooth release, if you discount the need to redo the original cover—the nude male and female models were tastefully arranged on the very first, eye-catching purple cover. Unfortunately, the female model’s nipple was showing, which apparently tipped a few bookstore owners past their comfort zones, so once that was either airbrushed out or moved into the book’s spine (I never could figure out how they did it!) the very first Wolf Tales released.

Now…it’s most definitely not your mother’s romance…the sex scenes in the book, while very much a part of the plot, are graphic and, for many readers unsettling. Expecting at least some backlash, Kensington elected to put a warning on the books, so on every back cover is a neat little box that says: WARNING! This is a really HOT book! (Sexually explicit) I still got reviews from people shocked by the content, but rather than hurting sales, those complaints seemed to push the book forward. There really is no such thing as bad publicity.

Sales were phenomenal! The book went into a second printing, then a third. Kensington contracted me for three novels and three novellas, and shortly came back asking for three more novels and three more novellas. Wolf Tales went into a fourth and then a fifth print run (it’s now in its seventh, as far as I know) and the first Sexy Beast anthology, with what was essentially the last chapter of the first Wolf Tales novel, released to excellent sales. What I had only dreamed of for so many years was actually a reality, and now, barely three years from the first phone call from my agent telling me the series had sold, I still have to pinch myself to make sure it’s real.

I’m currently contracted for nine novels and nine novellas, with publication stretching into 2010. I’m just finishing up writing Wolf Tales VIII, the fifteenth title counting the novellas. I have elected to write a tightly connected series with regularly recurring characters and an ongoing plot line that is only partially concluded at the end of each story. I tend to think of it as an erotic paranormal soap opera. Obviously I have my favorite characters—Anton Cheval, the über-alpha Chanku shapeshifter and wizard extraordinaire, Adam Wolf, a healer with many special powers he’s only now beginning to understand, Keisha Rialto, Anton’s mate and the alpha bitch of the Montana pack whose wisdom grows with each crisis…and who is, in reality, her mate’s ultimate strength. I’ve gotten to know all of them as personal friends and look forward to sitting down to write each day, wondering what they’re up to next.

And the point of this rambling post? If I’d given up when I was so terribly discouraged so many years ago, if I hadn’t held on to the dream that publication and success in a business I wanted more than anything wasn’t a real possibility for me, I wouldn’t be having the time of my life now, sitting here in my office and contemplating my day’s work on the next book. Keep writing, keep honing your craft, keep submitting. Find an agent who believes in you, and always believe in yourself. It’s not an impossible dream. Not if it’s your dream. Hold on to it and eventually it will take you for the ride of your life.

Kate Douglas–Wolf Tales
www.katedouglas.com
www.myspace.com/katedouglas_wolftales
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KateDouglas/