To Write Or Not Write For The Market... Advice on Trends by Editor Trish Owens #authorhelp #TWRP

Today we have editor Trish Owens talking about business trends and if authors should be writing for the market. It's insightful, so settle in and give it a read! 

~Mia

~*~

Business trends and what sells...

It's hard to tell an author what to write when trends change quickly. When I started in publishing in 2000 the paranormal market was dead, and rock stars and artists were an absolute no. Hero with tattoos? Heck no! All of these are now part of the hot trends. If you're already writing one of these, then great! But be aware by the time you publish it, the market may be slower. It takes time to write, edit, submit and go through the publishing process. Instead, make the book you're writing the best escape from reality money can buy, and hopefully readers will find it and make it the next best seller.

So my first suggestion is to write the book of your heart and make it unique and different. For example, vampires are still selling. Since readers are buying them in large volumes, they're going to want to see something fresh and unique. How can you make your vampires different than all the others? Twilight, for example, took vampires in a totally different direction and readers obviously ran with the series. Find your own pack of shifters, give your Scottish historical a new twist. Make that popular trend your own.

I personally have seen enough billionaire heroes and naive heroines, and hero/heroines who are authors, especially erotic romance ones. My senior editor is tired of rich men owning BDSM clubs. I wouldn't reject these on content alone, and I'd hope the story in front of me offered a fresh and exciting take on these well-used story lines.

Storylines that sell...
Consistently, the story lines that sell are the ones that have been around the block. In historicals--Westerns, Scottish highland set stories and Regency eras seem to do well. Romantic suspense is big. Dystopian set stories. Vampires, werewolves, shifters and other dark creatures seem to make it big.

In erotic romance the kink sells. Give the crowd a kinky cowboy or a naughty SEAL and they'll buy it in droves. Erotic romance historicals also seem to do well. What doesn't sell as well are female parings (f/f, f/f/m), Domme/male sub (F/m) and a few other lighter erotic tales. However, readers do seem to be open to trying more and expanding horizons in all genres. If the book of your heart is a Domme looking for love then write it!

Most important, write the book you want to share with the world. Success isn't always measured in numbers. There are best-selling books that are horrible. Write something awesome for the readers who will be thrilled to have discovered you, and your new editor will be one of those first fans.

Submission Formatting Tips With Editor Trish Owens #writing

As soon as we know winners of the Making Santa's Naughty List Blog Hop I shall announce. Until then... 

We're taking a break from author stuff to hear from Trish Owens, one of my editors from The Wild Rose Press. Every now and then she likes to stop by and share with authors a little about the green grass from her side of the fence. Well, someone tromped on her flowers because she's got a bee in her bonnet, folks. Hunker down, toss her some chocolate from a distance and heed the advice. 

~Mia 

~*~

Don't listen to Mia. I'm not grumpy despite the fact that I received three manuscripts today, and not one was formatted properly. But I am saddened. I really get excited when I receive a new manuscript because what woman doesn't want a new book hero to capture her heart or a new adventure to carry her away? So imagine my disappointment when I open it to find sloppy workmanship before I even get to find out the hero's name. 

It's really not that hard to format a manuscript, yet sadly, many authors seem to think the editor can fix it OR choose to use formatting as a way to show how fun and original they are. 

I have two thoughts on this. 

1) I won't reject a wonderful manuscript if it's formatted improperly. But when I open it and it's a pleasure to feast my greedy eyes on, I may decide to read a little more right then and there. 

2) Save the originality for crafting memorable characters. This is an area where following the rules gets you more brownie points. I'm all about brownies.

A formatted manuscript is like making sure you're presentable for a job interview. An author who formats their manuscript tells me they understand the business and care about the finished product. If the writing isn't up to par I would be more apt to give them a chance at fixing their manuscript with revisions because that author has shown me he/she is willing to learn and eager to be published.

But most importantly, if you're going to be published, you might as

well start learning standard formatting for your future editor. Making his/her job easier right out of the starting gate is a point in your favor. We have enough headaches. We love authors who are easy to work with and are willing to do their part. Will there be some in-house formatting stuff? Of course. But there are a few simple things you can do to make your hopefully future editor Snoopy dance with joy and eat hand out the brownies for points.

First...

There's the hidden symbol button! Click it!

To format properly, you need to become familiar with your word processing program. Most authors use Word and I can give you hints for that. If you use something else then you need to do a Web search for the different aspects of formatting. A big help for formatting is being able to see hidden symbols. You'll turn that on by selecting a big backward P on the HOME tool bar. You'll see lots of hidden things, like spaces and returns. It's going to be a useful tool.

If you don't know your program well then find the tutorial program and take a few minutes to learn it. Learn about the Tracking feature if you're not familiar with that, either. It will come in handy for edits. 

On to some formatting tips.

1) NO CURLY FONTS! Not for your title, your name, or any other place in the body of the letter. Use Times New Roman (TNR), Arial, or Courier even. I don't care as long as it's easy to read.  Show you are original and unique in your writing, not your font. Curly font is sort of like putting a big ole circle or heart over your i's like some girls did in grade school. Editors don't like that. Two of the manuscripts today had curly fonts. ::sigh::

2) NO COLORS! Choose black like my evil heart. 

3) NO TABLES! There is no need for a table to corral your name, address and contact info. It messes with final formatting.

6) DO NOT DOUBLE SPACE AFTER ENDING PUNCTUATION!  A single space after ending punctuation is standard now in the industry. I learned to type with two spaces and I adapted. So can you. I have faith. If you really can't unlearn this habit then you need to learn how to remove them. 

• On the right hand corner of the HOME page, select FIND. In the box, put in two spaces. You won't see them. Trust they're there. 
• In the REPLACE box, put one space. 
• Then click REPLACE ALL, and follow the prompts. All of the double spaces will be removed.  

Here's the paragraph box!
Note the little box under the word After. 

4) NO TABS! Learn how to indent the first paragraph. I'll give a quick tutorial.

• Under PAGE LAYOUT, select PARAGRAPH.
• Click SPECIAL for the drop down box. 
• Select FIRST LINE. 
• Then move over one box and BY: select .05 (which is default.) 

5) NO SPACES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS!

• Under PAGE LAYOUT, select PARAGRAPH
• Go half way down the box to under the word AFTER. 
• Click the box that says: Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style. 

6) DOUBLE SPACE YOUR MANUSCRIPT! 

• Under PAGE LAYOUT, select PARAGRAPH
• Click LINE SPACING
• Select DOUBLE (1.5 space isn't bad, either. Don't send it single spaced.) 

7) USE PAGE BREAKS! Your manuscript looks so much more professional if you use a page break after your title page and at the end of each chapter instead of a zillion hard returns.  

• Click the INSERT tab on the tool bar
• Click PAGE BREAK

8) EDITORS LIKE CHAPTERS! I know the in thing is to name your chapter something cute, but please put CHAPTER ONE above it. Or whatever chapter it is. Since you used a page break, you'll want to go down at least six returns (hit enter six times.) 

• DO NOT do weird formatting things with your chapters. It messes up formatting at the very end of the process. Just type CHAPTER, then type out the number. Very easy. Do not use bold, or curly letters, or colored fonts, or tables. Just type it. 

9) DO NOT ADD EXTRA SPACES AROUND PUNCTUATION! I get lots of manuscripts where they add tons of spaces around punctuation. Ellipses and em dashes get the most abuse and I have examples below of what they should look like. Most formatting programs that turn your Word document into Kindle or Epub formats will do what they need to do to make it look good. 

• An ellipse is three periods in a row. Like this...and if you use it in a sentence as I did, you do not put spaces around it... But if you use it to end a sentence, you do put spaces around it. You can program that to happen when you start typing more than one period, but I have no clue how I did that. 
• An em dash is used instead of a semi colon for lots of things--and is made by putting two small dashes together. No spaces around them. You can program Word to change the two dashes into one long one. Again, I forget how. But if you do them the same way each time, it's easy at the end of the editing process to search and find two dashes--and replace them. 

10) USE HARD RETURNS! A hard return is basically hitting the enter key. But some people will hit the shift key AND the enter key, which creates a soft return. This messes with formatting. Don't do that. You'll see them if you use the hidden symbols button. 

To remove soft returns...

• In FIND use ^l (that's a lower case L)
• In REPLACE use ^p

That's it! I hope that was helpful and you all run right over to the computer and format your little hearts out. If you have any questions, ask away! 

Motivate THIS! With #TWRP Editor Trish Owens #WW

My guest today is Trish Owens, editor for The Wild Rose Press. She's here to talk about GMC--goal, motivation and conflict. She's decided to break it down into three parts, and for some reason she's picked Motivation as part one! Go figure. Anyway, she'll answer questions at the end. Have some chocolate while you read. She's brought plenty for everyone!

~Mia

~*~

Thanks, Mia. I brought chocolate because the last time I showed up there was nothing here to munch on. Nada. Not a crumb of cheese or even a cracker. And it also sort of helps with our topic of the day: Motivation.

In life, we're motivated to perform actions. Some things are fairly simple, like consuming that bit of chocolate now melting in your greedy fingers. You didn't need much motivation to eat it. It's tasty, it's melting, AND it was free (it's really good chocolate, too!) So why not eat the chocolate? Bacon is another low-motivation food. Shoe shopping on someone else's dime...sure! Take this lotto ticket? Why, thanks!

But unfortunately...life is not that easy. Nor should your characters have it that easy when it comes to romance. It would make for a boring book to just have Ed and Mia meet and fall in love. They need some challenges to get in their way to prove their love and make them motivated to overcome their conflict to be together! 

Some things are a little harder to motivate, like dragging my fat butt off the chaise lounge, away from the hunks feeding me said chocolate to go work out at the gym. Blech. But if I want a MILF body and to be healthy, I need to do this. That's my motivation to hit the gym. Of course, telling me Mr. Hottie who looks like Matthew Fox sans tattoos will be there increases the motivation. Win/win on that one.

Let's take our chocolate scenario one step further to show a different form of motivation. What if Mia over there ::pointing:: is allergic to chocolate? Yeah, that's a tragedy, and it makes it hard for us to motivate a reason for her to eat it if she's our heroine. Maybe her motivation to eating it is to spark an allergic reaction that will draw the evil dragon's attention away from the dashing hero, Gregor, who needs to escape NOW or he'll die. WAH! Of course she'll eat the deadly chocolate. 

Mia's decision to eat the chocolate also sparks some conflict--what if the hero's clumsy fingers can't work the epi-pen or he has to scale the castle wall to call 911? That could spell trouble. But her motivation to eat the chocolate could be justified if it saves her darling Gregor from certain incineration.

Each scene you write should be motivated. If the Mia, our princess heroine, has said, "No, I am not dating Ed the horse poop cleaner. Period. I'm going to call Gregor, the dashing knight." Then there had better be some solid motivation behind Mia suddenly picking up the castle phone and calling Ed for a date instead of the dashing Gregor. Maybe Mia discovers Ed knows a secret about a dragon in a far away cave that Gregor wants to kill... A little smoochy smoochy and maybe Ed will spill all, so Gregor can be famous, win the king's vote of approval and Mia can get hitched. That's a great plan. That's motivation to pick up the phone.

You may find, though, that the reasons for motivation may change given the conflict at hand. Perhaps our heroine, Mia, is in the dragon's cave and suddenly realizes THE DRAGON is the hero! What if the dragon is none other than Ed, our lowly horse poop cleaner she's come to know and love, a shifter prince trying to save her from the real villain? Gregor isn't trying to save her. He's actually next in line to the throne, so he wants to kill her AND the dragon. Now, her motivation changes. She's not going to eat the chocolate. Maybe she'll pick up a sword and run Gregor through, race to the dragon, kiss him and he morphs into Ed, who underneath the straw and horse stench is the most handsome, kick-ass prince anyone has ever envisioned. Yeah. That's motivation. 

Questions? Comments? I'll be around to answer them about motivation or about any publishing question you may have! 

Thanks for having me! 

Trish Owens, Editor. 

~*~

I hope you all enjoyed that look into motivation! Next time we'll cover either goal or conflict, depending on what Trish decides! Thank you to Trish Owens for taking time out of her busy schedule to blog for us. Just a heads up, if you're looking for a freelance editor, she does edit for a limited amount of Indie authors. My email is on the sidebar, I'll put you in touch with her.

The Wild Rose Press is featuring a fall blowout sale of all of their digital titles! 50% off, and if you order a mix of digital titles and print, your shipping is free if you order $50 or more. 

The Wild Rose Press (regular catalog)

The Wilder Roses (erotic catalog)

The Wild Rose Press is an awesome place to be published! If you're an author, here's a link to their submissions page for erotic romance, erotica OR regular romance and mainstream. 

How to Write Kick-Ass Blurbs!

Editor for The Wild Rose Press, Trish Owens, has stopped by with a few informational posts about writing kick-ass blurbs. She and Diana Carlile fix my blurbs for me, and I love how they wrangle my words into something really cool someone just might want to buy. I asked her to give us insight about her gift of blurb writing.

Mia: Hi, Welcome, Trish! I have coffee and tequila, as well as a buffet of delectable snacks. Help yourself. 

Trish (peering over at the coffee table) Does the hunk mind that he has vegetarian sushi decorating his abs? He looks suspiciously like the guy from your Ripped cover. 

Mia: Shhh. I kidnapped him. He doesn't mind as long as you don't put soy sauce on him. It tickles.

Trish (helping herself to a cucumber roll): So blurbs. You stink at them, Mia. Really. You write such wonderful prose and then you hand us drivel. What do you have to say about that? 

Mia: You and Diana never taught me your secrets. I think you don't share on purpose, so we can bow down  to you both. I think you get a kick off the goddess worship. 

Trish: Maybe a little. I don't get worshiped as much as Diana. I kinda like it. 

Mia: So spill. Not the soy sauce! 

Trish: Sorry, sweet boy. (Pats the hunk's chest. He grunts.) So great blurbs come from knowing your characters and their conflict. A great blurb is short, to the point, and contains the secret formula of outlining your characters' goals, motivations and conflicts. It also contains the flavor and genre of your book, be it erotic romance, historical, or comedy. Try to keep it around 150 words. 200 words, maximum.

Mia: That's it?

Trish: That's it. Well, in a nutshell. For longer novels, I like to make two paragraphs, one about the hero, one about the heroine. For shorter novels you can stick to one informative paragraph. I like to state very clearly what that character wants, why they can't have it, and what they are going to do about getting it. 

Mia: So...Mia wants sushi, but she can't have it because Trish is eating it all. Mia will get the sushi, dammit, by beaning Trish on the head. How's that?

Trish: Sure. That works if you want crappy blurbs from now on. You want me to craft something from that? You sure about that? Think of your career future. 

Mia: I see it as a challenge, but I don't want crappy blurbs. How about I create you a sushi banquet served on Ripped boy so you think about sharing?

Trish: That's better. 

Mia: Then prove your greatness, O Blurb Queen. 

Trish: Blurb Princess. :::cracking knuckles::: Here it goes. 

Lowly serf Mia has always wanted to taste the delicacies wealth and power have to offer, starting with the sushi held in the hand of the powerful yet deadly monarch, Princess Trish of the Garden. But the strict rules of The Garden do not allow those of tainted blood to be more than chattel. Mia yearns to be more, to sample more, and yet can't seem to attract the gorgeous yet aloof redhead who holds the reins to Mia's body, the key to her heart. Catching her eye could mean sudden death. It could also mean ultimate ecstasy. Mia tempts fate by creating the princess's favorite sushi dish, served off the most gorgeous male slave The Garden has to offer, and now the princess is heading her way. Will Mia's first taste of the forbidden be one laced with ultimate desire, or will it end with the kiss of death? 

Mia: That was...amazing, and 150 words, exactly. I take it it's Sci-fi or fantasy with a little suspense. I see that you're a scary...er...princess, and I'm your slave. I think I'm fairly stupid to tempt fate, though.

Trish: I sense you were going to say I was a scary bitch. Go ahead, you can say it. I'm a ninja princess in my own mind.

Mia: No, really. You're nice in person. One complaint, it really smacked of a little f/f action. No offense, but I like him a lot more. ::pointing at the hunk laying on the coffee table, decorated in sushi:::

Trish: I got a little carried away. If we woke studly up, it could be f/f/m. ::laughing:: Kidding! You forget where I work. My mind just goes straight to the naughty side, all the time.

Mia: So...readers are going to want to know. Do I die, or do I get to eat sushi. 

Trish: Your readers will have to wait to find out. If Spy Games: Lethal Limits doesn't release, you're dead. 

Mia: We have readers waiting for Jake! You can't do that to them. 

Trish: How about I take all the sushi and go home? Studly, too. 

Mia: ::sighing:: Okay. Fine. Go. He needs a coat, though. He'll catch cold.

Trish (rising, and yanking the hunk by the hand): Why don't you share Jake's blurb, so they can see something decent I helped craft? 

Mia. Good idea! I'll share the cover, too, since it's new! My thanks to Trish Owens for stopping by with that informational (and really scary) demonstration of blurb prowess. 

Blurb for Spy Games: Lethal Limits, book 2 in the Spy Games series out late fall, 2012. 

Secret Agent Jake Anderson would rather have the measles than love his best friend’s wife. So when she gives him a mission— to find his own woman to love— he knows just the woman to target. Exotic beauty Tia Richards— his new partner— is wild, twisted, and has no limits when it comes to adventure, in bed and out. She’s perfect for him. Now he just has to get Tia and his heart to agree.

Sexy spy Tia Richards has a problem, and the solution is Jake. The last time they hooked up, he left her bound and begging, unfulfilled, so close to finally getting the fireworks she deserves. But Jake loves his former partner, and Tia refuses to be second best. Will she listen to the ache in her heart that whispers she has what it takes to be first in Jake’s life, or will lethal limits separate them forever?