It's officially a short, short week, as the agency is closed Wednesday through Friday for Thanksgiving. I'm taking the holiday to catch up on the ton of reading that I've been trying to get to for weeks, so I suspect I will be scare around these parts. However, I leave you with wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving (or week, for you non-American types) and some fun links to check out.

io9's List of 20 Sci-fi Books Coming in 2010. Some great-looking reads on the horizon.

The Millions on the End of Oprah and what it will mean to publishing. No more Oprah's Book Club. Who will fill this gap?

Kera Bolonik interviews John Irving for Bookforum. (Free registration required.)

Maud Newton explains to the LA Times why she's writing a novel and not a memoir. Excellent take on the difference between telling the story of one's life and making one's life into a story...

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I'm pleased to announce that my client Shannon K. Butcher will be in the TKA chat room this evening to talk about her books. Shannon writes both romantic suspense and paranormals, so she's got all sorts of fun facts to share about her work and about writing in general. There will be book giveaways, plus a little something extra special that Shannon's offered up for the occassion.

That's tonight, November 19th, at 9pm ET/ 6pm PT. You can get all the details here. Hope to see you tonight!

Current Mood: working

People frequently ask what happens during the holidays in the publishing world: if things slow down or if they speed up. Well, my response is that they do both. During this time of year, I find people are often making an effort to clear the decks before the end of the year. With Thanksgiving creeping up fast, and the various December holidays hard on its heels, there can be a certain amount of distraction. You know--food, shopping, cleaning, wrapping, relatives, travel plans, and so on. However, there's nothing more depressing than coming back to your desk after the first of the new year and finding a huge stack of old business waiting for your attention.

Does that mean you should not send out queries this time of year? Of course not. You should base your submissions schedule on your own state of readiness, not on whether you think an agent might be too busy to look at your project. The truth is, we're always busy, and you want to slot yourself into the queue as soon as you feel your work is polished and ready to go out into the world. Response time might be a little slower, but if you wait to query until January, then you'll still have a wait, and you'll be behind everyone who ignored the calendar. The most important thing is the quality of your writing; let that determine your submissions schedule, not the month of the year.

Current Mood: working

I pretend to shudder every November when Nanowrimo kicks off. Well okay, maybe I really do shudder a bit anticipating the unedited submissions that inevitably follow. But the truth is I think it's a fabulous thing and I admire all the people who devote their month to crazily typing or frantically scribbling in order to get their 50,000 down somewhere--putting it out there in the universe as a wonderful foundation for things to come. Everyone's Nano book sucks on some level. It's the proverbial shitty first draft, and that definition right there gives you permission to do virtually anything.

That said, there are a lot of published writers who are out there Nano-ing, and I'm sure their first drafts are pretty shitty too, but probably not quite as shitty as that of a first timer. After all, practice makes perfect, and doing this a bunch of times (writing a book in general) has to be good for something. I'm not saying this to get first timers down. Rather, I'm holding it up as an example and something to strive toward. The reality is that writing will always be hard, but once you've written a number of books and been edited by a professional at a publishing house and your books have started to line up on the shelves at your local store...maybe, possibly, you will find you've developed a few tricks. New problems will inevitably arise with each new project, but you do, after a while, start to get how the process works, at least for you.

Below are links to two blog posts by best-selling author Jennifer Crusie. First we have her (theoretically) unedited Nano pages, and then we have her thoughts on how she plans to revise. You'll notice the first excerpt sounds pretty good in places, but it's also wordy and very dialogue heavy, as she herself notes. It is by no means ready to pack up and send to her agent or editor.

So, all you Nano participants, remember this: We're really not kidding about the shitty first draft. Get it all down, whatever flows through your head. Plenty of time to start cutting and rearranging and rewriting next month, or whenever you finally get to the end of your story. This is the process, no matter your stage in your career.

Happy writing!

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Big praise and three cheers for Nalini Singh, whose BLAZE OF MEMORY, which I mentioned last week will be debuting on the New York Times mass market bestseller list at #8! This is the first time Nalini's cracked the top ten, so needless to say, we're very excited. This list will print 11/22. In addition, she's at #77 on the USA Today bestseller list, which covers all books, not just mass market ppbk.

Edited to add:
Back with more great news. TKA client Rachel Caine is at #7 on the New York Times Children's Series bestseller list for her Morganville Vampires and debuts at #105 on the USA Today bestseller list for the latest, FADE OUT.

In addition, clients Don Piper and Cecil Murphey have just passed the 3rd year mark on the New York Times list with 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN.

Congratulations to everyone!

Current Mood: excited

Go read this.

Amen. (I love it when Jenn rants, because I'm pretty much always on the same page.)

Current Mood: busy

I've got a two-fer day once again, with two great paranormal romance novels from two wonderful authors hitting the shelves.

First up we have Nalini Singh's BLAZE OF MEMORY, the next installment in her Psy/Changeling series. This book takes a deeper look into the humans who inhabit this alternate version of Earth, and features sexy Dev Santos as he finds himself with a potentially dangerous Psy woman on his hands. Katya has amnesia, but when she finally remembers everything, the results might very well be fatal.



Next up is Shannon K. Butcher's FINDING THE LOST, book two in her Sentinel Wars series. This book follows Sentinel warrior Paul as he risks everything for Andra, a woman whose existence gives hope for the survival of his own people as well as humanity. But when Paul is forced to lead Andra into danger, they must face the demons responsible for a devestating attack on Andra's family eight years earlier.



Happy reading!

Current Mood: working

I could almost hear the insane typing begin yesterday. I know you're out there--all you industrious novel writers, banging away at keyboards at home or in coffee shops or libraries or wherever. Maybe bars. Somehow that sounds like a good idea.

Every year more and more people sit down to try to write a novel in a month. Or at least most of one. (50,000 words does not quite a novel make, unless maybe it's a young adult book; but it's a great start.) Agents tend to cringe when NaNoWriMo kicks off, because we know in a month's time we'll see a marked increase in queries. So I'd like to remind you now--if November is for writing, December (and probably January, February, March...) is for revising. Please do not hit word number 50,000 and think that means you're done. You're done with NaNo (and many congrats to those of you who do it), but your writing journey is just beginning.

Justine Larbalestier has a great NaNo tip up today that might help you get past a few hums, including the nagging self-editor that insists day one's output needs work (plenty of time for that later). She and hubby Scott are alternating NaNo tips for the entire month, so don't forget to check back and see what other words of wisdom they come up with as NaNo progresses.

And in the meantime, best of luck and happy writing!

Current Mood: working

This time of year is always a good excuse to dive into your favorite scary stories. I (obviously) love paranormal and fantasy novels all year round, but come Halloween time, I like a good classic spine-tingling tale. I remember reading Frankenstein for English class and not finding it all that scary; more sad, really. But Bram Stoker's Dracula, well, that was another thing entirely. I read it on my own, my first year out of college. I was working at Simon and Schuster in New York and taking the train home to Connecticut to my parents' house (not making anywhere near enough in those days to afford little necessities like rent). I read on the train each way--nearly two hours of uninterrupted reading time total. It was a luxury, though I didn't realize it then. That's how I read Dracula, and more often than not I'd jump up at the last minute on the ride home, nearly reading right through my stop because I was so enthralled.

I've a fondness for a number of scary books. I love reading Poe and Lovecraft this time of year. And who can resist the lure of some good old fashioned Stephen King. The Shining and 'Salem's Lot give me shivers just thinking about them. I don't represent horror, but that doesn't mean I don't read it from time to time.

How about all of you? Any favorite scary reads for the season you care to share with the rest of us? I always love a good new recommendation. Something to curl up with over the holiday weekend.

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Hey there, goblins and ghouls!

We've got a great week-long giveaway going on at The Knight Agency Blog. Each day features a guest blogger and a question. Answer all five questions correctly at the end of the week to enter the contest and potentially win some fun prizes! Today my client Marilyn Brant is blogging. Head on over and check out the fun!

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Romantic mystery author Gemma Halliday's newest book, SCANDAL SHEET, hits shelves today. This is the first installment in Gemma's new "Hollywood Headlines" series, and features one or two familiar faces from her popular "High Heels" series. Happy reading!

Current Mood: working

For your reading enjoyment:

The New Yorker's take on marketing in the publishing industry. Laugh now, but this isn't actually that far off reality some days...

Current Mood: working

Double the fun on this fine Tuesday. Two great books from two of my equally wonderful clients hit the shelves today. First up is a wonderful, whimsical work of women's fiction by debut author Marilyn Brant. Her book, ACCORDING TO JANE, tells the story of a young woman named Ellie Barnett, coming of age in the Chicago area, learning about love and relationships--both romantic and otherwise--and the advice she gets from a most surprising source: the ghost of Jane Austen. Learn how Ellie comes to understand her family, her friends, and--most importantly--her own heart.



Then for a change of pace, we have Shannon K. Butcher's exciting new romantic suspense novel, LOVE YOU TO DEATH. Reporter Elise McBride knows something has happened to her sister, Ashley. It's been days since she has heard from her and women have been disappearing at a frightening rate in and around Chicago--only to be discovered later, brutally murdered. Elise is determined to find her sister before it's too late. When ex-cop Trent Brady catches her trying to break into Ashley's house, Elise gains an ally in her hunt, and perhaps something more, as well. Until the killer sets his eyes on Elise, and suddenly the stakes become far more deadly for all of them.



Congrats to both these great authors on their new books!

Tags: authors, books, link
Current Mood: working

That time of year again. I keep hoping we will reach a point where Banned Books Week will become unnecessary because people will simply stop banning and/or censoring written materials, but no such luck. There's an opinion piece up at the Wall Street Journal site that suggests that books are not actually banned if they are available somewhere... an idea that had me choking on my coffee this morning. Just because a book is on the shelves in one town, does not mean that another town is not banning it, or that they are not preventing people from exercising their First Amendment Rights.

If you're curious about the purpose of this annual event, check out the post at the American Library Association. You can also find lists of the most frequently banned or challenged books in recent years here.

Current Mood: working

I realize I've been quiet lately. My mother was in town visiting, and now I'm playing catch up. But I haven't forgotten you all...

For your reading pleasure, an interesting rant on the publishing business from former Random House exec. editor, Daniel Menaker, over at the B&N blog. Educational, for those of you wondering what happens on that end of the world.

Back on Monday, I mentioned Louisa Edwards's debut novel, and today I'm back to point you in the direction of a few goodies that Louisa is sharing with readers. If you head over to her beautiful new Web site, you can find more information about not just Louisa, her book, and her love of cooking, but a wonderful contest she's running this month that includes a lovely tote bag full of books as the prize. If that weren't enough, she's the guest blogger over at the Knight Agency blog today, where there's yet another giveaway opportunity. So go check Louisa out!

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Happy release day to Nalini Singh. Today her latest anthology, MUST LOVE HELL HOUNDS, is out from Berkley Sensation. This book includes Nalini's latest novella in her Guild Hunter series--Angels' Judgment--along with three other stories from fabulous authors Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook. Head on out and grab a copy of this fun book and visit four very different, entertaining worlds.

Current Mood: working

Former editor and TKA client Louisa Edwards is the focus of the First Sale series over at Dear Author today. Head on over and read Louisa's account of how she broke into the biz. It's a terrific story, particularly since it shows how even someone knowledgable about publishing can learn a thing or two when they find themselves on the other side of the desk. Louisa's fun contemporary romance, Can't Stand the Heat: A Recipe for Love hits stores tomorrow.

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I had planned to read submissions last night, but I got distracted by all of the Ted Kennedy memorial footage. Very sad. I was quite glad though, to see that the media was paying attention to the man's entire life and career rather than focusing in on just one or two of his more memorable errors in judgment and/or personal tragedies. Whatever else he did, he served this country in the U.S. Senate for more than four decades and was a tireless workhorse by all accounts. It's lovely to see him honored for that long-term effort.

I've always been fascinated by the Kennedy family. I think it was coming from a relatively small family myself--at least my generation--that did it, to some extent. And maybe spending summers on Cape Cod. Don't know. But I used to watch every Kennedy bio pic that came along (anyone remember Patrick Dempsey as young JFK?) and read a fair few biographies as well. They seemed such a closely knit group, and so often struck by tragedy. Intriguing. I'm sure they've served as inspiration for any number of fictional families through the years. With a few exceptions, though, the younger generations seems less public, less larger-than-life, than the old guard. I wonder how that reputation will continue to change.

We seem to be losing a lot of luminaries this year. I suppose that's true most years, but this year feels worse than usual. Writer/journalist Domminck Dunne died yesterday, and I think the announcement was a bit overshadowed, understandably. He lived a life as busy and in ways as tragic as that of the Kennedy clan, between the murder of his daughter and the high society profile of much of his writing. He wrote novels about the rich and famous, but also long, in-dept articles for publications such as Vanity Fair. His coverage of the Menendez brothers' trial for the murder of their parents was just one example. He was brother of John Gregory Dunne, who died several years ago, father of Griffin Dunne the actor/director, and brother-in-law to Joan Didion.

Not a good week for American royalty...

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What goals do you all set for yourselves as writers? How specific do you get with them? I think it's very important to do this. By all means, set small goals for your day or week, be it page count or word count or amount of time devoted to sitting with your butt glued in that chair working on writing exercises in order to hone your craft. But don't forget the bigger picture.

Young adult author Laurie Halse Anderson has a great post up today. I love what a tangible, memorable day she had for setting her original goals. It makes not just their achievement but their creation that much more special.

So where will you be a year from now? Five? Go dream...and write it down.

Current Mood: working