Sales conference - Fall 2013

I think I might thrive under pressure.  I say that because this week, here at Llewellyn headquarters, we will be doing our Fall 2013 sales conference and I have been slow to get prepared.  For those of you unfamiliar with sales conference, it is a huge meeting where the acquiring editors showcase the fall titles for the sales, marketing, and publicity departments.  For each title, we create a document that gives those departments all the information it needs, such as:

• release date
• cover image
• synopsis
• author bio
• physical book description (page count, sub-genre, ISBN)
• who the audience is
• a one to two sentence sound bite
• three comparable titles with book description and life to date sales

We also create a powerpoint to go with the presentation.  During the presentation, I give a verbal summary of the book and often go deeper into why I chose the applicable comp titles.  I also talk a bit about the author, especially if I have personally met the author.

 

After each title presentation, I ask if there are any questions or other information to add.

 

Is it stressful?  Heck yeah.  The most stressful part for me is the question time, because I have no idea what might come up!

 

But in general, I find sales conference to be fun and exciting.  I acquire books that I love and often refer to them as my children.  And at sales conference, I get to whip all my baby pics!  I tell stories of hanging out with authors and getting to know them.  I might go on and on about how much I loved a manuscript.  I can talk about a series - where it has been and where it is going.  I also work in my vision of Midnight Ink.  Where we have been and where I see us going.

 

But alas, I procrastinate.  Which means I should be filling in my powerpoint rather than typing up a blog post.  By noon today, I will start feeling anxious and stressed out.  Tuesday I will probably be a wreck and finish up my powerpoint.  Wednesday starts the sales conference with nonfiction lines.  Thursday we do fiction.  I can't wait...  now to just finish this powerpoint!

 

 

 

 

I give a big shout out to Kelly Van Sant who did the heavy lifting on my onesheets.  And to Brian Farrey-Latz who put the bones of my powerpoint together.  :)

 



Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone!

Yep, I haven't posted in a while.  What have I been doing that is more important that writing a blog post??  Sigh, everything it seems.

I went to a conference in April in Madison, WI.  I went for two reasons - I lived in Madison for 10 years and it was great to go back and visit.  I saw a few friends, saw some sights and ate at a few of my favorite places.  The other reason - all my family lives 20 minutes from Madison so I was able to to work in a visit.  :)

I also attended Malice Domestic.  Holy cows.  What a fantastic weekend.  We had a ton of Midnight Ink authors there and we had a blast.  What amazed me was the excitement and electricity around the MI authors.  Pretty much if you saw one Inker, you would see two or three more.  If an Inker was on a panel, other Inkers were there in support.  I could not have been more proud of our group.  It felt like we were a big family - a family that actually liked and supported each other. 



The Inkers (missing a couple) - Joanna Campbell Slan, Lois Winston, Cricket McRae
Kathleen Ernst, Jessie Lourey, Linda Hull, Jessie Chandler,
Darrell James, Maddy Hunter, Deborah Sharp,
Alan Orloff, Beth Groundwater, Vicki Doudera, me

This weekend I head to Denver to teach a writing workshop.  Me?  OMG.  That might kill me.

In between travelling, I have by boys.  This last weekend was the fishing opener in MN.  So, I took the boys fishing with the help of an expert, lol.  They caught a lot of panfish and had a great time.  Since it was our first time fishing, there was a lot of learing and lines to detangle but thankfully no one got hooked!!  This is the first catch of the day:

Besides fishing, my oldest son is in baseball and my younger two are in soccer.  T-ball for them starts soon as well.  Noah playing catcher for an inning.

What else is on my plate?  Oh yeah.  Contracts.  They never go away.  Awful, nasty yucky stuff for me, but good news for you.  Why is that?  Because more contracts mean more books.  I aim for 10-12 books per season for 30-36 titles per year.  As of right now, Winter 2013 has 11 titles, Spring/Summer has 10, and Fall has 10.  Great news, right?

Yes and no.  I love doing more books.  I love having a broad catalog.  If I have 12 titles, 9 of them fall into the softer categories of traditional, cozy or soft-boiled.  The other three fall into medium, thrillers or suspense.  A nice balance for us.  I love to find new books and read more in the series that we already have going.

But there is a negative side.  Besides contracts, which I worked on for 5 solid days in a row, I have to read all the manuscripts that have come in and send the authors any revision requests that I might have.  I have at least 6 on my desk right now.  These are manuscripts for Winter and Spring/Summer 2013.  I also have to find the time to read submissions.  Don't get me wrong.  I am not whining.  This is my job and I totally dig it.  And let's face it, I've got a pretty damn good gig here.  But sadly, under the weight of doing so many books per catalog, some things get pushed to the back burners.  :(  Like doing my laundry, reading for pleasure posting here.  I shall try to do better!

INKSPOT NEWS - April 21, 2012

This afternoon, Beth Groundwater will be on a "Fooling the Reader Fairly" panel at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel, 5580 Tech Center Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80919. Following the panel, she'll sign copies of her books in the conference bookstore.

On Sunday, April 22nd from 1-3 PM, Jennifer Harlow and Alan Orloff, among others, will be reading from their latest novels at Kensington Celebrates The International Day of the Book. 3786 Howard Ave, Kensington MD.

On Wednesday, April 25th from 5:30 – 8:30 PM, Beth Groundwater will dine with the Chesapeake Bay Writers and talk about "Series Writing for the Organizationally Challenged" at the Rivers Inn Restaurant, 8106 Yacht Haven Rd, Gloucester Point, VA 23062. She will autograph copies of her books afterward.

From Friday through Sunday, April 27-29, a number of Midnight Ink authors will appear at the Malice Domestic Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, One Bethesda Metro Center (7400 Wisconsin Ave.), Bethesda, MD 20814. Their panel topics and times are listed below, and they will sign copies of their books during the signing periods after their panels.

Lois Winston and Alan Orloff will be two of 42 authors taking part in the Malice Go Round 10:00-11:30 AM, Friday, April 27th.

Alan Orloff and Maggie Sefton: "Capitol Crimes: All Politics Is Deadly", 9:40 AM, Saturday, April 28th; signing at 11:35 AM.

Jennifer Harlow and Cricket McRae: "Witches & Zombies & Ghosts, Oh, My!: Paranormal Mystery", 10:40 AM, Saturday, April 28th: signing 11:35 AM.

Beth Groundwater: "Three Strikes, You're Dead: Sports-Related Mysteries", 1:30 PM, Saturday, April 28th, moderated by Alan Orloff; signing at 4:20 PM.

Lois Winston and Deborah Sharp: "Elvis and the Commies: Sidekicks Who Provide Comic Relief", 2:30 PM, Saturday, April 28th; signing at 4:20 PM.

Jessie Chandler: "They Love Lucy: If Lucy Ricardo Were A Sleuth" Sunday, April 29th 8:45 AM.

Kathleen Ernst: "The New Nick and Noras: Mixing Romance and Murder," Sunday, April 29th, 9:45 AM.

Sorry I have been away a for a little bit folks.  Been busy.  Today for example, we had our Fall 2012 sales conference.  A lot of work for me, but it is also incredibly exciting and fun to announce the new titles.  Wanna see the covers??



Total awesomeness, don't you agree?  This is where I give a big standing ovation to the art department.  Lynne, Lisa, Ellen, Kevin and Adrienne are the best designers and Jeanette keeps it all together.  Thank to these folks, we put out some very fun and interesting covers. 

Splat!

Cricket McRae

You would think on a blog written by mystery authors, I’d be talking blood spatter with a title like that.

Nope. Sorry.

Lately I’ve been refining my workshop on getting to know your characters better. It consists of nine ways to dig deeper when developing protagonists, antagonists and the secondary folks who populate fiction. The last time I taught this workshop I was reminded of a screenwriting intensive I took from Stewart Stern in 2006.

Stern is the soul-sounding writer of, among other things, Rebel Without a Cause, Rachel Rachel and the teleplay for Sybil. He wrote old-school style – no Vogler or McKee outlining how stories ought to work (though I bet he was familiar with Aristotle’s Poetics). In the intensive, he shared with us the impetus behind his genius.

He called it going through splat.

In fact, there is a documentary about his life, writing, and war (he fought in the Battle of the Bulge), called Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern.

And here is an interview with him.

Splat was his way of talking about the difficult, psyche-scraping process of discovering something about ourselves that we have always avoided facing. In doing so, we are able to give that same gift to our characters. Protagonists in particular need to do that which they have always avoided in order to grow. 

Splat comes from wounds in the back story of a character. They do not have to be huge dramatic wounds – abuse, death of a parent, or great tragedy. But Stern maintained that there needs to be a point of connection between our protagonists’ back stories and our own. That connection may not be obvious to others, but we know it’s there.

Splat is facing the thing that stands in our way in our lives. Facing that thing creates hope. We may deprive ourselves, or hurt ourselves to avoid dealing with it, but in the end it is necessary. Stern maintained, “Courage is the price that life charges for peace.”

Splat is “being skinless in order to communicate,” to really tell the story. Your art lies in your own experience. Your fantasy about facing something you want to avoid is nourishing to others.

Do the thing you don’t want to do, to understand what that’s like, so you can pass that knowledge on. The mission of an artist “is to give to their audience one single moment in which they can glimpse their own capacity for greatness.”

So does all that sound like a bunch of hooey to you? While it resonates deeply with me, I think it does depend on what kind of story you’re telling. Applying the idea of splat to the lighter fare some of us write could defeat the purpose of providing, say, humorous escape. On the other hand, having that dimension of character even in a cozy provides a welcome depth – as long as it’s applied with a feather touch.

As a writer, do you dig deep, uncomfortably deep, to grant your characters life? As a reader, do you enjoy it when a writer does this?

Inkspot News - August 27, 2011

Here's news about Midnight Ink authors.







Once Upon a Romance wrote a great review of ROBIN ALLEN's clean, humorous amateur sleuth mystery, If You Can't Stand the Heat.

"[Poppy's] theories and questions are interesting, keeping the reader turning the pages...cozy and sweet with a definite savory bite to it."

* * *

CRICKET MCRAE's first book in the Home Crafting mystery series, Lye in Wait, is free on the Kindle and Nook until the end of August.

* * *

Juliet Kincaid wrote a great review of BETH GROUNDWATER's Deadly Currents.

"Gorgeous setting...A thrilling start...An engaging protagonist...Impeccable plotting..."

* * *

Free Download - Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae

Free Download!!!

Don't miss out on your chance for a free download of Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae.  This is the first book in the home crafting series.  And after you've read her book, you will most likely be inspired by all her crafting skills - so check out her blog, Hearth Cricket, to for all kinds of great stuff.

The free download will only be available thru the end of August.  It is available on most ebook platforms.

Author Websites

How important are author websites?  They are incredibly important!!!

I am speaking directly to authors here - You have spent an incredible amount of time, energy, blood, sweat, and quite possibly buckets full of tears, all to create your manuscript.  And if you earn the golden ticket of publication, you then need to give a little attention to an online presence.  I am not saying you need to blog daily, nor do you need to join every single group or new social media widget out there...  but you have to, at the very least, have an updated website.  Why?

Because if you have written something that is worthy of publication, you will have readers out there who fall in love with the words you have put on the page.  And when we, as readers, fall in love with a book or a character, we seek out more information!  I want a little more info on you, the author.  I want to read about what made you write and if you are writing more.  If I can find you, and learn more about you, the more likely I am going to remember who you are and that bodes well for future books.

Ok, ok...  maybe I am preaching to the choir...  you know this...  but do you have a kick-butt website?  Is it updated and fresh looking?  Or is it the same style or format that it has been for years?  Is it too dark?  Funky fonts? Does it look like this?  It's ok to build your own if you know how.  But if you could get a website built for free, would you go for it?

You would?  Well, let me introduce you to Midnight Inker Cricket McRae...  who happens to be doing a giveaway...

The prize is a free, custom-designed Author Website from Bizango Websites for Writers, plus two years of free hosting. The website comes with a set of easy-to-use tools that enable the author to update it themselves. It's value is well over a thousand dollars.

Check out Cricket's blog for the details.  This is a great deal for both established authors and authors who hope to be published soon...  I know I have followers that fit in both critera, so check it out.  :)  And best of luck!!

Free Book Winner!!

I am feeling good today so I picked two winners for the Wined and Died contest.  And the winners are:

Shannon

and

Susan



Sales rep Katie Kane picking the winners!  :)

Shannon and Susan - email me your mailing addresses!  submissions @ midnightinkbooks.com

(remove the spaces!)

Have a great day and talk to y'all tomorrow!

Mondays - UGH! and a FREE BOOK giveaway

It's Monday for sure...  I had a few days off last week, so today has been catching up on five days worth of emails.  UGH.  I also have to create a PCS - that is a Project Cover Sheet.  This is the information I gather to take a manuscript to the acquisitions committee.  On Thursday I will present the info and hopefully shortly after that, I can make an offer to the author and/or agent.

Besides the email and PCS, tomorrow we will launch 2 books.  In the launch meeting we settle on a title, tag line and cover design.  Sometimes these are very short meetings.  Sometimes... well...  sometimes we walk away and reschedule for a week later.  Yikes.

On the horizon looms our sales conference.  At the sales conference, myself and the other acquiring editors will present the Winter 2012 books to the company.  This is one of the most fun but most stressful parts of my job.  Besides presenting the titles, the folks in sales and marketing often ask me a lot of questions so I try to prepare to answer any question that comes up whether it's about the author, the book or the market.  Whew!

Of course, today and every day I am trying to find manuscripts to acquire...  I'm gonna need a lot of coffee for the month of July. 

or maybe...  I should have some wine... yeah, that sounds good.  Actually, I mean Wined and Died, the new home crafting mystery by Cricket McRae.  All you have to do is comment about your favorite coffee or wine and you will be entered in the drawing.  I will draw a winner next Monday!

Also check out Cricket's blog for most contests!

5 questions with Cricket McRae



Cricke McRae



Today Cricket McRae is my 5 questions victim.  Her most recent Home Crafting Mystery, Wined and Died, is already shipping.  If you haven't stopped by your local store, or placed your online order, now is a perfect time!!  Cricket has a great blog.  I am so jealous and inspired when I read what she is cooking, making or growing!

Was there an author or a book that inspired you to write?

 I read so much as a child that I can't name just one. It was more like the accumulation of all the authors and their stories. However once I decided to be a writer, Starting from Scratch by Rita Mae Brown and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott were influential and inspirational.

Your books revolve around home crafting – soap making, canning, cheese making – did you already know how to do those things, or do you learn a new craft for each book?

When I started the first Home Crafting Mystery I wanted to write about something I already knew about rather than doing a lot of research. I had a soap making business for a while, and gave that occupation to my main character, Sophie Mae Reynolds. Besides writing, I also pickle and can, garden, make cheese and butter, spin yarn, knit and crochet. However, I did have to research mead making for my latest, Wined and Died, which I understand is already shipping from Amazon. ; )

Do you have a favorite movie, book or artist? 

The Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I go back to them over and over, amazed at how they're such accurate tutorials for colonial skills. As for movies, I confess to watching Dirty Dancing and Tremors far too often. 

You have several books in your series – is it getting harder or easier with each book?

Both. It's easier in that the world building is largely done. The primary characters are like family, so keeping them consistent is no problem. But can be challenging to keep things fresh, and since the series is set in a small town I have to avoid the "Jessica Fletcher" syndrome -- there are only so many dead bodies that can keep turning up.  

If you needed to bribe your editor, what you make/buy her? 

I wonder if she likes molasses-oatmeal cookies ...?  (I believe she may...*big grin*)

Click here for a list of all of Cricket's books:  http://www.midnightinkbooks.com/products_by_series_list.php?series_id=28

Summer ebook promotions - free ebook downloads

Free on Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Sony ereaders for the month of June!

June Bug by Jess Lourey

This summer we are also planning free giveaways with Sue Ann Jaffarian, Cricket McRae and Deborah Sharp.  If the program goes as well as planned, we will probably continue into the fall.  :)  Each of these promotions will last for one month.

Discounted Price on Kindle

Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M Malliet   $1.99

Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney  $1.99

Paper Scissors Death by Joanna Campbell Slan  $.99

This Kindle promotion only runs for two weeks

Happy reading everyone!  Keep checking back for more promotions and giveaways!!