Renae Johnson romance...because sex doesn't always have to be serious.: Recent Comments

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T21:44:44Z

Oh, that's definitely a big strike against e-pub in RWA's book. Then again, the fact that e-pubs primarily publish erotica is enough to make the doyennes of RWA pull out the smelling salts. For whatever reason, National has a really hard time accepting anything that isn't the "norm" where romance is concerned. I'm not sure if it's because all of the board members are old enough to be my grandmother (no offense to anyone reading this who could be old enough to be my grandmother, because I realize there are some really kick ass "older" folks out there), or maybe they live in the Bible belt (well, hell, the National office *is* located in Houston, which is still a part of the Bible belt to an extent), or maybe they just have a hard time admitting that they kinda sorta enjoy reading really hot sexy romances that make their naughty bits all tingly. We do still live in an undeniably Puritanical society, therefore anything involving sex--especially ultra spicy and HAWT sex--is taboo.

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T21:39:53Z

Old preconceptions do die hard, don't they? To be honest, there's still some really bad stuff being e-pubbed, but any author who's serious I hope would do the research and stay away from pubs who don't provide editing for their books (I actually found one of those the other day, and they're supposed to be "reputable"...reputable my ass). That being said, some of the stuff I've read from e-pubs has been of higher quality (and with better editing!) than some of the stuff I've read from NY. I know I myself go through a rigorous editing process. I turn in the book, my editor reads it and sends it back to me, I perform rewrites if necessary and edits that will always be necessary. She looks at it again for more general stuff and sends it back to me for those edits. Then it's sent to the copy editor, who sends it back to my editor. She goes over everything the copy editor says and will comment if she strongly agrees or disagrees with something. I make those changes. It goes through one more round of proofreads before being formatted for publication. That's not the sign of an e-publisher putting out shoddy work, and I'm proud to say that the two books I have released have had almost no errors (other than a word or punctiation mark here or there, which is acceptable and normal).

But yeah, I have achieved more than 90% of the aspiring writers out there, haven't I? I get royalty checks, but even better, I get fan mail and great reviews. Feels pretty legitimate to me.

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T21:33:06Z

Barbara, exactly. E-publishers like EC, Samhain and LI are much more likely to take on something that doesn't fit the mold, which is why e-publishing has grown in popularity. It's one thing to write paranormal romance, but a complete different thing to write paranormal erotic romance. In my case, it's one thing to write contemporary romance. But I throw in a full-figured heroine, some slight paranormal elements, and erotica and NY doesn't want any part of it.

One of the great things about writers is that we have these amazing things called imaginations. And the ability to write the things our imaginations dream up. Why would we want to box ourselves into some mold just because that's what's traditionally been accepted? If Jane Austen had accepted the status quo, we never would've had Pride & Prejudice or Emma or any of her works which are now considered classic but at the time were totally not in the mainstream. The stance of Pershing and the RWA is pretty counter-intuitive to what it means to be an artist, if you ask me.

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T20:15:49Z

You make a great point about epublishing being virtually the only professional, paying outlet for writers of m/m romance, bdsm and other non-heteronormative romance subgenres. But then, I haven't exactly noticed RWA welcoming m/m writers with open arms either, so, maybe that's another strike against epub in their book? Just speculating.

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T20:11:43Z

The proverbial "Looking down of the nose" at e-publishers has been going on for a long time, and the reason behind it is that, technically, anyone with a laptop and enough gumption can publish an e-book. There was a time when e-publishing was the sole domain of poorly edited garbage. Not anymore mind you, but the old stigmas die hard. The good news is that the old stigmas are dying, but they're slow in doing so. Stick to your guns and feel good in the knowledge that you've published and accomplished more than 90% of the aspiring writers out there. I think the advent of Kindle (years ago) helped to legitimize e-publishers, and will continue to do so as more and more devices can read e-books. Like I said, those old preconceptions die hard, but die they will.

Comment on Should I stay or should I go?

2009-06-19T20:01:28Z

You hit on one of my major peeves with Pershing and RWA. What about authors who write stories that don't fit the NY mold??

Comment on Book trailer survey

2008-10-30T23:29:52Z

Hi Daphne!

I hope your term's going well (actually, shouldn't I say went well since the last day was yesterday?).

Right you are. Then again, from what I understand, book trailers are targeted specifically towards 20-somethings. Why, I'm not sure, since I know many people older than me who are quite tech-savvy. Go figure.

Comment on Book trailer survey

2008-10-29T18:45:47Z

Hi Renae! I haven't seen very many book trailers. I like them when they're done well, but I agree that they need to be where people will see them. Facebook and Myspace are great places to target younger people (I'm thinking under 30, especially), but what about 30 and up who (as a group) maybe don't visit those sites as much? (I'm a case-in-point--a 30-something who never, ever goes to Facebook or Myspace. I've got nothing against them; I just have no reason to go there.)

Comment on Book trailer survey

2008-10-29T18:06:26Z

Right you are, Lise. However, I think Facebook, MySpace and YouTube (not to mention your own website) can be great places to start out. They're all free to join, and millions of people visit each every day.

Comment on Book trailer survey

2008-10-29T17:29:18Z

The thing about book trailers: If they're BAD they have a really bad impact with me. But even if they're good, they need to be on the right sites. Telling other authors about them is well and good, but they need to be exposed to READERS AND BOOK BUYERS. So tho the quality of the trailer is important, the placement is vital for achieving sales results Good luck!