Tag: Authors

Writers: New Historical Category Line from Harlequin

Posted August 1, 2008 by Holly in News | 2 Comments

If you’ve always wanted to write for Harlequin Historical, but were daunted by the length, now is your chance to submit something shorter!

The response to Harlequin Historical’s more sensual storylines have been so positive that we are creating a new eBook sexy short story program—Historical UNDONE.

In Historical UNDONE we are looking for a high level of sensuality that flows naturally out of the plotline. There should be a strong emotional basis to the heightened attraction—it’s vital the reader can believe in the intense emotion driving the characters as their relationship develops. These stories should be hot, sexy and subtly explicit without the lovemaking being vulgar or gratuitous.

Whether you choose a dark and devilishly sexy Regency rake caught in a compromising situation with a headstrong miss, or a courageous Saxon lady held captive by a powerful Norman warrior, your characters should be fully fleshed out and should be the main focus of the story.

I’m not a writer, but as a reader I’m excited about the idea of shorter historicals. I often turn to category when I’m in a slump or unsure of what to read, so this could be a great solution – especially for the reading doldrums.

Writers, this could be your chance…

Good luck!

See here for submission guidelines.

2 Comments

Tagged: Authors, Category Romance, Harlequin, Historical Undone, Publishing News, Publishing News

Also Known As…

Posted May 15, 2008 by Holly in Discussions | 10 Comments

Last week I reviewed Pursuit by Elizabeth Jennings. Katie(babs) left a comment on that post saying that Elizabeth Jennings is also known as Lisa Marie Rice. I’d heard a rumor that EJ was LMR, but wasn’t sure until KB confirmed it.

But that got me thinking about some of my favorite authors and how they write under different names, mostly for different sub-genres. Lisa Marie Rice/Elizabeth Jennings is hardly the first to write under a different pseudonym.

Elizabeth Hoyt just released her first contemporary novel, which she wrote under the pen name Julia Harper.

J.R. Ward writes category romances under the name Jessica Bird.

Sherrilyn Kenyon writes historicals as Kinley MacGregor.

Jayne Ann Krentz writes under like 5 other pen names, including Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick.

Even Nora Roberts writes under J.D. Robb for her futuristic mystery/romance In Death series.

What I’m wondering is how you, the fans, feel about that. Do you have a problem when your favorite author starts writing under a different pen name? Does it bother you if they don’t announce it? For example: I didn’t know LMR was writing as EJ until after I’d gotten the book. And I wasn’t even positive until KB confirmed it for me. Do you think she should have announced it? Like, maybe on her website (if she had one)? Or does it bother you when an author tries to sell a new genre to his/her existing fans by announcing, “A B Author writing as B C Author”? Or does it not matter to you in the slightest?

Inquiring minds and all that…

10 Comments

Tagged: Authors, Holly Says, Holly Says, Other Stuff, Reader Impact

50% of Authors Say They Can’t Support Themselves By Writing Alone

Posted April 21, 2008 by Holly in News | 3 Comments

I think a lot of times we forget that like with any profession, authors are sometimes paid very well and other times not as much as we think. I remember reading an article (somewhere online) last year about Nora Roberts. She was listed in Forbes as making $60 million a year. I don’t doubt that’s probably true (for a gross figure), but I think it’s important to remember NR has a long and established career, with more than 294 million books in print. That is, as I’m sure you can imagine, not the norm.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that 50% of multi-published authors polled by Novelists, Inc. (NINC) said they couldn’t support themselves by writing alone.

From Tess Gerritsen’s blog:

An organization called Novelists, Inc. (NINC) conducted a survey of its membership last year. NINC is a terrific group, by the way, to which I belong. Its membership is restricted to multi-published authors. NINC queried a random sample of 100 of their members. All 100 members responded, so this is a good sampling, with no self-selection involved. These 100 authors had published a median number of sixteen (sixteen!) novels apiece. Their genres were all over the board, with most of them published in mystery/thriller or women’s fiction/romance. Nine percent of them have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Nineteen percent of them had appeared on the USA Today bestseler list. Clearly these are accomplished professionals.

So they must be raking in the bucks, right?

These writers were asked: “Do you (or could you) support yourself on your current writing income?” The results:

Yes — 22%

Probably Yes — 9%

Probably No — 17%

No — 52%

These are depressing figures. Only 31% of multi-published novelists are able to support themselves on their writing.

So if you’re looking to get rich quick by writing that bestselling novel, you might want to think again.

3 Comments

Tagged: Author News, Authors, Holly Says, Publishing News, Writer Stuff

Updated: What Happened To….(Now with Links)

Posted February 29, 2008 by Holly in Discussions | 10 Comments

A number of years ago, I was given a copy of The Return of Eden McCall by Judith Duncan. I remember reading it in a matter of hours and thinking, “That was amazing” when it was finished. The thing is, I’m pretty sure this was the first romance novel I ever read, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Over the years, I’ve read and re-read this book so often the covers are falling off. I still read it every now and again.

A couple of years ago, when I started to read mainly romance, I looked her up on Amazon and found several other novels that were connected to this one. I searched for them (They featured Eden’s brothers, Tanner and Chase) but couldn’t find a copy that wasn’t super expensive (they’re out of print). But the other day, I found both an a used book store. Imagine my surprise.

Anyway, I read them the other day (reviews to follow..maybe) and really enjoyed them. But then I got to wondering, what happened to Judith Duncan? From the research I’ve done, it doesn’t look like she’s published a book since the mid-90’s. Since I haven’t read her entire backlist, it could be that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I can’t help but wonder. She published quite a few novels with Silhouette and Harlequin and then just disappeared.

The same thing happened to another I enjoyed in the past. Jeane Renick. I have a book by her (I believe I got it the same time I got the Judith Duncan books) called Always and I love it. It’s another one I pull out every now and again and re-read it. She hasn’t had anything published since the mid-90’s, either (not that I can tell anyway).

I’d love to find out more about these authors if anyone knows. And maybe we can help you find some, too. Is there an author you adored that seems to have disappeared into thin air? Did you find a book at a UBS and want more by that author, but can’t find any? Let’s try to help each other out..

Update: I found two websites that track down missing authors. This one seems to be the most promising. But this one isn’t bad either.