Newsflash: Lori Brighton (Lori from FanLit) has a new blog!  And she's giving away three fab books!

It's been a busy week!  I just finished the galleys of GODDESS OF THE HUNT last night, and I'll give them one more quick look before mailing them, likely tomorrow.  I'm wrestling with the blurb for my Samhain novella, though the manuscript itself is all revised and copy edited and in the vault.  (This *%!$ blurb would be part of the reason I'm not blogging more about e-publishing today.  I'd like to be able to tell you what my e-pubbed book is about when I do!)  And I have a few light revisions to tackle on A LADY OF PERSUASION--a task I'm eager to cross off the list.  It's never a chore to spend more quality time with Toby...

My other goal for the week is to add a new feature to my website, tentatively called "What to Expect in a Tessa Dare Book".  The cool thing about having 3 novels and 1 novella releasing so close together, is that I can actually offer the reader some quantifiable data about them.  If you pick up a Tessa Dare book at random, for instance, you have a 50% chance of fish, horses, or hounds, but only a 25% chance of goats, stags, or babies.

Um, yeah...I'm going to try to draw some more useful conclusions from the data...but the main idea is to give people who might be thinking about investing their precious time and money in my books the best possible idea of what's inside.  What general characterstics the heroes and heroines share, what the humor/angst balance is, and what the level of sensuality is like.

And here I come to a dilemma.  I'm really not sure where to classify my books, on the sensuality spectrum.  They're certainly mainstream--nothing that would qualify as erotic romance.  But within mainstream...hm.  Quantity-wise, the love scenes are plentiful.  There are at least three full love scenes in each of my full-length novels, and usually a few more interrupted or abbreviated scenes.  Content-wise, there are some scenes that stray outside the borders of vanilla--but not too far.  Language-wise, I'm rather a traditionalist.  I don't use "those" words.  (And if I don't use them in my books, you know I'm not going to put them on my blog, but you all know what they are.)  I don't have anything against "those" words--it's just the way my style evolved, that I don't get overly graphic about anatomy.  Don't get me wrong, I strive to write hot.  But I want the heat of the scenes to come from the raw emotions involved and the vulnerability of the characters, not just the joining of body parts.

So...where does that put me?  Warm? Hot? Somewhere in-between?  Those of you who've read my books, what would you say to someone who hasn't?

ETA: My wordpress just got updated to 2.7, and there's something wonky with the look of the comment pages - sorry!  I'm going to try to get it fixed ASAP.

There's a lot of conversation going on right now, on various loops and blogs, about the RWA's new rules for the RITA contest, which require entries to be "mass-produced" and effectively exclude most e-books or books published using POD (print-on-demand) technology.

I don't really want to get into contest rules nitty-gritty--I know those kind of things are by definition arbitrary, and it's impossible to make everyone happy.  I don't envy the (hard-working, volunteer!) rule-makers one bit.  I've heard the RWA leadership has already committed to looking into the issue further, and that's good.  What I do want to blog about is something more general.

As the RWA's current policies are arranged, an author who publishes a work of fiction (over 20K words) with an e-press (even if that press is on the RWA's list of Non-Subsidy, Non-Vanity Publishers) is no longer considered unpublished for the purposes of entering the Golden Heart.  However, neither is she considered "published" and PAN-eligible unless she can prove earnings of greater than $1000 for that book.  And unless her book meets the (vague, undisclosed) definition of "mass-produced in print", she cannot enter it in the RITA.  Basically, an author who chooses to e-publish must do so with the knowledge that she's forfeiting certain valuable RWA benefits without gaining any new ones.  To me, that adds up to an RWA organizational bias against e-publishing.  I'm not saying this was the intention, but it's the de facto effect.  And this general bias bothers me, more than any individual fairness concern.

My pollyanna self just wishes RWA, as one big happy organization, would adopt a basic position that e-publishing is good for romance.  I'm not talking about any particular e-publishers, nor any specific e-books...just the simple existence of e-publishing as a new, groundbreaking means of distribution, whether it's used by large or small publishers. I believe it is a good thing, for all of us, for several reasons.  Here are a few off the top of my head:

1) New markets.  E-books can be purchased anywhere, by anyone with an Internet connection.  They bring romance to new readers around the world, thereby increasing and enhancing the audience for our genre as a whole.  Good thing.

2) Niche markets.  By definition, mass-market publishers just can't (or won't) take chances on books targeted to a small, if loyal readership.  Small presses and e-publishing give them a home, which gives us authors more outlets for our work and greater creative freedom.  Good thing.

3) Innovation.  As a corollary to both 1&2, e-publishers can push the boundaries of the genre in ways traditional publishers can't or won't.  But when these experiments are commercially successful, the NY pubs take note and think twice.  E-publishing can be a kind of laboratory for cutting-edge romance, expanding our print markets.  Good thing.

4) More royalties.  E-publishers typically pay larger royalty percentages (because they don't pay large advances), but that's not all I mean here.  With e-publishing, a book can stay available for public purchase long after it goes out of print--which means an author can keep making money from it, instead of just watching copies exchange hands at used-book stores and getting no further royalties.  Good thing.

5) Oprah.  Come on, if Oprah is talking about e-books, you know the masses will follow.  Why wouldn't we want a piece of that?

Don't get me wrong - I don't want printed books to go away, not at all.  And I doubt they will.  But e-books are only going to increase in market share.  And I think it's wonderful that we as writers have this new way to reach readers, grow our audience, stay fresh, push the boundaries, and make more money.  Whether an individual author chooses to pursue e-publishing or not, the existence of e-publishing is a benefit to the genre as a whole.

At least, I think so.  Sometime in the coming week or so, I'll blog about why I think e-publishing is of benefit to me, as an individual author.

You probably think I'm talking about the inauguration.  Yes, that too!  I'll be forcing the darelings to watch it with me, no matter how they plead for Spongebob instead, and they are going to be completely bored and have no idea what the big deal is - and that is awesome.  Now we just have to deal with the question my eldest burst out with yesterday evening, in the middle of the Lakers game: "Hey!  How come there are no girls?"

But it's a happy day in the Dare household for yet another reason:

Yes, my ARCs arrived!  But...there are ten of them.  Ten.  Don't they know I need at least 200?  Ack.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing with them, but for the moment I'm holding my preciouses close and just staring at them a lot.  Okay, and fondling them, but we won't talk about that.

Hope it's a happy day for you all as well!

The short answer is, because I live it.

Seriously, when my books come out, I expect I'll get some comments on the fact that they include a fair amount of slapstickyness.  People stumbling, tripping, falling on faces and arses (usually the heroines).  Some people like that kind of comedy in moderation (raises hand) and others don't--it's not ALL there is to my books, of course.  But I write it in because...honestly, I don't know how to write a heroine who doesn't fall on her face occasionally.  Because I do it all the time.

Right after New Year, for instance, I made a lunging grab for my younger dareling as he took off across the parking lot.  My boot caught on the curb, I fell swiftly and hard, and I ripped a newish pair of jeans and still have yellowing bruises on both knees. *sigh*  Yep, that's me.  As my grandmother used to say, "Just call me Grace!"

These incidents also factor into my own real-life romance.  It's astounding that Mr. Dare convinced me to marry him at all, considering that I incurred some serious blunt trauma on one of our first dates.  And it was all his fault. Yes.  It was.

See, we were at the Getty Center in LA (and the man was getting some serious points for taking me to an art museum on one of our first dates.  I'm not sure he's taken me to an art museum since, but...)  The Getty Center is several galleries, connected by terraces and and pathways overlooking a beautifully landscaped hillside garden and the LA skyline.  It's stunning.  In my case, literally.

So we were standing on one of these terraces, holding hands and taking in the breathtaking view, and Mr. Dare (whom I have since learned is prone to these sudden bursts of energy and movement, not unlike a predatory cat) decided we should take off quickly for another gallery, because the museum was closing soon.  He took off, dragging me by the hand behind him while I was still looking at the hillside garden, and

BAM.

He pulled me face-first into a very large, very metal flagpole.  Seriously.  You know that cliche, "He didn't know what hit him"?  I was living it.  I had no clue what had just happened to me, only that my head was ringing and my sunglasses were broken and I was swaying on my feet.  Actually, it's probably a good thing I was wearing the sunglasses, because although they cut into my temple and made it bleed (!), they probably sustained the brunt of the impact.

So we spent our last half-hour at the Getty Center sitting on a bench applying ice packs to my head.  It was really fun explaining to the security guard for his incident report that I'd...yeah, walked into a pole.  Really hard.

Anyway, if anyone ever wonders why I write these scenes--it's because I live them!  And because clearly blunt head trauma aides blossoming romance.  Mr. Dare convinced me to marry him just two months later.  And my head is still ringing. 

Do you write (or live) slapstick comedy?  Do you enjoy reading it or not?

Um, just not from me.   How I long for the day when I can give away my own books!

Christy Reece is giving away a shiny new ARC (advanced reading copy) of her debut romantic suspense novel, Rescue Me. (Release date April 28, 2009) Christy is a fellow Ballantine debut author, and Rescue Me is the first in a back-to-back trilogy.  She's already sold a second trilogy to Ballantine for release in 2010, so hers is a name to watch!  Just pop on over to her blog and comment before this Wednesday, and you could be among the first to discover this hot new talent!

And one of my RWA local chaptermates, the amazing Maureen Child, is giving away copies of all three of her current releases (yes, you read that right - she has three current releases.  At one of my very first chapter meetings, we all enjoyed a delicious cake in honor of her 100th sale.  One. Hundredth. Sale.),  Her new urban fantasy, Bedeviled, just went on sale this week, and it's getting great buzz.  She signed copies at our chapter meeting today, and they all sold out before I could get one!  Not to mention, Booklist gave it a starred review--I'm a librarian, so to me a Booklist starred review is like the holy grail.  I can't wait to read it!  (But I must, since I couldn't get my hands on a copy today...)  To enter, visit her blog and leave a comment by this Friday.

Go forth and win!

I have some!

I mean...I found some online.  If Random House can post them on their site, I figured it should be safe for me to do the same, right?

Aren't they pretty?  I really have to hand it to the Art Department at Ballantine - they worked very hard to get so many details right, when it came to the heroines' physical characteristics and the settings of the books.  These must have taken so much time and effort.  I'm really impressed and very grateful.

I hope you all had lovely holidays!  We certainly did at the Dare residence.  This was the first year that both darelings were really old enough to get excited about Christmas and Santa (who did not disappoint!), and we all had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa Dare, despite passing around a nasty cold.

Now 2009 is starting off with a bang!  Huge congratulations to Erica Ridley, who has just announced her first sale--a two-book deal with Kensington.  Hooray, Erica!  Congratulations are also in order for former Fanlitter Lori Brighton, who also recently inked a two-book deal, also with Kensington!

My own exciting news: As of today, all three of my books are available for pre-order on Amazon!  Here are links to Goddess of the Hunt, Surrender of a Siren, and A Lady of Persuasion.  (I just have to stop once again and marvel at the fact that I actually got to keep my books' original titles!  How often does that happen?) Over the holidays, I completed my copy edits on SIREN, and now it's back to working on Stud Club while I wait for book three edits.

Everyone's talking and blogging about New Year's resolutions this week, it seems.  Well, 2009 is going to be a busy year for me.  I have three novels and one e-book novella releasing.  I plan to complete at least 2-3 more new books.  I'm serving on the board of my local RWA chapter, and I'll be sending my first dareling off to kindergarten.  So I think it's appropriate to renew my first resolution from last year:  "Maintain tenuous hold on sanity."  Coincidentally (or not), it was the only one of my three 2008 resolutions I managed to keep.  The other two were "Walk more to prevent brain atrophy" and "Go to England".  I'm renewing those, as well.  Actually, I think a walking tour of England is in order!

Aside from resolutions, I do have professional goals for the year.  It's very easy to get all fretted up about promotion, as a new author.  I've spent a lot of time worrying about it--not just the how's of it, but the wherefore's.  I do not have a "sales" personality--in my entire life, I've had exactly one job that involved selling goods for profit, and I detested it (even though I was selling books!).  I am the girl who would rather sit at home and miss the Girl Scout camping trip than go door-to-door hawking 48 boxes of perfectly delicious cookies to the neighbors.

My complete aversion to commercial enterprise (I'm reminded of that whole speech from Say Anything--"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything..." Here, read the t-shirt.) was largely responsible for my career choice.  In addition to being a writer, I'm also a public librarian.  And I had a little epiphany this week:  librarianship (at least, the kind I practice) is all about book promotion.  The best part of the job is discovering great books and putting them in the hands of people who will love them, too.  It's connecting with fellow readers--people who adore books, live for compelling stories, and are forever in search of the next great read.  Aha, I said!  I don't need to force myself into a "sales" role to market my books.  I can take a cue from my years of librarianship instead.  When I stopped thinking about it in terms of sales and dollars, and started focusing on ways of connecting my books with the readers who might enjoy them, promotion suddenly seemed like a whole new endeavor--one that almost sounded fun!

My promotional strategy for the year is this:  To continue writing the best stories I know how to write, and to get those stories into the hands of readers who'll enjoy them. No buying, selling, or processing required.  (Unless you count word processing, which I don't.)

So, which of last year's resolutions did you keep?  Are you extending any for a second (or third or tenth) year?

At last! I can finally say my books come out this year! And now all three are available for pre-order:  GODDESS OF THE HUNT, SURRENDER OF A SIREN, and A LADY OF PERSUASION.