Inara Scott's Blog, page 5

YA Scavenger Hunt–My Winners!

Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the YA Scavenger Hunt!

The fun is over, but the prizes have only just begun. Check the YA Scavenger Hunt blog to find out if you won one of the grand prizes. But for those of you who entered my contest, here are the three winners for a prize pack with both THE TALENTS and THE MARKED!

ELENA SANCHEZ

SUKI L

MARISHA ABBOTT

I will send out prizes to the winners. Thanks so much for playing!

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On (not) finaling in the RITA

Yesterday, as did hundreds of other authors, I sat by my phone, desperately hoping for a call. I didn't get one. (Okay, my husband called to ask what color paint I wanted in for the dining room, but that didn't really count. ) Slowly, I watched the finalists for RWA's RITA award appear on my computer screen, and didn't see my name.

That was a little sad. This was the first time I'd entered, and I'd thought RADIANT DESIRE had a shot. It didn't sell thousands of copies, but it got really lovely reviews, and I had the feeling that if the judges read the book, maybe they'd score it high enough for it to final.

But at the end of the day, as I scrolled through the list of names, I had a little relevation. None of the names were from small presses. They were all Big Six publishers and imprints–Grand Central, Avon, Ballantine, etc. Being the analytic type, I mused on that a little, and why that might be.

Here's what I came up with:

It could be a basic law of percentages.

I don't know how many authors from small presses entered, compared to the Big Six, but I suspect we were a minority. Entering the RITA is expensive: $50 for the entry fee, and then you have to buy and ship five copies of the book. That can run you in the nature of $100, particularly when you have a small print run, so your book isn't set to mass-market prices. Many of the Big Six publishers foot the bill for that. Small presses–and small press authors–can't afford it.

But even if small presses are percentage-wise, a smaller portion of the entries, I would think percentages would put at least one or two small press books on there. So that doesn't ring true for me.

It could simply be coincidence that there's no small presses on the list. However, I think this happens every year. So I doubt that as well.

It could be quality. That's the next most obvious answer. Those small press books just aren't as good as the Big Six. The small presses get the leftovers that weren't good enough for NY.

I tend to doubt that, as well. Without being too defensive, I'll tell you about RADIANT DESIRE. I wrote this book for NY. My agent adored it and was eager to sell it. We submitted widely, and had a lot of the same response from editors: this is a lovely book, but it doesn't fit the paranormal sub-genre. Paranormal readers want dark, alpha male stories, not stories about humans and faeries. We don't think we can break it out of the midlist.

Determined not to leave my book under the bed, I went to Entangled Publishing, a small, boutique publisher with an eye for quality and a willingness to take stories that didn't fit squarely into the mainstream. I had a fabulous developmental editor, Libby Murphy, who made the book shine. Entangled's incredible cover guru, Heather Howland, created a gorgeous, ethereal, beautiful cover that has been universally adored.

So, modesty aside, I don't think it's quality. I've never believed that there happen to be exactly as many "top tier" books as there are slots for publication by the Big Six. I believe there are fantastic, wonderfully written books that don't fit into an editor's list, or may not have the potential for a huge, NY market. They may never find a home in NY. They may find it with a small press.

Yet after dismissing percentages, coincidence, and quality, what's left? What about prejudice? Do the RITA judges mark down small press books simply because they're from a small press?

Let's assume right from the start that RITA judges are smart, well-read, well-meaning people, many of whom are themselves published by the New Publishing (e-books, small press, etc.). I certainly don't think they deliberately mark down a small press book. I do think, however, that it influences their score–in several ways.

We judge RITA books with a single number. I believe that number really comes from our gut. I bet if you asked a RITA judge to mark a book after the first two pages, and after reading the entire book, the scores would be remarkably similar. And I think the name of the author on the book, the publisher of the book, and the look of the cover, has something to do with that gut reaction. I think books that were enormous hits, written by popular authors that received top scores from reviewers, get a better gut reaction than books no one has heard of. If you settle in with a book with "NY Times Bestseller" on the cover, you probably start out with a different scale in mind than if you settle in with an unknown small press book. Or if you crack the spine of a book from Ballantine, and you know dozens of people who were rejected from Ballantine, you probably unconsciously assume the quality of this book must be good, to have gotten past all those gatekeepers along the way to publication.

It's natural. It's inevitable.

And as you start reading, there's a good chance that book is going to have emotional appeal. There's going to be some quality to the book that attracts you the same way it attracted a NY editor and publisher. I don't think it's as simple as saying the book is going to be higher quality than a small press book–I've already said I don't think that's the case. But this book has been carefully chosen as one that has the highest likelihood of appealing to the biggest number of romance readers possible. So the deck is stacked in its favor.

And isn't that the point of publishing?

The purpose of the RITA is to "promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published romance novels and novellas." I think it's natural for sales, gut feeling, and emotion to play into that determination. I don't think the RITA can or should be some unemotional measure of "writing quality"– I think it must embrace feeling, emotional reaction, and broad crowd appeal. And based on this, I think an enormously popular book, and yes, a book published by a Big Six house, will have a better shot at winning a RITA.

So I'm not saying a book with a smaller audience can't final in the RITA. Many of them do. I'm also not saying it's not fair that a small press book is much less likely to final.

I've just realized it's part of the nature of the contest.

It should be — it's part of the nature of publishing.

YA Scavenger Hunt

Those of you who have been with me for a little while may remember the huge, incredible YA Scavenger Hunt. In this hunt, you jump around from blog to blog of YA authors, finding exclusive content, deleted scenes, and other delicious treats. At each blog, you collect a clue. The clues will be plugged into a puzzle at the end. Those who complete the puzzle are eligible for grand prize (lots and lots of books). We did it in the summer of 2011 and again winter 2011, and now it's BACK and BIGGER THAN EVER!

This season there are 60 authors. Yikes! Can you believe the awesomeness of THAT? Go here to scroll through all the gorgeous covers of the participating authors.

Now, because the hunt has gotten so huge, and yes, I know, a little confusing, there have been a few changes.

FIRST, for all YA Scavenger Hunt (or YASH, to those in the know!) related questions, go here:

http://www.yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/. It's a whole entire BLOG (set up by the fabulous Beth Revis) dedicated to YASH.

Next, instead of having all 60 authors as part of the same hunt, there will be three teams (red, yellow, and blue) this year, and three separate hunts. I am part of the YELLOW TEAM! You can find out which authors are part of which team here.

Finally, here's the schedule: March 29th, noon: The hunt opens. April 1st, noon: The hunt ends! All times are Pacific Standard Time.

So you've got 72 hours to enter. Remember, there are three contests open simultaneously, each with a prize of TWENTY signed books. You can enter one, two, or three of the contests, with a total of SIXTY signed books being given away!

Sounds fabulous, right? Well, stay tuned for more info and for a hint as to what my secret, exclusive content will be!

xoxo,

Inara

Saying Thanks (with prizes)

Dear friends,

I have a lot to be thankful for right now.

First, I was completely overwhelmed and touched by your support and help through the crazy DABWAHA madness. No, I didn't win, but thanks to you, I got almost 20% of the vote. I consider that a huge victory, considering that I was matched against the book that is probably going to take the whole contest. Thank you for your Tweets, FB comments, and emails. Thank you for reading and enjoying Radiant Desire (and for supporting me even when it wasn't your sort of book!).

Next, I have to say thanks to all of you who have bought, read, loved, and reviewed Rules of Negotiation. Yesterday, it hit a high of 25th of all the romance series books on Amazon. It was a big deal for me to see this number, and an even bigger deal every time I hear from a reader that they enjoyed it.



And finally, I have to say thanks to all the people who are hosting me, blogging with me, reviewing me, and supporting me in the release of The Talents and The Marked. Hard to believe I'm putting out 3 books in 3 months, but I am, and if it's exhausting for me, I'm sure it's even more exhausting for you to listen to me talking about it!

So, I'm saying THANK YOU. But sometimes THANK YOU isn't enough. I want to give THINGS too.

To that end…Leave a comment here, and if you want a prize, fill out the form at the end of the blog. (Scroll all the way to the bottom!) Please specify what kind of books and swag you would want to win. If you don't specify, I'll send you young adult stuff.

EVERYONE WHO FILLS OUT THE FORM WILL GET SOMETHING IN THE MAIL!

I have up for grabs:

1) ONE COPY OF THE TALENTS

2) ONE ARC OF THE MARKED

3) ONE E-COPY OF RULES

4) ONE E-COPY of RADIANT DESIRE

5) MANY BOOKMARKS, TATTOOS, POSTCARDS, and assorted swag.

and ONE GRAND PRIZE:

6) A PACK WTIH BOTH THE TALENTS AND THE MARKED!

Sound good? Well, you've earned it!

thanks friends.

xoxo,

Inara

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Team Naughty Faerie

I'm just going to say it right now: I'm the Jamaican Bobsled Team of Round One of DABWAHA. Radiant Desire is pitted against Dragon Bound, the book that has the third most picks for champion out of all the books in the contest.

It's a big book, my friends. Goliath, some might say.

But Radiant Desire is no David. It's better. It's…a naughty faerie.

Kaia is the heroine of Radiant Desire, and she's a Light Faerie, and one of four Handmaids to Zafira, Queen of the Fey. I like to call her my naughty faerie because her duty, as a Handmaid, is to seduce and humiliate men, to punish them for their arrogance and greed. And she's very very good at it. But Kaia has the supreme challenge laid out for her in Radiant Desire: to get a man to fall in love with her, without using her faerie magic. And does she succeed? Well, it's a romance novel, folks. What do you think?

But being a naughty faerie isn't just about seduction. So I'd like to say a little about being a naughty faerie–and why I think YOU should become one.

1) You are Beautiful—No Matter What Shape You Are

Women come in all shapes and sizes. Kaia the faerie is the image of men's fantasies, collected over hundreds of years. But when she becomes a real, flawed human, she becomes even sexier.

Here's how Garrett, the man she seduced as a faerie, describes her transformation from faerie to human:

The woman he met just two weeks ago had been supremely self-assured, wearing an air of confidence in everything she did and every move she made. This woman was vulnerable. This woman did not know how she would be received.

This woman, amazingly enough, did not know how beautiful she was. Yet somehow, now that she'd lost that air of otherworldly perfection and confidence and her flaws had been revealed, she had become even more attractive.

It was devastating.

And infuriating.

You might have guessed that Garrett isn't particularly interested in falling in love. LOL. Especially not with the woman who seduced him and deserted him a few weeks before.

2) You Admit To Being Vulnerable

Humans love. It is our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness. As a romance writer, I couldn't believe more strongly in the power of love and the way it transforms lives. Kaia learns about love in Radiant Desire. YOU, as an honorary naughty faerie, already know that to love, you must risk your heart. You must become vulnerable. And here lies the greatest power of all.

Wings or no wings, she was as vulnerable as any human. And her heart could just as easily be broken.

3) You Know the Power of "I Love You" and "I'm sorry"

This is Kaia's greatest lesson, which she learns by working in a flower shop, and by falling in love. As an honorary naughty faerie, you carry this around in your heart. Humans have the power to do really bad things. We fight wars, kill people, destroy the environment, and hurt others. But we do amazing things, too. We love, and we forgive. This is our power. This is your power.

"When people come to the flower shop, you know what they want to say to each other? Two things: I'm sorry, and I love you. That's it. They say it different ways and with different words, but it comes down to the same thing each time. So I think that's what it means to be human. I think it means taking chances and risking getting hurt. I think it means loving and forgiving."

And that's what it means to be a naughty faerie—are you ready to join the team?

What the heck is DABWAHA?

If you hang around Facebook or Twitter, you probably heard me giggling in glee on Sunday, when I discovered Radiant Desire was listed as a DABWAHA finalist. Of course, the first thing you probably wondered was—what the heck is DABWAHA? And on a related note, why is Inara so absurdly excited about it?

Before I tell you about DABWAHA, let me preface by telling you a little about 2011. It wasn't my favorite year. The sequel to my Delcroix Academy book, The Watchers, was re-titled, re-branded, and pushed out for publication in 2012. After having quit my job in 2010, I decided (for financial and mental health reasons) that I needed to go back to work. But I didn't want to go back to what I'd been doing before, and really didn't want to practice law full time. So I found myself starting over, applying for jobs I knew nothing about, and, frankly, not getting them.

That really wasn't fun.

My single title adult romance, Radiant Desire, was released in October 2011 by Entangled Publishing, and while it got lovely reviews, it didn't exactly hit the NYT bestseller list.

But here's the thing: I'm a stubborn cuss. I wasn't going back to corporate law, and I was going to keep publishing, damn it. I do school visits and talk to students all the time about not giving up. I was living that mantra, just like I lived it when I started in publishing (chalking up over 100 rejections before I found an agent).

And then 2012 came along, and things started to turn around. I found a good, part-time job (actually, several of them) that allowed me to make some money, keep writing, and finally try out my dream job of teaching at a law school. I released another book with Entangled, Rules of Negotiation, and right now, it's #6 on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" bestseller list for romance series. A nice review for The Marked (formerly, The Watchers) came in from Kirkus, a notoriously snarky reviewer, from someone who is apparently a fan of both Dancia and Jack.

Which brings us to…DABWAHA. DABWAHA stands for Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hella Authors. I think that means "a contest for really good writers, sponsored by the gals at Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books."

The contest is set up like March Madness, that basketball thing I haven't the least bit of interest in following, despite the fact that I went to Duke and really ought to care. 64 books are chosen as finalists, eight in each of eight sub-genres. Books are pitted against each other and readers vote for their favorites. Just like with college basketball, before the games start, readers pick brackets and try to figure out who will move on to the next rounds. There are big prizes involved for winning authors and winning bracket-pickers. Ipads, tons of books, that sort of thing.

But the best part about DABWAHA is the trash talking. Authors troll for votes, beg and plead with their fans, and trash talk other authors (all in good fun, of course—nothing mean!). I watched one of my favorite authors, Julie James, engage in an all-out crazy vote blitz last year, and this year I desperately wanted into the fight. With luck on my side, and 2012 being the year of the phoenix, I figured, what the heck?! I'm going for it.

So, I sent out some emails. Okay, a lot of emails. To family, friends, and whoever I thought might nominate Radiant Desire. And here's the crazy thing—IT WORKED! Radiant Desire ended up as the "Reader Nominee" in the Paranormal/Urban Fantasy category of DABWAHA.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled. Thrilled beyond measure.

And grinning. A lot.

So, if you're a romance reader, or even if you just like books and want to get into the contest, you might want to go to the DABWAHA website and fill out a bracket. It's free. It's fun. You'll find some new, fabulous books to read. You might win a prize. You don't have to pick my book in your brackets. (Some might suggest that it's foolhardy to do so!) The bracket picks don't affect the outcome of the match-ups. Only the voting matters when determining who advances to the next round.

Once the brackets are picked, you will probably hear from me that I'm looking for votes. In fact, why don't we just get that out of the way right now—I'm really hoping you'll vote for Radiant Desire in the first round. I'm a dark horse. A Cinderella story. The underdog. All those fantastic things. And all you have to do is vote.

But you can't vote just yet. Voting begins on March 14th. You can find the schedule and more information, including how to select your brackets, at the DABWAHA website. But I'm getting my team in shape NOW.

Are you with me?

RAWR!!

And So It Begins! The Marked Blog Tour

Hey Friends — guess what? It's finally here! The Magical Mighty Blog Tour for The Marked!

I won't be around my own blog much for the next couple of months because I'll be ALL OVER the blogosphere on everyone else's blogs! Come check it out–there will be interviews, fun extras, lots of prizes, and maybe even a conversation with Grandma!

3/6/2012 Murphy's Library

3/7/2012 Verb Vixen

3/9/2012 Chick Loves Lit

3/16/2012 The Book Life

3/18/2012 Up! Brasil

3/22/2012 Chapter by Chapter

3/29/2012 Two Chicks On Books

4/2/2012 Michelle & Leslie's Book Picks

4/4/2012 The Hardcover Obsession

4/6/2012 The Princess of Storyland

4/9/2012 A Reader's Adventure

4/12/2012 The Book Cellar

4/13/2012 Steamed

4/16/2012 Fangs, Felines, Fins & Fun Fiction

4/20/2012 IceyBooks

4/24/2012 Buried in Books

4/27/2012 Good Choice Reading

Playlists

I am often asked about my playlist for a particular book, or for my writing in general. I wish I had a cool list of songs to share with my readers, who would then think I was doubly cool for both being a writer AND listening too cool tunes.

But alas, I am not cool, nor am I intelligent enough to write at the same time I listen to music. If I listen to something with words, I get completely distract by the lyrics and forget to write. To get around this problem, I will sometimes listen to songs in another language, so I can have music but not be distracted. One of my all time favorite albums is by Thomas Dutronc, a French musician whose father was also a French folk singer.

So, it's a good bet that any of my books will, at some time, have seen me listening to this song: Thomas Dutronc – J'aime plus Paris:

Why New Publishing is a Blessing, and a Curse

On February 14th, I became part of what I've decided to call "New Publishing." I decided this movement needed a new name because it encompasses e-books, self publishing, independent and small presses, and the democratization of books and publishing. To me, New Publishing is a revolution that takes the old model (small number of publishers control the vast majority of books released) and turns it on its head (small number of publishers control the vast minority of books released). My milestone in New Publishing was the release of my e-book RULES OF NEGOTIATION.

RULES is part of New Publishing for a few reasons. First, it's an e-book–and only an e-book. You will not find RULES in a bookstore. You don't need an e-reader to read it (you can get apps for your desktop, or download as a pdf) but you do need a screen.

Second, it was published by a small, boutique publisher, Entangled Publishing, not one of the so-called "Big Six" legacy publishers. (Though Entangled is growing so fast, maybe we need to start saying, Big Six + Entangled? )

Third, it's cheap ($2.99!). RULES is a contemporary romance. Its market is a huge number of voracious readers who read a LOT. A book OR MORE a day. (Get your head around that, critics–these people read hundreds of books a year! They are READERS, in every sense of the word!) They want quality, well-written books, but they don't want to pay $7.99 or (heaven forbid) $9.99, especially for an e-book.

So yes, I'm part of New Publishing. Now what about the blessing and the curse thing?

First, the blessing: in New Publishing, there's a huge number of books hitting the "shelves" everyday, and they're all a little different. Some will hit traditional tropes and fit squarely into popular genres. Some won't. Some will cross genres and feature non-traditional heroes and heroines (like the fantastic Busted in Bollywood, by Nicola Marsh, which takes place partly in Mumbai, and features an Indo-American heroine). With a limitless platform to take on new writers and new books, everything can be made available to readers. Everyone can publish, and everyone can share their stories. That's what I call the "democratization of publishing." The door is more open now than ever before.

But that, of course, leads to the curse. The vast majority of New Publishing books will find very few readers. A few will break out. Most will not. As the number of books in the marketplace increases, I see consumers becoming overwhelmed. In the face of limitless choices and limited time to read, readers often pick the "guaranteed" winners–books recommended by Oprah, critics, or their favorite bloggers. And that eccentuates the disparity between the bestsellers, and everyone else.

Overwhelmed consumers means the books that succeed will be virally amplified. These "big" books will account for an increasing percentage of books sold. I see this resulting in fewer and fewer authors being able to make a living at writing. I hear this from writer friends of mine who are taking second jobs, and from agents who are finding it harder and harder to sell their clients' books, even clients who might have had a nice career a decade ago.

More will publish, few will make significant dollars, and a very very very few will make millions. This suggests the end result will be fewer authors supporting themselves with their writing. I worry–though the jury is still out on this for me–that it will also, ultimately, result in the narrowing of what is actually read to a smaller and smaller number of books.

Despite this curse, I still think New Publishing is a great thing. Expanding choice, providing authors with a way to tell non-traditional stories, and giving readers a chance to discover books that are different from the "10 Ten" they see in the grocery store must be a good thing. I know I wouldn't be publishing at the rate I am without New Publishing. And to be honest, with every step I take on this journey, I become less focused on sales and more focused on readers. I cherish every Tweet, email, and FB message I get from people who love my books. I'll keep writing my stories as long as New Publishing will let me, even if it means juggling writing with another career and another job.

In conclusion, I just threw out a ton of bald-faced conclusions, suppositions, and unsupportable theories. Anyone agree with me? Disagree? I'm curious what YOU think the result of New Publishing will be.