RWA DAY THREE

Last day of sessions!! Lots of classes today so get ready.

First off was Writing for the Inspirational Market. Not surprising, the first thing mentioned was a warning: getting published in the Christian market is extremely difficult. Several tips were given by the panel the first being persistence, followed by a few others such as read outside your genre (mysteries for plot, sweet for emotion to add to edgy stories), finish your manuscript, don't spread yourself too thin (pick one social media outlet), and don't take rejection personally.

Next, Series-ous Stamina offered useful tips on writing a series. Each book must pull something from the overarching idea/theme of the series. Don't save the 'good stuff' for the next book or the last one. Put all the great stuff in the first book because you have to hook your readers with that one. Remember to keep the band of main characters together--once you split them up, you'll upset your readers.

Branding for Self-Publishing was informative. The most I took away was how to market your book with your cover. On my next cover I hope to incorporate the following: author name in LARGE LETTERS, larger than the title (see Bella Andre books). You want the reader to remember you . Have a signature look; again, Bella Andre always has a kissing couple. I'm going to try to always have a kissing interracial couple. Obvious self-publishing tips were to change your cover if your book isn't selling, get multiple proofers, and if you write in different genres with pen names--don't cross promote. Interestingly enough, people tend to stick to one genre. Even if you write in multiple genres, your readers will not follow you from romance to sci-fi, for example. They prefer whatever genre they like to read.

Creating Inner-Conflict was another standing-room only lecture. In a well-written love story, the reason the hero/ine are each other's destiny is because he/she sees beneath the other's identity and connects at the level of essence: they see the value in each other that no one else does. When they are in conflict, it is at the level of identity-who each one is. That conflict is when one or both of them have become emotionally scared and retreat into their identity or something about them is hidden from the other. A good love scene will be proceeded by the characters taking an emotional risk--being vulnerable. We all recognize this in movies or in books, but to actually know it is a technique in story-telling is fascinating.

Publicity and Marketing I'll roll into one. The lecturer for the publicity session spent more time focusing on how to write a press release and since I haven't seen anything definite about a release actually driving sales, I won't spend any time on it. The marketing class was more of the same. Have a plan, make sure your cover and price are within the norm, and utilize materials such as bookmarks, postcards, etc. I like the rule that if you never buy an author's book because of a bookmark/postcard, then don't spend your money on them to market your own (not the rule of the lecturer).

Do you think your book can be adapted into film? Don't write the screenplay. I high percentage of movies are based on novels (85%/45% of TV movies) so producers want the book--they'll hire experts to write the screenplay for you. If you have a good hook/log line (a one-sentence selling point) and a synopsis, you can pitch it to a producer who will option your book for a specific amount of time and in that time, they'll read the book and try to sell the rights to a studio. Don't expect the film to be exactly like the book (obviously), don't expect big bucks (an option can net you $1k, if bought by a TV studio=$45k), and do your homework--don't pitch a producer of thrillers a romance perfect for Lifetime.

Finally, if you want to know the advance amounts publishers are offering and what royalties you can expect to make over the life of a book, then check out Brenda Hiatt's 'Show Me the Money' page. She lists both traditional and epublishers. If you have your own stats, send them to her!

I hope you enjoyed RWA-At-Home! Okay, one more picture: