by Tamela Hancock Murray

Often I will receive submissions of novels tying in an element of mystery and suspense with romance. Writers targeting the romantic suspense market will find difficulty in placing this type of story. Why? Because romantic suspense readers have certain expectations that won’t be met with a mere element of mystery and intrigue.

In my experience trying to sell and market romantic suspense, I have found that the readers of this genre want all-out adventure and crime solving along with compelling romance. The suspense is foremost, with the romance being tied in so deeply that the story won’t survive without it.

The romantic leads must be the hero and heroine. Neither can be on the sidelines, witnessing the problem or contributing almost nothing to its solution. They must be intricately involved in solving the crime. This is why readers will often see a detective assigned to protect someone in danger. The detective can be either the male or female protagonist.

I think it is helpful for romantic suspense authors to have ready access to a police officer or detective friend who can help with procedural accuracy. I also recommend that you become a fan of romantic suspense novels by reading fine authors such as Lynette Eason, Irene Hannon, or Dee Henderson.

As for suspense, the genre is serious that the plot must offer true suspense in which the characters are put in life-threatening situations. Sometimes secondary characters may even be wounded or perish. However, the first level of secondary characters, such as the protagonist’s children, may be put in danger but must always survive.

Intrigued enough to try your hand at romantic suspense? If so, the current market is friendly to this genre. If you are talented in writing this type of story and willing to work hard, success may be yours.

Trends in Publishing– A clear assessment of where things seem to be headed by Giuseppe Granieri.

Improve the Speed of Your Reading – Try it out! It is amazing how fast you really can read literally one word at a time.

The Secret Language of Pronouns – A Scientific American article about how men and women use pronouns differently. Agree or disagree?

Publish America’s Shady History – Publisher’s Weekly investigates this self-publishing company.

86 Beautiful Book Covers – Do you agree with this blogger’s assessment?

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During a recent vacation we visited a place in Alaska called the Tracy Arm Fjord. The picture was one that I took during that visit.

As we past through these amazing waters it was bitter cold (note the icebergs in the water), in the early morning around 6 a.m., and with a chilly wind to accompany us. But rather than be frozen by the weather I was mesmerized by the number of waterfalls along this 30 mile long fjord. There were hundreds of them. Most did not have a name because there were so many. In the above photo, if you click to make it larger, there are at least three, if not more.

And then it struck me. The words we write and the authors who write them are like these waterfalls.

They are plentiful and beautiful.

But many remain nameless.

And yet, without them the fjord is unfilled and the oceans run dry.

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Today is International Bacon Day! Celebrate the Bacon!

Apparently this past week, according to the LA Times, a rapidly trending Twitter “game” has been to replace movie titles or book titles with the word Bacon. For example:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Bacon
Pretty in Bacon
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Bacon
Eat, Bacon, Love
The Lord of the Bacon

So I thought, “Why not apply the same to bestselling Christian titles?” And came up with the following list:

The Bacon Driven Life
The Five Bacon Languages
Crazy Bacon
Bacon Wins
Redeeming Bacon
21 Immutable Laws of Bacon
Bacon is for Real
90 Minutes with Bacon
Same Kind of Bacon as Me

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Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century by John B. Thompson (published by Polity) is this month’s “Book of the Month.”

I took this 432 page book with me on vacation and was mesmerized by its detailed analysis of the history of publishing and bookselling. Thompson’s chapter on “The Rise of Literary Agents” was, of course, particularly interesting.

I have been a student of this industry for 30 years and thoroughly enjoy understanding its nuances. (It just dawned on me that this means I’ve read nearly 1,500 issues of “Publisher’s Weekly!”) In my opinion, this is the one book you should read if you want an overview of everything that goes into the publishing business. Did you know that the practice of allowing booksellers to return stock for full credit did not start in the U.S. until the early 30s? It was used during the Great Depression as a way to stimulate sales and to encourage booksellers to carry more inventory without risk. Eighty years later that practice still plagues the industry (see my post “Many Happy Returns“).

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Lisa Buffaloe, one of Tamela’s clients, had some fun recreating what NOT to do during your “Writer’s Conference Appointment.” Below are all six short videos.

The scary thing is that I’ve actually seen the real thing of almost every one of these parodies!

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A blog reader recently left an excellent comment on an earlier post:

Tamela, fiction workshop presenters taught me that the best word for “said” is “said”–that others only tend to slow down the reader’s eye. I’d appreciate a discussion on this.

While I don’t know the workshop presenters in question, what I can guess they meant is to avoid substituting creative verbs for “said” as a tag. For example:

“Cyrus, tell that joke about the tortoise and the hare,” the cowboy chuckled.

“This caviar is not up to my standards,” the dowager sniffed.

These tags aren’t without merit, because they do help convey the emotions and actions of the characters. In fact, they could even be expanded into effective action tags. At the least, simple punctuation would keep these characters from performing the improbable task of sniffing and chuckling words:

“Cyrus, tell that joke about the tortoise and the hare.” The cowboy chuckled.

“This caviar is not up to my standards.” The dowager sniffed.

So why would fiction workshop presenters tell writers to use the word “said” as a tag? I would say that there is a time and place to use a simple tag. In a fast-paced scene, a simple tag will keep the action flowing. For example:

“Get the gun,” Bruce said.

“What?”

“I said, get the gun.”

“Why?”

“Don’t ask questions,” Bruce said. “Just do as I say. Now.”

In a case such as this, complicated action tags could slow down the rhythm and urgency of the scene, distracting the reader rather than adding to the story. The “said” tag is used infrequently to help the reader keep track of the conversation.

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Remember that old adage for retailers, “The customer is always right?” Well, for novelists seeking the perfect title, that should be “The audience is always right.”

Tip #4: Remember Your Audience! Novelists do a great job, on the whole, of keeping their audience in mind as they write. But sometimes when trying to come up with a catchy title or cover image, they go a bit far afield of that audience. The result is that readers who would love the story won’t even pick it up. And those who do pick it up may not find what they expected inside. So as you work on your title, remember who your reader is. For example:

• Age range. If your book would appeal mostly to Christian women in their 40s and up, then don’t use a trendy title that will appeal to the twenty-somethings. And watch out for technology phrases. Unless your certain your core audience is familiar with both the meaning and use of something technologial, steer clear. For example, using RAM, bits, bytes, and bauds as words in your title may work for a younger audience, or one that’s technologically savvy, but for older readers? Odds are good you’d lose ‘em. (Or have them writing you letters scolding you for misspelling bites.)

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Are Books Dead? Can Authors Survive? – Ewan Morrison presents a bleak picture of the industry. Agree or Disagree? (I disagree.)

The Golden Era of Books Isn’t Over – As the writer says, “The Golden Era is NOW.”

I Can’t Think of Anything to Blog About! – This is a fantastic article on ways to break your blogging writer’s block.

Economics Rewrites the Book Business – The Wall Street Journal show how recent events effect every publisher and thus every author.

What NOT to do if you get a Literary Agent – I wish I had written this article!

The Five Most Common Blogging Mistakes – Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Hmm. I guess I still have a lot to learn!

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I have had the privilege of knowing Ellie Kay since I first found her book proposal in the slush pile while an editor at Bethany House. That proposal became the first of her fourteen published books. I later became her literary agent and together we have seen her wrestle with a number of issues related to a growing platform. From those humble beginnings in the late 90s Ellie has been on nearly every major radio and television program including Nightline (twice) and was a regular on ABC’s “Good Money” for quite some time. I invited her to be our guest blogger on the question of whether or not an author should pay their own way to a media opportunity. I know you will find her thoughts insightful. Make sure to visit her web site at www.elliekay.com and get her newest book The 60 Minute Money Workout.

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One question authors often ask is, “Where should I put my marketing dollars?” When you have an opportunity to go on a national show but you have to fund the trip yourself, how can you make sure it’s worth what I call the “Media Investment.”

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