Monday, July 20, 2009

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary... (Edgar Allan Poe)

DC Adventures
Wednesday - 7/15
We arrived in DC around 4 - checked into the beautiful Mandarin Oriental then took the Metro to the Marriot and registered for the conference where we got a cool retro bag with conference materials and 4 free books. Then off to the book signing for literacy.
I purchased The Demon King and I by Candy Havens who runs an awesome free workshop for writers and who is also totally awesome in person.
The book signing was crazy but raised $62,000 in 3 hours.
Went back to the hotel room and collasped into bed.
Thursday - 7/16
Got to the conference hotel for the lunch w/Linda Howard as speaker. She told a funny story about the nuts in her family and the basic message was that if she can write with all the nuttyiness around her then so can you.
Then came the pro workshop - here are the things that stuck with me.....
Candy Havens (who also got the pro mentor of the year award) - her talk was on perseverance - her advice is 'you have to show up for work' - just like in the business world.
Madeline Hunter - How to Survive the Almost There - her advice is to have a published writer's schedule / make sure your conflict is strong enough to substain a book / if you are going to write a man's POV you should learned to think like a man
Ethan Allenberg/Agent - Contracts - talked about the importance of knowing what is in your contract and the important clauses to concentrate on are:
Royalty and Accounting Clause - % of cover price better than % of discount price
reporting periods
Territory Rights - US & Canada / United Kingdom / Translations
Subsidary Rights - Audio / Movie / E / Book Club / Reprint
Audit Clause
Legal Responsiblities
Copyright is in your name
Career Option Clause
Non-Compete Clause
(there was one more but I can't make out what I scribbled - lol)
Deb Werksman - Editorial Manager at Sourcebooks, Inc - wants relatable heroines, a hero to fall in love with, and put it in 3 sentences to sell it. She went on to describe the aquistions process, copy edits, marketing, sales, print runs, and distribution.
Agents Panel:
Holly Root/Waxman Literary Agency - wants to see paranormal and contemporary romances
Ethan Ellenberg, Agent - contemporary and historical romances - Don't follow the market - include 3 chapters
Melissa Jeglinski/Knight Agency - wants light womens fiction/category romances - submit electronically
Becca Stumpf/Prospect Agency - wants edgy romantic fiction and steam punk romances.
Barbara Poelle/IreneGoodman - wants a romance with the heroine fighting off zombies

in regards to pitching they all agreed that you shouldn't worry, to ask questions, and NOT to start your pitch with a rhetorical question (which meant I had to re-write the opening of my pitch)
After all this...Yolanda and I went to Front Page where we met some of her DC friends and had a couple of beers. Back to the hotel for sleep.
Next time - Friday and Saturday adventures....

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