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Miriam Newman's novella, PEACE ON NEW EARTH, is part of SEASONS OF LOVE, a Christmas anthology published by DCL Publications and scheduled for a late November release. It’s Miriam’s first science fiction piece.
Sandy James’ book, TURNING THIRTY-TWELVE (BookStrand) won the Aspen Gold Readers Choice Award for best 2008 Contemporary Romance. Aspen Gold is sponsored by Heart of Denver Romance Writers. Two other manuscripts have finaled in the EPIC Contest, sponsored by EPIC, the professional organization for e-pubbed authors. MURPHY'S LAW finaled in the Contemporary Romance category, and FREE FALLING finaled in the Romantic Suspense category.
Michelle Miles has received a request from an agent for her “romantic elements” manuscript FIGHT OF THE PHOENIX.
Carolyn Matkowsky's Valentine’s Day-themed story, "Slightly Cinderella," will appear in the February issue of TRUE ROMANCE MAGAZINE.
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2010 Officers
President - Judy Dawn
Vice President - Lise Horton
Secretary - Victoria Kaloss
Treasurer - Nicholas Genovese
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2010 Golden Heart Contest Sign-up
Due to the possibility of up to 1,200 entries, RWA needs as many members as possible to participate in the judging process. Each year, RWA members use their skills as authors and readers to help determine the finalists for the prestigious Golden Heart award. We hope that this year will be no different, and that we can count you in as a judge for the upcoming contest year. Signing up to judge is very easy. Simply follow the steps below.
Judges need to sign up to judge every year. Even if you signed up to judge in the 2009 Golden Heart contest, you will need to sign up again to judge in the 2010 Golden Heart contest.
Sign-up Instructions
- Go to www.rwanational.org
- Sign in to access the Members Only section. (Trouble logging in? Please contact webmaster@rwanational.org)
- Once logged in, click on the words “My Account Profile” in the gold bar toward the top of the screen.
- On the My Account Profile menu, click on the “My Contests” link.
- On the My Contest page, you should see a link that says, “2010 Golden Heart Judging Preferences.” Select this link.
- The Judging Preferences form allows you to choose a minimum of three categories you are interested in judging. Judges cannot judge a category in which they are entered, so if you think you are going to enter a specific category this year, please do not sign up to judge it.
Many thanks for your participation in the 2010 Golden Heart contest!
Questions? Please contact contests@rwanational.org.
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DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB
By Lois Winston
I am a published author. My first full length novel, Talk Gertie To Me, debuted in 2006. My second novel, Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, came out in 2007. I have also contributed to three fiction anthologies for charity and one non-fiction anthology. I am currently working on a story for a mystery anthology. I am a published author. To most of the non-publishing world, that means I’m RICH.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am a published author. Friends, relatives, acquaintances, and even strangers expect me to give them free autographed copies of my books because I am a published author, and they think I’m RICH.
If you’re struggling to get published and expect that when the day arrives, you’ll no longer have a financial care in the world, I’m about to clue you in to the ugly truth of publishing: Most published authors can’t afford to quit their day jobs.
When the public hears about a book sale, it’s usually in reference to authors like James Patterson, JK Rowling, or Stephen King. Then there are the Hollywood celebrities, pro athletes, and A-list politicians, most of whom hire ghost writers. The public only hears about multi-million dollar deals. They have no clue that the average advance for a first novel by a non-celebrity is $5,000 or less -- often much less and getting smaller all the time. Every once in awhile you may here about Author Lucky who received a really great advance for a first book, but she’s the exception to the rule. For every Author Lucky, there are thousands of Authors Average.
Most first time authors don’t see lots of zeros on their royalty checks, either. The average royalty for a mass market paperback for a first time author is 6% (4% with some publishers.) Your print run will probably be around 20,000 books but could be much smaller. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a 75% sell-thru (the number of books actually sold from the print run.) If the cover price is $7.00, that’s a whopping $6,300 on a book that may have taken you years to write. If you’re only getting 4% royalties, it’s $4,200. Once your agent takes her 15% commission, you’re down as low as $3,570.
Although there are countries in the world where people live on $3,570 a year, the United States isn’t one of them..
Your publisher will also hold back at least 40% of your royalties for up to two years or longer. That’s called ‘reserve against return.’ If your book doesn’t sell within four to six months of release, the bookstore pulls the book from the shelves, strips the cover, trashes the book, and returns the cover to the publisher for credit. Some bookstores have been known to pull unsold books as early as a month or two after release, especially if the author isn’t a big name with a huge backlist. However, some bookstores wait a lot longer. I recently received an email from a reader who had just bought a copy of my first book at her local CVS -- a full three years after the book came out. Your publisher only wants to pay you for books actually sold. To make sure he doesn’t pay a dime more, he holds onto a large percentage of your royalties until he’s sure all the unsold books have been returned.
Adding insult to injury, it’s a rare first time author who has much in the way of publisher supplied PR. Most new authors pay for their own publicity, either doing everything themselves or hiring someone to do it for them.
If you haven’t already figured it out, the odds of success are stacked against new authors. You’re competing against established authors with a new release the same month as your debut book. You’re lucky if anyone even stumbles upon your book in the bookstore. Most new authors aren’t shelved on the New Releases racks or at the front of the store on the New Releases tables. Your book won’t be on an end cap, displayed in the window, or featured in special cardboard dumps throughout the store or up at the register, even at your local bookstore. Publishers pay booksellers for that kind of placement, and they’re not paying it for the average first-time author. If you’re lucky, your book might get shelved face out instead of spine out, but even that costs the publisher money.
The rule of thumb used to be that an author should spend 10% of her advance on PR. When your advance is less than $5,000, you can barely afford to print bookmarks on that 10%. Most new authors I know are routinely sinking their entire advance into PR. They have to. If you don’t promote your own book every way you can, you probably won’t have decent sell-thru numbers. And if you don’t have decent sell-thru numbers, your publisher might not offer to buy your next book.
I am a published author. Do you want fries with that?
* * *
Award-winning author Lois Winston writes humorous, cross-genre, contemporary novels; romance; romantic suspense; mystery; and women’s fiction. When she’s not slaving over proposals that she hopes will net her a six-figure advance, she’s wading through the slush piles for the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency. So far, she hasn’t had to take a job at McDonald’s, but she does teach online workshops. Visit Lois at www.loiswinston.com and www.beginningwriterworkshops.com.
"What's on Your Roadblocks List?"
by Cara Marsi here
(AKA Carolyn Matkowsky)
"The Three I's of Query Writing" by Misty Evans here.
"Ten Life Lessons I Learned" by Cara Marsi (aka Carolyn Matkowsky) here.
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