Elda Minger's Blog

The October 2012 issue of the RWR had some interesting statistics. Of the new romances purchased during the first quarter of 2012,

43% were bought in e-book format

29% in mass-market paperback

17% in trade paperback

8% in hardcover

(Source: New Books Purchased, Q1 2012; Bowker Monthly Tracker)

43% in e-book format. Almost half. And there’s a whole slew of new e-readers due out just in time for Christmas 2012.

I thought the turning point in e-book publishing was Christmas 2011; now I’m sure it’s Christmas 2012.

Change. There’s no turning back. At the RWA National Conference this last July in Anaheim, I saw multi-published authors, aspiring writers, agents and editors alike all walking around the hallways with that deer-in-the-headlights expression. Kind of a what-the-heck is going on?

I also observed writers who were energized and excited by the freedom and control e-books gave them. They talked about not having to disappoint their readers because series had been cancelled — they could finish them up the way they’d planned. Or the fact that now they could put out novels on their timetable instead of the publishers.

The idea of a book going directly from the creator to the reader with no middleman was absolutely thrilling. It’s a miracle of technology.

But perhaps the wisest piece of advice came from author Courtney Milan, who advised everyone (I’m paraphrasing here) to take some time and consider what you’re truly comfortable with. Do you love being in control (sign me up!) or does the thought of dealing with editing and creating covers make you feel slightly sick? If you know what you really want and what you feel capable of, the whole transition will be easier for you. Great advice! Thank you, Courtney!

Change. It’s difficult for all of us, especially now when it’s happening with lightening speed. At the convention we were told that the information we were given would be different — changed — in six months, sometimes even faster.

According to some studies of the human brain, we’re hardwired to resist change. Yet there are times we absolutely have to change to survive. As a writer, the worst thing you can succumb to is that crushing fear that paralyzes any sort of forward motion.

What are you afraid of in this current publishing climate? What are you absolutely thrilled by? What’s stopping you in your tracks or encouraging you to move forward?

The October 2012 issue of the RWR had some interesting statistics. Of the new romances purchased during the first quarter of 2012,

43% were bought in e-book format

29% in mass-market paperback

17% in trade paperback

8% in hardcover

(Source: New Books Purchased, Q1 2012; Bowker Monthly Tracker)

43% in e-book format. Almost half. And there’s a whole slew of new e-readers due out just in time for Christmas 2012.

I thought the turning point in e-book publishing was Christmas 2011; now I’m sure it’s Christmas 2012.

Change. There’s no turning back. At the RWA National Conference this last July in Anaheim, I saw multi-published authors, aspiring writers, agents and editors alike all walking around with that deer-in-the-headlights expression.

Change. It’s difficult for all of us. According to some studies of the human brain, we’re hardwired to resist it. Yet there are times we absolutely have to change to survive. As a writer, the worst thing you can succumb to is that crushing fear that paralyzes any sort of forward motion.

What are you afraid of in this current publishing climate? What’s stopping you in your tracks or encouraging you to move forward?

I’m happy to announce the publication of my non-fiction book, The Virgin’s Guide to Writing Your First Romance Novel.  So many people have been after me to write a book about everything I know concerning writing and finishing a romance novel.  This is it!

The Virgin’s Guide is a distillation of over a decade’s experience in learning how to write a well-constructed novel.  I really tried to make my methods non-threatening, inexpensive, and very encouraging.  The advice may be useful to you even if you’ve already written one or two novels.

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If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a romance novel, this is the book for you.  Wish I’d had it when I started writing.

Hope those of you who buy the book enjoy it and get a lot out of it.  Available on Amazon exclusively in Kindle format.

Ollie Baba

I was at my Vet’s the other day when a woman walked in with a red Labrador Retriever.  Not pale strawberry blonde.  Red as in vibrant, Irish Setter red.  This color Lab is quite rare and I’d never seen one.

“She’s gorgeous!” I said.  “What’s her name?”

“Sasha,” her person said.  “And she has quite an attitude.  Feisty.”

It figures.  My Vet once told me, in reference to my red and white cat Ollie, that calico cats, orange tabbies and any cats with red fur are considered the temperamental divas of the cat world.  Why am I not surprised?

I found Ollie in a rundown feed store, barely six weeks old, covered with fleas and ears full of mites.  Once cleaned up and given a lot of food and love, Ollie became an outstanding cat with a frightening intelligence.  He could open doors.  Locked doors.  He liked to shower with me.  He was so stubborn my Aunt Aline said his name should be officially changed to “Ollie Goddammit” as in “Ollie, Goddammit, leave those houseplants alone!”

He’d watch and imitate.  I’d leave my studio to get a cup of coffee and come back to find him pounding away on the keyboard like Keyboard Cat.  The screen would be filled with letters and numbers, none making sense.  Once he even deleted an entire chapter.  I think he just liked the feel of the keys under his paws.  He also had a great fondness for the remote and accidentally bought a few pay per view movies before I stopped him.  (He has this thing for playing with keys.)

Redheads.  We’ve all read the Harlequin Presents with the red-haired heroine and the hero who makes remarks about her temper.  How about Maureen O’Hara, Hollywood’s red-haired spitfire, glorious in all her movies from The Quiet Man to The Parent Trap?  Would Lucille Ball have been as feisty without her red hair?  Would Ariel, the little mermaid, have been as daring?  And who didn’t adore the entire Weasley family of Harry Potter fame?

A friend of mine recently got a new kitten, an orange tabby, fluffy and cute.

“Isn’t she just the sweetest little thing?” she said.

I looked into those inscrutable kitten eyes, then glanced at my friend and thought, Oh, you have no idea what you’re in for.  But you’ll enjoy the ride.

What is it about redheads?  What do you think?

Which romance novel first flipped your switch?  Made you want to read romance?

We’ve all had that novel that grabbed us emotionally, that was impossible to put down or stop thinking about once finished.  The novel that was more real to us than our own world.  The story that ignited something within us that said, This is my genre.  This is what I love to read.

All of us had to start somewhere.

E.L. James, who wrote the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, has said in several interviews that Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, did it for her.  She saw the movie and became obsessed with Edward and Bella.  When her husband gave her the entire set of novels for Christmas, she read them over and over.  They flipped her switch.  She discovered fan fiction, started to write, and the rest is publishing history.

For me, it was Shanna.  I had no idea historical romances even existed until I found this novel.  I didn’t want the story to end.  As I read other historical romances, my own story began to take shape.

There’s a real passion when readers talk about the novels that inspired them.  That made them very happy readers.  The way a particular author created a story, characters, and a world that touched them so deeply.

Which romance novel first inspired you to read romance?  Which romance novels continue to inspire you?

Welcome to my world.

How did it all begin?  I’d just graduated from college and was working at  a bookstore outside Chicago.  During the previous four years, there’d been no time to read for pleasure (though some of the things I did read were a lot of fun), so working in a bookstore was like letting a kid loose in a candy store.

We had a huge discussion about a book that was coming in.  Shanna, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.  There were so many women ready to read this book that we weren’t even going to shelve it, just shlep the cartons up to the registers and sell them right out of the boxes.  The morning the book went on sale, women were lined up outside the bookstore entrance ten deep.  The excitement was palpable.

From my position at the first check stand, I remember thinking, What the hell is going on?  What was in this book?  At eight fifty-five sharp, we cut open the boxes and began stacking the gorgeous trade sized paperbacks on the counter.  At nine, the doors opened and women swept into the store, straight at us, grabbing copies right and left.  I’d never seen anything like it.

The cover was gorgeous, tropical and lush.  Women didn’t even look at the book, just threw it down, whipped out cash or credit cards, raced out of the store.  At this rate, we were going to sell out in a couple of hours, and we’d ordered a LOT.

I remember taking a copy and stashing it beneath the counter.  Something this good was something I wanted to be a part of.  There was no time to ask a single customer, “What’s this story about?”  It was a feeding frenzy, and I had the food!

That afternoon on my lunch break, my hands sore from constant register action, I opened the first page and fell into the most incredible story.  My total love affair with historical romance began.  I really hated going back to the register after lunch.  Once I got home, I made myself the fastest dinner on record and threw myself into a chair.

A dark and rainy night.  A London jail.  A bargain struck.  I couldn’t stop

I kept reading.  Within hours, we were in the Caribbean.  As my mother was born there, this was even better.  I raced through the pages, a hero’s hot pursuit, a heroine’s determination to remain true to herself. I kept reading, and reading and reading . . .

I fell asleep just once, woke up before sunrise, and finished the book before getting ready for my evening shift at the bookstore.

And promptly fell asleep at the register.

My boss didn’t fire me.  She laughed.  She’d been up all night reading Shanna, too.

After we talked the book to death, she said, “Well, you’re an English and Theater major.  That and a dime will get you a cup of coffee.  You should think about writing something like this.”

Hmmm . . .

The idea caught fire.  I went back to the romance section and pulled down every single historical I could find.  I loved getting lost in these worlds.  I loved that the stories centered around women, as opposed to all the old white men I’d read about in college.  I read and read and read and . . . began to write.

Though first books are usually crap, my grandmother had taught me to keep a journal from the time I was nine, so words flowed and I wrote a six hundred page historical.  That English degree came in handy during the editing phase.  A few years later, I published it.

My first writer’s conference was such an exercise in ignorance, I’ll leave it for another blog.  The historical market was dead.  But I’d also read Harlequin Romance novels since I was in Middle School, and one of the editors offered to send me an entire box of Presents along with the tip sheets.  (Those were the days!)

The rest is history.  Dozens of published romance novels later, I still love romance, both reading and writing it.  I hold a special place in my heart for both Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and Rosemary Rogers, whose passion-filled novels, written from the heart, started me on this wonderful journey.  It’s been a blast!

What are some favorite romance novels you remember?  What got you started reading romance?  Writing it?

I think dogs are the perfect companion animals for writers.

What do we do all day? Sit on our butts. Stare at the computer screen. Type furiously when the book really starts to flow. The last thing we need is someone looking over our shoulder and asking, “What’s going on?” “Are you done yet?” It’s like kids in the car whining and asking, “Are we there yet?”

Every dog I have ever had the privilege to know has simply wanted to be with me.

They don’t ask for anything. Oh, maybe some kibble in the morning and evening or a treat now and then. But really, they just want to be with their human.

My dogs lie at my feet while I work on the computer. They sprawl on the couch with me while I outline on yellow pads. They glance up and whuff softly as I crumple paper up and send it flying toward the wastebasket.   (Do not do this with a Chihuahua. They’ll grab the paper if you miss the basket and you’ll never find it again.) They think it’s a great game when I go digging through the same wastebasket to find that idea or scene that I suddenly realize is pretty good.

And they get you walking. The ritual at my home, after the writing gets done is that the leash is taken out, the frantic happy dance begins, tails wag, dogs bark, and we race out the door to take a long walk and see what there is to see. (Or in their case, smell what there is to smell.)

They don’t let me work too late, which as I get older I realize is a great gift. We can’t walk too late because the skunks come out. Later on at night, coyotes and raccoons. So we go right before dusk, when it’s cool, when I’ve written enough pages, when the day isn’t quite over but a lot has been done.

When I finally moved out of apartments and into a house, the first thing I wanted was a dog. We’d always had dogs growing up, and I missed them terribly. I called my sister and told her I was getting a dog.

“You need to get a dog that fits your life,” she said. “What do you want this dog to do?”

I thought for a minute.

“I’d like it to enjoy lying around the house and watching TV.   And eating.”

“You need a Keeshond.”

“A what?”

Keeshonds are Dutch dogs, called Wolfspitz in Europe. They were originally used on barges in the canals. These dogs are affection hogs, love to eat, LOVE their humans, and do love to lie around and watch TV.

Perfect.

Buffy was our first, Squee our second. He was originally named Spike (you know what TV show I was watching), but ended up making a Squee-like noise (not a whine, a literal Squee) and named himself. They are the loves of my life, along with two rescue Chihuahuas.  (One was trapped in a purse, the other in a dumpster. But I digress.)

Squee is in the picture with me that is on this site. He dances around in the morning and barks and twirls, we take a morning stroll and settle in to work.   He’s ten, so he sleeps while I write.

But the best part of the day is after some good hours writing, when I shut off the computer and see him looking up at me. He knows what “computer off” means.

We walk. He sniffs. He keeps me in the moment and out of my head for a while.

Dogs. Just perfect.

By the way, here’s a picture of Buffy.

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Glad you’re here.  The pages will be going up fast and furious.

Come back soon to see what’s going on.

Please let me know what you think.  I love to hear from readers as well as other writers.

–  Elda