FINDING THE MAGIC KEY

Romance author, Anna Sugden, is my guest today. She visits the blog on various occasions but I'm thrilled to have her visiting today with her debut novel, A Perfect Distraction. Yay Anna! 

Writing is Anna's third career, the first was working as a Marketing executive for a multi-national corporation, then as a primary teacher (we call them elementary teachers here), and now a published author. She started getting serious about writing shortly after 9-11. I'd like to tell you she was an overnight success but...well, I'll let her tell you about that and what it took to get to this point.

Thanks so much, Sia for letting me visit today. Your blog has always been a great place to hang out, so it’s especially nice to be able to visit as a published author, to celebrate the release of my first book, A Perfect Distraction! (Happy squee!)
Like many authors, I took a long time to sell my first book. Nine years, eight full manuscripts and four partial-and-synopsis proposals to be precise. That doesn't include all the revisions I did on most of those. As for rejections, let’s just say I could wallpaper my office quite nicely ;). During that time, I also had a lot of success -- I finalled in or won almost every prestigious writing contest for unpublished authors, including three Golden Heart finals. My manuscripts were passed up and across, but for a variety of reasons always failed at the final hurdle.

No-one ever said writing was an easy profession, and they were right!

One of the things you think, as you go round and round in that holding pattern of ‘nearly there’, is that you must be missing something -- a magic key that would unlock the door to that first sale. If you could just find that elusive magic key, you would finally get The Call.

You’re all expecting me to tell you that there is no such thing. Actually, there is. J In fact, there are several. The trick isn't finding a magic key, it’s figuring out which one will work for you. That’s part of the writer’s journey - trying out those keys until you find the right one.

So what are these magic keys?

1.    Perseverance. Writing is hard work. Fact. It’s hard for everyone, from Nora Roberts to the newbie starting their first manuscript. There are numerous inspirational talks from famous authors telling you about their journey to success. They will also tell you how they still have to battle every day for every book. Yes, you need a little bit of luck to succeed - the right book, landing on the right editor’s desk at the right time - but, to paraphrase Samuel Goldwyn the harder you work, the luckier you’ll get. Those who succeed are the ones who don’t give up. Obvious? Perhaps. But as my lovely husband always says - the only way to guarantee you won’t be published is to give up.

2.    Keep on learning. It’s not enough to work hard if you keep making the same mistakes. No-one writes a perfect book. There are many ways to learn - craft books, workshops, critique partners. Yes, even those of us who think we've seen, heard and read it all can learn something new from an expert. One of the ways I was able to make the necessary changes to my work was through expert advice - I bought a critique from a well known author in a charity auction. I also managed to get a fantastic agent, who provided me with excellent insight into what I needed to fix.

3.    Be prepared to change. Sometimes, as the saying goes, a change is as good as a rest. It may be that you should try writing something different - I learned a lot by writing romantic suspense and still hope to get some of those books published J. It could be that you need to try writing for a different line/editor/publisher. I started off targeting Special Edition, but switched to Super Romance because that line was a better fit for my writing. It may be that your strategy for getting your work to the right people has to change. I had more success through contests and editor agent pitches than direct submission or queries.

4.    It’s okay to take a break. Sometimes we just need to stop and rest. That’s not a bad thing, especially if you use that time to refill your creative well and re-energize your muse. After all, we are all chasing our dream. What is the point of hating every minute of it? Take some time off and read, watch movies, go for long walks, whatever it takes to recharge your writing batteries. Trust me, you’ll be back writing sooner than you think.

5.    Write the book of your heart. We all have the book we dream of writing. In fact, most of us have several. But, we also all have an excuse for not writing that book - the market isn't right, you need more writing experience, everyone is writing that kind of book, no-one is buying that kind of book etc. The truth is that you don’t need to write the book of your heart for anyone but yourself. Write it, enjoy it. You never know, things change all the time in publishing, so maybe one day, the book of your heart will be the book that sells. Mine was. Everyone told me that I’d never sell a sports romance, let alone one featuring a hockey player. J

• Have you found a magic key that worked for you, either for writing or something else? 
• Or, tell us about something you've worked hard at and succeeded in.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, iTUNES,THE BOOK DEPOSITORY 

A PERFECT DISTRACTION

Anna Sugden

A face-off—head vs. heart 

For Jake Badoletti, this year is all about his career. He has a rare second chance to make the most of being a pro hockey player, so no parties, no scandals. Too bad he's met a woman who could sideline those plans. Maggie Goodman is not his usual type—right down to being a single mom. Still, the sizzling connection with this gorgeous brunette can't be ignored. 

With a little juggling and a lot of focus, Jake manages to have the game and Maggie. Then his performance on the ice suffers and a scandal erupts. Now he can't afford the distraction of Maggie…even if she is perfect for him. 

EXCERPT

Romance Times – 4 stars!

                                                                                                                          

Anna Sugden, is a three-time Golden Heart finalist who loves reading and writing happy endings as much as hockey! When not reading or watching hockey, she loves football, good food and wine, making simple cross-stitch projects and collecting memorabilia, penguins, and fab shoes.

Anna lives in Cambridge, England, with her husband and two bossy cats. 

You can find Anna: Website, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Romance Bandits

2010—It Wasn’t A Bad Year After All

My guest is suspense author, Lexi Revellian. She hails from London, UK. By day, she creates physical works for the senses as a jeweller, but by night she creates and altogether different pieces for the senses as an author.

So many writers both established traditional and those who aren’t have chosen to self-publish their work. Any author who goes that route will tell you there is an enormous amount of work involved in self-publishing their work. There are also huge rewards. They’re in business for themselves and as such they are content and copy editor, cover artist, marketing/Promotion departments, and publisher. Some don’t have the skill set to do it all and utilize professionals to assist them. There are those who are successful and those who aren’t.

Lexi shares a bit about her journey as an author and what she's learned along the way.



2010 did not start well. Two agents had been reading the full typescript of my novel, Remix, over Christmas, and both turned it down in the New Year with expressions of regret. Then, cycling home from my jewellery workshop in icy darkness, my bike slipped on a speed cushion (bump) and I smacked into the granite double kerb – twelve stitches to my face and a broken shoulder; and believe me, the humerus is not a bone to break lightly. My own stupid fault. What was I thinking, biking in that weather?


But looking back, 2010 was a breakthrough year for me, one of my best.


In June 2009 I’d given myself a year to find an agent; if that failed, I’d self-publish. I really didn’t think I’d have to, though; Remix was my third book, and I knew it was good. A lot of people had read and liked it on various writer sites. Good heavens, even my hypercritical daughter liked it! Four agents expressed interest – two of them actually approached me. But the year sped by, the rejections piled up; it was time to call my own bluff.


Meanwhile, unable to cycle or drive, I walked between home and workshop. It’s not possible to think on a bike – you’re too busy concentrating on the traffic, but walking is different. On those long walks I brooded about how my broken bone had diverted, I hoped briefly, the course of my life; I noticed all the useful stuff Londoners throw out; and I trespassed inside an unfinished, abandoned and vandalized block of flats on my way home. I idly wondered what it would be like to walk those bitterly cold streets without a home to go to, with no money, and maybe someone hunting you. The idea for my next book began to take shape.


Back to Remix. Those of you who have self-published will know it’s a vertiginous learning curve, and you ricochet between triumph and despair. I did everything myself – proofreading, typography, formatting for Smashwords and Kindle, cover design and marketing, though I am the worst saleswoman in the world. Out of consideration for American readers, I changed the speech marks from single to double, which meant checking every single apostrophe after the switch. The whole thing took time and energy. But, like running your own business or being a single mother, the upside of doing it all yourself is that any credit going is yours alone.


August 9th 2010: Remix appeared on Smashwords and Amazon. I sold a handful of paperbacks, and nine ebooks that month. The first three weeks of September’s sales were worse. I felt pretty depressed; this was my last shot, and I’d missed the target; failure stared me in the face, and I don’t like failure.

Then I remembered Eric Christophersen, an American writer friend who’d been very successful with his ebook, Crack-Up. I came up with a cunning plan – I’d interview Eric on my blog, and discover the secrets of his success! Eric is a nice chap, as well as a good writer (he is now represented by a top NY agent) and he agreed. When asked why he charged so little for his novel, he said,

• “Lexi, I would recommend a cheap price at least initially. You'll want a nice bunch of reviews to help attract more readers (assuming the reviews are mostly positive), and yet only one reader in a hundred will leave a review – at best.”

I took his advice and dropped my price. In October I sold 705 books, in November 1,559, December 4,278, and January, my best month, 5,940. Even though sales tailed off a little after that, I’ve now sold over 20,000 copies of Remix.

Replica, a thriller/romance:


Beth Chandler works in a government research institute, and is accidentally replicated in a flawed experiment. The replica has no official existence, and when she overhears plans to liquidate her, goes on the run. Homeless, penniless and pursued by MI5, she has to learn how to survive on icy London streets. Meanwhile, the original Beth, unaware of what has happened, becomes romantically involved with Nick Cavanagh, the spec op she believes is there to protect her. In fact, he’s hunting her double. Excerpt

Buy: Amazon: US and UK, Smashwords

As I write, both books are in the UK Kindle top 100, Replica sold 2,500 copies in its first month, and a Hungarian publisher will be bringing out a Hungarian version of Remix, hardbacks, paperbacks and ebook, in 2012.

That’s what I call a good year.

~*~*~*~

For years, I resisted writing because I knew I'd never be as good as Jane Austen. Finally I realized no one is as good as Jane Austen - I started writing and couldn't stop.


My first two books are non-typical fantasy. My third, REMIX, is contemporary fiction with elements of crime, investigation and romance, and tells what happens when Caz Tallis finds a strange man asleep on her roof terrace. He turns out to be - no, I'm not telling you, you'll have to read it to find out...

My day job is designing and making jewelry and silver under my real name, Lexi Dick. I've made pieces for Margaret Thatcher, 10 Downing Street and Her Majesty the Queen.

My website is http://www.lexirevellian.com/; here you can read extracts from my books and entire short stories. There is also a link to my writing blog.