When you sign that contract for publication there is a world of things you agree to. One of those ‘things’ is the most basic aspect of publishing: putting your work out there for public consumption. Mostly we think of (and hope for) fabulous reviews. But there are also the negative comments. The disparagement. You sign up for that when you sign the dotted line.
I’d like to think that I’m prepared for the readers who end up dissatisfied for whatever reason, but who can say? I won’t know until I get to that point. I can say that I am unprepared for negative comments about my work now, because at this point only myself, my cps, and my editors have ever seen my stories in their entirety. And yet a published author in one of my sub-genres (which is relatively small) made some comments today that I see as a disparagement of both my work and one of my publishers.
That was before K. Brava went really light on historicals, having decided readers would rather read about what they call Bad Boys and Wicked Women.
I’m well out of it
How can a writer intimate that their work has more substance than mine (am I the only one who sees this?) when they haven’t read anything I’ve written? Doesn’t saying, “I’m well out of it” imply that the publisher has somehow lowered their standards and that the writer is glad to be rid of them? (or am I leaping here?) Is this not a slam? In any case, it’s irrefutably clear that she’s saying that Brava’s new historicals are really light.
I’m interested to hear what you think about this, because honestly I was stung. Had this author read my book in its entirety and deemed it unworthy or substandard compared to hers I would have to “suck it up and drive on” as we did in the Army. But my work is not yet available for sale so her statement that Brava’s Bad Boys historicals (mind you, I am the only author of either a Bad Boys or Wicked Women historical) are “really light” has no foundation on which to stand. I’ll have to defer to my cps here and see what they say, but I would not say that my historical works are “really light”. The title (Bad Boys Ahoy!) does, in my opinion, give the work a light hearted, comical feel, but I didn’t choose it and honestly I don’t feel that it reflects the work, but she wasn’t talking about the title.
I’ll have to build that thick skin now I guess. Wow. 
I thought I had a few months left to go before I needed that.
I think what the person meant was that Brava lessened the number of historicals they previously published(Schone,Johnson,Small,O’Neal,Whiteside and Rosenthal–and now you–are Brava’s only historical authors as opposed to the number of contemporary authors they have on the roster.), but I admit that was a bit harsh. Perhaps the person was irritated by the large contemporary romantica releases, but the tone of the comment sounded dismissive and superior and dismissive of what you’ve accomplished. Develop that “thick skin”, but do it for you, not for anyone else.
by EvangelineI think the comment is very much directed at the title, which does reflect a light tone. I know exactly how you feel because my first novella is out with reviewers now.
But I don’t think that is a comment about your work, Sylvia. If anything it appears to be directed at the publisher…especially with that last remark.
by Saskia March 18th, 2005 at 1:16 amThe tone is annoying but sounds too me like she is talking about the number of Brava historicals - ie, light = few in number. Out of the 3-4 Brava books per month, there have only been a few historicals and all of the Bad Boys books are contemporaries. Frankly, who cares what she thinks. Your book excerpt won the reader’s choice in Lori’s contest by a commanding margin and was the only contest finalist so far to capture Kate Duffy’s attention. Don’t sell that short. If this lady thinks your stories are light or whatever, she’s in the minority. Keep doing what you’re doing.
by HelenKay March 18th, 2005 at 7:32 amI agree with the others - I perceive that comment as K publishes much fewer historical titles these days. It makes sense to me, actually, because now when I think of Kensington. the only thing comes to mind is the ‘Bad Boys’ series. I don’t know if this is a bad thing, though.
That “I’m well out of it” comment seems to imply that she’s not willing to “work” in a factory that produces an endless number of Bad Boys books I think we all know - including that author - that each story is a work of an individual, but it’s the packaging that she doesn’t like. I think.
OK, damn good manners, who is the author? *blink*
by Maili March 18th, 2005 at 8:03 amThis I can speak to. *g* “Historical light” has nothing at all to do with number of authors but about the emphasis of the historicals.
Here’s the test for “non-light” historical: Does the writing display a lot of research with an emphasis on accuracy? Might this have actually happened with real people speaking/acting exactly that way in that day and time? (Some license allowed for the history-heavy historicals that should be written in early modern English or earlier, of course.) If your answer to either of the above is “no” or “so what?” about your own writing, you prefer costume dramams or light historicals. (Since “light” can also mean tone, it’s a bit confusing…) You like parts of the historical time periods–maybe the clothes, maybe the titles, maybe the exotic aspects of it–but anything more than that you can take or leave.
You’ve pretty much said that you don’t value historical research–I remember you saying once that the only thing you’d possibly notice as an inaacuracy when reading is titles, and you got one of them wrong once when you were writing–or something like that. That’s fine. There are plenty of readers who don’t read for “living histories”. But evidently that author does, which is just as fine!
If you DO value historical accuracy as a writer and would scream bloody murder if someone was asking for a different flavor of book, though–yeah, that’d drive you nuts.
Think about the opposite–what would happen if Kate insisted that *you* research every single historical detail of your story, no matter how mundane. I have freakin’ historically accurate DOORKNOBS in my second novel. If you would be asked to do that at another publisher, I’m sure you’d consider yourself well out of it, too! So you might dislike the way the author worded it, but I think you’d share her feelings in a similar situation. *ggggg*
If you are annoyed by her tone, well, I also get annoyed when people suggest that I’m trying to pretend that I’m better than the genre or something by insisting on accuracy in my own mss!
by Lydia March 22nd, 2005 at 11:15 pm