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TEN THINGS NOT TO DO?
by Jane Porter
Jane Porter's 10 Things Not to Do if You're Trying to Sell
to Harlequin in 10 Years or Less!
Point #1-4 - Don't Go For the Hard Sale First
My first four books were all hard sells: in the first one,
the hero was a baseball player, in the second, the setting
was South Africa, in the third, the book was set in Austria,
in the fourth, the hero was a senator. So to recap -- avoid
the stuff that makes Harlequin marketing cringe and that list
includes -- no athlete heroes, no rock star heroes, no overly
artsy heroes; no setting that involves lots of conflict, war,
or poverty; no setting (for Presents) that is too cold and
alp-y as the hot Mediterranean climes seem most popular; no
heroes or heroines that are politicians, no plot lines that
involve politics, lobbyists, or controversial issues...
Summary -- in general go for the fairly safe, popular hooks
and themes in your targeted line. i.e., if you know Presents
books set in Greece, Italy, etc do really well, I'd go for
a setting like that, or choose an Italian or Greek or Sheikh
hero. (Don't you like how points 1-4 were all jammed together?
That's five years of experience right there! And these were
all complete novels written, too!)
Point #5 - Don't Jump From Line to Line Indiscriminately
I took my first four books and sent them round-robin to the
various editorial offices without really understanding why
they were being rejected. I figured, okay, Richmond doesn't
like this but Toronto might, so the story would go back out
the door and my hopes would start inching up. I should have
tried to figure out what about the books didn't work (no one
back then would tell me straight out, "we don't buy baseball
heroes", or "Austria isn't a popular setting",
or "politicians don't sell" so I kept trying to peddle
books that weren't going to really break down any doors.
Summary -- when the rejection letter comes, try to figure
out what 'lacks emotional punch' means. And if you get lots
of these and are still scratching your head, maybe bite the
bullet and enter some contests and get some honest input from
folks that won't hold back. It wasn't until I started entering
a couple contests did I learn that my heroes were my strength
and my heroines tended to be unsympathetic. That info sometimes
stung, but it also got me thinking.
Point #6 - Don't Target a Line You Don't Read
I can't believe I'm putting all this out there for everyone
to read, but I'm hoping to prevent some of you from making
my mistakes, so here's a biggie: Don't send chapters to Temptation
if you don't read Temptation, just as don't send a partial
to Presents if you don't really love alpha heroes. Presents
isn't going to buy a beta hero. Temptation probably doesn't
buy lots of Greek tycoons who still live in Greece. Desire
has a special tone of its own and Desire isn't a little 'shorter'
Temptation, or an American version of Presents. Know the authors
that really sell well in a line. Read the books month in and
month out. Read at least 4-6 months worth, lots of different
titles, to get a feel for a line. Editors can tell if you know
their line, and they appreciate and respect authors who don't
send them needless work -- because even attaching a form rejection
takes time and energy -- and everything sent to Harlequin gets
entered in a nice big fat database so save yourself postage
and emotional energy by submitting to the right line, versus
'any place that might possibly buy me'. (Because I used to
do this...)
Point #7 - Don't Send A Query Before You're Ready (or a manuscript
for that matter).
About 7 years into my struggle to sell I began to feel desperate.
I really wanted to sell. I really felt trapped and frustrated
and I was writing harder than ever. In an effort to gain someone's
attention (anyone's!) I began to send out lots of queries,
and frankly, I didn't have the books ready -- at least not
strong contenders. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes it's really
important to sit on a manuscript for a couple weeks and get
some perspective before you sent a partial or a complete out.
Give yourself time to see your story's strengths and weaknesses.
Desperate girls don't get dates. Desperate authors don't get
bought. Tell yourself you're in this for the long haul -- prepare
yourself for a long hard road -- and hang on to your courage
and determination. Folks that stick with the writing, continue
to grow and get feedback, will eventually succeed.
Point #8 - Don't Go Overboard with Hooks
Okay, this is the opposite problem on points #1-4. I met a
Harlequin editor a couple years ago (two years before I finally
sold) and I had the chance to learn what would make her interested
in a manuscript I was currently working on, and she said yes,
love the opening conflict, no, hero's occupation would concern
me, yes small town would be appealing, no, California cattle
ranches don't do it for me, but Texas cattle ranches would...and
so on. I was disappointed on one hand because the book was
nearly finished and hero was a retired athlete (yep, I was
back to writing a sports hero) and the setting was central
California and heroine was a reporter. After discussion with
editor I realized I could make the hero a retired rodeo rider,
the setting could be shifted to Texas, and the heroine could
become a bit more of a homemaker devoted to her son. Now for
the first time I understood some of the Harlequin 'hooks'.
Texas was selling big, cowboys and rancher heroes were hot,
heroine was appealing -- reunion stories are popular...and
this story eventually became my 1998 GH long contemporary series
winner, All Around Cowboy.
This book never sold. It was too dark for some lines, too
over the top dramatic for other lines, too small town for other
lines...and so on. And I'll never forget one editor telling
me, "Frankly, it's got too many hooks." Summary --
pick one or two hooks for your story, but be judicious. You
don't want your story too predictable.
Point #9 - Know When The Horse is Dead
Everyone's heard the expression, "No use beating a dead
horse", well, revising a manuscript endlessly can be an
exercise in emotional and physical futility. Some manuscripts
will just never sell...and some can be revised to death. I
did this very thing with my GH manuscript. All-Around Cowboy
was rewritten 3-4 times, once for Special Edition, once for
Superromance (and we know there's a massive difference between
the two! And I'd just started to rewrite it again for IM when
I came to my senses...or was dragged there by my good friend,
Barb Dunlop who writes for Temptation. She basically said,
Move on. You have to move on.) And I finally did.
 Summary -- did All-Around Cowboy ever sell? No. But the opening
chapters did become the inspiration for the opening chapter
in my The Sheikh's Wife. The first chapter is literally the
same chapter from All-Around Cowboy, but my rodeo hero became
a sheikh. So, the challenge then here from points # 8 & 9
is -- know when to hold them, know when to fold them...you
get the idea. And it took me a long time to learn these points.
Actually another 3 years.
Point #10 - Don't Try To Please Everyone
You're never going to be able to make everyone happy, and
please every critique group member, contest judge, editor,
reader, family member. The more you second guess yourself,
the more you try to write "for someone else", the
harder it will be to hear your own voice, to trust your own
vision, and the tightrope gets shaky. Write for yourself. Penny
Jordan said that to me two years ago in New Orleans and I haven't
forgotten it. She said you'll never please every reader, so
try to please yourself. And that's how I got  my first sale.
I finally knew the 'rules', I understood the marketing perspective,
I'd mastered much of the craft, so I gave up on the 'dead horse
manuscript' and I started a brand new novel, and armed with
what I knew sold well in Presents (Italian hero, marriage
of convenience, secret baby) I wrote a story my way -- and
I just let it go. I wrote with as much emotion and passion
and desire as I wanted. I didn't hold back, I didn't try to
temper anything, I didn't question anything being too much
or too over the top. I trusted myself to write an interesting
story and that was
The
Italian Groom.
Summary -- you have to be yourself. Just
like Kate Walker has said so many times, and so well, readers
don't want pale imitations of anyone else. They want the original.
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