Posts Tagged ‘submissions’

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Where did the soul go?

Angela James | December 20th, 2010

Earlier this past summer, I asked if there were any questions people wanted to ask editors. One of the questions, posed by Carrie was: “Is there such a thing as a MS that’s been critted/polished to death?” The answer is yes, emphatically yes.

When I read this question, I was reminded of a blog post I wrote over 3 years ago, for the now-closed blog, Romancing the Blog. I went searching for that post, and you can read it in its entirety here, but I’ll snip part of it here for you:

The one-manuscript author. I’ll bet most of you know or have known a fellow writer like this. Someone who wrote a book. One book. Finished it. Polished it. Maybe rewrote it once or twice (or ten times) to fit the genre trends. At one time it was a paranormal. No wait, an erotic romance. No, a paranormal inspirational. It’s been entered into every contest known to the romance industry and had to be retired from the contest circuit because the judges now recognize it by the opening line.

This is one example of a manuscript that can be polished or critiqued “to death”. It’s the manuscript that’s had so many versions, that the author has worked on for so long and concentrated solely on, that it’s lost all sense of the author’s voice. It’s lost its soul.

I frequent a few writers’ forums, and it’s not unusual to see an author post wondering when it’s time to let go of a manuscript, or that they’re afraid of letting it go. Some authors get past this, but some think maybe…maybe they should wait. Change just one more thing. Fiddle with that wording just a little bit more. And they lose perspective, they have no distance from the manuscript and finally, the edits they make don’t improve the book…they just change the book. And not always for the better.

I suspect that, for an author, sometimes it’s difficult to know that happy medium between editing enough and over-editing. How do you know? Here’s a few things to think about:

* After you’ve written the book, set it aside for a few weeks and then edit. It will give you some necessary distance from the words and the story, and help you see what’s there instead of what’s in your head.

* Editing shouldn’t take only a few hours, but it also shouldn’t take months (or years). If you’re still fiddling with the words months after you typed “the end” then you’re probably running the risk of over-editing.

*If you’re researching and implementing every writing rule ever hinted at, you might run the risk of killing your natural voice. Should you be conscious of your use of certain things like adverbs, dialogue tags and POV. Sure. Should you edit out every “violation” of the rule in your manuscript? Probably not.

*On the other hand: Be bold, but not too bold. Breaking every “rule” isn’t necessarily going to reflect positively either.

*Don’t edit so much that you stop loving the story. If you don’t love it, why should an editor or agent?

*Don’t let fear rule you. If you never decide it’s ready to send, you won’t hear “no.” But you’ll never hear “yes” either.

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Posted in editorial, editors, submissions | 8 Comments »

Show me something novella

Angela James | October 22nd, 2010

Sorry, sometimes I can’t help but play with the blog titles. Earlier this week, while participating in an #askeditor chat on Twitter, someone asked if we were looking for/accepting novellas. The answer is emphatically yes and I mentioned that I’d been preparing a call for novellas.

As we plan our 2011 publication schedule, I’ve noted that we have plenty of novels (70k+), which is fantastic but we like to insert novellas into our publication schedule as well, in order to give readers access to stories that don’t involve quite the same time commitment. I’m actually a big fan of novellas myself, because they fit much more easily into my editing schedule than novels do.

So this is our official call for novellas. I did this once before, via Twitter, and we had great success from it. Right now, we’re particularly interested in seeing shorter works from 15k (nothing under that, please) to 40k. Of course we’re still very actively acquiring above 40k, but we’d love to see some novellas along with our longer submissions. We’re not seeking in a particular genre/sub-genre, so please feel free to submit both romance and non-romance, erotica, science fiction, fantasy and any sub genre in between. If you’d like to target a specific editor, you can see what they’re seeking here.

Please keep in mind that we aren’t currently acquiring YA. You can find out more details of our submissions guidelines and FAQs on our website (that’s probably where you’re reading this but just in case…www.carinapress.com) and submissions will be ongoing. This isn’t a limited-time call!

I should also mention that right now, everything submitted prior to October 15th has been assigned to an editor (and shortly, that will be everything submitted prior to this week) so manuscripts submitted now won’t be sitting around long waiting to be seen by an editor!

Any questions can be posted in the comments here of the blog, or on Twitter to @CarinaPress or @AngelaJames (just remember it’s easy for us to miss @ replies there so if we don’t respond, you might comment here instead). And you have full permission to forward the text of this post and use it on any forum or blog you think might be interested. I look forward to seeing your submissions!

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Posted in Carina Press, editorial, submissions | 7 Comments »

How do acquisitions work?

Angela James | October 14th, 2010

Every so often we have someone ask, via interview, at conferences, or during conversation how our acquisitions process works at Carina Press. I’ve often wished I had a handy link that I could just say “go here for all your answers” because it’s not a short answer. So now I’m going to create one and give you some insight into our process, which will also help you get a sense of timeline as well.

To start, all submissions run through our submissions@carinapress.com email address. Even when a submission is sent directly to a freelance editor from a returning or referred author, the submission is forwarded to me at that address so we can track it in our system, and have a record of all submissions.

Once a submission comes in, it’s entered into the system. Generally, submissions get assigned to an editor for reading within 2-3 weeks of hitting the inbox.

Submissions are assigned based on a preference basis. This means I keep a spreadsheet (a very thorough spreadsheet) of editor genre preferences. They’ve indicated if  a genre is preferred, something they’ll read or something they don’t want to see. This allows me to match up editors and manuscripts, so no editor is reading a genre they don’t enjoy, and they are often reading genres they love. Additionally, I check in with the editors every few months to see if they want to make updates or changes, or if they’d like to see more or less of a genre. Also, I should mention that editors are paid for each step of the process, so we’re not asking for free labor from our freelancers and they have incentive to meet the deadlines (and incentive to read, read, read your submissions. It’s a win all around!)

When editors indicate they’re ready to read submissions, I send them out in batches of ten. Editors then have a week to respond with a preliminary report (of a few sentences to a paragraph for each book) based on a read of no more than 3 chapters (and often much less, as they get good at weeding through submissions). Do they recommend rejection, a full read or a look by another editor. Sometimes it’s a genre they enjoy, but a particular book is not for them but seems to have potential. For instance, we had a recent submission of dark urban fantasy that the original editor found a little too violent, but recognized as good writing, so she suggested a second editor have a look. That ended in an acquisition!

Once the editors have returned their prelim reports, they have two weeks to return reports on any manuscripts kept for full reads. Based on those reads, they recommend either acquisition, rejection or revise and resubmit (we’ll talk about revise and resubmits in a later post).

Manuscripts recommended for rejection get filed by me for response, unless the editor has worked with the author in the past, then they may send the response. Those recommended for R&R will get responses from the editor. And those recommended for acquisition get moved to a special folder and put on the agenda for our weekly acquisitions team meeting.

At the weekly meeting, I present the editor’s recommendation report and an acquisitions team member (comprised of people from marketing, production, promotion, sales, community and editorial) volunteers to read it. From that time, the team member reports within 2 weeks at a team meeting what their recommendation is. If the team member didn’t like it, it’s given to a second team member to read. Two people must say yes (the editor being one and a team member being the second) before a manuscript is acquired, but a manuscript isn’t rejected or sent for R&R without at least two acquisitions team members looking at it first, to give it a fair chance.

If you’re counting along at home, this means that once the manuscript reaches the acquisitions team, it can take up to 4-5 weeks (depending on when the report is received, especially if it’s received the day after the weekly meeting) for it to go through this step of the process. Acquisitions team members also report on the manuscript, and offer feedback.

After we’ve agreed to make an acquisition, I assign it to my list of calls/emails to make. I generally make these every 2 weeks, unless there’s an urgent deadline on a manuscript. If an author is in the US or Canada, I make the offer call. If an author is outside US/Canada, I send an offer email. And from there, a new process begins!

So, if you’ve been counting along, you can see how we come to need 12-16 weeks for some submissions. The process can be prolonged in several places: if the original editor recommends it be seen by a second editor, if the acquisition team needs more time or a second reader, if anyone in the process (the editor or me) needs more time in the process. The reports I’ve mentioned along the way, those are what I use to evaluate and send rejection letters. Sometimes the editor has included critical advice I think it will benefit the author to see. Sometimes the reports’ language is meant for my eyes only. We’ve discussed rejections in detail here and here.

And now you know the secret, behind-the-scenes acquisition/submissions process. Did it answer questions or raise more?

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Posted in Behind the Scenes, editorial, editors, submissions | 20 Comments »

September submissions update

Angela James | October 1st, 2010

I spent the past three days going through submission reports from our freelance editors and sending out the dreaded rejection letters to just under 200 authors. While this definitely isn’t my favorite part of the job, I do get a sense of…accomplishment from knowing that we’re not leaving these authors waiting and wondering. This time around, I took advantage of the wealth of insight and knowledge in the editors’ reports to tweet 20 common things we see in manuscripts and reasons we reject them (via my personal Twitter account). Though I did do a blog post about this a few months back, I got some requests to put the information I tweeted into a blog post, since it was a bit different and expanded, and I’ll try to do that within the next week.

In the meantime, I have some info to share

*As of today, everyone who submitted on or before August 9th has received a response from us. We’ve been saying our response time is 14 to 16 weeks and, for the most part, with the exception of a handful of submissions, we’ve been doing much better than this. I’m really pleased with how we’re turning submissions around and I hope the authors who’ve sent in manuscripts are as well.

*Approximately one-third of the people who received rejections yesterday received some type of personal feedback, even if it was only a line or two. Some received several paragraphs of feedback.

*To date, we’ve acquired just under 200 titles for scheduling into Summer 2011

*The majority of those are romance or a subgenre of romance but also include women’s fiction, mystery, science fiction, urban fantasy and fantasy in the non-romance genres.

*Approximately only 15% of those 200 titles are erotic romance. Of that 15%, half have already been released. So less than 10% of our coming catalog is erotic romance. For those worried we were going to dominate our catalog with erotic romance. (and yes, we are still seeking and acquiring erotic romance)

*One non-romance genre we haven’t acquired in that the editors continue to try for is thriller!

*We added three new freelance editors last week, for a total of thirteen. That means, that right now is a really great time to submit your work for consideration.

*Unfortunately, we’ve changed the way we track submissions so I haven’t figured out the best way to acquire total submissions and rejections, as well as updated percentages. However, my mental math (admittedly not 100% accurate) tells me we’re hovering around 1800 total submissions. Our slush acceptance seems to be holding steady around 5%, but we’re seeing a lot of existing authors submitting and contracting new work. Our numbers are slightly skewed, as well, by the 14 titles we’re re-releasing from Jennifer Greene. With all of that factored in, acceptance is around 10% when you include returning authors and agented submissions.

*Yes, we do reject both agented submissions and return authors.

* We are still very enthusiastically acquiring in all fiction genres with the exception of YA/children’s books.

Now, what questions do you have for me about submissions and acquisitions?

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Posted in Behind the Scenes, Carina Press, editorial, submissions | 14 Comments »

Reading Emergencies

Jayne Hoogenberk | September 23rd, 2010

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jayne Hoogenberk and I manage the online community at eHarlequin.com and I’m the newest kid on the block at Carina Press.  I joined the acquisition team a couple of months ago and I’m having a great time reading submissions and catching up on the great Carina books my coworkers have been raving about.  I’ve been an ebook convert for some time now, and my trusty Kindle rides daily side-saddle in a pocket of my briefcase and on the weekends in a strategically convenient location in my handbag.  Yes, I live in terror of “reading emergencies”

What is a reading emergency?  It’s when you have NO reading material and circumstances have you stuck in some place you don’t want to be, without something to read.  Like when the only thing to read while waiting at the Dr’s office is a dog-eared copy of Physicians Philatelic Society of Philadelphia…from 1978!!  THAT kind of an emergency.

So imagine how amazing/incredible and wonderful it was to have the instant delivery of ANYTHING I wanted to read ANYWHERE and at ANY TIME thanks to the whispernet technology of my Kindle.  And now that I’m part of the Carina team, I can further indulge my insecurity by downloading manuscripts I want to read and that my friends recommend …for FREE!

Yes, I’m a happy girl!  But back to my real job in our online community.   Our mission there is to facilitate conversations between our authors and readers in our message boards, on our blogs and in our live chat sessions.  And now that we’ve launched Carina Press, we’ve also created a conversation area in our community where we are facilitating discussions between our Carina Press authors and fans.  So I invite you to join our host Penni and me on the Carina Press message boards and get to know the authors behind the books that keep you “turning the pages” of your ebook readers.

You just might find exactly what you’re looking for to cure your next reading emergency!

Jayne

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Posted in Behind the Scenes, Books, Carina Press, submissions | 12 Comments »

Things to consider when choosing a pen name

Angela James | August 23rd, 2010

This past spring, I was asked about pen names by someone writing an article for the RWR (the magazine all RWA–Romance Writers of America–members get monthly). The question was whether it was okay for authors to choose their own pen names, or if publishers and agents were going to want to have a say in the name. Then, a few months ago, I was writing a quick email to someone and realized their pen name was, I’m sorry to say, so ridiculous I could not ever imagine addressing them by it. So I thought we should talk a little about pen names. For some of you, it may be too late, but for the rest, read on and let’s discuss things to consider when choosing a pen name.

Does it sound like a porn star?

You want people to take your writing seriously, start by giving them a name that says you take your writing seriously.

Would you be comfortable sharing the name with your family and friends?

If you think you might be embarrassed to have your mom, dad, old high school acquaintance, or how about your current boss, find out your name, it might not be the right one.

Can you answer to that name for years to come and feel comfortable with it?

Your plan is to grow your writing career, I assume. Will you still want to be called by that pen name twenty years from now? Is that the pen name one they can share in the history books without blushing?

Will people feel foolish or awkward calling you by name in person?

Remember, it’s different to have someone speak the name than to write it. Try having people close to you call you by that name.

How difficult is it to sign?

Think positive. Someday, 500 fans are going to be waiting in a line for your autograph, will you be able to sign that name smoothly 500 times?

Does anyone else have a name so similar you may be mistaken for them?

Unless, of course, you don’t mind being mistaken for Jenna Jameson. Many of us wouldn’t, just as long as it was someone saying they thought we looked like her ;)

Will readers be able to read or spell–or most important remember–your name?

Things that can make this more difficult include long, complicated names, names with apostrophes (those can also mess up coding in html/metadata) and names that are so unique/unusual, most people haven’t seen them before.

Can you purchase the domain for the name you’re considering?

Not only the domain, but the Twitter and Facebook names? If you haven’t settled on a pen name, lack of availability of any of this may be a reason to choose a different name.

*Word of caution: if you search for a domain name and it’s available, be prepared to buy it, even if you haven’t settled on that name. It’s worth the $7 to $10 investment per domain to reserve a few options. There are people who watch sites like GoDaddy, to see what people search for, and then buy it, hoping you’ll come back and decide you want it and pay a higher price for it.

Other things I’ve heard should possibly be considered: where will you be shelved (in a digital world, this probably won’t matter),  how common is the last name and who will you sit near at booksignings (I often joke I’m going to write a book so I can sit next to Julie James at a booksigning, but I’d probably have to change my first name to Jenny because there are other James between us. Jenny James. And now I’m probably getting dangerously close to Jenna Jameson).

At the end of the day, a pen name may be one you use for years. Yes, you may have the opportunity to use more than one (not always a good thing) but it’s still important to be careful in your selection. As your career grows, in addition to the name on the cover of your book, it’s a name you’ll use on the internet, on forums, on social media, in interviews, at conferences, at dinners and drinks and casual meetings with readers. It’s the name that may become as much *you* as your real name, so make it one you can wear proudly.

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Posted in Authors, Marketing, Writing/Submissions Advice | 32 Comments »

No superstition here…

Angela James | August 13th, 2010

I think I mentioned last week that I’ve been working on updating submissions. It was a rather large project, but we’re now caught up with submissions. With the exception of 5 pending submissions, everything submitted prior to June 1st has gotten a response. I’m hopeful that, in the next few weeks, we’ll also have a good portion of June responded to. I said there’s no superstition here because I forgot what the date was (Friday the 13th) and I sent out another batch of rejections today. I’m sure, proved someone’s feelings about this date correct. Sorry!

Normally after a round of submissions, I tell you exactly what our stats look like. Unfortunately, we’re in the midst of switching from the spreadsheet tracking we were doing (long story) to utilizing the Harlequin back-end system for tracking queries and submissions. What this means for me is that I have no way of having any consolidated numbers for total submissions/rejections. I can guess though, as long as no one gets to upset with that. Hopefully, in a few months we’ll have everything transferred over and I can give you some better numbers.

Approximate total submissions to date: 1600 (I think this is a low estimate, but I’d rather go low)

Approximate rejections to date (I sent 300 in the past week):1210

Acquisitions to date: 160

(those numbers don’t add up because there have been quite a few revise/resubmits sent out and pending plus there are submissions being read or that haven’t been read yet)

Acquisition from slush: approximately 5%. About half of our acquisitions have been direct submissions from authors we know, agented submissions, returning authors or authors we’ve worked with in the past at other Harlequin imprints or other publishers.

A few things of interest:

* We’ve been seeing an increase in steampunk submissions and acquisitions in the past few months. LOVE this.

* We would like to see more contemporary romance.

* Of the 300 rejections I sent out, approximately 40 people got detailed feedback. Another 40 got a few lines of feedback and the rest got the form rejection. Giving feedback to those 80 people increased by time spent on sending rejections by an extra 8 hour day. I hope they found it useful!

* We get a lot of romantic suspense submissions (and we’re okay with that).

* In the past week, we had a rash of science fiction romance submissions, which made me extremely happy.

* Historical romance submissions have slowed down.

* We’d like to see more m/m and erotic romance submissions.

* Deborah in particular is really hoping to acquire something in the thriller genre.

* We’re currently scheduling for Spring 2011 (March and April) for books acquired now.

I feel like we have a good handle on submissions. Right now, we’re citing response time at 14-16 weeks. Some people are hearing much more quickly than that (both acquisitions and rejections), but it shouldn’t be much longer than that going forward. It’s always my goal to keep the wait time as short as possible, because I know waiting is agony! And, of course, we’re going to be bringing on a few more freelance editors, which will hopefully speed up some response times even more.

Any other info about submissions you might be interested in?

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Posted in submissions | 30 Comments »

Catching Up

Angela James | August 6th, 2010

Here’s why you’re not getting a true update from me today: I’ve been working the past two days to get submissions responded to. I’m not going to finish today but I do plan on finishing Monday and by Monday, everyone who’s submitted up to June 1st should have received some sort of reply. And no, it’s not just rejections we have to respond to. There are also acquisitions and revise/resubmit requests I need to deliver! So pardon my absence, because I’d also like to talk some about RWA, but I think waiting authors would really like to hear from me more!

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Posted in Carina Press | 1 Comment »

Time for another self-editing workshop

Angela James | July 23rd, 2010

I took a few months off from running the Before You Hit Send workshop but SavvyAuthors.com is hosting it for all authors starting August 2. This is a good post-RWA workshop to take before you send your manuscript off to all those editors and agents you met!

From the SavvyAuthor.com website:

Instructor: Angela James. Join Angela James for a 2 week workshop as she shares some of the common pitfalls she’s seen in submissions and contest entries. She’ll give you ideas, tips and tricks for polishing and self-editing your manuscript. Discuss things such as dialogue tags, whether all forms of “to be” really evil and just what you’re doing to your life expectancy with your use of that exclamation point. The course will guide you from the basics of self-editing and grammar in a clear, conversational manner with examples, to more advanced topics such as show versus tell and passive voice. Through it all, she’ll be available for clarification and questions in order to help you on your way to a cleaned-up manuscript and understanding the basics of editing your manuscript.

What do participants who’ve taken the workshop have to say?
“I’ve been writing for over 15 years and published 8 novels. Angela’s online class on self-editing was packed with information and suggestions designed to improve your writing whether you’re a beginning or an advanced author.” Donna MacQuigg www.donnamacquigg.com

“Taking the self editing course was like pulling the blinders off. I was given the tools to see the common mistakes in my first drafts. I highly recommend this course to any writer who wants to make their writing tighter and more polished.” Amy Ruttan www.amyruttan.com

“Angela’s Self-Editing Workshop gave me many tools and tricks to apply immediately and things to consider while writing. The information presented is clear, concrete, and practical.I can’t recommend it strongly enough to anyone who want to strengthen and polish his or her writing.” Sara Nash

WHEN: Aug 2 – Aug 16
COST: $10 for Premium Members
$15 for Basic & NON-Members
REGISTRATION: Click here to Register for $15 (Non-Savvy Member Rate.)

JOIN TODAY to take this workshop for only $10! If you are a current Premium member of Savvy Authors, please log into the website before registering for this workshop.

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Posted in Workshop/ Presentation/ Panel | 1 Comment »

Shannon Stacey interviews Executive Editor Angela James

Shannon_Stacey | June 30th, 2010

Shannon Stacey is the author of eleven published works, nine of which were edited by the comma-killing, wandering body part-snagging, action tag-loving Angela James. Shannon’s current Carina Press release, Exclusively Yours, is their ninth book together and has a lot fewer commas now than it did when Shannon wrote it.

1. If I could go back in time and rewrite any one of the classics, I’d give Gone With The Wind a happily ever-after-ending. (And have Ashley Wilkes get murdered in the first act, causing Melanie to develop an opium addiction that would make her a great deal more interesting and…oh wait. Back to you.) If you could go back in time and edit any one of the classics, which would be it be and why?

Um, none of them, because I’m an editor not an author and me trying to rewrite anything would be tragic! And I’m afraid your follow-up question can’t be which books I’d go back and re-edit, because I’ll have to plead the Fifth. I’d like to hear more about your plan for Gone With the Wind, though. You could do for Gone With the Wind what that author did for Pride and Prejudice. Something having to do with zombies. And maybe some shifters and vampires thrown in. We could make millions! Let’s chat. I’ll have my people call your people.

2. How important is an author’s social media profile to you? If you’re on the fence about acquiring a manuscript, can an author who’s successfully using social media tip you toward buying? Conversely, if an author’s “behaving badly” in public via social media, will it tip you against buying? (No, that’s not three questions. The second two are subquestions.)

I should never have assigned this interview to you, cheater.

I do look at authors’ social media proficiency: blog, Twitter, Facebook, website and look to see what they’re doing to build their brand. A really strong, positive author brand can tip me in favor of an author because it says to me they’re willing to put in the time and effort to their business.

And I have rejected authors who have publicly behaved unprofessionally online via their social media profiles. Publishing is a business where authors, editors and publishers work (or should work) intimately with one another, and where we need to depend on each other for professional courtesy and patience. If an author has already shown publicly they don’t mind letting loose in an unprofessional way, rather than being smart about managing their brand, then that’s one sign that a comfortable working relationship may be difficult.

3. Have you ever harbored a secret desire to write a novel yourself?

I don’t think it’s a secret desire. I grew up reading and I think for many people, a natural extension of having a love of books is having a desire to be able to write one. People have often asked me if/when I’m going to write a book, but the truth is, I don’t seem to have been blessed with the fiction novel gene. It’s actually one of the things I love about books, the awe I feel at the worlds and characters other people have created, wondering how they DO that and do it so well. So I probably won’t be writing a fiction novel anytime soon.

Now, non-fiction, that’s another story…

4. What’s your secret for working from home? Does self-discipline come naturally to you, or do you have a routine that helps, such as work clothes on work days or a specific place in the house you work?

I’ve been working from home long enough that I’ve learned to be disciplined about my time. I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if I’d spent all my time working from home goofing off instead!  I have a job and I have duties, I have people who are depending on me to get that done. If I’m not disciplined, they don’t get done and people will notice and then I won’t have a job (motivation!) So I don’t have any choice but to be disciplined. Added to that, I think having discipline shows respect for what you do, and for the people who depend on you, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for my peers, my co-workers, my authors and my freelance contractors so I try not to let them down.

During the week, I work during the day (from about 8a-4:30p) while my daughter is at daycare and husband is at work. Because my brother has moved in with us and taken over the room that was my “office” I work either in the living room or dining room. I don’t turn on the TV during the day (because I’m at work) and I don’t feel as though I also need to be doing housework just because I’m at home. Because really, I’m at work (sense a trend in my mantra, here?) Like a normal office job, I allow myself a day every so often to do something out of the ordinary, like go out to lunch, but otherwise, I’m at work.

The hardest part for me is actually separating from work, because working from home, you never truly leave work. So even though my main workday is during the day/week, I also work in the evenings and on the weekends. I often have to force myself to stop.

I guess the main trick is not to think of it, or allow other people to think of it, as you being at home, but to keep reminding them you’re at work, and that they shouldn’t expect things of you that they wouldn’t expect of anyone else at work. If they can’t do the laundry at work, you shouldn’t be expected to either!

5. If you weren’t married and could date any Star Wars or Star Trek character, who would it be and why? (And no, you cannot cheat and substitute Firefly. Or Doctor Who. Or Battlestar Galactica.)

You cheated in question #2 so I have a free pass. Despite my love for the shows you mentioned, I would date Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(Note from Shan: Angel? Ew. Spike, baby. It was all Spike.)

(Note from Angela: Yeah, you’re also the one who roots for Juan Pablo Montoya as your favorite Nascar driver. I rest my case.

(Note from Angela part 2: –though I do admit that Spike would be my second choice)

Bonus question: If a writer aspiring to be a Carina Press author wanted to make you wiggle in your chair, what would he or she send you?

Because I’m so busy with the administrative side of running Carina, I don’t have much time in my schedule any more for editing. I do read a lot of submissions, but I generally pass the ones I love/acquire to the freelance editors. I really love editing, though, so I continue to work with a few authors, though not much more than a book a month. The genres that are most going to catch my eye and convince me to edit a book from the slush pile are space opera (I’m still waiting for someone to write me a western-flavor space opera a la Firefly and Captain Tightpants!), futuristic romance, steampunk (I was asking for this 5 years ago, long before it was “in” so why stop now?) and erotic romance of any sub-genre, but I have a soft spot for good BDSM erotic romance because it’s so difficult to find.

Though I do find myself reading some longer submissions because of the genre, if you’re writing a novella in any genre, I’m most likely to grab it out of the slush pile and read it, and most likely to keep it for editing myself, because novellas fit much better into my schedule!

All that said, there are always books and authors who I’ll try to edit (Hi Nora, call me!) because I want to keep editing, as it’s something I love and don’t want to get too rusty at!

* * *

You can find Shannon at her website or running amok on Twitter and Facebook. Her next book, Undeniably Yours, releases from Carina in October. You can find Angela pretty much everywhere (the hard part’s getting her to sit still), but Twitter and the Carina Press Facebook page are good places to start.

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