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Yesterday I was a guest speaker at the Connecticut chapter of RWA's annual conference. It's been a while since I've spoken at an event for romance writers but I'd agreed to do this one because the conference was being held ten miles from where my friends Stacey & Nick live, so I could combine the conference with a visit to see them.
My talk was on the pros & cons of switching genres, talking to writers about making the transition from one type of romance to another, or the transition from romance to a new genre such as science fiction, mystery, suspense, etc. It was very well received-- by which I mean no one fell asleep, everyone laughed in the right places, they asked thoughtful questions and many people came up afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed the talk. Which made me happy because it's quite different to prepare for a romance conference talk versus the preparation you do to be on a panel at an SF con, and I'm glad to see I still knew how to pull one off.
I gave the usual disclaimer before my talk "These are general suggestions, and examples from my career and the careers of other well known authors, but as with any writing advice, your individual mileage may vary."
I was struck as I listened to the other speakers how much bad advice is out there. Not that the conference was bad, in fact they had put together an excellent program with speakers ranging from above average to outstanding. But there were still kernels of advice that were either outdated or just plain wrong.
Two things struck me as particularly wrong. First, the advice that even if you don't go to agent/editor appointments at a conference you should still send your book to that agent/editor and write "Requested Material" since they will never remember all the authors that they met.
The second bit of advice was that it was okay to lie to a potential agent and tell her that the book hadn't been sent out to anyone yet, even if you'd already submitted it everywhere.
As both comments were made, heads were nodding in the audience, and I noticed several people taking notes. And why wouldn't they? This was a NYT bestselling author after all, and she must know what she is talking about.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking that it is always a bad idea to begin a professional relationship with a lie, and that the two sins mentioned above are pet peeves of my agent.
Later when it came time for all the speakers to be on a mass panel for Q&A's, I took the opportunity to remind the audience that just because we were up on the panel as published authors that didn't mean we had all the answers. "Any time you go to a conference, you are going to hear great advice, as well as suggestions that work for some people but not for you. And you're going to hear things that are just plain wrong," I told them.
They laughed, but I hope they got my point.
I don't necessarily think it's maliciousness on the part of the speakers giving out bad advice, although I've heard that some writers deliberately give bad advice in an attempt to keep the competition down.
But it's true that being published gives you a certain aura within writers groups, particularly a group like RWA. Suddenly there are people coming to you for answers, and it can be intoxicating to some authors. They begin dispensing advice some of which is helpful and some of which is not. Sometimes they describe a strategy that worked once for one person as if this is the strategy that all writers must follow.
I suspect that sometimes they have no real idea what made them successful, and the things that they are describing as the keys to their success are all true statements, but completely incidental to how they ultimately achieved their goals.
And sometimes their advice is dated. Strategies that worked fifteen years ago when they were breaking in may no longer work. The author who recommended that you just send in your manuscript "as requested" without actually meeting with an editor was surprised to find out that Harlequin/Silhouette was now handing out cards at their appointments so there would be a paper trail.
But overall the talks were excellent, on balance most of the advice was (IMO) very good and helpful, and I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with writers who were just starting their journey, and to offer what advice and encouragement I could.
To sum it up, it was a good day, I sold quite a few books at the bookfair afterwards, and the chapter members of Connecticut RWA were lovely people. But I think it will be a while before I do one of these again.
My talk was on the pros & cons of switching genres, talking to writers about making the transition from one type of romance to another, or the transition from romance to a new genre such as science fiction, mystery, suspense, etc. It was very well received-- by which I mean no one fell asleep, everyone laughed in the right places, they asked thoughtful questions and many people came up afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed the talk. Which made me happy because it's quite different to prepare for a romance conference talk versus the preparation you do to be on a panel at an SF con, and I'm glad to see I still knew how to pull one off.
I gave the usual disclaimer before my talk "These are general suggestions, and examples from my career and the careers of other well known authors, but as with any writing advice, your individual mileage may vary."
I was struck as I listened to the other speakers how much bad advice is out there. Not that the conference was bad, in fact they had put together an excellent program with speakers ranging from above average to outstanding. But there were still kernels of advice that were either outdated or just plain wrong.
Two things struck me as particularly wrong. First, the advice that even if you don't go to agent/editor appointments at a conference you should still send your book to that agent/editor and write "Requested Material" since they will never remember all the authors that they met.
The second bit of advice was that it was okay to lie to a potential agent and tell her that the book hadn't been sent out to anyone yet, even if you'd already submitted it everywhere.
As both comments were made, heads were nodding in the audience, and I noticed several people taking notes. And why wouldn't they? This was a NYT bestselling author after all, and she must know what she is talking about.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking that it is always a bad idea to begin a professional relationship with a lie, and that the two sins mentioned above are pet peeves of my agent.
Later when it came time for all the speakers to be on a mass panel for Q&A's, I took the opportunity to remind the audience that just because we were up on the panel as published authors that didn't mean we had all the answers. "Any time you go to a conference, you are going to hear great advice, as well as suggestions that work for some people but not for you. And you're going to hear things that are just plain wrong," I told them.
They laughed, but I hope they got my point.
I don't necessarily think it's maliciousness on the part of the speakers giving out bad advice, although I've heard that some writers deliberately give bad advice in an attempt to keep the competition down.
But it's true that being published gives you a certain aura within writers groups, particularly a group like RWA. Suddenly there are people coming to you for answers, and it can be intoxicating to some authors. They begin dispensing advice some of which is helpful and some of which is not. Sometimes they describe a strategy that worked once for one person as if this is the strategy that all writers must follow.
I suspect that sometimes they have no real idea what made them successful, and the things that they are describing as the keys to their success are all true statements, but completely incidental to how they ultimately achieved their goals.
And sometimes their advice is dated. Strategies that worked fifteen years ago when they were breaking in may no longer work. The author who recommended that you just send in your manuscript "as requested" without actually meeting with an editor was surprised to find out that Harlequin/Silhouette was now handing out cards at their appointments so there would be a paper trail.
But overall the talks were excellent, on balance most of the advice was (IMO) very good and helpful, and I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with writers who were just starting their journey, and to offer what advice and encouragement I could.
To sum it up, it was a good day, I sold quite a few books at the bookfair afterwards, and the chapter members of Connecticut RWA were lovely people. But I think it will be a while before I do one of these again.
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