This is by Raelene Gorlinsky of Ellora's Cave on the advantages of e-publishing.

Author Advantages of E

There are times, many many, many times when I'm glad that I began writing back in the Dark Ages before PCs and the internet. I'm glad I was something of a slacker and thus made it to adulthood and became a writer without the benefit of a flashy English degree and/or lofty MFA. I'm glad that my mother would stop on her way home from work and bring me every freakin' Little Golden Book ever printed for it was those books which led to countless other books and which taught me how to write.


And I'm especially glad that when I was starting out I didn't belong to any organized writers' groups.


Oh, don't misunderstand, I know perfectly well that my first attempts were far from fit for publication and could have used a crit partner or five, but those millions of words scribbled in stacks of spiral notebooks and on reams of looseleaf paper stuffed into second hand binders had a purpose.


They helped develop my own particular style and voice.


As quirky and rule defying as that style is * cough pov shifting, starting some sentences with prepositions, sentence fragments cough *, it seems to work for the people who matter the most--the readers.


Average, plain old, everyday readers who read for the same reasons I always read-to be entertained, to leave behind the hectic problem filled world for even a little while and get lost in a land of make-believe.


Maybe it shows my age, or maybe I'm just a plain bitch, but I have a very hard time dealing with those who spout The One True Way with regards to writing.


Yes of course you need to have a good command of the language and grammar that results in coherent sentences and paragraphs. But really, will the world stop spinning if you use more than one point of view in a scene? Will you be ostracized and branded a heretic if you start sentences with And or But? If you can grab an editor's interest with your characters and their adventures does it really matter if you use "as" to make events flow a bit smoother?


I'm not a national bestseller. I don't claim to be an expert on writing, or a genius when it comes to mechanics of crafting a story. Hell, nearly everyone in America could trip over me and not know that I'm "a published author", but does any of it matter?


No.


What matters to me is that people-- readers and editors and agents have gotten wrapped up in my less that perfectly crafted stories and enjoyed them to the point of writing me, or offering encouragement to continue or great reviews or contracts.


I may never hit the New York Times list. Or win a Rita or even be featured on one of those splashy window displays at Barnes & Noble, but I'll never forget the email from the agent who took the time to say that while she didn’t wish to represent a new project she’d read and was a fan of my Hillhouse books. Or the letter from the woman who said my book made her smile for the first time in a year since her child was seriously injured in an auto accident.


Pulling readers into your fictional world is what it's all about and it doesn't matter if the road you take is a little too crooked or needs a bit of patching, what counts is the magic of the story.


Always the magic of the story.

This is a copy of the query I sent to BerkleyJ/ove that resulted in the request for a full manuscript then the sale of my first book Timeless Wish (available once more from Cerridwen Press) I've added my thoughts in red to show why I think the letter worked in piquing the editor's interest enough to immediately ask for the full.( Read more... )

For me, a great romance takes two people who seem to be worlds apart in Chapter One and are inseparable by the time I reach The End. The trick is making the relationship of such people believable and not leaving your reader with the impression: What does he see in her or she in him? ( Read more... )

A number of years ago I heard an agent speak and the one thing she said that has stayed with me was: "The first line will sell the book. The last line will sell the next book."( Read more... )