Scott Waxman, Co-President Diversion Books

Welcome, Scott. Diversion is a brand new e-publisher, but you’ve been around the publishing industry for quite awhile, first as an editor with HarperCollins and then in launching the Waxman Literary Agency in 1997. Why did you decide to start an e-publisher?

SW: I like the opportunity the eBook format presents to the author. There’s a sense of being able to control your own destiny for projects that the big houses don’ t want to bother with. I’ve been at this long enough to trust my own instincts on a book. So, just because a publisher says it’s “too small”, we can now attempt to prove them wrong and still make a go of it. I also think there’s an excitement to the early days of epublishing that inspires new ideas and creativity. I look forward to being a part of this landscape and to helping authors navigate through it.

How is the vision of Diversion different from other e-publishing houses?

SW: I think because it emanates from my literary agency it gives us a unique perspective on what the authors need and want. Because we understand editorial development, rights, various genres and the everyday life of an author I believe it will provide a comfort level for writers. We also have a strong focus on original content whereas it seems that the majority of epublishers are looking for out of print or classic eBook rights. Again, this is in keeping with our day jobs as agents which is primarily to sell new material so the two should work hand in hand very well.

What do you see as your role as in developing the career of the whole author?

SW: In terms of Diversion, we see ourselves and an author’s partner, working closely to publish their eBook successfully.

Where do you seen digital books going in the near future?

SW: There will be a lot of experimenting with formats, genres, enhancements. For the time being, as with all of publishing, brand name books originating in print will sell the vast majority of copies. But eBook bestsellers, meaning books that started as eBooks are coming and I wouldn’t be surprised if we have an eBook sell over 100,000 copies, at a reasonable price within the next 12-18 months.

And, of course, I have to ask this because everyone will want to know, what are you looking for?

SW: Besides being open to all genres, we are looking for authors who either have an existing online audience that we can tap into as well as an understanding of social networking on the web. This will be crucial as we attempt to sell eBooks into what is quickly becoming an extremely crowded marketplace.

Congratulations on your launch of Diversion Books!

OK, so I’m starting a new book. (Well, let’s be truly honest, I’ve got three of them going right now.) The point is this new book is a little more difficult for me to start than most I’ve worked on.

And it’s because of the characters.

It’s one thing when they step on stage and demand a staring role in your head and start spouting of dialog faster than you can type it. It’s another thing when you’ve got an alpha male who’s a lost soul and wants to be left the hell alone…by everyone…including me.

Trying to get him to open up enough that I can figure him and out write him down is like trying to ply a vegetarian with a steak. It isn’t working. Not interested is not interested.

So as a writer, what am I supposed to do? Well, I’m going to fall back on the good only journalism interview and hope he gives more than one word answers (which I’m not counting on.) If that fails I might interview the secondary characters around him and see if I can dig up some dirt.

And if that fails…well then I’m going to start the story with the heroine and he’ll get dragged into it at some point.

*sigh* And my husband wonders why I can’t remember to pick up drywall screws…I have way too much in my head.

But I’ve found that dwelling on the negative doesn’t help your career. Far more positive and powerful is a thankful heart.

It comes from the idea of what you focus on is what you draw to you.

So I’m thankful for my contracts with Harlequin, that my writing is going to be in books in the hands of readers in 2011 (I know it seems like a long time but in the publishing world it’s not.)

I’m thankful for both my writing and non-writing friends who keep me sane in different ways – the writers because they understand how crazy a business publishing really is, and the non-writers because they don’t care about the business at all.

I’m thankful for the chance to be able to write the stories out of my head – because really, my therapy bills would be astronomical if I had to pay to talk them all out.

I’m thankful that there are readers out there who love romance. Thank you for reading what we write!

I’m thankful that my computer has kept up this far with me and continues to chug along.
I’m thankful for my husband and my kids who encourage me and make me want to be a better writer.

I’m thankful for RWA and the published members who’ve offered support and education over the years that helped me get to where I am.

And of course I’m thankful for you. Because I may not know exactly who you are at this moment, but you are still reading this. And that makes me smile.

May your holidays be full of love, light, and joy.

Cheers,
Theresa

But really, how do you know? For me there have been points of clarity mixed with occasional thwacks upside the head to remind me. The first big point of clarity came in high school when I knew writing for the newspaper and getting nonfiction published in a national magazine wasn’t enough. I didn’t want just a byline, I wanted to create stories that were something no one else could do, that were out of my own creativity rather than reporting.

The second point of clarity came when I started a Writer’s Digest course and got my first smackdown from a wise teacher who told me my first novel had way too many plots going at once and I needed to pare it down to one single story to focus on. I was crushed, but she was right.

The third point of clarity came when my mother passed away at 52 from breast cancer. She was an inspiration, a person who really made everyone around her strive to live their dreams, and a natural storyteller. But she also taught be something I’ll never forget – if you don’t tell the stories, they stayed locked inside. No one can share them but you. If you leave this world without sharing those stories, those stories leave with you, never to be read. I can’t go there. Frankly there’s barely enough room in my head for what has to be there day in and day out, let alone to store a bunch of stories that’ll never be told. I’ve got to clean it out by getting those stories down on paper.

My fourth point of clarity came with the American Title contest, when I was cut after making it through a few rounds. Boy did I think about quitting. I already had a successful public relations agency, why did I need the grief? I was going to purge my office of writing. Yeah, right. That lasted half an hour. Then I realized I was still going to have stories in my head. I was still going to have to find some way of releasing them to keep myself sane and happy. Writing was cheaper than therapy, and it also meant I got to keep my non-writer friends who wouldn’t be bombarded by yet another untold tale of mine.

The latest thwack upside the head to remind me what I am came just last school year in a high school chemistry class. I know you’re likely wondering what the heck I was doing there. I was substituting. I do that too. I realized that as much as like teaching, I really, really am a writer. It’s telling the story that gets me going, especially when you can see how the story is unfolding for each individual. It’s that chemistry between writer and reader that makes writing addictive. Writers crave readers. We’re not shy about that.

So how do you know if you are meant to be a writer? Really the litmus test is easier than you think (and pardon me if it begins to sound a bit like you might be a redneck . . .)

If you occasionally hear voices in your head, that aren’t your own. And they’re arguing over something, you might be a writer.

If bits of paper seem to find there way into everything you own, because you’ve got ideas you’ll jot down on any old scrap you can find when it hits, you might be a writer.

If your bookshelves are nearly busting out and have overflowed on to various surfaces in your home because you are easily fascinated by all manner of ideas and have to know more, you might be a writer. (maybe you just don’t know it yet.)

If the smell of books is kind of addictive to you, you might be a writer.

If you’d rather sit on your butt and type for three hours a day or more, because you have to, rather than because you want to, even though there are dust rhinos cavorting in your dining room and under your furniture, you might be a writer.

If you look at a billboard, magazine ad or other such thing, and immediately think what that person might be like, and starting spinning ideas around of who they are, what they want and what might happen if they…., well, you know I’m going to tell you, you might be a writer.

If you’ve got pages already written, on a book that will never be seen by human eyes, you my friend, might be a writer.

And, if the idea of not writing another day in your life leaves you thinking, what the heck would I do, then you might be a writer.

Now if you’re a writer, and you’ve only just discovered this amazing fact, let me share with you three bits of advice that I’ve consistently heard from every New York Times Bestseller I’ve ever had the fortune to strike up a conversation with (which is quite a few).

1. Finish the book. No one will buy a book until you’ve written it. So starting a book is important, yes, but finishing it is a necessity.

2. Perseverance makes the difference between published and unpublished.

3. Start writing the next book. Careers in publishing are usually built on one book after another, after another. If you’ve got one book it you, chances are you’ve got another too. So keep writing!

Not all writers parade around in bunny slippers, dashing off a book in a weekend between watching reruns of Supernatural. And writers usually don’t make an astounding amount of money. Not even those that hit the golden hallowed ground of New York Times Bestseller.

See what I mean – a first-hand account with actual royalty statement, compliments of Lynn Viehl at GenReality. Out of a $50k advance (only two-thirds you get before the book comes out, 15% percent of which goes to pay the agent) she netted less than half. Of the $40k+ royalty for a top 20 NYT bestselling book. She got zero in her paycheck (because she has to pay back the advance).

Writers don’t write for the money. Most of us write to keep our sanity, because we really do have other people’s voices (our characters) talking incessantly in our heads.

So how long, exactly do you need to work at this before you start making anything at all? It depends. That’s the straight up truth.

Read this and you’ll understand: How do You Know When to Quit over at Murderati.  You stop when you can’t go anymore, and for most writers, the process is far more invovled that the end result you see on a bookstore shelf.  We spend months, sometimes years, of our lives on stuff you read in a week or less. 

The truth about writing is this, and I’m only telling you because I know a lot of people want to write the Great American Novel someday: Writing is a lot of work. Hard work. The majority of time you are rejected. Persistence is key. Talent is important. Learning and improving your craft a constant given. But timing, opportunity, just like the singer Susan Boyle in the link you’ll find in the Murderati link, that is the critical element that makes it all come together.

The truth is if you pick up pen and put it to paper or type on your keyboard and create a story or an article, you are in fact a writer. But here’s the thing: if you want to get paid for that writing, you have to write what you can sell.

Case in point – as much as I love my dark fae stories, they are going to have to wait. Why? Because I’ve been asked to send in more vampire story proposals. It’s more likely those stories will sell, since that is what is being requested. Is it a guarantee? Absolutlely not.  But as much as you love writing “the book inside you” or “the book of your heart” a working writer writes with the guideline of writing to sell. If there’s an opportunity in a market, then you see what you can do about it.

I’m not saying that writers should blindly follow trends. You have to write what you are able to write (for example don’t ditch the historical and write an erotic romance if you really feel that it is totally unlike you). At the same time you have to be willing to stretch yourself. For a long time (from about the mid 90s until two years ago) historical writers were faced with a downturn in the market for historical romances. Many of them started writing contemporary romances or paranormals or even romantic suspense. Some of them have recently begun writing historicals again.

Being flexible doesn’t mean that you’re selling out. It means that no matter where your readers might be, you’re going to work to reach them.

So how to you decide what to write? Start with what moves you as a reader. What stories capture your imagination most? What do you like to read most? Do you have an idea that you can see fitting into the current market – in other words, if you went into a bookstore would you be able to figure out where it would be stocked on the shelf?

Start there. Then do your homework. Pick up those books you love and find out who the publisher is. Find out who agents that author (the Internet is amazing for this, but you can usually find clues in the dedication or thank you section in the beginning of a book too.)

Then sit down and write the book, the whole book, not just a few chapters. If you don’t have a critique group, then consider joining a writer’s group. There’s one out there for just about everything, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Thriller Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Google and you’ll find something close to you. Go to a meeting and start asking questions. You might be amazed what you learn.

And last, even if the book isn’t selling right now, don’t be afraid to put it aside. It might sell another time. For if there is one thing that is consistent about publishing, it is that everything changes.

Go forth and write!

But I am excited! Twice now I’ve come so close (those of you who still ask me when The Spellbound Bride is coming out, I’m working on it and waiting on publishers). But the third time is the charm! 

I hope you’ll hop over to the Harlequin site and take a look. If you’d like to read an excerpt, check out the books section on my site and you’ll find it.

In the meantime, I’ll be hopping around several blogs this month talking vampires, paranormal romances and what not. Google, you’ll find them. Leave a comment on any of them (or here!) and I’ll include you in a contest where you can win either a pair of customizable chrome fangs (perfect for those of you thinking of going to the Romantic Times Convention’s annual vampire ball) or a gift certificate to Wicked  Wines Online where you can find Vampyre Vodka (that’s red!), Dracula Syrah, Chateau Du Vampire Bordeaux and Dark Vampire Chocolate, among other goodies. Winner to be announced April 1, 2009 (and no, I’m not joking).

And now, I’m off to celebrate!  Hey my first book just came out!

Um, yeah. Let me disabuse you of that notion right now.

There are literary writers and there are genre writers. Kind of like there are Catholics and Southern Baptists. Both Christians, but totally different.

Literary writers are given reviews, and taken seriously, usually producing work that transcends society in some manner or other and is usually educational or morally edifying in some way. Case it in point – it is designed to be art/literature/educational. Think dinner at a restaurant with linen tablecloths and smallish size food that looks pretty.

Genre writing on the other hand, is more along the burger and fries of books. It’s a staple. More people read it, buy it, hell, consume it, because frankly they are hungry, they don’t have the time to sit down to eat. They just want to get filled up with something they know they’ll like. Genre writing is designed to be entertainment, in the same way a movie, a video game or a television show is entertainment.

This doesn’t mean it was harder to produce the book for the literary writer. It just means that the literary writer chose to take longer slashing their own path through the woods instead of taking an established trail.

News flash for my literary friends: genre writing is formulaic because that’s what readers want! They want to know a murder mystery contains a dead body and we’re going to find the killer. They want to know a thriller is going to be scary and give you goose bumps and they’ll throw the book at the wall if a romance doesn’t have a happen ending, well, let’s be honest, it won’t get published at all without a happy ending.

But within those very loosely constructed borders is a whole world to explore, so the stories are never the same, and they are not imitations of one another, just like America is different from England, even though we both speak English, share some of the same history and occupy the same planet earth.

What’s interesting to me is this: literary writers I’ve talked to yearn to be thought of as artists of the word, but they deep down wish they had fame to go along with it. They think that’s what genre writers have because of the hundreds of thousands, hell millions, of copies of genre books a single popular genre writer can sell.

Genre writers on the other hand, and more specifically romance writers, wish their work would get the respect of a literary writer, so when the go to a spouse’s company dinner party some smart aleck doesn’t say “Oh, your wife writes sex books. Bet she just cranks those out on the weekends in between quickies.” They wish that the serious reviewers would even try cracking one of their books and give a review. And they wish they could be nominated for awards given out for books (because after all, they’ve spent years tapping away at their keyboard and going through the harrowing world of publishing the same as the literary author has.)

So one wants fame, the other respect. Funny since they both write books. Didn’t you know that really, you should have taken up acting? More people likely know about Zac Efron from Disney’s High School Musical than will ever read a single book.

But I digress. (as per usual) Writing is hard work no matter what. If you want to be your own original and educate the world, then be literary and soar. If you want regular deadlines and want to make this your job, then write genre. It’s all a matter of market and numbers. You can’t go around wishing one were the other. It isn’t. It won’t be.

So literary authors, rather than disparage your genre brethren, think on this–as long as people are still picking up genre books, be grateful. As long as they are reading rather than watching re-runs of Scrubs or Grey’s Anatomy, you have a prayer they may some day desire to be educated by their reading selection.

Genre authors, keep plugging away and know one thing—people will always pay for entertainment, even in a depressed economy. And books are the cheapest source of entertainment on the planet (ok, unless you are born a guy). And in a hundred, possibly two-hundred years, your books may even be well-respected literature if William Shakespeare, Emily Bronte and Jane Austen are any indication.