Showing posts with label Publishing my First Suspense Novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Publishing my First Suspense Novel. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
My Novel's Going to be an E-Book!
With everybody snatching up Kindles and other E-book readers and IPADS, it's paramount for an author to flash their stuff across the continents! I'm excited to announce that my first suspense novel Deadly Choices http://www.jenniespallone.com/ will soon be coming out as an E-Book, and everything that's "E", through Untreed Press. I should wait until the contract is burning into my sweaty little hand, but I couldn't wait to share! Would you be more likely to read a book on Kindle, etc. rather than in a hard copy? Let me know!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
So Much for Psychics!
Turns out the psychic was wrong. The literary agent who wanted my second suspense novel was a quack, at least according to Absolute Write and Predators & Editors: two indispensible guides for authors seeking literary representation.
It's so difficult to know who to trust. Fiction is a striped cat. Authors get tired of sending out queries when the tantalizing aroma of self-publishing lies just around the corner. But just like pre-marital sex in the '50s, one must not give in until all other exploration has gone south.
All is not lost, however. Four scriptwriters of varying expertise currently compete to adapt my award-winning first suspense novel Deadly Choices, now five years old. And I shall continue to participate on mystery author panels at conferences throughout the country -- and tell myself: Get it together. Your time will come....
It's so difficult to know who to trust. Fiction is a striped cat. Authors get tired of sending out queries when the tantalizing aroma of self-publishing lies just around the corner. But just like pre-marital sex in the '50s, one must not give in until all other exploration has gone south.
All is not lost, however. Four scriptwriters of varying expertise currently compete to adapt my award-winning first suspense novel Deadly Choices, now five years old. And I shall continue to participate on mystery author panels at conferences throughout the country -- and tell myself: Get it together. Your time will come....
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Psychic's Good News
I just started working with a real estate client who says he runs everything through his "prophet" before he decides which property to buy. Turns out his prophet is Grandma Rose. In my vocabulary, "prophet" equals "psychic." I decided to give her a call -- not regarding my success in the real estate business but as an author!
Grandma Rose, who now resides in Mississippi, originally hails from Chicago. Thus her comments or revelations, depending on your level of spirituality at the time, are drop-dead blunt tinged with smatterings of southern .
For my second suspense novel Window of Guilt, Rose sees a Jewish or Italian bearded man with a broad smile and a sharp scissors cutting the red ribbon that encases my manuscript! She says it's an agent I've recently sent to, although she knows not his name.
My third novel Fatal Reaction only needs a bit more editing, according to Rose. True enough, it needs to be elongated another thirty pages. Then it's ready to go! Rose says agents will attempt to talk me out of the school setting but I should stay true to my beliefs, i.e. keep it! That novel will also find a home with a publisher.
Lastly, my fourth novel Psychobabble. Rose says this manuscript should be the easiest to sell because it's got lots of fascinating characters.
If this psychic is clued in on any of the above, I can look forward to an exciting future! I'm sending Rose a carton of books -- not my own -- as a Thank You. If you're interested in talking to Rose, shoot me an e-mail and I'll act as the conduit!
Grandma Rose, who now resides in Mississippi, originally hails from Chicago. Thus her comments or revelations, depending on your level of spirituality at the time, are drop-dead blunt tinged with smatterings of southern .
For my second suspense novel Window of Guilt, Rose sees a Jewish or Italian bearded man with a broad smile and a sharp scissors cutting the red ribbon that encases my manuscript! She says it's an agent I've recently sent to, although she knows not his name.
My third novel Fatal Reaction only needs a bit more editing, according to Rose. True enough, it needs to be elongated another thirty pages. Then it's ready to go! Rose says agents will attempt to talk me out of the school setting but I should stay true to my beliefs, i.e. keep it! That novel will also find a home with a publisher.
Lastly, my fourth novel Psychobabble. Rose says this manuscript should be the easiest to sell because it's got lots of fascinating characters.
If this psychic is clued in on any of the above, I can look forward to an exciting future! I'm sending Rose a carton of books -- not my own -- as a Thank You. If you're interested in talking to Rose, shoot me an e-mail and I'll act as the conduit!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Yesterday was Literary Agent Query Day
Yesterday I'm proud to report I e-mailed out five queries to literary agents regarding representation for my suspense novel Window of Guilt (87,000 wds.) My first published suspense novel, Deadly Choices, only ran 212 pages, but the new manuscript comes in at 367. While Deadly Choices is about a female paramedic on chicago's West Side who kidnaps the baby she just delivered and gives it to her best friend, a Born Again christian, to raise (See http://www.jenniespallone.com/), the character-driven Window of Guilt is about a health insurance adjuster's wife who discovers a dead body on the front lawn of her summer home. While she runs in to phone the police, the body disappears. Her hubby says she's nutso. Unfortunately, so do the cops. So she hooks up with a female detective to solve the case.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
My First Internet Book Interview
Last Sunday, I was interviewed for the first time on my first suspense novel Deadly Choices (http://www.jenniespallone.com/ )via the Internet. Audrey Schaffer moderated the Writers Chatroom (http://www.writerschatroom.com/) interview. Readers and authors "lined up" to pose their written question, then I responded in like.
It was a whole different sweet potato, responding in writing rather than shooting my mouth off at mystery author conferences. For one thing, I had to type almost as fast as I talk -- didn't want the question poser thinking I wasn't attentive. For another thing, I needed to completely focus on responding to a particular question instead of blossoming into another tangent. The tricky part was responding in an authentic, yet humorous vein to keep participants from logging off!
What helped was logging on to the Writers Chatroom the prior Wednesday night. Wednesday nights are open chats. It gets crazy in there with everybody chatting at breakneck speed on lots of trivial stuff. Needless to say, I was afraid to stick my hangnail into the discussion for fear of being trampled!
Finally, I dived into the conversation, asking what genre fit my second novel. Once I got people focused on answering my questions, I felt successful. Check the website out for yourself on Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 CST and let me know what you think!
It was a whole different sweet potato, responding in writing rather than shooting my mouth off at mystery author conferences. For one thing, I had to type almost as fast as I talk -- didn't want the question poser thinking I wasn't attentive. For another thing, I needed to completely focus on responding to a particular question instead of blossoming into another tangent. The tricky part was responding in an authentic, yet humorous vein to keep participants from logging off!
What helped was logging on to the Writers Chatroom the prior Wednesday night. Wednesday nights are open chats. It gets crazy in there with everybody chatting at breakneck speed on lots of trivial stuff. Needless to say, I was afraid to stick my hangnail into the discussion for fear of being trampled!
Finally, I dived into the conversation, asking what genre fit my second novel. Once I got people focused on answering my questions, I felt successful. Check the website out for yourself on Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 CST and let me know what you think!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Promise of Writing Yet Another Chapter
When it comes to most aspects of my life, I'm an impatient sort. Yet when it comes to staring down an idea until it finally pops, I'm an absolute Buddah! Why the ego separation? For one thing, I love writing. Love plucking just the right word to complete a sentence.Love binding concepts so that one idea flows effortlessly into the next. Love allowing room for the plot to unfold without use of my midwife skills. (This I mean in the most general of terms since I've never been in the health care field!)
Although I can't read other mysteries when I'm flush into writing my own, I have no problem listening to suspense novels while I'm driving back and forth to work. In that environment, I can anonymously observe the twists and turns of a well-plotted story. Then, armed with the proper tools to employ in my own manuscript, I can go deeper, flow faster, and capture the essence of yet another chapter.
Although I can't read other mysteries when I'm flush into writing my own, I have no problem listening to suspense novels while I'm driving back and forth to work. In that environment, I can anonymously observe the twists and turns of a well-plotted story. Then, armed with the proper tools to employ in my own manuscript, I can go deeper, flow faster, and capture the essence of yet another chapter.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Publishing my First Suspense Novel
I've written two other suspense novels besides Deadly Choices, but it's been hell getting them published. I think that's because I wrote Deadly before starting my ADHD meds. Thus, my first novel was one mad dash to the finish line in only 211 pages! The premise was simple: A female paramedic kidnaps the baby she just delivered, then gives it to her best friend, a Born-Again Christian foster care mom, to raise as her own. Friendship, trust, betrayal. It was fascinating to explore how easily a person can tiptoe over the line of legality to reach their heart's desire.
Deadly Choices won Third Place for Mystery Fiction at the Police Writers Association Conference (currently the Public Safety Writers Association) in Las Vegas, 2006.
Fatal Reaction and Window of Guilt have been more complicated sells. Although previously represented by a Florida literary agent, I pulled both manuscripts after a handful of months because I felt they needed re-editing. We're talking 300 pages per book, here. Ideas need to be clear, concise, and there needs to be lots of red herrings -- fake leads -- in the plot line progression.
Now I'm ready to start again. Looking for an ambitious agent to get me there. I do lots of my own marketing and speak throughout the country so it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully! And I am on my ADHD meds now!
Deadly Choices won Third Place for Mystery Fiction at the Police Writers Association Conference (currently the Public Safety Writers Association) in Las Vegas, 2006.
Fatal Reaction and Window of Guilt have been more complicated sells. Although previously represented by a Florida literary agent, I pulled both manuscripts after a handful of months because I felt they needed re-editing. We're talking 300 pages per book, here. Ideas need to be clear, concise, and there needs to be lots of red herrings -- fake leads -- in the plot line progression.
Now I'm ready to start again. Looking for an ambitious agent to get me there. I do lots of my own marketing and speak throughout the country so it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully! And I am on my ADHD meds now!
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