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Ranty McRant Full Steam Ahead…
Jun
18
2009

I’m sorry, I need to rant just a little about something that is one of my biggest pet peeves – If you’re rejected by New York or any publisher really, it’s not because you’re “too edgy” or “too sexy” or “too out of the box” It’s not because NY doesn’t “understand” you. It’s most definitely NOT because the RWA “hates sex” or is “jealous” of erotic romance.

Bluntly: They’re not jealous of you. Most of them don’t even know who you are and if they did, they wouldn’t fucking care enough to engage in some sort of conspiracy to get your books rejected.

Authors get rejected. It’s a fact of life for all of us. Good books get rejected. Sherrilyn Kenyon shopped her first Dark Hunter book for a long assed time, getting rejected over and over. It wasn’t because people were jealous or that she was too edgy, it was wrong book, wrong editor, wrong time. And I hope every time she wins an award or hits the bestseller list, she thinks, “HA! Editor X, who’s laughing now” She’s probably too nice to think that, but if I were her, I would, LOL.

And while I’m ranty:

The popularity of a certain sub-genre is not at fault for the woes of other sub-genres. In case it’s escaped people’s notice, popular culture has this thing called trends. So at any given time, something will be more popular than something else. But paranormals are not the cause for your western not selling. Readers wanting to see more vamps means more vamps get bought, which means the market for other things gets tighter. In another year, there’ll be a new trend (though paranormals, much like erotic romance, aren’t going away, they’re leveling out, but there will always be a demand for them) and something else will sell like hotcakes for a year and level out.

Right now, erotic romance has bottomed out and the market has tightened up. IMO, this is a good thing because (hopefully) the quality stays higher. Erotic romance leveling out is not because the RWA hates sex. God, can we please, please just stop saying that forever? The RWA does not hate sex in romance novels. Take a look at the shelves – they’re filled with very sexy romances and those romances do very well.

The popularity of erotics also is not making your sweet romance not sell. There’s a market for them, though it’s tighter than it was a few years ago. Again I refer the right honorable readers to the point I make above about trends.

Our business is media – media is highly dependent on trends. This is a fact you cannot escape. You can pretend your book didn’t sell because NY isn’t ready for you, or you can accept that the book just isn’t right for that editor or house right now. And it may never be. Guess what? Sometimes when a book gets rejected it’s because the book sucked. I know, it’s hard to face that – it sucks, but sometimes it’s true.

One last little thing before I stop:

If you don’t like the RWA, fine. Don’t join it. I certainly have my own issues with them and have spent the last week here blogging about that. But why do people who hate the RWA who aren’t members show up in every freaking RWA discussion to inform everyone you don’t like the RWA, have no intention of joining and never will?

FYI, RWA has nothing to do with what NY publishing houses buy. So every last RWA member could hate sex in romance and it would still have not a damned thing to do with why your book got rejected.

Things happen to us and we seek to give those events meaning or what is the point of doing what we do? I get that. It’s human. But truly, I cannot read another loop comment about how your story got rejected because someone is out to get you.

It’s a rejection. They happen. You’re not a special snowflake. Suck it up and write something else.

24 comments to “Ranty McRant Full Steam Ahead…”

  1. gwen hayes
    June 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am · Link

    I am too a special snowflake.



  2. katiebabs
    June 18th, 2009 at 11:56 am · Link

    You said it perfectly. Stop your bitching and sit your ass down and just write.
    Can I still be your special snowflake?



  3. Rob Charron
    June 18th, 2009 at 11:58 am · Link

    Hi 😉
    Great blog. Rejection just means no, or not right now. That’s all. Jim Butcher’s sister said he got 300 rejections before hitting his stride & look at him now!
    🙂
    J.K. Rowling was rejected by many publishers.
    (hahahaha)
    Thanks for sharing
    Love From Canada
    xoxo



  4. Ames
    June 18th, 2009 at 12:01 pm · Link

    But I AM a special snowflake! I AM! I AM!

    (damnit Gwen I just read ur comment u big old fast clickin’ copy cat u)



  5. laurendane
    June 18th, 2009 at 12:04 pm · Link

    Kate my darlin, you totally ARE my special snowflake.

    Gwen and Ames – LOL, well keep it to yourselves because your editor will want you to finish the book when you’re supposed to

    Rob – yes, exactly. Many authors who’ve had huge success had to work for years to get published. If they’d just thought, “Oh well, I’m too edgy!” and quit, I’d have no sexy Dark Hunters to read, or Harry Dresden either!



  6. Vivian Arend
    June 18th, 2009 at 12:25 pm · Link

    OMG Lauren, I love you. In the most platonic manner of course. 😉

    Just so you know.



  7. Juliana Stone
    June 18th, 2009 at 1:03 pm · Link

    Once again Lauren you said it! and said it well! I hate whiners who use every excuse in the book for thier own failures….suck it up buttercup…..k, off to write now but thanks for making me smile!



  8. Jacs1
    June 18th, 2009 at 1:05 pm · Link

    Gotta love the blame game. Never ever your fault, always someone/something else. Heck writers like that would blame it on the man in the moon if they felt justified. These are also the same peeps that can not take any type of criticism on their work because ‘they worked so hard at it and it’s ‘perfect”. Yeah. Think again. Even the top NYT best selling authors do rewrites.

    Though I disagree I am a special snowflake. Well at least to my mama 😉



  9. Victoria Janssen
    June 18th, 2009 at 1:37 pm · Link

    Word.



  10. Cynthia Eden
    June 18th, 2009 at 1:53 pm · Link

    BWHAHA! Lauren, I so want to be a special snowflake! Great post.



  11. J.C. Wilder
    June 18th, 2009 at 2:22 pm · Link

    Oh Cupcake, you make me swoon with pleasure when you rant. I think I need to go stretch out with a kewl cloth….

    SMOOCH, Twinkie



  12. Lori Devoti
    June 18th, 2009 at 2:54 pm · Link

    You are my new hero! 😆 You said many things I have been ranting about in my head for some time.
    Touching on my pet peeve of the moment…
    RWA is a writing group, made up of writers. That’s it. No secret power. No power at all. What they recognize or don’t recognize, what they allow in their contest or don’t in no way effects anyone’s career.
    How the hell they became so important in some people’s minds I just don’t understand…Makes me want to bang my head into a wall. Actually gives me a reason to stop reading blogs, and such which I guess is a good thing.
    But then you SUCKED me back in!!!



  13. Vivi Anna
    June 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pm · Link

    Oh Lauren Dane…it’s like you’ve read my mind.

    I’m really tired of all the bitching and complaining in this industry. Don’t get me wrong I bitch and complain too, but I pick up the phone and do it to my BFF, I don’t construct a platform and scream it to everyone that can hear.

    Remember peoples…everything you say on the internet, can and will be held against you…



  14. azteclady
    June 18th, 2009 at 8:22 pm · Link

    humphhh!

    Too many speshul snowflakes for me.

    I’ll be a speshul kitteh instead.



  15. Joy Roach
    June 18th, 2009 at 10:38 pm · Link

    LOL! I never want to miss a Lauren Dane rant.



  16. Melissa
    June 19th, 2009 at 12:13 am · Link

    I love your rants, Lauren!!

    And I’ve heard JR Ward say over and over again how she’d just gotten ‘fired’ from her current publishing house when she came up with The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

    Not a writer, but as a reader I know it’s all about what I’m willing to plunk my hard earned money down on……or not.



  17. limecello
    June 19th, 2009 at 5:19 am · Link

    lol I now get the special snowflake comments. heh. Truth.



  18. Nancy
    June 19th, 2009 at 8:14 am · Link

    I always felt very weird that I got positively giddy when I got my first rejection. Yes of course there was that twinge of ‘aw crap’ but for the most part I felt a little thrilled because rejection felt like I was a real writer. I was writing and submitting and I knew rejection was a part of the game. I get that.

    I understand the whole ‘not right’/’not right now’ part of it and know it has nothing to do with me as a person. But getting those rejections does make me feel like maybe I could write this or that part better, maybe it needs to be polished up more, maybe I should change this angle etc…

    It may really have nothing to do with me but getting rejected can be a good thing and give you a chance to look at your work again and just make it better. There’s no such thing as a book being TOO polished so I just work on it, submit it again somewhere else cause that’s part of the job. I’m not going to blame people. That’s such horse puckey.

    Speaking of which, I wrote a novella that was a western during a time that paranomals were and still are huge cause I knew that trends go in cycles so I wasn’t going to try and follow a trend that wasn’t where my heart was. Paranormal readers weren’t my audience, western romance readers were and I wrote what I loved and it did and continues to do well. I say write what you love and you’ll find a market for it.

    As for the RWA, I know you and many other writers love being a part of it. For myself, the negatives seem to outweigh the positives but I think of it in the same way I think of reality TV. For the most part, I loathe it but I know there are others that love it so I do what’s in my power and simply change the channel. The RWA is not for me right now and that’s my choice. I’m not going to blame it for how whatever romance genre does or doesn’t do in bookstores.

    Today’s generation just really takes no personal responsibility for anything. Jeezits!



  19. Lori
    June 19th, 2009 at 8:49 am · Link

    Nobody rants like you. Srsly. Can I have your baby?



  20. Jaci Burton
    June 19th, 2009 at 10:28 am · Link

    I am a unique speshul snowflake, which make me specialer than all of you. Srsly.

    And also seriously, Lauren, rock the hell on with your ranty mcrants. Agree agree agree.



  21. Brandy W
    June 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am · Link

    I liked the rant and immediately thought that I am so a special reader snowflake.

    Oh and do special snowflake get to ride the short bus?



  22. Edie
    June 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 am · Link

    😮

    I am soo in love!

    And am now going down to hunt down more rants..
    Procrastination is good for the soul.

    Which I must admit, all the RWA debates certainly give me a lot of entertaining procrastination hours.. 😳



  23. Kristina Wright
    June 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm · Link

    Thanks for ranting. It needed to be said and you said it brilliantly.



  24. laurendane
    June 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm · Link

    LOL, thanks everyone for the responses. It’s good to know I’m not alone over here in grumpy corner.





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