Writerly Wednesday
Mar
18
2009

So I got the cover copy for Coming Undone last week. Having copy written for you is an interesting thing. People who write copy, by and large, are very good at it. The problem is that they don’t usually read the book or know the characters and story like you do, so there’s fine tuning involved at times.

With Samhain, I do the rough draft of the copy and then they have a professional take your raw stuff and make it all shiny. Sometimes it’s like, “oh just fix this one sentence pls and then it’s great” other times, it’s a back and forth thing as you walk the line between *your* story and marketability.

My Samhain editor and I can totally go at each other and in the end, the final project will be fabulous. The getting there may not be fabulous, especially for her as she is the middle person between the blurb/marketing front and the author so she’s got to make us both happy and make authors realize this isn’t in their heads, it’s got to convey a sense of story AND catch people’s eye. Sometimes, it’s way harder than you’d imagine it to be.

For instance, the process of writing the copy/blurb for Always took something like five rounds of back and forth and things got changed and changed back and fine tuned and in the end, I think it turned out really well and I’m pleased.

Other times, I get the copy and think, “no. HELLLL NO!” and then I have to find a way to say that but not be a d-bag because it’s not like the copy writers are trying to make me hate them, they just have a smaller picture than I do, which puts them at a disadvantage BUT, sometimes having the author’s perspective puts us at a disadvantage too because we’re not far enough away from it see it totally clearly.

Berkley writes them and then my editor sends them to me and asks for comments. So I might send something back and say, “can we change this sentence here” or “can I suggest a few alternate pull lines” sort of stuff I’ve mildly tweaked two books, really tweaked one and with Coming Undone, I read it and loved it right off.

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

What I really like about this is that the story is very simple. It’s not kinky. There are no car crashes or vampires. It’s a simple love story between two complicated people. I think the blurb caputures that perfectly. It’s not SEXSEXSEX, which I must say I personally like. Because, yes, it’s for Heat and it’s erotic romance, but those things are established because it’s for HEAT, LOL. The story is the important thing, readers can impute the sexsexsex part cause they’re smart that way.

So, nothing really super exciting today, but it demystifies the process a bit, I think, which is always a good thing!

8 comments to “Writerly Wednesday”

  1. Collette
    March 18th, 2009 at 2:54 pm · Link

    Really interesting–thanks for sharing the process!



  2. april s
    March 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm · Link

    I eagerly look forward to this story. It sounds so interesting and the characters sound like everyday people-thank you for giving us a glimpse into the writing process :mrgreen:



  3. Karin
    March 18th, 2009 at 3:54 pm · Link

    I like the blurb. Thanks for sharing the process in how they come about. It definitely demystifies it, but it tends to raise my curiosity. lol



  4. Greta
    March 18th, 2009 at 4:00 pm · Link

    So love the blurb for Coming Undone. How soon before I can get my hands on the book. 🙂



  5. Mad
    March 18th, 2009 at 4:33 pm · Link

    ROFL Greta…January 2010! We still have a ways to go.



  6. azteclady
    March 18th, 2009 at 8:39 pm · Link

    I really like the blurb–and heh, funny.

    I hate hate hate</strong most blurbs myself–they are so very rarely connected to the novel they are supposed to sell, IMO.



  7. Nancy
    March 19th, 2009 at 9:09 am · Link

    Looking forward to reading this one too!

    Thankie muchly for the peek into the blurbing process!



  8. Fedora
    March 19th, 2009 at 9:58 am · Link

    Ooh, thanks for the peek at the process and at the blurb–definitely sounds like a good one! So only most of a year to wait 😉