Thursday, September 09, 2010

Let's Make Some Noise

It seems as though the discussion on Enchanted, Inc. series topics was well-received, so I'll keep doing that as long as I have topics to address. I'm making a list as I see them come up. I'll repeat that I won't get into anything about what will happen in the future for this world or these characters, in part because of spoilers and in part because there's always a chance that I'll change my mind once I start writing (if I start writing) no matter how much I think I have planned. This includes backstory that is relevant to possible future plots. And there's a distinct chance that any backstory I do discuss may be changed if that becomes necessary to future plots I haven't even thought of yet. So, from now on, I'll alternate on Wednesdays between the writing posts and the Enchanted, Inc. discussions, and I've added an Enchanted, Inc. tag to make it easy to find those posts.

And since the question has come up yet again, the publisher currently has no plans to publish the fifth book of the series. I do have one planned. My agent is still hounding the publisher about this because the earlier books are still selling and even selling pretty well. In fact, if you were inclined to let the publisher know that you really want to see that book (and maybe that you think it's weird that these books aren't published as fantasy or in mass-market paperback form), now would be a really, really good time to do so. And I do mean NOW, as in today or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes mail to get from you to New York so that it would arrive before the end of next week. Just saying.

That address would be:
Ballantine Books
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

If you're violently opposed to snail mail, you can send that to ecustomerservice@randomhouse.com, but I understand from people who have done so that they get generic "there are currently no books scheduled by that author" replies, which sort of misses the point that the e-mail was requesting more books because you KNOW there's nothing scheduled. That leads me to believe that these e-mails are not being shared with anyone in a decision-making position. Their Twitter ID is @atrandom and they're on Facebook as RandomHouseInc if you want to reach them that way. A live human being might actually monitor that stuff. I understand that there is a Facebook group calling for a fifth book. RandomHouseInc should certainly be invited to "like" it. But this only works if there's a lot of noise involved. I'm not saying to break the Internet, but it does make for a fun experiment in the power of social networking.

I have also learned that repeating the word "sex" multiple times in a post is a good way to attract spammers.

Now that I have that proposal off with my agent, I'm left trying to figure out what I need to be working on now. I'm having enough fun with that book and have high enough hopes for it that I kind of want to keep writing it, so that maybe by the time a publisher actually makes a decision on it, I'll have most of it already done. But then there's also a possible opportunity that I need to brainstorm to see if I can come up with something for. And there's that back-burnered book, for which I need to do some reading. I wonder if my brain is adept enough to juggle multiple projects -- maybe do some writing in the afternoons, then do reading and brainstorming in the evenings on the nights when I'm not dancing or singing (or, in the case of kindergarten choir, doing both. I'm having to re-learn the Hokey Pokey).

1 comment:

Carradee said...

I've mailed them before, but I'll do so again.

I think I'll avoid scolding them this time for marketing your books to the wrong genre, though. It most fantasy readers I recommend them to hear "Harry Potter meets Bridget Jones" and say either "That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for!" or "Enough said. Swendson, you said?" and go to Customer Service to buy them.

...Yes, I do like loitering about in bookstores. Whatever gave you that idea?