Reese Ryan Romance

Colorful characters. Sinfully sweet romance.

ReeseRyan

Priceless

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A couple days after Christmas I received a gift from my awesome-sauce editor, Rhonda Helms. She finished the edits for my book.

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It’s a moment I’d been equally anticipating and dreading. After reviewing them I was reminded of just how lucky I am to have her as my editor. She totally gets my story and characters.

She’d given me a hint of that in her introductory email to me.

One of the things that really drew me in to your story and made me want to acquire it is that I loved your heroine and her story. She’s strong, flawed, empathetic, and her romantic arc is compelling (along with a delicious hero and that sizzling-hot tension between them). And of course, your secondary characters are unique and fun.

But after I read her notes, suggestions, and advice I was even more convinced. She asked all the right questions, but still allowed room for my voice and vision. My story is so much stronger for it.

We all need someone like that in our corner. So as we approach what promises to be an exciting new year, that is what I wish for you.

To a year filled with priceless moments shared with people who really and truly get us!

 

Is there someone in your work or personal life who totally gets you?

Photo courtesy of deflam. Some rights reserved.

Starting to Feel Real

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I’ve been walking around suspended somewhere between joy and disbelief, as if waiting to be awakened from my dream. It’s a bad habit that simply refuses to die.

So whenever someone says, “You must be thrilled about getting published,” I nod and force a smile while holding my breath. But recently, I finally released that breath and grinned. It suddenly became very real. A member of one of my online writing groups forwarded me a copy of the acquisition announcement from Publishers Lunch:

[Reese Ryan’s] TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, in which a woman’s new job means she must return to her Cleveland hometown, where she finds herself torn between the philanthropist whose secret past she may not be able to overcome, and the ex-bad boy from her hometown, who’s newly single and may be her only chance at saving her career, to Angela James of Carina Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2013 (world). September 17, 2012.

Then I saw this awesome tweet by Angela James:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://mobile.twitter.com/angelajames/statuses/248151606242197504″]

(RaleighRoxStar is my old Twitter handle.)

Yep, things are starting to feel pretty real. Feels good.

Photo courtesy of Cyberslayer. Some rights reserved.

The One I Want

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The past month has been one filled with activity and excitement. One submission of my manuscript led to another, and another. I still had a few queries out to agents for my manuscript. However, I spent the past month focused on submissions to digital-first publishers.

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I haven’t given up on finding an agent, and subsequently, a traditional publisher. And I know I have only submitted queries to a handful of agents thus far. But in light of the rapid changes in the publishing world and the encouraging success of many self-published authors (including a few in my local RWA chapter), I wanted to explore digital-first publishing. It’s a choice I’m glad I made.

Over the past month I submitted to five e-publishers: Entangled, Entranced, Carina Press, Crimson, and Red Sage. The results? Two rejections, one request to turn up the heat level and resubmit, and two offers. Not bad, methinks.

I thought long and hard about my two choices. I obsessively researched both options. I talked to amazingly generous authors about their digital publishing experience. All of which confirmed the choice my gut had already made. So I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve accepted a two-book deal from Carina Press–Harlequin’s digital-first imprint.

One of the most enticing prospects about working with Carina Press is the prospect of working with Executive Editor, Angela James, (who made “the call” herself). She’s passionate, knowledgeable, no nonsense, and high-energy. I took her amazing “Before You Hit Send” a year or so ago and it helped me improve my manuscript and become a better writer. I’m thrilled to have her team behind this project.

I’m nervous, but excited about my journey to publication. In fact, I don’t think I’ve really taken the time to breathe and savor this first step yet. Maybe I’ll do that next.

A Different Road

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Fork in the Road in the Forest - by creativelennaRomance University collaborated with an emerging digital publishing house, Entranced Publishing, for another pitchfest. So, I thought I’d try my pitch again.

I’m glad that I did.

I got some great feedback on my pitch, and my first request for the full manuscript. Totally doing my happy dance right now. (Envision Snoopy dancing as Schroeder plays the piano. Now imagine someone far less graceful doing it. That’d be me.)

I’ve still been submitting to agents, but this second experience with a digital publisher has opened my eyes to this latest, and quickly growing publishing medium, as a viable option.

While I prepare to submit my full manuscript to this e-publisher, I will be researching and submitting to a few others.

Sometimes our journey gets altered a bit, but a new and exciting road can still get us where we want to go. Have you ever been faced with the option of altering your journey to get where you wanted to go? Do you regret that decision or did it work out better than you imagined?

Photo courtesy of creativelenna. Some rights reserved.

Close, But No Cigar

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Journal of Universal Rejection Mug - Some rights Tilemahos EfthimiadisOne of the promises I made to myself this year is that I was going to go for it. Really put my work out there, because after all, isn’t that the point of this whole exercise?

So I started submitting to a few agents. I’ve gotten back several responses, which was exciting, even though they were polite, ‘Thanks, but no thank yous.’ Still, I felt good about making the effort. Taking a risk.  Getting closer to my goal.

I am still begging querying agents. After all, my list of rejections is a mere handful, compared to the robust drawers full collected by my writing heroes and heroines. However, recently there was an announcement on Romance University that opened up another option–digital-first publishers. Romance University was hosting a pitch-fest with Entangled Publishing.  So, I thought I’d give it a shot.

I’d never considered going with a digital-first publisher before. After all, in my dream there is a six-figure book deal, a spot on Oprah’s book club list, and a coast-to-coast book-signing tour.  Never mind that those have become exceedingly rare, and that the chance of an unknown newbie snagging any of that is certainly delusional the exception, not the rule. Still, a girl’s gotta have dreams.

Even if nothing came of it, I figured it would be a good experience to post a short summary and the first hundred or so words of my story. The Entangled Publishing editors provided great feedback. And though it was the ‘Hells yeah!’ I’d hoped for, I found it valuable just the same. More importantly, it opened my eyes to a new option.

So, I’ll keep plugging away, looking for ways to improve my story, and always, always work to improve my craft.

Have you experienced a disappointing rejection that taught you a valuable lesson? What was it?

Photo of Journal of Universal Rejection Mug courtesy of Tilemahos Efthimiadis. Some rights reserved.

Sharing the Journey

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Mountain Hiking. Courtesy of woowoowoo.

Hello, gorgeous (or handsome, as the case may be). Welcome to my internet home.

I’m aspiring author, Reese Ryan. I started this space to share my journey to publication as a novelist, and my musings on life in general. I started writing stories as a kid, but I abandoned the dream of being a published author of fiction for two decades before I began writing again, a little more than six years ago. Still, I wasn’t ready to commit to the process. That took a few more years. But over the past two years I’ve become more serious about my craft, more determined to make the dream of being a published author a reality.

Creative writing classes. Books on crafts. Writers workshops. All of these tools have helped me to progress as a writer. The thing that has helped me most is joining a critique group. One with smart, insightful members who want to see each other succeed, who aren’t afraid to be honest, but can do so without being unkind.

All of that has prepared me to the next step in my journey, submitting my work.

Where are you on your journey?

Photo courtesy of woowoowoo. Some rights reserved.