Ok, so I'll forgive you if you want to roll your eyes and start foaming at the mouth now. But ... it is an interesting discussion topic!
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon an article which unearthed a phenomenom called serial novellism. You what? Yup there is such a thing called serial novellism. Apparently there was even a South African novellist who suffered from this malaise! Her name - Mary Faulker. At least that's one of the six pen names which you might recognise her by. She wrote a total of 904 romance novels which equates to about 20 a year while she was writing! Good grief! Now imagine how terrible I feel that I can't seem to be able to put together one in a year!
What's more ... she's not the only one. Alexander McCall Smith has the same problem! He can't stop churning them out. Series books, single titles, screen plays - the more the merrier it seems.
To read the full article ... click here.
The moral of the story I guess is - if you're committed to writing that book you will. But if you let the excuses get in the way, you won't! Oh dear, let me just quietly slink off into a corner and whip out my laptop. Gotta go write ...
Wow, 20 books a year? I can do it, yes I can! LOL, no, actually, I can't. I read an article many moons ago that at one stage some Presents authors were writing and turning in 2 books a month ~ I'm quite possibly wrong, but I think this was in the 70's...
ReplyDeleteMe? I had one very productive year, wrote 3 category romance and a 500 page historical (that would be Betrayed, thankfully trimmed down heftily since then) - wish I could have bottled my mojo that year, I could do with a sip or two now.
As a reader, I get very upset when my fav authors don't produce at least one book a year and I'd be much happy if they bumped their schedule up to 2 a year:)
This particular blog post really whittles my excuses down to size, lol. There is ABSOLUTELY no excuse for finishing one book a year. I have to get into a schedule and keep to it. Thanks for the nudge!
ReplyDeleteHi Claire. I know what you mean about wishing your favourite author would hurry up and finish that next book! LOL! You've done very well though so I don't think you need to worry too much!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenna. Let me know whether the nudge helped! Good luck with the writing!
Hi I'm new to this and im sorry for relaly only invading your blogs space with my own search.
ReplyDeletei was looking up SA romance publishers and came accross this link. you seem to the the person that would know what to do.
i'm busy writing a romance in my spare time: according to the Kwela/Sapphire publisher it really should be a complete book, but i'm well over 50 000 words and have thousands more to go. had intended for this to be a mills and boon type book but its turning into something else.
anyway, i'm rambling.what i really want to know is how do i go about looking for a publisher and finding out the rules and stuff? i know absolutely nothing about publishing and writing.
is there a link i can follow? anyone's help would be much appreciated
Many thanks
Navs
NAVS: well done on starting to write your story! It's always difficult to get that first page written. Perhaps finish your story before you start looking for publishers. Most publishers prefer a book to be completed before submission - especially for first time novelists. Others prefer you to submit to literary agents - you'd need to identify one who you think will relate best to your story.
ReplyDeleteYou can also "google" publishers like Kensington, Avon, Harlequin, browse their websites and see what their submission requirements. You'll find some interesting romance publisher links on the SA Romance Writers webpage (see the link in the top left hand corner of this blog).
I hope this is enough to get you started! Carry on writing - it's like a thrilling rollercoast ride! :)
I am definitely NOT a serial novelist. More like a serial procrastinator!
ReplyDelete