A Website I'll actually Update

Hello Fellow Writers!

I've redone my ShoshannaEvers.com site because the old one, while flashy and fun, was slow and impossible for me to easily maintain. The new one is easy peasy! And I think it's more user friendly too. I *know* it's more Shoshanna friendly!

While I wait to hear back from Jilly (my editor at Ellora's Cave) about Hollywood Spank, I've been hard at work on another novella tentatively titled Chastity Belt. And um, yes, the belt does come off ;) It is an erotic romance after all!

I got to pick my Quickie cover for Ginger Snap, the erotic Christmas story I sold to Ellora's Cave. For the Quickies you get to choose from about 40ish standard covers that they just add your title and name to. Not as much fun as having a custom cover designed for you, but it's *always* nice to see your name on the cover of a book, so I'm still excited :)

Yesterday I realized I wasted hours - yup, hours - online, with very little to show for it. So starting today I am on a self-imposed internet restriction. I will go online once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once before bed, for an hour max each time. That should be plenty of time to check and answer email, read blogs, write this blog, maintain my new website, research random stuff for fun, and visit my various (and numerous!) Yahoo groups and forums. Oh, and check Facebook and Twitter!

Three hours total a day should be more than enough time, but I'm already panicking about it. Not to worry. It'll be fine. Right?

And as an added side benefit, I'll have more time to write.
Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!

When Do You Need a Literary Agent?

Hello Fellow Writers!

I've been a busy writer bee lately. I signed the contract with Ellora's Cave for a Christmas themed Quickie titled Ginger Snap, and I resubmitted Hollywood Spank to my editor. Fingers crossed that she buys it!

I also went back to my Taste of Candy erotic romance and decided it could work as a Quickie as well (a Quickie is what Ellora's Cave calls 10k-15k fast-paced erotic romances) so I sent that off to one of my beta-readers to see what she thinks before I submit it to my editor. I want to wait until I get a yay or nay on Hollywood Spank before I submit Taste of Candy, too.

Now I need to get to work on the next project. I have my Chastity Belt book to work on - that went by the wayside when I was doing Punishing the Art Thief edits. So I want to reconnect with that piece.

At what point, I'm wondering, do I need a literary agent? I imagine that now that I've got two books published with Ellora's Cave it might be easier to get my foot in the door, but I'm also wondering if it's a bit premature for me to start handing over 15% (or more) of my royalties.

But then I think - there's probably so much that could be done, that I'm not doing because I don't know any better! An agent could help with that. I love Ellora's Cave (whenever I want to read something hot they are the first place I hit up) but I know that some EC authors write for other publishers as well. I'm not quite sure how that works since EC options your next book when you sign their contract. So that's another thing I suppose an agent could help me with - figuring out all the fine print.

Having a literary agent is one way to avoid the slush pile. That picture above is of an untouched pile of slush in the corner of a publisher's office. An agent gets you past that and onto an editor's desk.

From Agent Query about why we need agents:

Literary agents have connections you don’t. Good literary agents are one-degree-of-separation away from the editors who decide “to buy or not to buy.” Good literary agents are tuned into the literary trends. They know which publishing imprints publish which kinds of books. They hobnob with those editors over lunch. They’re like mini-gods running the literary universe. For better or for worse, they serve as the first gatekeepers in the screening process. Okay, it’s true. The literary agent “hierarchy” adds to the bottleneck. Too many writers competing for the attention of a small pool of movers and shakers. But write a fabulous timely book, and you’ll shoot right through.

Do you have a literary agent? Do you want one?

This week I'll be writing a synopsis for Hollywood Spank - I'll need it if my editor decides to buy it, because all the contracts have a cover page with the synopsis of the book on it. So I'll write the synopsis in the hopes that I'll be needing it :) I'm also going to get back into Chastity Belt (um, not into an actual chastity belt, just into the manuscript!).

And... I may just start doing some research on which literary agents are looking for erotica.
Wish me luck and good luck to you too!

Release Date: Sept 16th 2010!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I'm happy to announce that I've finished my edits on Punishing the Art Thief for Ellora's Cave and I now have an official release date: September 16th, 2010! Whoo hoo!

I've also created a Twitter account for myself. I know, the last thing I need is *another* social networking site to constantly check, but hey, that's the age we live in. So follow me on Twitter @ShoshannaEvers !

For anyone interested in reading the excerpt from Punishing the Art Thief, click here, and please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Now that I've made my initial revisions for Ginger Snap, my erotic Christmas "Quickie" for EC, I'm now free to make another round of revisions on Hollywood Spank and incorporate the notes my two beta-readers gave me. When I finish those notes I plan on resubmitting it to my editor at EC.

Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers (I know, I know.)

A Second Book Contract from Ellora's Cave!

Hello Fellow Writers,

Oh boy, I've got big news. I'm so excited I just had to share. Remember how I wrote a kinky Christmas story, hoping to be part of the Ellora's Cave "Merry Kinkmas" anthology they are coming out with this Christmas? Well, I just got word from my editor that my story "Ginger-Figged for Christmas" (tentative title) is not really fetishy or kinky enough for "Merry Kinkmas". Apparently ginger-figging is too common to be considered kinky! LOL

Bummer, right? Nope! She wants me to add a few things and said if I'm willing to do that then she'd like to offer me a contract on it as a stand-alone book.

And as I'm sure you can imagine, I'm willing! My editor has a real knack for knowing how to make a story shine, so her suggestions will come in handy when I start revising (and lengthening) my Christmas story.

The funny thing is, I was planning on spending this week reworking my WIP Hollywood Spank to include the revisions my beta-readers suggested, but now I'm putting Hollywood Spank aside to work on the Christmas story.

I am over-the-moon happy to have sold my second book. I'm kind of in shock that it actually happened :) Wish me luck revising tomorrow, and good luck to you too!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers