WiP Wednesday: It’s All About Style

Writing is such a long process it is really easy to forget the details. I have read a novel in a series where a family’s last name changed from one book to the next. I have edited a manuscript where the spelling of the main character’s hometown was altered throughout. I have had my hands on an essay that could not decide whether to have periods between the letters of an acronym or not.

It was clear a style sheet had not been made.

Spilling The Tea: Harlequin & Me

As some of you may know, I have been dreaming of working at Harlequin since I was a teenager. My grandmother subscribed to the books (and still does!), then would pass them on to me. Nothing else could keep up with my need to read! I adored having a love of Harlequin novels to connect over as it was really the only thing we have in common.

For me, the company had always been so reliable. I could pick up any book in whichever line and they would have the same aesthetic –good writing, good editing, good ending. It got to the point where I was choosing my books based on who published the stories rather than who wrote them. Serious branding skills right there.

Simple Smile Saturday: Radiance

Thanks to Jen Armentrout and hannahelt who inspired this meme. They claimed I get excited over the simplest things, so I decided to post something “simple” that I get excited over just to prove that the smallest things really do make you smile :0)

Today’s smile is…

Simple Smile Saturday: Bittersweet

Thanks to Jen Armentrout and hannahelt who inspired this meme. They claimed I get excited over the simplest things, so I decided to post something “simple” that I get excited over just to prove that the smallest things really do make you smile :0)

Today’s smile is…

Kiddie Query

It takes a lot of courage to say your manuscript is finally finished and ready to be sent to agents and publishing companies. Some of the profferings are good and some are terrible. And some are the cutest thing ever…

This ten-year-old sent in the first of thirteen chapters of their novel with a letter.

First Week as an Intern

Here are some things that I have learned from my first week as an intern. I know that I am supposed to be learning more about how a publishing company works, particularly from a publicity perspective, but… you’ll see.

Internship Update

As most of you already know, I am in the Book and Magazine Publishing program in college. I received my Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Creative Writing Certificate prior to this, but I wanted just one last year to “specialize”.

In order to graduate from my current program I need a minimum of six weeks at an internship. I had contacted Harlequin over a year ago, the moment I was accepted into the program, inquiring to the company about possibly working there in an editorial capacity.

How to Publicize a Book

I recently had to do an assignment for school where I was to create a publicity campaign for a Canadian book. My group’s “publishing company” chose to “sign” Chuck Huges of Chuck’s Day Off fame to make a cookbook (okay, so the photo is actually the menu from his Montreal restaurant, I’m not the cover designer on my team).  I also had to figure out the sales distribution targets, but that part wasn’t nearly as much fun.

The thing is, it is a lot harder than you think trying to figure out the best ways to promote a book on a very minimal budget. Some of you may have heard me say before that the only funds for publicity is $1 per book in your print run, so, for example, 15 000 books printed equals $15 000 towards marketing and publicity.