(no subject)
Having leapt out of bed at the crack of 8:30 to try to get the dog outside before she threw up (I almost succeeded), I am now fiercely sleepy. All that adreneline rush, or something. :)
Comment from my editor on the new look for PHOENIX is that while everybody in-house loved the look of the first two, numbers would indicate that readers didn't necessarily respond similarly, so they're hoping the new look will drive more sales.
Everybody pretty much agrees that what did Bombshell in was an uncertainty of how to market it. I can believe the Strongbox Chronicles didn't do as well as HQN hoped, as those books probably needed to be shelved as thrillers or spy novels, not series romance. There was no particular way out of the series romance box, though, and I can pretty easily grasp the idea that the Strongbox Chronicles aren't the books a romance reader is looking for. I thought the Bombshell line would be a great fit for me, with its emphasis on action-adventure heroines and romantic subplots, and possibly if it'd been a single-title line (like Luna, where only one or two books come out a month and they're on the shelves for much longer, as opposed to series, which come out 4 a month and are on the shelves *for* a month), it would've been. In that case, it could've been marketed to an audience that was looking for action-adventure stories, which ultimately isn't what happened. That's okay: I had a lot of fun writing those books, and maybe at some point I'll be able to go back to the series. I have no bitterness or angst. :)
For the record, by no means do I hate this cover or anything. It's a perfectly fine cover and it does have the elements I asked for, and I certainly hope it does its job. It was just a bit of a shock to be expecting something like the first two and to get something so different!
'k, I gotta go see a man about a book now, or something like that. Turning the desktop *off*and getting to work.
Comment from my editor on the new look for PHOENIX is that while everybody in-house loved the look of the first two, numbers would indicate that readers didn't necessarily respond similarly, so they're hoping the new look will drive more sales.
Everybody pretty much agrees that what did Bombshell in was an uncertainty of how to market it. I can believe the Strongbox Chronicles didn't do as well as HQN hoped, as those books probably needed to be shelved as thrillers or spy novels, not series romance. There was no particular way out of the series romance box, though, and I can pretty easily grasp the idea that the Strongbox Chronicles aren't the books a romance reader is looking for. I thought the Bombshell line would be a great fit for me, with its emphasis on action-adventure heroines and romantic subplots, and possibly if it'd been a single-title line (like Luna, where only one or two books come out a month and they're on the shelves for much longer, as opposed to series, which come out 4 a month and are on the shelves *for* a month), it would've been. In that case, it could've been marketed to an audience that was looking for action-adventure stories, which ultimately isn't what happened. That's okay: I had a lot of fun writing those books, and maybe at some point I'll be able to go back to the series. I have no bitterness or angst. :)
For the record, by no means do I hate this cover or anything. It's a perfectly fine cover and it does have the elements I asked for, and I certainly hope it does its job. It was just a bit of a shock to be expecting something like the first two and to get something so different!
'k, I gotta go see a man about a book now, or something like that. Turning the desktop *off*and getting to work.