I Delivered Happy News This Weekend

I sent out half a dozen acceptance letters last night, for both Mundania and Awe-Struck. I'm going to try to get through most of the rejections later today. But since I always bitch about what makes us reject a book, I thought I'd list some of the reasons *why* we ended up accepting these ones out of hundreds. I'm not naming names or anything, since we're still signing contracts, but here is what these books and authors have in common... (This may be lengthy, so I'm putting it behind a cut.)

They wrote really, really fabulous books.

Well, DUH, Skyla...right? They'd have to be good if all the readers gave them thumbs up. So what made their books so great?

1. Good characters. Flawed, believable, three dimensional. What particularly draws ME to a book (for those here who care about my opinion) is if the female characters are more than stereotypes. We get a lot of books (esp. 'cause we take both fantasy and romance) where the chicks are either a virgin, whore/seductress, evil stepmother, damsel in distress, caregiver...women can be all of those things, but they're *so* much more.

I can pinpoint exactly when, as a child, I identified as a feminist (although I didn't have a word for it yet): I was about six or seven playing Nintendo, and in every video game, I always played a boy saving a girl. I thought it was stupid. *I* wanted to do the saving. *I* wanted the girl to be more than a prize at the end of the story.

This isn't to say that I want to contract Girl! Power! books (those would be just as fucking stupid and shallow), nor does it mean books MUST be focused on female protagonists. But it's important to me, when I'm looking at a book, to see women portrayed as more than stereotypes. I want characters I can identify with. A lot of the time, we see books that are pretty decent until we get to the female characters, and I start to wonder if the author has ever actually MET a woman...

I'm also not fussy about likable, heroic characters. Probably 'cause I'm a rotten bitch. Flaws actually make your character stronger. Everyone has a dark side, everyone makes bad decisions that end up hurting people, and not everyone is the "good guy" one hundred percent of the time.

2. Believable dialogue. I'm a nut for dialogue. If a book goes on for ten pages without anyone talking, I reject it. Dialogue should be crisp and show things about the characters, and not stilted and formal. If you can make me laugh, that's a bonus.

Dialogue is important to me because I like TV and movies. I don't have a lot of patience for pages of flowery prose--I want people to get on with it. And preferably argue.

These were books where the dialogue and voices engaged me.

3. A good story. Half the time, my life really fucking sucks. I'm stressed, tired, overworked, deal with stupid people all the time, have a severe mood disorder plus insomnia, and what I'd really rather be doing is having babies and raising them to take over the world for me. So I want a book that is going to distract me from my life which can occasionally be pretty sucktastic, make me APPRECIATE my sucktastic life by showing me characters going through even worse shit than me, and give me some catharsis at the end when they (hopefully) triumph over at least some of their demons (which may or may not be metaphorical).

I may be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure MOST readers want the same thing.

Stories need conflict, high stakes, and twists and turns. Bonus points from me if you kill a main character in some heartbreaking way (I'm a Whedonite, after all).

4. They were pretty error free. Nothing is perfect. God knows I'm the queen of typos, and I have a staff of really fantastic editors who work their tails off. But these authors showed a good understanding of grammar, spelling, style, and structure in their books. They took care to make their manuscripts as good as they possibly could.

5. The books will have appeal to readers. I've seen some good books I don't think would sell, and others that wouldn't sell to OUR readers (you don't go to Mundania for a historical western, for example). This matters. We have certain needs in our catalogue--I'm looking for paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and I'd really like more horror*. We have a number of science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries throughout the catalogue (though I'd like some more of the latter) for the next two years.

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And now for the next point...what did these authors have in common?

They didn't seem like crazy people.

I know everyone always points out that mental instability and writing go hand in hand, but there's a difference between hearing imaginary people talking in your brain, and being a complete nutbar to deal with.

I want professional authors who are respectful and show some patience. Communication is important to me, and I try to be responsive, but don't have time to answer half a dozen emails a week from the same author when they're asking things I've already answered. It's common sense. If I can weed out problem children before they're signed, it makes my life easier. No one wants a diva (if Louise Cooper and Anne Logston can be total sweethearts, I don't see why it's so hard for newbies).

These were authors who didn't lecture me about the length of time their books were under consideration, and who were pleasant and prompt in their communication with me.

I realize it seems like a few correspondences and a cover letter don't seem like a decent gauge of what a person is like to deal with, but I have a pretty good instinct for crazy people. It's probably my natural distrust of humanity, and constant paranoia.

Contracting a book means you're going to have a working relationship with the author for a presumably long time--a few years, at least. Who this person is and what he or she will be like to work with is extremely important. Equal, I'd say, to whether or not the book is any good in the first place.

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Something only a couple of these authors had were prior publication credits. One in particular has a number of credentials. For others, these will be their first published pieces. Previous experience really doesn't matter all that much.

You'll notice I haven't spoken about whether or not these authors have promotional plans. There's a lot of talk all over the place, especially with epublishing/small press about marketing and authors promoting themselves...and that's all well and good. I like to hear that writers want to actively promote their work by having a website, blogging, doing contests, attending signings and conventions... But those are things we can work out together over time. If you're willing to promote yourself (as opposed to drop off the face of the planet when the book is released and refuse to even do an online interview at a blog, which HAS happened), we'll figure it out. There isn't (and should never be) any pressure on the author to have a ZOMG BRILLIANT Marketing Plan. I got started by signing a contract at 21 for River. I had no plan. I had no training in marketing. If my submission had been riding on that, it never would have been accepted. So I certainly don't expect everyone to have the promotions angle figured out immediately...just a willingness to try and learn.

So my point here is that some authors have sent me several pages of marketing plans along with their submission, and it didn't help get them any closer to acceptance. Those are the kinds of things you could send us AFTER acceptance. In the meantime, it bogs down the cover letter. This is another subject I'd like to blog (or bitch) about in more detail at some point.

So there you have it. Those are basically what compelled us to take these couple of books.

* If you send me horror, please make it good. It's my favourite genre; horror films are my comfort food. It has to be more than a copy of a slasher movie. I particularly like supernatural horror. If you can scare me, bonus points because NOTHING ever scares me.

ETA: Changed my mind about the rejections today. No sense ruining mother's day...right? That's why I avoided this whole thing at Easter, too. "Hey, it's the anniversary of your god's son's murder...AND I'm not taking your novel! Have fun!" Yeah, that doesn't work. I'll wait 'til Monday.