Entries from January 2008 ↓

Bestselling author Anita Bunkley has written nine fiction books, two romance novels, three novellas, and one work of nonfiction. She was rejected 32 times before finding her first publisher and has gone on to write for Signet, HarperCollins, Kimani, Dafina and others. Bunkley also mentors aspiring authors.

Connie Briscoe: I read somewhere that you faced 32 rejections before your first novel was published. How did you find the strength to keep on trying?

Anita Bunkley: I loved my story! If you love what you write, the chances are good that others will love it, too. I believed in my material, so I just kept pushing ahead.

CB: How do you come up with your characters?

Anita Bunkley: I try to visualize the people who will be walking across the pages, and I work hard to make them so interesting that readers will believe they are real. I also tear pages out of magazines when I see an interesting face and use these as inspiration.

CB: That’s a great tip! Do you outline? If so, can you tell us how you go about it?

Anita Bunkley: Yes. I outline. I spend a good deal of time setting the parameters of the story. I nail down the central conflict, the main characters, the climax and the resolution. It always changes as I write the novel, but it serves as a road map to keep me from going too far away from the heart of my story–it is soooo easy to wander!

CB: I can’t help but laugh because I know how true that is. Do you write the first page first or last?

Anita Bunkley: I start at the beginning and write to the end. If a scene pops into my mind that I plan to use later, I might stop and write it but not often.

CB: How many times do you rewrite your novels?

Anita Bunkley: An outline and two drafts before my agent gets it. Then another pass after we’ve talked about it and then off to my editor. The editor may send it back for revisions then there is copyediting. So the novel gets four to five edits before it is printed.

CB: Do you feel pressure to write more frequent or more intense sex scenes in your novels these days?

Anita Bunkley: It is necessary to keep up with the market and the demands of the readers. Since I began writing seventeen years ago things have changed a lot. Sex in mainstream women’s fiction and romance has evolved, becoming more open and explicit. I strive to write sex scenes that are realistic expressions of the storyline and not sex for the sake of sex.

CB: Good points. How much do you draw from your real life for your novels?

Anita Bunkley: Very little. I do travel a lot and incorporate locations I have visited.

CB: Tell us something personal about yourself that most of your readers don’t know.

Anita Bunkley: I love to invent things and hold a US Patent and three Trademarks. My Read-EZ!Ô Reading pillow–seen on my website– www.anitabunkley.com–has become a very poplar item among serious readers.

(You can join Anita Bunkley for a live chat on February 19, 2008, at 8:00 CST. Register today at www.niapresentsanita.com/register.html)

And I was there, along with a gazillion others. They represented a broad spectrum of America–young and old, black, white, Asian and Hispanic, men, women and children.

I noticed one woman–black and well dressed, who must have been at least 80 years old. She got out of a taxicab in front of Bender Arena, the sports complex at American University in Washington, DC, where Ted and Caroline Kennedy had come to endorse Barack Obama. The woman could barely walk and had to be helped out of the cab. She hobbled up to me and asked, “Is this Bender?” I thought, this woman probably figured she’d never live to see to this, to see Ted and Caroline Kennedy come out to endorse a black man for president of the United States. And there was no way she was going to miss it.

A lot of people seem to feel passionate about Obama, for one reason or another, like the woman below who happily let me and others snap her picture, a picture that says a thousand words.

I had heard that Ted and Caroline Kennedy were going to endorse Barack Obama at American University, so I thought, why not attend this historical event? I remembered my father going to see Dr. King when he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the memorial in Washington, DC. I was a child at the time so my father didn’t take me and my sister. He always said he regretted it but he didn’t know how historic an occasion it would turn out to be. I now live less than an hour away from American University, I attended graduate school there, and I thought, I’m not going to let this chance to see the man who could be our first black president get away.

So I nudged my husband away from his computer, and we ended up waiting for hours in the freezing cold and rain…OK, so the weather was actually rather nice, but we did wait for a few hours. We knew to expect a big crowd. I mean this was DC with Obama AND Kennedy. We didn’t know that half the people who showed up wouldn’t even get into the sports arena, and we were among the unfortunate many.

BUT…this crowd–patient, pumped up and determined, wasn’t going to let a little thing like a solid brick building and dozens of security guards and secret service agents deter us. We weren’t going anywhere until we saw our guy. Luckily, American University officials and security people understood, and they set up tables to search and scan us and then moved us to a sectioned-off outdoor area where we waited for Obama. After the event inside the arena was over, he and Kennedy graciously came over and addressed a very fired up crowd before hopping into their vehicles and going to the next event.

What a morning! I really hope that elderly woman was able to hold out and see it all.

In an earlier post I suggested that fiction writers find a book agent before submitting to publishers. Naturally someone asked the logical question: OK, so how do I find a book agent? I’ll try to answer that here. Of course there are many ways to go about this, and I’m not saying that this is the only way or even the best way for everyone. But it is my way.

Here’s how I did it and I see no reason why it can’t work today. It goes without saying–but I’m going to say it anyway–make sure your manuscript is polished to perfection! This is the most important bit of information in this whole article. No method in the world is going to get you a book agent if you don’t have a great book.

1) Write at least the first 50 pages of your novel and a detailed synopsis of the rest of it. If this is a longer novel–say 400 manuscript pages or more–you might want to write up to 100 pages. Rewrite and polish it. I can’t say this enough. I spent almost as much time on the first several chapters of my first novel as I did on the rest of it. I knew that as an unknown, my work had to be fierce to attract an agent.

2) Write a query letter, which should be only one to two pages long, briefly summarizing your novel and the main characters. A lot of books out there will tell you how to write a good query letter. You might want to head to the library or bookstore to check out one or two of them, as this letter is likely the first thing the agent will read. If you don’t impress her or him with the query letter, the rest will never be looked at. If you can’t write a good query letter, why should an agent expect you to be able to write a whole novel?

3) While you’re at the bookstore look for a book that lists literary or book agents and their contact information. The book should also mention the kinds of books the agents will consider. Most book agents specialize in a few or maybe several genres, and it would be a waste of time to send a manuscript for a mystery novel to an agent who will consider only romance novels. And you certainly don’t want to send an idea for a novel to an agent who accepts only nonfiction.

4) Pick three to five agents and send the query letter, sample chapters and synopsis, neatly packaged, out to them. It’s OK to submit to more than one agent at a time as long as you say in your letter that this is a multiple submission and that you’ve sent the same package to a few other agents.

5) Now you wait. Sit back, relax. Go shopping, spend time with your family. Read a good book! I began to hear back from agents within about a week of mailing my packages. It may take longer now. With computers on every desktop (and laptop), far more manuscripts are floating around out there. I would suggest that if you haven’t heard back within about a month that you submit to four or five more agents.

If you’ve followed the above steps two or three times and still haven’t heard anything, you might want to review and rework your submission package. Is the query letter brief, interesting and well written? Does it hook the reader in the first paragraph? Does the synopsis leave the reader wanting more? Do the chapters flow smoothly and are they error proof?

How long should you keep submitting? Only you can answer that. I found my agent with my first submissions. Later this week, we’ll hear from author Anita Bunkley, who got dozens of rejections before she finally found a publisher.

Photo credit: borisyankov/iStockphoto

Connie Briscoe Presents–

Anita Bunkley, author of nine fiction books, two romance novels, three novellas, and one work of nonfiction, is the perfect example of why you should never give up if you really want something. Faced with 32 rejections –yep, you read right–before landing her first publisher, Anita went on to write for Signet, HarperCollins, Kimani, Dafina and others. This week she talks about how she kept going during those dark days and what it’s like now that the light shines so sweetly for her.

Writing Tips

I’ll talk about how to find a literary agent–or at least how I did it.

The African-American Heritage Bookstore in West Palm Beach, Florida, will close its doors permanently at the end of the month, according to Rhonda Swan at the Palm Beach Post.

Swan also mentions the closing of Karibu Books and a Palm Beach Borders. Could it be that all the African-American bookstore closings are just the beginning? When the Kindle and Sony Reader become cheaper and easier to use–will it be bye-bye mortar and brick bookstores?

Your local Borders and Barnes and Nobles could go the way of the record store unless they hit on some new magic formula. I certainly hope not; still I wouldn’t put my money on them being as plentiful as they are currently ten years from now. You can’t stop technology any more than you can stop progress.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has given striking writers permission to work for the 39th annual NAACP Image Awards ceremony. This means that the show can go on without fear of being picketed by writers. And the ceremony won’t suffer the same fate as the Golden Globes award ceremony, which was reduced from the usual big gala to a brief press conference. Bet those writers are lined up for the NAACP gig.

The 39th NAACP Image Awards ceremony will air live on February 14 on FOX. The awards honor diversity in the arts in television, film and literature.

I was once nominated for an Image Award for my historical novel, A Long Way From Home, and it is a huge honor, with a glitzy affair in Los Angeles where all the stars come out. If memory serves me right, at that time there was only one award for literature, and Nikki Giovanni beat out me and a handful of other authors. Still I had fun, and I can’t complain about losing to Nikki. She’s awesome.

I’m pleased to see that the number of nominees for literature has mushroomed to dozens in several categories, from fiction and autobiography to poetry and books for the young ones. That’s a reflection of how many more books are being written by African Americans.

Here’s the list of the NAACP Image Awards nominees in the literary categories–

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction

• Blonde Faith - Walter Mosley (Little, Brown & Company)
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (Penguin/Riverhead)
• Cion: A Novel - Zakes Mda (Picador)
• Knots - Nuruddin Farah (Penguin/Riverhead)
• New England White: A Novel - Stephen L. Carter (Alfred A. Knopf/RH)

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction

• An Unbroken Agony - Randall Robinson (Basic Civitas Books/Perseus)
• Brother, I’m Dying - Edwidge Danticat (Alfred A. Knopf/RH)
• Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop - Michael Eric Dyson (Basic Civitas Books/Perseus)
• Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond - Don Cheadle, John Prendergast (Hyperion)
• Race and Racism in the Chinas: Chinese Racial Attitudes Toward Africans and African-Americans - M. Dujon Johnson (Authorhouse)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2008
CONTACT:
Richelle Zizian
Sr. Publicist
800-654-5126 x119
rzizian@hayhouse.com

TAVIS SMILEY, PUBLISHER OF SMILEYBOOKS, INVITES SUBMISSIONS FOR INSPIRING VOLUME OF “UNCONDITIONAL LOVE STORIES”

“Love Wins,” Edited By Smiley, to be Released in Fall 2008
New York, NY (BlackNews.com) - SmileyBooks, the publishing company founded by Tavis Smiley, has launched a national campaign to generate submissions for his next book Love Wins: True Stories of Transformation and Triumph. Smiley is the New York Times best-selling author of What I Know for Sure and The Covenant. “I believe, just as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did, that love is the most powerful and transformative force in the world; the only thing capable of turning an enemy into a friend,” Smiley asserts.

Smiley envisions Love Wins as a collection of inspiring real life stories that give voice to the transforming power of unconditional love. “Too often 21st century living has a way of disconnecting us from that divine power within,” says Smiley. “Love Wins is an expression of faith that we can reconnect with love’s power - to positively transform each other and the world we live in.” Love Wins invites people to reexamine their lives through the lens of love and share the one story that most compellingly reveals how giving or receiving love changed their life.

During Tavis’ travels across the country over the years, he has been captivated by the stories of everyday people whose lives have been affected by the quiet, simple beauty of love in all of its remarkable facets. The true stories featured in Love Wins will range from 500 to 1,200 words in length. Contributors’ bios will be included along with their selection and each author will receive a complimentary autographed first edition copy of Love Wins. In addition to the entries included in the book, SmileyBooks will feature additional selections on www.tavistalks.com. Details on the Love Wins submissions guidelines can be found by clicking on the Love Wins banner at the bottom of the page at www.tavistalks.com/media/smileybooks

In the fall of 2008 when the book is scheduled for publication, Tavis Smiley will undertake a Love Wins “unconditional love” tour, inviting regional contributors to join him at events around the country. Love Wins is Tavis’ gift to those who understand and appreciate the power of unconditional love. “We believe that this book can generate a lot of healing conversation,” says SmileyBooks president, Cheryl Woodruff, “because when we dare to talk about the power of love, Love Wins.“

Tavis Smiley is one of the most familiar faces and voices in America. He can be seen on his PBS television program, Tavis Smiley, and heard on his PRI radio show, The Tavis Smiley Show.

Over the next few weeks, Karibu Books will close all five of its Washington, DC, metro area stores after 15 years of service.

This is very sad news for me. I first met Simba Sana, founder of Karibu Books, when his only location was a kiosk at a mall in Maryland and I watched with pride as he expanded to multiple locations throughout the area. I had some of my biggest and most enthusiastic crowds at the various Karibu branches. Sana and his staff were the best, and he and I often reminisced about how we started and grew together in this business.

Other African-American owned bookstores have closed over the past several years. This one truly feels like the passing of an era.

You can read Sana’s note to the public about the closing as well as the discounts on his inventory on the website.

Francis Ray has written 20 novels and contributed to a dozen anthologies. And she’s still going strong with another novel, Not Even If You Begged, breaking loose this week .

Connie Briscoe: When was your first novel published?

Francis Ray: My first novel published was Fallen Angel in 1992. The book was reissued as Someone to Love Me by St. Martin’s Press in December 2003.

CB: How many novels have you written and why do you think you’re so prolific?

Francis Ray: I have written 20 novels and contributed to 12 anthologies. Two more novels are scheduled. I started out writing romance novels. Writing more than one book a year was expected of the author in that genre so it became a goal that I have always set for myself. Even before a book is finished I’m thinking about the next novel.

CB: Why do you think romance and relationship novels are so popular?

Francis Ray: I think they’re popular because they reaffirm our hopes, desires and dreams that true love is possible. We want that one special person in our life who will be committed to love, honor and cherish us always.

CB: How much do you draw from your real life for your novels?

Francis Ray: My mainstream novels all have been based on real life situations. In The Turning Point (Trouble Don’t Last Always) it was my own brush with blindness and an article I read about Dr. Ben Carson almost being carjacked. Like the First Time came from the downturn in the economy with lay-offs and my daughter’s inability to get a job in her field. A tense situation at work developed into I Know Who Holds Tomorrow. My latest novel, Not Even If You Begged, is a result of the increased number of widows in my neighborhood.

CB: How many times do you rewrite your novels?

Francis Ray: I rewrite as I go. Before I start to write, I reread the last 4-5 pages. I correct scene, sequel, plot errors, get back into the characters. Although the goal is 5-7 pages on weeknights because I work, I might only write a couple of pages because I’m correcting pages already written. When I type “The End” I’m finished.

CB: Going back to reread the pages from the previous writing session sounds familiar. I do something similar.

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Tomorrow (1/23) we begin an exciting new feature here on Page One–guest bloggers. About once a week a guest will be featured in a question and answer interview or an article. Guests will include authors, editors, publicists, agents–anyone who deals with books. The focus will be on how authors write and promote their work.

Tomorrow: Francis Ray, one of the most prolific romance authors around, has written 20 novels and contributed to a dozen anthologies. And she’s still going strong, with another novel–Not Even If You Begged–due out this week. In this interview with me, Ray tells us how she does it and how events in her life have influenced her writing.