Lesson 3: Now what do we do?
Let’s pretend you’ve used your index card as a bookmark and as you read a couple of books you answered all the questions for those books.
Now what? You analyze. You compare data. But…here’s the big stickler…you are actually looking for two distinct categories of things.
First, you need to figure out the requirements for your line or publisher…THE GENERAL THINGS WHICH MUST BE IN YOUR BOOK OR RULES YOUR BOOK MUST FOLLOW before you can get into specifics.
These things are bare bones and generic. If you write for a category publisher you can actually pull a good many of these generics out of the guidelines posted on eHarlequin. If you want to write for a single title publisher, you’ve got to figure this out for yourself.
Once you have the generics, then you need to figure out specifics.
Beyond the generic, general, barebones requirements of the line there are things I call marketing musts, reader perferences, editor likes and dislikes and trends.
Ironically, you actually get both the generic things and the specific things required by a line or publisher by looking for lowest common denominators.
Let’s start with the absolute musts, the bottom line, bare bones requirements for your publisher or line. The generics.
Brian Tracy calls these bottom line requirements critical success factors. He says everything has minimum requirements. No matter what job you are doing there will be a minimum of three requirements, but no more than seven, that’s how generic these steps are. They are the absolute bare bones minimum. No fluff no frills.
For instance…
In a “romance novel” (a book that encompasses all genre and subgenre from single title romantic suspense to traditional and/or historical) the critical success factors are as follows:
Romance Novels:
1.Heterosexual Couple
2.Conflict
3.Happy Ending
Could you build a story from that? Heck, yeah. It wouldn’t specifically fit a line or publisher, but from those critical success factors, it’s easy to see the bare-bones guidelines for a “romance novel.”
Let’s do Silhouette Romance (which no longer exists, by the way. This workshop was written a few years ago).
1.Heterosexual Couple
2.Conflict
3.Traditional Hook
4.Happy Ending
5.Word Count 50,000 to 55,000 words
Again, very generic. But the insertion of Traditional Hook makes it possible for you to target a specific audience. The addition of a word count assures you keep your book the appropriate length. Miss any one of those five things and you don’t have a Sil Romance. If it’s 80,000 it’s not a Sil Romance. If it doesn’t end happily, it’s not a Sil Romance. If there’s no conflict between the hero and heroine…it’s not a Silhouette Romance.
Make sense?
How about Harlequin Intrigue…
1.Heterosexual Couple
2.Conflict
3.Suspense/Mystery Plot
4.Exciting Climax
5.Happy Ending
6.Word Count
Ah, three differences…The books aren’t simply longer than Sil Romances, they also contain a Suspense/Mystery plot and exciting climax.
Knowing your target publisher or line’s critical success factors makes it easy to see the real bottom line of “musts” for your line. But knowing your line or publisher’s critical success factors doesn’t simply assure that you “get everything in that you need.” Seeing the critical success factors also makes it possible to determine whether or not your book fits. And if your book doesn’t “fit” it’s easy to see what you would have to do to make your book fit.
Let’s try Blaze
1.Heterosexual Couple
2.Sexy Premise
3.Conflict
4.Happy Ending
5.Word Count
Blazes don’t require a suspense plot. They don’t require a hook. But they DO REQUIRE a sexy premise.
The sexy premise sets Blaze apart. In fact, without a sexy premise you don’t have a Blaze and that’s true all of critical success factors. Wtihout even one of the critical success factors, you don’t fit. Without a traditional hook, you don’t have a Silhouette Romance. Without a mystery/suspense, you don’t have an Intrigue. If you’ve got the wrong word count…you don’t fit!
Now, for those of you who are wondering why I don’t address the issue of sex scenes in the critical success factors…I’ll explain that sex in the books isn’t the big defining factor that everybody thinks it is. Ask the SuperRomance, Special Edition and Intrigue people. They will tell you that the ‘sex scene’ requirement is book dependent. There are also situations in which sex scenes are allowed in Traditionals (sometimes called sweet romances). Marriage of convenience for one. So having sex or not having sex is not a “mandate” or a “must” of the line, because it can change.
Okay. We’ve done enough for today! For your homework, see if you can figure out the critical success factors for the line or publishers to which you wish to submit.
susan meier
THE BABY PROJECT, 4/11
SECOND CHANCE BABY, 5/11
A BABY ON THE RANCH, 6/11
All part of the BABY IN THE BOARDROOM series for Harlequin Romance!
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