Cowboys

UNRIDDEN EXCERPT #1

UNRIDDEN
Studs in Spurs, Book 1


Excerpt (G)

“So? What did you think?”

Much like an accused man watches the faces of the jury returning with a verdict, Jenna Block held her breath as she studied her literary agent’s expression and tried to determine the answer to her question.

Marge Collins of the Collins Agency had a reputation for not pulling any punches. Swallowing hard, Jenna guessed Marge’s tightly pursed lips and hesitation were not good signs. She had a feeling her delicate writer’s ego was about to get a lesson in humility.

The manuscript sat on the desk between them like an eight-hundred-pound gorilla. Her agent sighed. Another bad sign.

Suddenly feeling like a child seated in front of the wide desk, Jenna straightened her spine. Was her chair lower than Marge’s? That sneaky, power-grabbing ploy on the part of her agent wouldn’t surprise Jenna one little bit.

Marge peered over top of her reading glasses. “Jenna, there’s really no market for straight contemporaries right now.”

Jenna frowned, confused. She’d assumed the sale of this book would be a slam dunk.

“There was a market last year when you sold my last straight contemporary. In fact, you had no trouble selling my last three novels.”

Marge nodded. “You’re right, but the trend in the industry has shifted.”

“In under a year?”

“That’s why it’s called a trend, I guess.” She shrugged.

Biting her lower lip, Jenna tried to digest the idea of totally scrapping the novel she’d spent a considerable portion of the last year writing and starting fresh with a new one. In a different genre, no less. The thought had her stomach twisting with dread. How in the world was she going to write a new book and get it sold before this apparently fickle and ever-changing romance market shifted yet again?

Hesitantly, Jenna asked, “So, what is the new trend?” Please don’t say historical romance. She absolutely loathed research; one reason why she wrote only contemporaries.

Marge leaned back and steepled her fingers. “The publishers want cross-genre, out of the box stories.”

What the hell did that mean? Panicked, Jenna did her best to keep her expression neutral. “Okay, like what for example?”

“Well, I just sold an erotic, multi-partner, paranormal romance with elements of bondage about pirate vampires in space.” Marge waited expectantly, as if Jenna would leap up and say that she had written a book just like that and had it stashed under her bed.

Jenna sat perfectly still, hoping her face didn’t show her horror. Bondage issue aside—how did one research that subject—her brain stalled on visions of her brother hiding the remote control and making her watch agonizing hours of the SciFi Channel on television when they were kids.

Science fiction. Ugh. Was she destined to now spend her days penning tales of horny vampire space pirates?

Jenna swallowed the ever-growing lump in her throat. “Um, anything else selling?”
Marge shuffled a few pages on the desk. “There is a publisher who put out an open call for submissions for their new cowboy line of romances.”

Cowboys. Okay, she could do cowboys.

“Space pirate cowboys?” Jenna probably asked that last question with a bit more attitude than was wise considering her writing career and the fate of her future manuscripts were in this woman’s hands.

Eyes narrowed, Marge pursed her lips but answered her anyway. “No. Regular cowboys.”

“Contemporary or historical?” Jenna could fake knowing about cowboys. She’d just have them wear jeans and boots and chew on a piece of hay or spit tobacco or something. However, writing about the old west would require actual research. Even if Jenna had the desire, she didn’t have the time for that. A writer was only as good as her most recent book and too much time had already passed since her last release.

Marge finally ended Jenna’s suspense. “Any genre is fine, so long as it has a cowboy theme.”

That was good news at least. Still overwhelmed by the idea of starting over from scratch, Jenna let out a sigh. “When’s the deadline for submissions?”

Marge glanced down at the paper in her hand and cringed. “A month and a half from now.”

“A month and a half!”

“Can you do that?” Marge raised one eyebrow dubiously.

With a romance convention coming up out west, book signings scheduled, on top of radio interviews and a virtual tour online to various chats and blogs, Jenna had countless other things to do over the next few weeks besides plotting out and completing this new book. She wasn’t a slow writer, but she wasn’t super fast by any means. “What length are they looking for?”

Again, Marge consulted the paper that had delivered more bad than good news so far.

“They want between fifty and sixty thousand words. And they’re looking for stories that are fun and light in tone.”

Jenna snorted out a laugh. “Fifty thousand words in a month and a half on top of everything else I have going on? It’s going to be light. Don’t worry about that.” She sure as hell didn’t have time to do heavy, though she doubted anything about this would be fun.

Rising from her seat, Jenna let out an overly loud breath. “I guess I better go home and get started.”

There went her plans for some retail therapy in the stores while she was in the city for the day. She would have to hop right on the next train and get back to her laptop at her condo in the suburbs.

Marge pushed Jenna’s manuscript across the desk. “Don’t forget this.”

Jenna eyed the sheaf of papers with sudden, undeserved hatred. “Don’t you want to keep it, just in case?”

“I guess I could try to dump it on one of the smaller, indie e-publishers. Most of them don’t pay advances, but it’s better than nothing. Send me the electronic file when you get home and I’ll see what I can do.”

Dump it. Great.

Jenna forced a tight, and far from sincere, smile. “Thanks, Marge. You’re a sweetheart.”

“No problem, Jen. See you in six weeks.”

Marge slid her glasses back up her nose and turned her attention to the next stack of papers on her cluttered desk. Apparently Jenna had been dismissed. Stifling a groan, she mumbled a goodbye and gladly retreated from the office.

eBOOK AVAILABLE MAY 26TH
FIND IT IN THE COMING SOON SECTION AT LINDEN BAY ROMANCE .COM

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-unridden-7326-193.html?oid=5

BUY LINK ALSO AT WWW.CATJOHNSON.NET

Life, Romance Novels

SECRETS OF A PROMO HO-BUY YOURSELF A COWBOY

My countdown to the release of UNRIDDEN on May 26th continues with another replay of one of my blog posts from the Linden Bay Romance MySpace Blog that I wrote back when Rough Stock released. Enjoy! Cat

PROMOTION—the dirty little secret of being a writer that no one tells you until it is too late is that writing the book is not enough, getting it published is only the beginning. You can write the next Harry Potter, but if no one knows it exists, who’s going to buy it?

Just like little old me, even publishing powerhouses like Nora Roberts and Stephanie Meyers have to hit the marketing trail to promote their books, the only difference being, while they are appearing on network talk shows or are the keynote speakers at national conventions, I am sitting at a table in the back of the Borders in Middletown, New York. I don’t have a press person. I don’t have a huge NY publisher pushing me. So sometimes, I have to think out of the box when it comes to promo.

I’ve become known for my unique approach in promoting my military romances. At conventions and book signings you’ll see me wearing dog tags and high-heel camouflage footwear (I have selections for all seasons–boots for Fall/Winter, peep-toe pumps for Spring, wedge sandals for Summer). My most popular giveaway has been the US Marine-formulated “Gun Oil” Personal Lubricant as well as my camo-design pens. Yes I enjoy being creative for marketing. So what would I, a former Marketing Manager turned erotic romance writer, do to promote a new rodeo threesome book? I bought me a cowboy, that’s what!

 You’ve seen racecar drivers covered head to toe in sponsors’ ads. In the pro bull riding circuit, you’ll see riders covered from cowboy hat to chaps in logos also. And so I started thinking, why couldn’t I, author Cat Johnson, sponsor my own cowboy? The answer was, why the hell not? I could barely contain myself on the 2 hour drive home from the Scranton PA Borders book signing. I ran into the house, logged into IM and asked Mike if he had a sponsor, and the even bigger question, would he accept an erotic romance writer as one? He did hesitantly ask what would be required of him. Fair question. After all, I could have had him walking around shirtless at the Mr. Romance Contest at the next RT Convention, or posing nude for my next book cover, for all he knew. I told him in exchange for my sponsorship of his entry fees and gas money he’d get a shirt to wear with my website embroidered on the arm when he rides, a magnet with my name and website for his car door, and he passes out at the rodeos bumper stickers with “Give Blood-Ride Bulls” and my website on them. And the most important condition, he texts me the minute he gets off the bull so I know he is alive and well, because he already has had more broken bones and metal plates put in him than anyone his age should.

Mike agreed and so the deal was struck and we haven’t looked back since. And as he so sweetly wrote in his comment on the last blog post, we are more than just sponsor and rider, this is more than just another of my marketing schemes. We are friends.

Cat Johnson

Life, Romance Novels

HOW DOES A NY ROMANCE WRITER DO RODEO RESEARCH?

As I gear up for release of my next cowboy book, UNRIDDEN, on May 26th, I can’t help remininscing. Below is a blog I posted on the Linden Bay MySpace back in December when Rough Stock was released. The Work in Progress I talk about is UNRIDDEN, back when it was in it’s infancy.

Enjoy.

Cat

 

Research…every writer has to do it occasionally, some more often than others depending on the genre being written. I know I have to do quite a bit for my military romances or risk committing factual faux pas which will cost me the respect of readers. There is research where you get a book or find a website to get your facts, and that is important and helpful, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to immerse both the writer, and consequently the reader, in the world of the characters in the story. It is not just laziness that has me, more often than not, seeking information and factual details from my “muses” rather than another resource.

Picture this… I am on the phone with one of my military consultants when I hear a bugle being played in the background. After spending all of his adult life on a military base, he doesn’t even hear it anymore, but of course I am so excited I can barely contain myself. “Oh my god! Is that Taps?” Yes, it was. Twenty-two hundred hours, lights out. Hearing that immersed me in the world in which I was writing, and I wrote the playing of Taps for lights out into the award-winning A Few Good Men.
Another time I was on IM and a consultant typed to me, “Gotta go. Inbound vehicle born IED. We need to get to the bunker.” That elicited an “OMG!” on my part once again, and after I’d heard from him and found out all was well, I wrote the event into Crossing the Line. The sights, sounds, emotions in the opening scene of Model Soldier are from a description of an actual training one of my military muses emailed to me.

You can see the value of personal contact in research, so it was no surprise that when I tried to write my rodeo book, Rough Stock, using only the internet and television as research I couldn’t do it. And so along came amateur bull-rider and part-time horse trainer/full-time college student Mike Short…

I did a People Search on MySpace for Rodeo Cowboys and there he was. I messaged him out of the blue, explaining my dilemma, begging for help while praying he wouldn’t delete a message from a stranger without reading it. But he didn’t. Mike took pity on this desperate author, though he may regret it one day.

Mike and I collaborated on Rough Stock, and now, he has been invaluable as I write my work in progress about two professional cowboys and a romance writer who asks them to help her with her research. (sound familiar?)

My consultants know, because I warn them upfront, that anything they say can and will be used in my books! Whole conversations between us can end up as character dialogue. (IE the “Shit Pit” scene in A Prince Among Men was pretty much a conversation I had on IM with my soldier consultant deployed in Afghanistan) Luckily, my consultants don’t mind. Look for the conversation between bronc rider Clay and his fellow rider Mike in Rough Stock. The dialogue is paraphrased from an email Mike sent me. As is Clay’s observations on Mason’s riding style, which is taken from when I questioned Mike about the differences between Saddle Bronc, Bareback Bronc and Bull Riding. One night on IM, Mike described to me his first time on a bull so beautifully with so much emotion, I saved it, knowing I will use it, word for word, in my WIP when the hero describes his experience to the heroine.

It’s things like the above that I credit with every good review, and every sale. The quality of my books, my writing, and my stories are only as good as the foundations they are built on, and they are built upon the backs of the people who inspired them. To them, I will always be eternally grateful.

So there you go, the answer to the question posed in the title… How does a New York romance author do rodeo research? You get yourself a cowboy. (And it doesn’t hurt if he is incredibly sweet and damn cute, too!)

Cat