Part Seven - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Read What You Write

You’ve all heard the old advice, write what you know.

When I first started seriously writing romance, I rarely read the type romances I wrote. This was a mistake. How could I target a publisher if I didn’t know what they wanted?

Find out which companies publish the type books you write. Read, read, read the type books you write. But read with a critical eye. Pay attention to how the author sets up the story, the style, the language, the author’s voice, the pacing, the level of plot intensity. Those are the same things editors will be looking for from you as a prospective writer for them. Make time to read books like the ones you write.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra and her books, click HERE

Current Releases:

In Print: Shadowkeeper

Digital: Having Patience

Part Six - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Research Your Market

Once you’ve defined what you write, you will have to research the publishers you wish to target to find their submission guidelines. It is extremely important to submit your manuscript exactly according to the publisher’s submission guidelines. Anything that is out of the ordinary is likely to annoy an editor and you’ll receive a rejection without them ever having read your work. It doesn’t matter if you’ve written the next Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Some publishers require 1 inch margins. Others want 1 ½ inches. Some want double spacing and Times New Roman font. Others want Courier New 12 point font only. Writing for the word count is also important. If your story is only 90 thousand words and the company publishes 120 thousand word novels, your story will be rejected on the basis of insufficient word count alone.

Know the line in which your book will fit. Many houses have different lines that have subtle or not so subtle differences. If you target a particular line and send in a manuscript tailored to that line, an editor is going to see that you have done your research and you will make a more favorable impression.

Find out if the house you are targeting accepts agented or unagented manuscripts. Do they want emailed submissions or snail mailed submissions?

If you research your market beforehand, you will save yourself time and money in the long run and if you’ve written a well-crafted story tailored specifically for the publishing house for which you want to write, you’ll make a winning impression on an editor.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra and her books, click HERE.

Part Five - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Be Computer Savvy

In order to be a writer in twenty-first century, you must be computer savvy. The publishing industry is undergoing vast changes from the old hardback print book to the digital edition. Nearly all books published now are published digitally and I daresay there will come a time when a book in print is difficult to come by.

Before you turn up your nose at digital books, allow me to introduce you to the royalty check. Digital royalties typically run 3.75 % of the cover price whereas print royalties are .25 %. Ouch. For a digital book with a 5$ cover, I’ll get roughly 3 bucks of that with the rest going to the publisher. For a print book, one thin dime.

E readers are everywhere. Amazon’s Kindle is advertised daily. Books can be downloaded instantly and your entire library can fit on one jump drive.

Nearly all publishers now require electronic submissions which require the writer to know how to format a document in Word, how to attach that file to an email and then how to communicate with the editors, publishing house, editing process, all via the computer and the Internet.

Some of my books have never had a word printed on a piece of paper. Everything from conception to submission to editing to sales was handled on the computer. The only piece of paper I ever see regarding that book might be my royalty check.

If the computer is still a scary unknown to you, check with your local library. Many offer free classes on computer literacy.

Maintain a professional email account. Even if you use yahoo for your personal emails, choose a different email provider for contact with an editor. You don’t want the word Yahoo after your name. It’s also a good idea to use your name as your professional email rather than TigerFanGirl or TammiLovesPooh. Nowadays, an email letter will be your first contact with your prospective publisher. Make a good and professional impression.

Making friends with the computer is a must if you wish to break into today’s publishing market.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra or her books, click HERE

Part Four - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Be Able to Classify Your Book

Before I ever got serious about getting published, I attended a class with Michael Garret who is an editor and writer. I had 400 typed pages of my baby with me. It was a vampire story which I wrote from my dissatisfaction with all the other vampire stories I’d read or seen at the movies. Mr. Garret asked me, “If the book were to be published, in which section would it be found at your local bookstore?”

Well, that stumped me. I didn’t know. He told me, “If you don’t know, the publisher doesn’t know and they won’t buy your book.”

I can still quote the rejection letter I received after one long year of waiting for three chapters and a synopsis of this book to be read. “Dear Debra, your writing is, at times evocative, however we must pass on publishing this book because there are elements of both romance and horror and the editors don’t feel they can determine a genre for this work.”

Funny how those rejections stick with you but I can’t recall the exact wording of my first acceptance letter.

Michael Garret was right. I’ve heard many unpublished writers say they’re writing the next great American novel which is based on their own experiences. In the sage words of Spongebob Squarepants, “Well, good luck with that!”

Writers must know in which genre are writing. They need to know exactly where their book would be found on a bookstore shelf, be it romance, teen fiction, horror, inspirational, biographical, etc.

Editors do not want anything different – especially from an unknown. They want tried and true plots but with a fresh spin. They want to know exactly how to classify your book. Don’t hope to surprise an editor by crossing two genres. That’s the fastest track to rejection.

Study your "writing voice." Get input from friends and critique partners. Is your writing funny, serious, dramatic, melodramatic? Do you have a light voice which is perfect for contemporaries or a dark voice that lends itself well to suspense, horror or paranormal? Or perhaps, your writing is filled with prose and antiquated words perfect for penning a historical romance or historical fiction.

Know what it is that you write and write to your strength.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra or her books, click HERE

Part Three - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Write in Layers

How do you write? In other words, what is your writing style?

To write consistently, an author needs to understand how they go about the process of writing a story.

I’m what’s known as a pantser. That means I write by the seat of my pants. My story ideas start out with a beginning and an end. What happens in the middle is totally up to my characters and sometimes, they surprise me!

The other style of writer is the plotter. A plotter is someone who knows every detail, every twist and turn and every red herring before they put the first word on a page.

The end result is the same. Both pantsers and plotters are capable of writing intricate stories with well developed characters and intriguing plots that don’t have the dreaded sagging middle.

But whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, the goal is to get the story on the page. I know many talented writers who have wonderful ideas but who cannot get them on a page because they fixate on perfection.

Instead of expecting a perfect first draft, I write in layers. I write the first chapter which will include the setup and the introduction of the main characters and the initial conflict. In addition, I include the dialogue and minor description. In essence, I get the story on the page. Then I go back and describe and add more detail. After writing 2500 words or so, I will then revise, layering in more description and tweaking the dialogue. I might have thought of something that will add a little twist the plot so I add this.

At the end of my book, I put it aside for several days and then revise with fresh eyes.

After that, I enlist the help of a critique partner who helps polish my manuscript. Critique partners are also great sounding boards when working out plot points or when your characters run away with your story.

Editors are busy people who don’t have time for a manuscript filled with grammatical errors and typos. With the sheer volume of books being published right now, authors must, must, must perfect manuscripts. Writing in layers will help you submit a clean, impressive submission.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra and her books, click HERE

Part Two - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Have Love Affair With Verbs

After I sold my first romance to Ellora’s Cave, I knew if I wanted to sell a second book, I needed to continue to hone my craft. The mere act of loving writing was not going to keep me in publishing contracts. I read how-to books, surfed the web reading craft articles by other authors, and attended workshops on a variety of writing related techniques from goal, motivation and conflict to creating three dimensional characters who leap off the page.


But one piece of advice stuck with me and served to enhance my writing in a way nothing else had.


I’d once heard an English professor at my alma mater, the University of North Alabama, say, “A love of verbs is the one thing all good writers have in common.”


Of all the craft and how-to workshops I’ve attended on writing, that one statement is what I keep in mind when I’m writing.


Vibrant verbs will breathe life into your story.


It’s such an easy concept and one that is often overlooked by aspiring authors. Here is how I taught it to my 10 year old:


Look at the following sentence - Billy was running across the field.


What if you tried replacing ‘ran’ with something else? Billy charged across the field. Billy fled across the field. Billy bounded. Billy dashed. Billy tore. Billy scampered. Each one of those verbs has meaning the reader can visualize.


During your rewrites, find all the times you used “was” and other “be” verbs and replace them with verbs that will not only make your writing lively and energetic but will draw your reader into your story. Overusing the verb “to be” (is, am, are, was, were, been, being) will drain your story of life and bore your reader to boot.


Strong verbs strengthen your writing. Strong verbs pull your reader in and allow them to feel the emotions you as the writer are trying to convey with words.


Strong verbs will make the difference between your first sale and the big stack of rejected books gathering dust in a drawer.



About the Author


DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.



Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.


For more information about Debra and her books, click HERE