Caren Johnson Literary Agency

I meant to blog about the wonderful book signing and Maggie dessert reception yesterday, but didn’t get the chance to do so. Both were great events, though separate, so I’ll go into each one individually.

I had some wonderful authors at the book signing: Kelley St. John who has a new book out in a few weeks called To Catch A Cheat, Barbara Caridad Ferrer who writes as Caridad Ferrer for her amazing YA novels and Kathleen Long who writes exciting romantic suspense and wickedly funny romantic comedy. They were gorgeous and graciously put up with me snapping photos of them.

Barbara Caridad Ferrer    

Kathleen Long  

Kelley St. John

Colby Hodge who isn’t mine, but who is wonderful!

Alyssa Day (also not mine, but I’ll claim her).

We then continued onto the Maggie awards and dessert reception. That was a lot of fun. We did a little dancing, laughed a lot and enjoyed cake. It was an evening to remember.

We didn’t even make it out of the room before snapping photos. Ignore the mess in the background.

Looking gorgeous.

Dianna Love Snell looking absolutely fabulous in her dress.

Here is Barb with Berta Platas, who is wonderful, warm and hilarious. Her books are no different than she is so be ready for a good time when reading them.

Colby Hodge and moi.

Alesia and Dianna.

I had a great time, am truly excited about some of the projects I asked to see (others I’m tentatively hopeful about, but I don’t want to let myself get too excited before I actually see the material—ie, no snoopy dance yet), and impatient to be back home to get to some of the wonderful manuscripts and proposals sent in my absence.

I finally made it to Atlanta (after delayed flights and missed connections) yesterday evening and am thrilled. I like Atlanta; the last time I was here I drove with Nadia Cornier and that was one of the most fun road trips I’ve ever taken. I’m glad to be back and attending M&M. Already I’ve met some wonderful writers, got to say hello and hang out with some of my brilliant writers (so far Anna J. Evans and Kelley St. John—have you read their books yet?), and capped off the evening by watching the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy. Now I’m on my way to meet Kelley for breakfast and will pop into the workshop she’s giving where she’ll help authors perfect their pitches.

I’ll be squeezing in some office work this morning and then I’m off to enjoy the workshops for the afternoon. I did want to include some quick tips for pitching an agent/editor since this has been the theme since I got here (as I was registering someone came over, asked, “women’s fiction” and when I nodded bustled over to sign up to pitch me. It was so quick and painless that I didn’t mind at all).

I get a number of people who come to me and tell me that I have their novel. They sometimes launch into a detailed description of the book and I’m left with nothing to say, usually because I haven’t had the chance to open the attachment yet. If you see me in the hallway/breakfast line/lobby and I have your work, be sure to say hi. I can always use a friendly face. But better not launch into a description of your book. I already requested it because I saw something there. Let me read it in comfort and I’ll get back to you about whether it is something for me as soon as I’m able to.

On the flipside I get a number of people who smile at me, chat me up and then say, after describing their book, that I already rejected them so I can’t see it again. Urg. This drives me bonkers. I’m very sorry that I rejected your book, but I promise I wasn’t being malicious about it. I choose what to take on based on the story and how well I think I can sell it. There are stories that are extremely well written, but I have no idea how to sell. I think you should get an agent who has an idea of how to tackle selling your work, not one who gushes about how much they love it, but can’t get a handle on it. This is a lesson that I’ve learned and while I will branch out into new areas, I try to have some idea before I offer representation to anyone.

Now I’m off to breakfast. Can’t wait to get some bacon and eggs (arteries be damned).

I’m on my way to Atlanta, GA this morning to attend the Moonlight and Magnolias conference. It’s one of my favorites because not only do I have a lot of authors attending (and that means I can see them all at once), but the writers attending and those who belong to the chapter are some of the most talented and accomplished writers I know. It’s a great conference so I encourage anyone who can to go.

I’ll be taking group appointments this year instead of individual appointments. I thought I’d share some tips about how to shine in a group setting.

First, relax. That may be the hardest part of the group pitch, but it makes it so much easier for me if you relax. This should be pleasant; you’re talking about the masterpiece you’ve written so don’t worry about your note cards or timing your pitch exactly. Tell me about your story and I’ll let you know if it is something that I’d like to see or not. None of this is personal either; there are some stories that I won’t be interested in because they’re simply not for me or one of my authors may be working on a similar story.

Second, since this is a group pitch everyone is going to have about 3-4 minutes to tell me about their book. Don’t worry if I look at my watch. I’m not bored; I just want to make sure everyone gets their fair share of talk time. Also, be prepared to answer questions. I may jump in to ask you to clarify a point made or the like.

Third, and this is also an important one, I will never, ever say that your book is bad or that you’re a bad writer! Please don’t take criticism personally. It’s just a part of the business and only my opinion. Another agent may feel very differently about your work so please don’t take what I say as gospel.

That’s all the wisdom I can muster at the moment. Wish me a good conference (and I fully expect it to be).

I have some exciting news here: Dianna Love Snell is teaming up with Sherrilyn Kenyon to write a novel called Phantom in the Night. It will be published by Pocket books in June 2008. I’m very excited about this collaboration and thrilled about how beautiful the cover came out. Here it is. Let me know what you think.

Here are Dianna and Sherrilyn at the Romance Writers of America National conference this year. These were taken at the book signing: 

This was a wonderfully fun signing. If you want to see more pictures, visit the picture gallery here.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been waiting with great anticipation since Labor Day for the fall season to get going. That’s when the fashion world wakes up after a sleepy summer (the September issue of Vogue weighs about 5lbs with the new fall looks), my favorite TV shows return with new episodes (I’m especially looking forward to Prison Break, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy) and, best of all, publishers roll out some of their best and brightest writers in anticipation of the holiday buying season. Here at CJLA we have a great fall lineup of books with releases happening every month until the end of the year.

September

Check out Ann DeFee’s Summer After Summer, where old flames reunite. B&N had this to say about it:

In 1973 Texas, Jasmine Boudreaux loves Charlie Morrison, but he is dating her close friend Bunny Bennett. Loyalty to her pal keeps Jaz from pursuing Charlie. Even after he breaks off with Bunny, she sees him briefly, but leaves for college. They meet again at their twentieth anniversary high school reunion where she realizes she still loves Charlie. However, she is marrying her California architectural business partner. So they go their separate ways. In 2007, a divorced Jasmine has returned to Texas to start anew. Widower Charlie is a local pediatrician raising his son in their hometown. When they meet, neither has an adult entanglement, but he must tend to his son’s needs first and she fears the hurt commitment causes. This is an interesting romance that shows love survives even distance in time and place. Over three decades Jaz and Charlie never seem to time it right until now. As they enter middle age, Jaz vows to spend the rest of her life with the man she always loved, but will Charlie agree?

Grab your copy here and visit Ann’s website here.

Revisit the Vicknair clan in Kelley St. John’s Shiver and Spice, where lovers won’t be pulled apart by anything, not even death. Amazon described it here:

Grab your copy here.

October

Catch Anna J. Evans’ sexy new novel Love Fool. Anna describes it like this:

Mandy Miller is not the type of girl who wakes up in a strange room, staring at a strange ceiling, with a pounding headache, a pair of skinned knuckles and no underwear. Unfortunately she *is* the type to fall head over heels for all the wrong kinds of men. Men *just like* the handsome cowboy lying next to her who—aside from the fact they’d apparently slept together—she doesn’t know from Adam. The last thing Joe Paloma wants is a relationship after a divorce that pulled his heart out through his nose with a rusty fishing hook. But he can’t deny he’s tempted to give up his infamous bad boy ways if it means waking up to a woman like Mandy every morning. Neither expects the extremes of passion or the depths of love they’ll find now that they’ve met their match—another brave enough to love with the heart of a fool.

Stay tuned for where to get your copy.

November

Single thirty-something Marissa, though beautiful and talented, is becoming increasingly skeptical about romance because every man in her life has been a cheater. She creates a website dedicated to exposing serial cheaters, but instead her website ushers back into her life her first boyfriend from adolescence, and he is determined to show her that a man can be true.

Pre-order your copy now here.

December

Pre-order your copy here.