Starting in March – this Wednesday, actually – Innovative Editing is going to feature an Author of the Month spot on its blog.
What or who is an Author of the Month? It’s someone who’s work I’ve personally read and thought was too good not to showcase.
Admittedly, this excludes people like my all-time favorites: Philippa Gregory, Kate Quinn, Lauren Willig and Jim Butcher. They’re too popular to get any practical use out of a blog that only gets 200-700 reads per post.
Besides, three out of four of them have no clue I exist and therefore, I’m sure, wouldn’t reply if I reached out to them. And one of them only has the slightest clue I exist thanks to a somewhat embarrassing encounter on Goodreads two years ago.
That was after I finished Kate Quinn’s Lady of the Eternal City, the fourth book in her Empress of Rome series, which was an annoyingly emotional experience for me. That’s why I gave it only four stars out of five, and left the following scathing review:
I HATE THIS BOOK! Like absolutely despise it. I'm not a big fan of blubbering hysterically over mere fictional characters. But Quinn is still a master story-teller and a bewilderingly amazing historian. So as much as I now officially hate her, I'll be looking for her next novel with baited breath.
The very next day after I posted that, I saw that somebody had liked my comment. So I naturally went to see who. As it turned out, said comment-approver went by the name of Kate.
This is how the ensuing conversation in my head went:
Kate, huh? Well isn’t that a coincidence.
What if it isn’t a coincidence? What if it’s actually Kate Quinn?
No. It couldn’t be.
Let me check just to be sure.
Oh my word! It is Kate Quinn! One of my favorite authors ever just saw that I said I hated her book… and her! I am so embarrassed.
On the plus-side, I did add in that she’s awesome and I can’t wait until she writes something else. That has to count for something, right? I mean, she did like my comment…
Still. Oh my word!
I think my cheeks were red for two days straight after that.
This is why you don’t post stuff on the internet in a fit of outrage, kids. You never know when it’s going to bite you in the derriere.
Fortunately, the Innovative Editing Author of the Month spot involves nothing but good things, such as:
A brief author bio
An interview-style Q&A, where the author in question gets to talk about his or her work
A prominent pic of said lauded individual
Links to his or her pages.
I already have March’s spot scheduled for a local Lancaster author. June’s is booked by a talented Baltimorean of my acquaintance. And the April spot is looking really good for a submission I received just last week.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty more spots open and waiting… maybe just for you?
Here are two different ways you can be considered:
If you’re already published, shoot me an email at JDiLouie@InnovativeEditing.com letting me know about you and your work. Ideally, of course, I want to be able to recommend every author who officially submits, so I will be asking a lot of initial questions in an effort to waste as little authorial time or shipping and handling costs as possible.
If you’re not already published, shoot me an email at JDiLouie@InnovativeEditing.com letting me know about you and your work – just from a potential client perspective. When I really like one of the manuscripts I’m professionally editing, I automatically ask them to be an Author of the Month after they get published. Two of my current clients – one, a historical non-fiction writer and the other a children’s fiction writer – are already getting invites from me just as soon as I finish evaluating what they submitted.
Which leads me right into submission guidelines. And here they are, straight-up…
You can be considered if you’re traditionally published, self-published or vanity published (though that last one is a route I almost never recommend) in just about any fiction or non-fiction category that isn’t erotica.
Sorry to pick on erotica, but it isn’t my thing.
With that all said, if you’re a writer, I’d love to hear from you! And if you’re a reader, then stay tuned to learn about some truly great books you’re probably not going to find in Barnes & Noble.