Talk About My Favorite Authors

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that going into the literary business was the career for you? How did you choose who to represent as a literary agent?


Lori Perkins: I have a journalism degree from NYU and had started a newspaper in upper Manhattan. Since I couldn’t pay my authors that much, I was always telling them where to sell their articles. One of them told me I was like their agent. Then my editor left to work for an agent, and he said I would make a great agent. An opportunity came to work in an agency, and I went for it. I hated the sleazy guy I worked for, but I loved the work, and I sold a book in auction right away. The editor called and invited me to meet with him. I spent hours sorting through my closet looking for the right clothes to wear (he was the V.P. of a big company), but when I got to his office, he informed me we weren’t going to lunch. He told me I was working for a man with a bad reputation, that I was a good agent, and that I should quit as soon as I got back to the office. Which I did. I got a job with another agent, who taught me everything I know, but she was a screamer, and I hated being yelled at, so I set up my own business after 3 years of training.

I love getting new writers into print. I see being an agent as an extension of my editor training. I like to think of myself as a writer’s fairy godmother, making dream’s come true.

Phoebe: Did you know what type of genre writers you wanted to represent? Did that change over the years?

Lori: I started out representing investigative reporters, and I thought I would find the great American novel of my generation. But I soon learned that journalists felt that they owned their story (and were therefore terrible to edit) and that literary fiction was a genre just like romance or science fiction.

One day, my boss asked if anyone had ever read any of these books by Stephen King, and I confessed that I had read every one (and realized that I often lied when asked what I was reading, “Oh, the new Roth or Updike,” I’d say, when I was actually reading the new King or Rice or Koontz). She said, (and this is a quote), “Poof. You’re the new horror agent.” As soon as she gave me permission to represent horror (which really was one of my passions), I went into the back room where we stored the piles of unsolicteds, and found four horror first novels. I sold them all within a month. And a horror agent was born.

I helped start Horror Writers of America with Charlie Grant on the east coast and Dean Koontz on the west coast. I have sold more than 200 vampire novels.

So that’s how I became an agent of science fiction, fantasy and horror. I ended up dropping all my investigative journalists, but representing the feature writers (who wrote about music, art, theatre, TV), because they could meet deadlines and didn’t feel they owned their stories, and that’s how I became an agent of popular culture.

Because I repped popular culture, I was approached by the adult entertainment industry, and ended up representing a number of those books (I’m Jenna Jameson’s agent). They told two friends and they told two friends, and before I knew it, I was up to my elbows in porn.

But I wanted to do more fiction, so I was wondering if I could use this new clout in the erotica and romance market. I started reading erotica and erotic romance, and found some very talented female authors who were writing incredible stuff. I took them on, and sold all of them to the majors—Harlequin, Avon, Bantam, etc.

They could write a book a month, but the major New York publishers only wanted a book a year or every year and a half.

I looked into the e-pub market and realized there was a tremendous audience for this material, some of whom were already reading online.

Phoebe: What pushed you to start Ravenous Romance with Holly Schmidt and Allan Penn? Where do you see RR in two years time? Do you have any long-term goals for RR?

Lori: I met Holly and Allan when we were working on nonfiction sexuality books. They wanted to start a romance publishing company. I suggested that the greatest growth was in erotic romance. They researched the market and said, yeah, this is the future. Then we looked into the e-pub business and realized that that really was the future of publishing.

We see e-publishing as the new mass market—an affordable way for readers to get as much as they want in a given category. When the economy picks up, we hope to offer other genres of fiction.

Phoebe: RR is one of the first to break into audio. Where do you get the readers to tape the books? Are they professional readers? How are the audio sales doing?

Lori: The audio book market is huge. Sexuality titles are the best-selling category, so it was only natural to offer erotic romance. We hired one of the studios that produces audiobooks for Audible to record our books.

Phoebe: What do you believe to be the heart of the books at RR, the short stories, the anthologies or the full-length novels?

Lori: The heart of RR? All categories sell. I think what sets RR apart from other houses is the creative twists we bring to the table, such as retelling of classic romances. For instance, we offer a M/M of Casablanca (MARRAKESH) and an erotic romance that should remind readers of GONE WITH THE WIND (except the Rhett character is a Yankee and he does give a damn!)—LAND OF FALLING STARS. We also take popular ideas from the zeitgeist and spin them. We have an erotic American Idol (all the sex you ever imagined behind the scenes is in AMERICAN STAR) and an erotic Star Trek (LUST IN SPACE is one of my favorites).

Phoebe: Is there one genre that is easier to sell than another?

Lori: Everything sells. We have readers who will buy 5 books at a time across category. Our best-selling categories are M/M, paranormal and contemporary.

Phoebe: Have there been any surprises about the books your writers have submitted? Have any done really well that you didn't think would or vice versa?

Lori: We knew M/M was popular, but we didn’t know how popular it was. We thought readers would be impressed by some of our more literary credentials, but they seem to love everything. We were surprised that a third of our readers are men!

Phoebe: What do you think of all the technology and the advancement of e-books in the last few years? Do you have any ideas on what the e-publishing world might develop into in the next few years with the advancement of our technology?

Lori: I firmly believe that more than 50% of all books sold will be downloaded in 3 years. That is already the case in Japan. There will be one device that you can use as a phone, pocket internet, audio device and reader.

Phoebe: Do you think RR will branch into other areas like more male/male novels and Novellas or will it always be short stories and full-length novels?

Lori: We’re talking about doing novellas.

Phoebe: What is your biggest reader pet peeve, if you have any? (stock characters, unresolved endings, predictability, everything wrapped up hurriedly in the end, etc.)

Lori: All of the above. I like when an author knows the rules, so she can break them on purpose.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you as a literary agent might give?

Lori: Write a short story for one of our anthologies. Read our books, and our author blogs. Join our our Ravenous Readers' group. Many of our novelists sold a story to an anthology and then we coaxed them into writing novels. Off the top of my head, I can think of 10 first time novelists at RR.

Phoebe: Is there any writing tips, research tips, promotion and marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you as a literary agent might give?

Lori: Do your research. Make sure the agents you are approaching represent what you are writing. Join a writer’s organization. Finish the novel before you approach agents. A lot of romance (and genre) writers are really encouraging to younger writers, so try to get a mentor.

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite genre you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)?

Lori: My favorite books are Dracula, 1984, Alice in Wonderland, Gone with the Wind and Anne Rice’s Beauty Books. I think that taste is reflected in RR. I could read vampire novels for the rest of my life (and into my afterlife).

Phoebe: What are you reading now? And what do you plan to read after that?

Lori: Since I edit three RR titles a week, I no longer read for pleasure. I am currently editing our Sex and Taxes anthology. I am listening to Dharma Key on my car stereo. If I ever get three minutes to myself, I will read X, Susie Bright’s new erotica anthology (which was given to me as a Christmas present).

Phoebe: Lori is there anything else you would like to add?

Lori: This was an amazing interview. Your questions were really thought provoking. Thanks for having me.

Phoebe: Thanks for being on here Lori!

* * * *

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life? Which author inspired you to start writing romance?

Tawny Weber: I’ve always loved reading romance and used to wish I could write. But it never occurred to me to actually try until 2001 when my husband and I were playing “if you could do anything” and I said if I could do anything, I’d be a romance author. He asked why I wasn’t trying and it just went from there. *grin*

Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you?

Tawny: I knew I wanted to write in for either Harlequin Temptation or to write romantic comedy paranormal. I tried both, but found that I had a better feel for writing my Temptation hopefuls. But then the line closed and I shifted focus to Blaze which is where I sold my first book.

Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you?

Tawny: The first fiction story I ever completed was called Sweet Indulgence. It’s sitting on my hard drive. *grin*

Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and does it take you a long time to gather that research?

Tawny: I don’t do a lot of research for my books. They are all contemporary, usually set in familiar places. I’ll do some research into careers or particulars that the story needs as it comes up.

Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your upcoming April 2009 Harlequin Blaze novel Coming on Strong?

Tawny: I wanted to do a runaway bride story with a twist and thought it would be fun to turn the typical “married because he wants sex and she won’t go for it without a ring” on its ear by having HER be the one who’d wanted the fling and him holding onto his virtue until he got a wedding ring. I added a luxury resort aimed at the rich and famous trying to avoid the paparazzi and ta-da—I had the premise.

Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your upcoming May 2009 Harlequin Blaze novel Going Down Hard?

Tawny: I came up with the premise for Going Down Hard while writing Coming On Strong. After getting to know the characters in Belle and Mitch’s story, I wanted to do a body guard story. Sierra and Reece met in Coming On Strong and both were such strong, independent characters who basically got turned on by challenging each other. I also wanted to tie it in to a degree one of the minor threads in Coming On Strong, the paparazzi angle of being stalked via photos.

Phoebe: How do you come up with each of your characters for your novels? How do you choose their names out of so many names out there?

Tawny: Hmm, confession time. Belle and Sierra are named after my dogs. *grin* What can I say, I love the names. As for characters, I do start with a premise and can pretty easily imagine up character types that would fit that premise. But then developing the types into actual characters takes me much longer. I will write and rewrite the first three chapters until I know the characters and what drives them—their fears and issues and where those issues came from. Once I’ve got that, the rest of the story comes together pretty quickly.

Phoebe: Do you have a process of how you start to write your novels?

Tawny: Painfully? *grin* I start with a premise and write an outline—a long synopsis. I send it to my editor and once she green lights it, I start writing. I’ll spend as long writing and rewriting the first three chapters as I will the entire rest of the book. Once those chapters are written, I know my characters and their motivations—as well as have a lot of ideas for scenes that will drive the story. I tweak my outline to fit, note any scene ideas I came up with and then dive in to finish the book. In the beginning, I’ll get maybe 3 pages a day. Once I’ve got the partial finished, I’ll average 8-10 and in the last few chapters I’m usually at 12-15 a day.

Phoebe: Which do you like best, writing a series or writing stand alone novels? How is writing each different for you?

Tawny: I love writing series because I love reading them. One of my favorite authors is Nora Roberts. I was reading her way back in her category days and my favorites were always the family stories. It’s delightful to revisit characters that I fell in love with in earlier books. That’s influenced my preference for writing series, I think.

Phoebe: What process did you have to go through to get your first book published and did it take you long?

Tawny: I started writing in 2002 and sold in May of 2006. I wrote 5 manuscripts before my 6th one sold. 3 were Golden Heart finalists and 1 was targeted at the single title market. In late 2005 I won the Harlequin Blaze 1st chapter contest. But all I had written was that first chapter. I quickly finished the next 2 chapters and sent it to the editor. After she read them, she wanted the full, and then bought it 3 weeks after I turned it in.

Phoebe: How did you feel when you finally saw your first published book came out and how do you feel about your other novels being published?


Tawny: OMG. It was such a total dream come true. Very surreal, very emotionally overwhelming. I actually wasn’t the first person to notice it on the shelf. I was in the local bookstore with my family and my youngest daughter saw the book on the shelf and yelled “Look Mommy, it’s YOU!” Every book has that same element of awe, of teary eyed excitement and terrified hope that readers connect to it.

Phoebe: Do you ever get writers block? What do you do to get rid of it so you can get back to writing your novels?

Tawny: I get tired, but I can’t say I’ve ever had writer’s block. I might not know my way through a story, or understand my characters motivation but those aren’t blocks. When I’m tired or stuck, I talk to my critique partner or my editor, I brainstorm ideas, I play with character worksheets or read craft books. If that doesn’t work, I resort to exercise and cleaning. *grin* Distractions that keep my body busy but let my mind mull over the issue. It usually only takes a day or so before I find the answer.

Phoebe: What is your biggest reader pet peeve, if you have any? (stock characters, unresolved endings, predictability, everything wrapped up hurriedly in the end, etc.)

Tawny: Gratuitous sex. Or gratuitous violence. Or gratuitous anything. I hate feeling like the author threw something in there because it fit a requirement, but doesn’t actually move the story forward or intensify the plot.

Phoebe: Which aspects of writing do you enjoy the most and why? And what is your biggest writing pet peeve? (overuse of exclamation points, adverbs, bad guys named Wayne, etc.), if you have any?

Tawny: Probably the same as my reader pet peeve.

Phoebe: What is the one writing tool can you not live without?

Tawny: My iPod. Wait, can I have two? Because I have to have my computer, but I’m pretty sure that’s required for me to stay sane anyway. *grin*

Phoebe: How do you handle your writing schedule and your personal life without going insane?

Tawny: We home school, so my daytime hours are focused on my children. I write at night—I always have and it works really well for me. Once the family is settled into their own evening interests, I put my headphones on and focus on the story. The insanity comes in when I have early morning commitments that mean I have to actually sleep and not have the freedom to write as late into the night as I like. When that happens, I just try to balance it and make up the pages and writing time later.

Phoebe: What do you do to relax after having spent a long while writing?

Tawny: Sleep. *grin* I write late at night, so when I’m done, I go to bed. After I finish a book, though, I do try to refill the creative well in different ways, depending on my mood and how hard the story was to write. I might read voraciously for an entire weekend, a book never leaving my hands. Or I’ll get out and go somewhere—a movie, a concert, anything that gives me a lot of outside visual impressions.

Phoebe: Do you have any hobbies?

Tawny: I love to scrapbook. It’s a fabulous way to unwind, create a visual story and spend time with my favorite memories all at the same time. I’m learning to knit, but am really, really bad at it so far.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Tawny: I’ve been really lucky to be a member of Romance Writers of America and have access to an incredible wealth of advice and information. I think the most important advice I ever received and would pass on is to know your voice, to learn what makes your writing unique—and use that strength to make your stories stand out.

Phoebe: Is there any writing tips, research tips, promotion and marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Tawny: I write category, and the best advice I’ve ever gotten is to read the line. That’s not only the best way to understand what’s selling for that line, but to learn pacing, characterization and plot as it works for that particular line.

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite genre you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)?

Tawny: Romance and fantasy. I love both, although romance is my always number one favorite. My favorite authors are Nora Roberts, Vicki Lewis Thompson and Jennifer Crusie.

Phoebe: What are you reading now? And what do you plan to read after that?

Tawny: I just finished reading David Eddings’ The Belgariad and The Malloreon series last night. I have Kate Carlisle’s bestselling debut, Homicide In Hardcover on my nightstand to read next.

CROSS MY HEART & HOPE TO SPY $ 8.99 (Book 2)(236 Pages)

After staking out, obtaining, and then being forced to give up her first boyfriend, Josh, all Cammie Morgan wants is a peaceful semester. But that’s easier said than done when you’re a CIA legacy and go to the Gallagher Academy, the premier school in the world…for spies.

Despite Cammie’s best intentions to be a normal student, danger seems to follow her. She and her friends learn that their school is going to play host to some mysterious guests—code name: Blackthorne. Then she’s blamed for a security breach that leaves the school’s top secret status at risk.

Soon Cammie and her friends are crawling through walls and surveilling the school to learn the truth about Blackthorne and clear Cammie’s name. Even though they have confidence in their spy skills, this time the targets are tougher (and shorter), and the stakes for Cammie’s heart—and her beloved school—are higher than ever.

Aphra Behn Connolly has the type of life most teenage girls envy. She lives on a tropical island and spends most of her time eavesdropping on the rich and famous. The problem is that her family’s secluded luxury resort allows few opportunities for her to make friends—much less to meet cute boys. So when a smoldering Seth Mulo unexpectedly arrives with his parents, she’s immediately drawn to him. Then a girl turns up dead on the beach—the strings of her bikini top tight around her neck—and alarm bells sound. What exactly are Seth and his family hiding? And is it too great a coincidence that they turned up just one day before a murder? As the plot thickens, Aphra finds that danger lurks behind even the most unexpected of faces….

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—typical, that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies.

Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man with her bare hands, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

The concept for The Red Siren—actually for the entire Charles Towne Series—came to me while I was on one of my long walks on the hills behind my house. I had been doing some research on lady pirates and a particular scripture kept popping into my mind from Matthew 13. It’s a story that Jesus tells about a farmer who scatters seed. Some seed lands on the road and the crows eat it up. Other seed land on rocky soil and the plants start to grow but have shallow roots and wither away. Other seed falls among the thorns and the plants get choked out. And some seed falls on good soil and grows into a bounteous crop. The seed is God’s word and the different types of soil are people’s hearts. I thought it would be a cool idea to write a series about 3 sisters, and have each sister represent one of the seeds. So, in The Red Siren, the heroine Faith is the rocky soil. She starts out strong in her faith, but problems and struggles come and she fades away from God. Becomes a pirate, in fact, in order to provide for and protect her sisters. Hope, the 2nd sister (The Blue Enchantress) represents the thorny soil where the pleasures of this world choke out her faith and she ends up getting herself in the precarious situation of being sold as a white slave to some planters in the Caribbean. And Grace, (The Raven Saint) is the good soil. But she has problems of her own! She is a bit pretentious and self-righteous so I have a French Mercenary kidnap her in order to humble her. (I’m quite mean to my characters!)

The Red Siren takes place mostly in Charles Towne in the year 1718. I had the privilege of spending a week there last year doing research, so the street and house names, taverns, and some of the characters in my book are true to the time. I tried to capture the tiny port town’s wild atmosphere in the story, along with the pirates that used to frequent the city. Anne Cormac, for example, makes an appearance in the book. She is the same Anne who became Anne Bonny, the famous woman pirate who scoured the Caribbean. I had a lot of fun writing this adventurous tale, and I hope if you get a chance to read it, you’ll enjoy it too!

Faith Westcott abandoned her shallow faith when a series of tragedies struck her family. To save herself and her sisters from forced marriages, this fiery, born-to-the-manor redhead is a lady by day and a pirate by night. How long can she maintain this dual identity before she’s caught red-handed?

God-fearing Dajon Waite, who scours the Carolina coast, expunging it of pirates, is a more-than-capable captain in the British Royal Navy. But when he is asked to take on the guardianship of Faith and her sisters, he’s headed for deep water. Having vowed to avoid women, what will he do when he finds himself falling for Faith?

M.L. Tyndall, a Christy Award Finalist, and best-selling author of the Legacy of the King’s Pirates series is known for her adventurous historical romances filled with deep spiritual themes. She holds a degree in Math and worked as a software engineer for fifteen years before testing the waters as a writer. MaryLu currently writes full time and makes her home on the California coast with her husband, six kids, and four cats.


You can visit Christian Historical romance author MaryLu Tyndall at her Website, Blog, Facebook and Shoutlife.

Live in the awareness of your eternal destiny.