Yes, that’s me as the Brava witch!

As you can see from the accompanying photos, Halloween is in full swing at Kensington today. With so many creative people working together, it’s no surprise that we all love to dress up, decorate, and get lost in the fantasy. (For some of us who are lucky enough to make our living reading books, the fantasy lasts all year!)

All Hallow’s Eve is supposed to be the time of year when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest, and appropriately enough, today I’m in the midst of editing a truly magical book that explores that very concept. What if you could cross the boundary separating this world from the Hereafter, and then come back again? What if monsters from the Twilight place in between escaped to terrorize humanity? What if Death himself laid down his scythe to take on mortal form and pursue the woman he loves? Erin Kellison’s SHADOWMAN is a really unusual paranormal romance that will be out next September.

And speaking of spooky stories, I’m already thinking about a special Brava Halloween anthology for 2012. What shall it be? Witches, ghosts, vampires, werewolves? This year it’s THE BEAST WITHIN, next year it will be SO YOU WANT TO MARRY A DEMON SLAYER. Let me hear your most creative titles for our new collection!

Q: When do more than a thousand romance authors, editors and publishers get together, with Mickey Mouse thrown in for good measure?
A: At last weekend’s RWA conference in Orlando.

The Kensington team was in attendance, along with almost 50 of our published writers. One of the highlights of the conference for me was meeting many of the Brava authors at various parties, lunches, coffees and receptions. Here’s a photo of me with Cynthia Eden and Rebecca Zanetti at the Kensington cocktail party, where we were discussing the Brava Writing with the Stars contest.

I actually had to separate the two as each insisted she would be the one to mentor the winning contestant. We’ll see, won’t we? Megan Records and I are currently reading the 75 entries, and the top ten finalists will be assigned their Brava author mentors by the end of August, when the competition will really heat up.

I had dinner with Erin McCarthy, Kathy Love and Rita finalist Jill Shalvis to talk over ideas for upcoming Brava anthologies. We all agreed it’s time to bring back the Bad Boys collections, which have always been reader favorites. But I’d like to come up with a new name for them. Rogues sounds too historical . . . how about Rebels? If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear it!

A recurring theme at the conference was the importance of blogging and commenting on romance friendly sites like Dear Author, Sue Grimshaw’s TrueRomance blog, Barnes and Noble’s Heart to Heart, and Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book. What are your favorite romance blogs? Let me know and I’ll enter your name in a drawing to win a copy of Meg Cabot’s new hardcover, Insatiable.

Tuesday evening Kensington hosted a cocktail party for booksellers, authors and agents attending the BEA, and a fine time was had by all. I enjoyed the romantic rooftop setting atop the Library Hotel and discussing covers, career paths, and prospective grandchildren with writers Terry Brisbin, Kate Douglas and Marie Bostwick. I also had a chance to talk with agent Stephany Evans about a wonderful new shapeshifter series by Dani Harper that I’ve just acquired. There’s something incredibly appealing about a veterinarian who can heal animals because he’s in touch with his own inner beast!

Wednesday I walked the show and was interested to note some recurring themes: books on John Lennon and the Beatles, dog stories, and of course, vampires and zombies. For those of you who have never attended the BEA, it’s a regular circus – I saw people dressed as swashbucklers in the L. Ron Hubbard booth, got a photo of the former Duchess of York signing her latest children’s book and picked up an autographed copy of The Dorm Room Diet (Is such a thing possible?). I also have an advance proof GETTING TO HAPPY, the sequel to Terry McMillan’s WAITING TO EXHALE, which I’ll give away to the first person to send me her name and address. So if you’d like it, act fast!

This week I heard that after launching the Nook eReader, Barnes & Noble.com’s sales increased 32 percent to $210 million. Tommy Dreiling, who was the romance buyer for B & N until last Friday (he’s just been replaced by Jules Herbert), reported that 30% of those ebook sales were in the romance category. So it’s more important than ever for every romance writer to have a strong online presence.

I’ve already noticed that Brava authors are a particularly web savvy group, with your own websites, blogs and Twitter followings, but did you know that one of the best ways to reach your readers is through a fan page on Facebook? Alexandra Nicolajsen, our Digital Content/Marketing Manager, explains:

“Fan pages come up at the top of searches. They can also be linked to other fan pages, thereby cross-promoting. Also, all content is automatically public, and Facebook members can easily suggest them to friends. Some of our biggest authors are using them, and have switched from traditional Facebook pages to the fan page, which is more advantageous.”

Alex’s position was just created so we can be sure Kensington is taking full advantage of all the marketing opportunities presented by the internet, and she’s wonderfully enthusiastic and knowledgeable. She and the rest of our sales and marketing staff would love to know about any signings, book trailers, blog appearances or other promotional plans you’re making. When you let us know in advance what you’re up to, we can include you on the Kensington website and coordinate our efforts with yours. If you send me a quick monthly update, I’ll be happy to forward it to everyone here.

Next week is a meeting to finalize our plans for the upcoming Romantic Times convention. I’m hoping to put together a contest in conjunction with RT, and we’ve got some fun ideas that will involve many of you. I’ll keep you posted!

It’s been a super busy month, my first at Brava. Thank you so much for all your emails, calls – even flowers! I truly appreciate your warm welcome.

This month’s picture was taken at the Kensington holiday bowling party. I’m definitely a team player, but I’m lucky if my ball doesn’t head straight for the gutter. I had a great time getting to know my new colleagues, particularly Helen Dressner, who sells all our books to Barnes & Noble. Laughing over our lamentable bowling skills led to a discussion of Brava’s performance at B & N and a decision to meet with Tommy Dreiling, the buyer there. We’ll be getting together for lunch next week to talk over new trends.

Another great opportunity to talk about sales, covers and marketing strategies came this week with the launch meeting to discuss books scheduled in Brava from January through April of 2011. This is each editor’s chance to present our books to the people who will actually be selling and marketing them, and to explain what’s special about each title. I was really impressed by the level of commitment and enthusiasm of everyone present. Did you know that our publisher, Laurie Parkin, has the sales history and backlist of every author at her fingertips? Or that Mickie Searcy, our special sales manager, and Justine Willis, our retail chain sales manager, read every one of our books as well as most of the competition? Very cool.

This week also brought a wonderful Today Show interview with Kate’s mom, Alice Duffy, who made her Broadway debut this month in PRESENT LAUGHTER. Here is the link so you can hear about her extraordinary career and her tribute to Kate.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/

All the best,
Alicia Condon