New York literary agency signs Canadian suspense author Cheryl Kaye Tardif

For any writer who's been at it long enough and sent out hundreds of queries over the years to agents and publishers, I'm here to bring you HOPE. I have enough rejections to wallpaper my office--twice!

In 2006, I managed to get an originally self-published work (Whale Song) picked up by Kunati Books, a provocative new publishing company that just won ForeWord's 'First Independent Publisher of the Year' award at BEA.

Whale Song was published in April 2007 and launched Kunati's UNA trade paperback imprint. Other trade paperbacks will be joining the UNA imprint shortly, but I'm proud that Whale Song was the first.

This week, I signed a contract with an enthusiastic literary agent from New York. It's an all-inclusive contract, meaning he'll represent me and ALL of my books--past and future--in any upcoming deals.

To me, securing an agent represents climbing another ladder rung--or two. If you're a writer, you know how tough that can be to accomplish. And wait! I haven't told you the clincher...

I am Canadian.

No, this isn't a beer commercial. I'm a Canadian author, and in Canada, it's nearly impossible to get an agent here. First, we don't have the population of the US, and hence, we just don't have that many agents here. So many Canadian authors go across the border--or even the ocean--in search of that illusive literary agent.

My agent is in New York, the frenzied hub of the book industry. I couldn't be happier. He came highly recommended by one of his clients. I am positive this will be a productive and successful venture. Why? Because I'm a positive person. So there! :)

To every writer who has struck out sending query after query to agents and publishers over the years, I'll share my two secret strategies: UNWAVERING BELIEF and STUBBORN PERSISTENCE. You must have both.

Having a literary agent will open so many doors that have, in the past, been closed to me. Having a New York agent will even get past the ones that seemed deadbolted shut. I view my agent as my new business partner, someone who knows what he's doing and that I can trust to do the best for us both.

So I'm off to New York. Well, not really. But I am in spirit! My best friend said I should have a "pahty" to celebrate. I'm thinking of having one with a New York theme. You know...New York steaks, New York fries and New York cheesecake. Am I missing anything? Oh yes, and maybe Liza can show up and sing for me so that I'm not forced to Karaoke everyone to death.

And now...a musical interlude. You know the tune.

(music, please...)

Start spreading the news
I got an agent today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
My vagabond books
Are longing to stray
And make a brand new start of it
New York, New York
I want an agent in the city that never sleeps
So I can be queen of the hill, top of the heap
These Edmonton blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

(This is my shamelessly adapted version of 'New York, New York'--strictly for entertainment purposes.)

And no, I'm not mentioning my agent's name yet. Now you'll just have to check back here. :)

P.S. I welcome any other 'New York' themed ideas for my "pahty".

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif

ForeWord's 'First Independent Publisher of the Year' award

Out of over 28,000 independent book publishers in the US, ForeWord magazine selected one winner for their First Independent Publisher of the Year award.

And the winner is...(drum roll please)

Kunati Books!

MY publisher!

From ForeWord's site:

ForeWord has named Kunati Books the first Independent Publisher of the Year. The new honor was created to celebrate ForeWord's tenth anniversary and to recognize Kunati's innovation and fearlessness.

Kunati, a year-old publisher, produces book trailers for every new release, maintains a blog, and encourages its authors to blog and actively participate in marketing their books. The publisher currently has several movie deals in the works, and its roster of authors includes Pulitzer Prize winner John E. Mack.

On another page on ForeWord's site, they went on to say:

Kunati is one today’s most innovative independent publishers...It has been called “a publisher to watch” by Booklist and “impressive” by Publishers Weekly; now Kunati Books is ForeWord’s 2007 Independent Publisher of the Year.

Congratulations to everyone at Kunati!!! This is a prestigious award for a wonderful book publishing company that is only in their first official year of publishing books. Way to go!

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
a proud Kunati author
WHALE SONG
ISBN: 1601640072

How many words in a book title?

In a recent article on Foreword Magazine, publisher and author Derek Armstrong wrote about book titles and whether it mattered how long they were or how short. It made me contemplate how I named my novels, how sometimes I chose the titles before or during the writing or how the titles sometimes chose me.

The following are my comments about his article titled Would You Pay Attention, Please? Or, How to Keep Up with Trends in Book Titles, Arguably the Most Important Element of Your Marketing! (which personally I think is just a bit too long...hehe)

I have always believed that titles are key to a novel's success. I have searched out books in my genre and studied their titles, text placement, front cover, back cover etc and asked myself, 'Why does this book's title work?' For my own novels, my titles are always tied to the story, often in a symbolic way and sometimes in more than one way. Children of the Fog is literally children taken by a kidnapper nicknamed The Fog, and it represents the children in the story who are cloaked by an actual fog.

I might be an unusual author; I almost always have the title of the book before I've even started it, or at least before it's finished. I sometimes look within the manuscript for the title, as I did with The River--short, mysterious, adventurous, just like the novel. Some titles are just "there", in front of me before I even start writing, like Whale Song and Children of the Fog. Divine Intervention had no title a few chapters in, and then one night I saw a promo for a new TV show--Joan of Arcadia. As the preview ran, the words DIVINE INTERVENTION ironically appeared. I knew at that very moment, and the title affected some of the actual story and gave me my 'Divine' series. (I'm currently working on Divine Justice, book 2.)

I am also working on a suspense thriller called SUBMERGED. It's the story of a man who is submerged in grief and self-blame; and it's about a woman and her 2 children who are trapped in a submerged car--a fear that most of us have. I had the title the second I knew that the story would be about someone in a submerged vehicle. I also knew that it would represent the main character's guilt.

I have another novel plotted: The 6th Plague, a thriller about a small quarantined town gripped by a deadly plague during a film festival. I actually played with a few titles, until I realized what the invasion was going to be--and when I looked up the Deadly Plagues, I found that the 6th one--boils--was perfect. The idea for the story and the title came to me within 5 days.

As for subtitles, I have an aversion to long ones, unless they're absolutely necessary and ONLY for nonfiction. If the main title gives you enough information, then I wouldn't want a subtitle. But if you can't understand what the book is about from the main, then a subtitle is vital. Take for instance this nonfiction title: Kissed by an Angel. Does it tell you what the book is about? No. I am working on a nonfiction book titled: Kissed by an Angel: 12 Steps to Surviving the Death of a Child. This is not just a 12-step program, but a look into the paranormal/spiritual and healing side of grief.

As a reader, I tend to be drawn mostly to suspense fiction with titles that are most often two words.

If you're a bookworm, please comment on your preference for titles. If you're an author, which do you prefer--short, long or somewhere in between? I look forward to reading your replies.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song (April 2007, Kunati Books)

Why doesn't every bookstore carry my books?

Is it true that once you're published by a traditional royalty-paying publisher your books will be in all the bookstores across Canada and the US?

The answer is...no. Many writers believe that this is the big advantage to being traditionally published. But it's a myth.

Since my first novel was published in 2003, I have often been asked why my novels are not in every bookstore across North America. There are a few reasons for this, actually, but one of the main reasons is that the book industry just doesn't work like that. Yes, you'll certainly see the top 25 or so bestsellers in every store. These are big name authors who have proven time and time again that their books sell by the truckloads, and the 1 or 2 breakout authors whose book flies off the shelf at record speeds may be among them.

Believe me--I would be quite happy (and possibly a bit manic) to see my novels in every bookstore. It is a partnership between so many divisions of the publishing industry that helps increase a book's availability. I know one thing for sure, there are thousands of authors whose books have less exposure than my novels.

My publisher has been writing articles for Foreword Magazine, an industry standard for the book world, and his latest article touched on something I have believed since day one. If I want my books to sell, I have to do whatever I can to 'move' them off the shelves. I owe it to myself. Every author does.

The following is my reply to my publisher's latest article on Foreword's website:

In the years (okay, decades) that I've been researching the book industry, I've heard these statistics many times. And they're so true. I've also heard how publishers in the US are publishing nearly 200,000 new titles a year. This sheds some light on why my 3 novels aren't on every bookstore shelf. Can you imagine the size the bookstore would have to be to accomplish shelving every title? But it is a common assumption with aspiring or newly published authors that their books will be everywhere, in every store automatically. That's just not the case.

Today's authors have to take on the role of marketing even more than ever if they want to succeed. You can't wait for the sales to happen; you have to go out and get them. Book signings are a plus. I love doing them, meeting people and talking to fans. But most authors, including me, can't afford to tour all across the country 2-3 times a year. And publishers certainly can't pay for all of their authors to do so either.

I was the first author from Kunati Books to hold a virtual book tour (VBT). For one month, I blogged, wrote articles, answered intervews, spoke on radio shows--I loved it. VBT's are becoming more popular every year, and I believe that's where author tours are heading. Even bestselling author Margaret Atwood knows the trials of traveling; she invented the LongPen, a device that signs books with the author in one city and readers in another. I've signed up for that too.

I embrace the marketing of my novels and I am excited to do so. With three novels published, I am constantly searching for new ways, new ideas, and the majority of them involve online marketing. From my own experience, I can say that being computer savvy is a huge advantage as more and more authors are turning to internet marketing. Authors experienced in web design, HTML code, navigating the internet, and those who blog regularly and update their websites routinely have a headstart. I believe in working smarter, not necessarily harder.

Selling books is a partnership between everyone involved--author, agent, publisher, distributor, booksellers...they each have their role, and the common one is to sell books. Today's authors have to be bold, daring, open to learning, open to selling, persistent, and driven. That's how you become one of the 2.1% of authors who sell more than 5000 copies.

If you'd like a better understanding of the book industry, please read my publisher's article:
Staggering Statistics in Book Publishing can Read Like a Stephen King Horror Novel. Is There Any Hope for Authors and Publishers?

I invite you to leave a comment here and on the Foreword page.

What do you think about these statistics and the book industry's future?

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention