The Land of Way Back

I’ll fess up, that’s an Amy Fetzer phrase, I stole it because I love it.  It’s so functional.  So where can you go in the Land of Way Back?  Well you can remind someone of a discussion or incident way back that they can’t remember it.  Or in my hubby’s case, just don’t bother remembering it.  And while I’m on the subject of men, why do they think ovaries are some sort of homing device.  “I can’t find my belt.”  Well then let me turn on my magic ovaries and they’ll point the way to whatever it is you’ve misplaced.  Said thing usually being in plain sight.

But the writing Land of Way Back is catching up to me as well.  eBook reprints.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love any opportunity to make money, but seeing books I wrote 20 years ago makes me cringe.  I’d like to think I’ve gotten better.  At least they’re all Kelsey Roberts books, so people may not get the connection – well, except for the fact that I just pointed it out in my post. 

In the Land of Way back, everything was done by hand, so mistakes were more prevalent than they are now.  Covers seem dated, Fabio wannabes.  In the Land of Way Back I never survived an interview – TV or Radio – where I wasn’t asked if I knew Fabio.  Seriously?  I am acquainted with Nora Roberts but it’s Fabio making the headlines?  That Land of Way Back wasn’t so good.

In the Land of Way Back I had to do art fact sheets for Harlequin.  Worse than coughing up a lung.  Way Back we had to pick three scenes and describe the characters, setting, tone, mood and sensuality level of the book.  We had to include a synopsis.  And we had to do it all by hand and mail it to Canada.  I understand Harlequin Authors can now accomplish this via a private portal no problem.  In the Land of Way, WAY Back, we often didn’t see our covers until the book hit the shelves.  Why?  Well HQ wanted to make sure we were only suing the images for promotion.  What else were we going to do with them but promote.  In Romance, it’s all about the bookmarks and gifts to bribe readers.

Recently Way Back, book trailers were all the rage.  Now they’re a dime a dozen and often the author has spent a significant amount of money on said trailers.  The best advice I got was from the marketing director at Simon & Schuster – they’re cute and fun If the introduce the protagonist/villain, but they should be neutral enough to be relevant for the duration of the series.  I followed his advice http://www.RhondaPollero.com

So I’m now trying to figure out what the next thing in publishing will be in the Land of Way back . . . I’m sensing it will have something to do with digital issues.