Trident Media Group Archives

I Have a New Look!

November 3, 2015

For my new web site redesign (if you’re still getting the old site, hit refresh), I wanted something fun for my author photo. I went on Fiverr, an innovative site where graphic artists from all over the world show their portfolios and you can choose an artist to create a cartoon, a logo, whatever you want. The artist I chose took the photo below….

…and turned it into a colorful pop art version. It’s not Andy Warhol, but it makes me smile and I hope it does the same for anyone visiting my site. The books are meant to be entertaining, so why shouldn’t my photo reflect that, right?

I’ll be getting a fresh start with my novels too. My wonderful agent, Ellen Levine at Trident (her author, Marlon James, recently won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, just saying), made a deal with the smart, savvy publishing upstart, Diversion Books, for me. Not only will Diversion publish my new novel, Three Blonde Mice, a spinoff of Princess Charming that will kick off my “Three Blonde Mice” series, but they’ll also re-release 11 of my backlist novels with new covers and a marketing campaign. They plan to release Three Blonde Mice in August or September 2016, and the 11 older novels will come out over the next few months – all in both print and ebook editions.

And before I leave the subject of my web site redesign (thank you, Helen Baldwin, for making it happen!), I should point out that it features a way to sign up for my newsletter. I didn’t use this feature on my previous site, so I’m excited to be able to reach out to anyone who’s interested in signing up.

Bottom line: it’s all good around here.

My Novels Have Gone Digital!

June 27, 2012

When I started writing fiction, there was no such thing as an ebook. Yes, this makes me sound like some relic unearthed during an archeological dig, but the fact is that ebooks are a relatively new phenomenon. As recently as the mid-90s, we authors submitted our manuscripts by schlepping them over to Kinko’s, getting copies made and sending them to our editors, after which the books were published bricks-and-mortar style.

My last three books were recent enough to come out both as physical entities and as ebooks, so readers have been able to download An Ex to Grind, Some Nerve and Confessions of a She-Fan as well as buy the actual printed versions.

My earlier novels, on the other hand, weren’t available as ebooks and it was frustrating.

Not anymore.

Thanks to Ellen Levine, my literary agent, and the ebook division at her company, Trident Media Group, all eleven titles are going digital, with kick-ass new covers (courtesy of the talented designer Lilien Hoffman), starting with the first six that are being launched today: Best Enemies, Clean Sweep (Formerly Cha Cha Cha), Crystal Clear, Infernal Affairs, Sis Boom Bah and The Club.

Coming in a week or so will be four more titles (Princess Charming, Name Dropping, The Secret Ingredient and Lucky Stars), followed in another month by Female Intelligence, which had some technical problems during the conversion process. I’ll post their on-sale dates as soon as I know them.

Some readers may still prefer to buy the physical books, and they’re around too, but now there’s the ebook option, which will satisfy all those who’ve said the hardcovers and paperbacks have been hard to find and will offer the novels at a very affordable price. I adore my Kindle and I’ve read more books on it than I ever thought I would. I think it’s great that we have so many devises on which to buy and then read – in the time it takes to click a link – whether it’s on a Nook, an iPad or a smartphone.

Getting everybody to read when there are so many demands on our time is the key. I hope my new ebooks will please long-time fans of my work as well as attract a whole new readership.

Holidays Schmolidays

January 1, 2012

I had a good Christmas/New Year’s. I saw movies, went out to eat, had friends over for dinner, took great walks along the beach. And Michael and I drove down to Del Mar in Northern San Diego County so we could meet up with my literary agent, who’d flown in from New York with her husband to vacation with family; we stayed at a charming boutique hotel there called L’Auberge.

It’s steps from the beach and has the best homemade granola I’ve ever tasted. (I know, I know. Granola isn’t exactly exciting, but theirs was absolutely delish and was served with fresh fruit and very tasty yogurt. Not a bad breakfast at all.)

Mostly, though, I worked over the holidays. I’m in the process of having 11 of my novels converted into ebook editions (now that’s exciting since they’ve never been available in that format). Not only was I filling out author marketing questionnaires for each of the books, but I was conducting a talent search for a designer who could come up with fabulous covers for the novels. I wanted designs that would be specific to each story but that would have an overall “look/concept” in order to easily identify my “brand.” Where did I find such a designer?

On a web site out of Australia called 99designs. If anybody needs a logo or a wedding invitation or even a T-shirt, not to mention a book cover, I urge you to visit 99designs. What happens is that you sign up, state what it is you need designed, and hold a contest in which their entire international community of designers can submit entries. Over the course of seven days, you view all the designs, provide feedback, narrow the contest down to a maximum of six finalists and pick a winner. You can spend whatever you can afford (there are three packages offered). It’s not only easy but fun, and I ended up choosing a designer in Germany. She’s now hard at work creating a look for all 11 of the ebooks and I’ll post the new covers as soon as they’re finished.

My other project was reviewing the catalog copy for You’d Better Not Die Or I’ll Kill You, which Chronicle is publishing this year. My editor was in touch to say my manuscript is going into production and that I’ll be hearing from their copy editing department soon about whether I need to edit the book for length. After that, I’m sure their design team will weigh in; Chronicle does such a great job with books like mine so I feel confident that if line drawings and sidebars and boxed off sections are called for, I’ll have them.

And finally, a friend and I spent many hours brainstorming the TV series we hope my L.A. agent will pitch. It’s way too early to talk about the project except to say we laughed a lot while we were banging our heads against our computer screens.

So while I wasn’t spending the holidays stretched out on a lounge chair, I enjoyed myself. The truth is, I love to work. Crazy me.

In Praise Of Literary Agents

June 20, 2011

There’s always a lot of grumbling among authors and wanna be’s about the cold, cruel people who are literary agents. The complaints include:

They take too long to read manuscripts.
All they care about is their commissions.
They’re harder to snag than a publisher.

While some lit agents do take weeks, even months, to read (or have someone else read) a manuscript and it’s very difficult to find one who will represent you if you’re not established, they love books and writers and wouldn’t be in the business if it were all about their commissions.

As I mentioned in last night’s post, this week is the annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference and that means I get to see two old friends who are literary agents. (One of the most popular events at the Conference is the day when aspiring authors can pitch agents and, hopefully, land one.)

Paul Fedorko, who runs the literary division at N.S. Bienstock, a New York talent agency representing lots of on-air news people (Steve Kroft, Dan Rather, Bill O’Reilly, etc), is one of the nicest guys around. He and I used to work together at NAL when we were both on the publishing side. He’s full of enthusiasm, makes every book he represents sound like it’ll be a sure-fire bestseller and genuinely loves his job. Plus, he’s funny. Not a bad combo.

Angela Rinaldi owns her own literary agency in Beverly Hills and gives new meaning to the term “full service.” She not only sells aggressively to publishers but puts time and energy and intelligence into editing a manuscript before she submits it anywhere. Remember the humungous bestseller “Who Moved My Cheese?” That was Angela’s book in every way. She helped conceive it, coaxed it out of the author, found it a home and made sure it was marketed properly. She and I worked with Paul at NAL back in the day and it’s always a treat to see her.

As for my own agent…

Ellen Levine Portrait — (courtesy: Trident Media Group)

I’ve been with Ellen Levine, executive vice president at Trident Media Group, for 15 years, since the days when she had her own agency. I only wish she’d fly out for the Conference – or on one of her very occasional visits to L.A. – so I wouldn’t have to wait until August to see her in New York. She’s not only one of the smartest people I’ve ever met as well as the most hardworking, but she’s also one of the most caring. She has her authors’ best interests at heart. She makes us each feel as if we’re her only client. She’s a gem. I’m just so grateful that she took me on when I was starting my career and that she’s still in my life…although now that I really look at her picture and the books on that shelf next to her, I’m wondering why I don’t see any of my books there. Hm. I’ll have to ask her.

I Have a New Look!

My Novels Have Gone Digital!

Holidays Schmolidays

In Praise Of Literary Agents

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About Jane Heller