Are you a Guerilla Writer?

Google is in court beating up on the Authors Guild. Apple is in court. Publishers have thrown in the towel in the DOJ case. The world watches as Amazon rules the digital roost. And the Big 6 traditional NYC publishing houses have become the big “5”. Or is it 4? Random House & Penguin are now a publishing conglomerate and everyone is waiting to see what changes are coming from that combo. No doubt about it, though, it will mean less choice for readers. As RH and P combine their imprints, and their philosophies, some more innovative energy may well wane. Tried and true, after all, is what publishing has always been about. They may not be able to pick a bestseller, but they’ll stick with any winning concept until it’s old and gray. Borders is a distant memory. Barnes & Noble is floundering. The “next big thing” is a 21 year old author whose book was first offered up on Wattpad. Self-published authors are reaching the top of the bestseller lists against behemoths like James Patterson. Books are being optioned for television and motion pictures by the handful. I just received a check for a short story. Ah, where to go wild with that $25? On the flip side? Sylvia Day’s got plenty to spend with her recent two book, 8 figure deal with Penguin. From the ridiculous to the sublime.

But you see, the thing that’s exciting about being an author in this day and age - if you are willing to take leaps of faith, try new paths to publication, and eschew the “RULES” that everyone attempts to throw in your face - is that you have so many ways to be a successful storyteller! I’ll bet any writer you meet, deep down, wants to be a successful writer. No matter what they write, they want to be bought and read – and compensated for their art. There’s probably a couple folk out there willing to write for the mere pleasure of writing, but they are the rarest of birds.

Being in NYC affords me a wonderful opportunity to watch this industry change. I work in entertainment and media, so I get a lot of news that way, including how the legal industry is changing to accommodate digital, including in the publishing world. [Hint: Copyright change is on the horizon, big time!]. There are industry events held here pretty much on a weekly basis that I can attend. I’m a member of a national writing organization and my NYC chapter is rife with news, and even better, innovative members who are graving this exciting new world with laptops blazing. Social Media is the be all and end all for writers. Conferences abound. Outfits of every ilk to help you write, edit, publish, market, brand are sprouting like weeds.

Sounds exciting, no? Sounds like there are opportunities for everyone, right?

So why the long faces, people? Seems like everywhere I turn, some group or another is pissing and moaning. Things should stay the way they were! Aren’t they watching? Nothing can stay the same. Change is inevitable. And you can either embrace it or you’ll be steamrolled over by it, left in the dust. Then there are the other grouches who want the baby thrown out with the bathwater – everything old should be jettisoned. Do everything the new way! But the old models have validity too. And if you don’t want to go with the opinion being espoused? Then you’re considered out of touch or naïve. If you go bold and brazen, the traditionalists think you’re nuts. If you make the choice to remain with the old school models? You’re nuts.

So, what’s a writer to do?

Well, here’s my two cents (or rather, given the length of this post, I expect you are suggesting it’s more like a buck fifty, right?). Be a guerilla writer.

Pay no attention to the proselytizers and the grumpy naysayers.

Forge your own career path.

Pursue your dream of publication, be it the first piece ever, or the umpteenth title, exactly as you choose. From start to finish. Don’t like outlining? So don’t do it. Love Scrivener? Use it. You hear that you should stick to a single genre, but you want to spread your imaginative wealth around. Let ‘er rip! Want to see your printed book on a shelf because that is the only way it is “real” to you? Then keep on truckin’ and work til you get there. Think digital first is the coolest thing ever with millions of eager readers just waiting out there to download your story gems? Then go for it! Want to keep every decision in the process yours and only yours? Indie-pub with glee. Think there’s advantages to all of these options? Welcome to the world of hybrid publishing.

How you reach your goal is not the important thing. What is, is reaching that goal, by any means necessary. The caveat? What does choice demand of you? That you be prepared to roll up your sleeves and sweat blood and tears. Be educated and informed. Be vigilant because your product is all you have. Be hands-on and pro-active. Be prepared to fail, re-strategize and try again. Be realistic and resilient. Be flexible and open to new innovation as well as old methodology. Be constantly aware that being a book author in this day and age means you are 50% author and 50% businesswoman, and in the words of Eloisa James, “the businesswoman comes first”. But above all, be smart. Remember that what works for you is anathema to another author. Your skill set is unique to you and someone else may choose alternate ways because they have a different brace of talents. Be a guerilla writer as you navigate this new publishing jungle. And don’t sneer at that other author or her choices. Instead, cheer each other on. And when you are crossing the finish line with an author who did it her way? Hold hands and smile as you embrace that dream!

Lise Horton is published in digital erotic romance anthologies. Her upcoming 9/9/13 contemporary release, Words of Lust, will be a digital first erotic romance from Carina Press. And in 2014 she’ll be included in the Cleis Press print anthology, “Slave Girls” with her short story “My Master’s Mark” under her pseudonym, Lydia Hill. She writes in multiple lengths and numerous genres from BDSM erotica to WWII women’s fiction. Yes, she’s doing it her way! Find her at www.lisehorton.com.

We'll Take Manhattan

The Big Apple has long been the source of inspiration for songwriters the world over. I consider one of my favorites, by the inimitable Rogers and Hart, "I'll Take Manhattan", to be the unofficial "love song of New York City". Both for those of us who love this burg, and for the lovers among us. As the last line of this lovely, lilting tribute goes, "The city's bustle cannot destroy, the dreams of a girl and boy, I'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.". (Lyrics/Lorenz Hart; Music/Richard Rodgers/"The Garrick Gaieties 1925). A quick peek at Wikipedia's entry, "List of songs about New York City" gives insight into the popularity of this place as a musical muse. Witness, from the sublime to the ridiculous, literally hundreds of songs about Manhattan and its environs. Indeed entire musicals have been written about this place, including "Forty-Second Street", "On The Town" and "Wonderful Town". And the music captures perfectly the frenetic pace, the exuberance, the thrill, the solitary loneliness, the wonder, the mystery, the romance - there's a song for every New York state of mind (thank you Billy Joel for a most evocative theme!).

Not merely the musically minded have wallowed in our town. Painters have painted it. Photographers have photographed it. Architects have designed it. This place inspires like nobody's business.

Perhaps more than any other group, since the first boats landed, it has been a haven for writers of all sorts. From poets like Walt Whitman who roamed the streets shouting their rhymes, to playwrights like Neil Simon who captured the heart of the city and indelibly etched the image of our home for audiences the world over. From the famous brought low - Dylan Thomas drinking his last at The White Horse Tavern - to the obscure raised high like James Baldwin, Dorothy Parker, and Betty Smith - author of the perennially embraced A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. My how the written word has thrived in this tumultous corner of the world! Comedy and tragedy. Mystery and horror. History and science. Poetry and polemic. And never let it be forgot, ROMANCE!

Hence it should come as no surprise to find that today, on this very island purchased by Peter Minuet for a song and $24.00 (conversion from 1626 wampum dollars not available at this time), four intrepid writers lurk. We are of various backgrounds, ages, political leanings, talents and fashion sensibilities. And you, you lucky few, get to hang out with us as we bring home the bacon, dodge cabs, avoid subway perverts, and pursue our dreams of writing the great American romance novel.

That's right. We are romance writers. We say it loud and proud. C'mon. Fess up. You just love a good love story, doncha?

Welcome to the blog of The Four Horsewomen of the Metropolis. The metropolis of Manhattan. A tiny island with a huge heart, a fire in its belly, and a stalwart soul.

For a writer of any ilk, this is a cool place to be. For people watching - on buses and subways and City streets - to help us create great characters. For research and investigation we have libraries and museums that cover any manner of subject. Even (be still my heart), the Museum of Sex, which, naturally, is right up our, ahem, alley, though our personal writerly styles differ in dealing with those luscious pleasures of the flesh. But never fear! We'll surely have a story for every desire, be your preference sweet and low down, or bawdy and naughty.

For catching a breath of somewhat fresh air, we have parks of every sort to stretch out in and rejuvenate our muses when they weary of our work-a-day grind and need a little R&R. From Central Park to The High Line we can sit and contemplate our stories, and watch the high-flying hawks for inspiration. Or the helictopters of the NYPD. (I don't know about you, but I am VERY inspired by a man in uniform!)

There are street musicians and mimes, performance art and protests, food carts and film crews. Where else can you be a part of a Law & Order crowd scene, or bump elbows with a celebrity, sans finery, as they make their nightly trek to a star's dressing room at one of the dozens of wonderful theatres on the Great White Way? And experience it all while noshing a pretzel the side of a hubcap?

Writing is a solitary profession but in NYC we four gather together to commiserate and brainstorm and raise a glass (or three) in celebration of our triumphs and achievements. Many an evening we can be found at restaurants and watering holes like Kennedy's on West 57th Street, or Heidelberg on the upper East Side. Or perhaps we've been spied at Cancun on 8th Avenue where the margaritas flow like, well, water, and we leave weak with laughter, the waiters richer for having met us. When we need variety? How about organic food, Thai food, Italian, Chinese or a tray of sliders. A Beer at a pub, or a glass of merlot at a side-walk cafe can help us wind down. And when winding up is called for, there's a Timothy's, Starbucks or Tim Horton's on every block.

To feed our creative souls, we have other, diverse interests and pursuits. One of us loves cabaret and intimate song stylings at Michael Feinstein's or the Algonquin - where ghosts of the fabulous writers of the round table of the same name drift about the crowd. Another craves her classical fix, a third entertainment with a Latin flavor and a Fourth Horsewoman goes in for the au courant erotic literary experience. Broadway is down the street and over on the West Side. Lincoln Center is across the Park (where the Shakespeare Garden gives life to the Bard's words) where ballet, opera and symphonic delights abound. Jazz at The Blue Note in the Village. Lectures and concerts at the 92nd Street Y. And that's just the tip of this urban iceberg.

Though it is a city of millions, a diverse foursome such as we still happened to meet. Our "day jobs" are in utterly differing worlds, and we had no mutual friends. Yet we connected because of our mutual, abiding interest: Our love of writing romantic fiction and of the books that celebrate love and romance in all its myriad forms. We found ourselves together at the Romance Writers of America New York City chapter and the rest is, or will be, history.

That reason has drawn us together in camraderie, four urban cowgirls, banded together (we ride the subway, silly, what did you think?). We are an opinionated crew, and tend toward the loud and raucous. You will soon discern these disparate natures as we blog, and blather, discuss writing and publishing and romance and sex (on the PAGE, for goodness sake!). We'd love to invite you along for the ride as we share our love of books, this town and our lives and our search for success as published authors.

Stop by from time to time and get to know us. Chat with us about great romance novels and romantic fiction. Share your thoughts on our thoughts, and enjoy what we share about the business, and books, the craft of writing and the madness of a few good Manhattan gals.

We want you to think of us as your friends. But remember - if you invite us over, you'd better have lots of cocktails on hand, put the kids to bed early, and be prepared to let down your hair!

We are the Four Horsewomen - and when the going gets tough, we saddle up!