The New Writers' Scheme

Today we welcome not one, not two, but three RNA members to the blog to talk about their different experiences of the New Writers’ Scheme. We’re delighted to be joined by scheme member, Sasha Greene, schene reader, Jennifer Young, and our NWS Co-ordinator, Imogen Howson. Imogen is up first:

In 2018, the RNA will offer 300 memberships to writers who are not (yet) published, and so who are not (yet!) eligible to join the RNA as Full or Independent members. These New Writers’ Scheme (NWS) members will then have the opportunity to send in a full-length manuscript for a critique from our team of readers, all of whom are multi-published, experienced authors.

As NWS Organiser, I have the privilege of managing the administration involved.  

And it is a privilege.  In the world of writers’ organisations, the NWS is, as far as I know, unique. 

The life of a writer is an isolating one.  And all the craft books, talks, workshops and writers’ forums in the world can’t offer the help that you get from an actual hands-on appraisal of your writing. It’s why personalized rejections can be so valuable (albeit disheartening!), and one of the many reasons why a good agent or editor is worth their weight in gin.

So being in the position of assigning manuscripts to the most appropriate reader, sending the resulting report to the writer, and then hearing the subsequent success stories, is deeply satisfying.

This year, in particular, I’ve had a huge amount of comments from the readers for the scheme, telling me that the quality of manuscripts this year has been particularly good.  I’ve also had a huge number of extremely happy members of the scheme contact me, asking me to pass their thanks to their reader and saying how helpful and encouraging their reports have been.

This year, as every year, I’ve also seen members take their revised manuscripts to publishers, and end up with contracts. Something that the RNA celebrates at our Summer Party in May each year, when the Joan Hessayon Award is given to someone whose book has been through the NWS and has gone on to be published. 

The presentation of the Joan Hessayon Award is a lovely event.  It’s wonderful to see all the members who are ‘graduating’ the NWS, a thrill to see who’s won this year, and always fun to change from writing clothes (pyjamas, anyone?) into party clothes to celebrate with them.

Managing the day-to-day administration of the NWS is, admittedly, less glamorous, but on the other hand, it gives me the opportunity to read emails from members saying: “When I sent my manuscript in for critique I didn’t know any more whether it was good or terrible. Thanks to my report, I now know that it is good, but I also know how to make it better.” 

Or sometimes, which is even more lovely: “This year has been really discouraging, and I’d reached the point where I was thinking of giving up writing. My report has given me so much encouragement and spurred me to carry on.”

I don’t get to put on my party dress and heels and drink prosecco when I read those emails (although I guess I could!). But all the same, knowing I’m part of an organization that not only helps writers become better, but helps them know they’re better, what could be more exciting than that?

Imogen Howson writes science fiction and fantasy for young adults.  She won the YA category of the Romantic Novel of the Year 2014 with Linked, and also won the Elizabeth Goudge trophy in 2008 and 2017.  She’s represented by Mandy Hubbard of Emerald City Literary Agency.

When Immi’s not writing, going to RNA parties, or organizing the NWS, she cooks, runs, reads, and looks after a household of one Church of England curate, two young adult daughters, three cats, and one tiny dog.  She lives in rural Nottinghamshire between a cornfield and a graveyard, and expects aliens, zombies, or both, any day now. You can find out more about Immi on her website or by following her on twitter.

So that’s the NWS from the co-ordinator’s point of view. What’s the scheme like for those who read the manuscripts? Over to Jennifer Young to find out:

I enjoy reading and critiquing other people’s work, so when I saw that the NWS was looking for readers, I jumped at the chance, as a grateful graduate of the scheme, to give something back.

In my time as a reader, I’ve critiqued everything from the tentative words of complete beginners to the polished work of writers far more accomplished than I will ever be. I’ve critiqued a first draft full of beginner’s errors yet which had that certain something that brought a tear to my eye. I’ve felt like a fraud writing comments on novels even as I learned from their authors.

I try — always — to find something good to say about a manuscript and I can put my hand on my heart and say that I’ve never read one where I’ve had to resort to false compliments. To produce a manuscript for submission, even if it isn’t complete, requires imagination, application and effort, and all of them — especially the imagination — show through.

That said, I don’t think it’s fair to shrink from the problems. Just as I pass my own work to beta readers expecting them to be as hard on me as an agent, editor, publisher or reader would be, I will always tell a writer where I perceive that there are problems. I find it difficult to write a tough critique, especially because I know from experience how hard it is to read one, and the last thing I — or any other reader — would want to do is discourage an aspiring author when the game we play is all about persistence.

Of course — and this is something I always stress — judgement is subjective. No matter how hard I might try to be dispassionate, I will inevitably be kinder to someone who writes in my style, or somehow catches my imagination, or even accidentally sets a novel in a place dear to my heart. There will always be a reader who loves a book that I find fault with, or hates the one I adore. It’s like love. A book and a reader require chemistry, and that’s beyond our control.

So my tip for NWS members is this. Don’t be afraid to write what you want. Listen to your reader’s comments but don’t be bound by them. Writing is a craft and craft requires hard work. But never, ever give up.

Jennifer Young is an Edinburgh-based writer of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She graduated from the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2014 with her contemporary romance, Thank You For The Music. Five other novels followed with e-publisher Tirgearr Publishing, and in 2016 she branched out into self-publishing with a series of romantic suspense novels set in her home city.

Thank you Jennifer. The work of the NWS readers is so valuable to the RNA, but what does the scheme mean to its members? Here’s Sasha Greene to talk about her experience of being in the NWS:

This is my third year in the New Writers' Scheme. It all started a few years ago when I went to a course given by the lovely Kate Walker. She encouraged me to join the RNA, and mentioned the NWS. The midnight deadline for applying was a little unusual, but by some twist of fate I was visiting friends in Canada that year and so I sent my application off on the dot at 5pm in the afternoon!

The excitement upon hearing that I had been accepted was soon replaced by the realisation that I had only written around 10,000 words of the manuscript that I was supposed to be submitting at the end of August. I put my nose to the grindstone (or rather, my fingers to the keyboard), detemined to finish something that I could be proud of. I submitted so close to the deadline that it took a while for comments to be returned, but when they did I sat down and laughed for at least five minutes, as I had made so many of the elementary mistakes I had promised myself I would never do. And my characters always seemed to be eating...

The reviewer was incredibly thoughtful and positive in the comments made, which gave me fresh motivation to take the story forward. The following year I submitted a revised version, and was advised that once the comments had been taken onboard I should try for publication. This year I submitted a fresh manuscript, and also had very encouraging feedback which has spurred me on.

What I really like most about the NWS is how encouraging everyone is. Submitting your work for another person to comment on is never easy, but the reviewers always make sure that the comments they give are constructive. Imogen does an amazing job of organising everything, and we even had a NWS session at the RNA conference this year where we could meet the other NWS members and ask her and a graduate of the scheme any questions we needed to know. All the published writers in the RNA are so incredibly supportive, and go out of their way to help us make the networks that might help us get published. I can highly recommend the scheme to any unpublished romance author who is really serious about trying to make a career with their writing.

Thank you Sasha, Jennifer and Immi for telling us what the NWS means to you. The 2018 scheme will open to new applicants in January 2018, and is expected to fill up quickly. Details of how to apply can be found in the ‘Join’ section of the RNA website.

Ask the Industry Expert: Literary Agent, Imogen Howson

It's time for another of our agent interviews, and this month Helena Fairfax talks to Imogen Howson. Imogen is a member of the RNA - and a well-known face to many of us! We were delighted to hear of her recent appointment as associate agent with the Kate Nash Literary Agency.

Congratulations on your new post, Immi, and welcome to the RNA blog!

Please tell us a little about the Kate Nash Literary Agency and how you came to join.

The Kate Nash Literary Agency is a boutique literary agency based near Oxford (close enough to London for meetings with publishers!).

I met Kate at a few RNA events before she opened to applications for an associate agent, and I really liked, one, that her agency is boutique, and, two, that Kate is so author focused.  Most of my work history has been with a small company, and it makes me happy to feel that I have a sense of what’s going on in all its corners. And although working in publishing is about selling books, I love working with authors and seeing them develop—and hopefully helping them develop. Of course, all good agents are interested in working with their authors long-term, not just for one book, but I feel that Kate is particularly author focused, which is a great agency ethos and one that I’m adopting!

 You previously worked as acquiring editor at Samhain. How much editorial work do you envisage doing as an agent? For example, if you came across a novel with a great story that needed a lot of editing, would you accept it and work on it with the author?

This is actually something where I need to be careful to rein myself in!  As an editor, you can plunge into a book elbow-deep and work, paragraph by paragraph, with the author to improve every tiny little nuance and turn of phrase.  But as an editor, you’re working with a very specific idea of what that particular publisher wants, and the reader market they’re aiming for—and that kind of in-depth editing is what you’re being paid to do.  As an agent, I would want to be cautious of over-editing a book.  Partly because it’s pretty exhausting for the poor author to have to go through that twice, and partly because it can’t help but be a subjective process.  I would rather focus on big-picture issues (characterisation, pace, the balance of different plot threads) that will definitely make the book stronger, and then let the eventual editor do the fine-tuning.

What I do tend to do, if I read a book that is basically great but that needs further work to be really great, is ask the author if they’re willing to make revisions.  If they are, then I send maybe a page or so of suggestions for them, and offer to read the book again once the author has revised.  This shows me if they’re capable of revising to a publishable standard, and if they’re willing to.  Which, in turn, shows me whether we’ll work well together!

 Which specific plots or themes would interest you most in women’s fiction/romance?

I like ‘what if?’ themes: What if my husband had had a vasectomy and I found out I was pregnant?  What if I accidentally killed someone?  What if I had to go into the witness protection program?  What if my best friend died and I had to look after her children?  What if I fell in love with my best friend’s grieving widower?  What if my other best friend decided she wanted him and tried to kill me?

I also like big supporting casts: in genre romance and in women’s fiction.  I don’t just want the hero and heroine and a token best friend who acts as matchmaker (or, alternatively, tries to split them up and kill the heroine).  I want fully rounded, believable relationships, good and bad: friends, colleagues, exes, parents, siblings, children.  I have a special weakness for well-drawn sister relationships!

Other things I’d love to see are main characters who don’t come from my own demographic (which is white, straight, cisgender, middle-class…), marriages/engagements of convenience, anything wedding-themed, and stories that touch on issues of mental illness and neurodiversity without being overwhelmed by them.  And twins.  And virgin heroines!

During your career, have you seen certain trends come and go? (eg paranormal romance, family sagas, etc) And – the million dollar question :) – what do you think will be the next big thing?

So far my career has been mostly focused on American trends, because the publisher I worked for was a US-based one.  And yes, absolutely. Paranormal romance was a huge thing up until three or so years ago.  I don’t think it ever took off in the UK in the same way, but we still got the benefit of the US imports.  Twilight, of course, and the Sookie Stackhouse series, that got made into the TV series True Blood.  I wouldn’t like to try to sell a vampire romance to a traditional publisher right now. Although I’m sure they’ll come back around!

Romantic suspense has risen a lot in popularity recently, after having—at least in my experience—flat sales for a long time.  And I’ve been fascinated to see so many books with cartoon-type covers in the Amazon bestseller lists, because, again, up until recently those type of covers didn’t seem to sell at all well.

I can tell you what I’d like to become the next big thing!  I’d like fantasy romance to really take off and catch all the fans of Game of Thrones.  And I’d like to see the resurgence of paranormal romance, but with a fresh new face of some kind, because I’m still not ready to read about more vampires. 

Realistically, suspense/thrillers are doing well right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that trend continues for a while—possibly with a new twist.  There’s room for them to get a lot darker, while still keeping the small-world, domestic landscape that made something like The Girl on the Train (and Kate Nash Agency client Sue Fortin’s The Girl Who Lied) so believable and therefore so gripping. 
Now Sylvia Day’s series that began with Bared to You has finished, I wonder if there’s still reader appetite for something similar: a single-couple, multi-book series with a lot of sex and a lot of drama.  Or if, after that and Fifty Shades of Grey, we’re done for the moment?  I do think readers love that kind of continuing, soap opera-like story, though, and I know I’d like to find the next one!

What are you looking forward to most in your new post?

Besides finding the next big thing?  Well, I’m loving reading submissions at the moment.  That moment when you open a new query knowing it could be something fabulous is always exciting.  I’m also looking forward to acquiring my own clients.  I have a little mental wish list of the sort of writers I’d like to represent, and I’m hoping to tick them all off over the next year or so.  I’m also very much looking forward to learning more about publishing contracts.  I have some knowledge of them, but in my previous job I didn’t directly deal with them, and obviously as an agent you do.  Fortunately Kate knows all about them, and I’m learning as fast as I can!

Besides working full time, you are also a writer yourself.  [Imogen writes YA fiction. Her sci fi novel Linked was the winner in the YA category for the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year 2014.] How do you manage to fit in your writing around a busy work schedule?

With difficulty!  Well, actually, by having a strict routine and keeping to a daily word count.  If you write 1000 words a day you’ll end with a book, no matter how busy you are.  And it doesn’t have to be 1000 words in one go.  Also, to be honest, I have a very helpful and supportive partner and nearly grown-up children.  That helps as well!

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Hands down, no contest.  There are a lot that are close runners up, though!

Which book have you enjoyed the most in the past twelve months, and why?

I really enjoyed The Originals by Cat Patrick.  It’s a YA about three identical sisters. But they’re not triplets, they’re clones, and the outside world thinks they’re all the same person.  How intriguing is that as a premise? 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to read, go running, bake, drink coffee and wine with friends, eat cheese, buy dangly earrings, and collect Chalet School and Sweet Valley High books.

If you could describe your working-day in just three words, what would they be?

Coffee. Macbook. Emails.

It was lovely getting to know more about you through the RNA blog, Immi. Thanks so much for your thoughtful and interesting replies, and wishing you all the best in your new job!

About Helena:

Helena Fairfax writes contemporary romance novels, and sometimes branches out into romantic suspense when she’s in the mood for danger. Subscribers to Helena’s newsletter receive a free copy of Palace of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense novella set in the mysterious and romantic fictional country of Montverrier.




 If you would like to write for the RNA blog, please contact Elaine Everest on elaineeverest@aol.com

RNA Conference: Do’s and Don’t’s

For everyone attending this year’s conference we have invited NWS Organiser, Imogen Howson, to give a few pointers on what to expect and how we should conduct ourselves in the pursuit of a publisher or agent.

In the RNA, we’re very fortunate that agents and editors often attend our events.  This year’s conference, being in London, will have more industry professionals than usual—and lots of authors ready to take advantage of their expertise!

But, for an author who doesn’t yet have an agent or editor of their own, it can be intimidating to find yourself next to one at the bar or at the dinner table.  What should you do—ply them with gin and then forcibly thrust your manuscript into their hands, or give them one terrified look and slink away before they can speak to you?

Neither, hopefully!  Read on for a list of do’s and don’t’s for meeting agents and editors.

• Do be friendly.  No one comes to an RNA conference if they’re unwilling to talk to authors.  The atmosphere is usually very relaxed, and everyone will be happy to chat to you, even if they have to stare at your chest (I mean name badge) to work out who you are.

• Don’t worry about feeling shy.  A huge number of writers are shy, or introverted (or both).  It’s absolutely fine to start a conversation by saying, “Can I talk to you?  This is my first conference and I don’t know anyone.”  Or even, “Can I sit with you?  This is my sixth conference and I can’t remember who anyone is!”

• Do talk to anyone you meet, feel free to sit at tables that are already partially occupied, strike up conversations in the lunch queue, and sit next to strangers in the talks and workshops.

• Don’t interrupt an obviously private conversation.  If an editor/agent is head down in conversation with another author, try not to interrupt.  The conversation might be between an author and their own editor/agent, or it might be that author’s one chance to pitch their book to their dream agent.  Find someone else to chat to in the meantime.

• Do come prepared to talk about your book if asked.  Everyone you talk to will probably, at some point, ask what you write or what you’re working on at the moment.  If this person is an agent or editor, and you’ve prepared a few-sentence pitch that describes your book in a short, “hooky” way, you’ll be so pleased with yourself afterwards!  If you have to ramble for ten minutes, forget your heroine’s name, and go away realising you forgot to explain the main conflict, you won’t be so pleased.  A little bit of practice before the conference could pay off beautifully—and even if it doesn’t, it’s good practice for future events!

• Don’t do a hard-sell of your manuscript.  It’s absolutely fine to talk about your book at an appropriate point in the conversation, but plunging straight into your pitch isn’t the best way to begin.  And trying to insist that someone look at your book even if they’re showing no sign of interest, or have already said they don’t represent/publish that type of fiction, isn’t a great idea either.

• Do be aware of the genre, length and type of your book.  If a publisher only publishes short, light-hearted romances, they’re unlikely to be interested in a 100-word-plus gritty crime thriller, even if it does contain a romantic sub-plot.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell them about it if asked, but do remember that they’re unlikely to ask to look at the manuscript.  And don’t try to persuade them—they know what they can sell, and if your book wouldn’t do well with them, you don’t want to be published with them anyway!

• Don’t try to give agents or editors a copy of your book.  (Especially not a printed copy—nobody wants their luggage to end up heavier than it starts!)  Editors and agents have different submission guidelines, which they need authors to adhere to.  It’s not usually useful to them to be given a copy, whether print or on a flash drive.  If an agent or editor would like to see your book, they’ll probably give you their business card or email address or direct you to the submissions guidelines on their website. 

Finally:

• Do come to the NWS session on Saturday morning.  Imogen Howson, the NWS Organiser, will be there to answer any questions or concerns you have.

About Immi:

Immi combines writing young adult fiction, working as an editor for Samhain Publishing, and running the New Writers Scheme. Her latest book is Unravel, a YA science fiction romance. When she’s not writing, editing or taking NWS parcels to the post office, she drinks coffee, runs, cuddles cats, hamsters and teenagers (her own, not other people’s), and collects Sweet Valley High and Chalet School books. She can be found at www.imogenhowson.com and twitter.com/imogenhowson

Do you have any tips to add to Immi’s? Please add them in our comments section below.

Thank you, Immi. We are sure this will be extremely helpful to those attending.
 

Have a good Conference!
 

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

February Releases

Katie Fforde A PERFECT PROPOSAL

Arrow Books

17th February

£7.99

When Sophie realises her family see her as general dogsbody, accepts her old friend’s offer of a chance of a lifetime to head off to the Big Apple.

Carol Townend BOUND TO THE BARBARIAN

Mills & Boon

February 4th 2010

£3.99 Paperback

Once a slave, maidservant Katerina has promised to convince Commander Ashfirth Saxon that she is an Imperial princess, but the longer she keeps up the  deception, the less she wants to deceive him… This novel is set in medieval Byzantium - for further details see Carol’s blogsite: http://www.caroltownend.co.uk/

Christina Jones  THE WAY TO A WOMAN’S HEART

Piatkus/Little,Brown

3rd February 2011

£7.99 paperback

Hoping to find solace in country cooking, Ella leaves her corporate life for rural Berkshire and finds instead a houseful of homeless foodies, a television crew shooting a top-rated cookery programme, a flurry of flower fairies - and the sexiest chef in the world.

http://www.christinajones.co.uk/

Fay Cunningham SNOWBOUND

Linford Romance LP

1st February

£8.99 (Amazon)

Stranded over Christmas, Amy discovers Ethan's secret and passions flare as the snow deepens.

Imogen Howson BLOOD OF THE VOLCANO

Samhain Publishing

February 22nd 2011

$5.50/ £3.17

Sworn virgin, instrument of the god’s vengeance—helpless in her target’s arms. 

Excerpt link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/blood-volcano-p-6262.html

Jean Fullerton PERHAPS TOMORROW

Orion

3rd February

£9.99

Life has been tough for widow Mattie Maguire but very soon it’s going to get a whole lot tougher.

Jo Beverley A DEMON’S BRIDE

A Penguin-NAL e-special.

£1.72

A Georgian rake, a vicar's daughter, and a pagan ritual in rural Suffolk. When the great earth demon Waldborg rises in truth, everything changes in this reissued novella.

Read more at http://www.jobev.com/tdbexc.html

Jo Beverley FORBIDDEN MAGIC

Penguin NAL trade paperback

Also in e-book.

£9.45

When she and her siblings are to be thrown onto the streets of Regency England, Meg Gillingham turns to a magic statue for help.

Liz Fielding ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

Linford Romance Library LP

£8.99

Escaping Christmas with a trip to the Caribbean is just what Maddy needs, but first a besotted bloke with a ring burning a hole in his pocket turns up. No! Then her godmother with a gigolo in tow. Fake snow and tinsel is beginning to look appealing...

http://www.lizfielding.com/

Louise Allen REGENCY PLEASURES (Containing A Model Debutante & The Marriage Debt)

Mills & Boon

Feb 2011

£7.99

Two novels with unusual Regency backgrounds - an artist's studio, complete with nude model, and the condemned cell in Newgate and a marriage of desperation.

See http://www.louiseallenregency.co.uk/books/index.php for an extract.

Maggi Andersen THE RELUCTANT MARQUESS

Embrace Books

14th February 2011 

Can Charity ever make the rakish Lord Robert love her, when he’s convinced a husband should never be in love with his wife?

Margaret Mounsdon THE MOUNTJOY SECRET

A People's Friend Pocket Novel

10 February 2011

£1.80

When private enquiry agent Sophie Blaze bumps into her old school adversary

Emma Mountjoy the encounter leads to an old scandal best kept hidden.

On the way she meets the charismatic Jack West who has no reason to trust her.

http://margaretsromanceworld.blogspot.com/

Nell Dixon MAKING WAVES

Astraea Press

8th February 2011

New company, no further info at this stage

Cassidy Jones needs a holiday and her friend, Tammy’s cottage in New Bay sounds perfect. The beach could heal the bruises from losing her job and her fiancé. Josh Parker is also looking forward to a much needed break after eighteen months of non-stop work. His friend Tammy’s cottage would be just right for some time alone. Or would it? (This is a reprint of A Taste of Summer)

Sheila Newberry THE POPLAR PENNY WHISTLERS

Robert Hale

£18.99

Hester, a laundry maid at the old Poplar Hospital, is already caring for her twin siblings, when her widowed father is badly injured at the docks.  Her dreams of becoming a nurse are put aside. The irrepressible Polly, Harry and disabled father determine to help, and with their pet dog Puglet, become The Poplar Penny Whistlers.

Susan Palmquist HER INDISCRETION

Noble Romance

February 7th

A foolish mistake has put Lydia James in a predicament, marry Lord Likely or become the scandal of Bath.

Susan Palmquist WHO’S THE BOSS

Cobblestone Press

February 11th, 2011

Getting caught in a compromising position at work leads to the unexpected.

Freda Lightfoot LUCKPENNEY LAND - LP

Jan 2011

W F Howes Ltd

£18.95

Life is hard for Meg Turner living on a lonely farm in the bleak but beautiful mountains of the Lake District with a bully of a father and a brother who resents her. She loves Jack, but loyalties are threatened as World War II approaches, and Meg gradually realises that the only thing she can really count on is her passion for the haunting land she loves so much...

http://www.fredalightfoot.co.uk

Fenella J Miller MISS PETERSON & THE COLONEL
Aurora Aspen Mountain Press
February 11th.
e-book
A Regency romance with spies, horses and a dashing hero.

Sally Clements BOUND TO LOVE
Embrace Books
ebook
£4.59

Security expert Jake Forrester must accept the help of impulsive, spirited goldsmith Tempest MacKenzie when they find themselves kidnapped together, despite his misgivings!  

Imogen Howson - A Holiday TBR Pile

I don’t normally have a TBR pile—everything lives on my Amazon wish list until I buy it, and then it doesn’t wait to be read long enough to live in a pile. But for once I really, genuinely do have one. We’re going away on holiday for a week in a few days, so when this order from Amazon came I put it aside to read only once we’re on holiday.

I have an eleven-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, so this pile is a mix of books for all of us. I love young adult books—and write them myself—so my thirteen-year-old and I do a lot of sharing. And, in her case, very useful beta-reading of my stuff!

Wings is a young adult fantasy, the debut release from Aprilynne Pike, about a girl who (I think) discovers she’s a fairy. The publisher had the good sense to put a whole lump of the book up to read online on their website. I read, I got hooked, I put the book straight on my wish list.

The Prophet from Ephesus is for my thirteen-year-old. She’s been reading this series, The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence, for several years now, and swears she’s learned more about Ancient Rome from them than she could ever learn from school.

The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman is also for her. It’s the fourth in his Victorian mystery books. I’ve read and enjoyed these as well.

The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder is for my younger daughter. I loved these books as a child, and enjoy reading them to her now. Like the Roman Mysteries, you learn an astonishing amount of history from them—in this case about Frontier America.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult futuristic, set in a scary-sounding dystopia. I read a great review of this at http://dearauthor.com and have been waiting for it to come out in the UK so I could buy it. I’d have got it as an ebook (instant gratification!) but for some reason the publisher didn’t release it as one so I had to wait.

False Colors is a historical gay romance by Alex Beecroft. I read another book by her, Captain’s Surrender, and loved it. There’s a lot of m/m romance in the epublishing world in particular, but a lot of it is more erotic than I really like, whereas Alex Beecroft’s writing is much more about the emotions and developing relationship—and she only includes the sex scenes that, after lots of sexual tension, you really want to see!

Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr is another young adult fantasy, the third in a series that began with Wicked Lovely and continued with Ink Exchange (the titles are as beautiful as the covers!). These have dark, scary, sexy fairies, emotion deep enough to drown in, and stunningly beautiful writing.

I can’t wait to get on holiday and start reading. The only trouble will be which to choose first!

Imogen writes romantic fantasy and science fiction for young adults and adults. Her next book is Heart of the Volcano, releasing as an ebook on September 15^th from Samhain Publishing. To find out more about her work visit her website – www.imogenhowson.com.

The Digital Debate - Reading Ebooks on a PDA by Imogen Howson

I meet lots of people who say they wouldn’t buy ebooks because they “hate reading on the computer”. And I don’t blame them. I spend my working day looking at a computer screen, I don’t want to do more looking at a computer screen in my leisure time.

The first ebooks I bought, in 2006, when I was first researching epublishing, I read on my desktop computer. And honestly, if I’d had to carry on doing that, I would have bought very, very few others. A couple of short stories I actually printed out before reading, because what’s the point of a book you can’t take to bed with you? I couldn’t stretch to a specifically designed ereader, though, so I did a little research and ended up with this, the Jornada 545 (£35, secondhand from Ebay).


The Jornada 545 is actually meant to do a lot more than just read ebooks—it’s designed as a PDA—but even in 2006 it had been superseded by lots of sleeker, shinier, faster gadgets, so I’ve only ever used it for ebooks.

It came with Microsoft Reader pre-installed, which reads ebooks in the Microsoft Reader (.lit) format. I downloaded and installed Mobipocket, which is my preferred reading software.

Loading books onto the Jornada is easy. It synchs with the desktop computer via its recharging cradle, and sending a book across takes a few seconds. I’ve stored up to about twenty books on it before.

It fits very comfortably in one hand, and the pages can be turned either by touching the edges of the screen (with your finger or with the provided stylus) or by using the scroll wheel on the side. If I’m reading lying down, I find it much more comfortable than holding a paperback.

The screen is backlit—like standard computer screens—so I can’t read it in direct sunlight. It is, however, fantastic for reading in bed without disturbing my partner. I’ve often been halfway through a print book but gone and bought an ebook specially so I have something to read in bed without waking him up. Despite the screen being basically a small computer screen, I don’t find it tiring to read, maybe because it’s smaller so my eyes have to move less. The reading experience is very little different from reading a print book—of the various books I’ve read I actually can’t remember which I’ve read in print or electronic version.

The battery life is okay, although nowhere near the length of the specifically designed ereaders. I’ve read a full length novel on it before (reading most of the day) before it needed recharging. Recharging is easy—I just put it back in its cradle—and takes about an hour.

Since I bought the Jornada, my daughter has acquired an iPod Touch, which, like my partner’s iPhone, can function as an ereader. The display is crystal clear, and the pages 'slide' when you turn one, which takes a little getting used to even though it looks very pretty. It’s like a whole entertainment unit, with books, movies, music, TV shows, games, the internet… So it’s not necessarily what you want if all you want to do is read books, but as a lightweight, totally portable, all-the-entertainment-you-want device, it takes some beating!

When the Jornada eventually dies, I know I’ll be tempted by the Sony, the Lbook and the Cooler. But I’m not sure I’ll be willing to forego the ease of reading in bed without using a book light, so my next ereader could well turn out to be an iPod. Or, of course, another secondhand PDA.

Imogen is epublished by Drollerie Press and her next ebook release, Heart of the Volcano, is coming in September from Samhain Publishing.

www.imogenhowson.com