Virtual Book Tour with Jordan Dane!

The Interview:

LINDA: THANK Y’ALL FOR JOINING ME TODAY as I interview debut author Jordan Dane, whose first novel is being released by Avon HarperCollins on March 25th. (She sold SIX to them prior to the first being released!)

Grab a tall cold one, sit back and enjoy the ride. Jordan will be stopping by to respond to your questions and comments.

Since Jordan has thrown a contest into the fray, your comments automatically enter you into a drawing for one of FIVE $20 gift cards to—what else?—a great bookstore. Winners will be announced at the live “Launch P-A-R-T-Y!” on March 30th at THE WRITER'S CHATROOM.


LINDA: Jordan, for those of us who’ve not yet had the experience of having our novel up for auction (being fought over by publishing houses!), please share your experience with us. How much do you feel the auction activity affected your advance for NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM and subsequent novels? And, perhaps, some additional promotion was negotiated for?

JORDAN: Some of the publishing houses bidding increased their advance offer during the process. My agent (the stylish yet tough negotiator) Meredith Bernstein stirred the pot to keep up interest. She contacted 6-7 houses via phone pitch and electronically sent my manuscript to all of them. Then it became a waiting game.

When an agent has clout like Meredith, she got into the top editors and got them to drop everything to read. And I was able to get into houses that had never seen my work. (The RWA contest circuit is limiting as far as publishing houses that are judging. Yet another reason an agent is great to have prior to selling.) It was a stressful ten days, but an amazing process to watch unfold. I was at work and my receptionist kept getting me out of meetings or transferring calls to me from my agent when she had a new offer. My co-workers were extremely excited for me.

But in the end, a house will use a P & L statement to derive what they’d be willing to pay in advance monies. This P&L statement encompasses their marketing plan, expenses and expected revenues (break out the crystal ball) with a plug number calculated for advance to be paid to the author. The higher the advance, the more in-house promotion they are planning to support the book—always a good thing.

One thing I didn’t realize was that any subsequent advances dovetailed off my first advance. My house couldn’t offer any more money at the time I sold my second 3-book thriller series (since I had no sales to show), but my agent built in a contingency for more advance dollars if my second series netted X-number of sold volumes. That way, I could earn more advance money if my next series took off.

But there is a certain amount of stress knowing that as a new author, I would be tossed into the deep end of the pool with the big guys and gals. All of my books are lead titles. No pressure, right? To stay grounded through all this, I keep writing new books and focus on the one thing I have control over—the writing.

LINDA: You’ve credited author Sharon Sala with helping you to find an agent. What were your networking activities prior to Ms. Sala stepping up to the plate? How does a new author find such support?

JORDAN: Sharon actually got me into her house at MIRA too. Her editor read the book right away and went to committee to buy it. That initial interest jumpstarted the auction process that snowballed from there. Buzz is a good thing.

I had a lucrative job in the energy industry that allowed me to spend money on contests, conference travel, memberships in various professional orgs, creating a website before I sold, pitching to editors and agents, and doing outright proposals. And I got plenty of rejections—many, many, many. My own agent rejected me a couple of times.

When I entered the Golden Heart for the first time in 2005 and became a finalist, that put me on people’s radar, but that was still a roller coaster ride. For my thoughts on contests, the highs and lows, please see my website FOR WRITERS page: http://www.jordandane.com/writers.php I’ve got a Q&A on contests there.

The support I got with Sharon came purely from Sharon’s generosity and being a local chapter mate of mine. Every year she offers anyone in our chapter a complete read (with a light critique) of a mystery/suspense manuscript as part of our chapter’s Finish the Book Incentives Program. There were other incentives there for editors and agents, but I trusted Sharon to give me her honest thoughts and I love her writing. Her version of a light critique was a breathless phone call, “Honey, where do you have this?” and it ended with a 3-M sticky note with the word FANTASTIC! on it. I framed the note and it sits on my desk.


LINDA: Your Rebecca Montgomery is a strong, self-reliant detective who finds love in NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM. Is her man Diego involved in her life in the other books in the series? No spoilers, please!

JORDAN: No. No One Heard Her Scream is more standalone. For now, Becca and Diego are in San Antonio, living at their Paseo Del Rio condo on the river and finding much deserved peace for both of them. That brings joy to my heart after what I put them through. That’s not to say that will always be the case. In the fictional world, anything can happen. For a deeper understanding of the locations I picked for this book (in my old hometown of San Antonio) with excerpts, you should visit my Story Behind the Story images at this link - http://www.jordandane.com/scream_photos.php

I can always make myself shed a little tear when I read the ending on this page—when I picture Diego and Becca together.


LINDA: You’re a self-proclaimed recovering Contest Diva. How important are contest wins when it comes to finding agent representation?

JORDAN: Some agents value this, but not enough to give you any big leg up. I had an extensive bio with my 33 contest finals/wins, but it still boils down to the story you submit. Contests do give you other unexpected surprises later that I had not anticipated. After I sold, I had many pubbed authors contact me to offer support and blurbs because they believed in what they’d seen of my writing through contests as judges. Allison Brennan has been the biggest supporter. I consider her to be a very generous mentor to me now. She’s a very generous person and a gifted author.

LINDA: Because of your background in the energy industry, will there be a series involving industrial espionage or an energy crisis?

JORDAN: I never thought I’d want to write about a career I had for so many years, but my natural instincts as a writer came into play recently when I conjured a domestic terrorism scheme that I hope to use in my Sweet Justice series. My energy industry background and my many visits to field facilities will add some authenticity to my descriptions, for sure. Having some inside info on energy and a propensity for drama and conspiracies, I can really come up with some frightening scenarios. I’m sure I’m on an FBI or Homeland Security watch list.

And because of my energy career, I got to live in Alaska (10 years), which became the adventure of a lifetime. I can’t tell you how many stories this will spawn. I’m sure it will be a bottomless pit.


LINDA: Please tell us more about what we have to look forward to in the Sweet Justice series.

JORDAN: I sold three more books to Avon in May 2007 and I just finished the first book in my Sweet Justice series, romantic thriller. I’m so excited about these books. Here is a sneak peek of the first book and at the thriller series:

“An illusive web of imposters on the Internet lures a deluded teen from her Alaskan home and launches a chain reaction collision course with an unlikely tangle of heroes. This is the initial driver to a new 3-book series from suspense author Jordan Dane and Avon HarperCollins. With an international setting, these romantic thrillers will focus on the lives and loves of three women—a bounty hunter operating outside the law, an ambitious vice cop, and a former international operative with a mysterious past.”

The first series story weaves in and out of remote areas of Alaska, (part of my energy career experience). And I really think I’ve hit a breakthrough in my writing with this book (#4) that I’m tentatively calling EVIL WITHOUT A FACE. It’s an ambitious plot and very fast paced, based on a real crime that happened in 2004 in Florida. My cast of characters is AMAZING and fun to write. I love being in their world. I’m writing book#5 (THE WRONG SIDE OF DEAD)—feeling like I’ve come home to old friends. This series electrifies me.


LINDA: Anything else you’d like to add?

JORDAN: Anyone can reach me via my contact page on my website at http://www.jordandane.com/. And I’d love to have folks sign up on my direct mailing list. I reward this behavior with special offerings & contests and my quarterly newsletter has excerpt teasers and other fun stuff.

Plus I’m a featured author with the International Thriller Writers debut program for 2008. You can check out fun articles, news, and other info by going to ITW’s website at http://www.thrillerwriters.org/. Look for the Debut Authors tab. For anyone writing mystery/suspense debut books, you’ll want to check into this great program.

And come and subscribe to my MySpace blog to see the real me—the side of “me” that my mother cringes at and blames on my dad. I’m getting a devoted following of blog subscribers from all over the world. I’m there to make friends, so you won’t see me working the sales angle hard. And I reply to emails I get through my blog or my website, so write me. I’d love to hear from you.


LINDA: Jordan, thank you for being my guest!

Since this is “SHOW—NOT TELL” month with Jordan Dane at The Writer’s Chatroom, I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t direct our visitors today to the next stop on the tour. Please join Kim on March 12th!

March 12 Kim Richards http://kim-richards.livejournal.com/

JORDAN: Thanks so much for featuring me the way you have. As a new author, I appreciate the support.