|
Ruby Release: Redeeming the Rogue
 Posted by C.J. Chase Aug 5 2011, 12:01 am in author interview, Ruby Release
Let me back up a minute. Before I sold, I included my ethnic maiden name (Eernisse) as part of my name. Through six Golden Heart finals and one win, I made the poor RWA awards ceremony MC’s stumble through an anglicized version of the Dutch pronunciation of a French name (my ancestors moved around Europe) because I wanted something a bit more memorable than C.J. Chase when I was submitting. But once I sold, my editor and agent told me to nix the funky name. Too difficult to spell. Too confusing for readers. So how in the world could Amazon mess up a name as simple as C.J. Chase? I checked the title again. Yep, Redeeming the Rogue. I checked the release date again. Yep, August 2, 2011. But the author name—Donna MacMeans—why, it wasn’t even close! And then I noticed the publisher information said Berkley where it should have said Love Inspired. It seemed two different marketing departments decided to release books with the same title on same day. What are the odds?
It was so much fun—well, who wouldn’t have fun spending a day discussing not one, but TWO rogues—I invited Donna for a Redeeming the Rogue release party with me. Donna: Hi CJ – Let me first thank you for inviting me to the Ruby Slipper Sisters to share the limelight AND let me compliment you on your excellent taste in titles! My manuscript started out as Redemption of the Rogue to mesh with the previous titles in this series (Education of Mrs. Brimley and Seduction of a Duke). I chose the word Redemption as 1) it ended in “tion” (grin) and 2) it’s really a popular word in historicals. However as over a year has passed since the release of Seduction of a Duke, my editor and I decided to make the title more active by changing the title to Redeeming.
CJ: Isn’t Donna’s Rogue cover gorgeous? I just love the green dress, even if it is a bit, er, revealing. I mentioned in a post last month that green is my favorite color, and I own a pair of to-die-for emerald green heels. They would go so nicely with that dress… (Quickly, someone please remind the inspirational writer that envy is one of the seven deadly sins.) As it turns out, my heroine Mattie also had a green dress, but it got rather ruined when … well, let’s just say guns were involved and you’ll just have to read the book. Donna, why don’t you tell us a little about the plot of your Rogue. Donna: The suspicious death of the British minister assigned to Washington DC launches my story. The home office assigns one of their best to investigate the murder on the inside of the British delegation. Problem is – their best is an Irishman more comfortable blending into London’s dark underbelly than impersonating a diplomat in a foreign country. They commission my heroine, Lady Arianne Chambers, to travel to America with Michael Rafferty and mold him into a passable diplomat along the way. Things go awry, as they tend to do, and the process of catching a killer leads to accusations of treason and Rafferty’s accidental involvement in the assassination of President James Garfield. CJ: Sounds exciting! My Rogue book features Mattie Fraser, an American who leaves her home in Washington DC and travels to London to learn the fate of her brother. She eventually finds one person who agrees to help her—Kit DeChambelle, the youngest son of an English earl. Unbeknownst to Mattie, Kit is hoping she’ll lead him to the secret that will clear his brother’s name from accusations of … treason. Donna, you and I have compared the similarities in our books before, and it’s struck me that in many ways our books are almost mirror images of each other. Of course, there’s the obvious difference in that my book is an inspirational so it includes a sweet romance and a faith element (hence the allusion to redemption in my title) while your book is highly sensual. But even our characters seem to be reflections of each other. While we both explore class differences, we’ve reversed the characters. Yours is a rich girl/poor boy match while mine is a rich boy/poor girl pairing. And the fact that your heroine travels from London to DC and mine travels from DC to London, well, that’s just a bit eerie. Then there’s the difference in tone between our books. Donna, you mentioned you wanted “redemption” in your title. How does the theme of redemption play out for your Rogue? Donna: I think every book has a redemption story somewhere at it’s core, even if the word isn’t in the title. Mine is no different in that regard. Rafferty lost his family to a Fenian bomb explosion in London, a case of the being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Fenians are a group that uses violence to gain Independence for Ireland. While Rafferty believes in Irish Independence, he doesn’t believe Fenian bombs are the answer. So he works for the British government, tracking down those responsible which puts him at odds with his own countrymen. While he’s not opposed to alcohol, he tends to work out his frustrations with his fists. He has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to the upper classes, and now he’ll have to pretend to be one of them in order to catch the Fenian bomber who is causing havoc in America. Lady Arianne Chambers has a solid case of “not good enough” that she hides well. Rafferty manages to reach her soul to teach her about forgiveness. Okay, so that doesn’t sound like a humorous and sensuous story – but it is. Trust me on this (grin). CJ: You can see what Donna means in this excerpt. As you can see by this excerpt, my book is dark and gritty, especially by Love Inspired standards. My rogue is a tortured hero suffering from PTSD as a result of the war. He’s burying his memories in alcohol (the book begins with a scene of Kit drinking himself into a stupor—not your typical inspirational opening) and he doesn’t want to hear the gentle reminders from his family and friends that he’s traveling down a destructive path. And Mattie is also carrying plenty of bitterness from the war. In addition to her brother’s impressment into the British Navy, she was in Washington that night in 1814 when the British burned the city. Funny you should mention the chip on Rafferty’s shoulder–the opening line of my back cover blurb is “With a chip on her shoulder and a pistol in her pocket, Mattie Fraser comes to London determined to find answers.” Like Kit, Mattie has set her life on a destructive course, culminating in a most unforgivable act, and she needs to learn a few lessons about redemption and forgiveness herself. Here’s a little more about my version of Redeeming the Rogue. (Because I think it’s a cool trailer and I’m showing it to everyone this week!)
So there you have it. One title. Two books. But best of all, two prizes. Donna and I are each donating a book, so two lucky commenters will get to curl up with our very disparate rogues. Tell us what you would do if you discovered your book had a twin. Or better yet, do you know of any other unusual promotions for your books? Share:
              
Comments
68 Responses to “Ruby Release: Redeeming the Rogue”Leave a Reply |
The Latest Posts
archives
tags
2010 RWA conference
2011 finalists
2012 finalists
author interview
bestseller
characterization
contest judging
craft
digital press
ebook
Free-For-All Friday
golden heart
golden heart finalists
guest author
handling criticism
historical romance
hooks
inspiration
Kelly Fitzpatrick
liz talley
Make It Golden
motivation
muse
nano
Networking
new releases
perseverance
research
rita
romance community
Ruby Release
rwa
submission tips
taking risks
tamara hogan
TV/movies
Unsinkables
Winter Writing Festival
writer's advice
writer's journey
writer's life
writing contests
writing romance
writing tips
writing tools
feeds
|
One of the most exciting days for a debut author—after the CALL and the first check—is the day the book goes up on the online bookstore websites for pre-order. Now some of the Rubies and Ruby readers are old hands at this book publishing stuff, but Redeeming the Rogue is my first book, so I was thrilled when I finally saw the title on Amazon with that quirky little “no image available” icon. And then, to my utter shock, I noticed my name was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Donna MacMeans is a 2006 Golden Heart winner and writer of historical romances, including her newest release. She contacted me a couple weeks ago about doing a Redeeming the Rogue/Redeeming the Rogue blog post on Romance Bandits. With Christina Dodd’s advice about what to do should you find yourself with a three-armed woman on the cover of your book (“You use it. Ruthlessly.”) dancing in my head, I agreed. After all, what do you do should you find yourself with a book releasing on the same day as another one with the same title? Use it, of course!
I learned about our common title a little differently. Another writer mentioned that another Redeeming the Rogue was to be released. I checked Amazon and saw that yours was Historical Inspirational, where as mine…is not (grin). I figured our respective readership wouldn’t get confused. Not many historical inspirationals have a half-naked woman on the cover (grin).
Oh, this is so fun! The parallels between your books are amazing…and they both sound great!
I love the book trailer, C.J.–great idea using all the old drawings. Who made it?
Best of luck to BOTH your Rogues!!!
Good morning Elisa. Isn’t it a hoot? And the parallels are a little spooky. Well, maybe. Or maybe it’s just that similar books ended up with the same title.
A friend named Barb Early did the trailer. I came up with the words and some ideas, but Barb found the pictures and music and put it all together so it fits the music beautifully.
Thanks Elisa -
And C.J. – What a cool trailer! It has that lovely old world feeling. Nice job!
Donna, I’m glad you could make it!
(For everyone else, Donna is tap dancing through several prior commitments today, and yet she was still game to doing this one with me.)
CJ and Donna,
Happy Double Redemption Day! Your books’ similarities are eerie and kinda wonderful.
Good luck to both of you.
CJ-cool trailer-it’s tough to make a good one.
Kelley
Kelley -
Aren’t the similarities amazing! You know you often hear about writer’s “stealing” parts of someone else’s work, but really that just doesn’t happen. More likely it’s coincidence. I once wrote a story about a woman CPA with a heart transplant based on a talk show commenter. When I was about six chapters in, I saw a newspaper review of a just-released book, non-romance, about a man CPA with a heart-transplant that had a lot of similarities to my premise. Had never read this author before – had no connection to her – but obviously we were both on a similar creative thread.
C.J. and I had a lot of fun comparing our work – but with one of us writing sensuous novels and the other inspirational sweet, there’s plenty of differences as well. LOL!
Thanks, Kelley. It really is kind of funny.
And as Donna just mentioned, it really does put things in perspective when we read a review and it seems like the author used the same ideas. Similarities really do just happen — but for Donna and I, it happened on the same day.
Welcome, Donna! So nice to see you here with the Rubies. You know I have your previous books, so I’m looking forward to adding Redeeming the Rogue to my collection.
CJ, Talk about mirror images! Twins, but one is left-handed and the other right-handed. Very cool. Maddie’s story sounds wonderful and will be a wonderful addition to the Ruby Collection.
Best of luck to both of you!
Gwynlyn -
Mwah! Thanks for the book love! Hope you love Redeeming the Rogue – both of them.
You know – I am so impressed with C.J.’s writing talents. It was no accident that she finaled in the Golden Heart so many times. Loved the excerpt that I read. I’m picking up a copy of her Rogue just to finish the story.
Gwyn, my husband grandfather and an identical twin, and they really were left handed-right handed mirroed images of each other. (That was back in the day when teachers tried to make all students write with their right hands, so the boys would switch seats sometimes so the left-handed one didn’t get in trouble all the time.)
Happens in people — and in books!
Wow! How funny that you both have the whole London/DC/Treason thing going. Almost too ironic, like it was meant to be that two different books share such similarities (yet different tones.)
Both the covers are beautiful, btw. Congrats to both of you, especially you, CJ, since this is your debut! YAY!
Both books sound good and I can’t wait to check them out
Liz –
LOL – When I saw C.J.’s cover – the whole masted ship thing – I knew we had that in common…then when we discovered we both had a treason plot going, it was amazing!
BTW – I’m paying homage to C.J.’s book in my next release, The Casanova Code, by using her ship’s name – the HMS Impatience – as the name of a toy ship in mind. So now you have the inside scoop. (grin)
Hmm. I’m not sure I can figure out a way to use the word “Casanova” in an inspirational. Now there’s a fun challenge. I just may have to try it!
LOL – you can do it! I know you can. Just refer to some poor womanizing sod as “a Casanova” in the devil’s grip. Matter of fact…the guy would need some spiritual saving. Hey – this would make a great book!
Liz, it kind of reminds me of one of those exercises where you give a bunch of writers a couple of ideas to use in their stories, and then you see how different the stories are even though they incorporate some of the same elements.
I realized this morning that Donna’s rich girl and my rich boy are both English. And her poor boy is Irish while my poor girl is American of Scottish descent. Another flip of each other.
How great is this? Congrats to both of you.
CJ the trailer is amazing.
Many sales to you both.
Thanks Rita -
Hmmm…wonder if I can talk CJ into doing another rogue trailer (grin).
Thanks, Rita. But about all I did for the trailer was come up with the words. Well, the sound effects were my idea too. Of course, a couple of days after Barb finished the trailer, I saw another (older) book trailer with some of the sound effects at roughly the same points in the video. Honest, I hadn’t seen it before. It was just like Donna’s and my titles — great minds and all.
Congratulations, CJ and Donna (It’s great to see you here, Donna). It’s amusing that two books at opposite ends of the sensuality spectrum have the same title. Good luck to both of you on your releases!
Thanks, Laurie. Back in 2008, there were two books in the RITA with the same title. Now there’s some history I’d love to see repeated.
Oh yes – I know one of those was Anna Campbell’s Untouched. Wouldn’t that be something, CJ? Hey, if that happens, we’ll have to share a room in Annaheim.
You’re on. If both Rogues final, let’s do it. It would be too much fun. We’d definitely have to sit next to each other at the awards ceremony.
Hi Laurie!
Good to see you again, Packer sister. I still think of our chat hanging out in the hallway at Atlanta’s RWA – I think that’s the one. One never realizes what a small world romance truly is until you hang out in it as long as we have (grin).
I’m absolutely going to have to read both books! The sound wonderful, ladies, and I agree that the mirror image things is kind of creepy. But more fun for readers! Good luck on your releases and congratulations, Donna and CJ. Oh, and CJ–great trailer. Really beautiful and intriguing.
Thanks for stopping by, Susan. I have to get a copy of Donna’s book (I’m hoping I can find it when I’m out later today) so I can put it next to mine on the shelf.
And I still want that dress. Hmm. Maybe if we’re both RITA finalists, I’ll have to find a green dress.
LOL – If you want a green dress – Susan is your go-to gal. (grin)
Hey C.J. -
You may have to find that green dress either way. RWA likes to tap previous GH winners to present the GH the following year. I know they asked me – and I believe they asked Susan as well. Just saying….
Wow! What fun — two rogues, two wonderful heroines to save them. I can’t wait to read both.
Congratulations, CJ and Donna!
Rose
Thanks Rose. If we have any more fun, writers will start giving their books matching titles deliberately.
Waving to Susan and Rose! May the Rogues be with you!
Congrats to both of you!
Now the rumors begin to circulate that CJ Chase and Donna MacMeans are really the same person…
A writer with a split personality would probably confirm what everyone suspects — we’ll all a little crazy.
But if we are really I, then our/my CJ persona is in trouble because she kept entering the GH after the Donna personality sold.
Bwahaha – the secret is out! I’m the evil twin!
Congratulations to both of you!
It certainly is surprising that there are so many similarities, particularly when neither of your novels is very traditional in setting or plot. Of course, such things do happen — and did happen in this case — but confession time: didn’t you just get a sinking feeling in your stomach the first time you heard the news that your novel would be releasing on the same day as another with the same title? Obviously, you’re both handling it beautifully, with humor, grace, and promotional savvy, but that first reaction must have been a little woeful, right?
Jamie, I did get a bit of that sinking feeling. I know titles are reused all the time, so I wasn’t totally surprised there was another book with the same title. (Karen Robards — Karen Robards! — later published a book with the same title as one of my manuscripts. Obviously it was great title.) But the same release day was the kicker. I expected to discover the other book had been published some years earlier.
I sent a note to my editor figuring if they wanted to change they should do it ASAP, but marketing didn’t think it would be an issue because the books are going to such different audiences. And that’s primarily true, although in places where our audiences overlap (like here!) we can have fun with it.
It’s made the google alerts feature interesting. I can always tell what Donna is up to!
CJ – Is that where my google alerts are going? I’m not getting anything…well I did get notice of a really nice review someone did of your book…but that’s it. LOL. I just assumed we’d both be getting notices. Hmmm…you did get that notice of a nice review, right?
Haha. Maybe we’re getting them on alternate days. I’ve gotten some of mine, and I’ve gotten some of yours, but I feel like I should have been getting more. (The one I got either yesterday or Wednesday was definitely for your book, but I couldn’t tell by the excerpt, so I had to go to the link. If you didn’t get one from Tartan Ink, I’ll forward it to you…)
And to make matters worse, there suddenly seems to be a C.J. Chase on a reality show or something, because I’m now picking up google alerts related to that name too. Hmm. Wait. If he/she is on TV, maybe his/her fans are getting information about me and my book in their searches. On second thought, that’s not “worse” at all!
LOL on the reality double. Romance author Jamie Denton got James Denton (of Desperate Housewives fame) to actually pose with one of her books for some promotion. Maybe you can do the same. You never know…
Congrats to both of you on your releases! And it’s too funny how your books mirror image each other. Are you sure you coordinate the details when you were writing them?
Oops, sure you didn’t coordinate? (Can’t type…)
Gail, Donna and I had never crossed paths until the duplicate title — so you could say it was an unexpected blessing because I made a new friend in the bargain.
Congrat to you both.
Hi Kelly -
Thanks for the congrats. While this is not my debut – a new book is always something worth celebrating big time.
Thanks, Kelly. It’s made the party twice as much fun.
Ah, well, they say all the ideas are floating around in the universe, we just have to grab them down and make them our own. Good luck to both of you!
Hi Diana – (waving madly)
Isn’t that the truth. Stephen King says ideas are just lying around on the ground, you just have to dig them up. There’s no way I’m going to naysay someone that writes horror like King (grin).
Yes, it’s the making them “our own” that really sets us apart. I mean, I’m writing books set in Regency England — how unique can my ideas get??? (Vampire Regency? Nope been before. Hmm. Has anyone ever seen an Amish Regency? Hmmm.)
Congratulations to both of you! I thought it was amusing enough that I keep “acquiring” various books by 19th century authors also named “Anne Marsh” on places like Goodreads. I love, love, love 19th c. women writers… but… I write sexy paranormal. Heh.
I’m looking forward to checking out both of your books– sexy rogues I already know I love, but I’m new to the historical inspirational genre
Hi Anne -
I guess I’m fortunate that MacMeans is fairly unique. There aren’t any writers that I know of by that name – and there aren’t many people with that last name either (unless you live in Cleveland or Pittsburgh). Yes, I imagine your covers pretty much sets you apart from the other Anne Marsh’s of the world. It’s one reason why covers are just so darn important.
Chase is a fairly common name in the author word, but I think a lot (maybe even most) of them are pen names. It’s short and easy to spell but not as common as some other WASP names like Smith. (I got the name from Mr. Chase, with whom I’ll be celebrating another anniversary in two weeks time.)
Anne, inspirational fiction has a spiritual element to it, although the amount really varies by the book and author. Mostly Christian (at least, in the US because that is the dominant faith), but the RWA definition is inclusive enough for others.
First off, huge congratulations to both you ladies on your Rogue-ish releases! May they both sell like wildfire.
This makes me think of the Sexiest Man Alive pairing of Julie James and Diana Holquist. I think I’d be delighted if I had a book twin – promo is always more fun with two books to squee about, but my titles tend to be a bit… erm… DIFFERENT, so I’m not sure I’m a candidate for twinning. I wonder how often this happens…
Hi Vivi -
I think it might happen more frequently than we realize. CJ and I were comparing notes and we both know of books where the title is different but the cover picture is exactly the same – they just flipped the negative, so the parties look right instead of left. We’re all looking for that great romantic sounding (sometimes sexy sounding) genre indicative title. I guess we should be surprised that it doesn’t happen more often.
Thanks, Vivi.
I’m guessing one of the reasons we sometimes see identical titles is that marketing departments tend to follow trends in certain buzzwords. Scoundrel, Rogue, Rake, Scandel, Seduction … you’ll find a lot of the historicals on the shelves right now incorporate at least one of those buzzwords. In the inspirational genre, the buzzwords are more like Bride, Courtship, Heart, Home…notice the buzzword I got matches more closely to the general market than the ones more commonly seen in the inspirational market.
So much fun! And yes, all the similarities between the two are eerie.
Welcome to the Ruby blog, Donna, and congratulations on your release. Your cover is yummy, and I’m a little envious of the green dress, too! It’s gorgeous!
And CJ…woohoo for your debut!!!! So excited for you! Your cover is fabulous as well! I can’t imagine going out to Amazon and finally seeing your very first book out there for pre-order…only…not. I can imagine the strange look you had to have had on your face
Looks like it’s turning out well, though, because yes, use it ruthlessly! 
Great interview ladies. Congrats to you both!
Why do I suddenly have this urge to go shopping for a green dress? I can’t even remember the last time I wore a dress! (Sad isn’t it?)
Thanks, Kim.
Donna, a lot of inspirationals (A LOT!) only have a woman on the cover — usually in a fabulous dress. (The joke I’ve heard about Bethany is that the bigger the dress, the higher the sales figures.) But with a title like Redeeming the Rogue, I figured I had to have the hero on the cover, so I suggested scenes with either both main characters or him alone. One of my other suggestions was a more ominous, darker one with the hero aiming his gun.
I’m glad they included the hero on the cover–it’s just adorable the way she’s looking back at him!
Hi Kim -
I’m not jealous of her dress – I’m jealous of that back! Where are the rolls, the lumps, the handles that show up on mine? (grin) Berkley did a great job with the cover. This is the first time I got a man on my cover…CJ – she gets a handsome one right from the get-go!
Oh, more historical romances to love. CJ and Donna, I think it’s too funny that you ended up with the same title. When they say publishing is a small world, they mean it.
I’m looking forward to reading both of them and seeing how many mirror images I can find. Good luck to you both, and CJ, great trailer.
Thanks Kate- and I hope you love both rogues!
Thanks, Kate.
I’m going to have to pass all the compliments on the trailer to Barb. She’ll be tickled. When she first made if for me, I watched it over and over. My oldest son thought it was rather strange of me. I told him it was like a watching a favorite movie.
“But you always fall asleep during movies, Mom.”
“Well, then, obviously movies should be 1 1/2 minutes long.”
LOL – Love it!
I’ve wondered about titles being used by several authors. I have seen a book, recognized the title, but when I check if I’ve read the book byt that author found I hadn’t. But released on the same day, is that coincidence or fate? Maybe more will come of it and you just have to wait to see. Best luck to you both.
Thanks Diane – There was a trend not to long ago to use popular song titles like – You Belong to Me. I think the editors thought a popular title would resonate with the readers regardless if it was music instead of a book – and they would buy the book. I’m not sure that works but it explains so many multiples. Often the writer is not the one that assigns the title – crazy, huh?
Diane, I mentioned above that editors/marketing people seem to follow trends for certain buzzwords in the titles. Kind of like how you can tell in what era a book was published by the cover picture because they seem to run in cycles.
I think my goal is to have my book so famous, no one would ever use that title again unless they were spoofing my book.
CJ and Donna, congratulations to both of you on the release of your rogues! It’s just hysterical that you have the same titles out at the same time — great publicity! I’m going to buy both not just because of the twin titles but because they sound like terrific reads.
CJ, I speak Dutch and my mind is boggling over the pronunciation of your maiden name. Meg Cabot told me she practiced my (Dutch) name about 50 times before the 2010 GH ceremony.
Vanessa, I didn’t know you spoke Dutch. My grandfather was bilingual Dutch-English. (My grandmother not so much, but her parents were.)
Barneveld doesn’t look that difficult to me, but then I’ve hung around people with a ‘veld’ in their names my whole life, so I probably have a warped sense of what is normal. Poor Kelly Ann Riley was the GH presenter for my category last year, and before the awards ceremony, she kept checking the pronunciation.
Ja, ik spreek een beetje Nederlands, CJ! Tot ziens!
Winners!
Congratulations to our prize winners:
Diane Sallans and Anne Marsh.