PATTY HARDIN, Long Beach, Wa. -- Mystery: The contest made me realize the importance of being able to describe my manuscript, briefly, in such a way that it will catch the attention of an agent. It also made me more determined to persevere in my writing efforts.

STEPHANY HANSON, Brainerd, Minn. -- Contemporary Romance: Getting my manuscript down to three sentences was a fun challenge because it made me eliminate any fluff. I’d heard of the “elevator pitch” before the contest and had mentally prepared mine. The Book In A Nutshell Contest helped me narrow that down even further.

JANET SHAW, Perth, Western Australia, Australia -- Young Adult Mystery: This contest has taught me that it is possible to pitch your manuscript using only a few sentences. Whereas in the past I shied away from querying agents or editors, I now have the confidence to do this. I also think my writing has stepped up to another level.

SANDI JONES, Augusta, Ark. -- Young Adult: I’m comfortable writing queries, but it takes a completely different mindset to tighten a 60k novel into less than 150 words. The challenge was being able to articulately introduce the story’s main character and highlight the conflict she faces in three sentences. Given an average of 50 words per sentence, one could easily fall into the trap of offering too much information and too many modifiers, resulting in mind-boggling run-ons. To prepare my entry for the contest, I pared off extra info until I got to the very heart of the story.

JOANNA CHAMBERS, Scotland, United Kingdom -- Regency Historical Romance: It was really quite difficult to distill the book down to 3 sentences but an incredibly useful exercise. Whatever comes of this, I will probably use this exercise for any queries I do in future.

NADINE SIMON, Miami -- Contemporary Women's Fiction; multicultural: Winning the contest gave me confidence that I was on the right track! I had a winning premise for a book. That is half the battle.

DAVID BRIDGER, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom -- Women's Fiction: It was a challenge, but an enjoyable one. I'd already polished up a back-cover style blurb for this novel, so I took that and reduced it to its essence. The process was similar to reducing a 400-page novel to a single page synopsis, only even more extreme.

SUSY ROGERS, Perth, Western Australia, Australia -- Women's Fiction: Writing the whole book is far easier than trying to sell it in three sentences, no doubt about it. It’s hard enough to capture heart of the characters and crux of the story, but you also have to do it with a feel and voice that does it justice.

APRIL MORELOCK, Sheridan, Ind. -- Contemporary Romance: I found that while I already had a tight blurb for queries that if I could only use three lines, that it condensed my plot. In fact, I determined I was missing a critical element from my story to make it 1000 times better while writing that blurb.

C.J. ELLIOTT, Washington, D.C. -- Mystery/Suspense: TKA's contest definitely helped me understand the kind of "razzle dazzle" I could pack into a few sentences. I've started using the exercise when drafting queries or even blurbs. I shape three or four sentences designed to hook the reader and give them the plot in a nutshell, then I can elaborate from there. In my opinion, it's made my pitches much stronger.

GREG WILKEY, Chattanooga, Tenn. - Young Adult Horror/Action/Paranormal: It was very difficult to condense my entire story into just three sentences. I spent close to two weeks writing and rewriting different versions before I finally decided on the one I submitted. The hard part for me was trying to convey the story's overall meaning without giving away too much information while at the same time trying to capture the reader's attention. This was a lot of fun but very difficult.

H.L. DYER, Chicagoland, Ill. -- Women's Fiction: Certainly distilling my own Pitch Blurb Concentrate made me pay attention to every word I used and forced me to make each one count. Practicing pitchcraft also helps me focus on what's really important and unique about a project. I actually enjoy composing pitches. It gives me a lot of insight into the manuscript as a whole.

SUE THURMAN , Scottsdale, Ariz. -- Young Adult Paranormal: Pitching my manuscript in three sentences was challenging. I read successful queries online, then based mine on a best selling author's query that was short, concise, and had a great hook. Last week, an author used my winning query to write his own and an agent immediately requested his full manuscript. This is a magic formula.

C.C. CHARA, Los Angeles -- Light Romantic Suspense w/gothic elements: When querying, 'less is more' ie: the story blurb. After years of writing, the contest validated my efforts to continue...and never give up! A glimmer in the distance of unlimited possibilities!

ANN HYMAN , San Diego, Calif. -- Fictionalized Narrative Non-Fiction: Deciding what to put in my three sentences was more difficult than condensing the information. I felt it was important to show that I had done significant research on my target market, while at least hinting that as a sales/marketing person I knew how to reach my demographic. Squeezing my normal "pitch" into two sentences to allow room for that information was the challenge.

ASHLEY BARNARD , Phoenix, Ariz. -- Literary Fiction: It made me realize that a shorter description has a more powerful impact than a longer one with superfluous adjectives or adverbs, and I employed a more dynamic vocabulary than usual. This philosophy can then carry over into my writing -- it's the "less is more" mantra that writers hear in classes and workshops that I often forget to follow when I'm caught up in my writing.

AMANDA GRIFFITH, McKinney, Texas -- Young Adult: Paring my pitch to three sentences was compelling challenge. One hour with three revisions did the trick, focusing on active, unusual verbs and intriguing adjectives. I wrote until my own words flushed and thrilled me. Well worth an hour's hard work!

KIERSTEN STEVENSON, Boulder, Col. -- Contemporary Young Adult: My initial attempts to boil the manuscript down into three tight sentences turned out one hot mess; but after toiling away at it, I emerged a true fan of the concise. The contest actually did affect the way I will look at both querying and writing, helping me to economize the language so I achieve the greatest affect with the fewest possible words. “Choose carefully” is my new mantra.

MICHELLE ROONEY -- Regency Historical Romance

GINA ARDITO -- Romantic Comedy w/ Paranormal Elements

TKA: What part of your job do you love the most?

GRIMSHAW: Being a Romance buyer for Borders is my dream job; I love everything about it. What I enjoy most about being a buyer for the genre is analyzing the business and seeing the sales trends. I particularly enjoy when a book I enjoyed also sells well at Borders. It’s personally very thrilling to see this and it really provides confirmation that I do know my customer.

TKA: What romance sub-genres do you see shifting to the forefront this year?

GRIMSHAW: Soft Romance is very popular. Linda Lael Miller, Robyn Carr and Susan Wiggs are here to stay. Readers are looking for comfort in their books and these ladies deliver!

TKA: Do you think any previously sluggish genres may be on the rise?

GRIMSHAW: Right now I see all genres performing well on their own. I think authors are in a unique position. They don’t have to worry about market trends because overall they are all doing well. Authors should concentrate on what they write and what they write best. Focus on the elements in a romance story that are important to readers and write away. There will always be subgenres that are bigger than others, but if you write what you enjoy it will resonate with the reader.

TKA: Could you name a few recent examples of romance authors who have struck the “right chord” with readers in terms of style, genre and marketing efforts?

GRIMSHAW: The ladies I named above are definitely on the incline. Yasmine Galenorn and Jeaniene Frost have also captured our romance and those “True Blood” crossovers as well.

TKA: What is it about their approach (or their publisher’s, as the case may be) that’s positioning these writers for success?

GRIMSHAW: Feedback from booksellers and readers typically indicate it is all about the story. I think these authors have focused on the key elements of romance – character driven stories; lovable characters; well-paced stories; well thought-out and developed worlds that are easy to visualize, to name a few things. They have focused on what their readers are looking for in a romance story.

TKA: How can a proactive author help to increase sell-in to retailers and sell-through to potential readers?

GRIMSHAW: There are a lot of things that authors can do. First, do stock signings – get to know those bookstores. Authors should also make sure that their Web sites, newsletters and blogs link through to Borders.com – our online sales are booming! Get on Twitter and Facebook and tell everyone that your books are at Borders. Another thing they can do is link through to our “True Romance” show at http://www.bordersmedia.com/trueromance. Also, garner bestseller author quotes on their covers to influence readers to give them a try. In this economic environment authors want their books represented front of store as that is the location that gets shopped first and shopped the most. A good sales rep will make that happen and just to make sure you’re being well represented by your publishers, drop me an e-mail and we’ll make sure we’ve got it covered, sgrimsha(at)bordersgroupinc(dot)com.

ful destiny. Deidre is planning several amazing events to coincide with the release of this hot new title, including the summer book signing* tour with fellow TKA authors.

For those to far away to attend the signing events, you can still party with Deidre on Gena Showalter's blog the week of June 8th. All week long Deidre and Gena will host the KISS & SEDUCE BLOG PARTY. If you can't make the Atlanta events, you'll definitely want to let your fingers do the walking to this virtual affair featuring fab giveaways, excerpts and the latest exclusive information on RED KISS and Gena's upcoming release, SEDUCE THE DARKNESS. There will also be an online chat on Thursday, June 11th @ 9pm ET with both authors in the TKA chat room.**

*Book signing details are located in Agency News.

**Your computer must be Java-enabled to chat. Log in using any combination of username and password.

TKA was well represented in the recent announcement of Prism Award finalists from RWA's Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter. Nominated titles include, THE MERMAID'S KISS by Joey Hill and CARNAL DESIRES by Crystal Jordan in the erotica category and DRAGONBORN and "Kung Fu Shoes!," featured in THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR STOMPING, by Jade Lee.

SPECIAL NEWS ANNOUNMENT!! THE KNIGHT AGENCY SUMMER TOUR EXTRAVAGANZA!!

Deidre Knight, agency president and award-winning paranormal romance author, USA Today bestselling author Jennifer St. Giles, Debby Giusti, Shannon K. Butcher and Maria Geraci are all hopping on the TKA tour bus for a whirlwind weekend of book signing events in the Atlanta area. Besides meeting these fab authors one-on-one, you'll have the opportunity to ask them your pressing writing-related questions in the "How To Get Published" Q&A session preceding the book signing. Don't miss out on this awesome opportunity!

Borders at Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia – June 5th, 5pm ET
8000 Mall Parkway, Lithonia, GA 30038

Books For Less in Buford – June 6th, 1pm ET*
2815 Buford Dr, Buford, GA 30519

Dog Ear Bookstore in Madison – June 6th, 5pm ET**
142 Academy Street; Madison, GA 30650

Borders in Athens – June 7th, 2pm ET
196 Alps Road, Athens, GA 30606

*Debby Giusti will not appear at the Books For Less event.
**The Madison signing will not include a Q&A session.

One savvy newsletter member pointed out that we forgot to mention the very special spotlight on Pamela Britton's book, which was read by Carl Edwards, on last month's ABC Nightline segment. We apologize for the oversight. :)

DEIDRE KNIGHT: Romance Writers of America, 29th Annual National Conference, Washington, D.C., July 15-18

PAMELA HARTY: Romance Writers of America, Washington, D.C., July 15-18

LUCIENNE DIVER: Romance Writers of America, Washington, D.C., July 15-18; Willamette Writers Conference, Portland, Ore., August 7-9; Killer Nashville Writers Conference, Nashville, Tenn., August 14-16; Heritage Book Festival keynote speaker, St. Augustine, Fla., September 11; Gulf Coast Writers workshop in Florida, October 17; Kiss of Death Writers’ Retreat in Albuquerque, N.M., October 23-25; World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, Calif., October 29-November 1st

NEPHELE TEMPEST: Romance Writers of America, Washington, D.C., July 15-18; Comic-Con International Convention, San Diego, July 22-26

ELAINE SPENCER: Romance Writers of America, Washington, D.C., July 15-18; Central Ohio Fiction Writers Annual Conference, Worthington, Ohio, September 18-19; SCWW Annual Writers Conference, Myrtle Beach, S.C., October 23-25

MELISSA JEGLINSKI: Romance Writers of America, Washington, D.C., July 15-18; Australia Romance Writers Conference, Brisbane, Australia, August 13-16; New Zealand Romance Writers Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, August 20-23; Moonlight and Magnolia's Conference, Norcross, Ga., October 2-4; DEW Conference, Dallas, November 6th & 7th; Detroit RWA chapter meeting, Detroit, November 17th