Plot Monkeys

The first time I told this story I used the Cinderella perspective because let’s face it, that was the best way to describe what I felt like when Kelly Ripa chose my book THE BACHELOR for her Reading with Ripa Bookclub. But when the subject came up last week on my Saturday Plotmonkey blog and there was interest in hearing it again, I realized I wanted to retell the story. That I was interested in looking at what happened to me that year – from a brand new perspective … So here it is:

Carly Phillips’ Kelly Ripa Story Five Years Later.

Let me start by saying that I’ve always been a planner, a plotter and a thinker – not book plotting – that’s what I have the Plotmonkeys for – but for my career. I tend to look at where I am, look at where I want to be, and try to figure out a way to get there. I don’t always take the right road or the most direct road but hindsight is 20/20. When I started writing, I wanted to write category novels, Harlequin Temptations for the rest of my life. That lasted until I sold my second and third Temptation or maybe my fourth or fifth. Then the idea of selling a novella came to me next. I think that was the point where I realized I had aspirations beyond category – but still writing romance. I wanted to do a short story for a new publisher and start to make a bigger name for myself. (I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with Kelly Ripa – but like I said, I’m writing in hindsight and I guess I have to tell this my way, so please bear with me and keep reading!).

Where was I? Oh yes. Novellas. I thought they were the key to building a name. I’d seen other authors use this device successfully. It didn’t work that way for me. Yes I did a few novellas but none were the huge vehicle I’d hoped for, but that’s okay because I loved writing those stories and I met new editors that way! Obviously I needed a new plan, however the plan wasn’t mine – the plan found me. My first lucky break leading to Kelly Ripa came when my then agent had lunch with Maggie Crawford, an editor who had just begun working at Warner Books. Maggie had an idea for a trilogy about three bachelor brothers and a meddling mother who wanted grandchildren. My agent pitched me for the idea and I put together a proposal and a few chapters and I sold three books to Warner. This was huge and practically unheard of, a category author who had never written single title, selling a trilogy on basically an outline. I still had books to write for Harlequin and so I wasn’t going to start writing this trilogy for over a year – and do you see how fate and timing works? If I’d written the books immediately, there wouldn’t have been a Kelly Ripa bookclub yet. And by the time I did write the books, Maggie Crawford had already left Warner for Pocket Books (which as much as I love Maggie turned out to be a good thing because she wanted me to write the stories on a ranch and I knew nothing about horses and cowboys!)

So I wrote THE BACHELOR and I began new scheming. How could I get this little book recognized on a bigger level? I hadn’t been paid enough money to be able to promote it on a huge level. I didn’t have a track record with single title books, so how could I get a big enough sell in to hit any lists …? I hired a publicist who didn’t work on retainer but who worked hourly which was a help at the time because I could control the payout a little more. (Not much, mind you. PR is EXPENSIVE). But it was worth it because in my mind I would put whatever I had behind this book. I only had one first shot to get it right. That was my mindset.

Now the Kelly Ripa story. And I really want to tell it differently this time. The basics I can’t change. The facts. I was watching LIVE! And saw Regis and Kelly joking about Kelly doing a bookclub. She said if she was in charge, the bookclub would have beach trash, smut, hot men on the cover. I admit I have never been someone who worried about the negative terms applied to romance IF those terms are used by people who actually read or respect the genre and in a bizarre way, yes you can both use those terms and like the genre. By believing this, I decided to jump on the Kelly Ripa bookclub joke in the HOPES that something could come of it.

In my heart and soul I believed I had this cosmic connection with Kelly Ripa. Why? I watched All My Children since I was a preteen. I always thought her character, Hayley Vaughn, was one of the best drawn on soaps. But most importantly I FELT it. So I called my publicist and ran the idea by her and she didn’t laugh at me, she said she’d get right on it. In the meantime, turns out I wasn’t the only one who’d seen LIVE! And the message boards online were buzzing with the information. I’m superstitious. And I don’t like to discuss things in case they don’t pan out I jinx it. So I shut my mouth, let people talk, did not get involved in the conversation, and I IMMEDIATELY sent out a copy of my book via my publicist. Months passed in which we heard nothing. But I never forgot and in case they were overloaded with books, in case there was a chance, I brainstormed with my publicist and we then decided to send another copy of the book along with a cookie basket custom made with cookies in the shape of the lips on the book cover of THE BACHELOR.

Let me say a few things: To this day I do not know which copy of the book Kelly Ripa or her people saw first. I don’t know if she received the basket or not. But I don’t believe that the gimmick of the basket sold LIVE! On the book. I have to believe the book sold itself. I was told it came down to two books in the end (no, I don’t know the name of the other one) and they chose THE BACHELOR. Let me also say I can look back and see that this was my first single title and I’ve grown a lot since writing that one, so it is doubly an honor that she chose this story. Anyway, there’s more.

After sending the basket, that was it. Although my publicist continued to follow up with phone calls, we never heard anything. Until one day in late May or June (I’m no better with this date than I am with remembering the exact date of my first sale, LOL), I was getting the kids ready for a quick McDonald’s run with a friend and her kids. This was 2002 and my girls were six and ten. My editor from Warner called with good news. My girls didn’t want to hear Mommy had to take a phone call. They were hungry and they wanted McDonald’s. Until my editor told me Kelly Ripa had chosen THE BACHELOR for her July bookclub. I screamed and told the girls. Then my editor said I couldn’t tell anyone until Kelly announced it Monday morning. Was she kidding? I’d just told two little girls with big mouths and I had to go to a party with friends asking how my writing career was going over the weekend, and I couldn’t say anything! I told the girls to keep it a secret and off I went to McDonald’s.

Preparation is key. I learned a lot over that long weekend. Despite the promise to keep quiet, we readied my website to reflect the announcement so the site would go live after the show. And then we waited. Of course I told my husband and the girls knew, my parents knew, and late Sunday night, early Monday morning I told people close to me who I wanted to see the show. Then I panicked that she’d pick someone else’s book and I’d be a disappointed fool.

I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, looking back, Kelly gave the book so much fanfare and buildup that day, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I think what I found the most amazing was that I never heard from the show directly, never spoke to anyone from the show except for the one online chat and the day I did the bookclub show. It was very informal and surreal.

My expectations were also completely unrealistic. I thought that I’d have a quick fifteen minutes of fame and it would be over. In retrospect, in a way that is what happened only on a huger, grander scale. For one thing, the books’ rise to # 1 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com exceeded anything we’d hoped for. The day passed in a blur, with phone calls and craziness. Again, I didn’t have any contact with Kelly Ripa or the people from the show. But over the next few weeks, Kelly continued to mention the book, to tell viewers how it was doing on the New York Times Bestseller List, etc. THIS more than anything kept the book in people’s minds during the month leading up to the bookclub show in August. I think this helped account for how well the book did and why it had staying power. I’ve thought a lot about this over the last few years, because Kelly Ripa did have quite a few books in her bookclub, but I can’t recall the continuous mentions and I know that had to have helped.

If you want the details, the funny and specific details, read my Diary of the Cinderella Story.

But for the rest of this blog, I’m here to tell you what happened next. The story nobody knows or really ever asked about.

While the insanity was going on that summer, I had another book to write and thank goodness when this news broke, I was nearly finished with it, so I couldn’t angst about how ever would I compete against myself. How could I possibly put out another book when I knew it could never do as well as THE BACHELOR? And then there were the nasty whispers and the nasty overt talks – “Let’s see her do it without Kelly Ripa.” Yes, the world can be a mean, mean place. But I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me. For one thing, I don’t deserve or need it and for another I had the Plotmonkeys who never left my side, deserted me, or more and most importantly, who never resented me.

In the end, the next book, THE PLAYBOY did well. Not as well as THE BACHELOR but well enough to show people it wasn’t a fluke. I did have a semblance of staying power as an author. And I’ve worked very very hard to prove that with each book since.

I’ve made good steps and missteps along the way. I did four hardcover releases and discovered that for now, paperback should be my home. I’m happy since I know this makes my readers happy and happy readers are those who can afford to buy books. I went back to Harlequin as my publishing house and I do believe they understand what I write and who my readers are, just as do.

I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t hit number one and go anywhere but down. That doesn’t mean I gave up. But from post-Kelly Ripa onward, my career has been a process of rebuilding and not taking anything for granted. I’ve treated each book like it was my first and worked to get it into the hands of readers. Old readers and new readers. I also need to grow with each book I write and to that end, I took some detours that led me from CROSS MY HEART (7/07) and SEALED WITH A KISS (10/07) back to what I’m writing now, HOT PROPERTY (7/08) that is vintage Carly Phillips. Sexy fun.

And I am still scheming. Still doing everything I can to push and promote and reach out to you, my readers. And that is ultimately what the Kelly Ripa story is all about – proving that romance is for everyone. That people who don’t think they like romance can read THE BACHELOR or any romance novel and be proven wrong. The best thing that came from my book being chosen by Kelly for her bookclub was to bring romance novels into mainstream America’s homes and to have a celebrity stand up and say hey, “I read this book and I loved it. You will too.” So beyond you and me, the typical romance reader, there are so many others out there who we as romance writers and readers need and want to reach. And that is the goal of my most recent scheming – (no, I won’t tell what that’s about. I already said I am always scheming ).

Just know there is always another book around the corner and there is always opportunity – if you’re ready and know to be looking for it.