Book 5 Finalists Announced!

Two weeks ago, I had a contest to help me pick the name for the fifth book in the Mercy series.  Today, I will announce the finalists.  I can’t announce the winner, because the publisher always gets to make the final decision.

To recap, three more books have been contracted that take place in Mercy’s world.  But, because the publisher is moving me to a new line, they must be romances.  And, since the hero and heroine of a romance novel are expected to have a happily-ever-after ending, at least two of them must have someone OTHER than Mercy as the central character.

Therefore, if I want to continue to use the word “Mercy” in the title of the books, I have to figure out a way to do so without implying that the book is ABOUT Mercy.  I’d come up with reasonable titles for the first and third books, but not the second.

So, here are my finalists:

Sister of Mercy, which I am going to credit to Seb, my very first commenter (she called it Sisters, plural, but for various plot point, I would have to keep it singular).

Finding Mercy, suggested in various comments, but the earliest was Evonley V, commenter #10.

Seeking Mercy, also suggested by more than one person, with the first being Missy S, commenter #4.

I’ve sent these off to my publisher this morning, and I’ll let you know what’s decided.

Who is my publisher?  Why, it’s Silhouette Nocturne. Yes, Mira is a Harlequin/Silhouette imprint, and so is Nocturne.

Oops, I think an elephant just walked into the room and sat down. Shall we ignore him? We shall, but only because so many blog sites and user groups are adequately covering many points of view, including my own.

Instead, I’ll tell you….

A True Story:

I used to work for a pretty big corporation (NICECO) who was owned by a really enormous corporation (BIGSHOTZ). NICECO was profitable, which was not true of all of BIGSHOTZ’s children. NICECO was also known for their excellent industry reputation, high standards, and close relationships with their client base. NICECO sold, primarily, a single product: Product A.  Clients loved Product A and, even though other companies sold similar products, they preferred to get Product A from NICECO.

Now, BIGSHOTZ noticed that NICECO had a large client base who really liked them and Product A, and speculated that BIGSHOTZ might be able to leverage this client base by selling them other products. But, because those clients had a relationship with NICECO and had never heard of BIGSHOTZ, it needed to be done under NICECO’s name.  Also, NICECO already had a lot of resources in place that might translate well to a new business, and BIGSHOTZ didn’t believe in under-utilizing resources.

BIGSHOTZ tasked NICECO’s executives to come up with Product B to market to its clients.  NICECO didn’t like it. But they did it. After a bunch of false starts, they came up with a Product B business model that BIGSHOTZ liked.  And NICECO implemented it.

NICECO’s clients were appalled, and said Product B was a conflict of interest.  The professional organizations to which NICECO belonged threatened and, in some cases, imposed sanctions because of Product B.

NICECO’s employees came up with a carefully crafted list of FAQ’s about Product B, with diplomatically worded answers.  They put on professional faces, and spoke aloud the party line: Product B is wonderful!

But, secretly, NICECO’s employees HATED Product B.  They couldn’t express this opinion, except in small meetings with other NICECO employees, often involving martinis.  They couldn’t show doubt in front of the public, their clients or their staff.  But the whispered opinions grew, most of them variations of “Am I the only one who can see that the Emperor is naked?”

Finally, after a great deal of time, effort and money, Product B was launched.

And it was a SPECTACULAR failure.  NICECO’s clients did NOT sign up for Product B in droves, as BIGSHOTZ had projected.  They loved Product A, and felt that Product B’s very existence cheapened Product A.  Some were so angry that they started buying Product A from the competition.

With very little fanfare, BIGSHOTZ held a big meeting for the NICECO execs.  They told NICECO to shut down Product B.  The NICECO executives feigned dismay, shook their heads, and spoke about how sad it was that Product B hadn’t worked out.  Then, as soon as the BIGSHOTZ executives climbed into their limousines and headed for the airport, the NICECO executives ALL STOOD UP AND DID THE HAPPY DANCE.

Then, they got drunk and lived happily ever after.

The EndP. S.  This really is a true story, and any parallels drawn between NICECO and any publishing companies out there are purely coincidental. And any parallels between the ending of this story and what MIGHT happen are purely wishful thinking.

P.P.S. If you want to go beyond parable, and read what another Dame thinks about Harlequin Horizons, check out Jackie Kessler’s Blog.

Related posts:

1. I’ll Make You Famous…
2. Trust But Verify
3. June 1 is Launch Day!

Tags: Harlequin Horizons

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 11:45 am and is filed under Contests, General Posts, Publishing Industry, Toni Andrews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.