Publishing Coincidence...or...Serendipity

by Donna MacMeans

I imagine everyone by now knows that I have a new release coming out August 2nd. I've certainly posted the cover enough (and will do so again, because I love it! - haha).

But did you know that my REDEEMING THE ROGUE is not the only book of that title being released August 2nd? Yes, Harlequin is releasing a Love Inspired Historical by debut novelist CJ Chase with the exact same title on the exact same day! How cool is that? I've invited CJ to join us to talk about the similarities and differences in our two stories. That's CJ in blue.

First, I'd like to explain the big difference between our stories. Mine is single title which means a larger word count and is written to be "funny, sexy and exciting" (Per Romantic Times review). The sensuality between the hero and heroine is a huge part of the story, and the level is Hot!

My Redeeming the Rogue is dark and probably one of the grittiest books ever published in the

Love Inspired Historicals line. In addition to my hard-drinking hero, there's that little matter of what my heroine does on pages 173-174. (Nope. I'm not going to say what. You'll just have to read the book.) She causes a lot of people pain by her actions. The sensuality level is sweet, but the situations are not.

One of the first similarities I noted between us was not between the books as much as between the authors. CJ has a number of Golden Heart finalist entries to her credit. At the RWA convention in Orlando (2010), she won the Golden Heart for Inspirational Romance. I'm a two time past GH finalist and a one-time winner as well, though in a different category, so we have that in common. (FWIW, I finaled in Romantic Suspense and Long Historical.)

I won the 2010 GH for Inspirational. That was my 6th final. I finaled previously in Short Historical, Long Historical, Romantic Suspense and Historical (twice). The last couple historicals I wrote had a faith thread in them, so I switched to Inspirational. Historical inspirational, of course.

How did our stories manage to have the same titles? Originally, I called my book "Redemption of a Rogue" as its the third in the Chambers trilogy. The previous two books had Education, and Seduction in the titles so Redemption sort of fit right in. However as the time between this book and Seduction lengthened, my editor and I decided to make the title more active by changing the "Redemption" to "Redeeming."

This was the manuscript that won the GH with the title of Unforgiven. My editor suggested the Redeeming the Rogue title. I was uncertain at first, but then I realized that the very first scene is quite different from what one expects from an inspirational. The book starts with the hero drinking himself into oblivion. Inspirational readers should know right from the title and that opening scene that this is going to be an edgier inspirational than many others.

Can I just say here that I read CJ's opening on her website and it's beautiful. This lady can really write! I encourage everyone to hop other there and check out her excerpt!

Donna, your book's sensuality level might not be sweet, but you sure are! Thank you for the kind words.

Based on CJ's cover (and isn't it a beauty?), I'm guessing her book involves an overseas journey, as does mine. The methods of transportation are different. CJ's book is set in 1815 which meant masted frigates were de rigour. My book is set during 1881 so I had a few more options, steamship being one of them. Now to be honest, I originally had my characters traveling in a masted sailing vessel, but my editor early on nixed one scene and that changed everything - including the method of transportation. Currently, my couple travels on a tramp steamer more accustomed to hauling freight than passengers. Of the two, CJ's boat is far more romantic than my little steamer---however both promise close proximity and doesn't

THAT bode well for romance (grin).

Thanks! It is a great cover. I love the colors in the sunset. The ship on my cover is an American clipper ship, but I also have several scenes set on a British frigate, HMS Impatience. The Impatience brought the treaty of Ghent (the treaty that ended American's second war with Britain) to America. At least, in my book that's the name of the ship that transported the treaty. Originally, my Redeeming the Rogue opened with a scene on the Impatience, but that

scene ended up on the cutting room floor when I had to trim the manuscript by 7K words to fit Love Inspired Historicals' length requirements.

Both of our heroines travel great distances to reach their objective. CJ's Mattie Fraser leaves Washington D.C. on a mission that takes her to London, England. My story begins in London and travels to Washington D.C. Arianne Chambers is a sister of a duke, and well accustomed to luxury. Had she her druthers, she'd have chosen a different way to cross the Atlantic than a tramp steamer.

My heroine was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Choosing DC for her background was a no-brainer for me because I lived in the area for a couple of decades. Mattie was in Washington on August 24, 1814, the night the British army burned the city. She met a British officer who offered to help locate her brother, but then he never contacted her afterward. She traveled to London to see if she could find anyone with information about either the officer or her brother. In London, she meets Kit DeChambelle.

Mattie's had a difficult life. After her mother's death when Mattie was 8 (and her brother 6), her father, a Washington shopkeeper, consoled himself with alcohol. Her brother ran away from home. Mattie has always believed if she'd just been a better sister and daughter, she might have been able to save her family.

Both our heroes are in need of a little loving intervention. Both had violence in their pasts that haunt them in the present. I don't think CJ's hero required the sort of makeover my hero endures, he's pretty heroic looking to begin with.

My hero, Michael Rafferty, was born in Ireland but works for the British government. Fenian rebels had detonated a bomb years earlier that killed his parents and younger brother. Now he's on a mission to track down the one responsible. That trail leads him to America where he must play the role of a diplomat to lure the killer into the open. However, an Irish rogue needs a woman's touch to help him play the role convincingly. Who better than a sister of a duke?

Kit (Christopher James Michael -- yes, Michael) DeChambelle is the 3rd son of the Earl of Chambelston. he had a pretty normal childhood for a boy of his social class. Then when he was an 18-year-old Oxford student, the director of clandestine services discovered his facility with languages (he's fluent in 6 languages and can even mimic different French accents) and recruited him for the war effort against Napoleon. It sounded exciting at first, but looking back, he realizes that each compromise he made along the way cost a little piece of him. And now he's not sure what's left. All he wants to do is forget the past.

Romantic Times Bookreviews says this about CJ's REDEEMING THE ROGUE: "A suspenseful mystery highlights this budding wartime romance." Fresh Fiction (just got the review today) says "The story (my REDEEMING THE ROGUE) is witty and mysterious until the last page. Mystery! We have that in common as well. I know CJ's story deals with the Treaty of Ghent. My story concerns the assassination of President James Garfield. So I guess I can add that both of our mysteries have political implications.

Oh, yes. The Treaty of Ghent had an unusual provision that the British government was going to exploit. And Mattie's brother had discovered what it was.

Finally, and maybe most important, CJ has chickens and we have a rooster! Is that coincidence or what? Actually, she has a rooster as well, but I don't think he has the charm of our GR. (grin)

As for prizes:

I'm afraid my publisher didn't send me any arcs for my REDEEMING THE ROGUE, so I can only offer a copy of the published book which won't be available till August 2nd - or you can always request a copy of The Seduction of a Duke - which I can send now. I have my author's copies, and I've even gotten my first fan mail! Harlequin sends out books to their book clubs a few months before the official release date, so I'll offer a copy of the inspirational Redeeming the Rogue as well. It may even arrive before it's available in stores. Very cool! So let's choose two winners. The first can pick the book they want and the second gets the other.


Before I mention today's question for discussion though, I did want to mention that I'm running a new contest through August 15th that has a Kindle for a prize. Details are on my website (which is also new) at www.DonnaMacMeans.com.

And be sure to visit my website www.CJChase.com to read an excerpt.

So my question today is: Do you believe in serendipity? Have you experienced something fueled by a series of coincidences. While I'm not surprised that CJ and I have the same title - that happens - it is sort of unusual that we have both the same title AND the same release date. Anyone know of that happening before? I've seen releases that have had the same stockphoto cover. Anyone have examples? Let's chat about coincidence both personal and in publishing.