Three new stories just went up on the Overnight Success? website:
Chris Grabenstein, Sean Doolittle and Brian Freeman
The more of these stories I read, the more my belief is confirmed that there are no short cuts to becoming a published author. It's hard, it's frustrating and it usually takes a long time, but for those who finally make it, it's worth it.
You can't get around it just by writing a check.
Over on the Lipstick Chronicles, author Susan McBride offers her Slightly Sarcastic Rules for Writers, which include some light-hearted tips on word counts and margins, but also some gospel truth about not paying to be published and never paying an agent reading fees.
This is advice that a lot of aspiring writers don't want to hear, but McBride is right on. There is no substitute for the traditional way of doing things, and no shortcut to getting it done.
Publishing can be an awful, frustrating business, but talent, persistence and a little bit of luck can still bring success. You can't get around that by writing a check.
(Thanks to Lee for the tip.)
Barry Eisler, one of my favorite writers and a very bright guy, shares his thoughts on writing and marketing over at M.J. Rose's blog. There are 3 posts in all, so scroll down to the first one ("Guest Blogger - Bestselling author Barry Eisler") and read up from there.
This is must-read stuff for anyone who is or wants to be a writer.
He also recently posted some great information for writers on his website.
Tess Gerritsen touched off a mini-controversy recently by expressing on her blog her disappointment with how her most recent book is doing in paperback:
So what's the latest in the writing life? To start off, I'm sorry to report that I didn't [celebrate] on Wednesday night. Alas, the first partial week's paperback sales of Body Double only got it to #17 on the NYT list. Sigh.
Her remarks struck me as honest and perfectly reasonable. Everyone wants to do well, no matter how successful they are, and performing below your expectations is disappointing. Of course, for obvious reasons, I would urge writers not to make statements like this, because it has the tendency to prompt negative reactions.
To wit, Lee Goldberg, among others, took exception to her remarks:
Gee, life is tough. I guess when you reach a certain level of success, you lose all perspective. Having a book reach #17 on the NY Times bestseller list may put Tess in the doldrums...but for the vast majority of published authors, cracking the list at all would be cause for celebration. Surely, she knows that, right?
Tess then posted a response to the controversy:
It seems that writers who reach a certain level of success aren't allowed to have any insecurities, any doubts about our careers. We shouldn't be allowed to wonder if our sales are in a death spiral, whether we've lost "it". We should simply smile and wave and feel like, well, the untouchable queen of England.
To his credit, Lee later rethought his position and, proving that he's a stand-up guy, apologized:
Why didn't I see it that way from the get-go? Tess wasn't at fault, it was me. I was way out of line. Tess, I owe you a sincere apology.
Considering the state of publishing today, concerns like only making #17 on the bestseller charts are very real and justified.
I know of one author, a New York Times bestseller with what I can only assume is a huge following, who is currently without a publisher for his popular series and is meeting with a chorus of "ho hums" from New York. Why? Because his most recent publisher did a crappy job of promoting his last couple books and they only sold 100,000 copies instead of 200,000.
When you're a writer, the fear and the pressure never stop, no matter how big you get, no matter how much success you have. Everyone is only one contract away from being finished.
Frank Wilson (my editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer) recently wrote a blog post about out-of-print books and neglected authors that inspired me. He wrote:
It has been estimated that 99 percent of all the books ever published are out of print. Certainly, enough people want to read out-of-print books to make for a thriving second-hand book business.
A couple of Sundays ago I wrote about a book that's out of print: John O'Hara's Sermons and Soda-Water. I was surprised at how many people sent me emails about O'Hara and what I had to say about him...
The response to my column about O'Hara encourages me to continue writing from time to time about books no longer in print, and about neglected authors. Aficionados of used-book stores are just the sort of people to have favorite neglected writers. So if any of you read this, let me know about them.
Again, I am convinced that the literary blogosphere can bring about a seismic change in critical outlook. We just have to get the conversation going.
I have decided to do something similar of my own. Thus, I will soon launch a new series called "Missing in Action," where I will write about favorite books of mine that have gone out of print. (Feel free to share some of your favorites as well.)
What effect the blogosphere can have at resurrecting these lost titles, I have no idea. I suspect it's probably small. But at least we'll have tried.
Look for the first entry in this series soon: Robert Ward's Red Baker.
Over on the Overnight Success? website, I just posted two new author stories, from Margaret Coel and Clea Simon. I think you'll find both of them interesting.
Check 'em out!
I wrote last week about a pair of "Wanted" posters that I received from Harper Collins advertising the availability of their authors at Bouchercon for interviews. Since then, I've been getting one a day, and they're apparently continuing for a while to come (according to the publisher).
So, in addition to the previously mentioned Dennis "The Mystic" Lehane and Laura "Closed Door" Lippman, I've also got ones for T. Jefferson "Break-out Artist" Parker, Susan "The Runaway" McBride, Robin "The Outlaw" Burcell and Jonathan "The Con Artist" Santlofer. I've gotta hand it to HC, this is a pretty cool idea.
I can see about taking a picture and posting it, if there's any interest.
I got another Wanted poster today (like the one I wrote about yesterday with Dennis Lehane). This time the subject is Laura Lippman. So I guess Dennis isn't the only one who's special.
I should definitely interview Laura, right? Of course, then I'd have to buy the drinks. Hmmm...
The UPS man just brought me a unique promotional item: a Wanted poster for Dennis Lehane, advertising his availability for interviews at Bouchercon. Most authors can't get their publishers to spend a dime on them, but Harper Collins printed up colorful posters and sent 'em out just to let people know Lehane would talk to them.
Clearly, Dennis has something on the folks at Morrow. I'd interview him, but I don't know what I'd ask... "So, you ever gonna finish that book about the Oklahoma race riots and the Boston police strike you've been talking about for the past 3 years?"
(See, this is why writers shouldn't talk about works in progress. It just leads smart ass critics to make snarky comments.)
I was at the bookstore today looking over the new paperbacks to check for any blurbs from my reviews. (Yes, I do that. Gotta stroke the ego somehow, right?) I found one on the first page of the mass market edition of Jack Kerley's The Hundreth Man.
"A cracking debut." --Chicago Sun-Times
Okay, cool. Always nice to see my words in print. Only problem is, I didn't write that. What I actually wrote was "The Hundredth Man is a crackling debut."
Crackling. Not cracking. I was saying that the story is "lively, energetic, intense." It's a good thing. If you're a Brit, saying something is "cracking" is likewise a compliment. I'm not British, though, nor do I flavor my reviews with English slang. I am not, after all, an affected ponce.
You'd think the publisher would have someone who checks on stuff like that. Of course, maybe it was just a typo. I don't know which would be worse.
Whether it's "crackling" or "cracking," though, The Hundredth Man is a good book, so I recommend it to you either way.
Agent 007, an editor-turned-literary agent who has recently joined the blogosphere, gives prospective authors some very good advice:
These days, most of you have blogs. That’s great. In fact it’s quickly becoming a requirement. But please, if you’re using your real name, don’t blog about your struggles to find an agent, or your agent’s struggles to find you a publisher, or even your struggles to get published by the New Yorker (unless you’re really really funny about it).
Agents and editors can Google search, too, and before we sign you, we usually do. It can be so hard to feel the love when we read that you’ve already been rejected fifty times. We know it happens, but we don’t need to know that it happened to you. And we certainly won’t feel comfortable sending your work to editors with that kind of info so readily available.
It makes publishers squirm, and that’s not a good thing.
I would extend that advice beyond the topic of struggles and rejections, and urge published authors to consider it as well, especially when discussing topics that might be controversial.
J.A. Konrath, author of the Jack Daniels series, is about to begin his first official book tour and he doesn't really know what to expect.
I'm no stranger to book signings -- I've visited over 200 stores in the past 13 months. But I'm a total virgin when it comes to going on tour. My publisher, Hyperion, has set it all up and is paying for everything. I'm scheduled to appear in nine cities from July 12-27. I have no idea what to expect...
I wonder if Hyperion is giving me a beer budget?
I suspect that the publisher won't be picking up his tab. (I've drank with Joe and I know that can be quite an expense, too.) If you have a chance to drop by one of his appearances, though, you can probably convince him to buy you a beer.
In the meantime, pick up a copy of Bloody Mary, Joe's latest book, which is another fun, funny and occasionally disturbing read.
I've added 2 new contributions to the Overnight Success? website (which compiles author's stories about the process of publishing their first book). The victims this time are Susan McBride (author of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries) and Karen E. Olson (winner of the Sara Anne Freed Memorial Award, her first book is due this fall).
Check 'em out!
Novelist and filmmaker Terrill Lee Lankford had some very interesting things to say about the publishing industry over on Ed Gorman's blog recently (thanks to Lee Goldberg for the tip).
Referring to the recent death of Ed McBain, Lankford writes:
It's unlikely that many up and coming writers - even if they had the skill and fortitude of Hunter/McBain - could enjoy a career like his. The current business model in the front offices of publishing would not allow for it. With the death of the "jobbers" a few years ago and the rise in control of the business by the chains and outlets like Walmart and Costco, a writer who does not catch on with a wide audience VERY quickly will soon die on the vine. And catching on quickly has much to do with what they used to call "payola" in the music business. (Wasn't that illegal? Why isn't it now?) Writers who aren't considered important enough by their publisher to warrant co-op money be paid to the chains aren't going to get the kind of placement in the stores that they need to generate the numbers required to keep their publisher interested in their careers. This - like most things in publishing - is a self fulfilling prophecy. No payola - no placement - no sales - no future. And when said book fails, guess who they're gonna blame? I'll give you a clue: It won't be anyone "In-House."
He also writes about why so many mid-list authors are now being forced to publish under assumed names. This should be required reading for anyone who's interested in being a writer.
(I should also note that Lankford's new book, Blonde Lightning, is poised to his bookstores and it's a terrific follow-up to last year's Earthquake Weather.)
Author M.J. Rose, the marketing guru of the mystery world, has launched a new campaign to promote the release of her latest book, The Halo Effect, in paperback.
Rose's publisher has teamed up with VidLit to produce a preview for the book (just like they have for movies) that you can watch on the web. (Here's the link.) I happen to love these things and think they're a very cool idea.
I don't know if they'll sell books, but I'm pleased to see that, at the very least, people are trying innovative new ideas. Marketing in the publishing industry is as stale as week-old bread, so it's good to see authors trying new things.
So go check out the trailer and see what you think. If it sounds good, buy the book. (I haven't read it, but it's supposed to be good.)
As part of the campaign to get the word out, Rose and her publisher will make a donation to Reading is Fundamental in exchange for this mention...although I would have mentioned it anyway, 'cause I think it's cool.
It's my turn to chime in over at the Lipstick Chronicles on the subject of crime fiction's Girl Ghetto. A few of my statements might be somewhat provocative, like this one:
In general, books that take on serious issues will be treated more seriously (by reviewers, fans, whoever). If a book is about a wacky wedding planner on the case of a runaway bride, or a psychic cat that solves crimes, you can’t expect it to be viewed the same way as the story of an abused woman stalking and killing the men who have wronged her.
We'll see what people think. My basic take on the whole thing is that it's overstated. I think the differences among individual writers are much more prominent and important than the differences between the genders.
The 4 writers behind The Lipstick Chronicles blog have launched a weeklong discussion of the perennial debate in the mystery community about whether male authors get more attention and respect than female authors.
First up in the discussion is Laura Lippman and, as you'd expect, she has some very interesting things to say. Later this week, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the subject, as will Sarah Weinman and Harlan Coben.
Laura starts things off in fine fashion, discussing the different perceptions about men and women in the mystery genre:
Men's stories are seen as the universal template. Much of the crime genre centers on a man's need to define manhood, to find a code to live by, to decide how violence should figure into that code, if at all. Men and women have a stake in that outcome because women often are the first to suffer when masculinity is defined via violence. So that story is universal, absolutely. Yet when someone writes about a female PI—or cop, or, lord help us, an amateur sleuth—the story is seen as specific to that woman. Her struggle is a personal one, not a universal one.
Yet men have a stake in women's stories as surely as women have a stake in men's stories. (The hand that rocks the cradle…) And, anecdotally, I have found most male readers open to that idea. Put it this way—“The Lovely Bones" could not have been as huge as it was if men weren't buying it, too. Because while women are the primary fiction buyers, the big successes—from "Harry Potter" to Tom Clancy -- are made when male buyers join the pool.
Thought-provoking stuff. Don't expect me to be as articulate as Laura, but I think I had a couple interesting things to say.
Paul Guyot has an excellent post on his blog today about one of my favorite writers who's gone Missing in Action: Gay Anthony Haywood.
Gar is the Shamus Award-winning author of the excellent Aaron Gunner detective novels, along with a pair of lighter, Elmore Leonard-type comedic novels he wrote as Ray Shannon (the latest of which, Firecracker, got a rave from me in the Chicago Sun-Times).
Apparently, though, Gar has been dropped by Putnam and doesn't currently have a publisher. That is a damn shame. Presumably the books weren't selling, which is the only reason anyone's publisher drops them, but it's hard to understand why.
Gar is a true talent and there must be an audience for his kind of sharp, entertaining writing. I hope that there is a publisher out there who can appreciate the fine work Gar is capable of and will help bring his voice to readers.
p.s. In the course of writing this post, I came across a listing for a pair of writing courses that Gar is teaching: "Pulling Off the Perfect Crime Novel," one online and on in Hollywood. If anyone's interested in learning from a master of the mystery, that sounds like a great opportunity.
Joe Konrath has a post on his blog this morning about how an author's appearance can affect their success:
If you've ever watched someone browse the bookstore isles, they always glance at the author photo in the back. Always. And many bestsellers possess above-average looks. I don't think this is coincidental.
He goes on to share that his publisher actually required him to submit a picture of himself when they were considering whether or not to buy his book. (Granted, their standards must not be very high, considering that they made him a great offer.)
Joe also discusses his weight ("I like to joke that I lost ten pounds, but then found them again in my ass."), which he's written about previously.
As a fellow member of the FMWA (Fat Mystery Writers of America -- Our motto: "Critics are delicious"), I applaud Joe's decision to come forward and discuss such weighty issues in a serious and honest manner. We may be fat, damnit, but our talent is huge, too!
Keep fighting the good fight, Joe. Charlie Stella, Paul Guyot and I are with you!
It's long been rumored that bestselling authors receive little or not editing from their publishers. Bill Crider shares a couple of examples on his blog from Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa:
p. 266: "The room was quiet and noisy."
p. 238: "Bragg took a tan leather case out of his inside coat pocket. He offered a cigar to Bragg and me."
Mistakes happen to all of us, but that's just embarrassing.
(Thanks to Lee Goldberg for the tip.)
According to The Book Standard, Little, Brown paid Elizabeth Kostova a $2 million advance for her debut novel, The Historian, which hit stores last week. The historical thriller moved 70,000 copies to land at #1 on the Bestselling Fiction Chart.
Ka-Ching!
I am opposed, on principle, to reading any entries in the contest for The Next Da Vinci Code™...but this one does have Dracula in it, which is kinda cool.
Anyone read it yet?
According to the Wall Street Journal, more than one-third of the hardcover books that publishers send to bookstores are returned unsold. Those books are then remaindered (i.e., sold off to bargain distributors for a pittance) or pulped and recycled.
Obviously there is spoilage of merchandise in any industry. But when 34% of your product goes unsold (up from 28% in 1993), it sounds like the producers don't know their market as well as they might.
One solution? Publish fewer books. There are more books published now than ever before -- nearly 200,000 a year. At the same time, readership levels are flat at best. If publishers would cut back on that volume by trimming, say, 10% of their most marginal titles, they could more effectively market and sell the remaining 90%.
If nothing else, they'd save a few trees...
Over the weekend, my wife and I made the drive up to Baltimore to attend one of Laura Lippman's signings. It was a lot of fun hearing Laura talk about the book, and of course it was great to see her again and chat for a bit.
The turn-out was great (50+ people) and they seemed to move a lot of merchandise. Of course, Baltimore is Laura's home base and it would be a real shock if she couldn't draw them in there.
Driving home, though, I started thinking about the question of touring more generally (a frequent topic of discussion in the publishing biz), and wondering about just how effective they are at selling books.
It's clear that they sell some, but how many is anyone's guess. (And that's one of the major problems with the industry right there: too many of its practices are based on assumptions, tradition and guesswork, rather than proven business practices.)
The Boston Globe has a terrific article in today's paper on the International Thriller Writers, Inc.
The whole piece is worth reading, but I found some of the stats they cite to be interesting:
More than 250 authors have joined the group, International Thriller Writers, Inc., founded last October, and there's no shortage of chills among them: Total worldwide book sales of ITW authors exceeds 1.5 billion books, and 80 percent of the members have had titles on The New York Times bestseller lists, according to ITW cofounder and co-president Gayle Lynds, whose fifth thriller, ''The Coil," has just come out in paperback. While the genre may be known for high sales, its titles constituted just 1,516 of the 25,184 works of fiction published last year (up from 1,030 five years earlier), according to R.R. Bowker's Books in Print database.
I never fail to be stunned at the sheer flood of books that get published each year. That's why a group like ITW is so valuable. Without focused, efficient and relentless publicity, there's no way to get your books to stand-out from the tide and get recognized.
In existence for less than a year now, the ITW is already doing a bang-up job. I'm proud to be a part of it.
Joe Finder, author of the extraordinary new thriller Company Man, which is debuting this week at number 15 on the New York Times Bestseller List, is currently in the middle of a grueling tour. He shares some of his thought about it, for your reading pleasure.
Why Authors Complain About Book Tours
by Joseph Finder
I'm halfway through my book tour and have met hundreds of nice people, a number of whom have asked me whether it's exciting to go on a 15-city sweep across the country. Sometimes if I'm overtired my good manners fail me and I say no. Then they always say something sympathetic like, "Yeah, having to answer all those questions and say the same thing over and over again, bet that gets old." And I say, no, that's not it. I don't mind answering questions. If they're the same questions, I get good at the answers. Since I don't like to complain to people I've just met, I don't elaborate.
Let me do so now. It's not the people -- that's the best part. It's not the signings -- I've had some lousy ones and some excellent ones. It's the travel. Makes me really empathize with people who travel a lot for business. If you do one city, one day, you spend way too much more time than is good for you at airports. You get tired of taking your laptop out of your carry-on and putting it in some gray plastic Rubbermaid tray. You get tired of taking off your shoes and walking across a grimy floor through the security gate in your stockings.
So let me be specific. I'm in Miami. Just did a great event at one of my favorite bookstores in the country, Books & Books in Coral Gables. Easily 50, 60 people there, sold lots of books, answered a lot of great questions about my books and about the way I see the business world. Next day I go out to Delray Beach and visit the corporate headquarters of Levengers, the catalog of tools for serious readers -- I've been a faithful customer of theirs for years.
I do a special event at their retail store, plenty of people there, smart questions, great conversation, even met some old friends. Spent the afternoon with my friend Steve Leveen, the founder and CEO of Levenger's, and his wife Lori at their breathtaking house on the water. Crashed in their guest house: a much needed nap after 10 days of sleep deprivation. Sat on their veranda overlooking the glimmering water talking with them and their sons and a fascinating writer-philosopher-speaker named Tom Morris. Truly a great, restful, recharging interlude. A quick dinner of Cuban food, and a limo takes me back to my hotel in Miami.
Life should always be like this.
I love book covers. They're my favorite type of contemporary art: colorful, eye-catching, evocative and portable. Just one of the reasons that books fill nearly every room in our house.
The old cliché holds that you can't judge a book by its cover. You can sell one, though. A good cover is one of the biggest assets a book can have, and remains an important way to attract reader interest.
I had a discussion with Barry Eisler recently about the cover of his new thriller, Killing Rain, coming this June from Putnam. The first three books in the series all had similarly-designed monochromatic covers.
Originally the publisher followed the same theme for the new book as well. At some point, though, they changed their minds and decided to go in a new direction, and created a more photo-realistic jacket.
I have to confess, I like it when the covers follow a theme throughout a series -- it makes the books look cool all lined up on the shelf. The new one is pretty striking, though.
The one on the left is what Putnam went with, the one on the right was the original. The purple was a little deeper, though, in print. (That's what was on the galley.)
What do you think? Either way, the book inside is pretty damn good.
Good question. I've long been of the opinion that a good cover can help sell a book. I think websites work the same way.
One of the toughest challenges facing authors today, especially new ones, is trying to get a little name recognition, trying somehow to get attention for their book, to make it stand out in the sea of tens of thousands of titles.
An eye-catching cover can do that. And in this age of the internet, a good website can do the same.
One of the things I always urge writers is that they must have a decent web presence. Without that, they are cutting themselves off from a huge potential audience that might otherwise never hear of their book.
Thanks to my friend Andi Shechter, I just found a brand new author website and it's a winner. The site is for Louise Ure, a new writer whose first book, Forcing Amaryllis, is coming out in June.
When I realized that the site was done by Heidi Mack -- who recently redesigned Lee Child's site and works with John Connolly, among others -- I wasn't surprised, since she always does good work. (Kudos to Mysterious Press, too, for doing such a cool job on the book's design.)
So what effect does a site like this have? I think it does a few things. It announces the author's presence to the community; helps make people aware of the book; demonstrates that this person is a pro and someone to be taken seriously; generates search engine results...all of which can help convince readers to give the book a chance.
(I just noticed that there's a link to Mystery Ink on there. Shows they have good taste, too!)
Does this mean I'll review the book? Nope. Does it even mean I'll read it? Not necessarily. But I am, at least, aware of it, and I'll definitely try to give it a look when it comes out. That gives an author a leg-up that might make all the difference.
One of the problems with the state of publishing today is that editors don't have the time or the luxury of actually editing in the traditional sense.
Our most recent Overnight Success? story, contributed by thriller writer Michael Palmer, gives a glimpse of how things used to be:
"...my agent was able to sell [my outline] to a wonderful editor and teacher named Linda Grey at Bantam Books. She used several drafts of the actual book to teach me the nuts and bolts of writing a thriller. Finally, after about 5 drafts, the book was published..."
Can't imagine that happening today. It's one shot and you're out.
The two latest contributions to the Overnight Success? website are from a pair of my favorite thriller writers: Gayle Lynds and Joseph Finder.
They're both interesting and illuminating, as all the stories have been.
I've been posting regular additions to the newest feature of Mystery Ink and the Crime Fiction Dossier, the Overnight Success site.
A new one just went up this morning, from acclaimed writer Robert Ward, and it's a doozy.
I published the first novel I ever wrote, Shedding Skin. Of course, I rewrote it for five years, and almost died in the process.
Don't miss the rest of the story.
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