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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
We didn't have a contract
After I had written, revised, revised and revised, I hired an editor to work on Whose Hand? I called my publisher and left messages that I was working on the book, but WE DIDN'T HAVE A CONTRACT. He did not return my calls.
Last January, after I was happy with Whose Hand? I put it on Kindle and Nook. Sales were pretty good, and boosted interest in the first book as well. My publisher decided to delay release of Whose Hand? from spring to fall 2011. Given that WE DIDN'T HAVE A CONTRACT, and it was doing ok in epub, I went along, even though that meant the second book would be released two years after the first, which is too long.
Whose Hand? is set to release in August. Last week I told my publisher that WE DIDN'T HAVE A CONTRACT. "That's not good," he said.
He invited me to his office, and mentioned nonchalantly as the contract printed out, that it had changed a bit. "I'm going to be doing the Kindle and Nook publishing now," he said.
"No," I said, fully prepared to walk out of his office without a contract for paper.
Our first contract specifically said that I retained electronic rights to the work. I wasn't about to let go of those rights for the second book.
"What percentage would you give me?" I asked, curious only to hear what he'd say. "I get 70 percent from Kindle and 70 percent from Nook."
He was dumbfounded. He had planned to send the file of my work to another vendor, who would put it up on Kindle and Nook, then pay him 50 cents for each copy sold. I get $2.10 per book now, I told him. Shock and awe.
"How do you get it in the Kindle?" he asked.
"I read the directions," I replied.
"Maybe I should have you put all my other books on Kindle," he said.
In the end, we signed a contract identical to my first with him, including a sentence that says I retain all electronic rights.
My paper publisher's family is now in it's third generation in the business. He's a savvy man, in the print world. But like many publishers he's caught in a very steep learning curve of the rapidly changing world.
So what's the lesson in this tale? We're all learning. But we indie authors have to stay with every bend in the road, or we're going to get run over. And never, never, never sell your electronic rights for less than a bizzilion dollars.
Have you had an experience like this?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Multiple Personalities?
Clare O’Donohue is a freelance television writer and producer. She has worked worldwide on a variety of shows for Food Network,the History Channel, and truTV, among others. Missing Persons* marks the debut of the Kate Conway mystery series. She is also the author of The Lover’s Knot, A Drunkard’s Path, The Double Cross and The Devil’s Puzzle (Oct. 2011) in the Someday Quilts series. O’Donohue lives in Chicago, IL.
My first three books, all part of the Someday Quilts series, were light mysteries. People were murdered, sure, but it wasn’t anything to get upset about. My main character from that series, Nell Fitzgerald, is nosy but she’s polite. She makes quilts, she hangs out with a multi-generational group of woman, and she’s dating a guy that anyone would be happy to bring home to meet the folks.
My fourth book, Missing Persons*, features Kate Conway. Kate is nothing like Nell. In fact, my guess is she wouldn’t even like her. Kate is sarcastic and a little bitter. She covers her vulnerability with cynicism, and she isn’t afraid to lie or manipulate if it gets her what she wants.
One of the comments I’ve heard from friends, reviewers and fans of my first three books is that it’s hard to believe both series are written by the same person. If characters are extensions of the writer’s personality, my friends say, then I must have multiple personality disorder.
I’m fine with that. Just as I don’t think most actors want to play the same part their whole careers (except maybe Susan Lucci), I don’t think most writers want to write from the same point of view all the time. Even a series that goes on for years grows and changes, and the author introduces new characters that bring different life experiences, different attitudes, different methods of getting rid of a body….
And isn’t that the fun of it? I love my Nell character, and her genesis may be in my years of quilting and my fantasies about small town life, but she isn’t me. Kate shares my profession (TV producer) and a tendency to make a joke out of everything, but she isn’t me either.
My characters live in different places (Nell in the fictional small town of Archers Rest, and Kate in the very real Chicago) and they have different interests (Nell quilts with a group of close friends, Kate tries to avoid human contact through TV and take-out).
The fact that these women see the world through very different eyes, isn’t the hard part. It’s the fun part. Through my characters I can have new experiences, or relive old ones – I can be 26 again, worried about my career and sharing a first kiss, or I can be facing down the cop who thinks I might be a killer. I can be rude, virginal, angry, generous… I can be smarter than I actually am. And much, much braver. One mystery series couldn’t do or say everything I want, so why not have two?
Like a pretzel dipped in chocolate, the opposite tastes actually improve each other. Which only makes me wonder what perhaps a third series, with another new character could bring to the mix. Or a fourth….
My friends may be right. Maybe I do have multiple personality disorder.
*Tomorrow on Stuff and Nonsense, a review of Missing Persons. I also have a copy to give away to one person who comments here or on tomorrow's review. U.S. entries only, please. Deadline is midnight on Saturday, July 2nd.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Redemption vs. Worthiness
Men, because they pretty much know they are dogs and capable of doing horrible things, write about a human who seeks redemption.
Women, on the other hand, consider themselves underdogs and write about a human who seeks affirmation and worthiness. Legally Blonde or Stephanie Plum fit in here.
If all things are equal—quality of writing, characterization, etc.—one story will feel serious while the other feels fluffy, and the deeper one is more likely to garner positive attention from judges of the serious minded awards (such as the Edgars). And often, that attention translates to readers as well.
What do you think?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Authors are not the Enemy
There’s no question that author BSP (blatant self-promotion) is alive and well these days, and there’s no question that it annoys readers. Quite honestly, it annoys me, as an author and as a reader.
I get that. Not only do I get it, I sympathize. But what I don’t understand, and what concerns me, is the increasing hostility some readers have toward authors, along with the notion that we’re the enemy.
We’re not.
I recently dropped out of a very popular online group for Kindle readers because the contempt seemed to be reaching epic proportions. It made me uncomfortable and felt unfair, if not insulting. When the group tried to organize a monthly post where authors could list their work—a sort of online book fair—there was a huge uproar. Many simply wouldn't have it. A very adamant and heated discussion ensued, during which, one member said she didn’t want it because it was a DISCUSSION group, not a MARKETING group. Then she compared us to door-to-door salesmen who drop by and force her to watch a presentation of their product.
For me, the comparison seemed deeply flawed and unfair. A door-to-door salesman is a stranger. The authors in the group were not. Most owned Kindles, most read books on them, and most participated regularly in the discussions. Besides, nobody was "forcing” her to see anything. Hence the reason it was placed in a separate thread and offered only once a month. If she didn’t want to read it, she had the option of simply ignoring it.
What some people fail to realize is that authors do read. In fact, many of us do so in a voracious manner. We're also human beings with feelings—although, in reading comments posted in various online discussion groups, it would appear some are unaware of this. Here’s just a small sampling:
The only reason authors send friend requests on Goodreads, FB, or follow on Twitter is so you'll buy their book. The only reason they're nice is so you'll give them good reviews.
Authors shouldn't comment on reviews because it makes readers feel like they can't give an honest opinion if they know the author is lurking out there
And it's not just the readers who perpetuate this attitude. Many websites, in their attempt to crack down on BSP, are enacting strict rules. And they should. But some, it seems, go a little too far. I recently got this email from Goodreads:
I am once again asking all authors (and regular members as well) to remove any signatures they use to advertise their books at the end of their posts. By "signatures" I mean links/urls at the end of your posts linking your books/website/blog that have no relation to the topic you're posting in. Any posts like this will be subject to deletion.
This is in an effort to keep the amount of author promotion to a minimum so that those members who aren't interested in reading the self-promotion aren't beaten over the head with it. Many members have expressed their displeasure with the promotion, and this is my way of cutting down on it without eliminating it.
Beaten over the head? With a signature line at the very bottom of the page that has a title or website? Even non-authors put website urls in their signature lines. It’s sort of become a standard practice, a way of telling people who we all are.
The point I'm trying to make here is this: We are not the enemy. We write books, ones that readers read, and last I checked, that isn't a crime. At the very least, we deserve respect.
We’ve worked long and hard to earn it.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Writing a Killer Thriller, Part III
James N. Frey, How to Write a Damn Good Thriller
Donald Maass, The Fire in Fiction
David Morrell, The Successful Novelist
Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us
Friday, June 17, 2011
An Insider's Look at Screenwriting
What should readers expect from a good screen adaptation?
First know that the screenplay will usually be different than the book. It should capture the essence of the story and main characters but not the step-by-step moments. There are exceptions such as Holes, which is YA – just the right length to lend itself to following the story exactly. Movies that try to stick too closely to the books usually end up dragging and boring. If you need something for the story, make it up. If too many subplots or characters are in there, nix some of them. As to the nitty gritty: Grab the audience’s attention with opening image. Introduce your protagonist right away. We want to know early. Don't overwhelm your reader with dozens of names in the first ten pages (each page is a minute on the screen). Limit details that don't move the story forward. Focus the reader's attention where it should be. Give us the clues we need to "get it” as early as possible. Many other things go into making a great adaptation, but those are the bare bones.
What are some examples of crime novels that made great movies?
The Godfather (1972) very effectively and seamlessly stripped subplots way back and it is consistently listed as one of the best adaptations. Similarly, The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – streamlined the plot line. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) would have been a bit short if 100% true to the novella, but just the right amount of meat was added. As to true crime: William Goldman (arguably the greatest screenwriter of all time) believed that in historical screenplays, one doesn’t need to be accurate about the people involved, only to the historical event and the result of that event. Example: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He wasn’t even true to his own novel, Marathon Man (told in the head of the kid). In it the only scene that stayed the same when he adapted it to a script was Olivier in the diamond district.
Can you name some failures and tell us why the novel didn’t adapt well?
Most scripts fail when trying to stay too true to the book. They aren’t well acted or directed or edited or visually successful. This is true even for a great book. One example would be Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Have you seen it? Some books are brilliant but are hard to pull off as movies. One recent example of that is The Time Traveler’s Wife. A great effort was made but it still didn’t touch the book. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dune and many others don’t work. Interestingly, Stephen King didn’t like the feature-length adaptation of The Shining but he liked the other adaptations. In my opinion it was the reverse of that. The Shining, partly because the vision didn’t remain 100% true to the book, was the best. The others stayed more true but were duds on the screen. Hope King doesn’t read this. Adaptation is NOT being true to the original. There is controversy over fidelity. But altering the author’s original vision may be required.
What value is there for a novelist to learn the craft of script writing? Can it enhance storytelling abilities?
It helps tremendously. I’ve written over a dozen screenplays, a few of them shorts. I can tell you that my prose has greatly improved because of it. I learned to write tighter, less on-the-nose, with snappier dialogue and to pick and choose the most telling details in the “direction” of the narrative. It improved my storytelling skills and gave me an important lesson in writing visually. It also gives a sense of completeness much quicker so it’s a great boost to the self-confidence.
What is the hardest adjustment for writers to make when moving between the two genres?
First, film is collaborative. They will change your script; believe it, accept it. Most painful when you go to sell, it’s a who-you-know industry. There’s lots of business acumen and rules about it: Outright Sale versus a Development Deal (your script is a lure to pitch your ideas), Auditions (sample script secures you an audition for writing assignment), Options (usually 6-12 months $0-$20,000) at the end of the stated time, the producer pays purchase price or passes.
Then there are differences between who represents you. Agents are Writers Guild-signatories, 10%, no reading fee, 90 day termination clause. Managers (not WG signatories, they nurture your career but can’t sell without attorney, often 15%). There’s the Hip Pocket Deal—when an agency signs someone only to sell a spec script (not to get the writer any other work) It's better than nothing but you want an agent that believes in you as a whole and not just one of your scripts. The bigger agencies tend to offer only this to newer writers.
As to adjusting to the writing of a script: it will to be shorter if adapted from a novel. Since Voice Overs are somewhat frowned upon (Forest Gump is an anomaly), you must be prepared to tell the story without lots of internals. Show Don’t Tell is definitely the rule for screenwriters. And you can’t boss around the director or actors. Avoid camera directions like Close Up – unless it is essential for the plot. Avoid telling the actor to speak sarcastically; this should be evident from the dialogue. If not, improve your dialogue. And don’t put into your directions things that a director can’t portray—like a quick thought backstory that won’t ever come out on the screen. Try to avoid Dawn and Dusk scenes because capturing the moment in several takes is difficult. Film is a more restricted venue. But on the bright side, working in a box is easier for many people. It makes the structure and rules less of a guessing game.
If novelists can visual their story as a movie, should they go ahead and write the script or does it make more sense to shop the novel?
Good question. That depends on who you ask. My entertainment attorney told me to write the book first because more money comes that way, since selling the rights to a movie is more lucrative and easier than selling a spec script (assuming it is a popular book). Personally I didn’t wait to finish a book to write it as a spec script because a producer told me that if I turned it into a screenplay he’d take it on. It never sold (the young producer died before having a chance at it), but it sent me down a detour from my novel writing that I don’t regret at all. After my solo stint, I teamed up with a few other writers on different projects, got an agent (who took scripts to Sonnenfeld, Cameron, HBO, Showtime, and Sci-Fi), and I finally had a co-written short produced. I ended up having to terminate my agent and am looking for another. In the meantime, I have irons in the fire for features, webisodes, and made for TV movies. While I market, I’m back to writing novels with my new skills well in place. How can I regret writing spec scripts?
Do you need a Hollywood agent to sell your novel/screenplay or are there websites and services that put authors directly in touch with production companies?
Yes and no. If you are willing to go the indie route you can team up with small budget director/producers through lead services such as Inktip, learn about the business and what’s hot through e-newsletters like MovieBytes, join local groups like Colorado Actors and Screenwriters Assembly, go to festivals and pitch, and gain attention through contests. When you are starting out, I suggest contests like BlueCat and ScriptVamp that offer great feedback on your work. When you are ready and confident, try The Nicholl Fellowship—cream of the cream—if you even make quarterfinalist you’ll get attention. There are many other great contests. Do your research. Be sure the contest gets your work into the right hands if you final.
What resources do you recommend for a writer who is just breaking into the genre?
Read the trades like Variety and Hollywood Reporter. Read directories like Hollywood Creative Directory. Lead services like InkTis (One service is free; their more complete services cost.), MovieBytes on line.
Don’t be intimidated by the format. There is great software out there like Final Draft and MovieMagic but I wrote most of my scripts using Word…easy…thanks to tabs. I believe www.Zhura.com has on-line screenwriting software for free.
To learn the nitty-gritty on formatting, start by reading The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier. For foundations: Syd Field’s Screenplay. For story development: Story by McKee. For understanding the industry: The Writer Got Screwed by Brooke Wharton and Hello, He Lied by Lynda Obst. For taking it to the next level: Linda Seger’s Making a Good Script Great. There are also many on-line sources for learning the art and business of screenwriting:
- CASA:
- Learn the difference between coverage and consulting here.
- Good site to learn more about the construction of a pitch by Christopher Lockhart.
- Excellent site for articles on screenwriting by Michael Hauge.
Karen is a novel, screenplay and nonfiction consultant and editor. But her own writing is her first passion: novels, literary cookbooks, magazine and newspaper articles, and screenplays. She’s garnered international, national and regional awards for feature length and short screenplays (solo and collaborative) including: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and Pikes Peak Writers Contest. One of her co-written short scripts has been produced. She has been represented by a Hollywood agent, an LA entertainment attorney, and a top NY literary agent who sells book to film. Learn more about Karen and her writing at her website.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
My intern, Sven
I'd hired him at the end of his spring semester at MIT because he could type. He auditioned for the job by giving me a foot massage. How could I not hire someone so dexterous?
He's worked out well so far, even if he's only here mornings. He's written checks to the cottage industry I employ- typesetters, editors, cover designers - and balanced my checkbook. He's already called a dozen television and radio shows and has me booked to talk about Whose Hand? A Skeeter Hughes Mystery when it publishes in mid-August. He even lined up a caterer to make tiny crepes stuffed with goat cheese and asparagus tips for the launch party Aug. 24, 7 p.m. at Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore in Minneapolis. He ordered a case of Chardonnay.
"Tell me again why you want tomorrow off," I said.
"I hate to leave you in a lurch but if I don't get my application in right away I may have to wait another year and that's just too much," he said.
"What's your sport?"
"Discus throwing."
"You certainly have the muscles for it," I said. "Well, ok, if you must you can go, but I want you back in 24 hours, you understand?"
"I wouldn't leave you longer than that. Who knows could happen?"
What will I do when he gets the Rhodes? He'll be gone for a whole year. I guess I'll just have to hire his identical twin, Ben.
So... fellow writers. What's your fantasy?
Monday, June 13, 2011
Welcome back, Irene!
Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.
We last saw Irene Kelly in 2006's Kidnapped. She's finally back, and facing an old nemesis, Nick Parrish (to whom we were introduced eleven years ago in Bones). In the earlier novel, serial killer Parrish developed an obsession with Irene when he was temporarily allowed out of prison to lead a search for one of his victims. In this book, Parrish has recovered from the paralyzing injuries he sustained during his earlier escape attempt, thanks to an enterprising surgeon.
Although he's still incarcerated in a maximum security facility, Irene worries that Parrish will seek revenge. Despite friends' assurances of her safety, she's still afraid of the Moths, Parrish's rejuvenated online "fan club". She is certain they are the ones behind the terrifying "pranks" that occur when she's at home alone. But when the corpse of a young woman is found in the trunk of a car parked outside her house, the body painted with images of moths, Irene's suspicions are confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Las Piernas News Express is folding, and Irene has to find a way to keep from sitting around the house worrying about Parrish and the Moths.
Jan Burke's skill continues to increase with each novel she writes. Her characters are well-described and the plot is so gripping and suspenseful that this reviewer was forced to read through the night to finish the book.
One caveat: it does help to read the Irene Kelly books in sequence; the impact will be so much less otherwise.
Hop on over to Stuff and Nonsense, where I have a Q & A with Jan Burke! One lucky reader of Crime Fiction Collective and Stuff and Nonsense will receive a copy of Disturbance courtesy of the publisher. Please comment on any or all of the blogs by midnight on Saturday, June 18th to be entered in the contest.
*Many thanks to Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab program for the opportunity to review this book before publication.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Twenty Short Stories: $3.99. Feeling Good: Priceless
Timothy Hallinan is the Edgar-nominated author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok Thrillers, which Publisher's Weekly called, "razor-sharp, convincing, and heartbreaking." He is also the author of the highly-praised Simeon Grist mysteries and the e-book original "thrillers with a laugh track" featuring L.A. burglar (and private eye) Junior Bender. Junior's debut, Crashed, is available on Amazon now. Hallinan's story, Hansum Man" was recently anthologized in Bangkok Noir, a collection of sotries about The Big Mango by twelve well-known writers. He lives in Santa Monica, Bangkok, and Phnom Penh. He's online at www.timothyhallinan.com.
I've never edited anything in my life.
I've always figured that the editing gene and the writing gene are two completely different things.
And now that I'm officially the editor of the Kindle e-book SHAKEN; STORIES FOR JAPAN—a collection of 20 original short stories by 20 more-than-original mystery writers—I've still never edited anything in my life.
Before I explain that, let me say that the twenty writers who contributed to the collection, the writer who designed the cover, the poet who let us use her internationally-praised translation of haiku, the e-book producer who converted the whole thing into a beautiful e-book and put it online—well, they all got paid exactly the same amount.
Nothing. Zero.
SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN is, I think, the first e-book ever conceived solely as a fund-raiser. One hundred percent of all royalties go directly to the 2011 Japan Relief Fund administered by Japan America Society of Southern California, which has already raised more than $1 million in disaster relief. And they've pledged that every single penny that comes in will go straight to the areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, many of which are also still under threat of nuclear contamination.
So for $3.99, you get twenty great short stories, 21 haiku, and a chance to help people who really need it. SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN is available now through Amazon. It's never been easier to contribute.
So why haven't I really edited anything?
Because the stories don't need it. The writers are first-rate, and they were all working on tiptoe for this project. In alphabetical order, they are Brett Battles, Cara Black, Vicki Doudera, Dianne Emley, Dale Furutani, Stefan Hammond, Rosemary Harris, Naomi Hirahara, Wendy Hornsby, Ken Kuhlken, Debbi Mack, Adrian McKinty, I.J. Parker, Gary Phillips, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jeffrey Siger, Kelli Stanley, C.J. West, Jeri Westerson, and me, and I didn't have a single important question about anything any of them wrote.
In fact, they were all so good that I went back and rewrote my own story.
Kelli Stanley's “Coolie,” set in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, opens like this: “Alfred woke up coughing, the black, oil-charged smoke searing his throat, smell of burning velvet curtains in Barbary Coast whorehouses, fruit stands and bowler hats, Palace Hotel and the Old Poodle Dog kitchen.”
Wendy Hornsby's “The Emperor's Truck” brings a young Japanese-American woman home to San Pedro for the first time after years spent penned up in World War II relocation camps: “Everything seemed familiar, and not. Tricks of memory, Eunice Toyama thought. How many times during the last four years had she imagined coming home to San Pedro and finding everything exactly the same as she pictured it in her mind's eye?”
And Cara Black's “Mosquito Incense” gives us another homecoming, across the sea, in the present time: “No more, he promised himself, as the bullet train edged into Tokyo Station. The last time had been the last time. He dumped Eddie's letter into the porcelain toilet hole, flushed it down the white tiles, as loudspeakers blared in Japanese.
He left the station, slipped into Tokyo as easily as a rubber glove. “
I mean, what's to edit?
The big problem, sequencing the stories was solved by haiku. Adrian McKinty's nonfiction opener is an elegiac remembrance of how he followed the 17th-century poet Basho up to the Sendai area, now almost completely destroyed. I thought that haiku would be a good way to bridge the stories and also to remind the reader of the rich Japanese cultural tradition. And I got permission—free, again—from Jane Reichhold, whose 2008 volume, Basho: The Complete Haiku, has set a new standard.
Two more gifts—Gar Anthony Haywood, one of my favorite writers in the world, surprised us all by designing what I think is a brilliant cover. And Kimberly Hitchens of booknook.biz donated her services to assemble, convert, and beautify the final product.
And now you get to give—to the effort to help battered communities and broken families – by buying the book. I hope you do.
Peg, here. For a current update from the International Atomic Energy Agency, click here.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Dead Stuff
I’m in the process of finishing my new novel, a psychological thriller that centers on the case of a three-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered more than forty years ago.During that time, I really had to dig down deep in order to portray the depth of emotion parents feel when this kind of tragedy occurs. It hasn’t been easy.
We love a good puzzle
And is there any bigger puzzle than a murder? Crime solving has always been fascinating business. Even more intriguing are the modern-day advances in forensic science. It never fails to amaze me how much they can determine from so little. For me, the best mysteries seem to be ones that appear the most confusing—that is, until the investigator cleverly pulls it all together in the end. It’s the aha moment that’s the payoff.
The “Good to Know that Somebody has it Worse than me” Theory
Death is the ultimate dose of bad luck. It really doesn't get much worse than that, and no matter how bad things are in our own lives, we can always look at the guy who got whacked and think, “Wow, and I thought I was having a bad day.” It’s a form of relief, something that helps us put things into the proper perspective. Also, I think, humans are for the most part a compassionate species, and many of us feel a certain degree of sympathy for the victim, thus drawing us in even more
Justice, Media-Style
We love to hate the bad guys, but we also love seeing them pay for their deeds, and quite often in the world, that simply doesn’t happen. It makes us angry. Seeing justice served on the screen or the pages in a book tends to fill that void. We know it’s not real but still get to sample that emotion on some level,which restores a sense of decency to our world.
Morbid Fascination
Having said all that, there is a dark side to all this. Simply put: we like morbid. I'm not sure why, but we do. We may cringe or cover our eyes (then peak between our fingers) but there seems to be something about the truly bizarre and grotesque that fascinates us. Maybe it's as simple as this: it's human nature to be curious, and the more disturbing something is, the more curious we seem to become. We don’t really want to know, but we sort of do. It's the reason people slow down to look at a car wreck on the side of the road.
What about you? As always, I'm interested in hearing any theories you may have on this. Comments?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Writing a Killer Thriller, Part II
~ Give characters opposing goals, agendas, and strong motivations.
~ Make sure the stakes for each character are high.
~ Stage confrontations as if they’re happening/unfolding in real time.
~ Embed dialogue with tension, subtext, and power exchanges.
~ Know your protagonist’s deepest fears.
Friday, June 3, 2011
I've Seen the Future and It's Not That Scary
The changes in publishing are happening so fast and furious, it’s almost surreal. If someone had predicted this stuff even five years ago, people would have scoffed and called it social-science fiction. Here’s a recap of the last two weeks:
- Amazon launched a fifth publishing imprint, Thomas & Mercer, which will focus on mysteries and thrillers. Its first four titles will be available on the Kindle, in print and audio formats at amazon.com as well as in bookstores.
- Amazon hired former Time Warner Books CEO and current agent Larry Kirshbaum to head Amazon Publishing’s New York office, putting Amazon in direct competition with NY publishers.
- Amazon has asked publishers to start submitting books in epub format, paving the way for standardization of digital books. Readers and authors rejoice!
- Liberty Media, a cable conglomerate, offered to buy Barnes & Noble, and most analysts say it’s on the strength of the retailer’s e-reader (Nook) and plans to expand into global digital markets.
What does all this mean? For starters, if you can, buy stock in Amazon. ☺ And if you still want to sign a contract with a publisher, Amazon should be your first choice. I also think traditional publishing will consolidate to the point that there may only be two or three main presses, and I expect Amazon and B&N to be the dominant forces because they control distribution. B&N is likely to follow Amazon’s lead (as it has done with Nook and PubIt!) and enter the traditional publishing business, signing with authors to release books in all formats and also with e-book exclusivity clauses. This could be a negative for readers because some titles will be available only on Kindle, and some titles will be available only on Nook.
The good news for readers is that there will eventually be more standardization of e-book formats. A few years from now, any e-book you buy will be readable on every device you own... unless it was published by the competition.
For writers, it means you either get picked up by one of the Big 3, with a much better deal than any Big 6 press ever offered, or you go it alone and promote like hell. Small presses will likely disappear too.
I also believe e-book prices are going to drop significantly in the near future, driven by Amazon’s dominance as a volume retailer and by self-published authors drive to gain readership. As a reader, this is good news. As a writer, this is the one thing that makes me the most nervous.
Where do you think the industry will be in five years? Ten years?