Mysterious Matters: Mystery Publishing Demystified

The Biggest Challenges

Back in my university days, I remember reading sources from ancient Babylon and Ur in which writers complained that children are becoming increasingly unruly, and that the downfall of society would certainly result therefrom. (Come to think of it, those cities did fall...)

My point is that people have been foretelling the downfall of society, industries, models, methods, and theories since the beginning of time. When I started in this business decades ago, I remember one of my mentors bewailing the state of the industry and how books were getting worse and and worse. (He would spin in his grave if he could see some of what's being vanity-published these days). Today, with the passing of Maurice Sendak (met him once - NOT a nice man, but that's a different story), he's being quoted for his stance on e-books: "shit," he decreed unapologetically.

I half-disagree with him, and thought I'd use today's installment of Mysterious Matters to talk about the issue in the larger context of the biggest challenges our industry faces. Some of these haven't changed in decades; others have cropped up only in the last few years.

1. THE LACK OF GOOD MANUSCRIPTS.  There's a reason why it's so hard to get published by a reputable publisher. Despite the fact that a lot of garbage does get published, most editors/publishers make significant investments (emotional and financial) in the books they buy. I remember my first job, way back when, and the feeling of excitement that I was about to read one fabulous manuscript after another. Reality set in very quickly - the truly good, the truly worthy of publication, was as difficult to find as a needle in a haystack, a pearl in an oyster, a diamond on a beach.

The same is true today. It is really, really difficult to find worthy manuscripts. Each day brings the hope that one will rise to the top; on 99% of days, that doesn't happen. Remember, I'm talking here about manuscripts that I can take to the editorial board and say, "This will sell - it's worth us investing our money in editing, publishing, and marketing it." And the hurdles are higher than ever.  Why is that? This brings me to the next two challenges.

2. TOO MANY BOOKS ARE PUBLISHED. By books, I mean "fiction," as that's the world I work in. This is true for the print world, and it's even more of a problem in the ebook world. Avid readers, occasional readers, and society in general just can't absorb the amount of fiction being put out there. And yet, we do work in a capitalist system, which means that good publishers will stay in business while bad publishers will go bankrupt eventually. In the meantime, books are printed and remaindered left and right. People are busier than ever before, with levels of sensory overload never-before-experienced in human history. How can we expect that typical business traveler to learn about, pick up, and read New Novelist A when the airport bookshop carries only Tried and True Novelists B, C, and D? What we need is a good, old-fashioned book shortage.  I'd try to engineer one, but then the Department of Justice would sue me.

3. OUR EGALITARIAN SOCIETY HAS LED THE AVERAGE PERSON TO THINK THAT S/HE HAS THE RIGHT TO HAVE A BOOK PUBLISHED. Oh, what a problem this is. Many people who work in this industry think the business is mostly a meritocracy, though I'm not naive enough to buy into that idea more than about 60-70% of the time. But society has changed over the decades. In general, people used to understand that to have a book published, they'd need to be at the top of their game. Now, just as the grammar schools make every child believe s/he deserves some sort of athletic trophy just for participation, every would-be writer thinks s/he has the right to be published. And here's where Amazon - along with Apple, one of the most opportunistic enterprises in modern history - hit paydirt. Their idea: "Let's let people publish their own work. It costs us absolutely nothing and, even if the book sells 10 copies to close friends and relatives, we get our cut with practically zero investment." The company's done a good job of fomenting discord with "traditional publishing" (you wouldn't believe the scorn with which that phrase is used on listservs and other Web forums), implying that we're all rip-off artists, scammers, and millionaires rolling in cash.

As for waiting - well, our have-it-now, instant-gratification society is filled with people who mistakenly think their work is so good, so perfect, that it must be published NOW so that it can sell millions of copies. Again, enter Amazon to play into this fantasy and make a few bucks while doing it.

4. VANITY PUBLISHING CLOGS THE DISCOURSE AND INTERFERES WITH THE MESSAGE. It's hard enough to get the word out about good books. People seem to be afraid to say this in public, and if this blog weren't anonymous I think I might also think twice for fear of hurting conceited people's feelings, but 98% of self-published ebooks are garbage. And yet, many of their authors are working conventions, setting up Facebook pages, and in general acting as if their books have the legitimacy of the books published by the oft-maligned "Big Six." Sorry, but they don't. Yes, I'll admit that about 1% of ebooks-only are decent, good, or even excellent - but that's not much of a hit rate given the sheer volume. I would imagine that someone with good taste could have a great deal of fun setting up a Kirkus-like review site that provides reviews - REAL reviews - of self-published books. Of course, no one would waste their time on such a pointless endeavor; how many ways can you find to say "self-indulgent," "tripe," "awful," "badly written," and "execrable"?

The term "vanity publishing" has gone away and yet that's exactly what it is, which is why I use the term without apology. I really would love to see a greater acknowledgment of the fact that vanity publishing taps into the same self-centeredness and desire for popularity/idolatry that Facebook, American Idol, Twitter, and all these other so-called "social media" tap into. That's what cell phones and all these other things are about - popularity, stardom, and worship: NOT communication. We used to assume that people had to WORK hard to get published, and the hard truth was that people could try to get published all their lives and never succeed. But that's gone away, and it is leading to what I see as our industry's #1 challenge, which is...

5. BOOKS ARE NOW PERCEIVED AS INTERCHANGEABLE COMMODITIES, AS PLENTIFUL AS WATER AND NOT WORTH SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY ON. Of course, this sweeping generalization isn't true of the many devoted readers who spend a lot of their disposable income on books (and we thank you for that). But how can anything possibly be perceived as having value if it's given away for free, or sold for 99 cents, on Amazon? Sadly, the overall goals of publishers and many writers just are not in alignment here, and it's a problem. Publishers are corporations that seek a profit - We need a return on our investment, and we need to pay our vendors and staff. Many writers, it seems, care only about having an adoring reading public. If that means they have to pay their own money to get published, and then give their work away in the hopes that by some miracle they'll end up on the best-seller list, then so be it. Some of these folks are very, very vocal - and what works me up is their complete ignorance regarding the way predatory corporations like Amazon (and to a certain extent Apple) are using propaganda to make Joe Bad Novelist think he can self-publish his own crap and get rich. This is one of the great mass delusions of our age; I can't believe more people don't see it and talk about it, but hey - that's what Mysterious Matters is for.

Meanwhile, the Kindle/Nook/iPad walk the interesting line between wondrous marvels and thought-control devices. Wondrous marvels in that many people love to read books on them. Personally, I don't; the only one I find at all aesthetically appealing is the iPad, but I have such a problem with Apple's business practices that I won't buy one. But a lot of people love their e-readers. So, to come full circle, I wouldn't agree with Sendak's blanket dismissal of e-books as "shit" -- many of those books are quite, quite good, and the devices help get books to people in the format in which they want them. But the existence of ebooks (and now these new "ebook publishers," which are basically versions of Kindle Digital Publishing that allow the deluded to think they are with a "real publisher") has allowed so much junk into an already crowded stream...and I am so tired of hearing the vanity-published act as though we traditional publishers have been the enemy that has conspired to keep their crap from getting published.

Well played, Amazon - while demonizing an industry that is your bread and better (ever hear of biting the hand the feeds you?), you have succeeded in crafting the American mind to align with your pursuit of profit. And while I say this with proud rancor, I also say it with the bitter realization that we let it happen instead of fighting back from the beginning.

What the Heck Is Going On?

It's simply impossible to keep up with the mystery genre and its permutations. But I do try....

One doesn't have to follow blogs, read listservs, and attend conventions to hear writer's frustrations. The smarter ones don't inveigh against the industry and its quirks in public; though I'm sure some have wisely chosen to vent under screen names/pseudonyms.

Sometimes I understand their frustrations; sometimes I want to tell them to grow up. No one ever said a career in a creative discipline is going to be easy. Several years ago one of my daughters, enrolled in a Ph.D. program, decided to quit. She had a heart-to-heart with her advisor, who told her (kindly, which I understand isn't always the case) that she had to adjust her expectations or find something else to do. He told her that establishing an academic career isn't easy - that it's filled with nastiness, politics, and back-stabbing that only gets worse after the degree has been granted. In essence, he was telling her: Stop expecting people to be nice to you. It's not going to happen. Suck it up or find something else to do. She decided to do something else and is now the bright, upbeat person that is her natural state. 

I often give writers the same advice: You can't expect this industry to be nice. It isn't. Like so many areas in life, it's unfair. It stacks the cards in favor of certain people and against others. You can swim against the tide and win a blue ribbon for tenacity and still get nowhere. That's just the way it is. And I realize I'm part of that system, and I've been lucky enough to be able to do this for several decades and earn a living at it. A handful of us can make that claim; many more can't.

But this week I'm feeling sympathy for writers and what they go through. And why? I have read some really mediocre books over the past few weeks - not just by established writers but also by newbies who got that much-coveted contract. One was so formulaic I felt it had to have been written by a teenager; another was so slow as to be practically unreadable. Each week I reject books that are BETTER than these two published works.

And I've heard through the industry grapevine about manuscripts on which I've passed that have gone on to receive contracts, usually thanks to a tenacious agent with the right connections. The late, great Ruth Cavin once commented that she'd never rejected a book that went on to become a best-seller; I can say the same, but only because I do this blog anonymously. I'm going to watch these books and see what happens. One that I rejected a few years ago was published by a good company to lukewarm reviews; another that I rejected a while ago seems to me completely incapable of achieving any sort of critical or popular success. And yet - those writers have contracts and likely received a larger advance than I ever would have been willing to pay.

What's my point? Oh yes - that based on these experiences, I can see why writers feel so frustrated. Is there any connection between merit and success? Will a good manuscript necessarily get bought? Will fabulous reviews in PW or LJ lead to a mega-bestseller? The answer to all these questions, sadly, is No. Which is why I always say: Don't quit your day job.

Rant to Department of Justice: Get a Life

OK, so let me get this straight.

The airlines just get bigger and bigger. Continental merges with United to create the world's largest airline. Ticket prices go up. Services goes down. WAY, WAY down.

Banks keep getting bigger and bigger, with colossi buying up independent state or regional banks. Fees go through the roof while interest rates on savings go through the floor.

Investment firms are declared "too big to fail" (as a result of merger after merger) while hard-working people lose their retirement funds.

Mrs. See's candies, those wonderful San Francisco chocolates, are now a part of Berkshire Hathaway.

Speculators continue to drive up the price of crude oil, making gasoline prices skyrocket. But that's OK.

In a nutshell: Huge, powerful companies are merging, acquiring, eliminating jobs left and right, sending work overseas, and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division nods sagely and with delighted approval. No, the Antitrust Division has much bigger fish to fry. Why hold banks accountable for ruining people's lives when you can sue the publishing industry for price fixing?

For those of you who don't know, it is likely that the Department of Justice is going to sue Apple and the large publishers for attempting to fix prices, especially the new ebook model. What a great use of the taxpayers' money! Last time I checked, people don't take out mortgages to buy novels. The publishing industry doesn't foreclose on their homes or charge them $5 when they use an ATM outside their network. Our products sell in the $5 - $30 range and are completely discretionary purchases. Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head saying, "Buy this book or I'll blow your fucking head off."

What are publishers doing, you may ask? We're simply trying to establish a model that does not devalue our products to the level of mass-produced Chinese garbage. We're trying to prevent Amazon from ITS predatory practices of using our products as loss leaders and its many other questionable (and borderline unethical) business decisions.

And what do we get for trying to protect intellectual property - and to protect the industry that is responsible for world literacy from going the way of the music business - and for our attempts to find a fair model that compensates authors and agents while not sending us into bankruptcy? A proposed lawsuit for "price fixing."

Department of Justice: I hereby declare you the biggest bunch of morons, imbeciles, and shitheads on the face of this planet.  Let's hope your government pensions remain intact when one bank runs the United States, gasoline costs $10 a gallon, and one mega-airline has swallowed up all others. Then you'll get to read your $2.99 paperback or .99 ebook on a flight to Chicago that has cost you $4,000.

Agatho, You Cheapskate!

A famous businessman (I forget who) once said, "I know half my advertising dollars are wasted. I just don't know which half."

Wise words, indeed. And said quite some time ago, in the days before advertising-based business models (think newspapers, magazines) started experiencing some major challenges. I recently picked up a copy of Time magazine - once replete with ads - and was moderately shocked to see how thin the publication has become. Now it's mostly content, not something I would complain about, since who buys a news magazine for the advertisements?

Fortunately or unfortunately, the book publishing business hasn't relied on advertising (within the pages of the books themselves) to support itself. So, I do think we are a step ahead of newspapers and magazines in that regard. (And, honestly, I don't think magazines and newspapers would be in their current pickle if they hadn't all been in such a rush to provide all their content for free online. What sort of bubblehead ever thought THAT was a good idea?)

As we watch markets adjust to new conditions, helping to craft them in the tiny ways over which we have some control (for example, my publishing house refuses to ever offer its books for 99 cents online), all of us are forced to examine our operating assumptions and to think about ROI (return on investment), the acronym we can't get away from. Before we spend any money, we have to ask ourselves: Will this help us sell more books? Will it help us increase our profits and keep us in business? Or will this send money down a sinkhole?

With that in mind, I've compiled a list of the things I will pay for, and the things I will NOT pay for.

THINGS I WILL NOT PAY FOR:

1. Reviews.  I will never, and I do mean NEVER, pay anyone to review any book we publish. Paid reviews don't matter and don't affect sales. They are a waste of time, a waste of money. Nobody takes them seriously. Most pay-for-review sites are taking advantage of those who take part in vanity publishing activities. Kirkus (shame on them, but heck--they DO have to pay the bills) now has a pay-for-review part of the magazine; nobody even looks at those reviews. ForeWord magazine occasionally sends our publicist an email saying that one of our books hasn't been chosen for review, but it HAS been chosen for the privilege of our paying them to review it. We laugh and wonder if they think we're some vanity publishing outfit. The only reviews that matter are those that you get for "free," because all others are paid advertising, pure and simple, and we know what most people think of THAT. I will pay people to review my books when three conditions are met: (1) Pigs fly, (2) Hell freezes over, and (3) Snowballs stand a good chance in the aforementioned Hades.

2. Author "tours." I know that many writers dream of the days when publishers sent them on book signing tours. And if I was with one of the big houses who is lucky enough to publish guaranteed best-sellers, I might spring for one. But from where I sit now - we just can't do it. Have you looked at the price of airfare, hotel rooms, and meals lately? Do you have any idea how many books we have to sell just to cover the cost of one night in a hotel room? Sadly but truthfully, people just aren't going to turn out to hear some author they've most likely never heard of and buy their book. We have better ways to spend our money.

3. Advertisements in the popular media. We simply can't afford advertisements in popular magazines and newspapers; and even if we could, the number of books sold as a result would not cover the cost. I think many writers think that advertising is the key to getting readers; it isn't. I know people who take out ads with their own money, post on every listserv known to man, and blog themselves silly who still can't sell more than a couple of thousand copies of their book. This isn't to say that I have the magic formula for making a book successful, as there's plenty of garbage that does quite well and plenty of wonderful books that get remaindered almost instantly.

4. Overnight mail. Was there ever a greater waste of money and resources than overnight mail? Listen, I love what I do, but most people can wait 2 or 3 days for their books without dying. In many cases, the cost of shipping is the single largest chunk of book revenue - it can even exceed the book's unit price (i.e., the printing cost per unit). Media Mail is what it's all about. I shudder to think what would happen if the USPS ever got rid of Media Mail. So let's not even go there.

THINGS I WILL PAY FOR (OR CONSIDER PAYING FOR):

1. Good cover designers.  I'm shocked by the really awful cover designs that I see (sometimes, but not always, done by small presses). In our visual and shallow age, there is no more important signal of a quality-published book than a good, creative, interesting cover design. Look at the best-seller list: Rarely do you see a terrible cover. Nothing makes a book look more cheap, or more unprofessional, than a poor cover design. I'm afraid that this comment will now make the self-published spend lots of money on cover designs; but please know that a good cover alone is not enough to make a book sell.

2. Bookstore placement. It isn't cheap, but I am willing to pay for book placement at Barnes & Noble and a couple of other large book retailing outlets. To do this, I would have to have the utmost faith in my book, as well as an aggressive author who is as much a self-marketer as s/he is a writer. No human being can go into a B&N and look through all the books in the stacks, their spines facing outward. Being on display says "Look at me," and it can be enough to turn a casual browser into a book buyer. Of course, the book has to have a great cover, a whammo opening page, and an attractive author (which is why you see so many author photos that have been Photoshopped into Hollywood-style images).

3. Quid Pro Quo. While I don't believe advertising works (except library advertising, and then ONLY if your ads are backed up by good reviews in LJ, PW, Kirkus, or Booklist), I can and do advertise in those magazines as a way of supporting them. And while subscriptions to each of those publications is a burden, we need to support them, their staffs, and their missions--so each year we shell out the annual subscription fee. In other words, if you want my scant advertising dollars, your best bet is to review a couple of our books, which then creates a sense of obligation in us to support you in return. (As I say this, I am glad that I do this blog anonymously.)

4. Google AdWords. What a terrific waste of money. I speak from experience. Never again. Maybe for yachts; not for products, like books, with razor-thin profit margins.

What about the Internet, you ask? Well, the jury is out. We do cautiously try things out every now and again; results have been mixed (the 50% to which the first line of this post refers). We're in the process of trying out a few Amazon programs - we'll see how those turn out. I do worry about Amazon and its predatory practices; we've seen what happens when a company becomes the only game in town (Microsoft, though it's only a matter of time before Apple eclipses them, and it may have already done so). But just as B&N is still the best venue for book lovers at a physical level, Amazon seems to be the best Internet space for book lovers, so I bow to pragmatism and do what I must.

 

 

 

 

I Am a Book Person

I am a book person.

It's not that I'm against Kindles, Nooks, and the like. I understand why people like them.

But at the end of the day, I want to curl up with a good book, not a computer.

I stare at a computer screen for much of my day. I don't want to do it at night.

I like the books on my bookshelf. Often, I can pick one up and remember what was going on in my life at the time I first read it.

I appreciate the art of the book, and how everything (typeface, cover, the entire package) fits together. There's a sense of permanence there. For me, an ebook is gone as soon as the last character is read.

I like the quality-control process that most printed books have gone through. 

Books take up too much space in my house and my office. But if they didn't, other stuff would take their place. And it would be junk. Books are never (well, almost never) junk.

I like buying books. So much value for so little money. They are my "retail therapy." And they don't break the bank.

I'd never read a "free" ebook. If a book has gone out of print, I'd rather look around for a used hard copy than read it on an ebook reader. So even though I'd buy it new if it were still in print, I know there's a copy of it available SOMEWHERE. Thank God.

There's a tactile sensation to the book that I like. With a hardcover, I like the feeling of strength. With a trade paperback, I like the feeling of flexibility and portability. With a mass-market paperback, I like the feeling of being in touch with an editor's idea of what "The Reader" is interested in reading.

I think the "death of the book" has been greatly exaggerated. At Barnes & Noble, the kids' section is usually overflowing with kids. A new generation of readers is growing up with books, and they won't be giving them up.

We'll have fewer retail outlets selling books. Can't deny that - but we'll also have fewer retail outlets selling appliances, clothing, and so forth. We'll adapt, just the way the movie and TV industries adapted to VHS tapes and DVDs.

Books have always been an escape. They're even more of an escape now, when the average person is wired 24 hours a day, answering instant messages while having sex or on the toilet. I don't think I'm the only one who wants to disconnect from a bright, glowing screen. 

[Note: This blog entry is just a set of notes from a speech I was scheduled to give last year. I came across them and realized I haven't changed my mind about anything over the last year, and I don't think I'll change my mind in the near future, either.]

Top 5 List: Reasons to Read

Looking over my last post, it occurs to me that I didn't mention "readers' advocate" as one one of the top challenges of my job. I think that's because it undergirds everything else I do. Because commercial success is built on readers' opinions (especially on word of mouth), readers' reaction to a book is always uppermost in my mind. Of course, there are many types of readers; and, of course, the publisher's greatest joy is publishing a book that even non-readers pick up and read, just because they want to see what all the fuss is about.

So, with all this in mind, I've been thinking about the reasons people read. This won't come as a surprise/shock to any of those who read this blog on any sort of regular basis - but maybe this post would be good for forwarding to non-readers to help them understand what their missing.

All right, then, why do readers read?

1. To escape. Let's face it, the world is a stressful place, and even those who should help us relax (family, friends) often add to the stress levels. There's nothing like cocooning with a good book. This is why one of the key (but hard-to-define other than "I know it when I see it") things I look for in a manuscript is the author's ability to completely absorb the reader. The kind of book I like is one that demands the reader sit and gulp down a hundred pages at a time. (I say this because, during my nightly reading time, I usually begin to fatigue at about 75 pages. But a really good book pushes me to page 100 and beyond.) I just wish that those who follow TV series (to the exclusion of reading) would give books a chance to show what they can do. And I think there are "gateway" books that do bridge this gap. I'm thinking of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Da Vinci Code, the Twilight books, the Hunger Games books, the Harry Potter books -- all, I think, have helped introduce reading to non-readers of all ages.     

2. To learn. I recently read a nonfiction book about how much of his/her college education the typical college graduate "uses" in real life. The answer, not surprisingly, was "not very much." But I do think people with curious minds like to keep learning, to keep experiencing new things. Magazines and books both accomplish this; and recent difficulties in the magazine and newspaper business make me wish that their business model wasn't built on advertisements. And learning can be a great part of fiction, where readers can learn about new places, history, hobbies, professions, and so forth. When all of this takes place within a novel (as compared to, say, a textbook), the phenomenon is sort of a "stealth" learning that is absorbed rather than crammed down one's throat.  

3. To relax and fall asleep. I've been reading a lot lately about the sleep issues Americans have. Whom do I blame? The Internet. Plenty of research has shown that the light given off by screens has a stimulating effect, so playing around on the Internet before bed is a bad idea. And yet how many people do we know who are on their computers (or smart phones) all their waking hours? Research is showing just how relaxing reading is - how it is the perfect nighttime activity to wind down from the day. (In contrast, TV, with its noise, its light, its action, has the same effect as a computer). I think a lot of people guard their nightttime reading time quite closely because they understand how useful it is to them not only intellectually but physiologically. (Of course, there's a difference between using a book to relax and reading a book that puts you to sleep!)

4. To be part of a community. Recent years have seen the growth of book clubs; and the Internet is full of listservs, blogs, and so forth that help people connect with one another. I wish I had the time to do more of this sort of thing - I need to know what readers are saying and thinking, what turns them on and what turns them off. My wife and I tend to have only about 20% overlap in what we read, and then there's usually a lag. There's nothing like being able to engage in a conversation about a book as soon as one has read it, which is why I usually run to Amazon after I've turned the last page, to see what others have said about it. That could be considered a conversation in a way, I think. (Unfortunately, I can't post reviews, as I would want to be honest, and I can find a good deal to critique in many of the books I read, most of which I'd probably give 3 stars.)

Those four points are the bright/sunny side of reading. However, there is a dark side, specifically:

5. To feel superior. I admit it: I'm not a fan of literary fiction. Yes, it has its place. But it doesn't sell, and it makes very few writers into household names. I see a lot of Amazon Vine reviewers who seem to use their reviews as a place to put writers and publishers down; and there are certain review sites that seem to have that same goal. I'm all for honest criticism, but I do draw the line at nastiness for the sake of nastiness (though who's going to listen to me?) I think this is a real problem in terms of the big houses and agencies these days: They say they want best-sellers, but they turn their noses up at the mass-market fiction. Then, of course, there's the New York Times, in which Ivy Leaguers review books by other Ivy Leaguers, which are then purchased (but not read) by other Ivy Leaguers. It's all so incestuous and ridiculous.  There's nothing wrong with escapist genre fiction, but our more serious review engines refuse to recognize that. They see reading (or their choice of reading materials) as a way to demonstrate the superiority of their taste and educations. Let them have it, I say; others can publish it, while I try to make best-sellers.  

An anecdote about this last point: The late, great Charlotte Armstrong once found herself at a party, and she met a woman who asked what she did. Charlotte replied, "I'm a novelist." "What do you write?" asked the woman. Charlotte responded, "Mysteries." The woman replied, "Oh, I don't even have the time to read good books."

 

Top 5 List: The Mystery Editor's Challenges

Last week, or thereabouts, I blogged/opined on the mystery novelist's top 5 challenges. I have been giving some thought to what my top challenges are as an editor/publisher, so here goes:

1. How do I find the heart or core of this book?  Like many editors, I take particular pleasure in finding and developing new talent. This requires no small amount of patience, which is why I'm fortunate to be at an independent publisher. If I find a manuscript I really like, or in which I see a lot of potential, I can work with the writer on both a micro and macro basis.  At the micro level, there's of course the need for wordsmithing - getting the prose to sing. But many freshman efforts are weighted down. They're too long, or they have too much going on, or there are too many extraneous details. My mission when signing and editing a book is finding its heart, its center, and bringing that out, usually with careful pruning. 

2. How do I make sure reviewers like this book? I notice that there is sometimes debate over how "important" reviews are. I'm not sure that reviews on so-and-so's blog or the local paper are that important, but good reviews in PW, Library Journal, Booklist, and/or Kirkus are essential.  Actually, a review in Kirkus is often a mixed blessing, because that august publication seems to take pleasure in eviscerating books (I think many of those reviewers need to be in therapy). As for the others, they're important. I can't possibly keep up with everything they review, but I do take note of starred reviews and use them to figure out what's going over and what isn't. I should also say that these review publications do tremendous service to our industry, and I simply cannot thank them (and their volunteers) enough. This isn't to say I always agree with them; tastes are, after all, often subjective. But I do applaud their professionalism and I take their recommendations, and criticisms, very seriously.

3. How do I make money for the company?  Yes, there's that dirty word - "money."  I don't think I've ever been particularly subtle in Mysterious Matters about publishing as a for-profit industry. My job is to sign and publish books that people want to buy - books that they're willing to pay good money for. But there's more to it than dollars and sense. I want to work on books that people want to read. I'm not a literary snob; I want books that provide quality, well-written, clever, non-insulting escapism. A writer's success is my success, and I don't see my job as publishing "worthy" books. I see it as publishing books that have a chance of hitting the mainstream, of launching a career for the writer and an income flow for the publisher. That income flow helps me take chances on other unknowns, as I search for the new James Patterson or Mary Higgins Clark.

4. How do I get attention for my books? Ah, that is the $64,000 question. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do that; there are only so many hours in a day. This is where the publicists come in. I do love working with publicists, and I'm fortunate to work with a very good one, who I believe is the unsung hero of our company. A lot of people don't realize that publicists get rejected just as often (perhaps more often) than writers do. It's extremely difficult to get attention in the media if you're not already famous. I'd guesstimate that maybe half the people our publicist contacts don't even bother to return the phone call or email. I enjoy taking part in brainstorming sessions with the publicists because there's no one who wants these books to succeed more than I do.

5. How do I ensure that the book - the physical product, and the ebook - reflects the quality I want to see in a book?   This will sound very old-fashioned, but I am a stickler for typography and design. Nowaways, it seems that everyone with Quark or InDesign sees themselves as a qualified typesetter. Sorry! Type is an art, and so is book design, and so is cover design. With the spate of self-published garbage out there, I feel a particular compulsion to ensure that books by independent houses have the same gorgeous look to them as books published by, say, Knopf (I tend to love their interior and cover designs). I read page proof four and five times until my eyes are bleary to make sure there are no typos (and this is above and beyond the proofreader and author). Cover designers both love me (because I respect their work so much) and fear me (because I am such a pain in the ass). For me, a good book has always been, and will always be, a work of art, and I want them to be perceived as such. This extends to eBooks as well, though the best-laid-out .epub files sometimes do crazy things on the Kindle, Nook, iPad...  

Top 5 List: The Mystery Novelist's Challenges

Most of the time, I blog about the editing and publishing of mysteries/crime fiction, rather than the writing thereof. But over the last few months I've been having conversations with writers from my list, and the talk has sometimes steered toward writing process, revision, audience considerations, and so forth. So, based on those discussions, I thought I might list what I see as writers' (or at least MY writers') top challenges as they write.

1. How do I balance plot and character?  I find that many writers worry about finding this balance. Given length constraints, how do they tell a story while also giving characters room to grow and evolve? And I do think the balance is a tricky one to pull off. I often get manuscripts that are too character-centric, with only the sketchiest of plots; and I also get fast-paced books with paper-thin characters. If you're writing a series, having a strong protagonist (as well as a strong supporting cast) is essential. At the same time, you want to draw readers into your story. How do you accomplish all of this in 70-80,000 words?  It's not easy.

2. How do I make the language do what I want it to do?  All of my authors write in English. It's a nuanced and versatile language, but I hear a lot of writers say they feel they must wrestle it to the ground to make it do what they want it to do. It's not just a matter of word choice; language is essential in planting clues/hints/doubts. A lot of writers have been telling me they struggle as much with what they do not say as they do with what they do say. I think that's an important point: In mystery fiction, what you don't say is as important as what you do.

3. How do I find enjoyment as a writer while meeting my readers' expectations?  We can all give examples of writers who are on auto-pilot, who've written the same book a dozen times. There's a place for that; formula can be comforting and enjoyable for readers. But a lot of my authors try to expand their horizons, and they find themselves asking the question: How do I write a book that people will want to read, but one that will be a challenge for me to write? As a writer, how do I hone my craft while not straying too far from the commercial realm of a book that the mass market will want to buy and read?

4. How do I develop a readership among all the competition?  Interestingly, some authors worry about this question more than others. I have some authors who are masters of promotion, never missing a publicity opportunity. And I have others who just don't have it in them. That's not how they think or who they are. They're happy to do anything our publicist asks them to do (usually), but they're more introverted, less "out there." From where I sit, I'm not sure how much incessant self-promotion really impacts the bottom line. We have books with introverted authors that take off with a life of their own, and books by extroverted authors that sit in the warehouse. I wish I had the magic formula; my retirement fund would be a lot bigger.

5. How do I motivate myself to write, to stay in the game?  A majority of writers (I'd go so far as to say a large majority) can't pay the bills by writing fiction. So there's the constant question of how much time they can spend on their writing, when they often have a full-time job, and/or a family, and/or other demands on their time. This isn't an endeavor for the weak or faint of heart; it takes time, tenacity, a thick skin, and a lot of patience - often without significant financial reward. When my authors miss deadlines because they have to work overtime at their day job (the one that pays the rent or mortgage), how mad can I really get? I can't pay them large advances, can't really give them the financial incentive to take six months to do nothing but write, revise, polish, and submit. 

Next week: The Mystery Editor's Top 5 Challenges.

Predictions for 2012

So, another year has come and gone. Hard to believe. And it's nice to see that, despite the constant threats/warnings/gleeful prognostications of the "death" of traditional publishing, a lot of us are still here. In fact, a recent news report indicated that, contrary to expectations and predictions, some people are willing to pay the same amount for an ebook as they would pay for a print book (the Steve Jobs biography was the example given).

Because 2011 was the year of prognostications (including several for the impending end of the world), I thought it might be fun to close the year on Mysterious Matters with my predictions for 2012. If I'm wrong, I'll be in good company!

1. You'll see more zombies.  Conventional wisdom says we're "over" the vampire craze. I don't quite think we are, but I do think we're on the cusp of a new craze: zombies. I think we're going to see quite a bit beyond Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in 2012. Apparently, zombie gatherings (in which people gather dressed as zombies, though not necessarily to eat brains) have been shattering records over the last few months. Maybe with an election year coming, people are becoming tired of the relatively well-behaved and sophisticated vampires of recent years and have decided they want the pure id, the unapologetic brain-eating, of zombies.  Not the kind of book I'd sign up - I'd have no idea how to edit it - but I bet some younger editors could take them to the top of the charts.

2. eReading will grow.  No surprise there; I don't think anyone denies it any longer. Like many in our industry, I believe we'll continue to see demand for print books, along with growing demand for eBooks. I see this trend as an opportunity for publishers and writers - a way to get a younger generation, obsessed with its technology, to read more. And, of course, it's a lot more profitable to sell an ebook than a printed book (not to mention the warehousing and shipping costs). The other side of this coin, of course, is the truly breathtaking amount of garbage being generated and "published" and "distributed" through the various self-publishing venues. Some get upset about this, and I see why; but the cream generally rises to the top.

3. DorothyL will remain maddening. At the office, we go through phases. Sometimes we love reading this "mystery literature e-conference," and sometimes we want to pull our hair out. Recent months have seen some really fascinating threads, including participants' stories about their suspicious neighbors (many a novel waiting to be written) and a great discussion of the reactions to Dexter (both the book and the TV show). But then there are those bloviating windbags who post every day, whether they have something to say or not; and the level of self-promotion has become epic. DorothyL reminds me of anold saying about advertising: "I know half my advertising dollars are wasted, but I don't know which half." Subscribers to DorothyL know that each day, the list will be 50% interesting and 50% garbage. If I were a young Internet entrepreneur, I'd develop an app that would strip all the following out of DL: self-promotion, people drumming up readers for their own blogs, posts by a certain few. I feel certain that 90% of the readership would download and use that app.

4. A lot of deluded people will get ripped off. Among the neverending debates about self-publishing (or, as we used to call it in a less politically correct age, vanity publishing), we rarely hear about the number of aspiring writers who are getting ripped off. On the one hand, we hear from the "traditionally published" (or, as I would call them, "the published") about the drawbacks and benefits of having a professional editor and publicist to work with. On the other end of the spectrum, we hear the self-published proclaiming that their stuff is as good as anyone else's, and why shouldn't they have the glory and the millions of dollars that come with a successful book? What we don't hear about is the amount of money a writer has to put out of pocket to do everything a "traditional" publisher does for free. Of course, plenty of people have no qualms about spitting out a Word document and uploading it to Kindle, but those who want to do it right pay for a good copy editor. Then there's the cost of book design, cover design (they usually stink), typesetting, printing, the various machinations to get an ISBN. Then there are those who will convert your work to various ePub formats for sale on various eReaders (for a fee), and publicists who like you to believe that they can get media attention for a self-published author. I really have come to believe that this system is no better than the one that promises young people they can turn them into "professional models"  (after, of course, they pay for expensive photos, sign agreements paying agents to represent them, and so forth). Then, of course, there are those pay-for-review places that make the self-published pay for reviews, or listings on some sort of Website, in addition to the traditional book thieves (a woman with the initials S.R. comes to mind) who request review copies and then make a bundle selling them. On Mysterious Matters, I try not to engage too much with the self-publishing debate, but I do feel it's time to say the following: To be successful in any creative endeavor, someone other than yourself has to believe in your work. Comments regarding the three or four people who've made it "huge" via self-publishing (among hundreds of thousands) may now commence.

5. The economy will improve.  I'm seeing signs of this improvement everywhere - and, most importantly for me and the company I work for - better book sales, in both traditional and eBook format. Not quite at the level we were at before the recession began, but an improvement. And I do think we have both Apple and Amazon to thank for some of this. Both companies are unabashed and unashamed by their intense marketing-oriented approach to their businesses; and it's working. (Last thing I heard, Apple has more cash than the U.S. government.) This is an area where we traditional publishers fail; I think even the youngest of us feel somewhat crass when attempting to shove books down people's throats, but Amazon and Apple have no such qualms. Of course, the iPad and Amazon are about a lot more than books, but books are going along for the ride, and that's a good thing.

..and, finally:

6. Price will be a signal regarding quality. I have pontificated about this before: Price is a signal. You have no illusion that you're getting quality merchandise when you pay $1 for something. I think a lot of readers have come to realize that cheap books just aren't worth as much as books that are priced a little higher. A lot of misinformed people who are self-pricing their books at .99 and 2.99 aren't quite realizing what signal that sends in an era in which Americans (even those of lower socioeconomic classes) are more than happy to spend $100 a month for iPhone service. Though I no longer work for one of the "Big Boys," I sit on the sidelines and cheer as they refuse to have their products (books) reduced to the lowest common denominator in terms of price. They understand the value of their products, and they want to make sure the public understands that, too. Nobody's interests are served when the products of major publishing houses (and independent presses, too, of course) are perceived as the equivalent of Chinese mass-manufactured crap.

And on that note, a Happy New Year to all.

 

Mystery Titles You'll Never See

Every few years, an email of "children's book titles you will never see" makes the rounds. Among the titles of these unpublished classics are Mommy and Daddy Got Divorced Because You Were Bad and Take Candy from Strangers and Get in Their Cars.

I am feeling a bit punchy after editing a 700-page manuscript (a labor of love, but I'm going to bed at 8 p.m. tonight and don't plan on waking up until Monday morning) so I have decided to put forth my list of Top Mystery Titles You Will Never See Published.

Top Twenty Never-to-Be-Published Mysteries

by Agatho

1. Stephanie Plum Learns a Lesson, by Janet Evanovich

2. Puppy Dogs and Lollipops, by Ken Bruen

3. The Slender Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith

4. I Wrote This Book, by James Patterson

5. A Fucking Murder in Three Pines, by Louise Penny

6. The Detective's Guide to Humility, by Hercule Poirot

7. Herman Cain for President, by Ruth Rendell

8. Hero Arrives Too Late to Save Irish-American Heroine, by Mary Higgins Clark

9. My American Upbringing, by Elizabeth George

10. No Brand Names, by Stephen King

11. Eve Dallas Gets Divorced, by J.D. Robb

12. Peabody is the Chocolate Thief, by Nora Roberts

13. Happily Ever After, by Margaret Yorke

14. The Sixth Virtue, by Lawrence Sanders

15. The Man Who Outsmarted Jane Whitefield, by Thomas Perry

16. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Patricia Cornwell

17. Adam Dalgliesh, NASCAR Hero, by P.D. James

18. My Last Book, by Joyce Carol Oates (a/k/a Lauren Kelly, Rosamond Smith)

19. Kitten Prey, by John Sanford

20. Down with Journalists, by Laura Lippman