BVLawson

The Writer's Life

My take on the recent meme going around the Web:

 

 

Get a Clue

It's hard enough for readers to keep up with all the crime fiction and mystery novels out there. Pity the poor librarians, who have to keep up with all those books AND be knowledgeable enough about all of them to answer readers' questions. Fortunately, The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery can help. Authors John Charles, Candace Clark, Joanne Hamilton-Selway and Joanna Morrison include various resources to help librarians become super-sleuths when it comes to recommending book titles.

From the blurb:

Something sinister is afoot out there—and this newly updated readers' advisory has all the clues to help librarians solve the mystery of which titles readers should check out next. Equally useful for novice librarians and seasoned gumshoes, this handbook

• Summarizes the history of mystery fiction, highlighting key figures in its development
• Covers the latest and most popular classic titles in the genre, as well select suspense and thriller fiction with crossover appeal
• Offers examples of how library staff can help readers move back and forth from fiction to nonfiction
• Suggests ways to conduct an effective readers’ advisory interview

With several well-chosen booklists, practical programming ideas, and a brand new compendium of print and web-based resources, your only crime would be not adding this guide to your collection!

Villainous Valentines

If you're looking for a gift for that special someone for V-Day, why settle for boring old candy and flowers? Here's a few suggestions for a gift that will make them remember, if not adore, you:


 
2.5 lbs of delicious Gummi Heart candy. The perfect gift for your mystery-loving sweetheart. Available with and without yummy sour cherry candy blood!

An Edible Candy G-String and Bra , composed of 300 fruit-flavored candy pieces. Just 60 calories! (Minus those calories you might work off engaging in a certain activity where said clothing is consumed.)

No more UR Kind, Hot Stuff or B Mine candy hearts. Try Curse Word Symbols instead! 

Want to give somone you love a little boost? Try the Voodoo Pop. It's shaped like voodoo doll and just like those areas that express your intentions toward your victim sweetheart.

For your P.I. wannabe, it's the Love Gun: fire little cupids across the room, up to 15 feet.

For the fan of police procedurals, how about a Life-Sized Policeman cardboard cutout?

There's even something for fans of Alfred Hitchcock—a Blood Bath Shower Curtain. Take that, Janet Leigh.

Ill-Gotten Games

Untreed Reads is an up-and-coming ebook publisher that has already brought out titles by Patti Abbott (her Monkey Justice anthology), Grimm Tales, edited by John Kenyon with a story by yours truly, and now the short novella Ill-Gotten Games from my series featuring crime consultant Scott Drayco.

From the blurb:

The clock is ticking as crime consultant Scott Drayco and "the world's most diminutive defense attorney" Benny Baskin play games with a dangerous killer in order to save an innocent man from going to jail.

Why is the killer texting cryptic poems to Drayco on his cellphone about stolen Egyptian figurines, and what do the messages mean? Was the murder a crime of opportunity or was it planned all along for more sinister reasons?

Drayco races around Washington, D.C,. trying to find the answers and avoid becoming a puppet, as the killer pulls the strings.

You can purchase a copy that gives you access to several formats, including EPUB, HTML, MOBI, PDB and PDF. It's a bargain at only $1.50, which is about one-fourth a cup of a Starbucks specialty coffee that will only stay with you for about 90 minutes, whereas a digital story will be with you as long as you have a computer.

You can click on the book cover title over in the right-hand column of this page or go straight to the Untreed Reads page. You can also find a copy directly from Amazon Kindle books and Barnes and Noble Nook Books.

 

Top 5 Favorite Tweets of the Week

In case you missed them, here are my Top 5 Favorite tweeted links I passed along this week:

 

1. A former lawyer-turned-bookstore owner compiled a hilarious list of "25 Things I Learned from Opening a Bookstore." One of my faves: "A surprising number of people will think you've read every book in the store and will keep pulling out volumes and asking you what this one is about.  These are the people who leave without buying a book, so it's time to have some fun.  Make up plots."


2. USA Today reported that the novels of legendary and pathbreaking spy-thriller author Helen MacInnes are coming back into print, thanks to Titan Books. Many of the late author's books were made into classic films.


3. Sara Paretsky has been writing her V.I. Warshawski novels featuring the female private eye for 30 years. In a Q&A with the Charlotte Observer, Paretsky says that even now, "The level of passion I do feel for the character remains strong."


4. Are you writing a private eye novel yourself or just interested in everything P.I.? PI Now posted its choice of the Top Private Investigator Blogs for you to peruse (and bookmark).


5. Yesterday was National Libaries Day in the UK. This may not sound like a big deal, but according to news reports, at least 20 libraries have already been closed, 600 are under threat, and 100 otheres face further attempts to close them this year or to cut staff, opening hours and resources.

d more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/01/2974373/paretsky-on-nurturing-her-female.html#storylink=cpy

 

The New Publishing Paradigm?

As e-book sales continue to rise and print sales continue their gradual slide, I suspect there are a lot of publishing executives out there driving up sales of antacids. Many observers and critics of the industry have been saying the traditional publishing model is broken and needs to change. But how? Little, Brown may have hit upon a solution that will become more commonplace. Instead of bringing out hardcover, paperback and digital versions of a title in a staggered release schedule, Little Brown did something diferent for What It Was, the latest novel by George Pelecanos.

It's paying off, according to an article in USA Today. How? The publisher is releasing the novel in three different verions at the same time: as a $9.99 trade paperback; a limited-edition, signed and slip-cased $35 hardcover; and as an e-book. The initial 99-cent e-book price will rise to $4.99 on Feb. 27, but even that $4.99 is significantly below what other e-book versions of their hardcover brethren have cost.

Instead of What it Was, perhaps a better title for the Pelecanos book, at least from a publishing standpoint, should read What it Will Be.

Top 12 eBook Retailers

 

The world of e-books is expanding so fast, it's hard to keep up with it all. Whether you're a reader wanting new titles to download or an author looking to publish your own work, there are several opportunities for you. I've compiled the Top 12, with the top 3 in order in terms of sales and reach and the rest in alphabetical order, since their sales are approximately the same:

Amazon Kindle (60%)  
Barnes & Noble  (20%)    
Apple's iBookstore (10%) 
eBookMall
Fictionwise
Google Books
Kobo
Lulu
OmniLit
Scribd
Smashwords
Sony

For you fans of print books, don't despair: although sales of print books were down by 9% in 2011, according to Publishers Weekly, print books still had over 702 million units sold last year.

Can You Afford to E-Publish?

As a follow-up to my posting from the other day, I thought I'd collect typical costs for self-publishing an e-book. If you want the most polished, most professional product you can put out there, these are some of the costs you may have to shoulder en route to that publishing goal:

• Book editing: An average of $800 to $1,500 for a typical 80,000 word book (using freelancer websites and the averages from the Editorial Freelancers Association)

• Book formatting for digital: This varies, but a typical service can cost $100-200

• Book cover design: Anywhere from $100 on up

• Hiring a publicist:  A la carte services can add up, starting around $500 or so, up to $5,000 (although some publicists don't handle self-pubbed books or e-book-only formats)

• Web site design: $200 for a basic site up to $1,000+ for something original and snazzy

• ISBN numbers: $275 for a block of ten (the minimum number); if you use Smashwords, you can use their ISBNs for free, but you can't transfer them to Barnes and Noble, Amazon or anywhere else.

The total so far for the above? Starting around $2,000, although that's a very lowball figure. Yes, you can barter and trade your way down to cheaper costs. And, as I mentioned the other day, some of us have decided we have to do this all ourselves because we simply can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

As for self-publishing a professional-looking print book? It can get a lot worse.

What are some of the ways you've managed to cut down on e-publishing costs? If you have some brilliant ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.

I Am Insane

Or at least, feeling that way. I read a comment the other day that "this is the best time in the history of publishing to be an author." I agree wholeheartedly that choices for authors are greater than ever: large traditional publisher, small indie press, self-pub POD print, self-pub digital.

But if you go the self-pub route, that means you have to hire an editor, formatter, book cover designer, website designer, publicist, even buy reviews (yes, a new industry of paid reviews for self-pubbers is at hand), ads, ISBN's and copyrights. Or, if you are not independently-wealthy (like moi), you wear ALL of those hats yourself. Plus blogging (SEO! Tags!) and participating in a good dozen social media/newsgroup outlets in addition to your day job and taking care of family and household chores.

I wouldn't mind so much taking on all of the load above, if it allowed enougn time for writing. But there's the rub, isn't it? Who has time left to write? I am tremendously sympathetic towards Amanda Hocking, who went from millionaire self-pubber to traditional so she could concentrate on the writing. AFter a day spend struggling with two websites and blogs, sounds a little like heaven to me.

Veteran's Day Mysteries

In honor of Veterans Day, I thought it would be appropriate to feature crime fiction books either written by veterans or featuring a veteran as a protagonist. You don't have to look very far down current and former best-seller lists to uncover the latter, beginning with Walter Moseley's popular series set in the 1940s featuring Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, a black World War II veteran. The first installment was Devil in a Blue Dress (later made into a motion picture with Denzel Washington), and the most recent—and possibly the last—in the series, is this year's Blond Faith.

Travis McGee, a creation of mystery writer John D. MacDonald, appeared in 21 novels, from The Deep Blue Good-by in 1964 to The Lonely Silver Rain in 1984. Although a a self-described "beach bum," he was also a Korean War veteran. MacDonald himself was also a veteran serving first in the army Ordnance Corp, then the OSS in the Far East during World War II. While still in the military, his literary career began accidentally when he wrote a short story in 1945 and mailed it home for the amusement of his wife. She submitted it to the magazine Story without his knowledge, and it was accepted. In the first four months after his discharge, he allegedly concentrated solely on writing short stories, generating some 800,000 words and losing 20 pounds while typing during 14-hour daily sessions seven days a week.

Relative newcomer Chris Grabenstein features protagonist John Ceepak, a former military policeman in Iraq with a strict moral code and some leftover demons from the war, in a humor-tinged series with such titles as Tilt-a-Whirl, Mad Mouse, and Whack a Mole, although the subject material is often serious.

There are many other mysteries with veteran protagonists, but I'll post a few below grouped by war experience. Since November 11th is Veteran's Day in the U.S. I focused primarily on protagonists who are U.S. military veterans, the exception being Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear and Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy Sayers, since there are a dearth of American WWI veteran-related mysteries (and Sayers is of course a crime fiction legend).

American Civil War
Owen Parry, Faded Coat of Blue
Brent Monahan, a series with sheriff/veteran John Le Brun

Mexican-American War
Michael White, Soul Catcher

World War I
Baynard H. Kendrick, a series featuring blinded veteran Captain Duncan Maclain
Dorothy L. Sayers, series with Lord Peter Wimsey
Jacqueline Winspear, a series featuring nurse veteran Maisie Dobbs

World War II
Terence Faherty, a series featuring veteran Scott Elliott
William Hjortsberg, Fallen Angel
Robert B. Parker, Double Play (featuring veteran Joseph Burke, not Parker's usual Spencer)

Korean War
James Lee Burke, The Lost Get-Back Boogie
Stephen E. Miller (author and actor), The Woman in the Yard
Kris Nelscott, series featuring African-American detective/veteran

Vietnam War
Richard Barre, series with Wil Hardesty
Austin Bay, The Coyote Cried Twice
George C. Chesbro, Veil and Jungle of Steel and Stone
James Crumley, The Mexican Tree Duck
Nelson DeMille, Up Country 
Jerome Doolittle, several novels featuring protag veteran Tom Bethany
MIchael Allen Dymmoch, series with former medic John Thinnes
Joseph Flynn, Digger
Katherine Forest, series with former marine, Kate Delafield
Ken Grissom, Drop-Off
Gar Anthony Haywood, series with veteran Aaron Gunner
Jeremiah Healy, series with John Francis Cuddy
Craig Johnson, series feauturing Walt Longmire, veteran Marine Investigator
Rick Riordan, Cold Springs
Conall Ryan, Black Gravity
Howard Swindle, Jitter Joint
Sharon Wildwood, Some Welcome Home (one of the few featuring a nurse veteran)

Gulf War (Desert Storm)
Charles Benoit, Noble Lies
J.D. Rhoades, series with Jack Keller
Jim Tenuto, Blood Atonement: A Dahlgren Wallace Mystery

Other Veterans (non-war-specific)
Lee Child, series with Jack Reacher, former military police
Julia Spencer-Fleming, series with former helicopter pilot, Claire Fergusson
Wendi Lee, series with former marine Angela Matelli 

In addition to John D. MacDonald above, military veterans who have penned crime fiction include James Church (a pseudonym), a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia. In A Corpse in the Koryo, Church introduced readers to elusive Inspector O. The mystery was named one of the best mystery/thrillers of 2006 by the Chicago Tribune.

Steve Coonts received his Navy wings in August, 1969. After completion of training in the A-6 Intruder aircraft, Coonts reported to Attack Squadron 196 at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. He made two combat cruises aboard USS Enterprise during the final years of the Vietnam War as a member of this squadron. After the war he served as an instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an ssistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz, finally leaving active duty in 1977. His first novel, Flight of the Intruder, published in 1986 by the Naval Institute Press, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover. A motion picture based on this novel, with the same title, was released in 1991.

Chet Cunningham was drafted into the army in 1950. After nine months in Japan, he moved to the front lines of the war in Korea, participating in two battles and numerous line-crossing and prisoner patrols. Assigned to a heavy weapons company he served as an 81 mm mortar gunner, squad leader, and section leader. His service earned him the Combat Infantryman's Badge. After two years of service he was discharged in the rank of sergeant. Cunningham has written many mysteries and thrillers, under the pen names of Keith Douglass and Don Pendleton.

Samuel Dashiell Hammett joined the army during the first world war, serving in the Motor Ambulance Corps, unfortunately contracting TB in the process. He earned a disability pension from the Veterans Bureau on his discharge, and when his health permitted tried to resume his former work with the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Sponsored by the Veterans Bureau, he signed up for a writing course and in a short space of time began a campaign of magazine submissions. Hammett went on to write several short stories and five novels, the most famous among them The Maltese Falcon.

Wayne Karlin's Lost Armies features a Vietnam vet teaching English to Vietnamese refugees in southern Maryland and a "tripwire" vet who is terrorizing them. Karlin served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1963 to 1967, when he was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. His decorations include the Vietnam Service Medal, the Air Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation, and the Combat Air Crew Badge with three stars. Karlin is a professor of Languages and Literature at the College of Southern Maryland, and has also authored or editor other books and anthologies on the war, as well as essays.

Robert B. Parker, author of the popular Spencer series, served with the Army in Korea. His protagonist, the Boston P.I. Spencer, is also a Korean War veteran, and was first seen in 1973's The Godwulf Manuscript, with dozens more novels following. The character of Spencer was made into a TV series Spenser: For Hire during the 1980s.