In Reference to Murder

Some Timely E-Vents

Before jumping on the author eWagon, keep in mind that piracy, fraud and just plain greed are obstacles you may have to navigate around. For instance, one self-published author posted recently how her book ended up on both Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K., all well and good—except for the fact that someone else had uploaded the book pretending to be her, hoping to reap the profits. When the real author tried to get the situation remedied and upload her sequel, she was told she wasn't the real author.

Lee Goldberg (author of the Monk tie-in books), also noted that Kobo had automatically decreased the price on his eBooks via Smashwords without his knowledge or approval, leading to a potential loss of thousands of dollars in sales. All because he hadn't opted out of distribution to that vendor.

While we're on the eSubject (yes, I know that construct is getting old), Publishers Weekly has a report from the 2011 London Book Fair about the opening seminar, "Publishers in the digital age will be irrelevant."  Panelists offered both a spirited defense of the publishing world's achievements and a warning that "publishers today lack imagination and have been too quick to cede the next generation to other companies."

Meanwhile, literary agent Rachelle Gardner tried to answer the question of "What will the role of agents be in the future of publishing?", and concluded that agents and traditional publishing are still going to be around for a while, although their roles will be changing. Some agencies will function as consultants for authors pursuing self-publishing by arranging editing, design, digital formatting, printing, etc. Others are looking at functioning more like publishers themselves.

It is indeed a Brave New World (ironically, one of the Top 10 Banned Books in the U.S. in 2010).

 

(From Jeffrey Koterba)

 

What About the Afterlife?

What do the above have in common? They're all 1,000 years old or older (in the case of the Cuneiform stone, close to 4,000 years old). As the publishing world breathlessly awaits the latest eDevelopment, I find myself wondering about the future of today's books. I embrace digital technology every day, enjoy eBooks and believe they have a variety of uses and loads of potential for readers and writers.

However. Ask my audio engineer hubster how easily it is to get music or audio off an old 8-track tape or cassette. How many times has he tried to rescue something from a reel-to-reel tape, only to have it disintigrate? How many records has he painstakingly restored with a laser turntable, to find some parts just can't be decoded? DAT tape? Hardly anyone has DAT players anymore. CDs certainly aren't permanent.

Even in today's eBook realm, not every book can be read on every device due to the differences in software, hardware and formatting (.azf? .opf? tr2? chm? PDF?). Will our ancestors a thousand years from now have the technology to scan these binary bits when our current technology seems as ancient as a stone and chisel?

What do you think? How permanent are today's books—digital or print (those not published on acid-free or high-quality paper)?

Welcome to the Fold

From Publishers Weekly comes word that Pegasus Books has a new fiction imprint, Pegasus Crime. The line will publish crime fiction, mystery novels, police procedurals, espionage thrillers, and paranormal suspense. The imprint's first title will be The Preacher, a follow-up to Camilla Lackberg's international bestseller, The Ice Princess, is due in April.

Coming later this summer: debut author Holly Luhning's gothic thriller Quiver (already out in Canada from HarperCollins Canada), and Danish crime writer Sara Blaedel's first American release, Call Me Princess. Pegasus Crime will publish 12 titles the first year, including hardcovers and trade paperbacks. 

Sightings in the Twitterverse

Increasingly, readers, authors, publishers, editors and bookstore personnel are coming together on Twitter for a "hash tag" discussion. Some of these may turn into venting sessions, but others try to combine humor and helpful advice. Case in point, two recent sessions, "Dear Publisher" and "Ways to Impress Booksellers."  In case you haven't stopped by yet, take a look for such tidbits as

From Ways to Impress Booksellers:

• I've been to a shocking # of silent awkward author events. They suck, guys. Learn jokes. Tell 'em. Sing, even.
  
• Have a current website and/or blog. I should be able to find info about backlist/upcoming w/out scouring the Net.
• Authors, your event should last longer than 15 min. If no Qs, make up As.
• Don't just Drop In and expect us to have an hour to discuss your book and its promotion. We're not your publicist.
• Take 6-7 minutes MAX to show me your book, diminishing returns after that. I don't have time for coffee, sorry.
• At your author events, don't just discuss your topic; READ from the book so customers want to buy it.
• We stock your book & it doesnt sell? Send people to buy it from us -- dont expect more promotion.
• Don't just move your book to where you want it in the store! Make suggestions politely.

From Dear Publisher:

• Maybe spend less money on celebrity memoirs and use that money to re-hire folks?
• Why do so many of you still accept only paper submissions?
• For those of us with small publishers book bloggers are invaluable.
• I usually skim over the dedication, but don't pay attention unless something grabs me.
• Pls stop spending your $$ on books that don't need it - does James Patterson need EW ads?
• From @EGDeedy: We're starting a series about what going in to making a book... Part 1: http://bit.ly/6UPPxm
• Friend of mine told by his pub they'd only accept smiling pic of him.What's wrong w artistic sulking?
• Kindly post your upcoming books on your website *at least* 3 months in advance. I want to be able to direct people to them!
• My patrons wont pick up a book with an awful cover unless its an already established author or has HUGE buzz.
  
  

Bookseller weighed in on the results of the Dear Publisher discussion, with feedback from participants like Chris Hamilton-Emery, publishing director at Salt, who said he was "astounded" by the response and added: "It was fantastically useful and it's great to use it to test ideas...It's a very powerful mechanism for doing a survey and gives an almost instant response."

A Book Byte

In the midst of all the buzz and controversy over e-books and the future of publishing, there are voices still championing the printed book, such as Robert Darnton in his The Case for Books: Past, Present and Future. In his final essay, he adds, "reading remains mysterious," with the practice of reading shifting in every generation and no commercial or political process yet successful in controlling its evolution.

After all, will an old Kindle smell like grass, with a tang of acidity and a hint of vanilla? Apparently, some scientists have discovered a way to tell the condition of older books by their odor (which may help libraries and museums preserve them).

Or could a Kindle be bound from human skin?  The annual Boston Antiquarian Book Fair includes among its exhibits this year a book bound with human hyde, titled Dance of Death published in 1538 and illustrating different ways to die.

Just in case you love your e-books but miss the physical experience of the printed word, you can try out an aerosol book enhancer.

Will Write for Food

News such as the recent book pricing wars between high-volume retailers like Walmart, Target, Amazon and Sears are enough to have everyone involved in the publishing industry wringing their hands and make folks like me wonder if one day in the future, it will be authors standing by the side of the road with a sign and tin cup for handouts.

John Grisham weighed in on the subject and called the move by the retailers "shortsighted" at best, by devaluing the book. He said: "It's shortsighted, short term, they know what they are doing I think, but if a book is worth $10 then suddenly the whole industry is going to change, you are going to lose publishers and book stores, and though I'll probably be alright, aspiring authors are going to find it difficult to get published."

In that same article link above, the American Booksellers point out, rightly so, that none of the companies involved are engaged primarily in the sale of books. "They're using our most important products -- mega bestsellers, which, ironically, are the most expensive books for publishers to bring to market -- as a loss leader to attract customers to buy other, more profitable merchandise. The entire book industry is in danger of becoming collateral damage in this war." After all, if books suddenly disappeared, Walmart wouldn't care -- it would still have clothes, food and toys to sell.

As if that wasn't enough, Declan Burke on his blog Crime Always Pays, bemoans the attitude of certain literary agencies that good writing isn't as important as plot and character, and he goes on to make the case there's a parallel in cinema which shows the great movies which stand the test of time almost always have good writing as a foundation.

To throw in another commercial element, author Lynda La Plante made pointed remarks at the recent Crime Thriller Awards, taking publishers to task for pouring buckets of money into books "written" by celebrity authors, a speech that came on the heels of several authors including P.D. James quoted in the Daily Mail expressing their anger and feelings of how it was "deeply dispiriting" that the publishing industry was ignoring real writers "in favor of rubbish."

Will good writing continue to matter? Will books become so devalued, artistically and financially, that only celebrity books get published in the future the traditional way? Does anyone have a crystal ball?  People who write for the sheer love it will continue to do so forever, published or no, but it will be interesting to see what the future holds for writing as a profession.

Crime Fiction on Twitter

Jen Forbus started compiling a listing of crime fiction resources (authors, agents, blogs, reviewers, bookstores, magazines, etc.) on Twitter, which you can find via this link. The list is growing and includes a wide selection of authors in various sub-genres, as well as other fun resources you can follow. More were added in the comments section of that posting, and more folks are signing on to Twitter each day, so I've included a few more below. If you have updates, you can post them here and/or on Jen's blog:

Agents
@Janet_Reid
@RachelleGardner

Authors
@carablack 
@david_hewson
@DocNoir
@faustfatale
@janicebashman
@JasonStarrBook
@JeffCohenwriter
@jeremyduns
@JoeMoore_writer
@keithr34
@lynnemurray
@michaelrobotham
@sarahdunant
@SuzanneArruda
@swierczy
@talexander
@VictorGischler
@victoriastrauss

Bloggers (and more)
@crimeficreader
@crimewriters
@thebookslut

Libraries
@LibraryJournal

Magazines & Publishing
@GalleyCat
@JanuaryMagazine
@shotsmagman

Reviewers
@BookBitch
@BSCreview
@josephinedamian
@LJBookReview
@Maxine_Clarke
@roncharles
@smiksa

The Book Buying Business

Bowker's has published "the first complete consumer-based research report with detailed analysis of who is buying books and what motivates them to make their purchases." Their book, the 2008 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Report, has some interesting statistics:

• 57% of book buyers are women yet women purchase 65% of the books sold in the U.S.
• Mystery books are the most popular genre for book club sales, with 17% of all purchases of mystery books coming directly from book clubs
• Generation X consumers buy more books online than any other demographic group, with 30% of them buying their books through the Internet
• 21% of book buyers said they became aware of a book through some sort of online promotion or ad
• Women made the majority of the purchases in the paperback, hardcover and audio-book segments, but men accounted for 55% of e-book purchases

You can order your very own copy of the book — for only $999.

Once More Into the Breach

it's getting harder to become a published author (and stay a published author) these days, but those for whom writing is as every bit as important as breathing will persevere until the bitter end. Fortunately, the Web makes it easier to seek out comments and information about the writing/publishing process so you'll at least be well-armed in your quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeful or far (if you'll pardon the mixing of literary metaphors and cliches). Here's a few such articles of interest from the past day or so:

FROM THE PUBLISHING END:

• The Bookends Literary Agency explained the Reality of Royalties. Apparently, there are still some writers out there who believe all writers are able to comfortably live off the royalties from their books. They forget about the little matter of earning off the advance as well as the publisher reserves to consider. 

• Leon Neyfak of the New York Observer has a word of caution to all writers, even ones who've been published before:  Make Your Deadlines! He writes, "many literary agents are growing increasingly worried that publishers looking to trim their lists will start holding authors to deadlines and using lateness as an occasion to renegotiate advances and, in some cases, terminate contracts altogether."

FROM THE WRITING END:

• AL Kennedy of The Guardian tells us why she doesn't read her reviews. Since reviews emerge months, if not years after the book is done with, "they're not that much use to the author. If the book's a car crash, it's already happened and we've walked or crawled away long ago. They are usually written (and should really be written) for readers, but may on occasions wander off and end up being about the reviewer's idea of the author, or a literary theory, or even some kind of personal issue the reviewer is working through...I get opinions from people I trust whose judgement I know and understand."

• Sean Chercover tells us who he writes for. "Writing the book you would want to read is not the same thing as writing the book you would want to have written. The book you would want to have written is likely to be far loftier, with Big Important Themes[TM] and elegant descriptive passages guaranteed to impress your mom. The book you would want to read is likely to be leaner, sharper, and more entertaining. So I guess I am writing with the reader in mind, after all. But the reader is me."

• Author Rick Blechta explains why he "Hears Voices" and why it's important to have different "voices" (i.e. speech patterns, behaviors) for your characters in a story so they stand apart from each other. 

• Literary agent Rachelle Gardner writes that as she's culling through queries and partials, she's often thinking about the differences between craft and story. Too often she receives well-written books "that show strong technique, but no originality or heart."

• Jane Friedman's column for the Writer's Digest discusses ways to prevent reader boredom in your novel. One observation:  "Characters without strong goals become widgets, pushed about by our word processors.  They meekly subvert their personality to the predefined plot outline. As a result, they come across as passive, unreliable, dull."

Will the Depressing Bookstore News Never End?

On the heels of the announcement that Creatures and Crooks will be closing its doors on September 30th comes the news that Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is also shutting down. Sarah Weinman reprinted a recent poignant farewell e-mail from store owner Kate Mattes. To use a common catch-phrase, "Will the last bookstore still standing please turn out the lights?"