IAMTW

It’s a Tie-in World

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News about the IAMTW’s Scribe Awards has already started to show up around the web. The folks at Galleycat can’t escape tie-ins lately.

All of a sudden, it seems, tie-in books are everywhere. OAKDALE
CONFIDENTIAL, the mystery novel written to tie in with As the World
Turns’ 50th anniversary, spends its third consecutive week on the NYT
bestseller lists. A new organization for tie-in writers has announced its own awards.
And Hyperion, after doing pretty well with THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER
(a prequel to the 2002 miniseries RED ROSE) and THE KILLING CLUB (a
mystery written by a character from ONE LIFE TO LIVE) has just released BAD TWIN by "Gary Troup" – a character who died before LOST began airing.

Incidentally, OAKDALE CONFIDENTIAL is written by one of our talented IAMTW members. If you want to find out who that is, you’ll have to read the latest issue of Mystery Scene.

Movie Posters as Cover Art

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Bookslut pointed me to an interesting article in The Guardian on movie posters as cover art.

"It’s a no-brainer. You’d be crazy not to do it," says Marcella
Edwards, senior commissioning editor at Penguin Classics. The sales
surges that come with a film or TV tie-in book cover are irrefutable.

[…]The film or TV tie-in cover, which generally lasts for around three
months (the life of the film, and sometimes the DVD), often running
alongside the original paperback design, is an ever-growing trend in
publishing. "It’s happening more and more often," says Edwards.
"Publishers have got wiser. You’d be stupid if you didn’t do it."

[…]Film tie-in covers might be glossy and glittering and force a surge in
sales, but they are truly the Ivana Trumps of the book jacket world.

IAMTW Announces The Scribe Awards

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The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) is dedicated to enhancing the professional and public image
of tie-in writers…to working with the media to review tie-in novels
and publicize their authors…and to providing a forum for tie-in writers to share
information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to our
field (via a monthly e-newsletter, our website, and our active yahoo discussion group).
Our members include authors active in many other professional writer
organizations (MWA, PWA, WGA, SFWA, etc.) and who share their unique
perspectives with their fellow tie-in writers.

It is with great pleasure that the IAMTW announces that we are now accepting submissions for the first annual Scribe Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of media tie-in writing.

The Scribe Awards and How You Can Enter:

Read more

Telling Lies

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Christina York’s latest ALIAS tie-in novel, STRATEGIC RESERVE, just came out and she muses today about the craft of tie-in writing:

Another thing about writing tie-ins.  It takes a lot
of research. You have to get it all right.

[…] But it’s not just the stuff from the
show. It’s all the rest of the world, too. Alias was particularly
challenging, because of the diverse and exotic locations.

In STRATEGIC RESERVE, a good portion of the book was set above the
Arctic Circle, along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. I have never been about
the Arctic Circle, but I know if I messed anything up, I will hear
about it from a reader or three. So I spent a lot of time looking at
photos on line, studying maps, and reading accounts of people who have
been there.

[…] Writers tell lies for a living. But we try to layer in enough truth
that you believe everything we tell you.

Tie Me Up

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I got this email today from my brother Tod about my buddy James Kosub, worldwide President of the Lee Goldberg Fan Club:

You’ll be happy to know that the man who once lambasted you for writing
tie-ins, is now trying to get a job…writing tie-ins. I fucking love that guy!

I had to check this out for myself. Sure enough, Jim is sniffing around for tie-in work:                         

I sent an email to a gentleman at Black Flame
today, inquiring about possible work on the media tie-ins his imprint
produces… The way I figure it is this: go where the work is… It’ll be a challenge, I’m sure. It’s always easier to work with
wholly original material than with licensed properties, but it’s a
credit and a paycheck, and that’s what matters.                           

This struck me as an odd switcheroo, coming from a man who once described me as follows:

"For a man who makes his living writing television show
pastiches for those who cannot summon the intellectual wherewithal to tackle
original mystery fiction, he’s painfully full of himself…"

I wish Jim the best of luck in his endeavors to become as painfully full of himself as I am.  If you would like to find out more about the tie-in field,  I invite you to visit the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers and browse through their wealth of articles on the subject.

We Are Writers, Hear Us Roar

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Writer Nathan Long has designed a logo for the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (I AM a Tie-in Writer).  Cool, huh? The logo will soon be up on the IAMTW site…where you can find lots of interesting articles about the craft and business behind novelizations and original tie-in novels.

Dem BONES

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BONES may just be the most unusual notion for an tie-in novel since THE SPY WHO LOVED novelization (a novel based on the movie based on the book by Ian Fleming). BONES: BURIED DEEP is an original novel by Max Allan Collins based on the Fox Television Series BONES created by Hart Hanson featuring the character created by Kathy Reichs from her best-selling series of novels. Whew. I’m winded just typing that.

What I don’t get is why Kathy Reichs a) allowed the studio to shop tie-in novels based on the series based on her books while she’s still writing books in the series herself (and her old titles are still in print) and b) why, if the tie-in books were going to be done, she didn’t do them herself. Isn’t the whole idea behind selling your book to TV to boost sales of the books? It would seem to me that authorizing original tie-in novels would actually work against Reichs’ best interests. On the other hand, the format of TV series and the tie-in novel, while featuring the central character from Reichs’ books, differs substantially from the books from which they are derived.

It’s very interesting to me and I’m eager to get the scoop from Max (who, by the way, also writes the CSI novels and is co-founder, with yours truly, of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

PROfiles

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Ed Gorman  is kicking off a new feature on his blog called "PROfiles" — posing seven questions to  different novelists. Today, he talks to Bill Crider , PJ Parrish, and IAMTW co-founder Max Allan Collins, the multi-talented author of ROAD TO PERDITION. Here’s a quote from Max:

3. What is the greatest pleasure of a writing career?

Hands down, the great pleasure is being able to pursue a passion and get paid for it. I consider myself a storyteller and, accordingly, work in many mediums. I love readiing novels and get to write them for money; I love movies and occasionally get to make them; I love comics and get to script them. My hobbies have turned into my job, and what could be a greater pleasure than hat?

Ditto.

When is a Tie-in Not a Tie-in?

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Word that a sequel to PETER PAN will be written by award-winning children’s book author Geraldine McCaughrean (authorized by Great Ormond Street Hospital, which owns the copyright to
the original characters) got novelist Jeff Mariotte wondering why literary tie-ins aren’t treated with the same lack of respect in the publishing industry as other tie-in novels.

Books set in the world of Peter Pan, or The Godfather, or Gone With the Wind, are works made for hire, based on characters and settings created by other writers.  The originals are loved by millions.  The new books are approved by the copyright holders of the original material.

Every word of that is true of a Star Trek novel or a Conan novel or a Buffy novel.  And yet, the literary establishment embraces one while frowning on the other.  Readers of what are traditionally considered tie-in novels are made to feel like they’re indulging in a lower form of entertainment, on a par with cockfighting or something.

He goes on to say that this kind of bias is why an organization like the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers is long over due. Obviously, I couldn’t agree more. So far, we’ve brought over a 100 professional media tie-in writers together and will soon be announcing more details about our first annual Scribe Awards, honoring excellence in tie-in writing.

UPDATE: Several other tie-in writers/bloggers, like Karen Traviss and Keith R.A. DeCandido have also commented on Jeff’s observations.

Market Widens for Tie-ins

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Two interesting Publisher’s Weekly articles about the tie-in business — "Where
the Fans Are:  New formats broaden the base for tie-ins" and "Breaking Out of the Box:  Original novels
based on popular TV series are finding a ready market" — are now up on
the IAMTW site. The articles
are from 2003, but are still relevant today.

"DVD has changed the landscape because fans can go back for what they missed,"
concurred Hope Innelli, v-p and editorial director of HarperEntertainment.
"Tie-in books, therefore, have to serve a different purpose."

Many of
these books keep fans happy by shedding more light on the characters, filling in
plot gaps or turning back the clock. For example, the lightning pace and
Washington insider backdrop of the Fox series 24 left a lot of unanswered
questions at the end of last year’s premiere season. "We created a backstory in
conjunction with the writers that explains how key characters got there in the
first place and reveals why the revenge plot unfolded. That’s just not on the
show," said Innelli.

Original novels can also exist in entirely
different time frames, taking the audience to places the shows can’t go…

…To some extent, the mushrooming of prime-time shows that run concurrently with
syndicated reruns, along with the rise of DVD series collections, have already
conditioned viewers to operate in parallel timeframes. Law & Order, for
example, regularly shuffles its cast, though everyone shows up on cable reruns.
"Readers are savvy enough to recognize that the books have their own
continuity," said Clancy.

Read more