Books

How Do You Host a Signing For Someone Who Doesn’t Exist?

by

I got this email today:

I have a question regarding your entry on authors changing names. Don’t
authors need to do tours and talks to publicize their books? I’ve heard that
much of a book’s success depends on the author’s own initiative to do
publicity. But if they’re using a pseudonym, isn’t this impossible? It would
only take one person to reveal him/her.

A good question…with lots of answers.

In many cases, the pseudonyms are an open secret (for instance, Jeremiah Healy makes no secret that he’s "Terry Devane" nor does Gar Haywood hide that he’s "Ray Shannon") and the authors go on the signing circuit anyway. The only ones who are "fooled" are the computers at the chain stores.

Other authors turn their pseudonym into a marketing tool, creating some mystery and buzz around the book. They require booksellers to drop shop books to a third party for signing so that the mystery of who they are remains intact. "Boston Teran" and "John Twelve Hawks" are recent examples, "Trevanian" is an older one. Stephen King, Nora Roberts, and Robert Ludlum also wrote books under other names as well as their own. So have pulp authors like Marvin H. Albert (aka Albert Conroy, Ian McAlister, Nick Quarry, Tony Rome, etc.) and  Harry Whittington (aka Whit Harrison, Blaine Stevens, Ashley Carter, etc.)

Others just avoid the signing/promotion circuit and hope for the best…which, of course, could work against them and undermine the chances of their new identity increasing their sales or, in the case of already famous authors, matching the success they enjoy as themselves.

Finally, there are writers who make their living as ghostwriters…writing books for celebrities, politicians, other authors, or house names (names created by the publisher so that several writers can contribute to a series of books without the readers ever knowing). Don Pendleton hasn’t written an EXECUTIONER/MACK BOLAN novel in decades.

James Reasoner, for example, has been writing westerns under other authors’ names and house names for years. Donald Bain writes the MURDER SHE WROTE books under his own name as well as a NY Times bestselling series under someone else’s name (a someone who widely promotes the books he or she doesn’t write). Reportedly,  Robert Tanenbaum doesn’t write his legal thrillers (Michael Gruber did for many years)…but that doesn’t stop him from going on booksigning tours anyway.

In short, there are lots of reasons for writing under other names and lots of ways to promote your books despite the illusion.

Dear Mr. Terikayi, The Sequel

by
The Los Angeles Times ran an article today about Dean Koontz’s "Mr. Teriyaki" remarks at Men of Mystery event last Saturday.  I didn’t talk to the reporter so, of course, I am the only
one of the writers offended by the remarks that they quoted (using the post from my blog). They did, however, talk to Dean, MofM organizer Joan Hansen, and my friend Joe Konrath.
 
While I stand behind what I posted here,  I don’t think Dean Koontz is a racist.  I
think he  showed poor judgement writing those letters in the first place and then sharing them with an audience. He made a mistake.  That doesn’t make him a racist and its unfair to accuse him of being one because of it.

The article also has a troubling inaccuracy — the reporter states that "the mystery group is speaking out against what it perceived as Koontz’s blatant racism" and later "writers who attended the speech are divided over whether the comments constituted racism."  How can both be true? They can’t. While quite a few writers have also publicly expressed dismay over Dean’s remarks — Eric Stone, Charles Fleming, Rob Roberge, and my brother Tod for example — there is no organized "mystery group" condemning him and it was wrong of The Times to imply that there was.

 
Dean accused me in our phone conversation  and in the article of having some other agenda.
I don’t and I can’t imagine what he thinks it might be.  I’m not sorry I posted
about his remarks, and I stand behind every word,  but I wasn’t happy to see it hit the papers. He didn’t
deserve that.

UPDATE: I’ve heard from the LA Times. They acknowledge the errors and will run a correction. Meanwhile, some other blogs are weighing in on the LA Times story: here, here, here, here, here here, here and here.

Dollars and Sense

by

There are two terrific posts about the writing biz on novelist Alison Kent’s blog. In the first post, she gives us the run-down on her latest royalty statement on two of her Harlequin titles and links to a fascinating rundown on the typical advances and royalties for books in several romance lines. Alison  follows that up with a wise post on the financial realities of quitting your day job to write.

Deadly Pleasures finds BADGE a Pleasure

by

Maggie Mason gave THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a rave in her review for the upcoming issue of Deadly Pleasures Magazine:

THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE by Lee Goldberg (Five Star,
$25.95) First in the Harvey Mapes series.  Rating A
 
You wouldn’t think of Harvey Mapes when asked to name a dashing PI.  Harvey
works as a night shift gate guard in a Southern California gated community.  He
lives in an older apartment complex, and isn’t what you’d call a real
go-getter.  Imagine his surprise when a wealthy resident wants to hire him to
find out what is going on with his wife.  Cyril Parkus knows something is wrong
with Lauren, but isn’t sure what. 
Harvey secures a fee a bit over what Jim Rockford used to charge, buys some
disposable cameras, and tails Lauren.  Much of his sleuthing skills are obtained
by watching reruns of classic detective TV shows.  Surprisingly, Harvey is
success full in his endeavors.  Cyril reacts in a strange manner when Harvey
makes his final report, and pays him off.  Harvey is not convinced the entire
story has been told, and continues his investigation, all the while lamenting
his lack of a big, angry, strong sidekick, and an insider at the police
department.  He does have a neighbor named Carol who begins to get involved in
the investigation, and romantically with Harvey, but that won’t help him if he
decides to put up a PI shingle.
Harvey uses his payoff money to go to the Seattle area to continue the
investigation, and does clear everything up, while nearly paying the ultimate price.  The good
news, is he may have obtained his "Hawk" on the trip. 
 

This was a witty, wonderful book.  It was hard to keep from chuckling out
loud while reading Harvey’s take on how to be a PI.  I remember enjoying
Goldberg’s previous novels, especially MY GUN HAS BULLETS, and this may even top
that for laughs.  The man on the cover illustration looks like a young Tim Daly,
who would perhaps be a good casting decision for the movie that is crying to be
made from this book.

Thank you, Maggie! She’s one of several critics who’ve noted that BADGE is the first in a series. It’s news to me — though perhaps Five Star is saying that it is. I certainly hope I have the opportunity to write more about Harvey but so far, nobody has asked…

I Love a Mystery Loves Badge

by

The kind folks over at the I LOVE A MYSTERY newsletter have given my new novel THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a rave review.

Book Cover
For those who have never read one of Lee Goldberg’s books, you are missing some of the most enjoyable reading around. From his DIAGNOSIS MURDER series to his
stand-alone novels, Mr. Goldberg never fails to entertain. Whether he is writing about the lovable Dr. Mark Sloan, the inner workings of Hollywood, or a character dealing with his own demons, he delivers. Once again, with the release of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE, he comes through.

Harvey Mapes is in his late twenties, stuck in a life of boredom. His job is that of a security guard at a gated community — a rent-a-cop. He has a part-time girl friend in his apartment building. He has the usual dreams of something better, fueled by his love of detective novels and detective show reruns on television. Then, one day, his life takes a change. Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents of the community he “guards” ask Harvey to do him a favor. Cyril needs someone to tail his wife to see what she is up to. Mr. Parkus suspects something but has no proof. Harvey jumps at the chance even though he has no idea of what he is supposed to do. His only guide comes from the characters in novels about Travis McGee, “Dirty Harry” movies, and the “Mannix” and Rockford television shows.

Through a series of humorous actions, dangerous beatings and murders, Harvey pursues the truth – all the while throwing out the usual clichés when he is confronted with danger. Yes, he
actually tells one thug to “Make my day.”

Piece by piece, Harvey becomes a better private eye than he realized he could be. He continues his detective work for two main purposes. One, for his own satisfaction. And two, he wants to impress Carol, his part-time lover, since she seems to have become quite enamored of him now.

Harvey Mapes is the type of wannabe that many of us can see within ourselves. He is the type of fictional character who could find life in several other story lines.

Even though I know that he will find a way, I am wondering how Mr. Goldberg can continue to give us his trademark unique endings. With the conclusion of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE he once again shows his talent to surprise and please a reader.

The causes behind all the subterfuge and secrets get turned on their heads with the conclusion of his latest work. Not many writers can make us both laugh and feel sad within the same story line.

Thanks so much to Tom Mayes and everyone over at I LOVE A MYSTERY.

Dear Mr. Teriyaki

by

Author Eric Stone posted this on the DorothyL discussion list this morning:

Did anyone else who attended Men of Mystery in Irvine, California
on Saturday find the story Dean Koontz told in his speech about his
letter writing campaign to the president of a Japanese company, offensive? I
did. And I’m pretty hard to offend. At least one other author I know who
was there, who has lived in Japan, also found it offensive. We both were
aghast. While most of the people in the audience were laughing, we
weren’t.

I write thrillers that are set in Asia. I know the region well.
I lived and worked in Asia for 11 years and though I never lived in Japan, I
visited it for business and on holidays at least twice a year that entire
time. If I was ever to create a character that would say or write things
similar to what Mr. Koontz claimed to have written in his letters to the
Japanese corporate executive, it would be for the purpose of showing him as
a culturally-insensitive lout – the Ugly American personified as it
were.

Sheesh, I was enjoying the event up until then, and looking forward
to hearing Mr. Koontz speak.

I also found his  letters to the Japanese CEO offensive.
So did quite a few other authors in attendance (I didn’t talk to any of the 550  "civilians" in the audience
about it).

Koontz talked about a dispute he
had with a studio owned by a Japanese company and regaled the audience with the
letters he wrote to the Japanese CEO, who he referred to as "Mr. Teriyaki." The
letters used WWII, the Japanese surrender, Bataan Death March, and Godzilla to ridicule the CEO and
browbeat him into taking Koontz’s name off a movie based on one of his books. To
say the jokes were in horrifically bad taste and that letters
themselves were cringe-inducing in their boorish insensitivity would be an
understatement.
 
What if the CEO was black? Would Koontz have addressed his letters to Mr. Fried Chicken and joked about the good old days of slavery and racial discrimination? Or if
the CEO was a Jew? Would he have called him Mr. Matzoball and reminded him of the
Holocaust? I was astonished that people were laughing when they should have
shunned him with silence. It’s a shame, because Koontz is an incredibly talented
writer who I’m sure could have delivered both an entertaining and interesting
speech.

UPDATE: My brother Tod was also shocked by Koontz’s speech.

Each letter was addressed to "Mr. Teriyaki." (Internment camps were not
mentioned in any of the letters, which I assume was a simple omission on Mr.
Koontz’s part and will be rectified in the future.)

Stunningly, the audience thrilled to the stories! The laughter cascaded about
the room! People dabbed tears! Do you have any stories about your hatred of the
Jews, Mr. Koontz? Any good ones about the Muslim world? How about a notation on
some more racial stereotypes you’ve used when negotiating your name off other
shitty movies?

Happily, author after author came walking to the back of the room in horror
(more horror than is typically engendered by one of Koontz’s books, no doubt)
and wonder about what they were hearing. Did he really just tell a 15 minute
story about the Japanese where he referred to the person in question as Mr.
Teriyaki? Was the audience really laughing? Or, as Rob Roberge said, "Is he
coming out in blackface next?"

UPDATE: I got a call today from Dean Koontz, who wasn’t pleased about the comments here. I apologized to him for using "Sambo" and "Kike" as comparisons for his use of "Mr. Teriyaki" to refer to the Asian exec. He found the use of those words pejorative and said they mischaracterized the tenor of his speech. I agreed. So I  have changed them to "Mr. Fried Chicken" and "Mr. Matzoball." I believe his speech was  offensive and in bad taste — and I reiterated that belief to him in our phone conversation.

Author Joe Konrath, who was also in attendance, weighs in on his blog:

There’s a lot of buzz circulating about Dean Koontz’s speech, and how
he offended many attendees. Personally, I didn’t find the remarks
offensive—Koontz was purposely trying to be humorously insulting, in
order to get a certain Japanese CEO to drop his name from a movie
title. His goal was to dishonor the guy. The problem was in the set-up
and the execution. Koontz just wasn’t very funny. George Carlin is a
lot more offensive, but gets away with it because he’s funny.

Had
Koontz spent more time showing he was the underdog, and established
that he wasn’t racist and did all of this to right an injustice (rather
than because he simply wanted his way, which is how he came off), I
think the story would have gone over a little better.

Or perhaps Mr. Koontz should simply retire this particular anecdote.

More UPDATES on the jump:

 

Read more

You Can’t Cash Acclaim at the Bank

by

Jennifer Weiner talks on her blog about the plight of author Mary Gaitskill, a widely acclaimed novelist and a National Book Award finalist. But acclaim, as the NY Times reports in their piece on Gaitskill, doesn’t always translate into money. Gaitskill barely scratches out a living and is deeply in debt.

"Her life is not easy," said Knight Landesman, Ms. Gaitskill’s friend and the
publisher of the magazine Artforum. "There have been good reviews, but that does
not translate into dough. She has not been offered the cushy faculty job at
Princeton. The work has been too raw, and that’s why this has been, really, such
wonderful news."

Gaitskill’s financial troubles were a shock to Weiner, a bestselling novelist herself who considers the author a major influence.

Gaitskill was one of the writers who made me believe that I could be a
writer, too, and her characters, while creepy, live and breathe on the page. If
she’s in debt and living in a doom room trying to write over the noise of
Britney Spears, there’s something wrong with the modern-day patronage system
that I always figured was working pretty well.

I recommend both Weiner’s post and the NY Times article to all aspiring writers — many of whom have unrealistic expectations about what they can expect once they are published.  Sadly, Gaitskill’s story is far more common than Weiner’s.

Men of Mystery

by

Yesterday, Tod and I attended the sixth annual Men of Mystery event — where 62 mystery authors hob-nob at the Irvine Marriott with 550 hot, sweaty, lusty female fans.  The objects of the women’s insatiable desire this time included Barry Eisler, J.A. Konrath, Gregg Hurwitz, Sean Doolittle, Thomas Perry, Eddie Muller, Gar Anthony Haywood, Nathan Walpow, Rob Roberge, David Corbett, Paul Levine, Mark Haskell Smith, Terrill Lee Lankford, Gary Phillips, Dick Lochte, Tom Nolan and Dean Koontz. As usual, I had a terrific time. I’ll leave it to my brother Tod to blog about the snarky details. The big surprise of the day was the announcement that MofM organizser Joan Hansen has been awarded The Raven by the Mystery Writers of America, which she certainly deserves.

Afterwards, Tod and I scooted down to the Barnes & Noble in Aliso Viejo where we discussed writing for two hours with a dozen friendly folks and managed to sell a whopping one book each. Ah, the glitz and glamor of being a Man of Mystery.

King Kong Tie-Ins

by

Galleycat reports that Pocket Books is going ape for King Kong Tie-ins.

Anybody can put out a novelization for their blockbuster film, but Peter
Jackson had bigger plans for King Kong: He came up with a
backstory that’s been turned into an official prequel, King Kong: The
Island of the Skull [by Matthew Costello]. As Rod
Lott writes in Bookgasm, "Kong himself does not appear, not even in a
cameo. His name is whispered, his face is crudely drawn, but the ape never rears
his giant, ugly head." Still, Lott found it entertaining enough, and a cut above
the usual tie-in.

There will also be a novelization, by Christopher Golden, as well as two behind-the-scenes picture books (The Making of King Kong
and The World of King Kong), and sci-fi writer Karen Haber will be edit
Kong Unbound, "in which various writers will discuss "the history and
legacy of the most famous ape in Hollywood and his continuing impact on pop
culture and modern filmmakers."