Lee Goldberg
Two Jews in Kentucky Part 3
It’s been a busy two days in Owensboro at the International Mystery Writers Festival. Yesterday, I did an interview with Fox WTVW about the Festival and my MONK books, did some last minute tinkering with the Angie Awards script, attended several of the “Live Radio Theatre” plays, chatted for awhile with actors Gary Sandy (who guest-starred in a DIAGNOSIS MURDER episode that I wrote), Amy Walker, and Firesign Theatre’s Phil Proctor while dining on some fine Moonlite BBQ, and then spent several hours observing my buddy David Breckman shoot his short mystery film “Murder in Kentucky” with local actors and technicians. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
Tonight, I hosted a dinner presentation honoring Sue Grafton and interviewed her with questions supplied in advance by the audience. She was terrific…funny, informative, and very entertaining. I’ll post pictures from the event as soon as I get my hands on some. Then Sue, her husband, and I attended a live broadcast of the “Live Radio Theatre” plays, which were aired on the local NPR affiliate. Several theatre bigshots from New York flew in for the plays to measure their Broadway and national tour potential. I hear the response was already wildly enthusiatic.
Tomorrow night, I’m moderating a panel with Sue, authors Will Lavender and Laura Benedict, and then later that night I’ll be hosting the Angie Awards, where events will include David and Sue being commissioned as Kentucky Colonels by the Kentucky Secretary of State. My hosting duties actually require a little bit of acting, something I haven’t done much of before, so it should be an interesting experience for me…and, hopefully, an entertaining one for the audience!
Two Jews in Kentucky Part 2
The day started with a BBQ brunch at the Moonlite BBQ. I was disappointed this time…the meal didn't live up to my memory of the place or my high expectations. Did I just imagine how good it was last year? After lunch, I browsed at the two used bookstores in town, didn't buy anything, then went down to the Riverpark Performing Arts Center to lead a workshop on TV writing and sign some books. That was fun.
Afterwards, I chatted for an hour with the Firesign Theatre's David Ossman and Judith Walcutt, their son Orson (who placed Mapes in the stage version of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE), and the very talented Amy Walker, the woman of a thousand voices.
I did a quick rewrite of the script for the Sunday Awards show, then ran out for some more BBQ, this time at a place called Old South BBQ, that was even more disappointing that Moonlite was. I changed my clothes and returned to the Riverpark Center to host an outdoor screening of THE BEST TV SHOWS THAT NEVER WERE. It was so great to see that with an audience and to hear their laughter.
While I was doing all of that, David Breckman was writing and casting his short film, which he will be shooting tomorrow in Owensboro. The script is terrific (a light-hearted murder mystery,of course, set in a theatre) and the cast and crew are absolutely thrilled to be doing it. David took some of the folks out for a late night snack and their enthusiasm was palpable. They see this as an amazing opportunity. I'm going to enjoy watching them all at work.
Tomorrow, I actually have the day off, but I am going to spend it at a desk somewhere at the Riverpark Center, working on my movie script, but I'll be available if David needs a hand. I might also catch two of the four plays being performed during the Festival.
Saturday I'm leading a panel with Sue Grafton and hosting a dinner in her honor, and then Sunday I am hosting the awards ceremony. I shall report back to you tomorrow.
Two Jews in Kentucky
MONK writer/producer/director David Breckman and I arrived in Owensboro, Kentucky today for the International Mystery Writers Festival. Everybody has treated us wonderfully but I've only been here a few hours and already have an anecdote to share (or, as David said afterward, "as it was happening, I knew I was living an anecdote that I would be telling for years."). After a screening of MONK clips on a giant, outdoor screen, a fan came up to us with his family and asked us to signed his set of MONK dvds.
"I just knew Monk was written by Jews," the fan said.
"Excuse me?" David said.
"Breckman, Goldberg, you're Jews," he said. "Monk is so Jewish. Jews write the best stuff in Hollywood. All the greatest entertainment comes from Jews. Star Trek was created by a Jew. We just love what you Jews do."
The man obviously meant well and to compliment our work, and he was nervous, so we didn't take offense. David signed the box: David Breckman, a grateful Jew.
David is a super busy Jew these days. In addition to his MONK works, he's also got pilots at USA and NBC. He'll also be writing, casting, shooting and screening a ten minute mystery between now and Sunday. It will be done entirely with local actors and aspiring film-makers, so it should be a lot of fun. Jews are so talented.
MWA Teams with Writer Beware
The Mystery Writers of America announced today that its co-sponsoring Writer Beware. I’m sure it will be no surprise to regular readers of this blog to learn that I spear-headed this effort. I’m thrilled that we’re able to help support Writer Beware…and I hope it leads to other professional writers organizations following our lead. Here’s an article I wrote for the MWA newsletter about it:
The Mystery Writers of America is joining the fight against writing scams by contributing $1000 towards Writer Beware, a website & blog created by the Science Fiction Writers of America to expose fraudulent publishing practices and educate authors on how to protect themselves from being swindled.
“We are pleased to be able to support the important work that Writer Beware is doing on behalf of all writers, professional and aspiring, by exposing scams aimed at defrauding authors,” said Frankie Bailey, the MWA’s executive vice president.
Writer Beware’s website, which was launched by SFWA in 1998, can be used by20any writer anywhere, regardless of whatever genre, fiction or non-fiction, that they work in…or their professional standing. And Writer Beware blog offers up-to-the-minute information on specific scams and schemes, along with essential advice for writers. They also help authors who have questions about individual agents, publishers, or contests.
“We are not only showing our support and making Writer Beware stronger, but sending a message to scammers that we won’t stand by and let them take advantage of authors,” said Lee Goldberg, the MWA board member who will act as the MWA liaison with Writer Beware.
“It’s vital that organizations like SFWA and MWA team up on these kinds of challenges,” said Russell Davis, President of SFWA. “We can accomplish far more working together than we can working on our own, and I hope other organizations will see this as an invitation to join in these types of group efforts.”
I will be reaching out to the International Thriller Writers and the Romance Writers of America to ask them to join us in supporting Writer Beware and fighting scammers.
UPDATE: Publishers Weekly has picked up the news…which is great. The more word spreads about Writer Beware, the less likely it will be that people will be taken advantage of by scammers.
Me on Me
The second part of Lori Ham's interview with me is now up on her No Name Cafe site. Here's an excerpt:
Café: What do you like best and which is harder — writing novels or TV?
Lee: They are entirely different experiences. Television is very much a group effort and what you are writing is a blueprint that lots of other people are going to use as the basis for their creative work, whether it’s the actor, the director, the production designer. And when you write a script it’s not locked in stone. It’s going to change. It’s going to change because everybody has notes. It’s going to change because production concerns force rewrites. It’s going to change because of actors and directors.
A book is entirely my own and unaffected by production concerns or actors. I’m the actors, the director, the production designer […] It’s not a blueprint. It is the finished product and it won’t change much once I am done with it. It’s not a group effort — I plot it myself and I write it by myself. It’s entirely in my head and I live it for months. Creatively speaking, there’s a big difference between writing prose and writing a script. In a book, you are seducing the reader. You are bringing them into your imagination and holding them there for as long as they’re reading the book. You construct everything. You construct the sets, the wardrobe, the world. You’re God. You can even read a character’s thoughts.
.357 Vigilante Returns….
I admit it…I’ve got the Kindle fever…and I’ve got it bad. I don’t mean reading books on the Kindle, I mean creating Kindle editions of my out-of-print books. The idea of making easy money from stuff that was buried in boxes in my garage is too good to resist (thank you, Joe Konrath!).
So the 1985 “men’s action action novel” .357 VIGILANTE #2: MAKE THEM PAY by Ian Ludlow is now available as a $2.99 Kindle edition. Here’s the scoop on the book:
“As stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort […] The Best New Paperback Series of the year!” West Coast Review of Books
Brett Macklin is justice — a one-man judge, jury and executioner, wiping out the L.A. street scum that the police can’t catch, that the law can’t hold — dealing sweet revenge from the barrel of his .357 Magnum.
Now Macklin’s target is Wesley Saputo, child porn kingpin and murderer who has slipped through the courts time after time, only to kidnap, rape and kill again…and again. Macklin’s mission: locate and brutally destroy Saputo before he finds another little girl blue…
This Kindle edition includes a special Afterword essay, “Hot Sex, Gory Violence: How One College Student Earns Course Credit and Pays His Tuition,” which was originally published in Newsweek magazine and that explains the origins of the “.357 Vigilante” series and the “Ian Ludlow” pseudonym.
I’ve found the manuscripts for the other two books in the series, as well as the unpublished fourth novel, and will upload them over the coming weeks.
UPDATE: Here are some blog reviews of MAKE THEM PAY…from Chadwick Saxelid, S. Michael Wilson, and Marty McKee.
Busy Week
I have been absent from the blog, working hard on my screenplay and my latest Monk novel, because I have a very busy week head of me. On Tuesday, I am leading a seminar on episodic TV writing & producing for representatives of China Central Television…which should be a very interesting experience…and then on Wednesday, I'm heading off to Owensboro, Kentucky with my buddy David Breckman, writer-producer-director of MONK, to participate in the third annual International Mystery Writers Festival. I'll be moderating several panels, and doing Toastmaster duties, while David will write, producer and direct an original short film with a group of theatre students. Kentucky native Sue Grafton will also be on hand for panels and such. It should be a lot of fun.
I'm looking forward to the flights to and from Kentucky because it will be my first opportunity to really try out my Kindle. I haven't had any time to read since I got it…
I’m Going Kindle Crazy
I've just posted another old, out-of-print book of mine on the Amazon Kindle Store…my 1991 paperback Unsold TV Pilots: The Greatest Shows You Never Saw, which was the basis for the hour-long ABC special "The Best TV Shows That Never Were" and the hour-long CBS special "The Greatest Shows You Never Saw. It is now available in a special $2.49 Kindle edition. Here's the book jacket copy:
“The Best Bathroom Reading EVER," – San Francisco Chronicle
"A must-browse for media freaks.” —USA Today
“Irresistible and enthralling.” —Hartford Courant
“Full of fool’s gold and genuine TV treasures.” —The New York Post
This lively and entertaining book looks at the three hundred best and worst TV series ideas—known in the industry as "pilots"—that never made it to primetime. From the adventures of a Samurai D.A. to the antics of an invisible alien baby, Lee Goldberg details the greatest shows you never saw.
The paperback was originally published by Carol & Company and was an abridgment of my fat hardcover "Unsold Television Pilots 1955-1989," which contained over 2000 pilots. Maybe some day I'll get around to making that big book into a Kindle edition, too.
You Can Be a Kindle Millionaire, Part 8
The second month of my Kindle experiment has ended and here are the results:
(Click on the image for a larger view).
All told, I made $375 in royalties selling three out-of-print novels at $1.99 each, a short story collection at 99 cents, and an out-of-print, non-fiction reference book for $2.39 .
THE WALK sold 444 copies in June and 373 copies in July. My short story collection THREE WAYS TO DIE sold 54 copies in June and 40 in July. So sales of both titles have dropped in their second month on sale.
Still, I'm very happy to have sold 817 copies of THE WALK to readers who missed the book the first time around in hardcover. At this rate, it won't be long until I've sold more copies of THE WALK on the Kindle than the book sold in print.
On July 14, I added my novel MY GUN HAS BULLETS to the Kindle Store. It has sold 95 copies in 17 days at $1.99 each, earning me $65 in royalties. On July 17, I added the sequel, BEYOND THE BEYOND, which has only sold 29 copies at the same price, earning me $20.
Two days ago, I added TELEVISION SERIES REVIVALS. I set the price for that one at $2.39, just to be daring. It has sold 17 copies so far, earning me $14.28.
(All those titles are also available on Scribd and Smashwords, but so far I've earned less than $10 in combined royalties from both sites over the last two months. They can't compete with Amazon and the Kindle).
This month I did slightly better than last month, but I also added three more books to the mix.
So far, I have earned nearly $700 on out-of-print books that I thought were long past their earning potential for me. That's not a lot of money, but it was enough to buy me a Kindle and leave plenty of money left over to buy books for it (I'm still not earning anywhere near what Joe Konrath and John August, my inspirations in this endeavor, are making with their work…but I am thankful to them both for showing me the way).
I've said this before, but I don't think the Kindle is the wave of the future for authors or publishing…at least not yet. Not even for self-publishing. There just isn't enough money in it for original works to make a living at it or simply a decent wage.
But not all authors care about making money. Some are in it "for the art" and just to reach people. They are happy giving it away for free…or for next to nothing. Well, let me tell you something, the "free" and $1.99 Kindle books that I have sampled so far have been, for the most part, unspeakably horrendous shit. There's a reason most of these authors can't find publishers for their work. It's stuff so awful you can't even give it away. The Kindle won't change that. The novelty of downloading crap, even when it's free, will pass quickly.
I do think, though, that for authors with out-of-print books sitting in their drawers earning nothing but dust that publishing on the Kindles makes a lot of sense. I don't see the downside. It's found money. And it's fun to watch the royalties and sales click up in real-time (yes, it's a new way to procrastinate!)
I was surprised to discover, once I got my Kindle, that my out-of-print books that I posted myself are better formatted than some of my in-print titles posted by my publishers. I will be talking to my publishers about it.