My Blog

Harry Potter and the Curse of the Remainder Mark

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Although Scholastic sold nearly 11 million copies of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE in the U.S., The Independant reports that the publisher printed too many copies…and is facing returns of  about 2.5 million unsold books.

The company ordered 10.8 million copies of Half-Blood Prince, the largest
print run in the history of publishing. "We wanted enough books out there so
every single fan could get a book when they wanted it," explained Scholastic’s
Kyle Good. "This was the number we came up with in collaboration with the
retailers."

Buoyed by the news that Half-Blood Prince had sold 6.9 million copies in the
first 24 hours, 1.9 million more than on the first day of the previous Potter
tome, Scholastic promptly ordered a further 2.7 million copies, bringing the
total to 13.5 million.

"This is a cause for celebration, not just for Scholastic but for book lovers
everywhere," chirped Lisa Holton, the president of Scholastic Children’s Books,
at the time.

Now, Scholastic’s chairman, Richard Robinson, whose father Robbie founded the
firm in 1920, admits bookshops have been left with 2.5 million unsold
copies.

Mr Robinson told book-trade analysts he had no plans for accepting large numbers
of returned books. He expects that the release in the US of the film Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire on 18 November will generate renewed interest in
the series and mop up the overrun.

Along Came a Ghostwriter

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Galleycat pointed me to this New York Times article about James Patterson’s money. In middle of the article is an interesting tid-bit about Patterson’s frequent use of ghostwriters and collaborators.

Although Mr. Patterson has been as good as any other top author at
marketing his own identity, he said his strength was in storytelling.
"I spin yarns," he said. "I love it. I have a folder with several
hundred ideas for stories. They just come and I’ll say: ‘There is a
story here.’ "

During a visit to Chapel Hill, N.C., for
example, he saw posters asking for help in finding missing women. That
led to the plot for "Kiss the Girls," a 1995 thriller about two
murderers who compete to kill girls. The book is in the Alex Cross
series, which is centered on the exploits of a black detective.

Mr.
Patterson said he often worked with co-authors because he believed that
he was more proficient at creating the story line than at executing it.

"I found that it is rare that you get a craftsman and an idea
person in the same body," Mr. Patterson said. "With me, I struggle like
crazy. I can do the craft at an acceptable level, but the ideas are
what I like." He said the co-authors received a flat fee and, most
often, credit on the book cover.

In novel writing, as in advertising, Mr. Patterson wants the final
say. Once there is a first draft of a book that has a co-author, "I may
ask the collaborator for a polish," he said.

"Then I do the remaining rewrites," he added – sometimes as many as seven.

 

M Is For Mystery

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Yesterday, I signed at M IS FOR MYSTERY is San Mateo where I met some people I’ve only "known" online, like Rachel (one of my students at Writers University), Keith (the one who isn’t Keith Snyder who comments here), and Teresa (webmistress of a great MONK site). It’s a friendly little store in a charming neighborhood that feels like a small town, circa 1964. Even though I grew up in the Bay Area, I somehow never managed to get to San Mateo before. It was a nice trip. After the signing, I made the long drive back to L.A., listening to Ron McLarty do his usual magnificent job performing an unabridged reading of an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel. This time, it was the return of The Deaf Man in HARK. Another 100 miles, and I would have finished it…but so far, I’m enjoying the book.

Lost Author Found

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I always wondered what became of thriller writer Bob Reiss…he just seemed to have disappeared. The mystery was solved in a tiny item in this week’s issue of Publishers Weekly, which revealed that Reiss has been writing as Ethan Black and sold his newest novel to Paramount for big bucks.  The item got me wondering about some other disappearances… like James Colbert, Brad Soloman, Zachary Klein, Jerome Doolittle, A.W. Mykel, Robert Sims Reid, Tom Eidson, Doug Swanson, Robert Ward, Gaylord Dold, Jim Cirni, Edwin Shrake, and Michael Stone. 

I know some tidbits. Colbert went into comics for awhile. There are rumors that Jerome Doolittle is K.C. Constantine. One of Eidson’s novels became the western THE MISSING, but how long has it been since his last novel? And I see Robert Ward showing up at signings and events (like Terrell Lee Lankford’s publication party), but his last novel was quite a few years ago.

Anybody know the stories on the others?

Right Back Where I Started From

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I spent most of Friday roaming around SF, taking pictures and basically just soaking up the locale for my third MONK novel, tentatively entitled MR. MONK AND THE BLUE FLU. This is my second research trip to SF. Although I grew up in the Bay Area, I don’t know the city as well as I would like…at least not if I’m going to be writing about it.

In the evening, I made my way over the traffic-clogged Bay Bridge to Berkeley where I was the guest at Mystery Reader International’s "At Home" author chat…held, appropriately, at MRI leader Janet Rudolph’s hillside home. Among the attendees were author David Corbett and Left Coast Crime/Bouchercon Monterey organizers extraordinare Bill & Toby Gottfried. I told my usual lies and exaggerations and a good time was had by all (especially me).

Now I’m sitting in San Mateo, where I will be interviewed today by the founder of a MONK fanclub/website and signing THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE at 2pm at M IS FOR MYSTERY. Then it’s a long, six-hour drive back to L.A…listening to music on my iPod and a book-on-tape (I finished listening to the lastest Spenser, SCHOOL DAYS, and wasn’t wowed. It’s one of the weakest entries in the series…but at least Susan wasn’t in it, which was a plus).

Ball Vamps & ‘Medicine’ wraps

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Variety reports that Alan Ball’s next TV series for HBO will be based on Charlaine Harris’ SOUTHERN VAMPIRE novels. I’ve met Charlaine and she’s a very nice woman — to be honest, I expected someone more, well,  goth.  She’s so sweet and polite…she  struck me as the kind of person who’d write cozy mysteries in the world of baking or knitting instead of vampire novels.

Project is set in a world where vampires and humans co-exist after the
development of synthetic blood. First book, "Dead Until Dark," revolves around a
waitress in rural Louisiana who meets the man of her dreams only to find out
he’s a vampire with a bad reputation.

"It’s not a high-concept pitch," Ball said. "Charlaine has created such a
rich environment that’s very funny and at the same time very scary. I bought the
book on impulse and I just couldn’t put it down."

HBO entertainment prexy Carolyn
Strauss said she’d been sure Ball would leave the television
world for movies after he wrapped "Six Feet," and she was surprised and grateful
that he came back to the network with yet another passion project.

"Alan really fell in love with the books," HBO entertainment prexy Carolyn
Strauss said. "At its heart, the books are a metaphor for difference and
outsiders and fitting in. That’s Alan’s bailiwick and what he writes so well
about."

In other TV news, Lifetime has axed STRONG MEDICINE, saying the show has "run its course" after six seasons, three different stars, and 132 episodes.

Strong Medicine" is one of the "truly remarkable success
stories in cable TV history. We’re grateful for all the contributions of exec
producers Tammy Ader and Whoopi Goldberg and the cast," he said. But it’s time
"to offer our viewers another option."

"Medicine" won’t necessarily be leaving the air anytime soon: Lifetime has
exclusive rerun rights to the medical drama through 2010.

This leaves MISSING as the only original drama left on the network…assuming it’s picked up for a fourth season.

Going Home Again

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Last night, I had a signing at the Barnes & Noble in my home town of Walnut Creek, California. I drove up from Los Angeles, which took longer than usual due to rain, fog, and more cops on the road than I’ve ever seen before (I guess end of the month is ticket-quota time).  But it was a pleasant drive. I lost myself in mysteries — finishing a  J.A. Jance book on tape and starting the latest Spenser.

Once I got up to Walnut Creek, I couldn’t resist visiting Emil Villa’s Hickory Pit, a place I used to love as a kid. It’s probably been a decade since I’ve eaten there. Well, memories can be tricky things. Either I’ve changed or the ribs have. They tasted like they were frozen and then marinated in solvent.  I should have known better — they weren’t good ten years ago, either. Why did I think they’d be more like I remembered now?

I did some drive-by signings at  B &N in Concord, B&N in Dublin, Borders Express in Concord and Borders in Pleasant Hill before heading to the main event in downtown Walnut Creek.

The signing didn’t pack a big crowd, but I never mind that. The bookstore ordered quite a few copies of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE, which were prominently displayed (and had been for the week prior to my arrival and will be after I leave), and there were two posters in the store announcing the event. They even had a healthy number of DM books on hand. There was a film crew there from Rossmoor, a retirement community that has their own television station (The DM books are big with the retirees, as you can imagine), so my signing will air on TV in the next few weeks, so I reached more people than actually attended. I was on a mike, so more people came as I started speaking, answering questions, and telling all my Hollywood anecdotes.

I finally got to meet Chadwick Saxelid, who has reviewed the DM books on Amazon and is a frequent visitor here — and who I just killed (with his permission) in the DM novel I’m writing now. And my old high school chum Jim Sampair showed up with his lovely wife and mother (I’ve always known her as "Mrs. Sampair, " so when it came time to sign her book, I realized to my embarrassment that I didn’t know her first name!). I also forgot, in middle of my talk, how many days there are in a year — I blame those solvent-soaked ribs for my mental hiccup.

Tonight I meet the members of Mystery Readers International at Janet Rudolph’s home in the Berkeley hills. I’ve heard from lots of other authors that her "At Home" events are a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to it.