#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
…my foot, my mouth. My foot spends a lot of time there, I’m ashamed to say.
A reader wrote this comment about my blog post "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams" on Tess Gerritsen.
Reading that, I felt like a total schmuck. Why didn’t I see it that way from the get-go? Tess wasn’t at fault, it was me. I was way out of line. Tess, I owe you a sincere apology.
If you’ve bought a book on Amazon, you know they will recommend another title to you that would make a good companion purchase ("Better Together" they call it). What you probably didn’t know is that the author, or publisher, can pay for that recommendation. The price of that plug depends on the bestselling status of the book you want to be paired with. Recently, a friend of mine decided to try it. He paid $750 to have his book paired with the new release by a major, bestselling author. Was it worth the money?
Amazon actually sent me the numbers on my sell-through and they are very revealing, confirming my
long-held belief that their sales rankings don’t mean a thing. Before the promotion, I was ranked in the solid mid-low six figures – around 300,000 plus or minus.
When the promotion started, the numbers improved dramatically, getting under
10,000 on a number of occasions and probably averaging under 25,000 for the
month. Total sales during July – 54 books. Total royalties earned, net of
agent’s commission – @ $27. Cost of promotion – $750. Lesson learned –
priceless.
Variety reports that Michael C. Hall of SIX FEET UNDER has signed to star in Showtime’s pilot for DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER, based on the acclaimed novels by Jeff Lindsay. The SIX FEET UNDER connection doesn’t end there… Michael Cuesta, a regular director on the HBO series, will helm the DEXTER pilot. Dexter is a Miami PD forensics expert who also happens to be a serial killer.
Writer Lynn Viehl’s adult son has been arrested for committing a double-murder in Florida and her website guestbook has become a focal point for people venting their outrage over his actions. Lynn talks on her blog today about her son and the situation she finds herself in. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have one of your children commit such a horrible crime. My sympathies go out to her and to the families of the victims.
I got this spam email today:
Dear fellow MWA members and members of the forensic society,I have written a murder mystery series beginning with Death, Then
Murder and Murder Under Fire starring C.J. Thompson and Lauren
Lamplier. I have also written a nonfiction book letting everyone know that God
sends messages to us through His angels in human form to make us aware of His
plans for us. This one is titled INCOMING Listening For God’s Messages, A
Handbook For Life and is a must read for young adults. The reader will
find a miraculous change in their perspective towards others once realizing that
everyone may potentially be carrying a message from God.Take a look at www.amazon.com .Enjoy and thanks,Fred C. Wootan
I have written a murder mystery series beginning with Death, Then
Murder and Murder Under Fire starring C.J. Thompson and Lauren
Lamplier. Good for you, Fred. But the
fact you have written (and apparently self-published) a book isn’t
reason enough for someone to buy it. You have to pitch it to us, man! What makes it interesting? What’s
the hook? It’s not that it "stars" CJ Thompson and Lauren Lamplier…because no one knows who the hell they are. Their names are meaningless. Are they cops? Insurance investigators? Lesbian nurses? Transvestite paratroopers? Come on, Fred, show us some salesmanship! I have also written a nonfiction book letting everyone know that God
sends messages to us through His angels in human form to make us aware of His
plans for us. This one is titled INCOMING Listening For God’s Messages, A
Handbook For Life and is a must read for young adults. The reader will
find a miraculous change in their perspective towards others once realizing that
everyone may potentially be carrying a message from God. That sentence is a rambling mess, Fred. Not a good advertisement for the book or the writer. So which book is it you’re trying to sell us, the mystery thing or the Angels thing? Or is it both? Either way, neither sales-pitch is very strong. Take a look at www.amazon.com. Even if we wanted to ‘take a look’, and you haven’t given us much of a reason, you don’t even link to your books, just to the Amazon home page. You’re making us do all the work, Fred. Not good. You want to make it easy for your customers to get to the product, you don’t want them to have to hunt for it…because they won’t. And you totally forgot to mention that you also wrote THE SUCCESSFUL INSURANCE AGENCY which, if you ask me, is the real must-read for young adults.
I’m stunned, thrilled, and flattered to report that Kirkus Reviews has given my new novel THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a starred review in this week’s issue. I wish all weeks started off this good.
*A star is assigned to books of unusual merit, determined
by the editors of Kirkus Reviews."Veteran
TV writer Goldberg (Beyond the Beyond, 1997, etc.) tests a gatehouse security
guard to his limits when he agrees to shadow a homeowner’s
wife.International movie distributor Cyril Parkus doesn’t think his wife
—although his own role models are mostly TV shamuses like
is having an affair, but he knows there’s something wrong with her. So he hires
Bel Vista Estates guard Harvey Mapes, whose professional experience is limited
to watching monitors and writing out courtesy tickets, to follow her around
Camarillo. Harvey watches Lauren Parkus drink coffee, gaze at the ocean, drive
to a pawnshop and meet a man he’s sure is blackmailing her. As a reward, he’s
summarily dismissed with a bonus over the $150 a day he requested and treated to
the horrifying spectacle of Lauren doing a swan dive off a freeway overpass.
Shocked that his investigative work had such a tragic ending, he digs deeper
into the case and soon unearths secrets as dark and twisted as anything Hammett
or Chandler ever dreamed up
Joe Mannix, Dan Tana and Jim Rockford. Working with his friend and sometime
lover Carol, Harvey doesn’t set the world straight, but he does get to the
bottom of the case, earn Carol’s love and grow miles beyond those paragons of
machismo.A grim tale with a
disarmingly sweet hero who begins like sad-sack lawyer Stanley Hastings and ends
by leaving Travis McGee in the dust. "
On Sunday, the Southern California chapter of the Mystery Writers of America honored Steve Cannell with the Marlowe Award, celebrating lifetime achievement in the mystery field. Past winners have included William Link, Dennis Lynds, Sue Grafton and Blake Edwards.
It was great fun…and I got a chance to catch up with authors Nathan Walpow, Bob Levinson, Harley Jane Kozak, Terrill Lee Lankford, and Michael Mallory (to name a few) and to talk shop with fellow TV scribes Tom Sawyer and Paul Levine (who has a new book out and who, incidenally, was instrumental in getting Steve’s first book sold).
Steve was, as usual, charming and funny and self-deprecating. It’s amazing to me that a man as successful as he is can come across as such a regular guy. I’ve known him for years (and worked with him on COBRA and HUNTER and hired him as an actor on DIAGNOSIS MURDER) but he has that remarkable ability to make even someone who has just met him feel like his oldest friend. He’s also quick to share the credit for his success with the writers he’s worked with… and he did it again today…singling out people like Patrick Hasburgh, Frank Lupo and David Chase.
He told the story today of how he sold his first book, explaining why it was a surprising and humbling experience for him after his unparalleled hot-streak in TV. After Steve spoke, Harley interviewed him and managed to get him to tell some anecdotes I haven’t heard before (and I thought I’d heard them all!).
Although a lot of nice things were said about Steve and his career during the ceremony, I think Paul Guyot’s letter (which was read by James Lincoln Warren at the podium) summed things up the best:
There are some folks who think I was too hard on Tess Gerritsen (A writer whose work I admire and enjoy, by the way) for lamenting on her blog that her latest book only reached #17 on the New York Times bestseller list. She also wasn’t too pleased about my post. She wrote on her blog:
It seems that writers who reach a certain level of success aren’t allowed to
have any insecurities, any doubts about our careers. We shouldn’t be allowed to
wonder if our sales are in a death spiral, whether we’ve lost "it". We should
simply smile and wave and feel like, well, the untouchable queen of England.
I think Tess missed my point. Sharing her insecurities is great (I find it very endearing, actually) it’s what she said and how she expressed it. Can she really expect people to sympathize with her angst about only hitting #17 on the NY Times bestseller list? If that’s a problem, I think it’s one all writers would like to have.
My agent calls those "champagne problems." It’s like a lottery winner saying he’s depressed he just won $500,000 because he won $1 million before… or a TV producer with the highest-rated show in America who is miserable because his series didn’t get an Emmy nomination for Best Drama. On the other hand, I think any writer can appreciate the insecurities Tess feels when she begins each book:
The truth is, I’ve never conquered my insecurity as a writer, and having hit
the list doesn’t change that. I’ve never lost touch with the feeling that
success is a never-ending struggle. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I
slogged my way up as a paperback romance writer, that I wrote nine of those
before my first hardcover, and I’ve never forgotten what rejection feels like.
Every time I sit down to start a new book, I’m always hit with that panicky
feeling of "How on earth did I do this the last time?"
That’s refreshing to hear coming from someone with the kind of success Tess has had…and it’s good for other writers to know, particularly those struggling to make it. So please, Tess, don’t let my comments stop you from being so open, honest, and helpful on your blog. God knows I’ve certainly made the mistake of saying exactly the wrong thing on my blog… in fact, I do it almost daily. I may be doing it again right now.
Much to my surprise, Dick Adler reviewed DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE PAST TENSE in the Chicago Tribune today. Here’s what he had to say:
"Diagnosis Murder: The Past Tense" (Signet, $6.99), by
Lee Goldberg, is the latest–and arguably the best–original mystery
based on the popular Dick Van Dyke TV series, which Goldberg wrote and
produced. What makes it more than just another spinoff is the way
Goldberg takes the reader–and his hero, Dr. Mark Sloan–through 40
years of Los Angeles history, a journey that captures the unique flavor
of the city so many of us used to call home.
It’s not often that paperback TV Tie-ins get reviewed in major newspapers… or anywhere...so naturally, I’m thrilled. I’ve heard a rumor that another Chicago newspaper is also reviewing the book soon…
I got this email today. It’s so, um, incredible that the only way to truly appreciate it is to read the whole thing. I present it here unedited. All I’ve done is remove the sender’s name (why, oh why, do they write to me?)
Dear Sir,I can only imagine once you have read the first coupple of lines
of this letter you will probably think that I am mad ? but who knows and no one
ever said there was ever any harm in trying?I was wondering if you would be able to assist or if you would be
interested in writing a book on my life, or at least advice me on how to write a
book, I will give you a brief outline.I was born in the UK my Dad died when I was little and I had a real struggle growing
up. I joined the Royal air Force and had a good life in the military,
I was in there for 15 years until I met my girlfriend,I came to America and gave up a military career and pension and
benefits because I got my girlfriend pregnant, I stood by her and did what was
right, I married her she is an officer in the United States Air force.I was left with the child our son Rhys at 4 months of age while
she went away on a TDY and partied getting drunk and blowing away $7000 of my
money that I gave to her to pay off a car loan to benefit us as a newly wed
couple.
I’m a huge fan, both of Tess and her blog, and frankly, she’s given me, as a
new kid on the block, a lot of hope and inspiration.
The unpublished treat the published like ungrateful, whiny children should we
dare to even HINT that all is not Nirvana in our publishing journey.
Publisher didn’t promote your book?
Too damn bad, at least you HAVE a book. At least you HAVE a publisher.
Worries about meeting your sell through?
Too damn bad, at least you HAVE book. At least you HAVE a publisher.
Worries about revisions, or the fact your agent didn’t negotiate a small
enough reserve against returns, and now you have a $186 royalty check?
Too damn bad, at least you HAVE a book. At least you HAVE a publisher.
It gets to the point you just shut up and don’t say a thing because of the
jealousy. Now why would we, as other writers, do that to Tess? We know, or are
learning, the ropes. She’s open, she’s honest, and let’s face it, the bigger you
are (industry-wise, of course), the bigger the problems.
It’s refreshing to read a New York Times bestselling author willing to ADMIT
IT!
You go, Tess. Keep it up.