My Blog

Giddy Up!

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Pulp Serenade, one of my favorite blogs, is going to host a marathon of reviews of classic, Gold Medal westerns.  Today, they offered a peek at the books they are going to be featuring (most of which I own but have only read a few):

Stretch Dawson by W.R. Burnett (1950)
The Desperado by Clifton Adams (1950)
A Noose for the Desperado by Clifton Adams (1951)
Red Runs the River by William Heuman (1952)
The Man from Riondo by Dudley Dean (1954)
Some Must Die by Gil Brewer (1954)
The Name’s Buchanan by Jonas Ward (1956)
Home is the Outlaw by Lewis B. Patten (1958)
Wyoming Jones by Richard Telfair (1958)
Day of the Gun by Richard Telfair (1958)
Buchanan on the Prod by Jonas Ward (1960)
Gunswift by T.V. Olsen (1960)
Texas Fever by Donald Hamilton (1960)
Yellowleg by A.S. Fleischman (1960)
Desert Stake-Out by Harry Whittington (1961)
Lawman by Clay Randall (1964)
High Gun by Clay Randall (1965)
The Rare Breed by Theodore Sturgeon (1966)
Iron Men and Silver Stars edited by Donald Hamilton (1967)
The Lawmen edited by Bill Pronizni and Martin H. Greenberg (1984)
The Railroaders edited by Bill Pronizni and Martin H. Greenberg (1986)
Wolf Moon by Ed Gorman (1993)
The Sharpshooter by Ed Gorman (1994)

Tie-In Synergy

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Heat-wave-richard_castle

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece on the shrewd way that Hyperion has handled publication and cross-promotion of their CASTLE tie-in novels. They said, in part:

Publisher Hyperion, which had success with similar projects connected to sister company ABC’s soaps “One Life to Live” and ” All My Children,” decided to bypass a traditional TV tie-in and instead go with a Richard Castle-authored book after seeing the greenlit pilot. Castle’s name alone appears on the books, without any nod to a real-life scribe. “The main character’s a writer! How perfect is that?” says Gretchen Young, an executive editor at Hyperion and its editorial director for ABC Synergy.

[…] The show plays with fiction and reality: On it, Castle has talked about his upcoming publication commitments with his agent (yes, Hyperion will be publishing two more) and played poker with real-life mystery writers James Patterson and Stephen J. Cannell, who died in late September.

In an upcoming episode, “Heat Wave” — a novel written by a fictional television character — has been optioned by Hollywood. “It gets very meta in the show,” Marlowe admits, laughing.

And in person. As part of Hyperion’s release last year of “Heat Wave,” Fillion appeared as Castle at two Southern California bookstores.

It’s not a new idea. The MURDER SHE WROTE books are written by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain, and she was a mystery novelist, too. But the producers didn’t integrate the tie-ins into the TV series as cleverly as the CASTLE folks have (or at all, if memory serves). But now that HEAT WAVE has become a bestseller, you can expect more TV tie-ins to follow their example…

!@#$ My Brother Says

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My brother Tod and author Ross Angelella have create BeforetheWWW, a new Twitter feed/blog that they are hoping will become next big, bestselling book and a bad CBS sitcom. The schtick is tweets from the past, like these:

  • Sacagawea never pronounces her name the same way twice, which is annoying, but Lewis thinks it's cute. #ThingsClarkReallyThoughtAboutLewis 8 days ago
  • Next time we go looking for the Northwest Passage, I'm leaving this pussy Lewis at home. #ThingsClarkReallyThoughtAboutLewis 8 days ago
  • Listen, I'm going to stick with my pager and keep it clipped to my belt. This cell phone thing is just a passing fad. But you do you. 8 days ago
  • Adios, matronly VHS. Hello, sexy LaserDisc. 8 days ago
  • I am so excited to see Howard the Duck when it premieres. This film is going to give Big Trouble in little China a run for its money. 8 days ago
  • This Bonkers! is the best chewable rectangular-shaped candy with a fruity outside and an even fruitier filling inside. Just like Elton John. 8 days ago
  • Hanging out by grassy knoll, waiting for the prez to roll-up. Clocktower says he's running late. #ThisClassFieldTripSucks 8 days ago
  • My buddy Ernest Hemingway wants me to show him how to shoot, so we're gonna drink a few and cap some shit. 8 days ago
  • Man, Jerry Brown has fucked up this state. His political career in California is over. 8 days ago
  • This talking snake is making a lot of sense. 8 days ago

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    The Name is Book, E Book.

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    The Ian Fleming Estate has realized what so many other published authors already know — that if you own the digital rights to your backlist, it makes more financial sense to publish the ebooks yourself.  So the estate is publishing the digital versions of the Bond novels themselves, cutting out Penguin, which still has the entire series in print. The London Telegraph says that this move could be the beginning of a wave of established authors choosing to self-publish the digital versions of their highly successful franchises.

    The books industry could lose out on millions of pounds because publishers have failed to sign up the digital rights to authors, who are expected to bypass traditional publishing houses in favour of Amazon or Google.

    Industry insiders suggested that blockbusting authors including JK Rowling, Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie would be looking at the deal closely.

    The digital versions of the 007 books will be published by Ian Fleming Publications, which administers the rights to the Bond books.

    […]There are many authors still working that have not signed away the digital rights to their books, allowing them to cut out their traditional publisher if they chose to. Agents said they had grown increasingly irritated by the low royalty rates offered by publishers for digital rights.

    This development doesn’t surprise me at all, especially in light of the sobering news from Publishers Weekly this week about the plunge in “paper” sales and the incredible surge in digital in September.

    As sales in the traditional trade segments plunged in September, e-book sales jumped 158.1%, according to the monthly sales estimates released by the Association of American Publishers. Sales for the 14 publishers that reported e-book sales hit $39.9 million in the month, and were up 188.4% in the first nine months of the year to $304.6 million. In contrast, sales in the three adult trade segments, adult hardcover, trade paperback and mass market paperback, all fell by more than double digits with the adult hardcover segment experiencing the biggest decline with sales down 40.4% at the 17 publisher who reported sales to the AAP of $180.3 million. The only other segment to post a significant sales gain in September was downloadable audio with sales from the nine reporting companies up 73.7%, to $7.7 million. Sales of audio CDs fell 42.6%, to $11.6 million, in the month at the 22 reporting companies.

    Established authors with a large back-list, whether the titles are in print or not, could see significant increases in their revenues putting the digital versions of those books out themselves. And the news is getting around. Look for a surge in 2011 of established authors self-publishing the digital versions of their backlists.

    This has agents scrambling for an approach on how to get a share of this potential income. I’ve already heard that some agents are talking about inserting clauses in their new agency agreements with authors that grant them commissions on the digital self-publication of any books for which they negotiated the original print deals. It will be interesting to see how that goes over.

    Mystery Scene is Tied In

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    TiedInCover2 The current issue of Mystery Scene magazine (with Dennis Lehane on the cover) includes a rave review of  TIED IN: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-In Writing and some photos of vintage tie-ins. Reviewer Jon Breen says, in part:

    If this is the Golden Age of anything in the popular fiction field, it may be the tie-in novel […]There have always been formidable writers doing tie-ins, but they have generally been dismissed, not unreasonably, as quickies tossed off for a fast buck. That image has been improved somewhat by the quality work of editor Goldberg, the late Stuart Kaminsky, Max Allan Collins, and some of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers members contributing to this volume. […] With it’s helpful how-to tips and articles, the book is primarily directed towards other writers, and established pros at that. But many fans and scholars will enjoy the inside-the-business stuff.

    Breen goes on to single out chapters by David Spencer, John Cox, and Max for praise. I hope this will give a jolt to sales of the book, proceeds of which go to support the IAMTW. Lee

    My Brothers Are Selling TV Shows

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    Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman, the producers of JUSTIFIED, have sold a TV series pilot to FX based on my brother Tod Goldberg's short story Mitzvah. Crime writer Joel Goldman is often mistaken for my brother, so I suppose it's only fitting that those same producers just sold CBS a TV series pilot based on Joel's short story Knife Fight. Now if either pilot goes to series, I am expecting my brothers to play the nepotism card and insist that I be brought on staff.

     

    The Mail I Get: Suspenseful Ethics Edition

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    I got an email this morning from Suspense Magazine. It read:

    Suspense Magazine has sent you a book recommendation!

    Blood on His Hands by Mark P. Sadler

    Suspense Magazine says, "Great book! Now available on Amazon Kindle."

    Check it out!"

    So I did.  The link sent me to Goodreads, and a four star, rave review for BLOOD ON HIS HANDS from Shannon Raab at Suspense Magazine. It read, in part:

    A hunt for payback—predator vs. prey—is the underlying electrical current coursing through this colorful debut thriller by Mark Sadler. […]Not for the faint of heart, “Blood on his Hands” can make your stomach roll as well as a roller coaster while Sadler zigzags you on a frenzied chase across the country.

    SM_December_Cover_FINAL_copy-426x555 That may be the strangest, most non-sensical blurb I've ever read, but that aside, what's really interesting about the review is that it's from the co-publisher of Suspense magazine, which also counts Sadler among their reviewers.

    In other words, Suspense Magazine is praising and recommending a book by one of their own reviewers. So I asked Sadler about it:

    Suspense Magazine is reviewing and recommending (via emails to its Goodreads followers) a book written by one of its own reviewers. Isn't that a huge conflict-of-interest? 

    Sadler took offense, firing back:

    They reviewed my book and then asked me to be a reviewer as they liked my style – you should check out the dates before you start throwing around accusations. Mark

    So I replied that I wasn't making an accusation, but rather asking a question, one that I thought was valid. I went on to say:

    Given that you are now reviewing for Suspense, it probably wasn't a wise idea for Suspense to send out an email recommending your book, regardless of whether it was reviewed prior to you becoming a reviewer for them.

    I got an astonishing reply from Sadler that raised the ethical discussion to a whole new level. He wrote:

    Again check your facts.. they liked the book so much they published it as an e-book and generally recommend all the books their reviewers write..we would not be great reviewers if our publication didn't like us.. and we are all doing it for free so I dont get your point..

    I had to do a double-take when I saw that. Suspense Magazine is reviewing (and recommending) a book that they published that was written by one of their reviewers? And Sadler objected to my question about a possible conflict-of-interest? 

    So I checked out Suspense's website and discovered that they are offering a new twist on self-publishing.

    Suspense Magazine is excited to announce the opening of Suspense Publishing, a place where authors can get their book published for far less than traditional self-publishing houses. Suspense Publishing will bring the power of Suspense Magazine to its authors. We will help them market their book successfully, not by just giving you—the author—the tools to market your book, but we actually work for you to market your book.

    […]It is true that we will not publish your book in paper format, we are an EBook publisher. We are also a major magazine with a huge marketing presence.[…]Our publishing company takes the power of Suspense Magazine, an internationally read magazine, and puts your book in front of hundreds of thousands of people that read the genre that you are writing!

    In other words, Suspense Magazine will use their publication to promote the work of their authors…including having their reviewers, who are apparently Suspense authors themselves, review Suspense books without acknowledging that they are also Suspense publications. Not surprisingly, the two most recent titles published by Suspense Publishing — Terri Armstrong's MORNING MENACE and Starr Reina's IN THE NAME OF REVENGE  – won praise from Suspense Magazine.  For MORNING MENACE, Suspense raved:

    The intensity and inclusion of a character tangled in her own neurosis keeps the pages turning and the unexpected ending will surprise even the most adept amateur crime- solvers.

    And for IN THE NAME OF REVENGE, Suspense proclaimed:

    A new star has arrived in the writing world bringing readers a gripping tale peppered with unexpected bits of humor as the cast of characters and twisted turns unfold.

    They claim aspiring authors who engage their services can "use the power and strength of Suspense Magazine to reach millions of readers." Really? Do they honestly believe Suspense reaches millions of readers? That would mean they are reaching more than Forbes (921,000 readers),  Newsweek's (1.6 million) or Vanity Fair (1.7 million).  I'd never heard of the magazine until I went to Bouchercon and met the publishers, John and Shannon Raab.

    The Raabs seemed like nice, well-intentioned folks, who genuinely love the mystery, horror and suspense genres. But their magazine won't have much credibility in the marketplace, or in the publishing industry, if they don't follow the most basic ethical standards…and if they use their magazine as a promotional tool for the authors who pay them to package their ebooks.  

    It's basic ethical conduct in journalism to try to avoid conflicts-of-interest and to disclose them when they are unavoidable. In this case, the conflicts are totally avoidable. Suspense Magazine needs to disclose when the books that they are reviewing are published by them and/or written by one of their reviewers. The magazine's readers need to know when the critics who are reviewing Suspense's books are also other Suspense authors. It means they have a bias. It's journalism 101, folks. Doing otherwise undermines the validity and objectivity, and certainly the professionalism, of the entire magazine.

    My sense was that the Raabs want their magazine to be taken seriously in the field…and it won't be with such loose ethical standards.