Author Parnell Hall sings in this video about wanting to be "The King of the Kindle" and has jam-packed it with author cameos from Bouchercon… including a moment with yours truly.
My Blog
Read To Me
J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet blog has some very nice things to say about REMAINDERED, the short film that I write and directed in Kentucky. He says, in part:
This may be the only time you’ll ever hear the dictate “Read to me” uttered quite so seductively. Telling more about Goldberg’s plot would spoil its many criminal and comic delights. And even though I immediately caught the mistake on which this story’s conclusion depends, I never lost interest in its unfolding. Remaindered may not be a mammoth Hollywood production, but Goldberg–whose TV-writing credits include Diagnosis: Murder, Monk, Spenser: For Hire, The Cosby Mysteries, and A Nero Wolfe Mystery–has invested no less attention in its crafting because of that.
Remaindered has evidently been entered in several film festivals, but I hope it also receives wider distribution. It’s a quirky, fun picture that members of the crime-fiction community are sure to enjoy.
And cop-turned-author Paul Bishop also said some very nice things to say, including:
Remaindered is a smooth piece of business – not only crisply directed and acted, but with a sense of humor that resists the temptation to go over the top offered by the film’s content.
We haven’t heard back yet from any of the film festivals that we’ve submitted to…but we have our fingers crossed. I hope they like the movie as much as Paul and the Rap Sheet did. Thanks for those great reviews!
Mystery Writers of America De-Lists Dorchester
The National Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on October 6, 2010 to remove Dorchester Publishing from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately, primarily because the company no longer meets two of our key criteria.
First, the initial print run by the publisher for a book-length work of fiction or nonfiction must be at least 500 copies and must be widely available in brick-and-mortar stores (not "special order" titles). In other words, print-on-demand publishers and Internet-only publishers do not qualify.
Second, the publisher must not wrongfully withhold or delay royalty payments to authors. We have been hearing an unusually high number of reports from our members of unpaid advances and withheld royalties on their Dorchester books.
Dorchester titles will no longer be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration nor will its authors be eligible for Active Status membership for any books published after October 6, 2010. The board made it clear to Dorchester that it is welcome to re-apply once these problems have been cleared up.
To Speak for the Kindle
Paul Levine's iconic hero Jake Lassiter burst onto the mystery scene with TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, the first in a widely acclaimed series that has since gone out-of-print. Now Lassiter is making a triumphant return — with the out-of-print titles on the Kindle and with a brand new hardcover release entitled LASSITER coming this fall. So I thought I'd ask Paul what it's like being one of the few authors these days who is both still very active in print and yet diving head-long into the uncharted waters of the ebook biz.
LEE: You're a recent convert to the Kindle… and in the space of just a few months, you've released many of the Jake Lassiter backlist as ebooks, including MORTAL SIN. Have they been successful? What have you learned from the experience?
The success of the books has startled me. “To Speak for the Dead” and “Night Vision,” the first two Jake Lassiter novels, both hit number one on the Kindle “hardboiled” and “legal thriller” lists. So did “Reversal,” my stand-alone Supreme Court thriller. “False Dawn” and “Mortal Sin,” the next couple Lassiter books, hit number two.
These books were long out of print and originally appeared in hardcover in the early 1990’s. So, the point for all authors is this: books you thought were long dead have an afterlife. You can resuscitate your out-of-print and out-of-mind books by electronically publishing them. Also, and this is BIG: the books gather momentum and grow each month. This is the opposite of our experience with dead-tree books, which have the same life expectancy as yogurt in the fridge.
LEE: What are the chances that you'll write an original ebook some day soon?
I have three more Lassiters to put up on Kindle and Smashwords, which then distributes to B&N, Borders, Sony, and the rest. Then…and I haven’t said this publically before…I’m publishing “Ballistic.” It’s a loose nukes thriller I’ve adapted from a spec feature script I wrote some time ago. The script had some close calls, but never was made. After that, who knows?
LEE: Do you think releasing the out-of-print Lassiter books will give your traditional, hardcover release next Fall of LASSITER a sales spike? Or do you think it will work the other way around?
Both, I hope!
But let’s be realistic. I’m the publisher of the “old” Lassiters, so I can charge $2.99 on Kindle and Kobo etc. Will those buyers shell out $25 for a hardcover? Should they? Remember, too, that I have no control over what Bantam will charge for the e-book edition. I will plead for as low a price as possible, but we know that won’t be anywhere close to $2.99.
LEE:. Do you think it's wise for unpublished authors to self-publish? What about mid-list authors who have been dropped? Is this the future of publishing…or just an additional revenue stream for authors?
Some smart-alec at the Bouchercon e-books panel said that self-published authors were producing a “tsunami of swill.” Wait! That was you. It’s true, of course, but as you also pointed out, there is some very good fiction being written by otherwise unpublished authors. It’s so damn hard to break into mainstream publishing now that it’s inevitable that some good writing will be left at the door. The problem is that way too many writers lack the training or discipline or just plain talent to produce readable fiction. Separating the wheat from the chaff produces…a lot of chaff.
For mid-list authors who’ve been dropped, it’s a different story. They have the training, the experience, and some audience. The Internet can provide a new source of income…and satisfaction. We write because we have to….because it’s an illness, a fever…not just for the bucks. If you want to get rich, open a burger joint across the street from a community college.
As for the future of publishing, I’ll borrow William Goldman’s line about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.”
I’m Giving Away THE WALK
When THE WALK came out in hardcover seven years ago, nobody noticed it. I figured that was the end…but 15 months ago, I re-released it as an ebook. It was an immediate success and has sold nearly 12,000 copies so far and is still going strong.
I want to introduce THE WALK to the next wave of new Kindle, iPad, and Nook owners this holiday season… and to do that, I’d like send you a FREE COPY of the novel in whatever eformat you prefer (epub, PDF, txt, html, etc). Here’s all that you have to do:
- 1. Send me an email at lee@leegoldberg.com with the subject FREE WALK BOOK and give me your name and the address of your website or blog (don’t have one? That’s okay. Read on).
2. Agree to post a review, positive or negative (but with no spoilers!) on your blog, website, Goodreads page, Facebook page, or the Amazon listing for THE WALK by Christmas Day. (You don't have to buy the book on Amazon to review it there, you only need to have an account).
3. Email me a copy of the review or a link to the post.
This offer is limited to the first 100 people who respond by November 30.
UPDATE 10-27-10, 5:14 pm: I've given away thirty books already…so if you're interested, you'd better hurry!
Starlog Daze
John Zipperer's Weimar World Service Blog has a long and interesting interview with my friend Carr D'Angelo about his days as an editor for STARLOG, a magazine I worked for a lot as a freelancer back in the early 1980s. Reading the article brought back a lot of memories. Here's an excerpt:
ZIPPERER: Tell me a bit about what it was like to work there. How much control did editor David McDonnell have over the magazine – i.e., did he have a lot of freedom to plan it the way he wanted, or were the publishers heavily involved? How much influence did you have?
D‘ANGELO: The magazine was definitely working according to Dave's plan at that point editorially. Generally, working with the possible movies and TV shows that were coming out that would fall under our domain, Dave would assign a writer to do an article or usually a series of articles on the upcoming project. In my opinion, I think we generated too much inventory on certain projects. Since we were always working months ahead, it would sometimes happen that a movie came out, flopped and we still had two or three articles coming out. That sometimes made the magazine feel behind the curve.
The magazine was designed to be a mix of the new and the old, and that was its strength and weakness.
I remember the overkill. On a typical movie, I'd write a "set visit" piece, then write individual articles about each star, the director, the screenwriter, and often the special effects supervisor or production designer (or both!) as well. It was great for freelancers like me… it meant that one day of interviews on a film set could lead to six or eight articles for STARLOG (at a mere $200 each). But that didn't count the additional income I could earn by reworking the same quotes into new articles for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the San Francisco Chronicle, or other potential buyers.
It was hard, low-paid work, but I loved it and learned an enormous amount about the movie and TV industries. And I picked up some valuable work habits, and writing skills, that continue to serve me well to this day.
Remaindered Raves
Bill Crider has some nice things to say about my short film "Remaindered" on his blog today:.
This twenty-minute film is funny, sharply observed, and very well put together. It might be a low-budget production, but it doesn't look it. The actors are having fun, and Goldberg gets the most out of every shot.
I'm pleased to say he's not the only author who enjoyed the movie. Here's some of the other post-Bouchercon feedback that we've received:
“REMAINDERED is brilliant! Hilarious, suspenseful, with booksigning sequences that induce PTSD… bravo! And the music was great, too,” Barry Eisler, bestselling author of “Hard Rain.”
“REMAINDERED was such a hoot. I loved everything about it and had so much fun. More awesomeness from Lee Goldberg,” Sara Gran, author of “Dope” and “Come Closer.”
“REMAINDERED was so well done on some many levels,” Naomi Hirahara, bestselling author of “Blood Hina.”
“The story was great and the actors were outstanding,” Joel Goldman, author of “No Way Out.”
“I loved REMAINDERED!” Daniel J. Hale, co-author of “Red Card.”
“I enjoyed REMAINDERED immensely,” Hal Ackerman, author of “Stein Stoned” and co-chair of the screenwriting department of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
“One of the highlights of Bouchercon – the world mystery convention – was watching Lee Goldberg's independent film REMAINDERED. If it comes to a film festival near you, don't miss it. It rocked the house,” Julie Kramer, author of “Silencing Sam.”
“A marvelous script. Haven't heard that much out loud laughter from an audience in a long time,” Robert S. Levinson, author of “Ask a Dead Man.”
The short film is not yet available to the public — we've submitted it to a bunch of festivals around the country and are waiting to see how that plays out first. However, if you are a blogger or print reviewer and are interested in receiving a screener, you can contact me at lee AT leegoldberg.com for a download link or a DVD.
UPDATE 10-24-10: Paul Bishop also blogged about REMAINDERED today and he said, among other things:
"Remaindered is a smooth piece of business – not only crisply directed and acted, but with a sense of humor that resists the temptation to go over the top offered by the film’s content.
Remaindered taps into the nightmare known to many writers, the sophomore slump – when the follow-up book to a bestselling debut novel goes in the tank. In Remaindered, our intrepid author is trying to survive his sophomore slump by schlepping a third novel – this time self-published – through a series of signings in small backwoods venues because nobody else wants to give the book shelf space or attention – nobody else that is except the author’s biggest fan.
Remaindered is a hoot, a low budget production with a big heart and exceptional values. A twenty minute film that keeps you holding your breath until it explodes with laughter.
Thanks so much, Paul!
My Brother Tod is Funny
This week my brother Tod wrote what may be his funniest Letters to Parade column ever. Here's an excerpt.
…Elizabeth Chambers, hailing from Los Angeles, CA, and presumably reading Parade in the LA Times, as I do, has a question that made me realize that the reason people end up voting for complete fucktards like Sarah Palin is that they don't realize politicians aren't fictional characters. You see, Elizabeth is very curious about that nice young President we have…on THE EVENT:
"Blair Underwood is great as President Elias Martinez on NBC's The Event. Does he have any political experience in real life?"
Jesus fucking Christ on a bed of wild rice, Elizabeth. Do you really think you somehow missed out on the two terms Blair Underwood spent as a United States Senator? Or what about when he was a Congressman? Or those years when he was Attorney General? Personally, I'll never forget what it was like meeting Blair Underwood when he was just a state Senator –this was during his downtime after his seven year stint on LA Law ended and before he landed his next role four minutes later. I knew then that one day he would eventually either be President or at least play the President in something. He just had that gravity, you know? But then when he was on The New Adventures of Old Christine a few years ago, I was like, whoa, he's just a school teacher in this! Well, he was a school teacher on the show, and, of course, was the Dept. Secretary of Defense, too, but, anyway, I just felt like he was selling himself short.
For fuck's sake. I mean it. People this stupid shouldn't be allowed to watch television. It's clearly not good for them and thus it's not good for America and, thus, it's bad for the Jews.
I Want to Suck Your Eblood
Joe Konrath, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch and Jeff Strand have collaborated on DRACULAS, an original novel for the Kindle. It's yet another intriguing Konrath e-book experiment. He wrote about it all on the Huffington Post. He said, in part:
"Draculas" will be exclusive on Kindle for a year, as a favor to Amazon since they've been so helpful. But those with other brands of ereaders will be able to buy "Draculas" from Amazon and convert it to the format of their choice with free ebook software like Calibre or Stanza. We have instructions for doing this on our website, www.draculasthebook.com. We also plan on doing a print release later in the year, using Amazon's CreateSpace.
Since professionalism is essential, we hired a cover artist and an ebook formatter. A publisher providing these services takes 52.5% of an ebook's cover price, and the retailer gets 30% through the agency model. That leaves only 17.5% for the author. By absorbing these sunk costs ourselves, we're able to earn the full 70% royalties and not have to share them with anyone. Though we're splitting the profits four ways, we're each earning only slightly less per copy sold (51 cents each) than we would on one of our own paperback books (64 cents each), and still only charging the reader $2.99.
The book is 80,000 words and also contains 80,000 words of extras, like the 700 emails the authors sent back-and-forth while writing this book in just eight weeks. If the book is a success, which I suspect it will be, it could lead even more published authors to try self-publishing an original ebook…even as they continue to write novels for major publishers. Judging by the conversations I had at Bouchercon, lots of writers are already considering this, seeing it not as an all-or-nothing alternative, but as an additional revenue stream. I'm one of them. But more on that later…