#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
IAMTW member Steven Savile's book "Fantastic TV: Fifty Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction" is now available for pre-order on Amazon in advance of its December release. The book also features contributions from many other members of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.
Here's a sneak peek at the cover for A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO READ by William Rabkin, the first in a new series of original novels based on the TV series PSYCH. The book comes out in January from Obsidian, the fine folks who published the MONK and BURN NOTICE tie-ins. (You can click on the photo for a larger image).
Ever since my brother Tod's terrific LA Times article on writing the BURN NOTICE tie-in was published, me and other members of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers have been bombarded with queries from people who want to write tie-ins. In response, author Jeff Mariotte has posted his advice on the IAMTW blog. He wrotes, in part:
Once a publisher gets the
license, then an editor working for that publishing company looks for
writers to write the novels. The writers are approached and offered a
contract before even beginning to write the novel–it's the reverse of
the usual novel-writing approach of writing a book and then looking for
a publisher. This means that for the most part, tie-in writing jobs go
to writers of whom the editor is aware.
In his Los Angeles Times essay on Sunday, My brother Tod touched on the enormous popularity of tie-in novels. I've just learned from International Association of Media Tie-in Writers' member Sean Williams that his STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED has hit #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. I suspect his tie-in won't be the only one on that list on 9/7. This week, Eric Van Lustbader's tie-in ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE SANCTION is #2 and IAMTW member Karen Traviss' STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS is #19.
The front page of this Sunday's Los Angeles Times Calendar section features a big essay by my brother Tod discussing his experience writing BURN NOTICE: THE FIX and his research into the business of tie-in writing. I was approached to write the novels, but I declined and recommended Tod, who I knew was perfect for the job:
So he did. Read his very funny article and find out what he learned.
UPDATE 8-25-2008: Tod's article got a surprisingly unsnarky mention on GAWKER, some love on TV Squad and some attention from Publisher's Weekly's Book Maven.
UPDATE 8-26-2008: TV Squad also gave Tod's book a rave review.
My daughter Maddie and I left the house yesterday for Comic Con in San Diego at 5:30 am and walked through the door of the convention center at 8:30. The Scribe Awards weren’t until 2, so we roamed around the exhibition floor for a few hours.
I was astonished by how many bootleg DVDs of TV shows were being sold there (and at outrageous prices)…which seemed awfully brazen to me, considering so many of the legitimate rights holders were in attendance.
I ran into my old friend Mark Evanier, who was signing copies of his
beautiful new book KIRBY: KING OF COMICS. The book is major achievement
and I’m glad Mark is getting the big sales and wide acclaim
that he deserves for it. He hinted to me that more, equally ambitious,
books are on the way from him.
On the way to the Scribes, we scooted through the autograph area, where I always find it sad to see has-been B, C and D list stars of yesteryear signing pictures of themselves for a few bucks. As we walked by, a morbidly obese, middle-aged man was singing a song to BUCK ROGERS co-star Erin Gray, who looked like she wished she was anywhere else but where she was sitting. Richard Hatch, thanks to the revival of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, had two or three more people than Erin. But poor Herb Jefferson, another former GALACTICA cast member, was exiled to a table far from Hatch, and sat forlornly without a single fan.
The Scribe Awards and Tie-In Panel was sparsely attended at first, but by the time we were mid-way through, we built to a nice-sized crowd. Our 2008 Grandmaster Alan Dean Foster gave a thoughtful, and very funny, speech on the lack of respect tie-in writers get from the publishing industry and their fellow
writers, despite the huge success of tie-in books. He applauded the International Association of Media Tie-In Writer’s efforts to change that and to increase the awareness of tie-in writing in the mainstream media.
Other panelists included Andy Mangels, Max Allan Collins, Steve Leiva, Kevin J. Anderson, William Dietz and Stacy Deutsch. I must admit, though, that I was distracted for much of the panel by an audience member who had long hair and a beard on one half of his face and was bald and clean-shaved on the other. I couldn’t help thinking that he was a man born to drive Adrian Monk insane…
That’s a picture of Foster and me on the right. The Scribe Nominees and Winners (noted in bold with asterisks) are below:
BEST GENERAL FICTION ORIGINAL
CSI NY: DELUGE by Stuart M. Kaminsky
**MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS by Lee Goldberg
MURDER SHE WROTE: PANNING FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain
CRIMINAL MINDS: JUMP CUT by Max Allan Collins
BEST GENERAL FICTION ADAPTED
**AMERICAN GANGSTER by Max Allan Collins
BEST SPECULATIVE ORIGINAL
LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON by Kevin J. Anderson
**STARGATE ATLANTIS: CASUALTIES OF WAR by Elizabeth Christensen
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION – Q&A by Keith R.A. DeCandido
BEST GAME-RELATED ORIGINAL (SPECIAL SCRIBE AWARD)
HITMAN: ENEMY WITHIN by William C. Dietz
FORGE OF THE MINDSLAYERS by Tim Waggoner
**EBERRON: NIGHT OF THE LONG SHADOWS by Paul Crilley
BEST SPECULATIVE ADAPTED
RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION by Keith R.A. DeCandido
52: THE NOVEL by Greg Cox
**30 DAYS OF NIGHT by Tim Lebbon
BEST YOUNG ADULT ORIGINAL
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE DEATHLESS by Keith R.A. DeCandido
GOODLUND TRILOGY: VOLUME THREE: WARRIORS BONES by Stephen D. Sullivan
**NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW #10: TICKET TROUBLE by Stacia Deutsch & Rhody Cohon
BEST YOUNG ADULT ADAPTED
**THE 12 DOGS OF CHRISTMAS by Steven Paul Leiva
The
Fourth Annual Scribe Awards are now open for submissions. The Scribes,
presented by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers
(www.iamtw.org), honors excellence in licensed tie-in writing—novels based on TV shows, movies, and games. Here are the submissions guidelines:
The IAMTW will present SIX AWARDS in THREE CATEGORIES for books (& comic
books and graphic novels) published in 2008. We will also honor one
"Grandmaster" for career achievement in the field.
BEST NOVEL (original) – A licensed, original novel using pre-existing
characters or worlds from a movie, television series, computer game, play, or
an existing series of novels (i.e., new novels extending a literary franchise,
i.e., DUNE, James Bond, etc.)
BEST ADAPTATION – A licensed novelization based on an existing
screenplay, whether a feature film, episodic teleplay, computer game, script,
or play.
BEST NOVEL (original) – A licensed, original novel using pre-existing
characters or worlds from a movie, television series, computer game, play, or
an existing series of novels (i.e., new novels extending a literary franchise,
i.e. DUNE, James Bond, etc.)
BEST NOVEL (adapted) A licensed novelization based on an existing screenplay,
whether a feature film, episodic teleplay, computer game, script, or play.
BEST ADAPTATION (defined as above)
BEST NOVEL (original) (defined as above)
GRANDMASTER (For Career Achievement)
In the case of BEST ADAPTED (YA) or BEST ORIGINAL (YA), should submissions
fall short of the minimal two nominations requirement, entries would shift into
either BEST SPECULATIVE (Adapted) or BEST GENERAL (Adapted), depending
upon the genre.
In the event a combining of categories becomes necessary in a given
year (i.e., BEST NOVEL Adapted) the judging committee is authorized (but not
required) to give more than one Scribe, reflecting the combined
categories, if the committee members feel such recognition is warranted.
Horror entries have been divided into "Supernatural Horror" under
SPECULATIVE and "Psychological Horror" under GENERAL. This is a
judgment call the authors and then committee chairs must make, depending upon
whether a submitted horror novel is more grounded in reality than the
fantastic. Should a committee chair reject a title on this basis, the chair
will forward all copies of the submitted book to the appropriate committee
chair, and inform the author of the decision.
Should the author already have submitted another title to the other committee,
the author will be given the opportunity to choose which of the two titles he
or she wishes to have considered (since we have a one-book-per-category
submission limitation).
The future of the Special Game-Related Scribes will be decided after this
year’s Gen-Con. If we decide to continue this award,
The Second Annual Scribe Awards, presented by the International
Association of Media Tie-in Writers, acknowledges and celebrates
excellence in licensed tie-in writing — novels based on TV shows, movies, and
games. The IAMTW is proud to announce this years nominees for the Scribe
Award.
BEST GENERAL FICTION ORIGINAL
CSI NY: DELUGE by Stuart M. Kaminsky
MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS by Lee Goldberg
MURDER SHE WROTE: PANNING FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain
CRIMINAL MINDS: JUMP CUT by Max Allan Collins
BEST GENERAL FICTION ADAPTED
AMERICAN GANGSTER by Max Allan Collins (nominee & winner)
BEST SPECULATIVE ORIGINAL
LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON by Kevin J. Anderson
STARGATE ATLANTIS CASUALTIES OF WAR by Elizabeth Christiansen
STAR TREK: Q&A by Keith R.A. DeCandido
BEST GAME-RELATED ORIGINAL (SPECIAL SCRIBE AWARD)
HITMAN by William Dietz
FORGE OF THE MINDSLAYERS by Tim Waggoner
NIGHT OF THE LONG SHADOWS by Paul Crilley
BEST SPECULATIVE ADAPTED
RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION by Keith R.A. DeCandido
52: THE NOVEL by Greg Cox
30 DAYS OF NIGHT by Tim Lebbon
BEST YOUNG ADULT ORIGINAL
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE DEATHLESS by Keith R.A. DeCandido
GOODLUND TRILOGY: VOLUME THREE: WARRIORS BONES by Stephen D. Sullivan
NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW #10: TICKET TROUBLE by Stacia Deutsch & Rudy Cohon
BEST YOUNG ADULT ADAPTED
TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS by Steven Paul Leiva (nominee & winner)
The Grandmaster Award honors a writer for his extensive and exceptional
work in the tie-in field. This year’s honoree is ALAN DEAN FOSTER.
Foster’s books include his
ground-breaking novelisations in 1975 of the STAR TREK animated series
and his subsequent novelisations of the first three ALIEN films, BLACK
HOLE, STARMAN, OUTLAND, PALE RIDER, ALIEN NATION and, of course, STAR
WARS (writing as "George Lucas"). He is also the author of scores of
original novels as well as the story for the first STAR TREK feature
film.
The Scribe Awards will be given at the Comic-Con Convention in San
Diego in July. The Special Gaming Scribes will be awarded at Gen Con Indy in August.
The IAMTW is dedicated to enhancing the professional and public
image of tie-in writers…to working with the media to review tie-in
novels and publicize their authors…to educating people about who we
are and what we do….and to providing a forum for tie-in writers to
share information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to
our field (via a regular e-newsletter, our website, and our active discussion group).
Our members include authors active in many other professional writer
organizations (MWA, PWA, WGA, SFWA, etc.) and who share their unique
perspectives with their fellow tie-in writers. Our name itself is a declaration of pride in what we do: I AM a Tie-in Writer. You can find out more about the IAMTW at our website.
IAMTW Member Karen Traviss’ REVELATION, a STAR WARS tie-in, is number one on both the New York Times and the Publishers Weekly mass market paperback bestseller lists. Another tie-in, TOM CLANCY’S ENDWAR by David Michaels (a pseudonym for an IAMTW member) is number nine on the PW list and number ten on the NYT list. Congratulations to them both! This just goes to show that critics may scoff at TV and movie tie-ins, but the public loves them.
More and more high profile authors are turning to tie-ins. Dave Eggers, author of A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS, is
writing the novelization of the movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s
classic children’s picture book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. The novelization
will be based on the script by Eggers’ and director Spike Jonze, which
expands on Sendak’s 300-word book. Publishers Weekly reports that the
novelization was Eggers’ idea but it was Sendak who lobbied Eggers to
be the one to write the tie-in. Harper Collins will publish the book, Eggers’ first since
2000 not to be published under his own McSweeney’s banner. It was not
an easy deal to craft:
The publisher acquired world rights to the novel about a year
ago, in a deal that involved not only Eggers but lawyers from Warner
Brothers, since a tie-in book was already part of the movie contract.
Intellectual property rights of both Sendak and HarperCollins (Where the Wild Things Are
was originally published by Harper & Row) also had a bearing on
terms. As [editor Dan] Halpern put it, negotiations involved “many different moving
parts.” But the goal was always to have any tie-in book published by a
Harper imprint, per the preexisting deal between Warner Brothers and
Harper, which owns publication rights to the Wild Things
franchise. Sendak, who has since been affiliated with other houses,
agreed “there was something correct” about Harper doing Eggers’s book.