A Note on Networking at Malice

This is a tidbit on getting some publication momentum by scoring a review from a famous mystery writer. If I can do it, so can you!

I'm just back to earth from the Malice Domestic Conference in D.C. As an Agatha Award nominee for Best Short Story, I found myself for a brief moment in the company of Peter Lovesey, the Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. This was planned on my part, devious gal that I am... We swapped email messages prior to Malice. Putting on my cheeky alter-ego persona, I had asked if he would care to read my short story. He was, as I suspected, a gentleman. Yes, came the answer. I sent him my story in a WORD attachment, post haste.

He replied with a comment that I'd like to tattoo on my chest - maybe my forearm for easier reading. At any rate, this is what he wrote:

"Delicious story, Nan. Sharp, witty dialogue, sparky characters and a neatly turned plot. In fairness I must see the others before casting my vote, but yours sets a high standard. Thanks for letting me have this preview. And good luck with it!
~ Peter"

Can you hear me dancing now? Tapping away! I am the proud owner of a credible endorsement of my ability to write. From his lips to an editor or agent's ears! Now to use it in my query letters. (Tee, hee, hee!)

My point? You can make connections for yourself. You don't have to be born under the right stars or happen to save some editor's cat from becoming road kill. Go to conferences. Do your homework and find a Significant Writer who will be at the conference - someone with whom you share some common ground. Have a short story or a few pages that you can offer to send via email, or establish a pitch that works in a crowded gathering. Just be polite. Accomplished writers can turn out to be very approachable. They remember the pain of finding a publisher and/or an agent. And, they can always say "Sorry" if they're not interested.

In the spirit of fair play, I said I would keep Peter's appraisal secret until after the Malice voting. I didn't want to turn the competition into a political-style campaign. Had no desire to sway any votes, except by the merits of my story. I hoped to hear if the story worked for him. And, boy were his comments ever welcomed!

Hope this helps you make some connections and leads to some quotable gold!

KHAN!!!!!! Wait, I mean Con

Star Trek Inspirational Posters found here.

Sure I don't live in Manhattan anymore, even if I'm darned close, and sure it's really Tuesday at this moment, but I've always been broad-minded about My Town Mondays.

This weekend was the 3rd Annual NY Comic-Con (vention). I've been to all three and it's ballooned in size and scope every year. While things keep improving, other problems of scale arise and need tweaking. After such a short run, that this is already the second largest event after Comic Con Int'l in San Diego shows that the East Coast was hungry for its own local venue. Sensible, too, since so much of the publishing is in NYC.

Sorry for the delay in posting, but Blogger's been more evil and obstreperous handling pictures than usual, which is really saying something. The order and shape will have to stay what it is (click to enlarge) and I'll notate around the edges. Yuck.

Above- The Javitz Center indeed has a soaring atrium and many kinds of other merchandise, like this case of figurines, are on display besides comics books and graphic novels. There's statuary; toys in both vinyl and plush; clothing and thematic accessories; non-picture books; lots of original artwork; games on boards, cards, and video; and exhibits from not only from 2-D producers but studios like Disney and Nickelodeon and SciFi who screened piles of related previews and trailers. Don't forget the funnel cakes.


The 2 top pics in the group above show the main problem in this year's show. The mob scene between cement walls is not the exhibition hall, which was, for the first time, a room large enough to walk in wide aisles without getting poked by horns and light sabers all the time. (Yay!) However, the downstairs hall where the panels were presented, including popular media previews, had no flow and inadequate capacity. A set of escalators leads to and from it from above, and the pic with the shiny tile floor is THE LINE FOR THE ESCALATOR simply to get into the mob! I didn't see a single panel, because of the schooling crowds that blockaded every inch of floor space. The media shows should be in a large, open access amphitheater set-up. On the biggest day, Saturday, it was disappointing not to get to attend any of the discussions or presentations. However, last year the capacity was lean enough they sold out of tickets, and lots of traveling attendeed couldn't even get in. So this is improvement. Also above is the quintessential comic dealer set-up, boxes with issues in plastic sleeves for browsing. There are fewer of these type of booths than you'd imagine, fewer than the first years. I think. It's more about the splashy spectacle now.

The last of this chunk above is a truly sad sight to educate any writer. WARNING: RANT FOLLOWS. See that tiny table on the blue carpet in the image's center? The one with a few books that's slapped against the back of another, much grander booth? Whoever the publisher, they set up a space with signing slots in this lousy spot, and the dispirited author was spending his hour just sitting there, slouched so far back you can't see him in my picture. I almost went back at least to examine his book out of pity, but frankly, there was plenty of traffic (as you can see) walking that row if he'd come out from behind the table! Stopped waiting for people to approach him! The place incites sensory overload, but... Meet the other exhibitors in your row. Most people working in the field are also fans. They may buy a book, send people your way, or at least help you pass the time in bonhomie. Meet attendees! Ask them how the day's going, what they've seen so far that's cool, whether it's their first con, etc. Regular people like having interest shown in them, just like authors do : ) And they may even buy your book or tell a friend who will. It takes energy to be outgoing, but at an event like this (especially if your slot's only a hour or so), enthusiasm teems in the candy-colored oxygen supply. Don't just mope and liquify, feeling bad about your admittedly horrible placement and pathetic display. Time's a wastin' while potential readers flit by. If you wrote the book, you're part of the product and more potentially compelling than any long table, pleated draping, banner, or vertical shelving unit!

The scene has echoes of Mardi Gras and elaborate tailgating parties. You'll notice lots and lots of costumed people and become inured to them. This year (also a yay), security was way less draconian about the 'weapons' people had with them. How you gonna make Gandalf give up his staff? Some of the outfits are very professional, some are more home-grown, but cosplayers and civvies are all cavorting together. Even the non-costumed tend to wear gear that proclaims their superheroic or thematic allegiances. It's a colorful, good-natured scene, polite and pleasant despite the apparently horrible and martial characters that populate it. Most of the costumed are not only happy, but positively eager, to have their pictures taken. Above left, the X-Men Women had just finished taking pictures with the excited girl CatWoman, if that's how to phrase it. Bad news for all the scantily costumed: Next year's con is in early Feb. again, and the coat check issues were myriad during the last winter event.

Of course, no convention's complete without Stormtroopers. Trust me on this. Half of this pair, once the helmet was off, was revealed to be a 30-ish woman with a chestnut bob and granny glasses who would've looked right at home behind any circulation desk. Cons Rock!

That Minotaur Wasn't So Scary

Image from Payton's Dungeon.

Actually, the Beast-in-chief wore a blazer and stylish spectacles. At the MWA NYC monthy chapter meeting this week, I got to converse with writers I know, sit with our own WoM Elaine, and learn some things about St. Martin's Minotaur, part of the Macmillan/St. Martin's mystery fiction behemoth. Their imprint alone puts out about 120 books per year. Andrew Martin (no relation to the saint, but horned god of Minotaur) was there to speak to us, as was executive editor Kelley Ragland, and some other folks who handle editing, administration, publicity (Jessica was sitting next to me), and library sales were scattered around the tables. I didn't hear all the full names often enough to remember with my sieve-like recall. So, forgive me, because I stink as a schmooze hound, and I wasn't avidly collecting cards and networking. I just felt like carousing and soaking up the info with the chicken gravy.

I can accurately report that the Minotaur folks seemed enthusiastic about their work and even more pleasantly, they seem to care a lot about the quality of the manuscripts, cited like a mantra as the sine qua non of getting published. Conveniently, and unlike Providence, it's one part of the process and industry the writer has control over. I also heard the (shocking) advice not to overstretch your marketing efforts online if they're getting in the way of your writing, and that they're willing to see authors build over several books. Immediate blockbusters are not required, though always welcome, of course. All nice to hear, and especially nice for the Minotaur authors present. Given that March 31st has come and gone without a congratulatory phone call, I think I probably did not win the First Crime Novel Contest that Minotaur and MWA co-sponsored this year. So, I'm not in that happy company yet.

Did you get the call? You can tell us. We could seriously rename ourselves the Women of Discretion and also of Mystery, but only after Discretion first. Spill.

The Minotaur guests also didn't much like the talk of "trends" and find it counterproductive to chase them. For what it's worth, if you're an espionage author or foreign author selling U.S. rights, perhaps you're in luck trend-wise. But those categories don't apply to me, so I'd best keep grinding out what I can. It was funny when a writer asked how Minotaur handles touring schedules etc. for their authors with other full-time jobs. The reply was that people have to work out individually what activities will be possible for them, but Minotaur would never decline a good manuscript because an author couldn't tour, and besides, almost all their authors still have day jobs. Welcome to the glamor of crime writing.

They're experimenting with various avenues of online marketing, like many publishers, but it's not clear which strategies are working and the double-investment in traditional approaches as well as the new creates in-house expense and confusion as well as potential. One such new initiative is Moments In Crime, a rotating blog from their huge roster of authors. Andrew Martin said that post-Kindle, e-books did double in sales last year, but that means from tiny number to twice a tiny number. However, audiobooks began like that, too, and have grown to a substantive piece of business today. On the acquisitions side, they deal almost exclusively with agented authors, and it's difficult for a self-published title, even with good sales numbers, to find its way to one of their editors.

If you're an MWA member, in a few days, you'll be able log in and hear the entire Past Meeting as a podcast, but I think those are the high points. If you have other questions about a particular topic of publishing interest I skipped, feel free to ask in the comments. I'll try to remember what was said or make up something that sounds plausible.

Speaking of day jobs: Today, I'm sewing table linens and planning menus and gardening and cleaning for houseguests. Call me Innkeeper. Meanwhile, Elaine is busy, busy with editing deadlines. Laura's manning her trade show booth this weekend. Nan has her own viper's nest of complications to wrestle before Malice Domestic, so I can only hope Terrie and Lois are beaming with pacific contentment somewhere. But I have my doubts. Now that spring is really starting to sproing, it's hauling tail like a lead-footed trucker on white crosses. Hope you're enjoying the breeze in your sails!

Update: In other publishing news, Harper Collins will publish you, but not for money exactly, and retailers can't return surplus. (WSJ article via Roger L. Simon's blog.) But perhaps you'll receive total consciousness on your deathbed, which would be nice.

Don't Care What. Who Do You Write For?

From the amazing Branded in the 80s blog, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. I hope blogger Shawn will be my peep.


Elaine posted this week about the ever-shifting definitions within genres. As I see it, shelving arrangements are as much fashion as fact, and I know writers who have to check 2 or 3 sections to find themselves. But the purpose of knowing your market as a writer is to help you explain it to agents and editors and readers, to help you hit the bullseye of your story goal better. And I find keeping up with the slapdash scorecards of Hot and Not subgenres only make me confused and dispirited.

When I use the term story goal, I don't mean anything tremendously formal, just the way you'd like readers to feel at the end. Should they love/hate the protagonist, be pleasantly spent from the thrill ride or the laughs, feel like they've just left a bowling alley full of entertaining regulars, have a brooding sense of tragic reality or of difficult justice done? I think once you're far enough in a manuscript, you ought to know what overall effect you hope to achieve, so your editing passes can refine and amplify it. But who is it you're trying to affect?

The category I'm finding most persistently useful as a career-oriented fiction writer is target readership. Who are my people and who else do they read? If I capture that, the publishing types can encode it into whatever slot for the catalog, because by the time I start calling myself "fill-in-the-blank-lit" in a query, that label may be so February. Laura recently posted about finding unusual new ways to reach potential readers. Knowing who readers are means you can better locate them outside the bookstore and library, and better understand how certain agents or publishing approaches may help you reach them. Addressing the crucial question of readership, however, means addressing one of the most common and infuriating assumptions I hear again and again from other aspirants.

Aspiring Writer's Conceit #1: I am writing for all ages, both and mixed genders, all strata of society and anarchy, a tale that translated into every language on the planet can bring enjoyment and enrichment to any intelligent, sentient being of any species currently known or unknown.

Oh sure, we can't assemble five people to agree on the proper preparation and condiments for a hot dog, but I'll say Amen to your lofty claim if you'll do the same for me. Okay, now may we at least admit that establishing our inevitable, global readership requires a beachhead? First, the readers of Ed McBain's police procedurals, for example, then the world.

For my latest project, I've confessed my peeps (with visual evidence) in this post. When I'm standing near people in a line or on the subway, the clothes they're wearing and the media or products they're carrying or discussing tell me whether they're my potential readers. Some of these folks (sadly) enjoy less of the printed prose for leisure than other media. No matter, I still think they're awesome, so I have a comic book and will have a web comic as a portal to my created world. I hope it may lead some of the more prose-phobic to try out a novel of mine someday as well as adding facets and bonus content for those finding the book first. My target readers are probably 18-54, significantly male though I'm not (tricky), and geeks of some niche who like modern technology, games, mysterious histories, and having their brains tickled. They enjoy the absurd and fantastic as a way to play with real-world dilemmas and existential concepts. Robots versus ancient ghosts in an Apocalypse with banana peels.

So, are your peeps buying recyclables or scrapbooking, volunteering at animal shelters or attending concerts, watching Judge Judy or reading biographies in the bathtub? Are they of a certain age or gender? Do they read 2 hardcovers a month or 4 paperbacks a week? Who are their current favorite authors? I'm going on a limb as an unproven quantity here, and welcome any feedback from authors farther down their professional paths. I've spent a lot of time imagining my protagonists and plot, but I believe it's also important to spend time imagining what their consumers might be like. Who are they and what do they value in their reading experience? Then, it'll be more obvious to the many people a writer like me must convince between invention and publication how my final manuscript will delight that readership as well as myself.

Always A Bridesmaid

This week, my sister-in-law's book, Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers, Traditionalists, and Everyone In Between, came out. It's non-fiction, so widely--and wildly--different from my own area that discussing its genesis has been absolutely fascinating to me.

(As to the title of this post--I know plenty of people with book contracts and published books...I'm just not one yet. And on the topic of being the "bride," of having the book contract, etc, a salutary if somewhat depressing post from Kate Flora.)

Elise's book is about weddings. And in it, she answers questions I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. What to do about that guy you don't want to invite, but you know someone else is going to bring? What to do with the "threesomes" you know? How to tell your father you don't want him to walk you down the aisle? What to say when you hate your friends fiancée?

I was 39 when I married my husband, who was 42. We got married in Las Vegas because he was working there at the time. We invited...no one. Later, we had a big party. I knew I didn't want a big to do, but until I started looking into this book, I didn't realize just how many sticky situations we'd avoided doing things the way we did.

Of course, being a mystery writer, the information in this book (inevitably) inspired murderous thoughts. My goodness, I begin to understand why so many cozy mystery series revolve around wedding planners, etc. Mothers of the groom who wear wedding dresses to the wedding, the "dry" family vs. the "drinking" family, cash games at weddings (and showers), mislaid invitations, "destination" weddings...so many potential causes of felonious activity!

This book also includes a very nice acknowledgment from my sister-in-law, who appears to feel she owes me thanks for listening to her "electronic rants." If that's true, the acknowledgment section of my own book is going to be long, indeed. In fact, it will probably have to include every regular reader of this blog!

Elise's website is still in development, so there's not much there yet. She maintains a blog at IndieBride, where she posts about the life and times of an urban mom.

Anti-Social Networking

Network By Design
Most of you have probably gleaned from my various posts that I am not a big fan of "social networking" in the mode of MySpace or Facebook, especially not for authors who are trying to sell their books. I was, therefore, fascinated by this article in the Register, and this one on Creative Capital, both based on the same set of numbers, which indicate that the biggies in the social networking arena are growing slowly in the areas in which they are not actively shrinking. From Creative Capital:

Since December 2006, when MySpace engagement peaked at about 234 minutes spent per visitor, time spent on the site has dropped consistently throughout the year. In December, time spent per visitor saw its biggest month-to-month drop, of about 8.5%, to 179 minutes per visitor per month, down from 196 minutes in November. That equates to a 24% year-over-year drop.

Both MySpace and FaceBook are non-targeted networks. That is, people join them for general stuff. Members may self-select into groups based on hobbies, favorite activities, whatever, but the larger "network" is general.

Then there are the targeted networks. Daniel Hatadi created the targeted social network CrimeSpace on the general social networking site Ning. Crimespace is for those who like to read--and write--crime fiction. It has 1233 members, all of whom, presumably, are interested in the kinds of things we Women of Mystery like, too.

Targeted even more specifically are sites like Redroom, where in order to get your page "activated", you have to be a published author. Anyone can sign up for an account, though, so I suppose the "social network" aspect could be for readers as well, though I can't see how it would have a lot of appeal.

Network As Side-Benefit
For myself, I infinitely prefer sites where "social networking" takes place as a by-product. That is, the site is designed for some other purpose. For example, I belong to a number of forums for my day job like the Creative Wire Jewelry forum on Delphi. Long before the age of the "social networking site," there were bulletin board services, and these forums are holdovers from that style of communication. These are social networking at their most basic because they were really designed to be "social," not to help people "network."

You can't put your "author page" on a forum site the way you can on a social network site, but you don't need to. Why not? Because on a forum site, people know you by what you post. They learn who you are slowly. There's no Blatant Self-Promotion allowed, and although we all show our work and buy from each other, that's a side benefit of the forum, not its focus.

I also belong to LibraryThing. LibraryThing allows you to catalog your books online (and call your library from your cell phone in order to see whether you have already read that book you're pretty sure is a re-release....). You can rate books, review them, and--important to me--tag them. You can also subscribe to tag feeds. So whenever someone tags a book in their library as "cozy," my RSS reader lets me know, so I can see whether I've read it, might want to read it, whatever.

LibraryThing does have a section of forums, where people discuss all kinds of things. And you can search for people who have similar libraries to yours, make them your friends, etc. But mostly, it's about the books. The social network aspect is a sideline, so, no, it's not where you could put your author page. (Though if you are an author, you should become a "LibraryThing author" and tag your books so you know that geeks like me, who are getting the feeds, will be sure to know about your books! Since this takes all of two minutes--or five if you have a whole lot of books to pimp promote--you won't have put out a lot of effort for no measurable reward even if it doesn't sell a single book for you.)

And, of course, there's this blog. I didn't start blogging for promotion--I have nothing to promote--but it's certainly social, and we've created, I hope, a network. But a blog isn't a homepage, either. It's not enough for an author just to have a blog, s/he has to have a web page as well.

Home Salty Home
Why might you want to put your author page on a site like CrimeSpace, rather than just creating it out in the middle of the Web on its own? I'm probably the wrong person to ask. The idea is that if you put it up somewhere people are already going, they're more apt to see it. If they're already hanging out looking at author profiles, they'll be more receptive to yours.

Well, okay. That certainly worked for Wendy's, whose startup marketing strategy was to place a Wendy's near every McDonald's on the theory that if people wanted fast food, they wanted fast food.

Unfortunately, as every strip mall in existence illustrates, where there's a Wendy's and a McDonald's, there's also a Burger King, a Taco Bell.... The "noise" can become a bit overwhelming. How do you make yourself heard over the din, especially since most social networking sites strictly limit the alterations you can make on your page? The sites want a uniform look, like a housing development, in order to give visitors a sense of "place". Cruise around Redroom for a while. You may not know the author whose page you find yourself on, but you'll know you haven't left Redroom's site.

For many, many surfers, that sense of place is an important one. The question is, are your readers that kind of surfer? Are readers, in general, different from surfers of other types?

I think they probably are. I'm not at all sure how they differ, but I am pretty sure they do. Even genre-to-genre, I am willing to bet you'd find differences in the Internet habits of readers.

But as I struggle to figure out what to do for my own author page, I am more than willing to be educated--have you found success in formal social networking sites? What did it cost in terms of time, energy, upkeep? What do you like or dislike about your own site? I'd love to be proven wrong about social networking...there's an attractive aspect to the ease with which one can set up a page on those sites.

The Murky Demimonde

The title belongs to Slate. The image to Tairan Zhang.

Can't remember if I ever posted this, but it's an interesting article by Garth Risk Hallberg on Amazon's top reviewers, including the speed-reading and plot-summarizing icon Harriet Klausner.

Who Hates Sophomores?

Shuh! No fair! As if!

Gawker explains how a debut author's first book's can affect how and where B & N stocks the second.

Key concept: secret algorithms
<twiddles magic fingers>

"Your Heart Must Be In It"

If you, like I do, write what's labeled "genre fiction," it's easy some days to feel like a jerk.

Our WOM Laura recently confessed to writing romantic suspense. In addition to crime fiction, I confess to writing fantasy and horror and comic books. These noble gents in my photo from NYC's ComicCon? They're part of my target crowd, my peeps, but if you think a group of avid Sherlockians earns the occasional sideways glance... let me tell you.

Critics often prejudge books, and sometimes accurately, from the genre shelves as if creativity, compelling storytelling, and good craftsmanship weren't possible for those working within an identifiable framework. Of course it's possible, and so-called genre writers prove it all the time, breaking out of their categories and onto the bestseller list. But when what is judged to be an exquisite and thoughtful "literary" masterpiece lands there, it's a confirmation of the book's intrinsic value. When a genre title lands there, it's damning evidence of lousy populist taste. In that case, the reader's always wrong.

I'm not saying every bestselling book's equally wonderful in every dimension, but they all must do something right. Michael Allen would say what they share is the ability to create emotion in the reader, and I think he's onto something. But how do you create feeling in readers if you're merely a mindless slave to formula or a calculating sell-out?

The fact is it's just as emotional and difficult and time-consuming to write a genre book or one that doesn't work as a mega-seller. The bestsellers at the airport kiosk can be as heartfelt, as connected to their author's intimate concerns and force of will, as any arguably loftier creation. Tony Parsons makes the case well in this Spectator article (snips mine):

... The books that Harold Robbins wrote for money are the books that nobody ever read. Anything that gets on to the bestseller list deserves to be there. And even if it is not your cup of Darjeeling, never doubt that the author of The Da Vinci Code is as serious in his intent as the author of Atonement.

Every bestseller is an act of will from somewhere real. A bestseller is organic. Often it is an idea — an incident, a hunch, a headline — that will just not let you go. In 1964 a journalist called Peter Benchley read about a fisherman called Frank Mundus catching a 4,550-pound great white shark off Long Island. But it was ten years before Benchley published Jaws...

If you spot a bandwagon, then it is already too late to clamber aboard. You need your own set of wheels. If your book does not grip you by the throat, then it will not do the same to anyone else. This is why so many bestsellers are a kind of secret life story that incorporates fears, hopes and all the darkest places, a dream world more potent than the real world could ever be...

Tangled in the Web

We've taken many a fantasy trip into the future of publishing here lately. Assuming, however, that people continue to read books in some form or other, the question of how to make sure those readers know about--and invest in--our books is vitally important. When I first approached the other Women of Mystery about starting a blog, I did so because every editor and agent I'd spoken to said the same thing: authors, even unpublished authors, need to have web presences.

This is not news to me. For my "day job," I make and sell glass beads, and in retail, too, you need to have a web presence. With one, enormous exception.

No web page is better than a bad one.

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

I know, and I am sorry. And I have more bad news: just like you can't ask your friends to tell you what's wrong with your writing, you can't ask them to tell you what's wrong with your website. First of all, they may not know. For example, if your site is heavy on the graphics or Flash animations and your friends are all geeky types running high speed connections, they may not even realize that some people will leave your site without reading a word because the images take so long to load.

And then there's the question of text. You're a writer, so your site will probably have a lot of text on it. But studies have shown that people don't read text on a web page the same way they read it on paper.

In fact, with the exception of those passages of text you're using directly from your book, those teasers tempting readers to go out and buy the book, the writing on your website will probably bear no similarity to the deathless prose of your novel whatsoever.

People like to see lots of open space on web pages. Short paragraphs, bullet points, text that can be easily skimmed, that's what people want from a web page.

But wait...there's more. They want to be able to go to your web page by using your name. So if the domain associated with your name isn't taken, get it now. You don't have to use it right away, but you don't want someone else to take it while you're busy figuring out what you want to be when you grow up!

"I was going to use MySpace."

I'm not saying you can't, since it's easy enough to "point" one domain to another. [For example, if you go look at my temporary, under construction site at laurakramarsky.com, you're actually going to a subdirectory of my eCommerce website at http://torchsongsglassworks.com/laurakramarsky/ , but the pointer takes you directly there so you don't see. -edit: this site is down for a while while I decide what name I will be using for publication]

But before you go set up your MySpace page, consider whether that's what you want. Recently, a discussion thread on a list to which I belong debated the relative merits of gather.com and myspace.com. I have to say, nothing I read made me even slightly interested in joining either "community." A couple of people mentioned that their participation in those sites had resulted in book sales, but it sure sounded like a lot of work for relatively little reward. (I can't help it--because I run my own business, I'm always doing cost-benefit analyses, and it was really hard for me to stay out of that discussion.)

And then there's the question of professionalism. Do you really want your web "home" somewhere that the first thing people see at the top of the page or all along one side is a banner ad over which you have no control? What if the sponsor of the day turns out to be a company promoting something you stand wholeheartedly against? (Not to mention the question of having one's hosting site in the news weekly because of some pedophile or the likes of Lori Drew.)

"I can't afford a fancy web design."

And you don't need one. In fact, simpler without ads is far better than fancier with ads. I've said this before, when talking about the "numbers" trap--the desperate counting of website "hits" without considering the cost-benefit ratio of gaining those hits. Rather than thinking of your website as something to attract new readers, think of it as a way to keep in touch with readers you already have. Those readers are your best bets for finding a new audience--you need to keep them up to date so they know when to tell all their friends you're coming out with a new book!

They have to be able to say to a friend at a cocktail party "oh, you can find her website at..." and not forget the name of your site. They have to know their friends won't be freaked out by the kind of things you say on your site, which probably means you should steer clear of majorly controversial topics on your website unless they are things you tackle in your books (and is another good reason not to have ads you can't control on your site). And they have to know that their friends, who listen to books on tape (or on CD, or on their iPods) because their eyes aren't so great, will be able to read your site.

"Everyone says you're supposed to use your site to make connections."

I hate to sound like your mother, but if everyone said it was cool to jump off a bridge, would you do it? If you're not comfortable "making connections" online, joining a "myspace" group won't help.

You want to make your connections however best suits your personality and use your website to keep them. If you make new ones through the web, that's great, but if you set the goal at selling books and finding new readers, you're going to cause yourself a lot of angst. Because you're always, always going to be trying this thing and that, wasting your time attempting to determine whether various tactics are paying off.

Believe me when I tell you that you have the connections and you'll make more as you research and write your books. If you're feeling "unconnected," as if there's no audience for your book, you're much better off considering why that is rather than trying to correct it with an online shot of some kind.

"So I just stick up a web page and leave it there? That's it?"

Nope. How many books are you planning on cranking out this year? Did you try NaNoWriMo? Did you write a complete novel, edited and perfect in the month of November?

No? Me, either. So I won't be churning out twelve books a year, which means my readers might get a chance to forget I exist. I can't let that happen. So I have this blog, and eventually I'll get my author site up.

(But no spamming! Donna Andrews--whose website exemplifies simple, effective design--has a great post on why you don't send email to people who don't ask for it over on the Sisters in Crime blog.)

Look, you wrote a book. And you're planning on writing more. You can commit to writing a post once a week. Heck, give your readers tastes...commit to putting a paragraph up on your site every Monday. By the time your book gets into bookstores, your readers will be salivating over the full text.

Or don't. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable; if maintaining your web presence is a chore, it's going to show. Writing is hard work. Let the web stuff go slow and easy.

Delivering a Strike for Futurism

I got the image here. No idea of the original source.

I've got big to-dos yet to accomplish today, but squirmy thoughts have birthed in my fevered brain during the current WGA strike. I can't help drawing comparisons to the traders in tree-meat, aka the traditional book publishing industry. See what you think. [...snips and editorial asides mine]:

1) Marc Andreeson writes about Rebuilding Hollywood in Silicon Valley's Image.

...I think the TV and movie industry is at a turning point where things could go either way -- they could repeat the critical error of the music industry and permanently alienate their customer base; or they could get it together and create viable models for the future that make consumers happy and make money...

The classic Hollywood economic model is built around the existence of a few very large companies -- studios -- that dominate production, marketing, and distribution...Historically, marketing and distribution of entertainment properties [like the once-significant costs of printing books] has been extremely expensive...Because of that, those few very large companies -- studios [publishers]-- have been bottlenecks. If you are talent -- writers, actors, directors -- you have to deal with the studios because otherwise you can never bring anything to market...As a consequence, talent gets paid like hired guns, not owners. [Most book authors do have the promise of royalties, but ask them about the Byzantine, even Iron-Age accounting, and how much that glacier-speed harvesting yields for those other than bestsellers.]

2) From Andreeson's post Suicide by Strike.

...You're faced with a massive, once-in-a-lifetime shift in mainstream consumer behavior from traditional mass media, including film and television, to new activities that you do not control: the Internet, social networking, user-generated content, mobile services, video games. It's been snowballing since the mid 90's, for like 12 years -- 12 years of denial and obfuscation -- but it's really rolling fast now....

...And the consumers you rely upon for revenue are so frustrated with your company's inability to supply them with what they want, when they want it, that digital piracy of your content has become mainstream and socially acceptable behavior practically overnight...And your company's culture is not prepared to deal with the shift.

Your company was founded 50 or 80 or 100 or 150 years ago by different people in a different time, and the overwhelming majority of your people now -- smart and well-meaning managers and bureaucrats, but still managers and bureaucrats -- have to be retrained and reoriented toward entrepreneurial thinking in a viciously dynamic and startlingly fast-changing world not of your, or their, creation....

3) Rob Long, who I've referenced here before, has a post called Rebuild or Disrupt (which tipped me to Andreeson's, tx!) where he breaks down the expense of even participating in television enough to earn failure, a 98% probability. [a percentage as bad as earning out your advance. ]

These are a few among the many relevant analogs to today's book publishing as I understand it.

Traditional publishing has high overheads, low margins, and some self-destructive practices. Despite its collective experience and the seductively august legacy conveyed to most of us by the brands, it's not consistently able to identify what readers will enjoy enough to buy. Instead, it spends ever more time acquiring reprint rights to sales-tested content, sometimes from smaller, more focused and entrepreneurial houses. Having lost faith in its own judgment, steering decisions become activities in consensus, making it less likely to decide in favor of the innovative and what might become black swan megasellers. It is on the trailing (if not the kicking-and-screaming) edge of technology and actively resists new venues. It's poised for someone to eat its expensed lunch while it grouses about the illegitimacy of the upstarts. And now's when I plug in my crystal ball, because I'm optimistic about the opportunities inherent in such chaos.

I love books. LOVE 'EM! That said, I think it likely that the hardcover market as we know it will continue to diminish. However, exquisitely-crafted hardbacks will blossom as specialties, collaborations between authors and illustrators and bookbinding artists. Hardcovers will become ever more precious, limited-edition items with extensive extras (like DVDs offer), made for appreciators of the objects and memorabilia as much as the prose.

Cheap, robust, good-looking paperbacks with some form of rapid-delivery will continue to proliferate on the strength of their content and the easy durability of the form factor. Big publishing controls a lot of content, so it would have made sense that they'd develop some decently-designed electronic reader paving new avenues of profit to their backlists. Well, no. They haven't gotten in front of this challenge any better than the recording industry anticipated the pesky Napster, itself several years behind the popular rips and downloads on usenet boards. Someone-- my bet's on the tech-savvy, entrepreneurial sci-fi crowd or a marketing/self-help guru-- will develop the killer app to connect readers directly to their instant (or almost instant) content that's simple, intuitive, and fun to browse. One might argue that Amazon is this already, and I like the review feature, but it's still a product middleman. With new attacks on the affiliate relationships through taxation, like in blissfully confiscatory New York, it doesn't provide a much better shake for authors' profit-sharing.

With a friendly, solid, trustworthy direct interface, some other nimble entity will partner-up or hit up a venture capitalist to finally make the electronic reader/digital medium that works harmoniously and makes us all go, "Duh! No wonder they never took off before. Of course, that's the best way to design it! I must have one!" Bookstores will continue to exist, I believe and thank heavens for them, but will operate especially in rarities, niche specialties, and/or as friendly, non-bar gathering places and event venues. (One chain location I knew could've colored its P&L black just by charging carpet-rent for its 'after-school program.' See other examples here.)

Writers can become again the proprietors of their own cottage industries. Sure, it's scarier than just passing off your manuscript to someone who's supposed to know better than you and then cut you a check. However, tools and forums will develop as we help each other through it, and I do believe more fiction writers will be able to profit more amply from their work by selling directly to and expanding their unique readerships.

Now, my head hurts. Besides, it's your turn to point out where I'm full of bilgewater.

Alaska! Bouchercon 2007

We just got back from Anchorage and a very successful Bouchercon 2007. It was fun. It was interesting. And it was full of contradictions. Here's the brief summary:

Under-attended -- boo

Very friendly folks -- yay

A little too rah-rah Alaska, rather than welcome world -- boo

The 1-day 26-glacier cruise was phenomenal -- yay

The book room failed to stock my book, LADYKILLER -- boo

I gave out dozens of bookmarks and many readers promised to order it -- yay

The hotel didn't have internet connection, even in the business center -- boo

We met nearly everyone there -- yay

Hotel bar small, understaffed and woefully inadequate -- boo

Drinks very cheap -- yay

Strange pink sauce on entrees at banquet -- boo

The band was great -- yay

Anyhow, it was Northern Exposure meets So You Think You Can Dance?

On balance, I'm glad I went, but am looking forward to Baltimore!

Black Swans and Rats: Mystery's Future is Now

No, it's not Nessie, but a creature once likewise thought to be imaginary. Image via Angie Outlaw.

Today is a solemn anniversary, the anniversary of a previously unimaginable event that, itself, has been therefore labeled a black swan. But I can't compete or even know what to express, so, having had my moments of hard-swallowing silence, I'd like to highlight another anniversary of sorts, not 6 years ago, but 20.

I think most of us might agree that Big-Imprint genre publishing is broken, or at least bent. Aside from worrying for our own careers, fledgling though they may be, we see authors we love to buy and read getting dropped by publishers while the most craptastic shinola is pimped like it's the next Sherlock. For myself, I believe this has created not only dire circumstances, but more importantly, opportunities for those editorially consistent and selective small presses who are pleased to make money on steadily performing midlist titles rather than always hunting the elusive blockbuster.

[Additional Background if you like: Regarding one-in-a-million blockbusters, those hard-to-predict occurrences of high impact also philosophically named black swans, I've enjoyed reading a free online book titled On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile. Author Michael Allen, who's also known as the Grumpy Old Bookman, has written a monograph of sorts to explain why conglomerate publishing has proven so hapless at manufacturing (or even recognizing) blockbusters and how their nevertheless unflagging obsession has hurt them.]

It was with those thoughts simmering that I read Jim Huang's recent post on the state of mystery publishing, written after his 20 years in the mystery bookselling business. I know some other, bigger blogs have batted this one around, but we haven't yet here, and I think it deserves the attention and consideration, especially from writers like us just now trying to plant our flags in this shifting soil. The essay brings up a few, immediate questions for me, and I'd love to know how your answers tally with Jim's findings and my own opinions (in italics).

1) Are series worth loving what you seek as a reader?
Often, but not exclusively. I do always seek out authors I've previously enjoyed.

2) Would you cultivate loyalty to an imprint and/or store that was conspicuously dedicated to meeting that need?
I have local booksellers I do trust for recommendations, though I'll miss Bonnie and Joe- sniff. I'd also love to be able to trust a publisher's name on the spine enough to feel good about experimenting with their new authors. I think Hard Case Crime and Soho Crime exemplify the kind of tight focus on certain flavors of books that allow readers to take those kinds of chances with confidence. I want to know when I do love a new series that I won't get dumped or delayed after a single book, and I want better marketing clarity in explaining the type of experience I'm buying, so I can competently choose what suits my mood. I think all that is as great for new talent as it is for readers.

3) Do you think the perpetuation of the bread-and-butter midlist and the "hit factories" are essential opposition?
Yep, even moreso as some of the big houses' specialized sub-imprints with tighter aesthetics got dismantled and reabsorbed into the motherships.

What's your vote and your prognosis?

Branding Without the Branding Iron

Last week, my mentor offered a free miniworkshop on personal branding. I wrote back, asking if that meant a tattoo. Another one of my buddies wanted to know where the tattoo would be located.

Turns out, there is no need to bare your arms - or other body parts. No piercings necessary, either. She just wants us to come up with some way to make ourselves memorable to our target audience. She said it's like creating an elevator pitch that sticks beyond the life of one book.

Mark Twain instantly came to mind. He went all out and created a persona: shaggy eyebrows, white suit, white mustache and all. Samuel Clemens disappeared and the ironic humorist became a welcome house guest whenever his new book was published.

I'm waiting to hear if I got that part right - that Mark Twain was Sam C's personal branding personna. I think that's pretty close, if it isn't a dead ringer here.

Back to the personal branding requisites. There are four factors in this official version of a personal brand: personality, appearance, competencies, and differentiation. My personality's pretty okay, my appearance is less than stellar - without makeup I tend to scare little children (which can be an advantage at times). Competencies? Hmmm. And I assume "differentiation" has to do with what makes me different from, say, the Wicked Witch of the North?

I'm thinking we're supposed to come up with something that makes us worth remembering. The goal is to present ourselves to the public as someone memorable enough to show up on a mental Google whenever readers think of mystery writers.

Or maybe not. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it's worth brainstorming about - both privately and with your closest allies in this preparation stage, prior to marketing any more of our wares. You’re invited to take a few minutes and jot down details of your personality, appearance, competencies and differentiations. Next week I'll post my ruminations and review any comments you leave for me to ponder.

Thanks for helping me with my homework! I’ve reviewed the assignment with you. Think I know what I’m supposed to do. And I guess I’d best get it done while it still makes sense.

Meanwhile,
Write On!
Nan

The Black Orchid Anniversary Party

Larry and I attended the big anniversary party for New York's legendary mystery bookstore, the Black Orchid last week.

So did half the mystery universe. Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott, Charles Ardai, Otto Penzler, Reed Coleman, Margery Flax, Jane Clelland, Harlen Coben, Sarah Weinman, Anthony Rainone, Bob Knightly and many more.

It was a beautiful summer evening and the party spilled out onto the sidewalk of East 81st Street as usual. Bonnie and Joe were charming as always. Lots of their regular customers -- die-hard mystery fans -- were there as well. It was, as always, a great party.

But there was a sad sub-text -- Black Orchid is closing this fall -- and it will be badly missed.

Personally, Bonnie and Joe have been mentors, supporters and friends. When Larry got his first book, TOO RICH TO LIVE published, we stopped in to meet them. They couldn't have been more gracious. They were welcoming and kind. We stopped back about a million times and asked a million questions and they were absolutely wonderful. They helped us in more ways than I can relate. Tips on how things get done. Looking over publicity materials and giving advice. And selling tons of books!

We had the launch party there for Larry's second book, FEAR AND GREED and for the thriller we wrote together, LADYKILLER. Both times we had over 70 people -- friends, colleagues, family, authors, everybody!

It was our policy -- and our pleasure -- to never leave the store empty handed. We bought books by the dozen, discovering new authors, reading books by people we had met. And as we got to be friends, Bonnie and Joe started coming to our place or we would go out for a meal together. There's nothing better than a summer dinner party in our garden (yes, Manhattan does have some) drinking cocktails, grilling dinner, eating under the stars and talking to assorted authors, agents, reviewers, publishers and friends.

And, naturally, we won't give that up! It's just that we'll miss the bookstore. We'll miss going to the book parties and signings. We'll miss stopping by on weekends to talk to them and their regular customers -- many of whom became friends, too. We'll miss haveing a bookseller who knows our taste and recommends new authors and digs up old ones we shouldn't miss.

Damn it, we'll miss the Black Orchid! It's lucky that we'll still have dear friends Bonnie and Joe to reminisce about it with.

LADYKILLER: launch plus 4 months

My thriller, LADYKILLER, came out in April 2007 from Oceanview Publishing. Now that the party and the book tour and the initial signings are over, here's a progress report and a few words of advice based on my experience with this book.

• Get a great publisher. Oceanview is amazing. Other new authors report little or no marketing support from their publishers, but Oceanview has been wonderful. And not just the first 2 weeks either -- they are still at it! We have gotten over 30 reviews in publications big and small including important venues like Publisher's Weekly, Crimespree, Deadly Pleasures and Mystery Scene magazines; January Magazine, FreshFiction and Bookpleasures online. They are almost unanimous raves!
• Signings are terrific but don't forget to also drop by bookstores to sign stock. Most of them welcome authors. Protocol is to ask for the manager, know where your books are, sign them (bring your own sharpie), and make sure they get the Autographed Copy sticker. It helps to get the manager's name and introduce yourself to all available employees. Ask them to recommend your book to customers who like thrillers. Follow up with a note, if you're really on target.
• Online is important. A website is a necessity, but there are other aspects to successful online marketing. Listserves like DorothyL and Rara Avis go to thousands of readers, librarians, booksellers, reviewers and other authors. It is invaluable to be reviewed there by Gloria or Theodore Feit or other major voices. MySpace and the newer more targeted CrimeSpace are also crucial for book marketing. I can't tell you how many MySpace friends have messaged that they are buying the book! And I've made new friends as a result of this excellent blog. And it's fun!
• Look for unusual opportunities -- I have had good luck with customers in my nail parlor. I notice who is reading a thriller during their pedicure and talk to them. With luck, soon everyone is asking about my book and I'm distributing bookmarks like crazy. Also, the gym. Mine has a bulletin board where a couple member authors display sales sheets. I have authographed books held in sweaty hands there several times. My trainer and the gym manager are my informal marketing reps.
• Keep your publisher informed. Make sure you report on every signing and drop-by stop. Add every new contact to their mailing list as well as your own. If you see a new review or mention, tell them. Remember, your publisher is your most important client as a marketer.

Essentially, the message here is that books are sold one at a time. There is no magic bullet. Someone told us it's a marathon, not a sprint. They weren't kidding. Both my husband and I have very demanding day jobs, are writing our next novels, and maintain an active social life. We see most Broadway and off-Broadways plays, many movies, watch a lot of series TV and entertain a lot. But every day we work a little on marketing. It adds up.

Platform: The Professional's View

Serendipity! Jessica Faust of BookEnds has just posted about platform over at her blog.

Platform

In the non-fiction world, books are sold on "platform." Miss Snark defines platform as

the other-than-the-usual ways you'll be able to get visibility for the book. A syndicated newspaper column like Maureen Dowd or Dave Barry is platform plus. A radio show like Dr. Laura is platform plus plus.

Today, my sister-in-law (who, I proudly point out, was mentioned by Miss Snark as an example of "having platform" for her book on wedding etiquette) and I were discussing the concept of platform as it applies to fiction. Over and over, I've heard that platform is not necessary for fiction, and that's undoubtedly true in some cases. Where, after all, will you find readers no one else has found, what PR can you get that no other novelist can find? Let's take, for example, your average science fiction novel. Not much you can do in the way of platform unless you're L. Ron Hubbard and you start your own religion.

Celebrities have "celebrity," which is different from platform--if you're Dr. Phil, you don't need platform to sell a novel--but other cases are not so clear. What if you're the creator of an internet dating site and you write a romance? Will you bring readers from your website, or are those two things too separate?

This subject is on my mind today because I returned from a show in my "day job" as a maker of glass beads to find a copy of a forthcoming magazine with an article I wrote in it. This is the second time my work has been shown in trade magazines. The first was last summer, when the woman who designed the cover piece for a magazine used my beads in her project.

Even without the article having come out yet, this weekend's expo was good for me. I sold a lot. In fact, I sold so much that I really shouldn't be here typing, I should be in the basement with the glass, as I have a show in two weeks and the biggest show of the year (for me) three weeks after that.

But I've had platform on the brain. My customers don't make the kind of beads I do, but when I mentioned that the article was coming out, they were all excited to buy it. I can't imagine they'd feel any differently if I wrote a novel. (Heck, with the price of magazines these days, the novel wouldn't be much more expensive.) Likewise, my fellow vendors buy each other's magazines, and some promoters make a point of mentioning their vendors' articles.

So is this "platform?" Is it worth mentioning? I travel up and down the east coast doing bead shows, but I've never tracked how many distinct customers (as opposed to returning buyers) I have at a show, and I didn't bother to count how many people--customers and vendors--expressed interest in the magazine article. And, naturally, I have no way of knowing how many of them actually will buy the issue, though history shows they follow their favorite artists quite devotedly.

The huge number of "niche" books, particularly in the area of traditional mystery series, seems to indicate that having platform in some niche market or other would be a good thing. If you have a cooking show, even an obscure one, you have a place to tout your cooking mystery. If you own a knitting store, you can sell your books there, or at least keep a copy to tempt your customers into searching it out at their local bookstores. Goodness knows, a vet could sell thousands of cat-based murder mysteries right out of his office if they were halfway decent.

So does my experience as a beadmaker and published writer in my field translate into platform? And does it even matter whether it does? Will any agent or editor care whether dedicated beaders will recognize my name and rush out to buy my murderous beady mystery?

As I sit here attempting to compose a cover letter, I certainly hope so.