Crime Fiction Dossier

Speaking of promotion: James Patterson

ABC News has a piece on James Patterson that I found interesting. It contains some eye-opening stats -- he's sold 150 million books; an incredible 1 out of every 35 books sold last year was one of his -- along with the usual stuff about co-writers, his marketing background, etc.

Here's a quote from Patterson that I loved:

"There are thousands of people around the country who don't like what I do," he said. "Fortunately, there are millions who like it a lot."

Most of the time when Patterson's name comes up in conversation with other writers, he's referred to with derision.

I always shake my head when I hear people make those kinds of statements, because I think they just don't get it. We should be learning from what Patterson is doing. We should be studying his methods and strategies, and figuring out how we can apply his lessons to our own work.

I don't care if people think the books are lousy -- many of them are not very good, but so what? That's not the point. What matters is that he's selling books. And that's something we all need to learn to do better.

(hat tip)

Thoughts on promotion

I know that not everyone reads the comments section, so I wanted to pull out these remarks I left on the post below regarding book trailers. I'm responding to two prior comments in the thread.

JD Rhoades wrote: "What it all boils down to, I fear, is that none of us really know what works."

Alex Sokoloff wrote: "The thing is, it ALL works, to one degree or another."

Those two statements go right to the heart of this discussion, I think. When it comes to marketing books, most things you try will work to one degree or another -- but what's nearly impossible is learning what degree that is.

That's why I urge authors to think long and hard, and to gather as much information as they can, before they commit to spending their time or money on promotional activities.

Someone will tell you, "You have to spend $5k on a book trailer" while someone else will say, "You've got to spend an hour every day blogging" or "You've got to visit every bookstore within a thousand miles" -- but as Dusty points out, we don't actually know if any of those things will work.

So I think it's important to question the "received wisdom" that gets bandied about so much in the publishing community. Not because a particular strategy does or doesn't work -- but because we don't usually have the evidence necessary to assess them. And thus a healthy dose of skepticism is in order.

Authors need to try to figure out what works best for them, given their personality, their skills, the amount of free time they have, their available resources, the nature of their book, the amount of support they're getting from their publisher, etc. They can't just write a check and hope for the best.

Ask the Critic: Book trailers -- yea or nay?

A reader wrote in yesterday to ask my opinion of book trailers. I answered that I don't think very much of them. In my opinion, they're not terribly effective and probably a waste of money. (Although, if they can be produced cheaply, they probably won't hurt.)

When pressed for an explanation of why I think they don't work, I shared the following reasons (off the top of my head):

• Most book trailers are amateurish.
• They appear to be advertising something other than a book (e.g., a movie) and are thus confusing to the consumer.
• Most of the audience is unfamiliar with or unaware of book trailers, and thus their impact is minimal.
• Most readers don't seem to like them very much. I've never heard readers talk about them and never seen them generate word of mouth.
• They're a form of "push marketing" and thus have to be combined with additional forms of marketing in order to be effective -- but most authors don't use them that way. They post the trailer on their website and on YouTube and that's it. But how is the prospective audience supposed to find them?

I do think book trailers can be somewhat effective when used as part of a larger marketing campaign -- the kind of thing done for bestselling and other high profile authors. But for most writers, especially midlist and debut writers, I believe they're better off spending their (very limited) promotional dollars elsewhere.

But what do you think? Do you like book trailers? Do you ever watch them? Have you ever bought a book based on one?

Novelists Strike Fails To Affect Nation Whatsoever

As reported in The Onion, the current strike by the Novelists Guild of America "has had no impact on the nation at all." The strike, which has "brought an immediate halt to all new novels, novellas, and novelettes from coast to coast" has reportedly "affect[ed] no one."

The article goes on to note:

A report published last week by the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication found that the strike has thus far had an economic impact of approximately 0.00 to 0.01 percent. In addition, consumer habits remain unaffected, with 0 percent of those polled saying their reading habits had changed "significantly," 0 percent saying they had changed "somewhat," and an additional 0 saying they had changed "slightly." A significant number of respondents reported no reading habits.

Tough times, my friends...I have been on strike since June of 2006, but so far the impact has sadly been minimal.

"One Book, One Chicago" selects Raymond Chandler

The Chicago Tribune reported over the weekend that Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye has been selected for the Chicago Public Library's "One Book, One Chicago"  program, an effort to promote the reading and discussion of books by all the city's residents.

I like programs like this -- I like anything that encourages people to read more -- and I'm especially pleased to see a crime novel chosen. (And it also helps that this is my favorite Raymond Chandler book.) Chicago is a great town for crime fiction, which is one of the reasons I like writing for the Sun-Times so much.

There's more info over at The Outfit blog, along with a statement read by author Sean Chercover at the press conference announcing the selection. (Chercover is also quoted in the Trib piece.)

So everybody get to reading! If you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading Chandler, this is an excellent time to start.

Edit (3/17): I should note that the Sun-Times ran a piece on this as well. But they didn't quote Chercover. (Or "Chercove" as the Trib calls him.)

Book of the Week: John Lange's "Zero Cool"

The pseudonymous John Lange (better known to readers as Michael Crichton) returns with his second Hard Case Crime reprint and it's another winner. An American doctor heads for Spain for a little R&R -- and instead finds himself caught up in a Maltese Falcon-inspired intrigue involving mysterious fat men, leggy dames and a whole host of bad guys trying to knock him off. Zero Cool isn't exactly a serious story, but it is a fun, fast and highly entertaining read. (I used to have scour used bookstores to find the old Lange paperbacks -- so much easier to get them now. Thanks Hard Case Crime!)

"How do I get my book reviewed?"

I originally wrote this for the blog of author/critic Clea Simon.

The perennial question, the thing critics always hear, but never have a very good answer for: "How do I get my book reviewed?"

When I'm being flippant, I say, "You don't." With review space drying up like the Gobi Desert, the number of books being reviewed in the major newspapers is probably smaller than it's every been before. So realistically, your chance of getting reviewed in those outlets is pretty damn small.

That doesn't mean you have to give up. But it does mean that you might need to change your expectations and start looking in different places. You shouldn't discount the big papers, but you shouldn't count on them too much either.

On the other hand, local newspapers often have potential for review coverage. (Most newspapers like to write about local authors.) Even if the paper doesn't ordinarily review books, that doesn't mean they won't do it. Contact the Features Editor and make your pitch to him/her. Even there, though, the amount of space is small and the number of books is large.

You should consider popular websites and blogs. Online reviews don't have the readership of the major newspapers, nor do they carry the same cachet. There are, however, a lot of them and they review many more books. The important thing is to target the right sites -- you want those that have a lot of traffic, that review books (or will consider reviewing them), that appeal to the kind of people who would buy your book, etc.

The various niche magazines (like mystery magazines or whatever is applicable to your type of book and its subject; for example, if you've written a thriller about a fisherman, considering pitching fishing magazines) are also worth pursuing. Just keep in mind that they require a significant amount of lead time, so you'll need to make sure they get the book early.

Your publicist should be doing this stuff for you... But we all know that often doesn't happen. So what do you do? I advise authors to (cautiously) contact reviewers themselves. If it's done in the right way, I don't think anyone would be offended. It might be a waste of time, but on the other hand it doesn't require much of an investment. You don't need to sell yourself or the book. Just a simple email with the pertinent details is sufficient:

"Dear So-and-So:
My new mystery novel is being published June 15 in hardcover by Poisoned Pen Press. It's about a one-eyed private detective from Mars who's trying to solve a nasty ring of catnappings taking place at bed and breakfasts in the wine country.
May I have my publicist send you a copy for review consideration?"

 

Once you do that, leave it alone. If you don't hear back, move on. If you do hear back, make sure your publicist (or you) sends a copy of the book. After that, leave it alone. Don't follow up. I would recommend you not attempt any further contact with the reviewer. It's unlikely to help your cause.

If the reviewers are aware of your book, you've done all you can. You need to be realistic about your chances for much review coverage. There are hundreds of mysteries published each month, but only space to review a handful of them. Even if you've written a good book, the math is against you. But if you persist -- and if you write a great book -- people will eventually notice. Good luck!

Gumshoe Awards -- Best European Crime Novel

A couple of people have posted questions on blogs about the absence of a Best European Crime Novel on this year's Gumshoe Awards shortlist. After discussions with my committee, we decided to eliminate that category.

I never thought it was a strength of the Gumshoes, and I also don't like the "ghetto-ization" of books that it implies. (That's why we don't have a category for Best Paperback.) I thought it made sense to divide crime novels into Mystery and Thriller -- but after that point, it seemed like splitting too many hairs.

It also seemed somewhat disrespectful, as if a certain class of books had to be considered on their own because they didn't match up to the rest.

So now all novels, hard or soft, US/UK/European/whatever, are considered in the main categories. I think that by keeping the focus on only three categories of books -- Best Mystery, Best Thriller, Best First Novel -- the awards carry more weight and give greater distinction to those books that are selected.

As for Best Website, we still haven't decided what exactly we want to do with that. I have an idea in the works, but it may not be implemented in time for this year's awards. I'll keep you posted.

Books I won't read

We all have books we're tired of, disgusted by or just won't read for one reason or another. (For example, I will no longer read any book with the word "Templar" in the title.)

Here's my latest addition:

Any book whose jacket copy contains the phrase, "not only was her head missing..."

Won't read it.

2008 Gumshoe Award Nominations

Mystery Ink announced today the nominees for the seventh annual Gumshoe Awards.

The Gumshoe Awards are given by Mystery Ink each year to recognize the best achievements in the world of crime fiction. The nominated books were chosen from those published for the first time in the United States in 2007. The winners will be announced on April 21, 2008.

The nominees are:

BEST MYSTERY

James Lee Burke - Tin Roof Blowdown (Simon & Schuster)
John Connolly - The Unquiet (Atria)
Ariana Franklin - Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
Charlie Huston - The Shotgun Rule (Ballantine)
Laura Lippman - What the Dead Know (William Morrow)

BEST THRILLER

Lee Child - Bad Luck and Trouble (Delacorte)
Robert Crais - The Watchman (Simon & Schuster)
Joseph Finder - Power Play (St. Martin's Press)
Michael Gruber - The Book of Air and Shadows (William Morrow)
Richard K. Morgan - Thirteen (Del Rey)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Sean Chercover - Big City, Bad Blood (William Morrow)
Philip Hawley, Jr. - Stigma (Harper)
Lisa Lutz - The Spellman Files (Simon & Schuster)
Craig McDonald - Head Games (Bleak House Books)
Nick Stone - Mr. Clarinet (HarperCollins)

Still to be announced is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented at the same time as the other winners.

Congratulations to all the nominees!