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HAS A BOOK INSIDE
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But the trick is getting
somebody to publish it!
of TheColumnists.com
Surely, you've heard about the "publish or perish" rule in the academic world where professors desperately need to publish new books in their field of specialty if they hope to advance their status on the campus payroll.
Well, I'm beginning to feel like there's a "publish or perish" thing going on here at TheColumnists, too. You see, I haven't published a new book since "Mystery! A Celebration" in 1996 and that's (gulp!) 12 years ago!
Meanwhile colleagues Stan Isaacs, Maury Allen, Jim Hummel and Bucky Fox all have new books out this year and Michael Johnson, who's published several in the pat, has one coming out in October--"101 Uses For An Empty Bra." And Gerald Nachman just delivered his latest book, which is about "The Ed Sullivan Show," to his publisher and it'll be for sale next year.
Since my last book came out, I've been humbled by practically everybody I serve as editor on this website. Nachman has published two since mine came out and the new one will be No. 3. John Stanley has published two and so has Gina Gallo. Bucky Fox has published three. Audrey Yeager-Moore has published two and Kent Holsather has come out with three. Hummel is the champ. He has had his name on the cover of five books in five years. Runner up is Paul Hertelendy with four.
Murry Frymer, Ray Dreyfack, David Zinman, Andrew Penner, Risa Williams, Patricia Geister and Gordon Greb all have published new books since my last one came out.
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Above left, Ray Dreyfack's 2007 suspense novel, written with a medical doctor. Dreyfack has published many books in the field of business as well. Above center: David Zinman's book probing the shooting of notorious Huey Long; Above right: A book for young readers by Audrey Moore-Yeager.
I'm being disgraced and humiliated. It's a good thing I don't work in the same town with most of my colleagues. I couldn't face any of them. Of course, Kent Holsather lives in nearby Bellingham, WA, so whenever I see Kent approaching on a street, I hide. He probably thinks I have leprosy. (No, Kent, I don't; I've looked this way since birth.)
I don't want anybody to think I'm a slacker. I wrote my first book (with fellow TV columnist Terrence O'Flaherty) in 1995 while I was still working full-time as a TV columnist. My only other book also was written while I was working full-time. If I retired early, I thought, I'd easily build on my momentum--two books in two years--because I'd have all this free time.
Scratch that idea.
The first thing I did after retiring in
1999 was write a suspense novel--some 85,000 words altogether--that
I called "I'll Remember April." I sent it to an agent
who never got around to reading it. I believe he said something
like, 'I don't remember 'I'll Remember April,'" or something
equally lame when I asked him whatever happened to it.
Meanwhile, I got around to re-reading it and decided it wasn't
that good. I never showed it to anybody else again. (Hey, my
wife didn't like it either, although she only read one chapter.)
Then I went to work on a book called "Mysteries To Die For" in cooperation with the A&E cable network, which had that umbrella title for their mystery shows in the late 1990s. The agent who didn't read my novel got really enthused over this one. He found a publisher quickly. I was elated.
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book to the PBS series "Mystery!" with art work by Edward Gorey and an introduction by P.D. James. After selling 25,000 copies, it's now out of print. |
But then I found out the agent and the publisher, without consulting me, went to A&E and tried to strike a deal with the network to buy a fixed number of copies of the book to sell via the network on-air advertising and its website. Obviously, they were trying to get A&E to pay my advance without saying so. A&E nixed the deal, so I fired my agent and kissed my publishing deal goodbye.
Not too many months later, A&E decided to move away from its mystery lineup, so the whole concept sort of fizzled anyway.
I spent most of the next five years working on a TV documentary about the history of mystery. The idea came from a PBS station. They signed me to a nice contract to write and co-produce the TV special. But my co-producer left, PBS went through a management change and their interest in mystery declined. The PBS station was taken over by another PBS station, which liked the idea of the TV documentary, but wanted me and my TV partner to raise the money for it. After taping a pilot, revising the screen treatment a few times and applying for grants from several venues, we finally gave up. I'm now trying to turn all my research and interviews into a book.
Right now I have two non-fiction books that only need another couple of months work to be finished. I'm also working on a third book with old friend and fellow columnist Chuck McFadden. Finally, I've started writing my second novel, which I've been outlining for the past six months.
But this is a difficult time to try pitching new book projects. All mine to date have been the sort of film or TV-related projects that have "small publisher" written all over them. Most agents today are interested in big "home run" projects with best-seller list potential because that's what the big publishers want. Lots of agents don't want to deal with small publishers because the big bucks aren't there for them.
As bigger companies swallow smaller ones, the whole publishing climate is changing. Big publishers in the mystery field, for instance, are dropping many of their detective series. They used to be content to publish books about detectives who built a large following over a long period. That meant all the books in the series stayed in print, selling steadily as new readers discovered the series and wanted to start at the beginning.
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Above left: John Stanley's self-published 2007 book, now available. Above right: The latest book of verse by Paul Hertelendy: "Inscribed in Wood and Memory."
But small and steady sales aren't as appealing to publishers today. They want the "big bang" for their bucks. Result: Lots of accomplished mystery writers are no longer being published regularly--and newcomers find it hard to bust into the select circle of surefire best sellers where authors like Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton and Robert B. Parker dominate.
Many of my colleagues on this website have had similar experiences. There are a whole lot of unsold book manuscripts stuffed in our desks. One of our very best writers--former AP correspondent Chuck McFadden--is still waiting for his first book to be published. He's had several aborted projects, including a novel. It's good work, too, but he just hasn't had things break his way yet.
John Stanley is now an advocate of self-publication. He has had several books published in the conventional manner, but discovered he could make more money investing in his own books, then selling them himself. John is a specialist in horror and sci-fi movies and once hosted one of the San Francisco Bay Area's most popular TV shows, "Creature Features," which showed that sort of film. He sells his books at stores and online, like everybody else, but also takes them to horror and sci-fi conventions where he sells even more at his own booth.
Paul Hertelendy, who writes poetry, knows that getting volumes of verse published by someone else is a lost cause today. He publishes his own books and sells them through a variety of venues. His latest, published in 2006, is "Inscribed in Wood and Memory."
Of our group, I'd say Maury Allen is the champ in the book department. He has published more than 30, most of them on sports topics, and has had two best-sellers. Gerald Nachman ranks a close second. Though he has had fewer books published than Maury, he has received some enormous advances from major publishers--and was edited and represented by one of the most illustrious names in publishing history, Robert Gottlieb, who was Former Pres. Bill Clinton's editor for his best-selling presidential memoirs and still represents some of America's leading authors, including mystery novelist Elizabeth George.
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by ANDREW PENNER, the "gadfly of golf," from Canada. |
In this star-studded company, I feel somewhat inadequate. When we get together from time to time, I've started avoiding talk about book deals. I don't want to be one of those guys who's always talking about the big deals that never seem to happen. I haven't cried "uncle" yet, but if all my present book endeavors fall through, I may start rehearsing an "uncle" speech or two.
Fortunately, I'm not in a "publish or perish" atmosphere here at TheColumnists.com. I mean, if I were, I think I'd have perished at least a decade ago.
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Most of the books discussed above are available through the online bookstore at www.amazon.com. When you arrive at the Amazon site, select "Books" from the dropdown menu and then type in the author's name or the book title. Some books no longer in print may be ordered from used bookstores that serve as Amazon's partners in book sales. |
©2008 by Ron Miller. The cover illustrations displayed are all courtesy of the publishers. This column first posted July 7, 2008.
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