What a Writer Should Read

I've heard that when a fiction writer is creating he should not read anyone else’s fiction because it may color his own work. Since I’m always writing I don’t necessarily take that advice but even if I did, I would never completely stop reading. There is a real world we writers live in, and every author should be aware of it.

I belong to a lot of support organizations, but I’m not much on attending meetings. However, the newsletters these groups publish help me keep track of what’s happening in the writing community. Local news comes through the newsletters of the Virginia Writer’s Club (The Virginia Writer), Maryland Writers Association (Pen in Hand) and Washington Independent Writers. Those last 2 are kind enough to send electronic copies.

I also joined genre-based groups, as you should. Larger groups like the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime offer national newsletters (The 3rd Degree and In SinC respectively) plus the ones the local chapter puts out (for Mystery Writers that would be Capitol Crimes.) International Thriller Writers Incorporated does it all electronically too in The Big Thrill.

If you self publish you should join the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) and the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA) and read their marketing-oriented newsletters, Connection and Independent respectively.

And then there are the publications that can help us improve our craft. Writer’s Digest is probably best known, but I get more out of The Writer, although I’ll admit that is very subjective.

We should also keep an eye on the magazines the fans are reading, and that’s genre-based too. For me those would include Pages, Crimespree, Mystery Scene and the tightly-focused Black Issues Book Review.

Are Publishers Weekly and Editor & Publisher conspicuous by their absence? They are the absolute sources for news on the industry, book publishing and book selling, and they’re probably the first two pubs others would mention, but to be honestly I have never learned anything of value from either one. I certainly expect my agent and my publisher to read them, but they don’t help me write or market any better. Still, check them out and decide for yourself.

And that last bit of advice applies to everything else I said. You owe it to yourself to check out these publications for knowledge, awareness and inspiration.

I’M EVERY WRITER…you’re all in me

When I began this blog I promised to make it personal and talk about what was going on in my writing life. I figure that will involve sharing the actual metrics – how many words written, events attended, submissions made – but that data will require some context. What kind of writer am I? Well actually, I’m all kinds.

I am a Print on Demand author. Two of my novels were first published by a POD publisher and they still have the nonfiction book they asked me to write. It was a how-to on marketing POD fiction. Selling POD books is different, mostly because most booksellers don’t want to stock them. I’ve made no effort to sell this thing, but it has sold steadily and I still get letters from readers about how helpful it has been.

I am also self-published, or rather wife-published which most people take as the same thing. My lovely wife Denise publishes five of my novels under the Intrigue Publishing imprint with greater success than I would have expected. My first project for this year is to update and rewrite my marketing book for all fiction writers, and Denise will publish that new volume.

I am a small press author too. Echelon Press picked up “Blood and Bone,” the flagship of my Hannibal Jones mystery series, and the power of their distribution has made it easy to get all my books into the major chains.

And finally, I’m a mainstream hopeful. My efforts promoting my writing helped me get the attention, and representation, of a New York agent. Susan Gleason is presenting my manuscripts to big-name publishers. A part of me believes it’s only a matter of time before Ballantine or Penguin Books recognizes the value of my work. The rest of me is not willing to wait for that recognition, and really enjoys signing books at various events and receiving those e-mails filled with praise.

So you see, no matter what kind of writer you are, no matter how you choose to be published, I can relate.

Oh, and as for the metrics: I’m 117 pages into the final edit of the 164 page how-to, tentatively titled “Successfully Marketing your Novel in the 21st Century.”

Then next Hannibal Jones mystery doesn’t even have a working title, but I’m 27, 072 words into its first draft.

I’ve started the Northern Virginia chapter of the Virginia Writers Club and today we held our third monthly meeting after receiving our charter. I want to make this chapter grow and make it an engine for promoting the work of all its members.

Now you can track my progress… and I’m committed. To you.

WHAT KEEPS ME GOING

At book signings, negative people and the idly curious sometimes ask me, “With so many writers out there, what makes you think you’ll be a success?” Positive people and aspiring authors often ask me who my inspirations are in the business. Today I might be able to answer both those questions.

First, we need to define success. To me that doesn’t mean a big name publisher or the New York Times bestseller list or a million dollar advance. It’s a contract with a publisher that earns me enough money to quit my Clark Kent job and requires me to deliver a new book next year. In other words, success for me is a writing career. Oh, and I’d like a wide audience to be familiar with my creation, Hannibal Jones.

So, while I greatly admire Nelson Demille and Clive Cussler, David Morrell and James Patterson, the guys who inspire me are writers like Thomas E. Sniegoski, Jim Butcher and Jeff Lindsay. You may never have heard of any of them, and none of them is regularly camped out on the NY Times bestseller list.

Tom Sniegoski had a cool idea: a young adult series about a teenager who learns he is a Nephilim - the son of a mortal woman and a fallen angel. A publisher called Pulse published “The Fallen” in 2003 to warm enough reviews to give Tom’s series at least 3 more tries. Sales of the novels didn’t make him rich or get him on best seller lists. BUT, somebody saw the beauty in his characters and concept. Last year ABC Family aired a mini-series based on the series that didn’t insult either one.

Jim Butcher had a cool idea: a hardboiled private eye who was also a wizard -sort of Harry Potter grown up, living in a world very much like our own. A publisher called Roc put out “Storm Front” in 2000. Again, no best seller list and no one got rich, but the book found a readership and Roc has kept Butcher working steadily with the 10th book in the series due this year. And SOMEBODY saw the beauty in the concept and the Harry Dresden character because Sci-Fi aired 13 episodes of “The Dresden Files” last year.

Jeff Lindsay had a cool idea: A first person series about a serial killer, from the killer’s point of view. Vintage apparently published “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” in 2001 (although publishing history is murky) to very satisfying reviews but not instant best seller status. Still, everyone agreed it was a great book and two sequels followed. Again someone realized the charm of both the concept and the character. The Showtime drama “Dexter” exploded onto the screen in 2006 and was instantly recognized as some of the best TV of the decade.

In each of these cases, the television shows exposed a much larger audience to the writer’s work than his books ever did, and serve as vindication of both the author’s vision and the faith the publisher had in them. But let’s be clear: These three gifted writers were successes BEFORE their creations hit the screen. And the fact that the world eventually realized how good their work was while they were just journeyman authors holding contracts with smallish publishers and feeding a small cult of an audience, well, that’s what really keeps me going.