A Writer's Life

Roads Not Taken

I spotted this place in Evansville. I suppose if I hadn't succeeded as a writer, working at this place could have been my fate. It still could be.

S & S E-Grab

The Authors Guild has sent out an important advisory to its members:

Simon & Schuster has recently sent a one-page letter to many, perhaps thousands, of authors with unspecified e-book royalty rates in an attempt to set those rates at 15% of the "catalog retail price" of the e-book. (This is the typical e-book royalty rate for S&S.) As with any amendment to a book contract, the Authors Guild advises caution:

1. Discuss the amendment with your agent or attorney, if you have one.

2. Depending on your existing contract with Simon & Schuster, the amendment may grant the publisher rights that you've otherwise retained.

3. Be aware that the amendment may affect your ability to obtain a reversion of rights.

In any negotiation regarding e-book royalty rates, we suggest that you keep your powder dry: try to retain the right to renegotiate e-book royalty rates. The Authors Guild expects that 15% of the retail list price will be the low-water mark for e-book royalties. As the e-book market develops, authors with clout will doubtlessly insist on a more reasonable share of e-book revenues, and the industry will have to adapt. One glance at Amazon.com's home page, which has for months been ceaselessly promoting its Kindle e-book reader, indicates that day may be near. For more on Amazon and e-books, see this July 4th article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Mr. Monk Gets a Nice Review

Bill Peschel gives MR. MONK GOES TO GERMANY a very nice review. He says, in part:

Those who follow Lee Goldberg's life on his blog know that he spent time in Germany filming a TV show, so it's natural he'd set his next Monk book there. And he uses his experiences well, weaving in the details you'd pick up if you were a tourist. It's those little touches that give the story flavor, such as the description of an inn that was built in the 1400s, or describing the free magazines, including Playboy, that can be picked up at German airports.

As for the mystery, it is competently set up and sprung, but, really, the fun lies more in watching Monk at work, baffling his police partners and reacting to the chaos around him, whether its attempting to navigate the trails in the German forest or visiting an unusual resort for outcasts.

Thanks, Bill!

Mr. Monk and the 100th Episode

My daughter Maddie and I went down to the MONK set at Paramount Studios to have lunch with my friend David Breckman, one of the writer/producers on the show (and the brother of series creator Andy Breckman). While we were there, they cut the 100th episode cake and had a little press conference for the entertainment media. I ran into Jeff Wachtel, the president of the USA Network, and congratulated him on the great ratings for the second season premiere of BURN NOTICE. He smiled and said "Thank you, we see it as a two-hour commercial for your brother's book." I'm sure Tod will be glad to know that.

I took a picture of Maddie at Stottlemeyer's desk, gave her a tour of the back-lot, and I headed home to get back to work on the 8th MONK book...

When a Wanna-Be Publisher Becomes a Scammer

Scam-busting author Victoria Strauss' post on Writer Beware about the fraud judgments levied against Linda Daly's Light Sword Publishing has provoked an interesting debate on her blog. Along the way, Strauss has made some important distinctions between a genuine "small press" and a pseudo-publisher:

There are many excellent small presses, which function entirely professionally and are taken seriously by readers, writers, and publishing professionals. Reputable small presses have always been an honorable alternative to large commercial houses, and there are more of them now than ever. These professional small presses, however, are NOT equivalent to the Light Swords of the world, which are run like pocket dictatorships by people who know absolutely nothing about editing, publishing, or book marketing--never mind running a business--and aren't interested in learning.

I want to take that a step further (as I did on her blog). I'm on the Mystery Writers of America's membership committee, which reviews applications from publishers who want to be on our Approved Publishers list. In that capacity, I've encountered an astonishing number of so-called "small publishers" who turned out to be nothing more than aspiring writers who bought some ISBN numbers and opened an account with a POD company.

These pseudo-publisher are a mix of true scammers (like PublishAmerica, Airleaf, etc.) and people who set out to do no harm but simply have no clue what being an "editor" and a "publisher" really involves.

To me, an inexperienced "publisher" becomes a scammer when they start touting marketing, editorial and publishing experience they don't actually have, when they make promises they know they can't keep, and when they begin charging authors to get into print (another sign is when a court declares them guilty of defrauding authors, as is the case with Light Sword).

The authors are inevitably tainted by their association with a scammer or an inept wanna-be publisher. As Victoria says:

This is not to say that good books can't be published by amateur micropresses. [...] The enormous number of unpublishable books with which society has been lumbered as a result of the proliferation of micropresses--not to mention the POD self-publishing services--is an annoyance and a nuisance, but the real tragedy of all these faux publishing options, in my opinion, is that they can entrap writers whose books deserved better.

That said, the aspiring writers entrap themselves with their desperation, impatience, gullibility, and their laziness.

The majority of writers who have been scammed by PublishAmerica, Authorhouse, Airleaf, Tate, Quiet Storm, Light Sword and countless other vanity presses and pseudo-publishers could have easily avoided their fate by using common sense, doing a tiny bit of research, and asking some basic questions about the professional qualifications and experience of the people they were getting into business with BEFORE signing a contract. Others were simply looking for a short cut and discovered the hard way that there aren't any. But I think Victoria said it best:

There are any number of reasons why writers ignore clear warning signals, including the frustration of a long and unfruitful publication search. Other writers, of course, don't take the time to learn about the field they're trying to break into, and don't know what the warning signs are. But whatever the reasons writers fall victim to schemes and scams and amateurs--and with every effort to maintain respect and compassion for those victims--writers need to understand that THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE for educating themselves, for researching their options, and for making informed (as opposed to wishful or ego-driven) decisions.We don't help them by pretending that this isn't so.

UPDATE: Blogger Michele Lee makes a strong case (with great links) that it's time that authors took more responsibility for their poor choices:

The blame lies with both parties of course. Much of the behavior of scammers and crappy publishers is reprehensible and inexcusable. But there is so much information available to writers these days. We don’t live in the world of ten years ago. There are so many places to research agencies and publishers these days (and for free!). I simply do not understand. There’s no excuse anymore, other than sheer newness, not to be a well researched. I suspect the professional publishing world is starting to view things this way as well and the tolerance for lazy writers is severely plummeting.

Mr. Monk Gets His Chops

Blogger Winthrop J. Quiggy thinks MR. MONK GOES TO GERMANY demonstrates that I'm finally getting the hang of this writing thing. He writes, in part:

I do believe our boy, Lee Goldberg, is finally getting his chops at writing novels, at least the ones based on the MONK TV series. [...] Not only is Mr. Goldberg getting better at writing, he has picked a real winner here for a story. [...]I'm giving this particular novel 9 stars.

Thanks, Winthrop! I've decided not to go into the furniture business after all.

Mr. Monk and the Ride of a Lifetime

 Tracy Farnsworth at Roundtable Review gave MR. MONK GOES TO GERMANY a rave review. She writes, in part:

Quite simply, the best praise I can give a book is by saying that my teen son picked it up, read it in one sitting and then announced it was just as good, perhaps better, than an actual television episode. As the television season for Tony Shalhoub's fascinating character Monk tends to be sporadic, it is thrilling to be able to fill the gaps with Monk novels.
[...] MR.MONK GOES TO GERMANY is one of the best Monk novels to go to print. I laughed hysterically at times and felt truly sorry for all Monk went through at others. The novel gets hold of your emotions and takes you on the ride of a lifetime.
Once again, Lee Goldberg does such an incredible job with everyone from the show and creates a novel that makes you feel as though you're watching it on television. I can't wait to see what's in store for Monk in the next novel.

Thank you, Tracy!

Fanfiction Friction

The July/August issue of the Literary Review of Canada features an extensive overview  of the controversies  -- legal and artistic -- surrounding fanfiction in the U.S. and Canada. The article is written by copyright lawyer Grace Westcott, who is Vice Chair of the Canadian Copyright Institute, and she does a very good job of presenting the arguments on both sides of the issue.  But there is one unique, Canadian wrinkle to the debate:

it’s hard to see a case for fan fiction as fair dealing under Canadian law. Besides, there are the author’s moral rights to consider. The US analysis of fan fiction makes barely a passing nod to moral rights. No wonder: in the US the notion of moral rights is fairly slight. (And a media corporation cannot have moral rights; it’s strictly a personal right.) But in Canada, and much of the rest of the world, an individual author has the moral right both to be credited as the author (or to remain anonymous, if he or she chooses) and to have the integrity of the work protected. That integrity is infringed if the work is, to the prejudice of the honour or reputation of the author, distorted, mutilated or otherwise modified, or associated with any product, service, cause or institution.

Obviously, a moral right that a work not be “distorted, mutilated or otherwise modified” poses a serious legal impediment to the fan fiction writer. It is a significant fetter on the fan’s freedom to rework the canon without this act being viewed as an attack on the artistic integrity of the source work and ultimately on its author’s reputation. After all, an author may well feel that something he or she has spent years researching and writing is a finished work, not a literary buffet or a cultural spare parts counter for others to rummage in. An author may object to distortions of his characters when they are appropriated to the divergent narrative sensibilities of fan imaginations.

She concludes:

So where does all this leave fan fiction? It may be that its shadowy status – largely tolerated, but legally vulnerable – leaves it just where it ought to be, in a healthy state of tension between fans and authors. Because the fact is that fan fiction has so far been able to operate as a tolerated use, if not a fair use. Both parties have good reasons to accommodate the concerns of the other. No one wants to crush a fan; and fans don’t want to damage their favorite author’s livelihood or reputation. Fan fiction, particularly under Canadian law, and in view of authors’ moral rights, requires the author’s forbearance, and probably deserves a degree of that. There is a danger, in this balancing game, in taking a militant stance. What is needed is a kind of digital civility, an online code of respect in engaging with cultural works that recognizes and addresses authors’ rights and legitimate concerns. This, together with the recognition that fan fiction comes from basically ‘a good place’, should encourage authors, media owners and fans to develop a code of fair practices to define what’s fair in fandom, to allow fans to engage creatively with the works they so sincerely admire.

TV Main Title of the Week

When a Window is an Eye and a Slot Machine

I have a theory that when authors become successful and honored, editors just don't bother editing their books anymore. I'm reading a book by one of my favorite, bestselling authors and tripped over this clunky line:

Then all he could see was the names scrolling through the window of his mind's eye like symbols on a slot machine.

A window that's an eye that's a slot machine?  Yeah, I can picture that.

Reheating Leftovers

Author Frank Kane liked his writing so much, he reused the same lines over and over, as Marvin Lachman reveals over at Mystery File:

Poisons Unknown, page 63: “Gabby Benton was on her second cup of coffee, third cigarette, and fourth fingernail when Johnny Liddell stepped out of a cab. . . ”

Red Hot Ice, page 18: “Muggsy Kiely was on her third cup of coffee and her fourth fingernail when Johnny Liddlell walked into….”

Red Hot Ice, page 27: “Her legs were long, sensuously shaped. Full rounded thighs swelled into high-set hips, converged into a narrow waist. Her breasts were firm and full, their pink tips straining upward.”

Poisons Unknown, page 182: “The whiteness of her body gleamed in the reflected light from the windows. Her legs were long, sensuously shaped. Full rounded thighs swelled into high-set hips, converged into the narrow waist he had admired earlier in the evening. Her breasts were full and high, their pink tips straining upward.”

This is just a small sampling of Kane's laziness. There's much, much more...

The Mail I Get

Based on the emails I have been getting lately, TV show fans who are aspiring writers seem to have a fundamental mis-understanding about how tie-in novels get written and published. They think that you just send in your fanfiction and the editor picks the best of them to be the official tie-in (I guess we can blame STAR TREK for that...the publishing franchise has occasionally snapped up unsolicited manuscripts). Here's an excerpt from an email that I got yesterday:

I'm writing because you have authored a number of books for various series, and I'm in the infant stages of attempting to do the same thing.  A longtime friend and I have both been writing for many years- and also happen to have a very similar style.  We are planning to collaborate on a novel for the USA series Psych. What I'm hoping you'd be willing to share with me are the requirements for gaining permissions to actually step forward with this process. [...] I am simply looking for the entrance ramp to get me on the publishing freeway (sorry, that was a horrid analogy).

I replied:

Don't waste your time and effort, Tanya, I'm afraid that you're too late...there already are PSYCH novels being written by William Rabkin. He has a contract for three books with Penguin/Putnam. The first PSYCH novel comes out in January, the second in July. Even if there weren't already PSYCH books in the works, I would have given you the same advice.  Studios routinely "shop" their successful TV series to publishers (if the publishers haven't already come to them first). Once a publisher pays for the license, they hire writers to pen the books. Usually those writers are people the editors either already know or who are established in the business and who can be trusted to deliver a book on deadline.

The "entrance ramp" into publishing isn't complicated: write a good ORIGINAL novel, not a tie-in based on other people's characters. That's how I got in, that's how every author I know got in.

Falling on your Lightsword

The wonderful Writers Beware blog reports that Lightsword Publishing is a scam run by imbeciles (no news to anyone who is a regular reader of this blog) and that the owners have been successfully sued for fraud by one of their swindled authors:

Linda Daly, Bonny Kirby, and Light Sword Publishing were sued by one of their authors for breach of contract, fraud in the inducement, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Writer Beware has seen the complaint, as well as numerous other documents involved in the lawsuit). 

Although the defendants filed a counterclaim, alleging that it was really the plaintiff who provided misrepresentations and breached contract, the plaintiff was ultimately successful. On April 15, 2008, a default judgment in the amount of $15,342.64 was entered against Bonny Kirby, and on July 8, 2008, a default judgment in the amount of $16,558.63 was entered against Linda Daly and Light Sword Publishing.

Linda Daly bills herself on her website as an "author, screenwriter, and now publisher." Uh-huh. Let's look at that, shall we? As an author, all of her titles have been self-published. As far as being a screenwriter goes, she must be unproduced, because she's not a member of the WGA nor can I find any screenwriting credits for her on IMDB (or anywhere else). As for calling herself a publisher, well, I think the lawsuit and the cover of her latest book say it all. Her stunning editorial skills are on full display in the description of her book on her site (all the errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar are her own):

From Detroit to the Isles of Scotland;  a deadly sea of lies is exposed as a super-spy solves another treat to world security, or is it deadly greed by a man shamed into giving up his heritage. This riveting tales has been adapted into a 'Feature' film and is currently being considered for production.