NOT one size fits all...by Cathy Ace

Reading:  Do you recommend books to your fans? Do you recommend books like yours, or books you enjoy? Have you noticed your book tastes changing during quarantine?

My answer to the first two parts of this week’s question is: If I’m asked, yes, but I’ll usually enquire about who else they enjoy reading before making any recommendations at all. You see, I used to enjoy reading books like the ones I write (surprise!) but my tastes nowadays (the past several years, not just since lockdown) are pretty dark in general, so I might revert to “the classics” to help out someone looking for a traditional read (like my Cait Morgan books), a cozier read (like my WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries) or a tale of psychological suspense (like The Wrong Boy). That being said, I know I have recommended books by every fellow blogger here at 7 Criminal Minds…and I’m not saying that to suck up to them, but because it’s true, and I’m so proud to be one of our number 😊

I’ll also ask someone requesting book recommendations about what they enjoy watching on TV; many people love the on-screen representations of Rumpole, Morse, Vera, Dalziel & Pascoe, Frost, Agatha Raisin, Jack Irish, Jack Taylor, Dr. Tony Hill, Adam Dalgleish etc. but have never read the original books upon which the characters and stories are based, so I encourage them to consider that path…and maybe thereby find a “new” author to read. I’m also happy to talk about what I’m reading at the time, though I will allow them the “out” of that not necessarily being their cup of tea.

Have recently read/reread (almost) EVERY book by each of these authors!

Just because I’m in quarantine it doesn’t mean my tastes have changed, it’s just that they might not be what some folks think they would be: I revel in dark, twisted, and gritty books; profanity laden is fine by me, too. I also like to laugh out loud, but the humor needs to be as dark, sneaky and unforgiving as a ninja’s heart. I tend to not read many historical novels; old and contemporary-in-its-day, yes, but not historical. Never have, so that’s not changed. These days I’m reading nothing but crime fiction (and dipping into reference books, as needed, for research purposes), but I’ve noticed (thanks to writing this!) that, since June, everything I’ve read has been written by someone who is Welsh, Irish, Scottish or English…nothing by an American or a Canadian at all…and they’ve all been set in the UK. I have no idea why, though I suspect it’s because by the end of this year I’ll have missed three trips to see my mother and sister in Wales, and friends in England, (with no idea of when I’ll get there again) so I’m probably pining for Britain/Britspeak. Maybe that’s it.

Have recently read/reread EVERY book by each of these authors - and have The Chain up next

What has changed during quarantine is the way I read, rather than what I read – I am binge reading many/all the books in a series, or many/most/all books by one author…possibly because I know I have the luxury of time to be able to do that. I tend to only read between writing books (I hardly read at all when I’m writing) and I’m between books right now, which is nice (plotting and researching the next one though 😊).

That said, my TBR pile is lurking in the corner and I’ve either got to dust it or read my way through it, soon…and I hate dusting 😉

NOTE: you might not have heard that Bloody Scotland will be a virtual festival this year - and it's FREE! If my mentions of Val McDermid, Adrian McKinty and Stuart MacBride have whetted your appetite, you might want to at least check out the schedule, and maybe even register to "attend". 

Two of our 7 Criminal Minds, Catriona McPherson and Abir Mukherjee, are speakers - so that's a fantastic incentive to sign up, right there!  

Here's a link to take you to the appropriate place: 

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE BLOODY SCOTLAND SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION PAGE

Blatant Self Promotion? Sure, I'm game. 

Please, please, please consider reading my books. Please? Thanks!

CLICK HERE to get right through to my website, where you can find out more about me and my work 

The Name of the Prose

Business - Overheard at Bouchercon in Florida last month: "I don't write series *or* standalones; I write books." Do you love/hate/mind/notice/use/ignore the publishers' and booksellers' classifications of your work?

by Catriona

When I first met my good friend Eileen Rendahl (aka Lillian Bell, Kristi Abbott, and Eileen Carr) eight years ago, we were mutually intimidated. She hated me before she even clapped eyes on me because I was European and she thought I'd be toffee-nosed (she might not have used that exact phrase) and I was dumbstruck by the answer she gave to my first question.

"What do you write?" I asked.

"Urban fantasy, romantic suspense and chick lit," she replied, revealing that not only did she write in three genres but she knew what they were.

My elevator pitch for my first book was "It's about some people". 

We're over it now.

I always knew I was writing crime fiction and was happy proud to be included in the venerable list of Scottish crimewriters: Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, William McIlvanney, Val McDermid  . . . My little country punches far above its weight. It took a while to be able to call myself a mystery author with the same confidence, but now I'm completely bilingual.

Inside the genre, things were always less certain. If someone unconnected to publishing asks you what you write, I think it's better to name some names and set yourself among them than to bamboozle with sub-sub-sub genre titles. So I'll say "Do you like Dorothy L Sayers? You might like Dandy Gilver." Or "Do you like Janet Evanovich? You might like Lexy Campbell."

But if someone from the publishing and writing world asks what you write, it's a bit daft not to know and it's a wee bit precious to make out that your work defies classification, isn't it? I'd be nervous of claiming wild originality for anything I wrote in case there was a well-known and identical book that I'd somehow not heard of.  Like that time I wrote a time-travel love story and thought surely no one . . . then Audrey Niffenegger published The Time Traveller's Wife. (I've still not read it because I'm still sulking.)

If I was the boss of all this - and I'm not; I'm barely the boss of me - I'd say Dandy Gilver was in the tradition of the presposterous 1930s detective genre. That should be a real category.

And I'd say Lexy Campbell and the Last Ditch were crime capers. I much prefer that title to "humourous mysteries" because "humourous mysteries" is such a humourless expression.

When it comes to the standalones I can't improve on what I do call them, when forced to. "They're those crime suspense domestic noir psychological thriller things. You know the ones I mean." And guess what. People usually do.

my new mystery, coming later this month

My new crime novel, also coming later this month

Publishing Options Today

Free Speech Week

-from Susan

I’m at yet another crossroads with my writing, which prompts me to wonder: Is it time to re-consider the alternative to traditionally published books?

I have not yet self-published, but I’ve had large and small publishers, successes and set-backs, seen my books picked up, passed along, published in many formats, and passed over. I have two series out right now, the Dani O’Rourke contemporary mysteries set in San Francisco’s art world; and a French village mystery series set in Burgundy. But they’re short as series go. In fairness, I only started writing full time in late 2006 and I’m not a fast writer: I’ve only written five books. 

The history of the Dani series taught me a lot, but maybe not enough. The first book went to market through my agent just as the economy tanked big in 2008. The agent at the major house who loved it said, sorry, we have been told we can’t buy anything for at least three months. So, it got sold to a well-known niche house, but for hard cover, which sounded good. Also to a large-print publisher. Also to a paperback mystery book publisher. Also to Audible. 

Good, huh? Well, not for me or my agent because the contract gave the first publisher all the rights to license it out without our approval or royalties. In each case, a one-time payment to the author/agent. Then, a year later, as the second book in my two-book contract as about to go to that publisher, they announced rather breezily that, oh by the way, they were selling all the rights to their books in print to another publisher. That publisher printed a new edition of my first book but had neither the contract rights nor the interest in book number two. Agent went scrambling to find me a publisher who wouldn’t mind that book number one wouldn’t come to them with the new book.

I could go on. Eventually the three Dani’s got to print and e-book and all are now gathered in a small publisher’s list, but I came to realize that getting them printed wasn’t the key. Getting them marketed and distributed so a bookstore would a) carry them; b) be willing to order them; and c) be able to order them was the really big deal. The other thing I learned is that the dream of living off royalties is pretty thin until and unless you sell a whole lot of books in a conventional publishing deal. A whole lot.

Knowing what I know now and seeing how platforms like Amazon have cracked open the distribution channels and social media has given writers marketing options, I pause. Am I too set in my ways, too lazy, or not well enough off financially to take on the extraordinary work of today’s successful self-published author? I look at people like the writing couple Bette and JJ Lamb, and I’m awed at their commitment to it and at the success they have had going this route.

It isn’t easy, as Bette has told me more than once. But they have built an audience for their novels, as have other writers I know, like Simon Wood and Cindy Sample.

The glamor of being able to say you’re published by so-and-so may not be there, but 100 percent of the royalties are!

This is my Brain...

How do you keep the balance between that little world in your head and the real one?

by Paul D. Marks

The simple answer is, I don’t. And I don’t care as long as I don’t call someone by one of my character’s names. Hasn’t happened yet, like it did when I called a girlfriend by another girlfriend’s name. That was not a good day…

And the best answer is what Susan said on Monday, “What? You mean the one in my head isn’t real?” I don’t think I can top that, but I gotta say something, so here goes:

Mostly it’s not a problem, see I actually know the diff between the real world and the world in my head…at least most of the time. The problem’s actually more acute, as opposed to cute, when I start to say some little silly thing to someone that isn’t my wife. Because, like many married couples we have our own way of talking and cute little things we say to each other. And sometimes some of those have started to pop out, but I think I’ve caught them all ahead of time. And the same goes for stories and characters, they’re always in there running around, percolating. So sometimes I might start to say something out of a story, but so far nothing’s actually escaped my lips.

And the reality is the inside of my head is like some Rube Goldberg contraption. Lots of pulleys and levers and slides and random junk everywhere, kind of like space junk in outer space, just floating around. So trying to get that little ball from one point to another can be a problem. The ball being the finished product, a story or novel.

The other reality is that as writers we’re working all the time, so it truly is hard to keep those little critters – our characters – out of our heads and out of our mouths. Everything we do, everything we hear, every conversation we have and everything we see is fodder for a current WIP or a future work.

As writers, I believe we’re often daydreaming, off in other lands. Sometimes it’s more fun to be in those worlds of our own making. Maybe more exciting than our humdrum everyday lives. Except mine ’cause my day job is as a super hero.

I do some of my best thinking while driving or walking the dogs or even in the shower. Actually, a lot of vexing writing problems have been solved with hot water running down my back. Something about that environment clears the mind. At least this mind. (I know, I know, some people think my mind has been too clear and empty for too long…) So there’s times and places to get lost in the world in our heads and times to be in the real world. But some day I might just go over the rainbow and stay in that other world forever. Of course the world over my rainbow is a dark night with rain-slick streets, glaring neon and venetian blind shadows everywhere.

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And I want to congratulate everyone who was nominated for an Anthony earlier this week. I know a lot of you and you’re all terrific. I wish you all the best of luck!

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And for something a little different: For the International Day of Families, my wife, Amy, did a piece on what it’s like to be a writer’s wife at the other blog I write for, SleuthSayers. If you haven’t read it you might find it interesting. So check out “Until a Split Infinitive Do Us Part” at: http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2017/05/until-split-infinitive-do-us-part.html 

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And now for the usual BSP:

My story Twelve Angry Days is in the May/June issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magaine, on sale at newsstands. Or click here to buy online.

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I'll be at the California Crime Writers Conference in Culver City, June 10th and 11th. I'm on a panel called "The Long and Short of It: Short Stories and Novellas vs. Novels" with William Kent Krueger, Kate Thornton and Travis Richardson, moderated by S.W. Lauden. Hope to see you there!
http://www.ccwconference.org/

www.PaulDMarks.com

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