Used to be, in the publishing industry, writers could find mentors. Older writers who'd been there, done that. Editors who took writers under their wing and nurtured their careers. Friends who served as early readers and kind critics. Are there such people anymore?

Now, editors are green kids out of college who couldn't edit their way out of a grocery bag with a typo, writers don't know where their next contract is coming from, and friends don't have time.

Anyone who has written book-length fiction knows what a solitary existence writers lead. Ultimately, the hard work is up to us. But sure would be nice to get a little moral support on the way.

ms

At Left Coast Crime in Denver recently, I had the wonderful fortune of moderating a panel on the creative process titled "Where Ideas Come From." Imagining the four delightful, witty, smart women on the panel (Donna Anderson, Jane Cleland, Alex Sokoloff and Penny Warner) might have an even greater affinity for the analogy than I, I suggested writing books, mysteries, is a little like being pregnant. The germ of an idea gets planted in a writer's mind and gestates.

 

Within six weeks of the conference, I gave birth twice. And now I have post-partum blues.

The first birth was the release of my stand-alone suspense thriller Island Life. I'm not sure I'll ever get over the thrill of seeing ideas take form in the pages of a published book. Hardcover, trade paperback, mass market, makes no difference. Seeing it sitting on a shelf next to books of authors I read and admire seems to give the ideas within it more validity, more meaning.

In the months before publication, I took off my writer's hat and put on my marketing cap, doing all the things I could reasonably afford, to spread the word about this new child about to come into the world. I printed up business cards with the book's stunning cover on one side. I had postcards printed and sent them to bookstores and reviewers. I made sure my publisher sent out ARCs and hired a publicist to send out more.

I designed a web page solely for the book, produced a book video on my own and posted it both on my web page and on all the right sites—YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, CrimeSpace, etc. I engaged in NSBSP (not-so-blatant-self-promotion) on forums like DorothyL and CrimeSpace, careful not to break the BSP rules.

I attended LCC and plan to be at MITG, arranged a launch party at my local bookstore, offered free autographed ARCs on DorothyL and free autographed copies of the real McCoy on authorbuzz.com.

Reviews have been very good. But is it enough? I spent far more than I expect to make on the book in hopes of building exposure, building the portfolio of positive reviews my books continue to garner. I built it, but will they come?

Time will tell. So much in this business is serendipitous. Stephen White, the LCC Guest of Honor this year, said in his interview with Elaine Viets that the reason he became an NYT best-selling author is that the lead title the month his second book came out in paperback wasn't ready yet. In a meeting to decide which book should take its place, his publisher's editorial staff decided right before going to lunch to make White's book the lead title that month. Being lucky is as important as being talented. More so.

All I can do now is continue to look for inexpensive ways to keep promoting it for a month or two until the "new book" window closes. Yesterday, I sent copies to Oprah and Kelly Ripa with sticky notes on the covers that said, "Great beach reading—with a message!" and a press release tucked inside with an unusual hook. You never know …

My second birthing experience happened just the other day when I finished the first manuscript in a new series I'm writing. I spent a few days going through it, fixing a typo here, a rough sentence there. I'm proud of it. I like it. It may have problems, so I'm giving it to a round of first readers for feedback. But I think it's good enough that I also shipped it off to an agent.

After all the tightening and polishing, after living with these new characters for eighteen months until they told their stories (I write slowly, never could understand how some authors churn out two books a year), I let them go out into the world. Will the book find a publisher? Will it sell? Will it be the breakthrough novel I hope it is?

I don't know.

All I know is that the only cure for writer's post-partum blues is a congratulatory glass of champagne before getting back to work on something new.

I write. It's what I do.

Mike Sherer

www.islandlife-thenovel.com

 

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A sad fact of publishing is that books go out of print. These days that happens rather quickly unless you're She-Who-Is-Named-All-Too-Often or Stephen King or—well, you know. And when books go out of print, publishers first try to sell the inventory they have on hand at cut-rate prices. Copies they can't sell, of course, are stripped and sent to the recycle bin.

 

I hate spam and junk mail, too, but please hear me out. My publisher is sending all remaining inventory of Death Is No Bargain to the remainder table. I couldn't stand to see that happen, so I bought out most of their stock. This is your last chance to get a brand new, autographed copy! This book is officially out of print, so once they're gone, they're gone!

 

Death may not be a bargain, but my latest Emerson Ward mystery is! Get an autographed hardcover copy of Death Is No Bargain at a blow-out price! Hurry! Offer good only until ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />August 31, 2008!

 

It's a great book, but don't take my word for it. Here's what people said about Death Is No Bargain:

 

"Think Travis McGee in Chicago, with an Alfa Romeo coupe instead of a moored houseboat, and you have a terrific series." —Jeremiah Healy, author of Spiral and The Only Good Lawyer

 

"Michael Sherer gets better with each book. I hope he continues the trend for as long as I keep reading. Top drawer."  —John Lutz, author of The Night Spider

 

"Get ready to turn some pages, fast."  —Sam Reaves, author of Dooley's Back

 

"… quite amazing storytelling that kept me turning the pages." —Mystery News

 

"… never slows down as the sleuth follows a meandering trail that climaxes with a fabulous final spin. Fans will appreciate this solid murder mystery." —Harriet Klausner

 

"Sherer is a great storyteller." —Cynthia Lea Clark, Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine

 

"The fifth Emerson Ward caper is an unusual mix of straight-ahead and thoughtful discourse on hot-button social issues. The characters are as complex as the issues with which they wrestle, and the mystery is cleverly presented and resolved." —Wes Lukowsky, Booklist

 

"I like the Ward novels. I like Emerson himself. You will, too." —David Pitt, I Love A Mystery

 

"Sherer is able to combine nearly breathless action with deep insight into the human psyche so well that it is often hard to tell where the action ends and the inner struggles of his well-crafted characters begin." —Emily Burson, BookPleasures.com

 

Get your copy of Death Is No Bargain for only $11.99, including shipping! Heck, at that price, get a copy for everyone on your holiday gift list and finish your shopping early! Still not convinced? Check out a sample chapter at www.emersonwardmysteries.com.

 

Ready to get a copy? Send an e-mail to msherer@emersonwardmysteries.com with your name, address and return e-mail address. Tell me if you want your copy personally inscribed. I'll e-mail you a PayPal invoice with instructions on how to submit payment through PayPal. Your autographed copy of Death Is No Bargain will be sent via Priority Mail. Free shipping to the first 10 orders.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

The hardest part of our job as writers is to become known, to connect with our readers or potential readers. No matter how big or small your publisher, your marketing budget has finite limits. With small publishers, though, it's particularly difficult—not only doesn't the publisher pay for much in the way of publicity or promotion, but advances are so small that it's difficult to decide where to spend that hard-earned money.

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The man who first piqued my interest in writing fiction was John Nichols, author of The Sterile Cuckoo. Back in my college years, before he published The Milagro Beanfield War, I took a creative writing course from John. He told the class about how he'd become a novelist. It all sounded so easy and romantic—write a book, sell it to a publisher and watch it become an instant best-seller, reap the financial rewards of a movie deal and move to ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Taos and contemplate your next novel. John's experience, of course, was as harsh as it was romantic.

 

While trying to find a publisher for my first novel, I used to joke with people about living a scenario similar to the one outlined above. What fascinated me was that when my first novel finally was published, people naturally assumed that my advance would allow me to purchase a villa in Provence and live the high life. Most of us know how far from the truth that is.

 

So, how to budget for marketing? For my next book, I put on my PR agency account executive hat and developed a plan, including pre-publication activities like sending out ARCs to mystery magazines, major metro daily newspapers and online reviewers the publisher doesn't cover, developing press kit and book club materials to send out, and writing articles for pubs like Mystery Scene; publicity activities like a publication announcement press release, a book release notice to online sites, social networks and interested pubs like alumni magazines; the usual promotional stuff like sending post cards to bookstores and libraries; and post-pub activities like setting up bookstore signings and attending conferences.

 

Most of these tactics are relatively inexpensive, but add them up and they start to run into real money. I asked someone who specializes in promoting authors what I was missing, how I could create more "buzz." She responded:

 

"…it would be good for you to be more visible. Print coverage is harder to get than ever these days and not being with a major publisher will affect that, as I'm sure you know. The best compensation for getting attention these days is to be pro-active. Get visible within the mystery community and the industry at large."

 

Sound advice. When my series was first published, I joined MWA, became an officer of the Midwest chapter, attended national board meetings, went to the Edgars, participated on panels at conferences like Bouchercon and Dark & Stormy, and toured bookstores and libraries throughout the Midwest with several other mystery authors as often as I could. (Travel was relatively cheap as I was married to a flight attendant at the time.)

 

Did that raise my visibility in the mystery community? Absolutely. Did I sell more books as a result? Nope.

 

Now I don't have the luxury of airline passes. And it's been well more than a decade since I served as an officer of MWA. So, I wrestle with decisions like whether or not it's worth registering for LCC 2008 in Denver in hopes that I'll get on a panel, when I know the cost of attending that conference alone will eat up my entire advance.

 

I often wonder how many authors afford to fly around the country attending conferences and doing tours that their publishers aren't paying for. I suppose like me, many of them haven't quit their day jobs.

 

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One of the most difficult things we endure as writers is waiting. I can deal with rejection. Take it, with or without salt, and let it go. But the waiting game is a sort of Purgatory, a nebulous limbo that feels as hellish as being a polar bear in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Aruba.

 

We finish a manuscript or a proposal and send off queries to agents or editors, and wait. We try not to think of them, turning out attention to editing or starting a new piece. But down deep, we're waiting. Why? For what?

 

We wait to see if an agent will take us on or like our new book. We wait for an editor's acceptance, a publisher's offer. We wait for our manuscript to be produced into a tangible, physical book. We wait to see if reviewers will give it ink, positive or negative, and whether readers will find it and like it. We wait for sales figures and royalty statements, and even the possibility of a check (wait, it's in the mail).

 

We wait for inspiration when the words won't flow. We wait for information when plot or character or setting demands research.

 

I spent eighteen months working on my last book. It's good, my best so far. I think it has break-out potential. But agents won't touch it because it's part of a series. Publishers don't want it for the same reason, even though I own the backlist. So, I offered it to the small house that has done a nice job, albeit with very small sales, on the last two books in the series.

 

A month went by, then two, and three, and still no word. I e-mailed the acquisitions editor to find out what's going on. Because I have another book in production with that house (a stand-alone), they won't make me an offer until they see how that book sells. But I'm still waiting for that book to come out. It won't be published until next March. So figure another fifteen months before I hear anything.

 

Maybe I'll finish another book in that time -- and start the waiting game all over again.

 

MWS

emersonwardmysteries.com