----- Original Message ----- From: "William Denton" <
wtd@pobox.com> To: "RARA-AVIS" <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, May 26,
2005 9:45 PM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Changes in crime
writing/publishing/reading
Dennis, you've mentioned some of the changes in
> crime and mystery writing, publishing, and reading
over your decades as a
> writer. How do you think things stand now? Readers
of the more
> hardboiled and noir stuff, like us, have had some
really good writers come
> along in the last decade, but I don't know how much
they get read by the
> average mystery reader, or average reader. Lots of
midlist writers are
> finding things tough. If I remember some recent
statistics right, more
> books are getting published, but fewer read. On the
good side, the
> Internet has made it easier for people to find out
about and buy books
> from small presses and other continents. Do you
think things are changing
> for the better? Are you glad you started out when
you did?
>
Bill,
You have actually asked many
questions in this paragraph, and I'm not at all sure I'm the
right one to answer most of them. About all I can do is give
you some rather general impressions.
First, new hardboiled and noir authors. It's my impression
that they are mostly published by small houses specializing
in that subgenre, not widely read even by devoted mystery
readers, and that their authors no matter how good cannot
make a living from their books alone. The possible exception
I know about being Ken Bruen, who is almost as prolific as I
was the first ten years or so, and---a key point---is now
published by mainstream publishers. Whether he makes a living
without his movie and TV sales I don't know. Of course, where
you live is important too. I expect Galway is cheaper than
the London, New York or Southern California areas.
On midlist authors. When I started you could make a living,
if a somewhat precarious one if you put out enough books. I
don't think you can do that today. You have to aim for a
large market and today that seems to be thrillers and
mysteries that work as thrillers. You are labeled midlist by
the kind of book you write. To breakout of midlist your book
must look like a thriller, sound like a thriller, act like a
thriller. There must be a feeling of SIZE, import, large
menace for the hero to defeat.
(There are essentially midllist authors who do very well, but
most of them built a readership years ago in a different era.
To do that they had to have a broader appeal, mostly to
women, than your average hardboiled book.)
The internet, small publishers, and internet publishers. Yes,
the Internet makes it easier for a reader to find out about a
book, but you have to know what you're looking for before you
start. The independent book store of my day, there were no
chains when I started except small regional chains, performed
the same function and did it well.
Small publishers have made it easier to be published, but
harder to make a living. In fact, I don't believe anyone can
make a living from small publisher books. (It is also my
impression that most small publishers do not want true
hardboiled or noir, so are not much use to those
writers.)
Internet publishers. You can get anything published today if
you are willing to pay for it. But that was also true in my
day, except you had to do all the work of book preparation
for the printer yourself. The problem here is that ANYTHING
is published, great, good, bad, awful, illiterate, or genius
with no outside editorial judgment at all. It's like saying
anyone can walk out on the field in Dodger Stadium wearing a
Dodger uniform and be a professional ball player. No skill or
talent required.
On the other hand, there are many Internet POD publishers who
do pay you in advances and royalties, or just royalties, have
editorial oversight and judgement, and are as legitimate as
any small publisher. Unfortunately, they publish mainly
reprints, although not exclusively, and their publication of
original works will continue to grow.
The problem of all small publishers, Editions or POD, is
distribution.
I can't say if things are changing for the better or not. A
really good writer will always find a way to be published,
and, with luck, to make a living from his or her
writing.
I started at a good time for the detective story, so I was
lucky. Midlist advances were almost as much as now, and
living was much cheaper. New detective writers had not
appeared for many years. The generation that started just
before and after WWII was still dominant. Then Don Westlake
and I started our detective series, followed in a year or so
by Pronzini, Gores, Colin Wilcox, Robert Parker, Larry Block,
Lewin, Greenleaf, Valin, and many others---all between the
late sixties and early seventies. Few of us "broke out" but
we made a living if we wanted to work hard enough.
That is probably not so different today, new writers with new
styles will always come along. How much impression they make
on the marketplace is another matter. To be a truly
successful writer who makes his or her living at it today you
must give the publishers the kind of book THEY think will
command a large audience so they will get behind you and
spend money to make money.
Everything moves in swings. (What would you expect from a
good Freudian Marxist.) Through most of history even the
greatest writers made their living from something else, in
our time mainly as professors.
So forget about the marketplace. Write your book, throw it
out there, and see if anyone bites. Then write another
book.
For what any of that was worth.
Finally, thanks for inviting me, Bill. I had expected more
questions from more people, but ten years of no novels is a
long time, and the new generation of readers doesn't know me
or my books, especially the later ones.
Dennis-Michael
.
Are you asking about the ability to get published, or the
ability to make a living from what you write?
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