How They Do It: Ridley Pearson

Great interview with Ridley Pearson over at The Bill Thrill, the webzine maintained by ITW (International Thriller Writers).

While the author is being interviewed as he promotes his latest Walt Fleming novel, In Harm's Way, there's some good stuff in here for writers to glean and use. Particularly, his discussion of building character arcs (as opposed to plots) and his ease with using real life folk as the basis for his characters -- particularly his protagonists.

Janet Evanovich Splitting from St Martin's Press After 15 Years? Is this Smart? The Movie Sounds Like a Nightmare.

You know that Janet Evanovich is BIG with capital letters when Deadline Hollywood's Nikke Finke interrupts her coverage of the film industry to report on Evanovich's negotiations for publishing her next 4 books (presumably in the Stephanie Plum series, numbers 17 - 20). 

According to Deadline, Evanovich's son is acting as her agent, and St. Martin's Press (whom she has been with for the past 15 years) isn't going along with his offer of $50,000,000 for the next four books. 

Yes, folks, that is $12.5 million per book.  Deadline is reporting that St. Martin's Press isn't interested, and Janet's son/agent is approaching other publishing houses.  The comments to the Deadline coverage are interesting, and not too nice. 

What they don't mention is the fact that Janet E. may think those books are more than worthy of that sum, given that the series is about to hit the big screen in a big way.  And fans have been waiting years and years for this -- they've been debating who should play what character at Janet E's website for a long, long time. 

Stephanie Plum Movie Being Cast Now

Of course, the fact that they've finally decided to bring Stephanie Plum to the big screen after all these years should impact the book deal.  Assuming the movie is a hit, readership should expand to those who've never heard of the series before, right?  Check for details at IMDB. 

Katherine Heigl got the plum part (pun intended) of Stephanie, and today it was announced that Sherri Shephard will play Lula.  The announcement also reports that Shephard will play a dual role, two prostitutes with hearts of gold.  I'm assuming one is Lula.  Huh? 

Julie Ann Robertson is directing.  Check out her background -- she's cutting her film teeth on Stephanie Plum's movie debut.  Her background is in TV episodes.  Five of Grey's Anatomy.  Three of Weeds. 

Great. 

They've already cast most everyone else -- except Grandma Mazur.  Moretti will be played by Jason O'Mara; Ranger, by Daniel Sunjata.   Right, big names.... And the way that Janet E. reports on the casting, looks like she has zip to do with this production.  She appears to be learning things from the news media, just like you and me. 

According to her website, Janet Evanovich sold the movie rights to One for the Money back in 1993.  She's got no say-so or legal right to any decision here.  However, you'd think the movie folk would be smart enough to ask .....

What, she's not involved in the screenplay?  Nope. 

Liz Brixius is credited right now for writing it.  Not Janet E.  Who is Lix Brixius?  Ye Gads.  She wrote for Nurse Jackie, which she also executive produced.  That's it, Dear Reader.  Nurse Jackie, the TV show.  Her only other writing cred?  One episode of Insatiable. 

The location?  They're filming the movie in Pittsburgh, folks.  Not Trenton (setting for the books).  Not even in New Jersey, period. 

I'm adding all this to my prayer list.  I am not kidding. 

Betting on this Movie as a reason to leave St. Martin's Press?

I'm not sure about this film, and read that as I'm shocked and saddened by all this, and I'm wondering how many others share my concern.  I'm a big Evanovich fan and I'm beyond nervous.  I'm pretty angry right now. 

I'm wondering about Heigl playing an Italian from Jersey.  I'm wondering about a TV director and a TV writer being let loose on a storyline that I treasure. 

They better not screw this up.  Maybe I'll just never, ever, ever watch this thing.  Heigl?  With black hair?  Reallllly?????

I'd Stay with St. Martin's ....

And a bad movie could be a detriment to this franchise, maybe St. Martin's Press isn't optimistic about this film effort.  Lord knows it's look like they've got good reason to be.

Hope Janet doesn't get hurt in all this.  As well as Stephanie and the gang.

Mulholland Books - New Crime Imprint

Little, Brown has officially announced it's launching a new "suspense fiction" imprint with books hitting the stores in Spring 2011.

According to its new site, MulhollandBooks wants "to publish books you can't stop reading."

While Galley Cat is spreading the news that this is a "crime imprint," Mulholland defines it scope as " crime novels, thrillers, police procedurals, spy stories, even supernatural suspense." It's interesting to boot that they're already talking about an internet marketing focus, with "online community building" and "authentic connections between authors, readers, and publisher."

Hmmmm. Perhaps just as interesting as this imprint's debut is their plan to hit the ground running with a heavy web focus. Let's see what they do with that.....

Going by a very cool name, Mulholland is touting new works from Marcia Clark (of OJ Simpson trial fame - she was the prosecutor); Lawrence Block; and Charlie Huston. Within a year from its debut, Mulholland promises 24 books a year - that's 2 books a month, one hardback and one, paperback.

They've even got a cool little video on the new website: http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/. Very film noir. So far, so good, right?

"The Value of a Book" - CEO Panel Discussion from BookExpo America on Book TV Available Online

Today, there was a great panel discussion on CSPAN2's BookTV that's available in its entirety online at the BookTV site.  Brought together to discuss "the Value of a Book," some of the biggest in the publishing industry gathered together to talk about the future of books and book publishing.  Including author compensation.

There were talks about the Cloud.  There were talks about making books more enticing, and mention was made of the vellum used in the new Steve Martin novel that's coming out in the fall entitled An Object of Beauty.  We're to expect a very physically beautiful book here, according to the panel.  But will that help sell the contents? 

Scott Turow made a point that I've been thinking for years now: why did the ebook get introduced as a simultaneous product with the newly released hardback?  Readers expect paperbacks to follow months after the hardback, why not follow a similar path for the ebook?  Good question, I think.

Panel Members - Cream of the Crop

Brick and mortar bookstores were represented here, as well as agents, authors, publishers, etc.:

1. Jonathan Galassi - President, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2. Bob Miller - Group publisher, Workman Publishing and founder of Hyperion
3. Esther Newberg -  Executive Vice President, International Creative Management (literary agency)
4. Skip Prichard - President and CEO, Ingram Content Group Inc. ( book wholesaler)
5. David Shanks - CEO, Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
6. Oren Teicher - CEO, American Booksellers Association
7. Scott Turow - author, attorney, president of Author's Guild

Was a Consensus Reached?  No.

No definitive answers were found.  It was nice to hear what appeared to be genuine concern for paying writers what they're worth for the work that they do. 

Go listen.  It's fascinating and important, whether you're a reader or writer.

Magazines Sales Up in a Bad Economy - the "Notable Achievers" of 2010

Good Housekeeping, August 1928
Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Wooden Horse Magazine gives us all the heads up this morning with news that several magazines boosted their retail sales in a significant way during this bad economic period.  That's right: they've grown in retail sales and they're magazines.

Brings to mind Mark Twain's famous quote, "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."  I love magazines, and I take this as great news. 

For their efforts, they've been honored by the Harringtons in their New Single Copy industry newsletter as "Notable Achievers" by the company that monitors national magazine sales.

I wasn't surprised at Mother Earth News.  I was a bit surprised at Rider.  (For the full list, with links to the award winner's web sites, check out Wooden Horse.)

The New Single Copy, published by John Harrington (Harrington Associates, LLC) has a lot more detail on the subject of magazine sales if you're interested in learning more.  Harrington Associates manages the BIPAD system of tracking magazine sales -- that barcode on each issue you buy has a series of identification numbers within it which form the basis for the periodic tallies of magazine sales. 

Which means that the NSC awards are a big deal -- these are the people in the know about such things. 

Elmore Leonard Interview - How He Writes, and "Freaky Deaky" Comes to the Screen

Deadline Hollywood has a great interview with Elmore Leonard that's a must read. Most of the talk is about screenwriting, his books that went to film (and his thoughts on them), but at the end there's a great tidbit on how he writes.

10 to 6, every day.
Output is 3-4 handwritten pages. No word processor.
He takes his handwritten pages and types them up on his typewriter to get his draft.
Wow.

Book Trailer Award Finalists - The 2010 Moby Awards

Book trailers are here, and according to GalleyCat, literally hundreds were submitted for consideration in this year's Moby Awards.  Melville House has organized the first annual awards ceremony for book trailers - the Mobys - and on May 20, 2010, the winners will be announced in a very nice ceremony in New York City. 

Here are the finalists, and yes - that last award really is for the WORST book trailer of the year.

They're all available for viewing online at the Moby site:

Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer:

1. A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell
2. The Electric Church in One Minute by Jeff Somers
3. Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin
4. I am in the Air Right Now by Kathryn Regina
5. I Lego New York by Chistoph Niemann

Best Big Budget/Big House Book Trailer:

1. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
2. Blameless by Gail Carriger
3. Going West by Maurice Gee
4. High Before Homeroom by Maya Sloan
5. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

Best Performance by in Author:

1. Gordon Lish in Collected Fictions
2. Dennis Cass in Head Case
3. Thomas Pynchon (voice of) in Inherent Vice
4. Daniel Handler in The Book vs. The Kindle, Round 10: A Seriously Unfortunate Event
5. Jeffrey Rotter in The Unknown Knowns

Best Cameo in a Book Trailer:

1. Jon Stewart in I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil…
2. Jonathan Safran Foer’s Grandmother in Eating Animals
3. He is Legend’s Schyler Croom in High Before Homeroom
4. Deepak Chopra in The Karma Club
5. Zach Galifinakis in Lowboy

Least Likely Trailer to Sell the Book:

1. Pocket Guide to Mischief by Bart King
2. Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden by Cameron Pierce
3. Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin
4. Sounds of Murder by Patricia Rockwell
5. True Confections by Katharine Weber

Update of the Google Book Search Settlement

While the Google Book Search litigation remains active, the pending settlement (see my November 2009 post on this topic, "Google Book Search Lives On as Google Revised Settlement with Authors, Publishers") still awaits judicial approval.  The first judge passed away; the second judge got promoted to an appellate bench; the new judge hasn't been named. 

The importance of this event to electronic publishing rights cannot be underestimated.  For a great source of background information here, check out the work of the New York Law School and its Public Index project, particularly their free downloadable synopsis.

Monk Finale Breaks Records - But What Sloppy Writing for a Series about an OCD Detective

Even before all the numbers are tallied, the farewell episode of USA's Monk last Friday night has set new records for cable television audiences -- it grabbed the largest numbers for any drama series ever appearing on basic cable with a total already reaching 9.4 million viewers.  So, I guess it's safe to assume that you may have watched the show. 

Now, here's the big question -- did you like it?

This is a blog dealing with fiction writing, and I'm pondering the conclusion of Monk with that in mind.  And while I had warm and fuzzy feelings as the show's final segment ended, as a viewer and Monk-fan, as a writer I thought - wow, there's gonna be some unhappy folk out there.  Maybe I am one of them. 

Good vs Evil - Are You Born This Way?

With thanks to ICanHazCheezburger - how many great novels posit the same thing? East of Eden comes to mind ....