Argh, there's Pirates among us (and not the good kind)! by Jenn McKinlay

Recently, I was enjoying lunch with an author friend and I was telling her about a Twitter thread I had recently read put up by Maggie Stiefvater. She was talking about how the rampant pirating of e-books had adversely impacted her last series. Side note: I discovered Stiefvater's books when I was a YA librarian and I am a huge fan, but her Twitter thread also interested me as a working author. You can read the entire thread here: Stiefvater on Piracy, but the abridged version is that so many illegal pdfs of her book were downloaded that the publisher slashed her print run and the extras (box set with additional story) were canceled. 

Now because it would never occur to me to pirate anything I am probably very naive, but as I told my friend the Twitter thread shocked me. She wasn't surprised. In fact, she has a relative who downloads illegal e-books all the time and happily informed my friend that she should be delighted because her latest book had been downloaded over 10,000 times from her favorite freebie site. My friend was not thrilled and when she explained to her relative that what she was doing was stealing the relative waved her off and said "But it's out there for the taking." This is when I hear my mother's voice in my head saying her tried and true, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." Is there really that much of a moral disconnect happening? Apparently, yes, and judging by the chart below, I'm glad I'm not in the porn or film industry. Sheesh!

Read the full article on e-piracy here: Fairer Buchmarkt

And lest we blame those young whippersnappers who are so savvy on the Interwebs, here's some cold hard facts for you: [A recent] study highlighted the fact that 70% of illegal downloaders have either graduated from college or have a graduate degree. The most common age-range of an e-book pirate is between 30 and 44 years-old with a yearly household income between $60,000 and $99,000. The study was done by Nielsen in conjunction with Digimarc, who is trying to come up with a solution, but the bottom line is that US publishers are losing over $315 million dollars per year in revenue due to pirating. If interested, you can download the entire report here for free: Digimarc.

Why is piracy so frustrating for authors? First, pirates are stealing our income. Straight up, if 10,000 pirates jacked my checking account for $2.25 each, I would definitely begin to feel the hurt. Second, they're crushing our careers with what looks like a drop in sales. Publishers are in the book business to make money. Period. If an author's book is pirated a million times, it still reads as no sales (i.e. no money) to the publisher. Third, they're destroying an entire industry as the editors, publicists, marketers, bookstores, cover artists, warehouse workers, truck drivers, etc., all lose out on all of those stolen sales, too.

What can be done? Not much until the technology preventing piracy catches up - and I believe it will. In the meantime, if you see a site offering free downloads, report it to the publisher. Most publishers have staff dedicated to stopping piracy and they'll go after them. Unfortunately, these sites are like poisonous mushrooms and they just springing up in other damp dark places. 

So, here's my question to the Reds: Has piracy impacted you or any authors you know? Readers of e-books, have you seen any piracy sites? Do you know people who do this and think it's no big deal? 

Lastly, let's all make a pact not to download copyrighted content from sketchy places. Agreed? 

What's in (the book) Store?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Just got back from Book Expo America, and it was quite--what? Daunting? Spectacular? Overwhelming? Hilarious? I can say that my shoulders ache--no exaggeration--from lugging around tote bags of give-away books that are somehow irresistible. I was determined to be selective, though.

Look at just some  of the ARCs from authors I snagged! Talk about summer reading.

Whoa.

 (The Reds are chatting today--scroll past the photos to get there!) 

And I did NOT pick up the book by this person. Recognize her?

Does she need a caption?

I can't resist saying it was the launch of the ARC of THE WRONG GIRL--thank you to my agent for taking this nice photo--

Happy Author...even though it was NINETY DEGREES

and this one of the line of people waiting to get one. Amazing.

I love every one of these people...

But there was also an on-going discussion about the future of books.  I was invited to host a table

 at the American Booksellers Association luncheon (!) 

with Geraldine Brooks and Jon Scieszka and Richard Russo

Richard Russo says--his daughter is an independent bookseller!

 and more..) and it was a room full of owners and employees of independent bookstores.

 And I have to say--there were smiles on their faces! Someone told me there are more new bookstores opening now than in the past-however long. I talked to one happy camper who works at a store outside Washington DC--and she said people are buying books like mad.

A couple of years ago, it was all about the demise of bookstores, and how books were going to rule the world. What do you make of this?

What's your sense of independent bookstores? How're they doing?

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm lucky to have one of the best indy bookstores in the country right in my town, RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT. They thrive, but I know it's a battle because they are fighting the draw of lower prices at Amazon and other online bookstores. They count on customer loyalty and events and amazing service and location.

There is only one bookstore left in Key West, and that's Key West Island Books. They sell a mixture of new and used, with an emphasis on local authors. I'm thrilled to have the Key West mysteries carried there--it's a small shop but they will order anything a customer wants.

While Hallie and I were touring the Raleigh area with Jennifer McMahon, Molly Weston set up an event at McIntyre's Books in Fearrington Village--another fabulous little store. They seemed to be quite busy and our event was well attended.

All that to say Hank, I sure hope there will continue to be a groundswell of support for bookstores. There is no place else I'd rather spend time and money!

RHYS BOWEN: I'm also lucky enough to have two of the best thriving indies in the places where I live: Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA and Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ. Both of these stores have weathered any storms because they have owners who are business savvy as well as loving books. Both have huge mailing lists, events every night, draw the biggest name authors... in fact when I sign at Book Passage it always seems to be after Hilary Clinton and before Tom Brokaw, which is daunting to say the least.

HANK: I know--and they always say, oh, you should have been here last night, Hilary Mantel had thousands of people. Sigh. Anyway, we persevere! And it's so reassuring that people till come to bookstore events. BEA was phenomenally reassuring, too, long incredibly long lines to get books! Nelson DeMille's went up one side, down the other, and around the block! Were any of you there?

He was signing the six six chapters of his new book! Which is an old book, re-written... 

RHYS: I really hope that the general optimism is true and that small indies will come to fill the vacuum left by Borders and by Barnes and Noble cutting back. However good electronic forms of publishing become there is nothing like holding a real book in your hands. Take a peek a children at a library--books are magic things to them.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hank, I'm thrilled to hear that indie bookstore owners are feeling so positive! I love the indie stores where I get to sign on book tours, especially Murder by the Book in Houston, Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, and Book Passage in Corte Madera. But I think Rhys is right--it take more than just loving books. The successful stores have owners with real business savvy. They know their customers, and most do a really good mail order business.

HANK: Rhys and Hallie and Rosemary are off on exotic vacations! So we will have to demand photos when they get back. SO--how's your local bookstore doing? And what do you think about that?

And yes, one savvy insider told me he thought the absolute key was bookstore owners who know their stuff--what do you think that means?

And hey..why not--an ARC of THE WRONG GIRL to one lucky commenter!

The Once and Future Storyteller: a guest post by Dana Stabenow

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: You know those introductions where the host says, "Our guest needs no introduction," and then proceeds to tell you stuff you already know about the speaker? Yeah, this is one of those times. If you're a mystery lover, you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past two decades not to have heard of Dana Stabenow. New York Times bestseller. Edgar Award winner. Author of three science fiction novels, two thrillers, four Liam Campbell mysteries (Dana, can we have more Liam? Please?) And with the publication later this month of Bad Blood, twenty Kate Shugak books. Oh, and she's also been the president of the Alaska chapter of Sisters in Crime, the chief organizer of the 2001 Anchorage Left Coast Crime convention and chair of the 2007 Anchorage Bouchercon.

All this is a long-winded way of saying when Dana speaks about the book business, smart people listen. Today, she's going to tell us about literature's past, publishing's future, and how she got all those wonderful stories back into readers' hands.

Sometimes I think I should just unsubscribe from all my publishing listserves. This past week (written January 12th) I read three different stories about Barnes & Noble going under. I know I was not alone in noticing, because there was a great online yawp of anguished response from mid-list and wannabe authors, smugness from self-published authors and their adherents, and indifference from those authors who sell

enough in Wal-Mart and airport Hudsons and W.H. Smiths to hit the printed list every time, so they don’t give a damn.

In the face of all this continuing doom and gloom on the publishing front, I persevere! I refuse to give up on the notion that stories are necessary, that you and I and all of us scribblers are direct descendants of that guy sitting around the fire, hoping to get a few coins in his bowl before everyone rolls in for the night.

Recently I mentored a young friend through a high school lit class. The reading list was politically correct to the ne plus ultra and dozingly boring, but one of the titles was The Odyssey, and in this one instance I was amazed by how well the story had

improved since I had had to read it in high school. Athena had a sense of humor! Who knew?

Homer knew. He was that guy, sitting around the fire, trying to keep people awake long enough to pitch a few drachmas into his bowl. Comedy and sex, The Odyssey has plenty of both, and that’s what kept people up at night. Still do.

So if stories are necessary, if Homer proved it three thousand years ago and

Michael Connelly, Diana Gabaldon and Stephen King are still proving it today, it follows

that people will seek out stories wherever they can find them. On the bookshelves of local libraries, on the shelves at indie bookstores, at used bookstores, at bookfinder.com, yes, at Barnes & Noble, and on e-readers, studies and statistics say

again and again that people are reading more than ever before.

Ah. E-books. You knew I was headed there.

Two years ago I had sixteen books out of print. This year? None. And once all the books were again available, this time on Kindle and Nook and iBooks and Kobo, you know what happened? Everybody bought them, and at a time when print sales werec

dropping like Wile E. Coyote over a cliff the e-book sales drove the sales of my next print book onto the extended NYT bestseller list. My titles were available for the first time in the UK, and everybody bought them there, too. A UK publisher took note and is now bringing the others out there in e and in print. I’m now a bestseller in Italy, and last I heard I’m about to be published in France.

It’s a whole new world, folks. Writers have never had choices like these. You can write, design and publish your own books direct to Kindle, like John Locke or Amanda Hocking. Like Hocking you can then abandon self-publication for a four-book contract

with my publisher for $2 million. (They never offered me that kind of money.)

 
You can hire an intermediary to do the heavy lifting for you, like I do, where

somebody else handles the design and the uploading and collects all that lovely lucre for you. You have to pay them a percentage, but you have that much more time to write. Like I said, choices.

Or you can go the traditional route, and sign on with a print publisher. Some things traditional publishers still do better than anyone, produce actual books, tour authors, get heard above the noise. If you’re lucky you get a great editor who loves your

stuff and makes sure it gets good covers and good promotion. I’ve been that lucky, and it’s a nice place to be.

But it follows that if so many authors are publishing in so many different venues, it must be worth our while. Which means readers are still coming to us for stories, still curling up next to us by the fire. Barnes & Noble may not survive, but the need, the

hunger for good stories always will, and readers will seek them out. All we have to do is

write them and make them available.

Stop reading those listserves and get back to work.


                                                                      


I know we have quite a few aspiring and novice writers on our back blog. What do you think about the future of publishing? Are you shooting for traditional publication, or are you considering D-I-Y? And for you readers, does it make a difference how the book gets into your hands? Hop onto the comments and join the discussion.

Dana Stabenow's twentieth Kate Shugak novel, Bad Blood, will be out on February 26. You can read excerpts if it, and her other books, at her website. You can friend Dana on Facebook, follow her on Twitter as @DanaStabenow,  swap book recommendations at Goodreads, and check out her voluminous photo stream at Flickr. Want more? Dana also blogs delicious recipes for the solo cook at Feast For One.

LOVE LETTERS FROM THE PAST

HANK: You know Carolyn Hart. You love her, right? And you probably think you could predict, oh, I don't know. What she'd do, and what she'd think. And how she'd feel about things like ebooks, for instance. Or, um, sex.

But Carolyn Hart has...some surprises to reveal. See how many you can find...and there's a book giveaway at the end! 

CAROLYN HART: I'm not a fan of reunions. It isn't that I don't enjoy remembering those out of my past, it is more than I want to remember them as they were, young, vibrant, so many exciting adventures ahead of them. I like to live in the present, which may be the only Zen quality of someone who is challenged to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time.

True to this mantra, I've never given much thought over time to old books. In my case, that would be 14 books published prior to Death on Demand in 1987. (The 34 books since 1987 have remained in print since publication.)

HANK: So the books before 1987 (yikes) were just…gone?

CAROLYN: Yes! However! The advent of ebook technology changed my attitude and gave me an appreciation for remembering past loves... the books that I thought were consigned to dusty garage sales.

HANK: And, unlike human past loves,  you had the rights? Or what was the deal? What did you realize?

CAROLYN: Authors who hold the rights to their early works have many avenues open to them. They can self publish as ebooks, which provides better monetary reward, or they can explore posting the ebooks on Amazon exclusively for a year then deciding what platforms to add, or they can seek a small press that would take both print and ebook rights..

In 2011, Amazon posted all 14 early books plus two short story collections with exclusive rights for a year. Sales were respectable but the unexpected outcome for me meant a great deal more than accruing royalties. Two small presses - Seventh Street Books and Oconee Spirit Press - are now republishing between them seven of those titles.

I love this because I am still an old fashioned want to-hold-the-book-in-my-hand reader.

HANK: But it’s not just the money, I bet.

CAROLYN: Right! There have been other huge - not monetary - rewards for me.

Finally, after 29 years, ESCAPE FROM PARIS, a WWII suspense novel set in Occupied France in 1940, is available as it was first written. To make the initial sale to a small pub house in England, I cut 40,000 words from a 93,000 word ms. When some of my backlist was previously reissued, I refused to have Escape from Paris republished unless in its entirety. When the offer came from Amazon to post the backlist as ebooks, I included the book on the understanding I would provide the complete original ms.

HANK: Whoa. Did you have it? From 29 years ago?

CAROLYN: Sometimes our author's angel sits on our shoulders. The book was written before computers and all I had were the tattered bond paper pages. In 2001 - for no good reason, no one wanted the book or as far as I knew ever would - I hired a typist to put it in an efile. That file resided untouched in my computer for years but it was there when I needed it. I plunged into revising and improving the book.

HANK: That could be scary! I mean...when was the last time you'd read it?

CAROLYN: I had not reread the book since I finished it in 1980. I came into the house one evening and my husband asked me what was wrong. I suppose the strain was evident. I said I'd been reading Escape from Paris and discovered I used to write tougher, harder books. His response summed it up: Readers will find a Carolyn Hart they never knew.

HANK: That’s…very very intriguing, I must say. And probably requires a whole new wardrobe. How about the other early titles? Did you revise those?

CAROLYN: I didn't do many revisions to the other earlier titles. Rereading Rendezvous in Veracruz, a light romantic suspense novel set in Mexico City in the early '80s, was a different experience altogether. I told the editor that rereading it was better than a trip to the Fountain of Youth. The background was drawn from time I spent as a freshman at Mexico City College. When I read the galleys I felt once again that I was eighteen and living in Mexico City.

HANK: So did that get you thinking…I wonder if…

CAROLYN: Yes! The rebirth of early titles either as ebooks or as ebooks and paper prompted me to look in my closet. All old writers have closets and in mine were several never before published mss. Berkley put out one last fall as an ebook only. Another - which might possibly shock my readers - is a very sexy novel of danger and suspense in first century Rome and my agent has just submitted it. I'll let you know what happens.

HANK: Now that—is well, I’ve gotta say, hard to imagine. Cannot wait! So, what advice do you have now, as a result of this?

CAROLYN: My advice to writers is to be sure that you get reversion of rights of all OP books if at all possible. A negative aspect of ebooks is that publishers can retain rights by keeping books available as ebooks but with no paper copies available. I think some agents are now trying to include in contracts a provision that a certain number of ebook sales must be made or the rights are reverted.

Many writers are doing their own self pub of ebooks and doing very well with them.

HANK: SO interesting to think about you entering this new world...you’ve been writing for how many years? And it seems—it’s actually an unexpected link to the past!

CAROLYN: As almost everyone agrees, no one in publishing is sure of how much ebooks will transform our world. To my surprise, the ebook revolution has brought the past close to me and now my books are available if there are any readers who wish to seek them out. I don't foresee a big audience or big sales, but the nicest part for me is remembering books that I'd not thought about in years and rediscovering the writer I once was.

HANK: SO great to talk with you, Carolyn. And we hope to see you at MaIice! And a copy of one of Carolyn’s books to a lucky commenter!

Let’s chat about ebooks, and your books, and your reading habits, and what you’ve discovered in the eworld! How often do you use your ereader, if you have one? Are you buying more books? DO you actually READ them? And any questions for Carolyn?

An Original Millers Kill Short Story: Away in a Manger

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Here at Jungle Red Writers, we discuss about as wide-ranging set of topics as you might hope to find. But let's face it, a certain amount of blogging time will be devoted to pushing our novels. In my case, my publisher is reissuing my backlist - my old books - in spiffy new trade paperback editions, complete with new artwork, interviews, reading group guides, etc., etc. The first one, In the Bleak Midwinter, is releasing January 3rd.

To help spread the word, Minotaur is also offering In the Bleak Midwinter in ebook format for only $2.99. Then at the end of January, they're offering the second in the series for $2.99 as well. At the end of February - you got it, the third ebook gets marked down to $2.99. This is a shameless ploy not dissimilar to the cigarette companies giving away thousands of packs of free smokes to the GIs during WWII. Their goal, and mine, is to turn you into slavering addicts, eager to rush out and buy every book in the series. (The only health warning attached to my mysteries, of course, is that you risk staying up all night if you start a book in the evening.)

But if the ebook sells the trade paperback, what sells the ebook? How about a free, original short story, set in the fictional Adirondack town of Millers Kill? I've been releasing a series of Christmas-themed flash fiction on my personal blog (you can find the first two here and here.) Yes, Christmas day is over, but good Episcopalians like the Rev. Clare Fergusson know Christmas is a season that runs until January 6th. So: set after my fourth book, To Darkness and to Death:

Away in a Manger
by Julia Spencer-Fleming

The fourth Sunday in Advent. The last of the four weeks of preparation before the feast of Christmas. The vestment and altar colors are Sarum blue or purple. The collect begins, “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation...” And in St. Alban's, Millers Kill, it was time for the Christmas pageant.

“Sydney, hold still.” The Reverend Fergusson struggled to tie a donkey-eared hat beneath the chin of a wriggling three year old.

“I want wings!” the little girl yelled. “I want angel wings!”

Ned Donovan, who had taken on the thankless job of directing the pageant, leaned down. “Sydney, you didn't learn the angel song. You learned the animal song. Won't it be fun to sing it right up next to baby Jesus?”

“I want wings!”

Clare Fergusson looked over to where the last of the angelic choir were suiting up in satin sacks and tinsel halos. “Can't you stick her in an angel costume? It doesn't really matter if she sings or not.”

He sighed. “Sure. Whatever. Come on, Sydney, let's get you changed. You can be an angel.”

“No!” The child's shriek was even louder. “I'm a donkey! With angel wings!”

Ned looked at Clare and spread his hands.

She nodded. “Jesus is a Bitty Baby doll and two of the three kings are girls. I don't think a winged donkey will be stretching it too much.”

“Okay, then. Come on, Sydney. Let's get your wings on.”

Clare left the other volunteers – mostly moms – to herd the cast out of the Sunday school room and into the church for their final rehearsal. She sprinted ahead to the sanctuary, where two dads were muscling the stable roof onto its cross-barred supports. The manger was already in place in front of the altar, with two bales of real hay thoughtfully provided for Mary and Joseph to sit. One of the benefits of being in a small, rural town. She was checking to make sure the two microphones were turned on when she spotted the tall man coming through the narthex doors.

It was Russ Van Alstyne.

Her stomach bottomed out. She replaced the mike in its stand and walked steadily down the aisle. He was in civvies, instead of his police uniform. “Chief Van Alstyne,” she said. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

“Reverend Fergusson.” He paused, then looked past her, frowning. “I didn't expect so many people here.”

“It's a church. At Christmastime.” He gave her a look, and she relented. “This is the day we have our Christmas pageant The kids do a dress rehearsal at nine and perform it at the ten o'clock Eucharist.”

“Ah.” He glanced around at the stone pillars and arched windows of St. Alban's. “No Christmas decorations?”

“It's still Advent. We'll green the church later this afternoon. Did you come here to check out the holiday décor?” She tugged Russ to one side as Nathan Andernach pushed his way through the narthex door. She smiled and waved at the verger. “Perhaps I can get you a schedule of the services?”

“I'm not going to be in town for Christmas.”

“Oh. You're--” her voice faltered. “You won't?”

Russ looked around again. The pageant kids were shuffling in the side door to the church, in roughly their order of appearance. They would process down the north aisle, up the center of the sanctuary, and take their seats in the front pew, hopefully without the youngest getting distracted or taking stage fright. “Is there some place we could go for a little privacy? Your office?”

She shook her head. “I need to be here.” She swallowed. She had a feeling she didn't want to hear whatever it was he was going to say. “Could we meet after services? I have an hour or so before the greening.” She paused for a moment, because she rarely invited him into her home, but if he needed privacy-- “You could come to the rectory.”

He looked down at his boots. “God. I wish I could. But I'll be gone. I'm leaving—we're leaving for Montreal. I have to be at the train station in an hour.”

“Montreal.” With his wife. Of course.

“We're going for a week. Linda has this idea--” he turned and faced her for the first time, “--you know we're in marriage therapy.”

Clare nodded.

“Linda has this idea that we need time away together. Sort of a...” his voice trailed off.

“A second honeymoon.”

His lips tightened. “The therapist says it's a good thing, to break out of our usual rhythms.”

“Yes.”

“Montreal will be beautiful at Christmas.”

“Yes.”

“We've got Duane and Tim coming in to cover the extra patrols. So they won't even notice I'm gone at the station.”

“Yes.”

“I don't want to go.” His voice was a whisper. “A whole week without seeing you or talking with you--” he removed his glasses and wiped his hand over his eyes. “Christ, I sound like a whiny little kid, don't I?”

The real little kids had assembled in their pews. Mary and Gabriel were taking their places as the narrator – one of the teens in the youth group – read, “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth...”

“No,” Clare said. “You sound like a man gearing up to do the right thing.”

“I want to fix my marriage. I swear to God I do. But I can't just turn off these feelings.” He reached toward her. “Clare, I--”

“Don't say it.” She wrapped her arms around herself, “Please don't say it. It doesn't help.”

He let his hand drop.

In front of the altar, Gabriel spread her wings flamboyantly. “HAIL, oh FAVORED one, the LORD is WITH you!”

“That's great.” Ned Donovan's voice drifted up the aisle toward them. “Maybe a little less...dramatic?”

Russ snorted. “Sounds like she's understudying for Evita.”

Clare smiled a little. “The angel of the annunciation and the Fear-not angel tend to be played by the less, um, reticent children.”

“Did you do this when you were a kid?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What part did you play?”

She smiled outright at him. “All of them. I started as a cow and worked my way up through shepherd, angel choir, king's page, king and both speaking angel roles to reach the pinnacle of Christmas pageant success – Mary.”

“Where do you go after you've been Mary?”

She gestured to her black clericals. “As you see, I had to enter the priesthood.”

He smiled a little. “God, I love you.”

Clare shook her head. She felt a hot pricking behind her eyes. At the front of the church, Mary stood up. Bits of hay stuck to the backside of her blue robe. “Behold,” she said. “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

“It doesn't matter what you feel or what I feel.” Clare kept her eyes on the rehearsal. “What matters is what we do. I'm going to get through the fourth Sunday of Advent and two services on Christmas eve and another one on Christmas morning. You're going to go to Montreal with your wife and put all your effort into closing the gap between the two of you.”

She glanced at him. He was facing the rehearsal as well. He nodded, a sort of jerk of the chin. “Yeah. You're right.”

A four-foot-high centurion marched to the center of the aisle and unrolled a scroll. “A decwee fwom Caesah Augustus and Quiwinius, govewnah of Sywia. All the wowld shall be taxed.”

“Low bar for auditions?” Russ said.

“No auditions. Everybody plays a part if they want to.”

“Yeah.” He turned to her. He did not touch her. “Merry Christmas, Clare.”

She didn't try to smile. She could at least be honest with her face. “Merry Christmas, Russ.” She didn't watch him as he left, but she felt the push of cold wind at her back when he passed through the narthex. At the front of the church, the animals gathered by the manger. There were two cows, a dog, a cat, one duck and something striped that was either a zebra or a tiger. And there was a donkey. With wings.

“Away in a manger, no crib for his bed.” They were in tune, more or less. “The little lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.”

Clare started down the aisle. It doesn’t matter what you feel. It matters what you do. “The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,” she sang. “The little lord Jesus, asleep in the hay.”

Want to try that $2.99 ebook? You can get one at ebooks.com, at Amazon, at Kobo, at B&N, at the Sony Reader Store and at iTunes.

Song of the Open Road

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Today our guest blogger is Rachel Chou, Chief marketing officer at from Open Road Media. I didn't get to hear the presentation from Rachel's colleague at Bouchercon (and maybe you didn't either) so here's what Rachel has to say about one of publishing's newest and most innovative companies.

Connecting Mystery Authors with Readers
While reading is a solitary activity, it is also inherently social. People tell their friends about a book they just loved or that they hated, discuss the latest bestseller at a local book club, or rediscover an old classic on a colleague’s recommendation. So in this day of social networking, online and off, what can a publisher offer readers and authors beyond what they are already doing on their own?

Open Road Media, founded less than two years ago, is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. We strive to create connections between authors and their audiences by marketing their ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.

Open Road has published ebooks from legendary authors including William Styron, Pat Conroy, and Virginia Hamilton, and has launched new e-stars like Mary Glickman. We have a constantly growing mystery/thriller list that includes Ruth Rendell, Jack Higgins, Lawrence Block—and the addition of dozens of authors with the recent partnership with Otto Penzler’s MysteriousPress.com.

Throughout the publishing process, we work closely with our authors—who we see as partners, not clients—and use a variety of new media tools to market our books, including online advertising, social media, and content partnerships, as well as traditional publicity. We want to bring our authors and their fans together, and our “special sauce” comes from the ongoing marketing into and within readers’ social circles. It’s not only about the launch date, but also about ways to connect with readers months and years after a book has been published.

We are often asked what truly distinguishes our marketing. I believe it is the quality and variety of the content we syndicate. Whether it’s sharing five questions with Jack Higgins, hearing from Jonathon King on the occupational hazards of working the crime beat, giving new life to a 1982 article by Lawrence Block, or asking Ruth Rendell about the weird mother-son relationship in A Dark-Adapted Eye, we’re interested in bringing these new insights to readers, wherever they are.

Another example of this content comes from our in-house production team. These incredible producers, production assistants, and cinematographers travel around the globe to film our authors and capture their worlds. Instead of focusing on a single title for a release, hours of filming are conducted and the interviews therein cover a wide-range of topics, from writing to authors’ passions and life backstories.

You can see authors speaking about achieving “thrills and chills” or geeking out for International Geek Pride Day. You can watch a profile about horror master Ira Levin, for which we interviewed contemporary writers, such as Chuck Palahniuk and Chelsea Cain, who were influenced by his work. Based on the above range of videos, it’s easy to see that from serious to silly, inspirational to celebratory, the topics for discussion are truly endless.

There are few genres with more opportunities to engage directly with readers than mysteries. At the end of last year, the Book Industry Study Group released a report revealing that mystery fiction is one of the two fastest growing genres for ebooks. And the digital and offline worlds are filled with dynamic and engaged communities of mystery readers. As a result of the rise of ebooks and online communities, iconic books can, in the words of our cofounder and CEO, Jane Friedman, come “back to the future.” With robust digital marketing, Open Road is paving the way for these incredible reads to be found.

Here's a look at something Open Road created for one of its clients...pretty cool.


Visit Open Road at http://www.openroadmedia.com/Default.aspx

Is Simon Wood Completely Bonkers?

HANK: Okay, so listen to this.

Let's say you wanted to write a crime fiction novel. What would you do? Short version: You'd get a computer, or a pad of paper, think of a story, write it down somehow, and hope a publisher buys it.

But not our Simon.

He has an idea---and he: writes a book, called LOWLIFES. So far, so typical. But then with a collaborator, he also does a short film. And a blog. And a whole bunch of other stuff. And then readers/viewers are supopsed to read/view all of it in whatever order, getting different secrets and insights and viewpoints from different parts. Put it all together, and...

Okay, my head is hurting. But it's brilliant. And trust me, Reds, this is the future. And it's called Transmedia. Simon Wood is here to explain it all!

HANK: Whoa. Tell us about your new project. Most authors just..write a book…

SIMON WOOD: LOWLIFES is a collaboration between filmmaker, Robert Pratten, and me, where we tell a story from different character points of view using various media. The book tells the story from point of view of the protagonist, a San Francisco Police Inspector.


The short film gives the viewpoint of a PI investigating the cop.


The fictional blog catalogs the thoughts and feelings of the cop’s estranged wife.


In the print edition, there's a secret short story told from the point of a view of a street preacher which can be accessed QR codes and the story emailed to your cell phone. The trendy term for this new kind of storytelling is transmedia.

HANK: Like I said. Whoa. (What's a QR code? Anyone? Anyone? Am I incredibly OLD? Oh--quick response. Yay for research. ) Sounds like 3-d chess. How did you guys work all this out? Were you and Robert Pratten pals? How did it evolve?

SIMON: I met Robert in Phoenix in 2003 at a conference when he was screening his first film and we stayed in touch ever since. Robert approached me about a year ago with the idea for multimedia story set in San Francisco’s tenderloin district. He gave me brief character profiles for the principal characters and the initial scenario of a cop investigating himself and his possible involvement in the death of a homeless man.

HANK: . Which came first? Or did you build each part as it went along and finish all at the same time?

SIMON: I am one of those people who tries to do everything at once, but I wrote the book first, the movie script second and the blog third. However, I did outline all three storylines before I wrote anything so that I knew how all three stories would intersect. As I completed each part, I handed them off to Robert for comment and edit. So there were a few changes made and gave Robert free reign to interpret my movie script any way he wanted when it came to imagery and filming locations.

HANK: . Yikes. I mean, yikes. Does each part make sense without the other part? Do you read and see them serially, or all at the same time?

SIMON: Robert’s main instruction was that each individual piece could be read as a standalone piece, but when read/watched in conjunction, the combined pieces would give a much fuller telling of the story. Our primary aim was to avoid filming scenes directly lifted from the book or blog and vice versa.

HANK: Transmedia. I'm thinking about this. Did working this way change the way your brain works? (It's making my head hurt...)

SIMON: Yes, it changed how my brain worked. I’m used to writing multiple points of view in my novels, so having differing perspectives to tell a story wasn’t a problem. The brain stretching came when to telling the story for different media. This was the first time I’d written a script and I hadn’t appreciated telling a story visually. Even the dialog had to be written in a way that would inspire or assist Robert with the filming. The blog was different again because it’s written in a very conversation style and at the same time, there's a confessional quality to it. At times, it did make my head hurt. To make all the individual pieces work took a lot of planning.

HANK: Forgive me, but...how do people buy this? Talk a little about marketing and promotion.

SIMON: http://www.lowlifes.tv/ is a dedicated website where people can experience the various facets of the story. Right now, we’re releasing it as a serial for free. Each day, a chapter from the book, a movie episode and/or entry from the blog will come available. People can sign up to receive the excerpts. If people don’t want to wait, they can buy the book, the DVD or download the book from Amazon, etc. There are links on the website.

HANK: What's been the reaction?

SIMON: It’s early days, but good so far. A couple of publishers interested to see how the concept develops. Someone else expressed interest in putting Lowlifes out as a complete interactive book. Readers are just getting to grips with it. Robert and I hope people respond well to "the Lowlifes" because we have a bunch of storylines we’d like to explore featuring these characters.

HANK: So...here's a question with an answer I know I'll understand. Whats the basic story?








SIMON: Lowlifes centers on Larry Hayes, a San Francisco Police Detective. He's lost his family to divorce and he's clinging to his career by a thread. All this stems from a painkiller addiction he can’t kick that he picked up from an on-the-job injury. He thinks his life has already hit rock bottom, but there's another level for Hayes to fall as he finds out when he wakes up in an alley after a bad trip with no memory of the last four hours.


He thinks this is the wakeup call he needs to turn his life around, his problems intensify when he receives a call from a homicide inspector. Hayes' informant, a homeless man named Noble Jon, lies dead two blocks away, beaten and stabbed. The eerie pang of guilt seeps into Hayes. During his lost four hours, he's been in a fight. His knuckles are bruised and there's blood under his fingernails.


Is he Jon's killer? The mounting evidence says so. To add insult to injury, his wife has employed a PI to dig up dirt on him to ensure she gets sole custody of their daughter. Hayes mounts an off-the-books investigation and disappears amongst the city’s homeless community to stay one step ahead of a murder charge.


HANK: SO. A blog, a book and a movie. Amazing. And there's also an interactive Game! Click HERE to play....and remember. You heard it here first.

Super-Marketer!

HANK: No, this post is not about grocery shopping. Not that kind of super-market!

Have you met Misa Ramirez? She's incredible. (We have a mutual admiration society, but hey. That's part of the fun.) She interviewed me on Skype for her site, Books on the House. Since I was on camera, I was at my desk. But SHE was in what looked like a workout room with a little boy in the room. (Her son?) Talk about juggling! But she's come up with a pretty interesting (and very successful) way of connecting readers with books they may love.

MISA RAMIREZ: Can I just say, Hank Phillippi Ryan totally rocks! Like ROCKS.

(HANK: I warned you guys.)

MISA: I had the pleasure of interviewing Hank for Books on the House and after it was over, I was left wishing I lived in Boston so we could, you know, hang out. Smart, funny, accomplished, articulate, passionate...that’s my kind of friend.

That’s also the kind of woman I write about. First came Lola Cruz and her crime solving. Then came two romantic suspense novels dealing with the Mexican legends of la Llorona and Chupacabra--Cursed and The Chain Tree.

Then came Harlow Cassidy from A Dressmaker’s Mystery series for NAL which is what I’m working on now.

All female protagonists. All smart, accomplished in their own ways (or on the road to accomplishment), funny/quirky/zany--take your pick, and passionate about staying alive. Oh, and seeking justice.

One thing I’ve realized since I became part of the publishing business is that no matter how good your books are, no matter how much you market a book or promote your brand, it’s not enough. It’s never enough! For a reader to find your book amidst the masses is like finding a needle in a haystack (cliche, yes, but also apropos). And since publishing is a sales-driven business, marketing becomes super important.

Now, just so you know, I am not the type of person to sit around and just complain. I do complain, but then I take action. Which is just what I did after the lack of marketing support from the publisher with the Lola Cruz Mysteries. I became a student of marketing and found that it’s all about exposure. To reach a lot of people in the most cost-effective manner is a challenge, and usually WAY too expensive. Sure, you can place an ad in RT or RWR or many other places...for hundreds, often thousands of dollars. Yikes. I don’t have that kind of capital.

I figured I was not alone. Other authors had to have the same problem I did--getting their books in front of readers. I asked around and found it to be true.

On top of that, I figured there were readers out there clambering to discover new books and writers.

The question for me became, “How do I bring readers and writers together in one easy place?”

The answer? Books on the House (and Books on the House for Kids and Teens). I took the bull by the horns and created my own marketing site to help me when I have new books, to help all the other authors out there who want to get their books in front of new readers, and to help readers discover new authors. It’s a WIN-WIN!

To say the sites have been successful would be a grand understatement. Wildly successful would be more accurate. I launched the site in March to immediate success. Since then, it has grown to have a subscriber list of several thousand, monthly page views at about 57,000, and total monthly visitors at around 18,000 and growing every day. It’s phenomenal!

(HANK: Guess who's there this week? Check it out. Ah, the way the world works...)

MISA: My current dilemma is creating a method on the site for featuring e-books. Considering e-book sales are up 200%, or so, and continuing this upward swing, this is a big segment of the writing population that needs to promote their books.

I’ll use myself as an example. I have 2 new e-books out: Cursed and The Chain Tree. (links to these books). The thing is, e-books can’t be gifted. Why the heck not?! When such a big percentage of books sales can be traced to book gifting, it seems a no-brainer to create a way to gift e-books. How hard is it to create a promo/coupon code so one person can buy the book, get the code, and pass that code on to someone else to enter and download the book? Jeff Bezos, are you listening?

Books on the House is structured to have people read about the featured book, then enter to win a promotional copy, courtesy of the author, often personalized by them. The fact that I can’t give away an e-book messes with my model. Sure, I can give a gift card for Amazon or B&N, but there’s no guarantee the winner will actually download the featured book, and that’s the point. Maybe it’s a risk I’ll need to take.

I want to share with you an email I received this morning from a reader. She’d just finished reading Cursed, emailed out of the blue, and this is what she said (fyi: the XXXs are instead of a spoiler!):

“Misa,
OMG! This book was good. It's a good thing that I DVR'd my shows, because I could not put this book down. That twist with XXX, I did not see that coming. This was a great read. I'm starting The Chain Tree tomorrow. I anticipate another giving up the TV show for this one as well.”
Again, what a great story.”
Signed, A Reader.

How great is this?! More proof that I need to come up with some idea to encourage other people to check out my books, as well as featured e-books, and hopefully give them a read.

My question to you, Jungle Red Readers, is what ideas do you have regarding my Books on the House model as to what can be given away to encourage readers to download a featured e-book? If I gave away gift cards, would you use it to download the featured book, or would you get the latest thing on your reading wish list instead?

*****************************

And just in time for you-know-what, Misa's written the Lola Cruz Christmas Story! It's available now for digital download.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31517]

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Misa Ramirez / Melissa Bourbon is the author of the Lola Cruz mystery series: Living the Vida Lola (January ’09) and Hasta la Vista, Lola! (2010) from Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Minotaur and A Dressmaker’s Mystery series for NAL (Pleating for Mercy, fall 2011). On top of that, she has two romantic suspense e-novels, The Chain Tree and Cursed, from Diversion Books.

A former middle and high school teacher, this blond-haired, green-eyed, proud to be Latina-by-Marriage girl loves following Lola and Harlow on their many adventures. Whether it’s contemplating belly button piercings, visiting nudist resorts, or hanging out with seamstresses, she’s always up for the challenge. Misa has two middle grade series for girls in development, is published in Woman’s World Magazine and Romance Writers Report, and GLOW Magazine (11/2010), and has a children’s book published.

She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

SO! Any marketing advice for MISA??