A Guest Blog by Timothy Hallinan

I once knew a woman who translated hieroglyphics, and one of the texts she rendered into English was one of the oldest poems known to man, dating from about 3000 BC.  And what was it about?

It was about how things were better before.  It was a lament for having missed the Golden Age.

It seems to be human nature to think in terms of lost Golden Ages.  The operative word is “lost.” It's not even fashionable to suggest that we're living in a golden age.

But I think we are.  I think this is a golden age for mysteries and thrillers.

Sure, some of the great ones are gone: Christie, Hammett, Chandler, Sayers, Tey, Highsmith, Stout, McDonald, Parker, and many others.  But we have an enormous number of exceptional writers working now, and more titles to choose from than at any time in history.  I'd put the best writers working today up against the best working at any time since Poe kicked things off.  Who's better than James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Louise Penney, Laura Lippman, SJ Rozan, Lee Child, John LeCarre, Donna Leon – I could go on for pages – all writing right now?

Golden.

I think this Golden Age has come about for three reasons:
First, the ubiquity of relatively inexpensive books; until just a few years ago, despite all their moans and groans, the world's publishers put out, in editions of varying costs, more books than at any other time in history.  And with all those books being published, good writing usually found a champion.
Second, the durability of the genre.  The mystery or thriller is the one of the oldest genres (what is “Oedipus Rex” but a mystery?) and one of the most universal.  Mysteries and thrillers help readers work through some of the most difficult aspects of human existence.  They present a world in which order, even though it's been temporarily broken down, can be restored.  They ignore the fashion of nihilism and despair that mars so much supposedly “literary” fiction.

Third, women have come full circle.  Once the royalty of the genre, they faded during the heyday of the pulps. the hard-boiled noir, and the five-testicle PI fiction of the 40s through the 60s.  And then, starting in the 70s, the entire genre tilted; women re-emerged with a vengeance, no longer confined to the classic and/or cozy end of the spectrum, but ranging straight across, from one extreme to another.  And in one of the most remarkable shifts in modern marketing history, women became the driving force in mystery writing.

So now we have women writing all kinds of books and also some of the best male writers who have ever worked in the genre.  Jackpot.  We've also seen a loosening (pretty much an abandonment) of the old restrictions on what people can write about, which has produced some terrible books but also some really serious explorations of the darkest corners of human behavior.

And now we're seeing things open up even more widely.  The ebook has broken New York's stranglehold on what we can read—and what we can write, too.  Once again, we're seeing a lot of books that should have remained in people's desk drawers, but we're also seeing some tremendous stuff.
It's certainly opened things up for me.  Like most writers, I've been restricted in what I could write because publishers would only buy a certain kind of book from me.  But now I can write literally anything I want and put it out there to sink or swim.

I've always had an ambition to write a series in which the thrills were real but there were also a lot of laughs.  And now, thanks to ebooks, I am.  I just put out LITTLE ELVISES, the second in a series starring a Los Angeles burglar named Junior Bender who moonlights as a private eye for crooks.  It's got some rough stuff in it, but it's also pretty funny, or so people tell me. 

I believe it's a uniquely human experience to be frightened and amused at the same time, and I love writing books that attempt to put the reader in that position.  Junior's first outing was CRASHED, and it did well enough that I had offers from traditional publishers to buy the series, but I decided to stay with the e-book channel, direct from me to the reader.

Do I think LITTLE ELVISES is golden age material?  I doubt it—I can't take myself that seriously.  But they're the product of a writer doing what he wants instead of what a corporation wants him to do, and in the long run that has to be good for everyone.  When people look back on this particular golden age, I think they'll say the emergence of the ebook both broadened and prolonged it.

A Little Humor, A Little Romance, A Little Murder

A guest blog by Marja McGraw

I write two mystery series: The Sandi Webster Mysteries and The Bogey Man Mysteries. My logo is “a little humor, a little romance, A Little Murder!” It suits my books. They’re lighter with a little humor, and while there is some romance, there are no sex scenes. They aren’t necessary to my stories, and I’m old school – I’ve always felt like anticipation and imagination are much sexier that reading about it with the details all laid out for me.

Some books have sex thrown in just for shock value. It doesn’t progress the story at all. I’ve also read stories where this element was pertinent to the story.  In addition, there are books that don’t have any sex and they’re as entertaining as any story can be. I believe that the anticipation of what’s to come can be very titillating, especially when you fill in the blanks yourself.  Think about it. John Doe whispered something in Jane Smith’s ear, and smiling, followed her through a door, pulling it closed behind him. Do you want someone to tell you what happened behind that door? Or would you rather dream up your own scenario? Hmm. All kinds of possibilities there.

I have a friend, Shirley Kennedy, who wanted to write contemporary romances. Well, she wrote a good book and submitted it to a publisher. The publisher was interested, but only if she’d add sexual content. So Shirley sat down in front of her computer and started adding sex scenes.  It turned out there was a problem. She suddenly realized that as she wrote this graphic, sensual scene, she couldn’t bring herself to look at the computer screen. She looked up, to the right, to the left, and out the window – anywhere except at the screen. She’d been asked to write something that she wasn’t comfortable with. When she told me this story, I laughed. I could picture the whole thing in my mind. Still wanting to write romances, she changed from Contemporary to Regency romances, where she didn’t have to include sex scenes. By the way, Shirley is a terrific writer and now writes other types of romance stories, too.

The thing is, when I laughed at this story and pictured it in my mind, the woman sitting in front of the computer unexpectedly turned into me. Talk about surprising yourself! I write mysteries, and the stories I write don’t involve graphic sexual encounters. They’re about mysteries and solving crimes. They center around the characters and their growth, and they include some humor.

I won’t knock any author who writes graphic material, because there is a market for it – and some of it is extremely well-written. I simply prefer something entertaining and mysterious. I won’t even try to change any minds here. However, I will add that a young woman approached me after reading my first book and told me two things. First, she said that she never, ever reads anything that doesn’t contain graphic sex. Secondly, she said that it was two weeks after she read the book before she realized there wasn’t any sex in it. Draw your own conclusions.

Take a chance and try reading Bogey Nights – A Bogey Man Mystery, which was released in March of 2011. It will entertain you, even without sexual content.

Jean, thank you for inviting me today. I’ve enjoyed my visitWebsite:  http://www.marjamcgraw.com/
Blog:  http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/
Buy Link:  Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Marja+McGraw&x=0&y=0
Oak Tree Press http://oaktreebooks.com/Shop%20OTP.htm
Available through your favorite bookstore

Guest Post by Mary Martinez

Thank you, Jean, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog today. I’m having a wonderful time on the Mystery We Write Blog Tour. I’m meeting a lot of new people.

What do you think a blog tour is? Would it be marketing and promoting? Do you know the difference? Actually, the good old Webster’s dictionary had this to say:

Promotion: 1. The act or an instance of promoting; specif., a) advancement in rank, grade, or position b) furtherance of an enterprise, cause, etc.—

Marketing 1. The act of buying or selling in a market. 2 all business activity involved in the moving of goods from producer to the consumer, including selling, advertising, packaging, etc.

Advancement in position and moving the goods in my opinion are basically the same. Your books is your product. You want it to advance up the charts and to do that you need to move the goods from yourself, web site, publishers web site, etc. to the consumer or reader.

In other words you need to do both to have people buy your book. My plan is this, offer an attractive product that makes the consumer feel like the need to have it.  Need is much stronger than want, if you can put want on the back burner, but if you need something, it’s now.

Cover art is very important. The next is your blurb, it needs to hook and real in the customer. This would be the packaging—so the marketing portion. Something else that could be considered marketing would be a book signing, and your display to draw people to your table would be your packaging.

My next plan would be promotion, which means get my appealing packaged product out for the world to see with information where to buy.  

There isn’t much difference between the two, both are important. Without one, it’s hard to do the other. Give me your thoughts on my original question about what would a blog tour be, marketing or promotion.

Everyone who gives me their opinion and their contact information in a comment today will be placed in a drawing for a signed copy of Romance and Misconceptions.My newest release is Classic Murder: Mr. Romance

Blurb, excerpt and trailer: http://www.marymartinez.com/mrromance.html

ISBN: 978-1610343350

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1610343352/bookstrand-20

Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Classic-Murder/Mary-Martinez/e/9781610343350/

Web Site: www.marymartinez.com

Garden Blog: http://marysbooksblogger.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/marylmartinez

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mlmartinez33

Inspiration

by Sharon Ervin

The senior warden at church one Sunday morning asked for volunteers in our small-town Oklahoma congregation to write to people in our sister parish in Uganda. They were learning English. I wrote and the priest himself responded. We were happy pen pals for several years until he began insisting I come for a visit. 

Americans were NOT advised to visit Uganda then. If one did, s/he must tour with a large group and stay only in cities. Father Charles Kapson, a young Anglican priest, insisted I visit his remote village. Few there had ever seen  a white woman. I guess I was for show and tell.

Husband Bill is bolder than I and said he would take me if I wanted to go. I did not. My solution was to stop corresponding. Father Kapson began writing more often, more urgently.

By then, through his letters and pictures, I knew a lot about the priest, his family, his village, their lifestyle. He advised us to avoid coming during “the hungry season.”  That did not encourage me. I had no intentions of visiting any place during the hungry season. 

About that time, I had nightmares about losing Bill and visiting Uganda. A speaker at a writers’ conference suggested we write our worst nightmares. What an amazing idea.

My heroine had to be a strong woman with a strong name. Ruth! I borrowed the last name of a newly widowed friend, Pedigo, and JUSU AND MOTHER EARTH was born.

All my angst, my regard for Father Kapson, the nightmares, rolled easily onto the pages.

JUSU was my eighth novel-length manuscript. None had sold. After 17 years of trying, I was convinced I would never sell a book at all, so I wrote to suit myself. Anger, fear, sex, whatever motivated was what I wrote, after all, I was the only person, besides select family members or close friends, who would ever read it.  JUSU was the first to sell. It was a miracle. Father Kapson and the villagers loved it. I sent several copies as gifts, more when they requested more.  

I now have nine print-published novels and a backlist on Kindle. I’ve never been to Uganda. Bill is still fine. Our four children are grown. 

Recently, a 14-year-old granddaughter sighed and said, “Nana, I can’t wait ‘til Mama says I’m old enough to read one of your books.”  

Maybe I’ll write one for her...pretty soon.

ABOUT SHARON ERVIN

Sooner born, Sharon Ervin has a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. Once a newspaper reporter, she now works in her husband and son’s law office half-days, gleaning material for her ongoing novels. She is married to McAlester, Oklahoma attorney Bill Ervin and has four grown children.

Website address: sharonervin.com

Blog address: sharonervin.wordpress.com

Buy Links: 

 

Sharon's Kindle books: 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Sharon+Ervin&x=14&y=14

All Sharon's books:

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1305165909/ref=sr_gnr_aps?ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Sharon%20Ervin

A Little Marketing Music, Please

 A guest blog by Pat Browning

I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just when I was ready to write a few words on marketing, Vickie Britton’s new mini-ebook, Writing and Selling a Mystery Novel: A Simple Step-by-Step Plan, fell into my hands.

She also writes fiction. Vickie and her sister, Loretta Jackson, have co-authored more than 30 novels, most of them mysteries, mystery-romances, and westerns. Besides print editions, many are available on Kindle.

Vickie’s new mini e-book is a blueprint for writing a mystery from start to finish. Her segment on marketing sums up in three rules: Get it finished; get it out there, get it to the right market. Please note: The first rule is

GET IT FINISHED!

Here’s an excerpt from the marketing segment, reprinted with Vickie Britton’s permission.

****

Why Most Books Don’t Sell

Yes, being a writer is tough, and it is a competitive market. But there are three rules that will greatly increase your odds of success.

■ Get it Finished

Most people don’t sell their novel for one simple reason: they never get it finished. They attend writer’s conferences and critique groups, talk about their project incessantly, and maybe even jot down a few ideas or chapters. But when it comes down to the wire, they don’t have a finished product to offer.

Half a book will never sell. True, when you get established you may be able to sell on the basis of a synopsis and three sample chapters, but at some point in time the editor is going to ask for the completed manuscript. You had better be ready and able to produce one. Usually, editors want completed manuscripts from new authors so that they know the writer can finish what he started. Once you’ve written a completed manuscript you've already eliminated over half of the competition.

■ Get it Out There

No manuscript has ever sold sitting in the bottom of a filing cabinet. Once you feel you've written the book to the best of your ability, get it circulating – by either querying an agent or sending it directly to a publisher.

■ Get it to the Right Market

Not only do you have to get your manuscript out there, but targeting the right market greatly increases your chances of a sale. If you have a mystery, don’t send it to a romance market. If you've written a police procedural, don’t send it to a tea cozy market. You'll get nothing but rejection. Study the publisher’s book list. You'll find that all publishers have a certain image they project to target a certain type of reader. They can vary greatly. Even if you have written the great American novel, the publisher won't change his publishing list for you.

■  Finding an Agent 

This is the question authors get asked the most. No, it isn't necessary to have an agent in order to sell a book. An agent can help you reach larger publishing houses that don't accept unsolicited material, and they can help you get a better book deal once you have reached the stage where you want to sign multiple contracts. They can handle foreign rights for you and do all the bookwork.

On the downside, they charge up to 15 percent. So yes, you should try to get an agent if you want one. There are plenty of legitimate agents listed in the Writer’s Market. Another way to find a good agent is through word of mouth. Never pay a reading fee. Agents who ask for money up front make their living by charging fees, not by selling books.

■ Going Solo

If you either can’t get an agent to take you on because you're a new author or you simply don’t want one, you can query the editors at publishing houses yourself. Read their submission guidelines carefully and don’t try to change rules.

Guidelines can be found in the Writer’s Market, or by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to a specific publisher. Most editors want to see a synopsis and three sample chapters. The synopsis shouldn't be more than three pages. People disagree whether the outcome of a mystery should be revealed in the synopsis. I believe when selling a book you should tell how the story unfolds so the editor can get an idea of the plot’s plausibility. The sample chapters should be the first three chapters and not picked randomly from the book. If a publisher will accept a completed manuscript, then send the entire book.

***

Writing and selling a Mystery Novel: A Simple Step-by-Step Plan by Vickie Britton is available for purchase at Smashwords: http://tinyurl.com/4y75bt9 . It’s available in ten e-book formats.

***

About the Author:

A veteran traveler, Pat Browning's.globetrotting of the 1970s led to her work as a travel agent and correspondent for TravelAge West, a trade journal published in San Francisco. During the 1990s, she served as a newspaper reporter and columnist. Her mystery novel, Full Circle, first of her Penny McKenzie mystery series, was later republished as Absinthe of Malice. She's currently hard at work on the second novel in the series.

A Visit with R. P. Dahlke

RP was raised on her father’s 80 acres of Almonds & crop dusting ranch south of Modesto, California.  She’s been writing since 1994, first with a writing group in the East Bay Area and then when she and her husband went sailing, via the Guppies of Sisters in Crime, National.  When they settled in Southern Arizona, Rebecca started a chapter of Sisters in Crime and A Dead Red Cadillac was published by Treble Heart Publishing.

Rebecca, how would you describe your Lalla Baines series?

Murder mysteries with some laughter.

You ran your father’s crop dusting company in California during the 1980s? Did you fly or serve as CEO? Or both.

I sort of fell into the job when my dad decided he’d rather go on a cruise than take another season of lazy pilots, missing flaggers, testy farmers and horrific hours. After two years at the helm, I handed him back the keys and fled to a city without any of the above. And no, I was never a crop-duster.

Tell us about your writing background.

A few short stories got printed in a now defunct magazine and I was hooked. They say you should write what you know and at the time, I was able to use what I’d gleaned from my own experiences along with stories my son, John, who was a career crop-duster shared with me. When he died in a work related accident in 2005, I was unable to go back to it until 2010.

How important are organizations such as Sisters in Crime to a mid-list mystery writer?

SinC is like a big fat favorite granny. She’s warm and comforting and tells you you’re wonderful when everyone else tells you your writing is crap!

What’s your writing schedule like? Do you aim for a certain amount of words per day and do you outline?

Well… if I’m very very good, I can smack out 2,000 words a day… but then life gets in the way… like the Monument Fire this last week, and we were evacuated and living in our RV with two dogs and I was eating on nerves about our home burning to the ground instead of writing. I’m happy to say that the house survived and so did we!

What’s the most important ingredient in a good amateur sleuth novel?

I’m glad you asked that question because in A DEAD RED CADILLAC & A DEAD RED HEART, I write about a tall, blond and beautiful ex-model turned crop-duster who, to quote Lalla Bains, says: “I’ve been married so many times they oughta revolk my license.” I wanted to give readers a peek at the not so-perfect -life of a beautiful blond. Lalla Bains is no Danielle Steele character, she’s not afraid of chipping her manicure. Scratch that, the girl doesn’t have time for a manicure what with herding a bunch of recalcitrant pilots and juggling work orders just to keep her father’s flagging business alive.

Between a philandering famous Puerto Rican baseball husband and her long time widowed father’s triple by-pass, Lalla is now content to run her dad’s crop-dusting business in Modesto, California and avoid the paparazzi hounds who feast on the remains of those who aren’t famous anymore.

In A DEAD RED CADILLAC Lalla is once again brought into unwanted limelight and as she sees it, the only way she’s ever going to get her life back is if she can solve the mystery . And, as luck would have it, along the way finds the man who becomes the love of her life.

How do you promote your books? And how much time to you devote to online networking?

I believe that authors MUST use as many avenues as possible to promote their work. Branding is a term that comes from major corporations, like Pepsi and Ford and these companies understand that one ad in one magazine is not necessarily going to equal one sale. Your name over and over again, along with the name of your series; like A DEAD RED CADILLAC and A DEAD RED HEART gives you an edge on that branding.

Seeing a grave disparity between what is available to Indy authors as opposed to traditionally published authors, I created All Mystery e-Newsletter. July, 2011 is our first year anniversary and I’m pleased to say this is one of the fastest growing e-newsletters in the US. It’s clean, simple and easy to navigate: 12 new books from Indy as well as NY published authors. A colorful book cover, a quick synopsis, a few reviews and a buy button to Amazon for the e-book or paper back. Each month is themed: Romantic mysteries/suspense for Valentine’s day, Paranormal mysteries, The Funny Bone issue, Historical Mysteries, Murder at Work and ending the year with Cozies for Christmas—there’s something for everyone and I make sure that the Indy authors get a chance at the same exposure as say, Catherine Coulter and her newest Sherlock book… yes! Catherine and her publicist see the advantage of fan based venues like this and so should you.

It’s been a giggle to have to squeeze my own books into the line-up, but I enjoy doing it. I’ve recently expanded All Mystery to include a yahoo group so that fans can ask questions and authors can promote themselves with news about book signings, events & new offers.

Advice to aspiring mystery writers?

Self-publish because it encourages you to write instead of pinning all your hopes on that NY publisher. Besides, the more you write the better you get. And you’re branding your name, developing a fan base. Who knows, you may get an offer from that NY publisher—which you can then accept or not. Which reminds me; I gotta get busy and finish my latest book, a romantic sailing mystery set in exotic Mexico. I hope to have A DANGEROUS HARBOR ready for publication by the end of this summer.

Thanks, Rebecca.
You can visit Rebecca at her website: http://www.rpdahlke.com/
Her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RPDahlke
Amazon page: http://tinyurl.com/6l8y7gm
B&N page: http://tinyurl.com/6bldn9u

A visit with Sunny Frazier, Oak Tree Press Acquisitions Editor

Sunny Frazier is a mystery writer and acquisitions editor for Oak Tree Press. She speaks to writers groups and offers advice online to a group she calls her posse. She also dabbles in astrology, which has become the basis for her mystery series.

Sunny, what does an acquisitions editor look for in over the transom submissions?

First, I look to see if it's a genre we publish. We concentrate on mystery, romance, paranormal and Westerns. Next, I look at word count. Books are cost effective to print and sell between 55,000 and 85,000 words. Next, I google the person and see if they have any presence on the web. I want to know what they've done up to now in regards to their career. Then I look over the synopsis to see if it will fit in with our line. I will do a search to see how many cuss words are in the book, if there is a strong religious or political angle. We're looking for entertaining reads, not sex or violence.

Once I get past that, I look to see the level and quality of writing. I expect proper formatting, good grammar and spelling. Finally, I'm ready to read the story for plot and characters. 

What are the biggest mistakes writers make when submitting to a small press?
Usually, they lack any sort of knowledge of the publishing world. They have no expectations of marketing or the amount of work they will have to do to make a profit. They've heard stories of huge advances, big royalty checks, book tours. A small press doesn't have that sort of money or resources. It's usually just a handful of people running the company. Often they think they are being ripped off because their expectations are so unrealistic. I try to weed those authors out ahead of time.

What in your writing background prepared you to serve as an editor?

My degree is in journalism, so writing has always been a business for me. I write for an audience, not for my own pleasure. I understand many people want to think of writing as an art, but I think in commercial terms. I've applied that to acquisitions. Can this book sell? Is this author flexible?Where is the target market? How do I reach it? I factor in everything before I make recommendations to Billie Johnson, the publisher.

How did your interest in astrology come about and how have you incorporated it into your work?

I discovered astrology at 19 from a strong reaction when I saw Alexandra Mark's book <i>Astrology for the Aquarian Age </i>in the dusty window of a book store in El Monte, [California], where I worked as a telephone operator. Everything in the book just made sense, although it involves lots of numbers and calculations--not my strong point. I put it all away when I joined the Navy (they don't exactly approve of such things). I really kept it under wraps for a long time, but every once in awhile I'd sense someone would need their chart done. The word got around in the sheriff's department where I later worked. Many of the deputies wanted their horoscope done to see if they would die on the job. Women wanted to see if they would find love.

To write about astrology was a tough decision. Would people take me seriously or think I was a kook? I figured if I was going to put it in my mysteries, I would come clean about what I physically experience when I cast horoscopes. Some are so difficult, so sad, that I have to go to bed to recover. It's not all fun and games. It's telling people things that they might not be prepared to learn. It takes a toll on me. In order for my character, Christy Bristol, to ring true, I had to go pretty deep inside myself and try to find a way to explain it to readers without losing them in jargon. 
 
What are the most frequent questions asked when you talk to writers’ groups?

"How can I get published?" and "How much money do you make?"

How did your posse come about and how many members are there?

It started when I found people who queried me had potential but no clue as to the publishing industry. I market and research anyway, so I thought "Why make them navigate that maze?" I collected emails and started sending the group to sites that I found interesting or informative. I believe I can take 5 years off of a writer's career path if they just follow the lead. The title "Posse" is part of my law enforcement mentality.

There's 40 of us who ride together.  

What’s your current work n progress?

I'm working on the 3rd book in the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries: A Snitch in Time. As with the others, it has a real law enforcement story behind it. I'm also examining the friendship between Christy and her sidekick, Lennie. I also want to see if astrology can be used as a profiling tool.

What’s your work schedule like? And do you have a day job?

I'm retired. I get up, feed the cats, read my email and then pick up where I left off on the manuscript. I rest when my eyes get tired. I do acquisitions in the afternoon and sometimes late into the night. I work seven days a week and holidays. I don't have family obligations, children to worry about or a husband/boyfriend who needs my attention. The cats have to go outdoors if they become obnoxious. They don't know how to dial the SPCA to complain. 

What about your social media links?

I blog at Buried Under Books and the Oak Tree Press blog, monitor Facebook, Crime Space, Book Blog, She Writes, Authors and Publishers, a total of about 35 sites. I don't twitter, have no cell phone and screen my calls. I don't allow visitors, although I can be persuaded to go to lunch if a friend is buying. My time and energy is invested in the authors who query me, authors at the publishing house, my publisher and the Posse. Sounds boring, but I couldn't be happier.