Starting on book number 11

Last week I finished the page proofs for my tenth book, a title for Osprey Publishing's new Raid series. Ride Around Missouri: Shelby's Great Raid 1863 continues my research on the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. There'll be more to come! It's available for preorder if you want to be nice to me.

This week I'm starting research on book number 11, another title in Osprey's Raid series. Osprey is good to me so I keep writing for them. The Last Ride of the James-Younger Gang--Jesse James and the Northfield Raid 1876 is taking Osprey in a new direction with Wild West books. Mine is the first and I'm sure it won't be the last.

This is what it's like to be a midlist writer. You finish one project and start the next one. Year in, year out. Eleven books is small potatoes compared with some midlisters. In an article I wrote about midlisters, I interviewed half a dozen midlisters about their careers. Three stood out. Jane Toombs has published more than 80 novels, the majority of them romance, with big names such as Silhouette and Avon. Lawrence Schimel has published more than 90 books and almost 200 short stories. Sally Odgers beats them all with about 300 titles in virtually all genres.

I'm only 41, so I figure I have at least thirty years of active writing life ahead of me. When I think of the number of books, articles, and blog posts I'll do in that time, sometimes I get really excited, and sometimes I feel exhausted!

Ah well, back to writing!

Guest article: researching a Western horror detective novel

Today we have a guest post from fellow midlist author Lincoln Crisler. Crisler’s debut novella, WILD, has just come out from Damnation Books. He has also authored two short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia, with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

WILD is my third published book, but my first long-form story. Of course, I couldn’t pick something easy. No, I had to write a Western-style horror/detective novella based on a real missing-persons case from the Old West, and set it in the actual geographic location. While deployed to the Middle East. Granted, this was the easiest I’ve ever had it of my three deployments, but beer is easier to get than a fully-stocked reference library!

Obviously, the Internet was my friend. Wikipedia in particular saved my ass; it was, in fact, how I discovered the story of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain. When the idea of writing a detective-horror-western popped into my head, that’s all I started with. Only after my friends and readers selected it from a pair of options did I search for historical inspiration. I found the information on Mexican mythology and ritual spellcraft on a couple of other sites. I also had to look for a few Spanish words (such as tesquino, a period-specific form of local beer, and several swear words).

The rest of my research consisted entirely of making sure I had my geography in order. This should have been a little more difficult than it was, but luckily the real-life story I fell in love with just happened to take place in the El Paso, Texas area. I’d been living in El Paso since 2007 and was, in fact, deployed from Fort Bliss when I wrote WILD. I still had to get a feel for Mesilla and Las Cruces, and particularly for that exact time period, but the Internet helped again, and my own knowledge informed my descriptions of the landscape. I had originally envisioned the magician’s lair in El Paso’s Franklin Mountains, but after research and consideration, the Organ Mountains were a better choice, for instance (even though only about ten miles separate the two ranges!).

The only part of my research not to bear fruit was my attempt to procure an intern from a local college; someone interested in writing and/or history, whose professor would be willing to give them extra credit for a couple hours of work. A little fact-checking and fine-tuning of my Spanish, more or less. I tried putting this together when I got home from Qatar (I finished drafting WILD a week before coming home) and I honestly don’t remember why it fell through, but I just don’t have much luck with the academic types. Phooey. Even then, the Force was with me. When the manuscript was accepted, I was able to have the book copy-edited by a fellow author and El Paso resident, Tim Marquitz.

Researching the history and culture behind WILD was easily as enjoyable an experience as writing the book itself, and probably consumed at least as much time by itself. I read a long time ago that more work goes into a book than the reader ever knows, and I’m glad I got a chance to share some of that with you today. Working within a historical framework can definitely be as satisfying as making everything up from scratch!

Interview with fantasy author A.J. Walker

It's nice to meet fellow writers who share your interests. I met A.J. Walker on an archaeology discussion group and discovered he's just published a novel with Double Dragon Publishing, one of the top two ebook publishers that does something other than erotica. His work is called Roots Run Deep and that's what we're talking about here today.

So, how does it feel to have your first novel published?
Exciting and exhausting. It's been six years in the making and it's a thrill to see it finally out there. That said, I'm learning that publishing isn't the last step. There's a lot of promo work to do for an unknown writer to get noticed. So many ebooks come out every week it's easy to get lost in the flood.

Tell us a bit about Roots Run Deep
This is the tale of Kip Itxaron, a goblin thief and sorceress trying to make her way as a second-class citizen in a kingdom dominated by humans. When the human King Roderick is deposed, they are thrown together by fate. Roderick offers her people equality if Kip rallies an army to help him take his throne back. Kip must struggle with her own self doubts, her mistrust of humankind, her fear of battle, and the divisions among her people in order to lead them to a better future.

One thing that's interesting about Kip is that she isn't really good at anything except getting into trouble.
I like having flawed characters. Yes, she's a bit of a mess at the beginning of the book, but she gets better!

I've noticed Roots Run Deep has a lot of anthropological detail. I had fun playing "spot the reference". You seem to put a lot of your academic research into your work. What are your main inspirations?
I am a Medievalist by profession and so my writing is deeply rooted in that era. My archaeological training exposed me to lots of different cultures. Readers of Roots Run Deep will find aspects of Native American, Pacific Island, Neolithic Switzerland, and contemporary American culture in my work. And yes Sean, your email is right, those statues were inspired by the Kurgan culture!

Why did you choose to epublish rather than going the traditional route?
Impatience with the traditional houses, mostly. They take a year to get back to you and don't want you to simultaneously submit. Now with all the belt tightening they are taking fewer books, far fewer from first-timers like me. I really feel that epublishers are the way to go to establish a fan base.

What's next for you?
I'm working on a sequel to Roots Run Deep called The Maze of Mist. It follows the adventures of Kip and Roderick's biracial son as he tries to deal with being part of neither race while being expected to rule both. I also have a couple of other books in the works, including a mystery/thriller and a collection of fantasy short stories. Check out my writing blog to keep up to date on what's happening!


Thanks for being here, A.J., and be sure to check out his blog for an interesting feature he's doing called Medieval Mondays. I learned something about Viking navigation!

Guest Midlister: Jennifer Cloud

Today we have a guest post from one of my fellow midlist authors at Damnation Books, publishers of my historical horror story. So without further ado. . .

My name is Jennifer Cloud. I’m a genre writer. I dabble in suspense, horror, and the paranormal. I’ve had more than a dozen short stories published, many novellas, and many novels. So far I’ve had two agents, both AAR members and successful. Neither was able to do much for me. Most of my work is in electronic format. My most recent title is Magic Rising, released by Damnation Books.

Writing is a difficult business. The marriage of art and business is not an easy one. To be a good writer, you have to write what you love but sometimes that isn't what sells.

The normal route for a writer is to write a novel. (Keep in mind this is write, rewrite, edit, trash it, start over, rewrite, bang your head against the desk, hope you've written something good, then start over again.) Next an author searches for an agent. Once they've bagged one, most authors relax expecting a book deal in the near future.

That isn't what always happens. Marketing departments decide what gets published. With large publishers, an acquisitions editor may fall in love with a work only to have marketing kill the proposal. It’s back to the business side. Is the genre oversaturated? How did the last novel perform that happened to be similar to yours? Who are you? What will make people buy your book over the dozen or so similar titles on the shelf? If you get the deal, will you sell enough copies to please your publisher or will you be dropped?

We've all heard the nightmares: acquisitions editors fired and books left in limbo, contracts canceled, major publishers becoming electronic only, authors not being picked up at box stores thus hurting their sales and chances of future book deals.

Of course this has also opened up the playing field for the smaller publisher. Smaller publishers can take a chance on an author or subject simply because they love the work. Technology has made it easier for the little guys to compete with the big publishers. Prices for ebook readers have dropped and people have become more accepting of the technological advances.

Do your homework before signing with any publisher. Small publishers generally have lower sales numbers, smaller marketing dollars, smaller staffs, and can fold without notice. Some publishers can actually be a mark against you. I won't mention names, but listing a credit from a known scam operation will not get you noticed.

I landed my first agent years ago. I won't go into the details but we parted ways. At the time, I didn't understand how my agent could love my work and not find a house for it. I ended up on my own again. Meanwhile, the publishing landscape was changing. I fell in love with ebooks. For me, there was a wider selection with plot lines that seemed to hold no limits. I strived to be published by one of the big boys but any chance of reaching a person would do. I went with a small electronic/POD house.

I found I wasn't alone. I did my homework, networked and met a wonderful woman who had been dropped by her major publishing house. Why? Midlist crunch and a strike had her novels sitting in boxes with no chance of being sold. On paper, she sold nothing and was gone. She's now a POD/electronic author. She isn't alone. Many talents would go unheard if it wasn't for the small press.

I've met authors who thought electronic/POD books were nothing more than an outlet for the talentless. Times change. Even the larger houses are using POD and electronic mediums. Acceptance still isn't complete but at least I know there are readers out there who enjoy my work.

The Indie Press: Saviors of the Midlist?

It's tough being a midlist author these days. The big six New York publishers are cutting back and demanding every publication be a hit. They no longer want to invest in an author who can only sell 10,000 copies in the hopes that she'll either become famous with time or (horrors!) keep a loyal following that ensures she'll sell 10,000 copies of each of her next dozen books. It's feast or famine with the big boys these days.

But now small and independent presses are stepping up the the plate. Publishers Weekly has had some interesting articles about how midlist authors are being saved by the smaller guys.

An article titled Smaller Presses, Bigger Authors reveals the big six want 20,000-30,000 sales per book or you'll get dropped. Established writers, even famous writers, are having a tough time selling books that are a bit out of the box, a bit too experimental. Alice Walker went to indie press New World Library to publish a collection of her poems. It sold out its 7,500 copy first printing. Great sales for an indie, a financial flop for a big publisher.

Oh great. I have a hard enough time getting my books published even at indie presses, and now I have to compete with Alice Walker!?

But seriously, this is good news for the midlist too. Small and indie presses are more open to unestablished authors and experimental work. If they think a book can sell 5,000 copies they'll give it a shot. Some really small presses are happy with less than that. Your advance will be much lower, but you'll generally get a bigger percentage of the royalties and you'll be under less pressure to become a big name. It appears the smaller houses have a more realistic view of the marketplace. That's why they're blossoming right now.

Indie presses report seeing more manuscripts from established authors, as well as debut literary fiction from unknowns. This has been going on for some time. Back in 2007 PW profiled Night Shade Books. In that article they tell how the company has done well with good choices of authors, good distribution, and taking on sf/f books that are cool but not bestseller material. Even successful sf author Liz Williams moved from Bantam to Night Shade after her sales weren't good enough for such a large publisher.

Night Shade has a solid reputation, pays an advance, and can sell thousands of copies. Not hundreds of thousands, or even tens of thousands, but thousands. That's realistic, and they won't dump you if you "only" sell 7,000 copies. I met the owners at World Fantasy Con a few years back and they're very approachable and down to earth. That's a big plus too.

So maybe this isn't such a bad time to be a midlister after all.