By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
For years, I belonged to several email loops with other traditionally published mystery writers. We would share information and resources with each other and were on a blogging schedule to contribute to the group blog.
Eventually, I dropped out of all of these groups. One of my failings is my lack of patience and another is my overwhelming desire to fix things. These two issues combined with a dose of me-trying-to-be-professional meant that I was constantly biting my tongue while reading messages from these loops regarding author issues with our traditional publishers.
I was especially sad on the occasions when an author would apologize for having their series canceled. They would be in the process of pitching another series to their agent and/or publisher and would offer to drop out of the blog since they weren’t sure if they were going to continue being contracted writers.
I knew that any advice I gave, at least at the time, about them getting their rights to their characters back and continuing their series through self-publishing probably wouldn’t be well-received. But it really shook me to hear them. It was as if they would accept defeat….not be a writer anymore. Because of some whim of the market or the publisher. Or maybe simply because their editor moved on to another publisher, “orphaning” the series. They’d accept this as the inevitable end of their series and sometimes their career. A bad sales record follows writers and other publishers might not want to gamble on them.
Maybe these authors still even had readers for the series. They’d mention that they still got emails or Facebook messages from readers asking about their next book in the series. They’d mention having to carefully word the truth—that the publisher didn’t want any more books.
As you can imagine, this all would frustrate the stew out of me. But I knew these authors were aware of self-publishing. There was an anti-self-pub bias in the loops, actually. I didn’t think they’d find my advice to take their series indie very helpful. I’d complain about this to my husband, who eventually pleaded with me to drop out of the loops—that they appeared to be making my blood pressure rise. :)
And so I did. Frankly, even if my advice to self-publish was well-received, did I really want the competition?
My own experience was similar to those writers who had their series dropped. My first traditionally published Myrtle Clover book was Pretty is as Pretty Dies with Midnight Ink, a division of Llewellyn. After the first book published, it seemed to me to be selling well. I wrote another book for the series and was politely rejected.
In my head, though, it wasn’t over. I had the book. I knew I had readers.
My agent offered to shop the series to another publisher. I decided that was probably going to take too long—that I would have to start over again with a new reader base.
One big eye-opening moment for me was when I was on a book tour and at a panel event with other mystery writers…promoting my new series for Penguin. They opened the floor up for questions and my first question, right out of the gate, was from a reader asking when my next Myrtle Clover was going to come out.
Later on that same tour, I got the same question from another reader at a signing.
It was obvious to me then that I couldn’t just accept that the series was over. That hadn’t been my gut reaction anyway. I had the ability to continue writing as many books as I wanted in that series. What was more, I felt I had something of a responsibility to my readers to do so.
The future of my series depended on my readers and me. It had nothing to do with what was hot, who wanted to contract books with elderly protagonists, or the rapidly changing editors at my publisher. And that knowledge was empowering.
This is one reason why I feel strongly that this is the best time in history to be a writer.
Doesn’t matter what those mystery writers in the group think now, does it?
Readers asking for the next book? That sounds familiar. Only it was me who wanted it to end, not my publisher.
You gave your fans what they wanted. That’s far more important than any big contract.
Alex–It doesn’t matter, and what a relief!
You also take the responsibility to readers very seriously–you have even written books for them when you were ready to move on from writing!
I never really thought of it that way, but now that you mentioned it, a lot of series do get cancelled, and readers are left hanging.
Francis–Exactly. I’m a series reader myself, and I’m usually crushed when a series ends (for whatever reason).
Elizabeth, you’re always an inspiration to me as a writer – your professionalism, work ethic, and connection to your readers. Thanks for sharing this with us. I’m so glad you decided to take control of your series and write more!
As a completely self-pubbed mystery writer (rather than a hybrid author), I find it difficult to find a place in the mystery writer sphere. I stopped going to the Malice Domestic conventions several years ago because they refuse to recognize indie mystery authors: no signing tables, no sales in the vendors’ store, no panel talks, no Agatha award nominations. As much as I love the panel talks and getting to meet some wonderful authors, it just became too painful to be there, knowing I wasn’t considered part of that professional community of authors. Mystery Writers of America is firmly entrenched in the traditional-pub world, too, so I guess these conventions are taking their cue from them. It seems so unnecessary, particularly when you see vibrant, professional writers’ organizations such as RWA embracing their indie authors.
That being said (I’m stepping off my soapbox now), I wouldn’t trade being an indie for anything. It has given me a chance to live my dream. I love the control I have over my final product, too. It would be tough to go traditional after this.
It really is the best time in history to be a writer! :)
K.B. I hate to say it, but the mystery genre has, I think, a good number of…let’s say not very forward-thinking writers. I’ve observed this is both their initial reluctance to embrace social media and their slowness to embrace the digital future. I have no explanation for this, but have found it frustrating. This attitude even seems to include to younger mystery writers, so not an age thing.
It really, really annoys me when I go to events and my self-published books are not even mentioned. Only the two Penguin series. The self-published series is my most popular, but it is inevitably ignored when I attend conferences, panels, or library events.
I dropped out of MWA and haven’t been to Malice since 2009. :(
Enjoy being an indie and those other writers will come around! By then, we will be far ahead of the pack, though, in terms of self-publishing experience and know-how.
Although I know a couple mystery writers who are absolutely RABID about being indie ;)
Joel–Most definitely! And I guess it’s not our place to convince the masses. :)
Shun the nonbelievers. It’s enough work helping existing converts.
It’s all about filling a need. That’s what I tell people at my seminars – while you are writing the book, consider who is your target reader, what are your book’s benefits, and does it fill a need. Your fans wanted more books and you gave it to them.
Diane–It’s a great approach to both finding an audience and keeping them…considering the readers and what they want.
Best Beloved and I spent last winter watching old cancelled series online. One or two seasons of excellent stuff, dropped from TV because the money wasn’t there.
Now, A&E has done it with their highest rated series ever, Longmire. The cast and tens of thousands of fans are fighting to find a new home for the show, but the reality is that this stupendous show may end with a cliffhanger the writers never get a chance to resolve.
And that is the frustration we feed our readers when we kill a series.
(Also one reason I a am foaming-at-the-mouth rabid fomented of independent publishing.)
Joel–I’m doing the same…discovering series that are interesting but were dumped because they didn’t have an audience by whatever deadline. I have to be careful on Netflix because I don’t want to invest time in something that doesn’t have a real conclusion. You’re right…it’s exactly what publishers do to readers. Very frustrating.
Some of my mainstream romance author friends have had similar experiences to yours, Elizabeth, and they patiently waited (some are still waiting) to get the rights to their story-worlds back in order to self-publish. I’m thrilled that authors have more options now! But I still feel it’s an uphill battle for most new indie authors (who haven’t been published traditionally) to find readership.
Jill–I’ve heard that some writers have really had a tough time getting their rights back. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t in the financial position to get a lawyer to get them for us. Those of us who still have agents for the series could ask them to help…many agents are lawyers. How motivated the agent would be, though? Who knows. Victoria Strauss had a great article on rights reversion recently: http://ow.ly/Chbl8 .
I think it can be an uphill battle for unknown indies but if the story is really good, the cover is really good, the editing is really good…and then the writer continues writing the series or other books, they have a much better chance.
Elizabeth – Thanks vor sharing your thoughts about self-publishing and your decision to go that route. It’s such a difficult decision, but as you say, self-publishing allows the author to have real ownership of her or his characters and series. I know the feeling of wanting to give up writing because publishers and agents don’t seem interested in one’s work. Self-publishing is certainly one way to develop confidence in one’s ability to reach readers.
Margot–That ownership can both be exhilarating and scary!
One of the reasons I went indie is because of my experience as a reader of mysteries. I had just spent 15 years of anger and frustration as every promising series I started to read simply VANISHED because of the publisher dropping them before they got started.
It’s going to take a while for the field to get healthy again, I think, because a lot of readers like me stopped looking for new mysteries and mostly shop for old used books. Many of the mystery fans I know are only now coming to ebooks — because those golden age classics are available. I don’t know if mystery will become what it once was (the most dominant genre of all) but I expect this will be the next breakout genre.
If I have anything to say about it, mysteries in print will grow like bamboo. My Chandleresque cozies seem to be filling a gap; my fans love me almost as much as I love them.
Joel–There is a *huge* audience for traditional mysteries. We just have to connect with it.
BTW, you had me at “Chandler-esque cozy.” I went and bought your first book.
That’s too marvelous for words; thank you!
My first mystery, Through the Fog, might be my least Chandleresque, though it has some twisty twists all right. If you’re a fan of Chandler and you like digital books, perhaps if you emailed me a reminder, there might be a free copy of A Long, Hard Look in your future, Camille . . .
Camille–I can totally relate. I liked reading unpopular mysteries, too. :) It was incredibly frustrating when they’d get canceled.
And you’re so right. A lot of mystery readers I know do shop in used bookstores for old books. I would *love* for mystery to be the new breakout genre.
I never thought of this before, but you’re right. It;s just another reason why I love having the power to publish my own work and not sell my soul (and rights) to a TP. :)
Shah–It’s too hard to find an audience–it’s terrible if we’re put in a position where we have to abruptly walk away from it.
That is a very encouraging story. I am a series writer too, though I never went through a traditional publisher. I am also a slow writer, so that hasn’t helped me in the series area either. But to hear how a traditional house could squash a series before the finale, it makes me feel happy I went the self-publishing route.
Thank you for this post.
Loni–The creative and business freedom we get as independent writers is unbelievably rewarding, isn’t it? Thanks for coming by.
Elizabeth–
I followed up to the point where the Myrtle Clover series was dropped by your initial publisher. When your agent offered to shop the series to other publishers, you saw this as meaning you’d have to “start over.” Why? Readers don’t care much about who publishes the books they like. If you have readers, well, you have readers. Or was it a matter of frustration about how glacially slow everything is in trad publishing? From what I’ve been reading, a successful trad writer is in the best position to publish work as an indie. Especially someone like you with a strong, deserved reputation online. The fans will follow, the pay is great–what’s not to like?
Hi Barry!
You’ve hit on it–it’s the glacial pace of publishing. If my agent had shopped the series in mid-to-late 2010 (she was talking about St. Martin’s and Penguin, among others), then it probably would have been a 6 month process to acceptance…or possibly rejection. Added to that, there would be a month or so with the contract negotiations. Then a year in production for the book. So it could have conceivably come out in 2012 when the original came out in 2009. I put the book out myself in 2011 (although I will admit that I was slow to self-publish…for me it was the process of trying to figure out what I should do while I was very busy).
Hi Elizabeth, I have not yet attempted to publish, still learning the craft. I love your column, and these regarding self-publishing have been particularly interesting. This came up at a dinner party recently, where I was asked whether or not self-publishing was “cheating”. I was able to address the pros and cons intelligently thanks to your columns and all the wonderful information you provide. Appreciate you!
Tami–Thanks so much! And best wishes to you with your writing and the publishing process.
Great advice! I don’t (and never have) understood the reluctance to even consider self-pubbing! While working with a publisher would be great, there are lots of advantages to the indie route :)
Jemi–It’s simply validation from publishers that they crave. I’d rather have validation from my readers, indicated by sales. :)
The freedom of being Indie and Self-published opens the floodgates of creativity, doesn’t it? I can go where I wish with my series of novels. Jump from the Old West to WWII to Egypt in 1895 to Post-Katrina New Orleans. I have fun. Hopefully, my readers do, too! :-)
Roland–I think we can offer readers a lot of really varied stories without the publisher restrictions. :) That’s very rewarding for a creative person!
Hi Elizabeth – so well put … people can so easily put us down … as authors, as bloggers or as you and many others have experienced from publishers … when the world is our oyster and we just need to persevere and work our way round ‘things’ and get things moving along our own tracks …
I agree there are so many opportunities out there … cheers and I’m so glad you’re here with this blogging group – it’s always good to read your practical, sensible, logical posts … Hilary
Hilary–So many opportunities, for sure. And thanks so much for coming by…hope you have a happy week!
Elizabeth, thanks so much for writing this post, even though I’ve come in late to read it. One way or another, there has to be a really good way for non-trad published authors to reach their potential readers–that’s when the self-pub stigma will really start to fade.
Meg–I think there are things we can do to help on our end (making sure our cover advertises our genre correctly, making sure we understand our genre and mark it correctly when we’re cataloging it at publication), and then there are things Amazon does to help on their end…mainly with their algorithm that puts our book in front of people who read the genre. As you’re pointing out, sales figures are a great equalizer. :)