The Long and Winding Road

Keith Raffel here for the first time in a while.

I live in Palo Alto, California and worked in high tech for a quarter century. That makes me a Silicon Valley guy.

What does that mean?

That means I’m almost always willing to try something new. If it pays off, fine. If not, well, that’s fine, too. I’ll just try something else.

Getting into novel-writing was something new. I was a little bored at my job so I signed up for a mystery-writing class at UC Berkeley Extension. When my work life heated up, I threw a half-finished manuscript into a drawer. A few years later I pulled it out and finished it. I found an agent who sold Dot Dead to Midnight Ink. Twenty months after signing the deal the book came out. Midnight Ink bought my next book, too. (I am skipping over the trials and tribulations of querying agents and publishers – another time.)

The reviews on my first two books were encouraging, and the second even showed up on a national bestseller list. Okay, good. Now it was time to see if I could support myself at this writing gig: what I was making with a traditional publisher wasn’t going to cut it. So I decided to try something new. I self-published my next two books, Drop By Drop and A Fine and Dangerous Season, and put them up on Amazon and BN.com. Somewhat to my surprise, I sold more copies and made more money than I had on my first two books. Another few steps down the road to making a living.

Amazon has its own publishing arm for crime fiction called Thomas and Mercer who were impressed enough with A Fine and Dangerous Season’s sales to offer to buy rights to it and bring it out under its own imprint. Sure, why not give it a try? It was a great ride. On one glorious day this past March, I saw my book ranked as the #5 seller on all of Amazon.com. But I still wasn’t making enough to support myself, let alone pay for another two kids’ worth of college tuition.

So I was ready to try something new to move the ball down the road. I decided to raise money via Kickstarter, the crowd-sourcing site, for my fifth novel, Temple Mount. Why? Two reasons. First, I wanted to get buy-in from my fans. There’s an old Silicon Valley saying that when you eat a bacon-and-egg breakfast, the chicken participates, the pig commits. I wanted commitment from my fans (but I did want to keep them alive, too). And I think I got it. They were co-publishing right along with me and had a stake in the venture. They’ve helped the spread the word and 50 of them even helped edit the book. (Paying for the privilege to edit? That made me feel like Tom Sawyer.) I’ve been blown away by their enthusiasm and generosity. Second, the money raised spurred me to try something new, or maybe old, to publicize Temple Mount. Starting next week we’re running an ad for it on Bay Area cable stations. (You can see the ad below.) I’m keeping my fingers crossed on how it does.

So here I am, getting closer to my goal of making a living as a writer, but still not quite there. When I started at this game, I went the only way I could: signing with a traditional publisher. Now an author can also self-publish, publish via a publisher with a new model like Thomas and Mercer or Polis or Brash, or even crowd-publish. Any one of them might be the right one for an aspiring author or even an old hack like me. It just depends what she or he wants.

I do feel lucky to be writing in a time where authors have choices.

Cheers,
Keith 

Before turning to writing full-time, Keith Raffel watched over the CIA, supported himself at the racetrack, founded a software company, taught writing to Harvard freshmen, ran for Congress, and sold DNA sequencing to medical researchers. He became a published author in 2006 with Dot Dead, which the New York Times said was “worthy of a Steve Jobs keynote presentation.” These days he can usually be found tapping his laptop’s keys and power-drinking green tea at a café around the corner from his home in California’s Silicon Valley. His latest novel Temple Mount ("a terrific battle of wit and wills" -Steve Berry) came out this month.

My Awesome WPA Weekend

By: Maegan Beaumont

This week, registration for Lee Lofland's Writer's Police Academy is underway. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this fantastic event last year....

I’ve had a lot of highlights in my life. Getting married. Having babies. Adopting my sons. Landing a literary agent. Getting my first publishing contract…

Attending WPA definitely made the list.

Thursday night was my ride along with Greensboro PD and I had the good fortune to be assigned to Officer Henley. It was a quiet night. Not one traffic stop. Not one call. I won’t lie, I was a bit disappointed, but he was such a great guy—very patient and easy to talk to. He answered my questions and even apologized a few times that there wasn’t more to show me. I told him that a quiet night was a good thing for him and I was just happy to be there.

And I was.

Friday brought FATs training. It looks like a video game, but the gun they give you is real (just fit with a compressed air cartridge so if feels and sounds close to the real thing). They put us through two training scenarios… scenario #1 had me chasing an armed prison escapee. I shot him in the throat. #2 had me trying to deescalate an armed man who took his co-worker hostage. He got it in the head. Good times!

The rest of my day was filled with great, informative talks on such light-hearted topics as human trafficking, analyzing blood evidence and learning how to lift fingerprints.

Every single one of my instructors was an expert in their field, and they really seemed to want to help make my writing better. The day ended in the auditorium of GTCC, with two hundred other writers, listening to a very fascinating talk given by Dr. Beth Murray, a forensic anthropologist.

Back at the hotel, we had the privilege of listening to Dr. Kathrine Ramsland give a night-owl talk on observation and how to sharpen your skills and apply them to your writing… and Lee Child was there, sitting at the table next to mine. We chatted briefly before the talk—he is probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. No joke.

Saturday started with a bang! Literally. As soon as we got off the bus, we were herded over to the side parking lot where a trained sniper started giving us a demonstration… but before he could get the good part—like shooting—a SUV ripped past us, followed by three squad cars, light flashing and sirens blaring! We watched as the SUV spun through the parking lot, police cruisers close behind, before it came to a sudden stop. Police piled out and began shouting commands at the driver and his passenger… it was an felony stop re-enactment.

And it was awesome.

The rest of the day brought me lectures on suicides, hanging and auto-erotic deaths (already got ideas for this one… go figure), police gun fights, handcuffing and arrest procedures and the highlight of my weekend (along with my ride along) … the shallow grave exercise.

About thirty of us were turned loose in the woods to find a body—like some sort of gruesome Easter egg hunt, and who’s the lucky girl that found him?? That’s right—me!

The day ended with another fabulous talk about the judicial system, led by Marcia Clark—yes, that Marcia Clark. She was funny and engaging—and she’s a writer herself. Sometimes other writers are a bit selfish with sharing ideas and techniques. Not Marcia Clark—she gave ‘til it hurt!

Saturday night was the big night. A silent auction, followed by a banquet and then the keynote speech given by Lee Child himself. He’s a wonderful speaker, very relatable—you can tell that he has a passion, not only for writing, but for other writers as well. It was a wonderful thing to see in someone so well-known.

Afterward, he signed books. When it was my turn, I had one signed for my mom and when asked if I wanted my picture taken with him, I declined (because I’m an idiot, that’s why.) and then shook his hand like I’d just interviewed him for a job (I’m not only an idiot, I’m a socially awkward idiot, to boot). He looked a bit confused but played along… my plans to ask him for a book blurb flew out the window.

Sunday brought me home. Close to 20 hours spent between airports and planes before I was able to crawl into my own bed in over four days…. And the last thing I remember thinking before drifting off to sleep was—

I wonder what Lee Lofland will have cooked up for next year…

This year WPA's keynote speaker is Lisa Gardner with appearances by Kathy Reichs and Dr.Katherine Ramsland, among others. This one of the greatest experiences a mystery writer can have and each year, it gets better and better!

Maegan Beaumont is the author of  Carved in Darkness, book #1 in the Sabrina Vaughn thriller series available through Midnight Ink, May 8th, 2013.

INKSPOT NEWS - August 18, 2012

Sale! Sale! Sale! Great news! Amazon has put the Kindle version of many Midnight Ink mystery books on sale from August 11 - 23 as part of its "August Big Deal" promotion. Move fast to take advantage of this special promotion, and please spread the word to all of your mystery reading friends!

Here are the titles available for a measly $1.99 during August 11 - 23:

C.S. Challinor's Murder of the Bride
Beth Groundwater's Deadly Currents and Wicked Eddies
J. B. Stanley's Stiffs and Swine
Terri Thayer's Old Maid's Puzzle

Here are the titles available for $1.99 only on August 24th, as part of Amazon's "Kindle Happy Anniversary Deal" promotion:

Sue Ann Jaffarian's Ghost in the Polka Dot Bikini
Karen MacInerney's Dead and Berried
G. M. Malliet's Death and the Chick Lit
Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore's The Grail Conspiracy and The Phoenix Apostles

Also, on Saturday, August 25, 2012, from 9 AM – 4:30 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will present an “Engineering a Mystery and The Art of Dialogue Writing” Workshop at the Chaffee County Writers Exchange in the Meeting Room of the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, 29780 US Highway 24, Buena Vista, CO 81211. There's still time to sign up to attend! Beth will sell and sign copies of her books after the workshop ends.

INKSPOT NEWS - June 16, 2012

Today Beth Groundwater will appear at the First in Boating on the Arkansas (FIBArk) whitewater festival in Salida, Colorado, the locale for her RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series. She will sign copies of the recently released second book in the series, Wicked Eddies, at The Book Haven, 128 F Street, from 10:30 - noon after the conclusion of the parade. In the afternoon, she'll sign copies at The Book Haven booth near the FIBArk festival grounds from 1:30 - 4 PM.

On Thursday, June 21st, from 5 - 8 PM, Beth Groundwater will sign copies of Wicked Eddies, the second book in her RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, at the Covered Treasures Bookstore, 105 Second Street, Monument, CO 80132-1066 during the town's monthly Art Walk.

And the final BIG news about Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater is that the Kindle ebook edition of her mystery, Deadly Currents, the first book in the RM Outdoor Adventures series, went on sale yesterday at Amazon for the amazingly cheap price of $1.99. The sale lasts two weeks, so hurry over to HERE to buy yours!


Today, Jennifer Harlow will appear at Supernatural Saturday: A Mysterious Adventure put on by MysteryBooksOnline.com. The program lasts from 11am-5pm with Buffet Lunch, Author signings, and panels. She will be on the Fun and Challenges of Writing Horror Fiction panel from 1-2pm with signings at 4pm at The Holly Inn, 31 South Baltimore Ave, Mount Holly Springs, PA 17065, (717) 486-3823. To register call 1-866- MY ALIBI. 

A Wild Ride!

Last week on Friday, January 6th, the Kindle ebook version of Deadly Currents, the first book in my RM Outdoor Adventure mystery series, was the Amazon Kindle Daily Deal, on sale for 99 cents, a $9.00 discount from its normal Amazon price, for the short space of 24 hours. Man, was it a wild ride!

How did it happen? Publishers can submit books to Amazon for consideration for the Kindle Daily Deal in a three month period. Amazon selects which books they are going to feature on each day during that period and selects the price they are going to sell the books for: $.99, $1.99 or $2.99. My Midnight Ink editor asked me if I was willing to have Deadly Currents submitted to the program. My answer was, "Heck, yeah!"

After a few weeks wait, my editor notified me that Amazon had selected Deadly Currents for January 6th. We didn't know what price they would put on it, and wouldn't know until the actual day. So, I prepared myself to help promote the sale. Most of the promotion, of course, would be handled by Amazon, but I could help by alerting my personal contacts.

I sent out an email newsletter to my subscribers the day before, telling them about the sale. I spent a couple of hours on the morning of January 6th alerting my Facebook and Goodreads followers, other social networks, my yahoogroups, and my Goodreads and Facebook groups. I also notified my critique group and book club and personal friends, though many of them already had copies of the books. I asked everyone to help spread the word to their mystery-reading friends.


Then I sat back and watched the book soar through the ranks throughout the day. When I first logged on in the early morning, its rank was already in the low five digits. Soon the rank was down to four digits. When it dropped into the hundreds, I started to get really excited. But the wild ride was far from over!

By the time I went to bed that night, Deadly Currents had reached the rank of #3 in the Kindle Store, #1 in Amazon's Mystery, Thriller & Suspense list (ahead of The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo), and #1 in Amazon's Literature & Fiction list (ahead of The Help). What a sale!

At the end of the next day, Deadly Currents was still in the top ten of all three categories, and lingered there for awhile before starting a slow slide. Also, Google Alerts started popping up, showing all of the websites that had announced the sale. The exposure that the sale brought me was worth much more than the royalties I gave up, I'm sure.


All I can say is thank-you, Midnight Ink, for making such an astute move! Both my publisher and I hope that once readers read Deadly Currents, they'll develop an appetite for the RM Outdoor Adventure mystery series and line up to purchase copies of the second book, Wicked Eddies, when it is released in May.

GROSS INEQUITIES

On Friday I’m flying to Florida to give the keynote address at the Ancient City Romance Writers Boot Camp on the Beach retreat. Because I have to fly through Atlanta to connect to Jacksonville, I’m going to spend a week visiting family outside of Atlanta before returning home. The difference in the cost of the flight to do this on Delta was approximately $75.

The end of January I’ll once again be in Florida, speaking at the Space Coast Writers’ Guild Conference. Once again, I have to switch planes in Atlanta. Only this time Delta wants to charge me an additional $277 to stay in Atlanta instead of immediately hopping on my connecting flight coming home. If I were to fly roundtrip to Melbourne, FL without staying over in Atlanta, the flight would be $206.80. Spending time in Atlanta increases the flight to $483.80, even though I HAVE TO SWITCH PLANES IN ATLANTA ANYWAY!

Where is the sense in this? On any given day on any flight, the person to my left may have paid half what I paid for my seat, and the person to my right may have paid three times what I paid. The seats are the same. The person who paid three times what I paid isn’t getting three times the service. He’s getting the same non-service I’m getting.

And why am I telling you about this, given Inkspot is a writing blog? I’m about to draw a parallel here that brings this all back to writing.

Just the other day I read an article in the New York Times about Amazon’s new publishing division.  According to the article, Amazon purportedly paid actress/director Penny Marshall an $800,000 advance for a memoir. I know several people who recently sold books to  Amazon’s new fiction lines. They're not getting a dime in the away of an advance. See where I’m going here? On any given day in any given bookstore, the book to the left of mine may have received half the advance I received for my book, while the book to the right of mine may have received ten, twenty, or even 100 times the advance I received for my book. The book to my left might wind up selling better than my book, and my book might wind up selling better than the one to my book’s right.

A huge advance is no guarantee of huge sales. More often than not, the books that receive six, seven, and eight figure advances wind up never earning out those advances. I saw one statistic a few years ago that claimed 80% of celebrity memoirs and fiction “written” by celebrities (We all know they’re actually ghost written. You really didn’t think Snooki actually wrote A Shore Thing, did you?) wind up on the remainders table.

Seems to me Penny Marshall makes plenty of money already. Does she really need another $800,000? Why not give her half of that $800,000 and spread the other half around to the authors not being offered any advance? I know my friends would certainly appreciate that. They might even buy  copies of Penny’s memoir as a way of saying thanks.

As for me, I’m looking forward to February 12^th. That’s the date Southwest begins service between Newark Liberty and Atlanta.

Lois Winston writes the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series. The first book, Assault With A Deadly Glue Gun, was a January 2011 release and received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Death by Killer Mop Doll will be a January 2012 release. Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, http://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.