Promoting Crush…and: what else have you been doing??

You’re now caught you up on what happened after I handed in my copyedits for Crush. But what else have I been doing? Well, LOTS. To borrow from a cliché (because I can’t use them in my novels, and sometimes they’re fun to throw around), it’s been pedal to the metal. Here’s what’s been going on, in a nutshell (and I’m leaving stuff out because I can’t remember it all!)…

With Crush now “in the can” and rolling off the printing press, the task of promoting it—letting people know it’s out there—is crucial. My publisher is unusual in that it encourages (and requires) authors to be involved in the promotion process. In sum, promotion has been going on for months. I’ve written material that’ll be used to promote the novel…for websites, like AuthorBuzz, for blogs, and other web-based venues; I’ve worked with my publisher to rewrite and finalize the jacket text (the descriptive passage that’s on the book flap); I worked extensively with the Audio publisher to select the best voice actor, listening to clips of actresses who’d make the best Karen Vail (talk about tough!); I’ve notified key people of Crush’s release and had galleys sent (or sent them myself) to reviewers, booksellers, and others; worked with one of the Napa Valley wineries mentioned in Crush to coordinate our big book launch event.

I’ve worked with my publicist on polishing the press release; updated my website, and prepared my newsletter (yes, I’m way behind on that); been on the time vacuum (I mean Facebook), fiddled with Twitter; shot interviews with FBI Profiler Mark Safarik regarding the writing of Crush; shot an interview with WritingRoom.com regarding advice for aspiring writers, as well as an interview about Crush; shot a commercial (“book trailer”) in the Napa Valley (12 hours to get 2 minutes of footage!).…worked with my publicist on constructing the book tour; called booksellers I met during The 7^th Victim tour…(I’m out of breath here)…

What else? So much I forget. But off the top of my head: I went to NYC for Thrillerfest to promote Crush and to sit on panels, meet fans and colleagues; met with my agent to discuss new projects; met with my publisher to discuss the current state of the book industry and items related to Crush’s launch; submitted an application to sit on a panel at Bouchercon–then, once I was named a moderator, coordinated our panel’s talk; spoke with a law enforcement officer about a collaborative nonfiction book we may write…and, oh yeah, I’ve been writing the sequel to Crush!

About that…I’ve spent a ton of time researching the story, worked with numerous federal agents (and completed and filed applications for access because I’ve never worked with one particularly sensitive federal agency); I’ve traveled to the cities where the novel is set so I could walk (and run) through the places Karen Vail and her colleagues walk and run through.

Am I ready for a vacation? Yes—but, no. Crush launches 9/22, so my book tour starts soon. See you in the stores…or on the shelves.

The 7th Victim is now in Paperback

The 7th Victim, by Alan Jacobson

The mass market paperback for The 7^th Victim is now available. I’ve made a few minor corrections to the text and helped with tweaks to the interior layout design. Mostly, however, this is a process that’s handled by the publisher, particularly my project editor, who oversees the production and printing. The 7^th Victim paperback is available in bookstores nationwide, at your favorite online retailer, and on Kindle. For those who don’t know, The 7^th Victim was named to Library Journal’s “Best Books of the Year” list—a tremendous honor, considering it was chosen from amongst 7,000 entries.

In my continuing blog series of an author’s behind-the-scenes life (actually, it follows the process from the time a novel is readied for submission through publication and book tour) it’s only fitting we talk now about the next step that happens in a novel’s life: the paperback edition.

Sometime around the point I was handing in the final tweaks to the galleys for Crush, I had to submit changes I wanted made to the text for The 7^th Victim.

If you’re fortunate to have a hardcover publishing deal, the hardcover is the first version to be released. The reasons are obvious from an economic perspective: these books cost more (around $25-29) and generate more profit for the publishers, the distributors, and the booksellers. They’re also preferred by many readers because the font is larger, the quality of the paper is better, and the “packaging” is superior to that of a paperback. They’re also much easier to read on a treadmill or elliptical.

Typically from ten to twelve months after the release of the hardcover, the “mass market” edition is released. [Some publishers also release a more expensive, larger “trade paperback” edition, (typical cost: $15)]. The mass market paperback sells for around $8 or $9 and is designed for mass production.

Since hardcovers are taken on consignment by the bookstores, any unsold copies after four to six weeks are typically shipped back to the warehouse. They then remain there until a different bookstore puts in an order for that novel. They’re then shipped to that bookstore. Clearly, this is a very expensive and wasteful model. With concern over energy efficiency and carbon emissions, this current model is inefficient, costly, and—what’s the opposite of green? (Let’s choose charcoal, for carbon.)

Paperbacks are an entirely different story (pun intended). They are not shipped back when they go unsold. The covers are torn off (“the book is destroyed,” in industry lingo) and the remaining cadaveric bound pile of paper is dumped.

So there you have it. Don’t let a fantastic read like The 7^th Victim be “destroyed.” Buy it now. And enjoy a thrilling read.

Reviews of “Crush” flowing in

The reviews are arriving—and I’m very, very pleased. I wanted to share them with you. I won’t bog you down with the full text, which repeatedy recaps the storyline, so here are pertinent excerpts:

Crush is “addictive…(with) a shockeroo cliffhanger.”
–Publishers Weekly

“As a bookseller, reviewer, and avid reader of thrillers, this novel blew me away. (It’s) the best the industry has to offer…from one of the very best writers in the industry today. In these uncertain times, getting lost in the grips of the best thriller to come along in years is just what we need. Be one of the first in line when Crush hits the stores; it is sure to be a HUGE contender for major awards.”
–BestsellersWorld.com (Russell Ilg)

“Told from the viewpoints of the protagonist and the antagonist, readers see fascinating perspectives of a predator and a hunter challenging one another. CRUSH is a very exciting and chilling thriller.”
– Midwest Book Review (Harriet Klausner)

“Jacobson has done it again. Crush is a fantastic page-turning thriller which should be on your reading list.”
–The Strand Magazine

“Plenty of bark and bite, sizzle and emotion…a tangled tale of delightful intrigue. Well done.”
–Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author

“Crush rocks from the opening page to the jarring conclusion.”
–Steve Martini, New York Times bestselling author

“Karen Vail is one tough character. Crush will keep you reading late into the night.”
–Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author & creator of TV show “Bones”

“A smart, stylish whodunnit with lots of surprises, and a finish with all the punch of a blockbuster Cabernet.”
–Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author 

“Jacobson breathes life into the killer in a way that made my heart pound—and I do this for a living.”
–Mary Ellen O’Toole, Senior FBI Profiler and Supervisory Special Agent (ret.)

No, I haven’t been tied up in a shack with rats at my feet

Forgive me…it’s been four months since my last post (sounds like a confession). But I haven’t been off in blog vacationland. I’ve been researching and writing the next Karen Vail novel, which will follow Crush (due out NEXT MONTH!!). That’s the other thing I’ve been doing—getting ready for Crush’s launch.

So let me briefly bring you up to date on what happened since I last posted on the process of publishing a novel. When we last spoke, I’d handed in my Crush copyedits (see post of 4/2). The project editor reviewed all my notes and changes—I’d “touched” 130 pages of Crush, and made about 200 changes. Some of those were formatting (incorrect quote mark, missing period, improperly formatted paragraphs)—stuff that happens when a Word document is digitally converted into publishing software. But a lot of it consisted of contextual changes. This can be merely polish (fixing repeated words) or seeing something I (or my editor and copyeditor) hadn’t seen earlier when the novel was in manuscript format. There’s something about seeing it printed like a book that makes the eye and brain see the text differently.

Unfortunately, “galleys,” or “Advance Readers Copies” (ARCs) are printed and bound based on the first-pass pages—before copyediting and author review, with all the errors intact. Thus, when a reviewer reads the ARC, he or she is reading an inferior version of what the final product is. In some cases, it is a different book from what the reader buys in the store. It’s unfortunate it has to be this way, but because of the timing of when the ARCs are printed and sent out, there’s no alternative. The lead time is long enough (nine months or longer) wherein a novel is “in production.” Things are happening during this time—lots of things. This lead time is a necessary evil.

So…after I submitted the changes to my project editor, she reviewed them, combined them with notes that their own proofreaders made, and then sent me back a revised PDF file of Crush to review. I checked all the changes I had made, to ensure they were input properly, and sent it back.

What happened next? Check back in a few days (hey, I write suspense). Gotta get back to the new novel. I left Karen Vail in a bad part of town and I need to get her out of there before something bad happens. (Or is it too late?!)

Kindle: useful device or fit for kindling?

Let’s take a brief break from my series chronicling the behind-the-scenes production process involved in publishing my forthcoming September thriller, Crush (if you haven’t yet read these posts, start from the first entry; if you’re reading this somewhere other than my website, my prior articles are at www.AlanJacobson.com). I want to say a few words about eBooks—specifically, Amazon’s Kindle…with an emphasis on the Kindle2.

For several years, eBooks have been hovering in the background, electronic fodder for the new generation. Some embraced it and loved the portability while others turned their noses because it wasn’t a paper book they could hold and feel. The biggest criticism was that these books needed to be read on a computer-like backlit screen, and these people said they spent enough time in front of their computers…or the light bothered their eyes after prolonged periods. This only served to underscore the fact that there wasn’t a physical book to hold.

Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s eReader sought to attack the problem from a different angle. Rather than using backlit computer-like monitor screens, they use electronic ink on a non-backlit screen—meaning that without an external light source, you can’t see anything. There’s no brightness control. Created by and licensed from another company, the electronic ink technology is quite amazing. The “ink” is instantly arranged where the text letters would be. The “pages” are turned with a click of a button—and the screen flickers to reproduce the turning of a page. The resulting image looks surprisingly close to the page of a real book.

Since I’ve only briefly played with the Sony device, but own the Kindle, my focus will be on the Kindle. Rather than spending time reviewing details of each feature, I’m only going to hit the high points because other reviews are available that dissect the device—and there’s no sense in repeating what’s already been written.

I own both the Kindle1 and the Kindle2. Back when the Kindle1 was first introduced in November 2007, the publishing industry was in trouble (it still is—only it’s gotten worse). I felt that if the device was usable and well made, it could indicate a paradigm shift in how printed matter was delivered. I thus thought it was important to get familiar with this device because my future might reside in the ones and zeroes of electronic ink. Despite the high entry cost and the fact it was an introductory model (it’s never wise to buy the first iteration of a product), I bought one. I realized, shortly after using it, that this was finally a device, coupled with Amazon’s retail heft and customer loyalty, that could forever alter the publishing landscape.

About the height/width of the small-form hardcover Book Club Edition (8” x 5”) and the thickness of a magazine, the Kindle is designed for portability. You can load approximately 1500 books (on the Kindle2) and leave on vacation without fear of finishing your novel on the beach and having nothing left to read. It’s light and can easily be toted around. The Kindle1 came with an awkward vinyl case that made it easy to transport, but difficult to hold while reading. And keeping the device in the case while reading is a necessity because of the way the page turn buttons were designed. For some inexplicable reason, the designers were out to lunch when they engineered this aspect of the unit.

The next page “button” is actually about four inches long. But that’s not the problem, per se. It sits along two-thirds of the device’s right edge, and is angled sharply outward. The result is disastrous. The very place where you would hold the reader is where this page turning strip sits. Thus, you accidentally turn pages. Constantly. I try not to be critical unless it’s truly warranted, but the engineers who designed this were either drunk or incompetent. And the beta or prototype testers were asleep on the job. Seriously—talk to anyone with a Kindle and they’ll tell you the same complaint. You can’t comfortably hold this thing without accidentally hitting the page-turning bar. It’s not fixable, and there’s no workaround—you can’t disable the bar, and trying to hold the device some other way is impossible because of where it’s situated. As a result, you’re constantly turning pages, which disrupts your reading experience. How Amazon could release a device with such an obvious design flaw baffles me.

Fortunately, Amazon heard enough of the complaints—and listened—and redesigned the button for Kindle2,so it no longer slopes outward; the bar in the new design clicks inward, further preventing an accidental page turn, and it requires firmer pressure to activate. Much, much better—in fact, I’ve never accidentally turned a page on the Kindle2.

Another issue with my original Kindle was battery life—it was so horrendous I would only get 2 hours before it died. And that was with the wireless turned off, which also eats power. At last year’s BEA (Book Expo America) conference, I spoke with the head of Amazon’s digital division and he told me my unit was defective because the battery should last two weeks. I’ve since exchanged it, and although it’s better, I can’t say it’s great. (I haven’t quantified it.)

The battery life on the Kindle2, in my experience, is vastly better. I’ve only charged it once and have been using it for weeks, though I only read on it about 15 minutes at a time. I still have a huge backlog of hardcovers to read, so, at present, my Kindle reading time is mostly limited to bedtime. (Come book tour, however, the Kindle will be an enormous advantage. Because I have to travel light, I often don’t pack books to read. The Kindle solves that problem.)

One neat feature—and a core advantage over the Sony—is the Kindle Store. It makes buying books a snap using “free” wireless connectivity. One reason the purchase price of the device is north of $300 and the books are a “deal” at $10 for popular titles ($15 for most others) is that the “free” wireless cost is factored into every purchase. Still, it makes it very easy to buy—you can easily search for the type of book you want, or search by your favorite author (that’d be “Alan Jacobson,” right?)—and in seconds, the book is available to read, right on your Kindle. Newspapers are also available for subscription purchase. Blog subscriptions, through RSS feeds, are also available.

There’s a search function, which is handy—and a dictionary, which pulls up a definition on demand. Very convenient. And you can make notes in the text (on the attached keyboard) for review later. Best of all, you can change the font size with the press of a couple buttons. The entire novel resizes onscreen in the blink of an eye. So when I use the Kindle on my elliptical, I can enlarge the font, which makes it easier to read as I’m bobbing about.

One negative: it’s proprietary. I’m not a fan of proprietary file types…the iPod is one huge example—because if the platform is ever discontinued, you’re screwed unless you buy third party file conversion software—which, when you’re talking about gigabytes of data, is a huge pain in the rump. (Though it might soon exist, I’m not aware of any such software yet for Kindle.) “Control” is part of this equation, as any iPod user knows well: they tell you how and where you can listen to your own purchased property. Got a different MP3 player? Tough. The proprietary file type won’t work (unless you go through the tedious file conversion process). Same, I’m afraid, with the Kindle: the books are not stored as universal PDF or .doc files, but as proprietary “AZW” files, so the only place the books can be read is on the Kindle (or on some Kindle-sponsored reading software, which was recently released for the iPhone). Still, if you think the Kindle platform is going to be around five or ten years from now, having your library stored on Amazon’s servers is incredibly convenient. You don’t have to worry about running out of bookshelf space. And it saves trees. Lots of ‘em.

So as an author, what do I think of using the Kindle—and of reading eBooks in general? I thought I’d hate it. I thought I needed the feel of the book, the ability to turn pages back and forth, to enjoy the experience of reading a book. But I was pleasantly surprised. The words are the same. The benefits—convenience, portability and reading ease—far outweigh any “adjustment” one might have to make to not feeling the actual book. And you’re saving millions of trees in the process.

I do believe electronic books is the future of publishing. I think that due to the success of Kindle (several hundred thousand devices have reportedly been sold), eBooks have now reached a critical threshold. Other device makers will soon begin building devices and we’ll soon see the transformation of books much like we saw the digital transformation in music. I think it’ll take longer—readers are more passionate about their paper books than listeners were about their CDs—but I predict it will eventually happen. At some point, years down the line, the number of eBook readers will surpass the number of paper book readers.

Word is that Amazon is working on a Kindle3, which will have a larger screen and be ready in time for the holidays. With the demise of so many print newspapers, a larger screened Kindle could be their savior. Like it or not, I believe the future is here, now. It just might take a while longer for hardcore book lovers to realize it.

What do you think?

Copyeiditing — I mean, Copyediting

I’m back amongst the living again…my copyedits have been handed in and I’m back to outlining and doing research for—oops, almost spilled the title of the new Karen Vail novel I’m working on. (If you’re new to my blog, rewind…or, rather, click on the link to the right that’s called “Prior entries” [if you're reading on Amazon, go to my website, www.AlanJacobson.com.] I’m documenting the behind-the-scenes process of publishing my forthcoming novel, Crush.) This stuff is unedited to save time…which is better spent writing new novels, right?

So what, exactly, is copyediting? Standard editing involves reading the book with an ear to evaluating the plot, the characters, the pacing, the story, etc. A good editor is astute about the genre in which the author writes and understands what he’s trying to accomplish. The editor may suggest changes that tighten the story by cutting a scene (or a sentence), or suggesting you draw out the suspense by withholding a piece of information longer, etc. (Standard editing has become a rarity the past decade or so because of its cost; fortunately, my publisher still employs the services of astute editors.)

Copyediting, however, is more mechanical: a copyeditor looks at grammar, down to the word level, and looks for consistency (the black car on page 24 didn’t become midnight blue on page 300). He/she also brings the manuscript in line with the “style manual” that the publisher uses for all its books. This gives them consistency across their catalogue.

Depending on the style manual used, the copyeditor will change words and terms in the manuscript. Thus, if it’s a “down style,” words I might write with an uppercase initial letter may be changed because the style manual dictates it be lowercase. Example: I used the term Secret Service in Crush—meaning that branch of Homeland Security that protects the president, etc. The style manual dictates it be “secret service.” (That looked odd and jarring to me, as if really was a secret service—so I asked that it be left capitalized.)

In addition, the copyeditor may ask the author questions embedded within the manuscript. We use Microsoft Word with markup turned on, meaning my copyeditor includes questions within the sentence. Thus, her remark to me may be

<<AU: did you mean the percentage should be 85% or 75%? Earlier, you mentioned 85%>>

I would then reply:

<<CE: I meant 75%, because the percentage I mentioned earlier pertained to something different. Leave as is.>>

In addition, a copyeditor develops a style sheet for each author. This style sheet stays with the author while he’s at that publishing house. It gets amended, or added to, with each novel. Thus, if I write “x-ray” in The 7^th Victim, it’ll stay “x-ray” in Crush. (There are different ways of writing x-ray, depending on style manuals. Because of my medical training, I prefer that format. Some style manuals would say it should be “X ray” or “X-ray.”)

During the course of 400 pages and 120,000 words, there are a ton of decisions to make. Leave it as I had it, or change it to match the style manual? Plus, no matter how many times you go through a manuscript, and no matter how many different people read it, there are errors that are going to be missed. The brain compensates and doesn’t catch transposed or omitted words. Thus, done properly, going through your copyedited manuscript is a very intense process requiring hours upon hours of focus, day after day. And keeping all your facts straight if your story is complex (as mine tend to be) is another thing the copyeditor (and I) have to carefully watch for consistency.

The copyediting stage is the last opportunity to make substantive changes to the manuscript. The galleys, or page proofs, are printed from this copyedited document, so the goal is to have it be as error free as possible. It’s not always the case, however. For The 7^th Victim, I ended up making over 100 changes/corrections after the galleys (Advance Reader’s Copies) were printed and bound.

When all was said and done, I emailed the copyedited Word docs back to my project editor and the copyeditor. The copyeditor is now reviewing all my notes and changes. My project editor will then run the manuscript through special publishing software that checks it for extra spacings/returns, oddities, and leftover markup.

At the next phase, the unbound galley page proofs are sent to a proofreader and…back to me, of course. We then go through it yet again, trying to catch errors. Part of the problem is that the galley is the first time you’re seeing the story in that format. There’s something about seeing it in the font and formatting of a real book that changes the way the brain receives the words, and you end up catching things you didn’t see previously.

If changes are made, the inserted portion should match the deleted portion in number of characters (characters are letters, spaces, and punctuation marks). That way, the formatting doesn’t change and the entire manuscript doesn’t need to be reformatted—which is very expensive. So if I make changes, I count characters. With The 7^th Victim, I counted every character to ensure they were swapped out one-for-one.

That’s it for now…I’ve got some more research to do for the new Karen Vail novel, then some refinements to make to the outline…

Alan

Under the Covers

While I was away (from the blog space) news hit my inbox. What’s the news? Wait—for those who are joining us mid-blog (is that a term?), I’m documenting the production process of getting the next Karen Vail novel written and into print. So scroll down (or look to your right under “Prior entries”) and read the other postings. (If you’re reading this on Amazon, the prior postings are available on my website, www.AlanJacobson.com. Click on the “Blog” tab. I know, kind of obvious, but…)

So I’ve now received the cover art for Crush. I suggested minor changes/improvements/ refinements to the art and my publisher agreed with my thoughts. It evokes the same feel as The 7^th Victim, which, as we’ve been told many times over, was a winning piece of art. A great many people loved it. The cover for Crush is clean, classy, and eye-catching. As soon as I get permission, I’ll post it to my site…probably in May, I would guess.

People have asked me if I design the covers for my books. The truth is, I don’t. The cover of my first novel, False Accusations, arose from a design I’d created. The publisher’s graphic artist added a very cool graphic that involved smoke that blended from gray to red…and embedded in the smoke was the image of a woman. It was pertinent to the story, creative, and catchy. In that case, it was a collaboration. But for the other covers, the artist read the novel and then created a graphic that considered the story content, but, most importantly, was driven by marketing considerations—it had to catch your eye and stand out from all the other covers staring you in the face.

My publisher then sent me the cover for comment, and I provided feedback, as mentioned earlier. Bottom line is it’s crucial that the sales reps (who sell the book to the buyers for the bookstores) get jazzed about the cover (and the novel). If they’re excited, that emotion will trickle to the buyers and their “sell” is more passionate. It’s not unlike me, when I’m writing my novels: If I’m not “into” my characters, and if I’m not writing a story that gets my juices flowing, you, my readers, won’t feel the excitement and it’ll be a flat experience.

While the artist makes those minor revisions to the cover, I sent some thoughts to my publisher regarding the design of the internal pages. Basically, at the start of each chapter, there’s sometimes a graphic that accompanies the chapter number. (The design also encompasses the fonts used for the chapter headers, the title page, and the layout of the author name and title at the top of the book pages.)

In the meantime, a Project Editor was assigned to Crush. This person will oversee the editing and production schedule and ensure all the deadlines are met by the copyeditor and proofreaders (I’m also involved in both of these editing rounds). She will also oversee the typesetting and printing of the galleys and the finished books.

Galleys are unbound page proofs that show exactly what the book pages will look like. I’ll talk more about them when we get to that point in the process. At present, the copyedits just arrived (3/2). I have two weeks to get them back to my publisher, so I’ll end this here and so I can meet my deadline. Till next time…

Alan

 

 

Previously on 24

Key Jack Bauer’s voice: “Previously on 24…”

 

Oops. Sorry, got carried away. I’m enjoying this new season of 24 (after last season’s disaster, they needed to come back strong or their franchise would die a death not unlike Tony Almeida’s. Then again, Tony didn’t really die, did he?).

 

But I digress. When I last blogged, I’d worked with my editor to polish the manuscript. I know, I still haven’t told you the title. I will—I promise. If you haven’t yet read the prior blog posting, go ahead and read it so you’ll know what’s going on. This entry is kind of like Chapter 3… Either scroll down, or look on the right under “Categories, Prior entries.”

 

So I submitted the final manuscript on January 26.

 

And on January 27, I started writing the follow-up story to that novel. As a writer, when you’re in a rhythm, in your character’s voice, it’s best not to stop if you can help it. That is, until you must stop. Unfortunately, I had to stop writing because the novel needed to be outlined in more detail before I continued. I hate that—but it’s another fact of my writing life. That said, I often end up breaking into a chapter and writing it right there, in the middle of the outline, because I get so excited that the dialogue, the narrative, just come tumbling out of my brain.

 

Another thing that needed to be addressed before I started writing in earnest was doing my research. In this case, I’ve put in my first call to a particular law enforcement agency—one I haven’t yet worked with—to initiate the learning process. Sometimes the things I learn from my sources give me an idea that enhances the story I’d planned to tell.

 

My publisher has now read the new novel (I almost slipped there and spilled the title!) and called it “Terrific.” They’re very happy to see Karen Vail back in action. At present, the manuscript is being copyedited. I’ll explain all that in detail when that occurs. There are other things going on behind the scenes…which we’ll get to in coming entries.

 

Before I forget, here’s an update on the movie front—I just spoke to one of the producers. We’ve got two projects in process. For The 7^th Victim, a screenwriter is now “attached.” Hard Target (the novel that was supposed to be my next release before Karen Vail hijacked me) is a bit further along. There’s now an A-list screenwriter attached as well as a director. I can’t disclose who the writer or director is, but suffice it to say I’m very excited about his involvement. That said, this is Hollywood, and like every other business nowadays, they’re cutting back. Fewer movies, smaller budgets. So, we’ll see where all this leads. One step at a time.

 

Okay, you’ve waited long enough—the name of the new Karen Vail novel is…the envelope, please…And the title is…Crush, and it’s due for a 9/23/09 release. What’s it about? It’s about 400 pages. More than that…you’ll have to wait till I get the green light to post that info.

 

Gotta get back to the new new manuscript. No, I’m not going to tell you the title of that novel…not yet, at least. More soon. (Tomorrow? Next week? As soon as I hit the next task for Crush…which is probably going to hit my desk very soon, I’ll update you. So check back.)

 

Alan

The heart of the matter…

If you’re just tuning in, go back and read my first entry, since this is a continuation. Go ahead, I’ll wait. (Did you read it? C’mon, scroll down. (If it’s not there, it’ll be under “Categories” on the right. Click “Prior entries.” Okay? Got it?)

 

Okay…last time I gave you a little background on the beginnings of the new Karen Vail novel. (What’s it called? Not so fast. Tell you later.) So writing a 400 page novel requires a lot of discipline, and it means you have to keep a lot of facts, thoughts, and ideas straight. Problem is, I was due to begin the book tour for The 7^th Victim.

 

While on tour, although there was very little down time, I tried to touch the manuscript daily, if only to look at the outline to keep my mind on the story and characters. In airports, on airplanes…I wrote. While in Seattle, during the long drive to a military base for a book signing, I flipped open my laptop and wrote. In November, en route from Tucson to Phoenix, I had a two-hour phone conference with Mark Safarik (FBI profiler, Mary Ellen’s former partner), who’d by now had read the first half of the book. I took notes and made changes directly into the manuscript as we spoke.

 

A few weeks later, around December 20, I typed the final period. I handed the rough draft to my wife, my first-line editor, who had read the manuscript in large pieces and was now going to read it for the first time as one unit. I sent the full manuscript off to Mark and followed up on some research points (I can’t tell you what because I don’t want to give anything away). My wife finished her read and gave me a set of edit notes. I addressed her major points, and then, on December 31, I sent the manuscript to my editor, Kevin Smith, who I’d worked with on The 7^th Victim. Kevin and I work very well together…our sense of suspense and characterization often run parallel, and he’s good at pointing out spots where I’ve missed an opportunity. In short, he loved the new novel and said it’s “a fantastic, rousing follow-up to 7th Victim,” and that I “have established a great franchise character in Karen Vail.” 

 

Kevin sent me his editorial narrative, which included his overall impression of the book as well as specific comments on anything that occurred to him during his multiple reads of the manuscript: characterization, story/plot, action, continuity, pacing, suspense, and so on.

 

Kevin essentially received a first draft—at this point, as hard as it is to believe, I had not even read the manuscript myself. While Kevin was reading it, I spoke again with Mark, who had, by now, finished reading the manuscript. Fortunately, Mark felt I’d gotten just about everything right—a tremendous relief. I made the few corrections Mark suggested, then addressed Kevin’s notes and looked at those places in the manuscript where he had specific comments. Equally as fortunate, Kevin felt it was pretty clean and didn’t need any major editing. In some cases I made changes based on his observations. In other cases, he and I discussed the issues, and the final “solution” emerged from ideas that arose while we were brainstorming.

 

I then read the novel myself and line-edited (reading it sentence by sentence and making changes that included changing words, adding or deleting sentences and paragraphs, clarifying plot points, correcting grammar, etc.). I addressed various questions/notes I’d made along the way, and completed research that still needed follow-up. I sent it back to Kevin for his final read-through while I completed my line-editing. Any polish was then applied. The amazing thing is that when dealing with 120,000 words over 400 pages, no matter how many times you read it, you still find things you didn’t see before. I’m a detail person, and it still happens. It’s maddening. But it’s a fact of this novelist’s life.

 

That’s it for now. Next posting: check back on Tuesday. I’ll take you through what happened when I submitted the final manuscript…

 

Alan

I know, I know…finally!

The time has gotten away from me (more on that later)…which is why it’s taken me so long to get the blog up and running. But I hope to make the long wait worth your while. Here’s what you can expect from my blog…

 

Raw. Uncooked. Uncensored. And unedited. Although I want to keep in touch with all my readers, it’s vital I reserve enough time to write my novels. If I edit, change words, rewrite paragraphs, these blog entries will never get posted…and my next novel will never get written.

 

There are no rules. (Okay, there are few rules.) Sometimes this space will contain random thoughts unrelated to writing—but I think one of the most interesting things will be to take you behind the scenes of the process of publishing a major novel as it moves through the production process—which happens out of view of the average reader. When I tell my friends the things that go into publishing a book, they find it fascinating—hopefully you will, too.

 

So let’s start right now. The 7^th Victim was named to Library Journal‘s 2008 “Best Books of the Year” list—a tremendous honor given it was chosen from 7,000 books. It’s resonated with readers and booksellers to such a degree that they’ve asked for a series of Karen Vail novels. So before, during, and after The 7^th Victim’s book tour, that’s what I was doing. I already had a setting in mind where I’d always wanted to tell a story. I had my main character. And I had a broad outline of a story I wanted to write.

 

But most important of all, I had the itch. Since that day in August, when my publisher and agent sat down with me to tell me Karen Vail needed to be a series character, I started writing. The words flowed effortlessly—which was essential. (If I don’t enjoy what I’m writing, you won’t enjoy what you’re reading.)

 

My first call was to the Behavioral Analysis Unit, to Special Agent Mary Ellen O’Toole, the real female FBI profiler, to discuss a few things regarding Karen Vail—and a lot of things regarding the killer I was planning for this novel. There isn’t a lot of printed material on these types of killers, so I needed to prospect Mary Ellen’s brain to learn all I could about them. The research didn’t stop there—I made trips to the locale where the novel is set, spoke with local law enforcement, toured their facilities, and poked around behind the scenes to specific places where Karen Vail was going to visit.

 

So…I’ve been working 7 days a week, 15+ hours a day, on this next novel (yes…an insane schedule that certainly took its toll). What’s the title? I’ll tell you later. (Hey, I write suspense!) In fact, I’m told blog entries are supposed to be brief. (A novelist write something brief?) Fine. I’ll stop here. The next installment, which I’ll get up here on Sunday, will pick up with the actual writing of the story, working with my editor…and maybe a surprise or two.

 

Alan