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The UK cover for ‘Human Game’

In publishing on May 15, 2012 at 9:28 am

On Monday, my British publisher—Constable & Robinson—sent me the mock-up for the cover that will adorn the UK edition of Human Game. They’ve slightly altered the subtitle, “The True Story of the ‘Great Escape’ Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen,” streamlining it and using it almost as a tagline. The cover imagery is stark and derived from a scene in the book. I’m absolutely thrilled with the result.

The British edition hits stores March 7, 2013, which just happens to be my son’s second birthday. Perhaps it’s an omen. The book was three years in the researching and writing, so it’s quite rewarding to reach this phase of the publishing process.

It’s amazing how different the cover is from the US edition. Both are striking in their own way, but I think the British cover packs much more of an emotional punch. The American version, published by Penguin, will be in stores October 2.

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When did selling books become so complicated?

In publishing on April 27, 2012 at 9:22 am

As many writers—and readers—out there know, Amazon is now in the publishing game. This prompted Barnes and Noble in January to announce they would not stock anything published by the online book retailer due to “Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent.” As a result, a number of books were instantly banished from Barnes and Noble stores. You can read about it at the Author’s Guild website.

This parochial approach to publishing and book selling hurts authors and readers. Why can’t book retailers simply do what they’re meant to do, which is sell books? This sort of attitude was a major source of frustration several years ago when my book War of Words was published by Union Square Press in 2009. Union Square is a subsidiary of Sterling Publishing, which is—or was, at the time—owned by Barnes and Noble. When the publisher purchased my book, I was promised great placement in all Barnes and Nobles across the country. They all but guaranteed I’d have a bestseller on my hands.

The book details the colorful newspaper wars in 1800s San Francisco, focusing primarily on the bloody birth of the San Francisco Chronicle and the deadly public feud between that paper’s founder and the sex-crazed Baptist minister who became the city’s mayor. I thought having the book released by a publisher backed by Barnes and Noble would be a major benefit—instead, it came back to shoot me in the foot.

I travelled all over Northern California, pitching my book to independent bookstores prior to its release. The vast majority of stores I visited refused to carry the book because the publisher was tied to Barnes and Noble. Most Borders I visited rejected the book for the same reason. The real humdinger came when Barnes and Noble stores I visited outside the San Francisco Bay Area refused to stock the book. They said no one outside San Francisco would want to read it. Right—and no one outside of Holcomb, Kansas, wants to read In Cold Blood? What about folks outside Chicago reading Devil in the White City?

It seems to me book retailers are placing far too many restrictions and guidelines on what they’re willing to sell–especially when brick-and-mortar bookstores seem to be an endangered species. How about simply stocking books and letting the customers decide what they want to read? Perhaps I’m being naïve.

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My apologies to J.K. Rowling

In publishing on April 13, 2012 at 8:40 am

She looks utterly devastated, doesn't she?

Today, J.K. Rowling is a woman consumed by fear and anxiety. “But, why?” I hear you ask. The answer is simple: Her first book for adults, The Casual Vacancy, comes out the same week as my humble effort, Human Game. The Parabolist of Potter, the undisputed queen of bestsellerdom, knows she has met a worthy opponent. In me, she faces a man with a few books released by respectable publishers but only purchased by a small circle of readers composed primarily of his wife, parents, and yours truly.

Yesterday, I discovered J.K. Rowling’s doomed tome hits stores a mere five days before mine. The poor lass; she’s probably in her Scottish castle, cursing her luck and kicking her priceless objets d’arts. I almost feel sorry for her when I consider the pressure she’s under. Expectations for her first non-Potter book are at a stratospheric level. Not only must she contend with fears of whether readers will embrace her as a “serious” novelist, she must now worry about the infinitesimal ding my book will make in her sales. Sorry, J.K., you can blame my publisher, Penguin, for the scheduling snafu.

True, her book will undoubtedly enjoy five months of pre-release publicity, rife with speculation about the plot and characters. Media outlets will hound her publicist to set up interviews, while pre-orders will likely push her book to the top of the bestseller lists months before it even comes out. But on the actual week when her publisher–Little, Brown and Company–thrusts The Casual Vacancy onto the reading public, a segment of the population will flock instead to purchase Human Game. Who are these people? The same folks I mentioned above: My wife, my parents, and me.

If the fates are particularly cruel, six inches of column space in some random book review section may even mention my book, cutting into the endless number of pages devoted to Rowling’s effort. It will surely be a bitter pill for the Goddess of Gryffindor to swallow.

Let it be known I take no pleasure in reducing one of the world’s most beloved storytellers to a quivering mass of insecurity and self-pity—but such is the cutthroat world of publishing. I wish there was something I could do, but things are out of my hands.

Sorry, J.K.

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Putting the smackdown on young, aspiring authors . . .

In books, e-books, publishing, Writing on April 3, 2012 at 9:02 am

Saturday’s New York Times featured an article on teens who self-publish their books with financial help from Mom and Dad. The parents of the young scribes interviewed say it’s a great way to encourage their kids to keep writing and to reward the months of work their children put into their manuscripts. Some in the publishing industry, however, see this as a negative thing. They argue it doesn’t teach children anything about perseverance or the real struggles involved in getting published.

The article quotes novelist Tom Robbins, who sounds somewhat bitter:

“What’s next Kiddie architects, juvenile dentists, 11-year-old rocket scientists? Any parent who thinks that the crafting of engrossing, meaningful, publishable fiction requires less talent and experience than designing a house, extracting a wisdom tooth, or supervising a lunar probe is, frankly, delusional. There are no prodigies in literature. Literature requires experience, in a way that mathematics and music do not.”

The article doesn’t actually assert that the parents interviewed think anything of the sort. But while we’re on the subject: Why compare writing to dental work and architecture? It is, resorting to cliché, comparing apples to oranges. One can’t say that writing a novel requires as much talent as designing and launching a lunar probe. They require two completely different skill sets. I’d say successfully sending a rocket to the moon requires an incredible amount of specialized talent. Or, maybe I’m being delusional.

I’ve stated my thoughts on self-published works before. While I’m not opposed to people publishing their books themselves, I think too many self-published authors rush to get their work out there and inundate the market with sloppy material. Then again, traditional publishing houses hit the public with a fair amount of garbage, too—so give these kids a break. Are they really causing any bestselling authors and powerful editors grief by putting their work out there? No. But what about the argument that “literature requires experience”?

The kids profiled in the article range from a 12 year old to a high school junior. While adults may stay clear of books written by teens, we can assume other teens may show interest in stories crafted by their contemporaries. I would venture to say these young authors have channeled teenage experiences into their fiction–experiences other teens would more likely identify with than someone who graduated from high school 20-plus years ago.

Not every piece of writing that’s published has to be a deeply moving experience for the reader (look at James Patterson). It can be something lightweight, written with the sole intent to entertain. Authors can think that what they do is deeply profound—but, in the end, their main job is to entertain. So let these kids self publish their books and enjoy the moment. Life only gets more stressful as one grows older, so let them enjoy the fulfillment of a dream . . . even if it’s only for a short while.

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Presenting . . . the cover to ‘Human Game’

In books, publishing on March 6, 2012 at 7:31 am

Last week, Penguin sent me the mock-up of the cover to Human Game: The True Story of the ‘Great Escape’ Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen. I’m pleased with the end result and find the red color theme to be pretty striking. The faded swastika behind the main title adds a menacing touch to the overall presentation without being distracting. I hope it lures readers! The book hits stores in the US October 2, with a UK release date scheduled for early next year.

Human Game is the non-fiction sequel to the famous World War II story of The Great Escape, the book by Paul Brickhill that became the classic 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough. The book and film (a personal favorite) detail the mass breakout of 76 Allied airmen from Stalag Luft III, a prison camp deep in the heart of Nazi Germany. What made the breakout famous was not merely the number of men involved, but the operation’s overall logistics. All escapees were supplied with German money, fake travel documents and identity papers, homemade compasses, maps, and rations. Outfits, ranging from business suits to German military uniforms, were tailored for every escapee. The men spent more than a year digging three escape tunnels. As I write in Human Game, this endeavor alone required . . .

“. . . the requisitioning of 1,219 knifes, 582 forks, 408 spoons, 246 water cans, 1,699 blankets, 192 bed covers, 161 pillow cases, 1,212 pillows, 655 straw mattresses, 34 chairs, the frames of 90 bunk beds, 3,424 towels, 10 single tables, 52 twenty-man tables, more than 1,200 bed bolsters, nearly 1,400 beaded battens, 76 benches, 1,000 feet of electrical wiring and 600 feet of rope. Four thousand bed boards were used to shore-up the tunnels. Lights wired into the camp’s electrical supply provided illumination underground; air pumps made of discarded kitbags, empty powdered-milk tins, wood-framing, wire mesh and tar paper supplied fresh air to those doing the digging.”

What the men accomplished was nothing short of amazing.

Of the 76 “Great Escapers,” only three made it back to England. Twenty-three were returned to various prison camps. The remaining 50 were rounded up by the Gestapo and executed. The movie ends with the condemned being shot en masse in a field by a German machine gunner. In reality, the men were taken in groups of twos and threes to isolated killing fields throughout the Reich and shot in the beck of the neck. The bodies were destroyed at local concentration camps and crematoriums. The movie always left me wondering who, exactly, was responsible for killing the escapees and what, if anything, became of them? In 2007, I decided to find out. Human Game is the result of three years of researching and writing.

In England, where I’m originally from, “The Great Escape” comes on every Christmas day—a strange, but enjoyable, tradition. I first watched it with my grandfather when I was a child, and it left an indelible impression. Second only to my grandfather’s wartime service in the Royal Air Force, “The Great Escape” launched my lifelong interest in the Second World War. Tales of ordinary people rising to meet extraordinary challenges have always fascinated me—and the investigation into the “Great Escape” murders is such a story.

Tasked with tracking down the Gestapo gunmen was a small team from the RAF’s Special Investigating Branch. The men, detectives in their civilian lives, arrived in Germany in September 1945—seventeen months after the killings—to pick up a trail long gone cold. The team would traverse a Germany divided amongst the American, British, French, and Russian occupiers, all of whom had their own agendas. Through sheer determination and crack investigative skills, the team brought 21 killers to justice in a hunt that spanned three years and pierced the darkest realms of Nazi fanaticism.

I hope readers, upon the book’s release, find the story as enthralling as I do!

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Publication frustration

In e-books, publishing, Random thoughts, Writing on February 14, 2012 at 9:11 am

Editor’s Note: This post is aimed not at the really good writers out there who publish their own work, but those scribes guilty of self-publishing books with horrible spelling, bad grammar, clichéd similes, and countless other literary crimes.

For my recent trip to England, I downloaded several books onto my Kindle Fire, including Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse and the classic thriller The 39 Steps by John Buchan. Both were great reads. Not great, however, were a couple of self-published books I purchased from the Kindle store. I won’t reveal the titles or authors—but I will say that I won’t be reading anything by these offenders again. No one recommended the books to me; I stumbled across them on my own. I’m not angry I spent good money on said books, as they were only 99 cents each—I’m annoyed with the authors for publishing them in the first place. I love many different authors and a broad range of genres, but I can’t tolerate horrible writing.

There is nothing wrong with an author publishing his or her own work. While it gives a writer greater control over their creation, it also places on them a greater responsibility to produce something of quality. I’m not saying it has to be Shakespeare—but it should, at the very least, display the author’s basic understanding of grammar and an ability to produce decent prose. Obviously, if you publish through a traditional publishing house, you have editors and proofreaders vetting your copy. If you’re putting it out there yourself, the entire burden rests on your shoulders. If you’re self-publishing, you’re in essence an ambassador for a burgeoning field. If you have several lousy meals at a restaurant, you’d probably stop eating there. Likewise, how many bad self-published authors does one read before giving up on self-published books altogether?

According to a statistic I came across online, more than 74,000 self-published books were released in 2009! One can’t be shoddy and expect to stand out in a field that crowded. It’s tough enough trying to make it with a major publishing house behind you. There are great self-published authors out there (check out my friend Chris Randolph at Oktopods) who fret over every word and sentence. This, of course, is how it should be. Take pride in what you write. At least prove to the rest of us you know the difference between “there” and “their,” or when to use “it’s” versus “its.”

And never, when describing a murder, compare a blade cutting through flesh to a “hot knife slicing through butter.”

I’m not a big fan of “American Idol” (I blame Ryan Seacrest for unleashing the Kardashian plague), but I sometimes take grim pleasure in watching the audition episodes. I always feel sorry for the poor individuals with no vocal talent whatsoever who truly believe they can sing. It’s both comedic and horrifying to watch.

Bad singing is funny; bad writing isn’t—but why not? Because expressing ideas on paper in a clear, concise manner is a fundamental skill we should all possess. Not everyone is going to write with Churchillian eloquence, but everyone should have a basic understanding of how to construct a sentence.

That’s all I want to say.

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Possible book project and confusion at Starbucks

In author, books, publishing, Writing on February 11, 2012 at 11:16 am

Last Friday, my first night in London, I met my book editor for drinks and dinner at the Goat Tavern, a 300-year-old pub on Kensington High Street. It was our first face-to-face encounter. We worked together a couple of years ago on Dark City, my history of infamous crimes in wartime London. Said editor, Mark Beynon, is also an author. His most recent work is London’s Curse: Murder, Black Magic, and Tutankhamun in the 1920s West End, which implicates occultist Aleister Crowley in a series of murders that shocked London following the discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

It looks as though Mark and I may be working on another book together for publisher The History Press. Details have yet to be ironed out, and I’m still researching the tentative subject matter at hand . . . so we’ll see how things proceed. In other books news, Penguin will soon have the finished cover design for Human Game (scheduled for an October release) ready. Once they send it my way, I’ll post it here!

Last Sunday afternoon, I went to Paddington Station and caught a train north to visit family. Before my departure, I walked into the station’s Starbucks and ordered a latte. The young guy behind the register was of Eastern European descent and had a very thick accent. I must have also been hard to understand because it took me two tries to convey what I wanted to drink. He eventually picked up a paper cup and a pen and said something to me. Again, there was a communication breakdown. I could only assume he was asking me my name so he could write it on the cup, as they do in Starbucks here in the States. I said, “Simon.” He offered me nothing but a blank stare, so I proceeded to spell my name for him. He dully scribbled it on the side of the cup, looked at me, and said, “Why do you tell me your name?”

I felt the blood rush to my face. “I have no idea,” I said. “I thought that’s what you were asking me.”

“I wasn’t,” he replied—without offering any explanation as to what he had actually said to me.

When the barista (also Eastern European) was handed my cup to make the latte, she asked the cashier, “What is ‘Simon’?”

“I don’t know,” the cashier shrugged, pointing a finger at me. “He keeps telling me his name.”

By now, I just wanted to make a hasty retreat with my latte in hand. Mercifully, the barista got busy making my drink. When done, she thrust it in my direction and said, “This is yours.”

I took my coffee and scurried from the premises.

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The James Patterson Syndrome

In author, books, publishing, writers, Writing on January 28, 2012 at 8:02 am

Watching TV last night, I saw a commercial for the latest book churned out by the James Patterson factory. My general rule is to chat only about authors I like and not badmouth those I don’t—but Patterson drives me crazy (my apologies to the impressive number of Patterson fans out there). I tried reading Kiss the Girls several years ago when the Morgan Freeman movie hit theaters but just couldn’t get through it. The writing was pedestrian and the one-page chapters distracting. That aside, it’s not his writing that bothers me . . . it’s his approach to writing.

Those of us who write do so because we love the act itself. It’s wonderful to see your thoughts take shape on a page, and it’s an amazing feeling to finish a story and hold in your hands a completed manuscript. While I have yet to score a bestseller and certainly can’t afford to write books fulltime, I dream of the day—if it ever arrives—when I can devote myself fully to the profession. Of course, I want to make enough money doing it to sustain myself and my family, but my passion for writing is the primary motivator.

So, what does this have to do with James Patterson?

I don’t consider him a true writer. He’s more of an idea factory who leaves the writing to others. You’ll notice on most of his recent efforts, it’s his name and that of another author’s on the cover. He’s certainly not the only guy doing this these days. Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler are two others who come to mind—but Patterson seems to have taken it to a whole other level. In 2009, the Hatchette Book Group announced it had signed a deal that would see Patterson bang out 17 books through 2012 . . . that’s 17 books in three years. According to his website, Patterson already has four books due out this year: one in March, two in May, and one in July (he already released one earlier this month). Last year, he put out nine. Some may consider Stephen King a factory (personally, I’m a fan), but at least the man writes his own books.

I can only assume at this point in his career, Patterson doesn’t care about any sort of artistic integrity or quality control. He merely wants a paycheck. My feeling is that if you want to write books, then write books—don’t contract someone else out to do it. The publisher is also to blame here, as it obviously doesn’t care what’s slapped between two covers. You can’t churn out nine books in a year from one author and expect to deliver a quality product.

Ultimately, it’s the fans who are cheated.

My rant is over. I don’t know—maybe I’m just being overly critical.

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The Compulsion to Write

In books, manuscript, publishing, Uncategorized, writers, Writing on January 17, 2012 at 11:45 am

It’s been nearly two months since I shipped my latest manuscript off to my publishers in the US and UK. Today, I heard from my British editor, who gave the pages a big thumbs-up—much to my relief. Having spent three years researching and writing the book—titled Human Game (see the post dated Jan. 12, “What happens after ‘The Great Escape’)—I had lost all perspective on it by the end. After you’ve read for the sixth or seventh time something you’ve written, it becomes a challenge to determine whether it’s any good. The positive opinion of someone outside your immediate circle of friends and family goes a long way in boosting the old confidence level. Hopefully, my U.S. editor will also think kindly of what I’ve submitted!

As the book winds its way through the editing process, I find myself torn between the desire to take time off and dive right into my next project. As stated in the post below, I work a day job to pay the bills. My writing, for the most part, is done in the evenings after my wife and son are in bed. Having my evenings free to lounge about in front of the television or to catch up on my reading is always a thing—but always present in the back of my mind is that nagging urge to get cracking on the next manuscript. Human Game clocked in at almost 100,000 words—the longest thing I’ve written by far. While I definitely need time to recharge the batteries, my compulsion (and that’s what it is) to write never seems to rest.

The reason for this may have something to do with being neurotic; it definitely has something to do with how I view myself. Although my day job is in marketing, I consider myself—professionally—a writer first and foremost. My other job is what enables me to pursue my writing. If I’m not writing, then I feel I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m merely wasting time. Watching something take shape on the page is one of life’s great pleasures! I don’t possess any grand illusions about myself; I just know what I like—and want—to do. Actually, it’s what I need to do. If I put writing off for too long a period, I eventually feel like something inside of me is going to explode.

But there’s one more reason . . . and that’s the hope that whatever project I may be working on will be “The One.” Years ago when I started writing, my primary goal was simply to be published. Once I achieved that benchmark, the next goal I set was to become a full-time author. It’s a lofty ambition and one that few writers are fortunate enough to achieve—but without a dream, how dull would things be?

A final note: It turns out researchers at Harvard have diagnosed a condition in some folks called Hypergraphia. In short, this is defined as the overpowering urge to write. Here’s an article from Psychology Today I found last night while cruising about the Web.

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The realities of being published . . .

In advances, author, publishing, writers, Writing on January 15, 2012 at 8:12 pm

If you nurture dreams of becoming a published author, you may envision martini lunches with your agent and large-scale advances that allow you to quit your day job. Such fantasies are not uncommon. Before Penguin published my first book in 2005, I harbored such illusions. Now, with six books released through major publishers in the United States and Britain, I still work a “day job” to pay the bills.

While I haven’t given up the idea of being a full-time writer, experience has taught me that those who can actually afford to work solely on their writing are the exception in this trade. Don’t get me wrong, seeing your book in print is a wonderful thing–but you should keep your expectations in check. I recently came across this article, which ran in Salon several years back. It’s pretty grim reading for anyone who hopes to make their living as a scribe–but it’s also a good cautionary tale.

Check it out for yourself: The confessions for a semi-successful author.

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