Rhys Bowen on Thrillers v. Mysteries, Noir v. Cozy

I was speaking at a bookstore the other day and a member of the audience asked me what the difference was between a mystery and a thriller. My flippant reply was, “About eight hundred thousand dollars.” This surprised my audience who tend to think that all published authors make millions of dollars (Sisters, you are allowed a gentle chuckle here). They couldn’t believe that mysteries were less highly regarded than thrillers.

“But thrillers are all about plot,” one person said. “And my favorite Rhys Bowen mysteries are wonderful character studies.”

Right. But as we all know, good books do not necessarily translate into bestselling books. When I’ve been in an airport or on a beach, I’ve been dismayed to observe that everyone is reading Dan Brown or James Patterson. Does that really mean that most people find them more enjoyable or that they are so ubiquitous that the average person can’t help stumbling upon them in the big box stores or at the airport newsagents?

The sad thing is that these people will think that this is the gold standard of mystery/thriller fiction. We’ve all heard the comment, “Oh, I never read genre fiction” by those who consider themselves cultured and educated. I always point out to these people that they have probably read no genre fiction other than the piles at the big box stores and thus can’t really judge. I ask if they have they ever read Nancy Pickard or Laura Lippman or Louise Penny or any number of distinguished women writers whose books are full of wonderfully complex characters, finely drawn settings, moral dilemmas and who write to touch the soul?

I suspect, unfortunately, that most people don’t want their souls touched. They don’t want to be involved with the books they read. They just want entertaining and titillating in the same way that they watch their TV programs. I don’t know about you, but when I read a good book, I am so involved that I am not conscious of words on the page. I am in that place and time—feeling the hot dry wind in my face with Tony Hillerman, shivering in the icy cold of Quebec with Louise Penny. I also strive for this when I write my own books. I want my reader to experience the sights, sounds and smells of New York City with my heroine Molly Murphy. The experience of the setting is as important to me as the plot. So is getting to know the characters. I come to regard series characters as old friends, to be revisited with anticipation each time a new book comes out. I know my fans feel this way, because they talk about Evan and Molly and Lady Georgie as if they are real people—which they are to me, of course.

Which brings me to a second gripe: that noir mystery fiction, usually written by men, is somehow more valid and more literary than traditional mysteries written by women. You only have to look at the Edgars or best books of the year lists to see that we women are lucky if we get a mention. Would somebody please tell me why an alcoholic and troubled loner sleuth is considered more interesting and relevant than an ordinary, likeable person trying to see that justice is done? We writers of the traditional mystery (no, I won’t use the word cozy) are used to being patted on the head, as if we are the maiden aunt who should sit quietly in the corner, knitting. Well, I’m sorry but I find the stories in traditional mysteries more shocking in many ways. If I am on the mean streets of the city, among gangs and drug dealers, I expect to find crime and violence. How much more disturbing is it if violent crime strikes the kind of place where I live and involves people that I know?

I guess I’m biased. I don’t like violence. I don’t like graphic violence on the page. I like to read a book in which justice somehow prevails and order is restored to the universe by the end of the story. I guess I really am cozy by nature.

When I first started writing I complained to my editor that all my reviews called my books “charming and delightful.” I wanted to be taken seriously, not to be charming and delightful. So I told my editor that my next book would contain Satanism, cannibalism and strewn body parts. She smiled sweetly and said, “Yes, and I bet they’ll be charming and delightful body parts too.”

So that’s it: cozy and noir are in our natures as writers and we can’t write well outside our nature however well we try. So I promise no cannibalism or strewn body parts in my next Molly and Georgie books!

Rhys Bowen writes the Agatha, Anthony and MacAvity winning Molly Murphy mysteries set in 1903 New York City and the bestselling Royal Spyness mysteries featuring a minor royal in 1930s London. The Last Illusion, her ninth Molly Murphy mystery, will be in stores on Marsh 2nd. She also looks forward to being toastmaster at this year’s Malice Domestic convention.

WEDNESDAY'S BURNING QUESTION

Ellen Hart writes:

I remember the first time I was asked this questions: Does it bother you that you're writing about murder as entertainment? It was at a Barnes & Noble and I choked. I'm sure I eventually said something coherent, but I remember going home with the thought that this was something I needed to consider. In fact, this question ultimately helped me form my philosophy about what I do as a writer.

So this time, the question is for you:

Does it bother you that you're writing about murder as entertainment?

Reviews Today: It’s the Wild West out there

by Libby Hellmann

The holidays are over, and now that we’ve packed up all our peace and good will until next year, it's time to turn our attention to something not so kind and gentle.

Reviews.

You know the story. It used to be you’d write a book. Your publisher would send out ARCs to major trade publications and newspapers. While you probably wouldn’t get reviewed in the New York Times, you could count on Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Library Journal. And your local newspapers. Those reviews, for which we sat on pins and needles weeks in advance, helped create buzz. Good reviews could make or break library sales, bookstore interest, even word of mouth.

Not any more. First to go was review space in big city newspapers. All of us can point to a paper that no longer exists or, if it does, has pared reviews to the bone. Closer to home was the demise of Drood Review and Mystery News. Then, just a few weeks ago, the death of Kirkus. Say what you want about their last line zingers, a good Kirkus review was cause for celebration. Even worse, there seems to have been a decline in the number of reviews from Library Journal and Booklist. I could usually count on reviews from them for my books. Not this time.

At the same time, we’re seeing an explosion of what’s being called “citizen reviews,” most of them online, all of them written by “readers” as opposed to professionals. I probably first noticed them on lists like Dorothy L, but over the years they’ve picked up steam on Amazon (‘fess up.. how many of us have asked a friend to write a favorable review?) to the point that they’ve been institutionalized with the Amazon Vine program. Reader-oriented websites, like GoodReads and Library Thing encourage them. And that doesn’t even include the proliferation of book review blogs and websites. There are literally hundreds of citizen reviews these days. I know, because I’ve tried to keep lists of them.

Which is the point of my rant. Citizen reviews are filling an important void. Many of these reviewers are professional, thoughtful, and take their responsibilities seriously. I’ve been the beneficiary of their work, and I’m grateful for it.

Then there are others.

I was the recent target of a citizen review that has to be the most savage review I’ve ever received. Bar none. (If you’re into hate, go ahead and click on the link) Clearly, anyone has the right to say they hated a book and why, but this individual went above and beyond by inferring the type of person I must be because of the subject of the book. He also threw in several racist comments, which were gratuitous... and hurtful.

I don’t care how many good reviews you get -- it’s the bad one we obsess over. And I did. I waited a week to say anything – I didn’t want to be impulsive -- but eventually I took it up with the organization’s managers. They maintained the review didn’t violate their “terms of service.” Which made me wonder what would.

But the most offensive (at least to me) part was the discovery of a sub-group of citizen reviewers on the same website, some of whom consider it a badge of honor to write clever but snarky reviews. “Writing scathing reviews is fun,” the person who critiqued my book said. Someone else agreed, saying “savaging bad writing is fun, and often necessary.” To be fair, I should point out that others in the group challenged those remarks.

I deleted my page from the organization, but it brings up an issue I believe all of us need to grapple with. On one hand, the dearth of traditional reviews is filling up with new voices. That’s good. And necessary. On the other hand, how far can a review go and still be considered useful? Citizen reviews will undoubtedly be a permanent part of the literary landscape, but at what price? And how should an author handle reviews that they believe are over the top? Should we do what author Niteflyr-one did on Amazon, ostensibly to her regret, since it seems to have backfired? Or should we just crack open a bottle of wine and let it pass?

The absence of parameters – good or bad -- has catapulted the act of reviewing into an online version of the wild, wooly West. And yeah, I know the bromide about any publicity being good publicity. Still, I wonder.

What do you think?

Wednesday's Burning Question

Ellen Hart Writes:

Okay, so we all have our pet peeves in mysteries. I dislike endings wherein the culprit spills his or her guts at the last minute--while holding a gun on the protagonist--talking endlessly about what happened and why. I did this in a few books myself until I gained the skill to reveal more as I went along and save the ending for the final thrilling trust. It's hard to get much thrill when you stop the forward movement for five minutes to do an information dump.

That's one of my mystery pet peeves. What are yours? What do you think is overused? What's cliche? What might have worked once but doesn't anymore?

Writing longhand: Goodbye to an old friend?

By William Kent Krueger

One of the questions I’m often asked during any event Q & A is how I do my writing. More specifically, do I compose directly to a computer or do I write longhand? The funny thing is it’s one of the questions I almost always ask of other writers. I love to know about process.

In my own case, the answer used to be simple. For nearly three decades I wrote everything in longhand first, then transcribed to the typewriter or—much later—the computer. The reason isn’t complicated. I’ve always done my creative writing in coffee shops, and when I began that process there were no laptops. A notebook and pen or pencil was the only option. Oh, how I grew to love the feel of writing, which was not just a cerebral process but physical as well. I swear I can sense the energy of the story shooting from my brain down my arm into my fingers and finally through the pen onto the page. In a way, I’ve always regarded it not only as process but as ritual, something that’s necessary in order to make the magic of writing happen.

The benefits have been many. I’ve always appreciated the freedom of writing longhand because I can compose anywhere, anytime, so long as I have paper and a writing utensil. (I’ve even used crayons on occasion.) The process helps me to look at my work in different ways. First, there is the mess of the initial composition, all scrawled and scratched out and with margin notes and addendums and arrowed lines showing where changes need to be inserted. Transcribing to the computer is my first edit. On the screen the structure is neatly organized with clean sentences and formal paragraphs and text that is easily read. I’m able to see the story as it will appear in manuscript form and I look at it differently, from a more considered perspective than the creative frenzy of scribbling on paper allows.

For most of the thirty years I’ve been writing, nothing has been more exciting to me than sitting in the booth of a coffee shop and opening a new notebook because all I see in those empty pages is promise.

Lately, however, things have become a bit muddled. I just completed the next novel in my Cork O’Connor mystery series, a book titled Vermilion Drift. Because I was a little late in beginning the manuscript and because deadline was looming, I was forced to streamline my normal creative process. The book was written with a hybrid approach that involved some longhand on paper and some composition directly to computer. It felt awkward at first, but as I went along, I became more comfortable with my fingers on the keyboard channeling immediately what went on in my brain. During this period, I began work on another novel as well, not in the series, which has been written entirely to computer. Just between you and me, I think it’s a wonderful manuscript.

So, these days when I’m asked about my process my answer tends to be much more complicated than before. I don’t know if I’ve given up longhand for good. In a way, I hope not. It would be like saying goodbye to my best friend. But as the song goes, sometimes even the best of friends must part.

I’ll keep you posted.

Wednesday's Burning Question

Ellen Hart writes:

As both a writer and a writing teacher, I make sure my students understand POV (Point Of View). Simply put, you can't head hop in a scene. You can't be in two character's minds in the same chapter/section. And then, of course, one smart-aleck student will always go out, find a British mystery, bring it back and point out that the British do it all the time. So there. What's a poor writing teacher supposed to say?

Which leads us to Sandra Parshall's Burning Question for today:

"British authors often "head-hop"--switching from one character's POV to another within a scene. American writers generally regard this as a forbidden practice. How do you feel about it, as a writer or as a reader?"

How Women Writers Brought me to Bookselling

By Robin Agnew

My path to bookselling was a long and circuitous one – graduating from college during the last big recession (1982) my husband and I took whatever jobs we could find. Wanting to be Mary Tyler Moore (or I did at least) we ended up loading up our VW Rabbit with wedding presents and driving to Minneapolis, where we lived for six years. While my husband worked a variety of jobs and attended graduate school at the Univesity of Minnesota, I simply worked a variety of jobs: bridal consultant, salesclerk, hotel reservations and catering assistant. Along that way my reading journey, of course, was never interrupted.

I had always read mysteries and had a mother who raised me on the classics – Agatha, Margery and Dorothy (thanks, Mom). When I married I discovered that my father in law was also an avid mystery reader. He introduced me to some authors who really, in the end, changed my life, but the two that really blew the roof off my head were Lillian O’Donnell and Sara Paretsky.

These two women expanded the parameters of what I thought mystery writing was. O’Donnell, maddeningly difficult to find today (and though we carry loads of used books at our store, in the neighborhood of 20,000 volumes) the copies we have of her books are mostly in the hard cover book club editions. I’m constantly pressing them on people anyway though the sequence of the series is hard to follow.

At the time, my father in law was in fact sharing his own book club hardcovers with me, and I tore through the saga of O’Donnell’s homicide cop Norah Mulcahaney, who along with rising through the ranks of the NYPD suffers the loss of a child and the loss of a husband along the way. Meanwhile O’Donnell also delivers crisp and straight forward police procedurals, a subgenre I’ve always been partial to.

Sara Paretsky is not really big news anymore, but back in 1982 when she was first breaking the boundaries of what women were supposed to be and how they should behave – well, V.I. gave me someone to live up to in every sense of the word. She’s so independent, smart, and brave – well, I think all of us wish we had a little bit of V.I in us.

The other thing that Minneapolis introduced me to was the mystery bookstore – one of the oldest in the country, Uncle Edgar’s, still thrives there. I loved the mix of new and used books, the passionate recommendations and even the kids in the playpen at the store.

We eventually moved to Michigan to be near family, but that Uncle Edgar’s model stuck in my head. Some of my happiest hours in Minneapolis had been spent browsing those shelves. Arriving in Michigan babies started to arrive, and with them the desire for a flexible something to do that would allow us to both be part of the kid’s lives.

Meanwhile, my husband was working at Borders. At some point books, my love of mysteries, and our desire to work for ourselves (which still sometimes feels monumentally foolish) and the idea of sharing my love of mystery writers, women mystery writers especially, took over and Aunt Agatha's was born almost 18 years ago. Along with the store came the baby swing, just like at Uncle Edgar’s.

Sara Paretsky and Lillian O’Donnell are still steady sellers for us, and our passion for books has never waned. Along the way my husband became a mystery fan (he wasn’t when we opened) – his favorite woman writer: Margery Allingham, though he’s also awfully fond of Megan Abbott.

Bookselling, like life, takes lots of strange twists and turns but my love of reading and wonderful writing has never changed. And that is thanks, in big part, to O’Donnell and Parestsky.

Wednesday's Burning Question

First, a preface. Many years ago, while at Jim Huang's wonderful bookstore--The Mystery Company, in Carmel Indiana--I was asked a question that not only elicited a response from me, but one from Jim. He said that he felt that series mysteries tended to become darker as they went along. While that's not the case for all series mysteries, it is for many, and that includes mine. So here's the question:

As a reader, do you like it when the characters grow and change, or do you prefer them to remain the same? Put another way, do you want the series to always have the same tone, or do you mind a slide in a little darker direction? (As someone once said, some characters grow, and some characters grow orchids. Nero Wolfe never changed. The city changed around him, but he never grew older, never went on a diet, never met a woman and fell in love.)

Thoughts?

That's it.

Thanks so much!

~Ellen

Relaunching our Blog

By Ellen Hart

Sisters In Crime, Public Relations

Sometimes I feel as if I’m the only person in the world who hasn’t written a blog. If I am the last holdout, don’t tell me. I’m already feeling a bit like a dinosaur. Did you say 2010??? Yikes!!!

I’m beginning to suspect that there might be a hierarchy of experience out there in the big wide world. First steps. First bike. First grade. First rock concert. First love. First kiss. First taste of Champagne. First reading glasses. First grandchild. First gray hair. Ah, yes, I’ve experienced them all. And now, I’ve finally clawed my way to the pinnacle of modern life--my first blog. I’m feeling very pumped, ready to take on a challenge--which is good because I’ve been tasked with the job of bringing some new energy and interest to the SinC blog.

Now, just because I’ve never written one doesn’t mean I don’t read them. There are a few blogs I read religiously--Nathan Bransford’s, for one. I love hearing about the publishing industry, about books people are reading, about the process of writing and promotion, about what’s hot and what’s not (and hopefully, why). When you sit in a room by yourself all day, as writers do, you sometimes crave what so many other people have -- a water cooler, a place to gather with other adult s to chat and chew over events and ideas of common interest. I think blogs are our modern day water coolers.

So welcome to the new, improved, one-hundred percent organic and natural, totally green, radically innovative, doctor-prescribed, wrinkle resistant, and as a bonus, potentially cholesterol reducing SinC blog!

Here’s the down and dirty--the way it’s going to work. Every Monday a new blog will be posted from a member of SinC. This is equal opportunity. If you’ve got an idea, email me and let’s kick it around, run it up the flag poll and see if it holds water. (Yes, I realize I mixed a metaphor. Glad to know you’re still with me.) Email me at ellenhart@earthlink.net. I’m the one who will be delegating the Monday blogs, and you can believe I will be on the lookout for something informative, lively, and even provocative.

On Wednesday, we will post the Burning Question of the Week. I assume some questions will be more burning than others, but I’m hoping that many of you will weigh in with your thoughts. Engaging conversation is one of the true delights of life, and that’s what I’m hoping to promote here. If you have ideas for the Burning Question, again, please email me.

Our first blogger will be Robin Agnew, co-owner of Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookstore, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Robin is a long-time (and very vocal) supporter of women’s mysteries. The third week of the month, multi-award winning crime writer, William Kent Krueger, will be taking the internet lectern.

Please tell all your Sister’s in Crime buddies to check in every week to see what’s going on. I can’t do this alone. A water cooler with only one person standing by it is a deeply lonely place. That’s why the Official Sisters In Crime Blog needs you!

Freezing in Minnesota, I remain,

Ellen Hart

Write Like A Man?

Is the key to literary success to be or write like a man? That's the subject of a recent article in the Washington Post by Julianna Baggot. Check it out here.

Let us know what YOU think.

We Love Libraries

Sisters in Crime is pleased to announce the first "We Love Libraries" lottery. Monthly grants of $1,000 will be awarded from January through December 2010. At the end of each month, a winner will be drawn from entries received at our website at www.sistersincrime.org. Only U.S. libraries may enter the drawing.

To enter, simply complete the entry form and upload a photo of one or more of your staff with three books in your collection by Sisters in Crime members. You can find a list of members on the website here.

After the random drawing on the last business day of the month, the winning library will be contacted and announced. All branches within a larger system may enter; however, once a library in the system has won, no other libraries within that system can win the grant. Those not successful in one month will automatically be entered for subsequent drawings. Grants must be used to purchase books and may not be used for general operating expenses. Book purchases are NOT restricted to the mystery genre nor to those by Sisters in Crime members. There is no cost or obligation other than allowing us to post winners' photos on our website.

All libraries are welcome to enter. If you have Sisters in Crime author mysteries in your collection we would love for you to enter this money giveaway.

We at Sisters in Crime LOVE our libraries and want to see them thrive. Enter for your library's chance to win beginning January 1, 2010 at www.sistersincrime.org.

Click here for the entry form.

If you have any questions please contact Beth Wasson.

Dorothy Gilman. The best. Ever.

There is a shelf in my office dedicated to Dorothy Gilman. I have a copy of every one of her books. This collection began with “The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax” and continues through the entire Mrs. Pollifax series, adding other stand-alone books along the way, such as “A Nun in the Closet,” “The Clairvoyant Countess,” and “Girl in Buckskin.”

The Mrs. Pollifax copies are especially well-used, having endured multiple readings. Each time I begin with anticipation, having forgotten some of the details, and the read is always comforting and satisfying – as if I’m being reacquainted with old friends. Mrs. Pollifax meets the most interesting people, she finds deep courage within herself in every situation, and her friends are long-lasting and true. Her adventures are both entertaining and educational; how is it that a retired woman can go from contemplating the edge of her rooftop while watering her geraniums to running around the Albanian countryside? Or disguising herself as a Chinese grandmother? Or surviving torture in Hong Kong? Mrs. Pollifax can do it all, with love in her heart and steel in her backbone.

Dorothy Gilman has served as an unknowing mentor and friend for me all these years. When I need a break from writing, I read her books. When I need inspiration, or a reminder of what it feels like to get lost in great writing, I read her books. When I want to see again how she creates characters which are both lovable and complex, I delve into her books. It seems whatever trait I need to study, I find them in her writings.

Mystery Writers of America has granted Dorothy Gilman Grandmaster status, which I heartily applaud. Gilman has done so much for our genre, and has shown that a female mystery author can and did achieve success with books that appeal to both genders (my father was also a Mrs. Pollifax fan!). She began her career back in the sixties, long before Sisters in Crime existed -- long before most of our now-lauded female crime writers took the stage. She wrote what she wanted to write, not following a trend of any kind, and was wildly successful. Her books are still in print, after over forty years of being on the shelves. Would that we all could be so fortunate!

Congratulations to Ms. Gilman for writing such wonderful books, for continuing to entertain and challenge us, and for this award. She deserves every accolade heaped upon her.


Sincerely,

Judy Clemens
Fan Girl

Have you paid your dues?

Sisters in Crime Renewal Notice – Deadline: January 31, 2010

This notice is only being sent to members who are due for renewal in the SinC data base. Please Remove this line as you don't know if the member has renewed or not. Replace it with...we disregard this message if you have renewed.

Sisters in Crime is looking forward to an exciting new year and we want to make sure all of our members have renewed their membership for 2010. Renewals can be handled on the web site at www.sistersincrime.org.

As a member you have a username and password. You must be logged in to renew your membership. Dues remain $40 for all US and Canadian members. Add $5 for all other countries.

1. Click here to go directly to the SinC home page - www.sistersincrime.org

2. Click on grey box which says, Join Now, under the pictures. There will be a pull down menu which says, Renew – click on Renew and enter your username and password. This will take you to your membership profile where you renew your SinC membership

3. You may also Renew by clicking on Renew on the right side under Quick Links.

4. Pick regular member and view your membership profile – make updates and hit the Submit button at the bottom of the page

5. Next a payment screen will come up and you can choose to pay by MC/Visa or by check. If you pick the check option you will need to print a copy of your invoice to send with your check. Once we receive the check you will receive a receipt by e-mail

Want to renew by mail? Please send Beth Wasson an e-mail and she will send you a membership form to fill out and send back in the mail with your $40 check. Add $5 for all countries except Canada. E-mail Beth at sistersincrime@juno.com

Need your username and password? Contact Beth at sistersincrime@juno.com, who would be happy to take your phone call on weekdays, between 10 AM – 3 PM CST at 785-842-1325. I can help you Login to the Sisters in Crime web site. Don’t hesitate to call; it will only take a few minutes.

Sisters in Crime, PO Box 442124, Lawrence, KS 66044, sistersincrime@juno.com, 785-842-1325

SinC into a Good Mystery!

The mission of Sisters in Crime is to promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry.

SinC's Position on Harlequin Horizons

by Marcia Talley
President, Sisters in Crime

The mission of Sisters in Crime, Inc. is to support the professional advancement of our members, and not to comment on business decisions made by publishers. Nevertheless, the Sisters in Crime board feels obliged to let our membership know how we stand on the recent decision by Harlequin to partner with Author Solutions, a subsidy/vanity press, and to promote these services to aspiring authors via links on its website.

It is our job to educate our members, to make sure that they enter into publishing agreements of whatever kind with their eyes wide open. Harlequin Horizons, by whatever name, is a vanity press, and like all vanity presses, provides editorial, marketing and publishing services to authors for a fee. As such, it relies upon payments and income from aspiring writers to earn profits, rather than sales of books to actual readers.

After researching the market and taking her goals into consideration, a Sisters in Crime member may make an informed decision to self publish, but should also be aware of the consequences.

Presently, self-published writers do not enjoy the same benefits as traditionally published authors in Romance Writers of America (RWA), Mystery Writers of America (MWA) or Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), nor will they qualify for literary awards sponsored by those organizations. More than likely, self-published writers will not be assigned to author panels by conference coordinators. Self-published books are generally not carried in brick and mortar stores.

If those benefits are not a concern, then self-publishing may be the right choice for a writer seeking a creative outlet. If so, there are dozens of subsidy/vanity presses which can provide the same services as Harlequin Horizons, some at considerably less cost.

We urge members to research those companies carefully, comparing services, quality and price before making a decision. Do not assume that because Harlequin Horizons is affiliated with Harlequin that choosing Harlequin Horizons to print your self-published novel will improve your chances of being published by Harlequin's more traditional advance and royalty paying divisions.

Read the official RWA, MWA and SFWA statements here: http://tinyurl.com/yz5n6cb

BEST BOOKS? SAYS WHO?

By Marcia Talley
President, Sisters in Crime

There’s been a lot said in the news and in the blogosphere lately about Publisher’s Weekly annual Top 10 and Top 100 books of the year.

Here's the article: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html

Shockingly, there are no, I repeat, no women in the top ten. In the "fiction section," the only female mystery writers who made the list were Gillian Flynn and Sarah Waters, and of the seven titles selected in the "mystery" category, only two are by women. Sisters in Crime finds this deeply discouraging. For the past twenty-three years, our organization has been working to raise awareness and “promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry.” When a lop-sided list like this comes out from a respected and influential industry publication, it seems that in spite of our best efforts, it’s "one step forward, two steps back."

The heart of what Sisters in Crime is all about is our Review Monitoring Project: giving women authors equity in the business of writing. Our monitors check newspapers, magazines, and on-line review sites to take note of how the numbers are adding up. Julianne Balmain heads up this effort, and has just complied the third quarter results for 2009. The news is bad.

Three quarters of the numbers are in for our Sisters In Crime Monitoring Project, she says, and the results are not particularly encouraging. Of fifty publications, only two have reviewed more mystery novels written by women than those written by men. One is the Bay Area’s Contra Costa Times at approximately 63% books by women, the other is Romantic Times at just under 78%.

Of the other 48 publications, many of the percentages as of the end of September were worrisome. Several large publications reviewing many mystery novels were heavily weighted in favor of books written by men. Among them are Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine at nearly 81% male, the Los Angeles Times at more than 85% male, the Detroit Free Press at 100% male, the Dallas Morning News at nearly 79% male, NPR Radio at more than 80% male, and the Washington Post at more than 79% male. We still have a full quarter of numbers to report, so these statistics will change. However, what appears to be a downward trend of review coverage for books written by women is certainly a cause for concern.

But the problem goes well beyond being ignored by reviewers. It's also clear that publishers don't take traditional mysteries seriously. Why? Because traditional mysteries are usually women's stories. How do we know that publishers don't take them seriously? In presenting the advanced reading copy of a new novel by one of our members, a bookseller received this notice: "This is not cozy time -- this is bestseller time." Can there be a more clear statement of a publisher's expectations?

And yet, there's a great track record of traditional mystery writers selling well -- the classic British women, of course, the ubiquitous Andrew McCall Smith, and even Lillian Jackson Braun, author of the popular “Cat Who …” books, hits the New York Times bestseller list every time. On the Oct. 7 Bookscan mystery chart, Joanne Fluke is #3 (right behind Michael Connelly at #2), Louise Penny is at #7, #20, #24, #43 and #45. M.C. Beaton is at #12 and #48. And there are more.

Think of how much better mysteries written by women would sell if they didn't have to fight the low expectations of the very people who publish them!

How does this inequality develop? Editorial policies vary, but reviewers generally review
books they like. Are their choices unconsciously affected by preconception?


Several years ago I served as a judge for a popular mystery anthology series, one that had, in previous years, featured primarily male authors. That year, the first to require blind submissions, the judges were gratified to discover that the stories we chose were roughly equal, male/female, and unpublished author/previously published author.

That certainly was an eyeopener for me.

Clearly, women writers are fighting against perception as well as reality. Women writers must continue to advocate for equality of advances, promotional money, reviews, interviews, and awards. And the fact that Sisters in Crime keeps track of these issues and tries to draw wider attention to them is critical.

Other voices weighing in on this issue include:

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/11/05/pw_10_best/index.html?source=rss&aim=/books/feature

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:1401285.6538197727/rid:f4307671de2e7e663602c933ec776dfa

SINC SUMMER SUMMIT

Our summit team is back from a trip visiting book distributors. We've made a "teaser podcast" to send out to let people know. Come on--give it a try!

http://sistersincrime.libsyn.com/

GOOGLE SETTLEMENT INFO

Dear Sisters in Crime:

*As you may know, in 2004 Google undertook the task of scanning (digitizing) the contents of several cooperating libraries and, in some cases, displaying snippets of the books, including books still in print or protected by copyright law, on the Google website. Google did not ask permission from rightsholders to do this. In response, several authors and publishers sued Google, claiming copyright infringement. After several years of negotiations, the parties agreed to settle the lawsuit out of court. As part of the settlement, Google agreed to pay a minimum of $45 million to compensate rightsholders whose works were scanned without their permission as of May 5, 2009. The settlement created a new non-profit organization called the Book Rights Registry, which will maintain a database of rightsholders and collect and distribute Google revenue to the appropriate rightsholders.

What does this mean for you? If you own a copyright interest in a book or short story or illustration published on or before January 5, 2009 that was reproduced or displayed by Google, then you are entitled to a claim under the settlement, and you can do any or all of the following: You may claim (that is, identify yourself as the rightsholder to) your materials. You may claim a payment for any materials that Google digitized on or before May 5th, 2009. This payment is estimated to be in the range of $60 per book. You may request that your materials be removed from the Google database or that your materials not be scanned/digitized. You may include or exclude your materials from various display uses as defined by the settlement. By claiming your materials and participating in the settlement, you are making yourself eligible to receive benefits from the settlement. However, you relinquish your right to sue Google or any participating library for digitizing and displaying your materials without your permission. Please note that if you do nothing, you will be bound by the terms of the settlement.

I don’t want to be part of the settlement. What do I do? If you opt out of the settlement, you will not receive any of the settlement’s benefits, but you retain the right to pursue action yourself against Google if you choose. To do so, visit http://www.googlebooksettlement.com, and follow the instructions to opt out. The deadline to opt out of the settlement is May 5, 2009.

What are the benefits of the settlement? If you remain in the settlement, you may be entitled to additional revenues from Google’s use of your material. You can determine how and to what extent Google can store/reproduce your work. And, you may be due a cash payment (the aforementioned $60) for the use of your work without your permission.

Is there any easy way to tell if I’m due a cash payment? Yes. See What do I do next? below. When you claim your materials, the settlement website will tell you whether or not a book has been scanned or is scheduled to be scanned.

Additional revenues! Tell me more. When you become part of the settlement, you are authorizing Google to continue to digitize or scan material, sell subscriptions to their electronic books database to institutions (libraries), sell online access to individual books, sell ad space on web pages featuring books, and display parts of a book (up to 20%) in a preview format (similar to Amazons search-inside-the-Book feature). Google will pay 63% of the money generated by these uses to the Book Rights Registry, who, after retaining an administrative fee (thought to be between 10-20%), will disburse the money to the appropriate rightsholders.

How much money are we looking at here? Small sums will be accrued from printing fees and from advertisements. Full online access to a book will generate between $1.99 and $20.99 (median $5.99), a price that the author/publisher can change later. Institutional licensing has the most significant economic potential. Google plans to provide unlimited access to their database to colleges and universities for a flat fee based on the number of students and faculty. This flat fee will be distributed to rightsholders in two ways: first, a straight $200 inclusion fee for any book included in the database, and potentially an additional prorated fee depending on how much the material is accessed as a whole of the entire database. This money will be further broken down as follows depending on whether or not the book is in print:

If the book is out of print and the rights have reverted to the author, the author receives 100% of the income, minus the Registry’s fee.

If the book is out of print but the rights have NOT reverted to the author, the income is split 50-50 between the author and the publisher.

If the book is out of print but is an older title (published before 1987), the income is split 65-35 between the author and publisher (author’s favor).

If the book is in print, the split depends on the terms for electronic and display rights in the contract between author and publisher.

What do I do next? Visit http://www.googlebooksettlement.com to begin the process of claiming your materials or to opt out of the settlement. You will create an account by registering a username and password. After that, the claim procedure is straightforward and generally only requires that you provide a title and author for the work in question. Once you have created an account, you will use it to manage the ways Google can use your materials.

What if I can’t go online? You may opt out of the settlement by sending written notice by First-Class Mail, postage prepaid, postmarked on or before May 5, 2009 to the Settlement Administrator, at: Google Book Search Settlement Administrator c/o Rust Consulting PO Box 9364 Minneapolis, MN 55440-9364
Alternatively, you may request that a paper claim form be sent to you by calling 1.888.356.0248.

Are there any deadlines I should know about?
The deadline to opt out of the settlement is May 5, 2009. The deadline to claim a cash payment for the digitization of your material is January 5, 2010. The deadline to have your material removed from the Google database is April 5, 2011.

How can I learn more? Visit any of the following resources for more information, or if your question isn’t covered here.

Google Books Settlement FAQ
Author’s Guild Vs. Google Settlement Resources Page
Google,AAP, Authors Guild: Joint Public FAQ


Marcia Talley
Vice president, Sisters in Crime

*This information comes from the Association of Artists' Representatives.

SINC INTO GREAT WRITING

Sisters in Crime will be sponsoring a writing workshop on October 14, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, IN, the day before the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention begins. The SinC into Great Writing program features seminars by Donald Maass, Hallie Ephron, and Chris Roerden, and dinner with keynote speaker Nancy Pickard. The program will run from 1:30 to 9 pm.

Cost is $50 for SinC members, $150 for nonmembers.

SinC into Great Writing!: The Program

1:30 to 5:30 pm: Writing the Breakout Novel with Donald Maass

This intensive, hands-on writing workshop introduces powerful techniques for taking your fiction to the next level. (For advanced fiction writers.) Participants must bring the manuscript of a completed novel, or novel-in-progress. Based on the book "Writing the Breakout Novel" by New York literary agent Donald Maass.

5:45 to 7:00 pm: Dinner with Nancy Pickard

Dinner with featured keynote speaker Nancy Pickard: "My First Editor Got Fired and Other Tales of Survival in the Mystery Business"

7:15 to 9:00 pm (choose one workshop)

Twisting a Mystery Plot: The Secret's in the Secrets with Hallie Ephron

Plot is probably *the* critical element in a mystery novel. It has to be surprising, believable, and compelling. In this workshop we will talk about how to shape your novel so it delivers--grabbing the reader at the start and ending with satisfying wallop as puzzle pieces fall into place, revealing secrets along the way to keep the reader turning those pages.

Don't Sabotage Your Submission with Chris Roerden

Find out how manuscripts are really evaluated, why 95% are rejected almost immediately, and ways you can beat the odds and make it through the approval process toward becoming published.

Presenter bios:

New York literary agent Donald Maass is the author of "Writing the Breakout Novel," "Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook," and "The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great."
www.maassagency.com

Nancy Pickard, 4-time Edgar Nominee and winner of Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, and Macavity awards, is the author of 17 novels and dozens of short stories. She is a founding member and former national president of Sisters In Crime.
www.NancyPickardmysteries.com

Hallie Ephron is an author, writing teacher, and award-winning "Boston Globe" book reviewer. Her latest psychological suspense novel, "Never Tell a Lie," received a starred review in PW and was an Indie NEXT pick for 1/09. She is also the author of Edgar-nominated "Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock 'Em Dead with Style."
www.HallieEphron.com

Chris Roerden is the Agatha-winning, Macavity- and Anthony-nominated author of "Don't Murder Your Mystery" and its all-genre version, "Don't Sabotage Your Submission." She edits authors published by St. Martin's, Berkley Prime Crime, Midnight Ink, and more. www.marketsavvybookediting.com

Register: www.sistersincrime.org/conference.
For questions: contact Beth Wasson. sistersincrime@juno.com.

Deadline: September 22, 2009. NO REFUNDS. Registration will be capped at 200.

Cost: $50 for SinC members, $150 for nonmembers. Dinner and coffee break included. Discounted conference hotel rates are offered through the Bouchercon website. http://www.bouchercon2009.com/

ADVANCING OUR MISSION

By SinC President Judy Clemens

"The mission of Sisters in Crime is to promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry."

What an important mission we have. We join together as sisters and brothers in crime to advance this mission and see our beloved mystery genre blossom. We’re all here because we love reading mysteries, we love to celebrate them, and we want to do our part to make sure the crime writing community continues to grow and welcome women authors as equal partners in the field.

We are fortunate to have a dedicated and passionate board of directors, a fantastic executive secretary, enthusiastic members, and active and hard-working chapters all across the country. Our base is strong and continues to get stronger.

My first official act as president of SinC was to thank Roberta Isleib for her leadership during the past year. I meant every word wholeheartedly – Roberta was a source of strength and vision, and led the organization well during a year of many decisions and activities. We also said a warm good-bye and thank you to Donna Andrews, who served on the board for five years as chapter liaison, and to Margaret Coel, who served as a member-at-large during the past year.

We welcome new board members Julianne Balmain (aka Nadia Gordon) as our Monitoring Project Coordinator, Cathy Pickens as the head of public relations, Robin Burcell as the chapter liaison, and Charlaine Harris as a member-at-large. All four dove right into our meetings this fall with enthusiasm and a willingness to go above and beyond their roles.

I go into this year as president with much energy and excitement. As you read in our cover article, the board had a successful strategic planning session to guide us through the next three years. As we looked at our organization, we were able to refocus our energies and look ahead to many interesting projects – some a continuation and restructuring of projects we’ve been doing for years, and some brand new. We have much to work on, much to continue, and much to look forward to!

During the next year we have many exciting things in store – a revamping of our web site, a day of workshops before the Indianapolis Bouchercon, a revitalized newsletter, an enlarged mission for our Monitoring Project, and many other things that will become clear as the year goes on.

If you would like to become more involved with SinC’s mission, we welcome volunteers in so many areas of our organization! If you have a passion for something, please let us know. We’d love to have any time you could offer to help us further this business we love.

So let’s do what our tagline suggests – SinC into a good mystery! And while we’re at it, let’s go ahead and SinC into a fantastic mystery organization, as well!

A Holiday Wish....

I miss Phyllis Whitney. I know many of you do too. After all, her books were the first grown up suspense books most of us read and we continued to read them for many years. In fact, many generations have enjoyed reading her wonderful books.

I must admit that all of us at Mystery Lovers Bookshop miss her for another reason. She was a good friend and great customer for many of her 104 years. We loved when her beautiful script appeared on a thick, fine envelope in the day's mail containing a new order for a box of books. This woman was a world traveler, prodigious writer and a fabulous reader of all kinds of books...cozy and harder boiled mysteries, romantic suspense, celebrity biography, espionage, travel and writing books. All the while she was reading widely, she worked on writing her biography which we all are anxious to read.

Bon Voyage, dear Phyllis.

Now, with my bookseller hat on, I have to say I miss her practical, financial support greatly. An author who buys 200 books from an independent bookseller is all too rare these days. I know it is easy to order online when you work at your computer or walk into a big B in the neighborhood. Maybe your publicist thinks the Amazon link is the only way to go. Think about it, every stroke and step is at the expense of the independent bookseller.

Last year when a big California indy was closing, I read a news story with mournful words from neighboring authors who were so sad. When I looked up their websites, only 2 had a link to the struggling indy now forced to close.

Mystery Lovers Bookshop is so thankful for the dozen or more writers who buy books here, who link to our website to channel sales, who arrange virtual signings and just shop for Holiday and Birthday gifts, personal stock of their titles, writing books, travel books and research titles for the book underway. Bless you as you all are a reason we are here after 18 years.

What about you? If writers would buy all the books they need in the next three months from an indy, it could make all the difference. Why not become the resident author of the mystery book store near you? Order your books for your stock there and invite them to sell at your local events. They will certainly keep large stock of all you books signed for anyone who requests one from you. If they are nearby, you can inscribe any book too. Mention this special service on your website, link to the mystery bookstores and above all else, do all your shopping there. Remember, special orders don't upset us.

Happy Holidays and thank you to all.

Richard Goldman & Mary Alice Gorman
Mystery Lovers Bookshop
514 Allegheny River Boulevard
Oakmont, PA 15139
412/828-4877