The Writer and the Contract

Over the last year the Authors Guild has been discussing with its membership what constitutes a fair book contract. This sounds ideal, but bringing it to fruition with the major publishers, the Big Five as they are now known, could be an impossible ideal. As part of their strategy, the Authors Guild sent an open letter to publishers urging them to amend their contracts to be fairer to writers. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a successful writer in several genres, has taken a look at this letter and offered a commentary. You can read it (see the link below), and I urge you to do so, but I have a few suggestions also. 

The Authors Guild program to improve contracts for writers seems to depend on publishers offering more generous terms, but in fact it depends on writers becoming better business men and women. It is axiomatic that a new writer will be so thrilled to get a contract for a first book that he or she will accept almost anything that is offered. Reputable publishers won't take even more advantage of this, since they already hold most of the cards anyway, but writers need to be aware of what they are getting and what they are giving away. This post is not about specific clauses, and how they should be written. I'm not an attorney and cannot and will not give advice. But I urge writers to be aware of what they agreeing to or even discussing.

The writer is licensing rights to his or her book. You're not giving it away or selling it; you're licensing it.  Learn what this means and what the limitations are. How long does the publisher have before it has to publish or return the manuscript; when is the book out of print? What formats will the publisher use? Is the publisher publishing the manuscript as a hardcover, ebook, serial? Ask questions if you don't know what something means.

I always keep the copyright in my name, and if the publisher doesn't register the book with the Library of Congress, I do it myself. It costs $35 and an hour of my time, but it's worth it. 

Learn the difference between the various sub rights. Some publishers begin by asking for everything, but if you ask in return, they will hand over the sub rights that don't matter to them. If you want the trade paperback rights, ask for them. If you want mass market paperback rights, ask for them. The publisher might say no, but you won't know what you can get if you don't ask. Of course you want to keep all the movie rights, translation rights, and other rights because you're an optimist and the publisher will just sit on them forever.

Some writers insist on cover approval, but this isn't always possible to get. The more successful you are, the greater the likelihood that you'll get to see the cover and make suggestions. Some publishers ask for ideas, but that doesn't mean the designer will follow them. I've been fortunate with Five Star/Gale, Cengage. They showed me the cover of my first Anita Ray mystery, Under the Eye of Kali, and followed my suggestions. Their covers have been perfect for each novel in the series, which means they are reading the detailed synopses I include with the manuscript.

In previous years the Authors Guild published a small guide to a fair contract, which I encountered in the 1990s. When a partner and I set up The Larcom Press, we went forward as writers who wanted to be fair to other writers. We accepted the first novel of a nonfiction writer who negotiated the contract like a professional agent. She was so precise in her requests, referencing the AG guide several times, that her agent called me and said he was going to let her conduct the negotiations. Working with Leslie Wheeler was an education, and her book, Murder at Plymouth Plantation, a success.

The rapid changes in the publishing industry mean that writers have greater leverage in negotiating contracts but they also have greater responsibility in understanding the industry and its terms. Anyone who wants to be a professional writer should learn to read a contract carefully, and be ready to refuse clauses that are unreasonable or patently unfair. Many publishers are reasonable, and writers must now do their part in the negotiations.

To read the letter to publishers, go here:

https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/guilds-letter-to-publishers-calls-for-real-change-to-book-contracts/

To read another writer's response to the AG letter, click on the link below.

http://kriswrites.com/2016/01/13/business-musings-authors-guild-2016-letter/

Random Observations after Compiling a Short Story Collection

One of my resolutions for the New Year was to gather a number of Anita Ray stories into a collection for publication in response to requests from readers. These stories about life in a South Indian resort are scattered among Level Best Books anthologies and issues of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The first story appeared in 2003, and thirteen have followed over the years. The current collection gathers those only from LBB anthologies. I’m almost finished with the editing and arranging, and it’s been educational and enlightening.

First, the Anita Ray stories are uniform in length, all of them ranging from five to seven thousand words. I’m not sure why this is but it may have to do with the time I take to establish the setting and traditional cultural issues involved in the mystery. As a result, I plan to write a number of shorter stories, closer to two thousand words, to introduce greater variety.

Second, not every story includes a murder though every one includes a crime. This is something I’d like to do more with. One of my favorite Marian Babson mysteries is Line Up for Murder (1981; English title: Queue Here for Murder, 1980), which takes place on a London sidewalk outside a department store in the days leading up to the store’s famous New Year’s Day sale.  There is no murder, but there is the threat of one. The novel has stayed with me partly for the setting and partly for the skill with which Babson manages to create suspense without the usual corpse.

Third, the Anita Ray stories hover around two main themes—jealousy and greed. These are the same themes found in the Anita Ray novels, in particular For the Love of Parvati. I didn’t intend these themes in the short fiction but it became obvious when I lined up the stories. When I get an idea and start writing, I begin with a character and follow his or her behavior, not intending any specific motive for murder or a crime, but I evidently take a familiar path. The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (1999), for which I served as consulting editor, dedicates four and a half columns to “Motives,” with numerous references and discussion. The author considers greed the most common, but I’m now looking to the many others listed for future stories.

Fourth, I am an American woman writing about South Asia, and there are many who now say that no one outside a culture should try to write about it. This is nonsense. But I am sensitive to any charge that I am writing with less than respect for the India I love, so rereading the stories was an absolute requirement, to search out anything that smacks of the “otherness” that academics search for so avidly. (Oh, dear, my biases are showing.) Anyway, I think the stories hold up well, and if anyone thinks there is anything subtly disparaging in them, I certainly want to hear about it.

Fifth, one of the themes throughout the stories is the clash of old and new, traditional and modern. Another theme is the changing role of women in modern India, though the settings and individuals belong often to a traditional culture. But I am an equal-opportunity writer of villains and victims—both groups include representatives of all cultures found in South India. The visiting Western tourist is just as venal and vicious as the middle-class Indian.

As it stands now the Anita Ray collection includes eleven stories, three of them new for this publication. The ms now heads out to beta readers before getting a final read-through and a cover. Until then, try these books featuring Anita and her Auntie Meena.

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Kali-Anita-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B00BGH9CCS

http://www.amazon.com/Wrath-Shiva-Anita-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B00GBFISY8/

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Parvati-Five-Star-Mystery/dp/1432828568

Memorable Titles

Writers are bedeviled by different aspects of the writing biz. For some, it's developing a gripping plot; for others it's creating sympathetic characters. And for still others, it's the title. Most of us have working titles on our computers, but the day always comes when we have to come up with something memorable, catchy and relevant. Hemingway, no slouch in this department, thought Fitzgerald the best at creating these short verbal tags.

When I began writing the Anita Ray series, I decided to use a consistent format for the title. I would use the name of a deity that reflected some of the issues in the story, and in a prepositional phrase if possible. Coming up with a tag for the first book, Under the Eye of Kali, gave me the idea, and I've enjoyed playing around with deities and phrases since then.

The idea for this post came from a series of messages on DorothyL. A number of posters mentioned titles that led them to purchase the book. That got me thinking about memorable titles--the ones I actually remember as humorous, intriguing, or well crafted. This is a sample of those as well as the ones mentioned on DorothyL. I don't dissect them here because that seems too much like analyzing a joke. Instead I offer a little humor on what has turned into a delightful and warm and sunny Thursday.

If you have a favorite title, I hope you'll add it in the comments.

Below are some fun titles, and below that is a link for more on titles.

The Case of the Blood-stained Egg Cosy, by James Anderson

Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson

Let the Dog Drive, by David Bowman

Cast, in Order of Disappearance, by Simon Brett

Killer Hair, by Ellen Byerrum

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain.

The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesteron

The Moving Toyshop, by Edmund Crispin

Skeleton in Search of a Cupboard, by E.X. Ferrars

Smallbone Deceased, by Michael Gilbert

The Man with a Load of Mischief, by Martha Grimes

Death and the Pregnant Virgin, by S.T. Haymon

Carrying Albert Home: The Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator, by Homer Hickam.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John le Carre

If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him, by Sharyn McCrumb

Bimbos of the Death Sun, by Sharyn McCrumb

A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks

I Still Miss My Man (But My Aim Is Getting Better), by Sarah Shankman  

http://bristol-library-bookblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/judging-book-by-its-title.html

Leave a comment with a memorable title. And my thanks to DorothyL.

Finding Your Next Story

My part of the world, eastern Massachusetts, is in the midst of a rough winter, with snow banks six feet high and more storms on the way. But life doesn’t come to a halt, not if you have a dog. While I was out walking our lab during the worst of the storm an idea for a story took shape. Those high snow banks along the street or in the yard by the garage are the perfect spot to hide a body. And no one thinks anything of a homeowner out snow-blowing in the middle of the night. The streetlights reflect off the new white snow, but not too much, and windows are shut tight against the cold and any noise.

This is how my stories usually begin, with a sudden awareness of how dangerous the mundane can really be. During my regular visits to South India, I always noted how things were changing and what remained the same. There were always new shops, and that got me thinking. In a story originally published in a Level Best Books anthology, a young woman opens a shop, earning her own money and new independence. This doesn’t sit well with some members of her family, and she soon ends up dead, in “The Secret of the Pulluvan Drum.”

The first book in the Anita Ray series grew out of my first breakfast in a new hotel/guesthouse. I was still exhausted from my trip to India (twenty-plus hours on a plane) and too tired and jet-lagged to make small talk. I listened half-awake to the other guests at the family-style dining table, and was struck by how casual comments could be and yet carry threads of danger. How could it be that so many of the guests were from the same part of the United States but didn’t know each other? And why was one so hostile to one stranger but not another? This is the opening of Under the Eye of Kali, the first Anita Ray mystery novel.

During the summer months I waste a lot of time trying to rid my garden of invasive species, especially Lily of the Valley. I once stood in front of a large side garden taken over by the poisonous flower, and marveled that something so dangerous could be such an ordinary fact of life. That became a key feature in a short story featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva and posted on Wattpad as “Bad News with a Touch of Class.”

It’s a truism that the world is a dangerous place, but for a writer, it’s a reminder of the truth that opportunity is everywhere. Good stories come out of turning the mundane on its head, seeing past the surface, and asking, What if?

For these and other works by Susan Oleksiw, go to

http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Oleksiw/e/B001JS3P7C