progress

The end

sjrozan@aol.com — Fri, 31 Dec 04 13:34:00 UT

Having thought a lot about it, I think this is the logical end for this blog. I'll leave it up, so those of you who've felt it's been useful can direct your friends to the entries if you want. But as a publishing process blog, it's served its purpose.

Final report: ABSENT FRIENDS did well. It got great reviews; the disappointment there was a few outlets (the NY Times, e.g.) that didn't review it. On the other hand, it got PEOPLE magazine, which I've never had before, and they loved it. And no review was less than enthusiastic, which is terrific. It's selling well, and will sell through its printings, I think, which makes it a success. And it will have another life in paperback, next fall.

In the end, I think there were readers who couldn't get past the fact of 9/11. I'm disappointed in that but I certainly understand it. As the event fades into the past people may feel more able to read about it. Meanwhile, I wrote the book I meant to write, Bantam published it well, and the whole "author experience" was a good one.

If anything more happens in terms of foreign or Hollywood interest, I'll mention it on the other blog, linked above. And anyone who wants to talk about publishing or writing in more general terms is welcome over there.

And to all a good night.

Final event

sjrozan@aol.com — Mon, 6 Dec 04 10:07:00 UT

Last night I was interviewed at the 92nd St Y in NY. Went very well, I thought. Interviewer was Jonathan Santlofer, who was great. Good audience questions, good feeling in the room. Good way to wrap up the publication of ABSENT FRIENDS: it was the last event in this process, or at least, the last scheduled as part of it. Other things may come along, and if so I'll report on them. But this in a sense concludes the process of manuscript-to-shelf that this blog was about. I'll give you an update in a few days on how I think the whole thing went, and I'll do some thinking about the future of this blog, too.

One of those other booksignings

sjrozan@aol.com — Mon, 22 Nov 04 15:55:00 UT

On the other hand, yesterday I did a gig on Staten Island. The woman who ran it hadn't done a book event before, and had to be talked through how to order the books, etc., by my publisher. I had no idea what to expect, and it could have gone either way, but she turned out 30 people and I sold 20 books, which any writer will tell you makes an event worthwhile. Especially if the readers are new to you. And you get wine and cheese and a ferry ride in the deal.

One of those booksignings

sjrozan@aol.com — Thu, 18 Nov 04 09:40:00 UT

Have been doing a lot appearances, signings etc. for ABSENT FRIENDS (and will be doing the final one, an interview, at the 92nd St. Y on Sunday, Dec. 5, if anyone wants to come; and if you do, make sure to mention the blog). The other night, did the Spence Book Fair. A friend who has a daughter there hooked me up. It's a very classy affair, about 2 dozen authors at tables around the room, cheese, pate, white wine. Where you were seated was the luck of the draw, guided by the decision of the chairperson. Me, I was between Katie Couric and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. It was a thrill for me to meet Schlesinger, and fun (and possibly a valuable schmooze) to chat with Katie Couric. However, any authors who read this blog can see what's coming. They were the two stars of the evening. People had multiple copies of their new books (his, political; hers, a children's book) for signature. Their lines were loooong. And sort of merged toward the middle of the room. And I was, well, hard to find at times. Sometimes people waiting for them picked up my book and looked at it. But my experience of events like this is, you don't sell to someone else's crowd. You sell to people looking for books like yours, or you sell to people just wandering around looking. People on a mission for another author will put your book back down as they get close.

So what do you do?

Smile and wait for the lines to shrink. They do eventually, and then people take to just wandering again, and they're in a good mood because their mission is accomplished. I sold 20 books, a respectable evening, especially since only a couple of the buyers said they'd read me before. The others were taking a chance, and may become new fans. And the book fair keeps going without the authors present for the rest of the week, so it's well worth it. And it was fun. And I got my nephew a signed Arthur Schlesinger.

Just a tale from the road.

Update

sjrozan@aol.com — Mon, 1 Nov 04 09:53:00 UT

Yesterday's Boston Globe ran a rave review. Also yesterday, a few paragraphs of ABSENT FRIENDS were excerpted in a Sunday NY Times feature called "Bookshelf," where they run short bits from books set in NY. Significantly (I think), this was not a "mystery" edition of Bookshelf, but a general fiction one. Still missing some major reviews, still no foreign sales (but some very hot nibbles). I have a number of NY-area events over the next month, then the book's kind of on its own. FYI, my agent tells me Bantam has already discussed with him how/when they plan to bring out the paperback. This is the kind of thing I don't get involved with, because it calls for expertise I don't have, so I don't know exactly what they're talking about. Just thought you'd like to know that happens this early.

Back off the road

sjrozan@aol.com — Sat, 30 Oct 04 09:59:00 UT

Okay, the tour portion of this promotional season is over. The remaining events are all local -- Manhattan, the boroughs, Long Island, or radio/online interviews I can do from home. It was fun but I'm exhausted. The reviews have been great and numerous, including some papers I've never had before (People Magazine, the Wall Street Journal) but with, so far, some notable papers not weighing in: the NY Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe. What does this mean? Who knows? They might be yet to come. Or they might not. The book seems to be selling -- on tour, we kept having to skip drop-ins at Borders and B&N stores that had sold out between the time the tour was set up and the time I got to that city. So I guess things are going well, though the truth is that not until six months from now, when we get the royalty statement that starts to include returns from this period, will we know. If any of you are in the NY area, check the schedule on the website and drop on by.

Back on the road

sjrozan@aol.com — Mon, 25 Oct 04 17:54:00 UT

Tomorrow, just overnight, to an independent bookstore in Northampton (the Odyssey, 7pm) and the next day to do a drop-in signing at Kate's in Cambridge at 2 on my way home. Then back home for months! I like being on the road but enough is enough, time to focus on the new book. I mean, I got into this game to WRITE, right?

Posting the text of the Wall Street Journal review as requested, because it's a paid site. Thanks to Skip, who sent it along, me not being a subscribed to that site.

"The events of 9/11 brought out the best in many people: public servants and private citizens alike. Now they have inspired a personal-best from suspense novelist S. J. Rozan, whose "Absent Friends" (Delacorte, 367 pages, $24) anchors the chronicle of a group friendship to the horror of
that autumn morning.

"Friends and fellow firefighters call the brave and resourceful Jimmy McCaffery "Superman," and indeed, in Ms. Rozan's story, no fireman was braver on 9/11. McCaffery perishes while helping others to safety. Butlater newspaper articles suggest less savory aspects of his life: financial improprieties, possible links to a crime boss. McCaffery's friends -- some outraged, some anxious about past secrets --feel that the newspapers should let sleeping heroes lie. But when the investigative reporter who has been digging into McCaffery's past dies from a fall off the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (suicide?, murder?), his female colleague and lover picks up the torch and runs with it.

"Keeping the narrative pace strong and involving, Ms. Rozan tracks multiple characters -- the firefighter's ex-girlfriend, now the head of a philanthropic fund that bears his name; the semi-shady attorney who served as go-between in the fireman's covert good deeds; the reporter whose stories claim, ominously, that "the investigation is continuing." Ms. Rozan also conveys the sights, sounds, smells, and moods of New York City on that infamous September day and after. Few thrillers so effectively combine historical and imagined deeds in such a moving fashion."

Reviews

sjrozan@aol.com — Wed, 20 Oct 04 18:25:00 UT

Okay, it's true about the Wall Street Journal. A rave, though this is a low-key reviewer and so it's not full of exclamation points. My numbers on Amazon and B&N.com shot up this morning, so they must reflect that. And a description of the book, not a review, went out with a round-up of a dozen new crime titles on the AP wire, which is great because it gets picked up in all kinds of newspapers. As do certain reviews: the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel's, for example. So a fairly localized review or mention can have "legs," and turn out to be valuable for a book's later life.

Seattle to Houston

sjrozan@aol.com — Wed, 20 Oct 04 01:49:00 UT

Or really, Seattle to Ft. Worth, and then to Houston. Very long day today. Up at 6 to be picked up at 7 in Bellingham, WA (where I read at Village Books last night), and taken into Seattle (1 Â½ hour drive) for a 9 am radio interview. Then drop-in stock signings until noon, when I tooled on over to Seattle Mystery Books for a more formal signing (but no reading). Then to the airport, for this flight that'll get me into Houston, my last tour stop, at 10:30 Houston time, so to my hotel by 11. Which I believe is 9 west coast time, which I'm now on.

Called my home machine from the airport, got a message that ABSENT FRIENDS got a glowing review in today's Wall Street Journal. And me in the air over... I wonder what the hell I'm over at the moment? Utah? Colorado? Anyway, must wait until I get to the hotel to get online, see about that and about anything else my publicist has seen fit to send me. (And to post this.) Very weird, being out of touch as the reviews are coming in.

All in all, this has been a good tour. Reasonable-sized crowds at all stops except Book Passage -- that was debate-and-playoff-game night -- but even that one was definitely a stop worth making, because I met the manager and the mystery buyer, schmoozed a little, signed a million books. This book and the associated marketing, of which this tour is part, are unquestionably raising my profile, putting me in a bigger league. I'm thrilled because, hell, I'm thrilled; and because, though Bantam did whatever magic they do to make this happen -- pushing for reviews, dealing with the independents and the chains, trying to create buzz and get the book noticed -- that stuff doesn't always work. So to have it appear, now, that it actually was effective, is very gratifying.

San Francisco and LA

sjrozan@aol.com — Sat, 16 Oct 04 12:24:00 UT

Couldn't post from SF because my fancy hotel had such a fancy internet-in-your-room system that I couldn't make it work. SF was 3 events in 2 days -- 2 evenings, 1 midday - plus drop-in signings in every bookstore we could find. LA's the same, except 2 daytime, 1 evening. My escort's coming to pick me up any minute. In SF, the 1st evening event was VERY small, because it was the night of the Presidential debate and the playoff game. (Baseball, for those of you on a sports-free planet.) But the store had 75 copies of the book for me to sign, and I had a great talk over coffee beforehand with the manager and mystery buyer, both of whom had liked the book but will now also remember me. Assuming I didn't make an ass of myself. This is why it does not do to be rude to bookstore people, even if they don't get a crowd for you or have few copies of your book. They DO remember you. The other events were bigger, as was the one in LA last night. One interesting thing that's happening is that we're getting to stores that have only 1 book left, or none. These are chains -- B&N, Borders -- that had only 4 or 6 to start with, not independents that had a dozen (or 75). But considering the book's only been out 2 weeks, it's surprising and encouraging that it's selling that fast. It also means they'll order another 4 or 6. If this is happening in all 500 Borders stores, say, that's another couple of thousand books in the first few weeks.

Scottsdale AZ

sjrozan@aol.com — Wed, 13 Oct 04 18:28:00 UT

Writing this on the plane from Phoenix to San Francisco. Spent yesterday in the Phoenix area doing drop-in signings and a TV interview, with a bookstore event at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale in the evening. The way it works is this: in each city there are people whose business is to escort authors. The publisher arranges for them to pick you up at your hotel and take you to appointments -- interviews, bookstore events, readings -- and in between, to stock signings at as many bookstores as can be fit into your schedule. (If you're on a tour you arrange yourself you probably won't use them; you'll rent cars, take cabs, etc. They're not cheap, these folks.) The escort knows all the bookstores and most of the managers, has called in advance so they've pulled your books from the shelves, and has worked out the most efficient route from one to another. He/she will come in with you, introduce you, and schmooze with the bookstore people while you sign all the books in the store. There's no reading or any kind of public event involved in a stock signing (alos called a drop-in); you just jump back in the car when you're done and race to the next store. Usually you can't count on more than a half-dozen hardcovers per store, sometimes fewer, maybe another dozen if the store also wants you to sign paperbacks. But signed books sell better than unsigned ones, and your publisher hasn't sent you to whatever city it is to sit by the hotel pool. If there's an interview scheduled with local media, the escort knows where the studio/office/coffee shop is and they get you there on time. Then more bookstores. They almost always have water in the car and they buy you lunch, coffee, whatever, which they bill to your publisher. They take you to your bookstore event, usually a reading, hang around until you're done, and drop you back at your hotel. Where you call room service and collapse.

From Toronto

sjrozan@aol.com — Sat, 9 Oct 04 08:40:00 UT

I'm here for Bouchercon, which, for those of you who don't know about it, is the World Mystery Convention: an annual gathering of crime writing readers and writers, critics, editors, agents and booksellers. It's a 4-day conference with panels, interviews, and awards ceremonies. It's a great place to get exposure, meet your readers, and talk to the independent booksellers who are the people who will be hand-selling your book if they like it. I had a panel yesterday morning on "The Tarnished Hero," which went well and resulted in some interesting discussion, because of the skill of the moderator (Jonathon King) and good questions from the audience. Some panels aren't particularly meaty, and some are dull and some spectacularly funny; this one was pretty serious, and I thought went well. I also did a "20-minutes-of-fame" event, where I had 20 minutes in one of the meeting rooms to read, talk, do whatever I wanted for whatever audience showed up. The room was full (about 75 people), which was gratifying. I read from ABSENT FRIENDS and answered people's questions about the process of writing it and about my work in general. Then I cleared out fast because it's way rude to eat into someone else's time.

Review news: The Toronto Globe and Mail reviewed 6 new books by writers at the convention; ABSENT FRIENDS was one, and they loved it. And People Magazine will apparently do it next week, in the issue dated Oct. 18. (My publicist tells me it's the "plastic surgery issue." Can this be a good thing?)

Launch party

sjrozan@aol.com — Wed, 6 Oct 04 23:34:00 UT

Writing this on the plane on the way to Toronto, for Bouchercon. Had the ABSENT FRIENDS launch last night at Partners & Crime bookstore in NY. (Food and wine provided by me; that's traditional, for the author to do it. Independent bookstores are struggling enough, sometimes have 3 writers a week, would go straight under if they fed everyone's party. My publisher's buying ads and sending me on tour, so that's where their bucks are going.) Had about 75 people, which is a lot for this kind of event. Some strangers, but mostly my friends, who seem to be a very loyal bunch, and I thank them. Including a number of other writers: Peter Blauner, Lee Child, Gabriel Cohen, Reed Coleman, Jim Fusilli, Naomi Rand, Jonathan Santlofer, Tom Savage, Keith Snyder, Peter Spiegelman. Gerald So, who posts here, has his own blog on blogspot.com, and whom I'd never met before, was there, as was my political mouthpiece. Read, did a Q&A, signed. Was very nervous beforehand, not about reading -- I enjoy that -- but because this was the first public event for AF. I'm still wondering how the book will be received outside the crime writing community and outside NY. Last night kicked off my tour, so I guess I'll start to know soon.

New York is Book Country

sjrozan@aol.com — Sun, 3 Oct 04 19:46:00 UT

There were some good rights questions I'll deal with soon, but since this is moving into a promo blog I wanted to fill you in on the New York is Book Country two-day event. Some cities -- LA and Charlottesville, VA come to mind -- have terrific weekend-long book festivals. New York's is good, but not at the scale of LA's. In past years it's lined 5th Ave. This year it moved to my neighborhood, Greenwich Village. Many publishers and some bookstores had booths. So did a number of book-, publisher-, or writer-related publications, like Poets and Writers Magazine, which I recommend, by the way.

www.pw.org

I signed books at the Black Orchid bookstore booth yesterday, and today did a panel with Sujata Massey, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, and Leslie Silbert. We had an audience of 50 people, which, considering we were up against Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin and Frank McCourt on one side and a publishing panel on "How to Make Your Book More Successful" on the other, was pretty good. Signed more books afterwards, including the stock Borders had brought. It used to be the case that signed books couldn't be returned by the bookstore to the publisher, so there was a great incentive for a writer to sign every book that came in sight. That policy has changed, but it's still true that bookstores tend to display signed books more prominently, so it's a good idea to sign whenever you can. Tomorrow and Tuesday, before my launch party, I'm going to sign stock at B&Ns all over town. I'll do the other mystery bookstores, too, besides the one I've already done, Black Orchid, and the one the launch is at, Partners and Crime. While I'm on the road that's one of the things I'll be doing in each town I go to, signing stock at the other stores besides the one where I'm reading.

Rights

sjrozan@aol.com — Sat, 2 Oct 04 10:24:00 UT

Steven brought up a good point (and then you all got silly): I said there'd be no surprises after the next couple of months, and he asked if that meant film rights etc. to ABSENT FRIENDS have been sold. No, they haven't. Book clubs have, and audio, and it's available as an e-book, for anyone with that technology. But no film, no TV, and so far no foreign rights, either. My agent is optimistic about foreign rights, to the point where -- have I discussed this here already? -- he retained foreign rights sales, making our advance from Bantam smaller than it would have been if we'd given them the right to make those sales, because he thinks we can do better selling them ourselves. (Translation: he tries to sell them, I sit back and watch.) I'm not so sure, because this is such a NY book, but I gave him my blessing.

Personally, I find the idea of the candy very appealing.