First, the news: Author Brian Thornton
is signing and reading from his newest release, The Book Of Bastards:
101 Worst Scoundrels and Scandals From The World Of Politics
And Power, at 3 p.m. Sunday at Eagle Harbor Book Co. on
Bainbridge Island.
Technically, by mentioning this, I’m sort of cheating on one of
the purposes of this blog, which is to promote the works of Kitsap
County authors. And Brian, sad to say, lives in Pierce County.
But another one of the purposes of this blog is to pass along
whatever advice I can pick up and share with aspiring authors, and
in Brian’s story toward published authordom is some sage wisdom
worth repeating.
Namely, make friends. So much of where you get in writing and
publishing comes from who you know. And more than that, who knows
you. And even more than that, who likes you.
Brian is a friend of mine. We met last summer at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association
conference. He’s the president of the Northwest Mystery Writers Of America
chapter, and since crime writing is my thing, I pegged him as a
person to know. As it turns out, that was a great move because a)
he’s fun as hell to be around; and b) he knows freaking
everyone. We’ve hung out a handful of times, had a few
meals and a few drinks, gone to a few literary events.
Now, note what I said: He’s a friend of mine. He’s not
someone I with whom I networked (though the net effect is
in some ways the same). He’s not someone I schmoozed. He’s
someone who’s willing to open some doors for me, and I in turn will
do what I can to help him along in his quest to become an
established author of historical mystery fiction. You know, the
sort of things friends with mutual interests will do for one
another.
Brian, who is one of the most naturally garrulous and gregarious
people I’ve met, owes a lot of his success to date to the friends
he’s made through his own initiative. I’ve asked him to share a bit
of his story with us.
“I got my first book contract in part because of my fondness for
the work of the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke,” Brian said, “and
sold my first short story to a national publication in part because
I gave up my seat in a crowded bar to a couple of ladies with no
place to sit.
“Of course the longer versions of these stories involve
friendships struck up while networking,” he added. ” In the first
case, a passing reference to Rilke’s work in a posting on the
e-mail list of a national writers’ association (Mystery Writers of
America) led to a friendship. My new friend, an editor at Adams Media, eventually asked
whether I was interested in writing a book for her.
“I’ve written seven for that press, including my latest one.
“In the second case,” Brian continued, “I was at a conference
for mystery writers, fans, editors and agents, and gave up my seat
to a very nice lady who turned out to be the editor of a nationally
distributed mystery magazine.
“She was a real class act, suggesting I send her a story when I
thought I had one. I did so. Having made that
connection got me out of the slush pile, which is a big leap.
And while she passed on the first story I sent her (as well as the
second), she eventually bought one, and it wasn’t the last
one.”
Pretty cool, huh?
Just in the last few months of knowing Brian, I’ve gotten to
know that Adams Media editor as well, and she and I have exchanged
e-mails that may lead to me doing some work for her. And most
recently, through Brian, I’ve been invited to submit a short story
to an upcoming anthology of West Coast mystery fiction. Neither of
those prospects may pan out, but that’s not the point. The point is
to have prospects, and prospects are most commonly forged
through friendships.
How do you make these friendships, you ask? In my experience,
it’s as simple as approaching them. Most authors aren’t remote,
unapproachable Buddha-On-A-Mountaintop figures; mostly, they’re
working stiffs with day jobs and families and bills who have been
fortunate and persevering enough to generate a small side stream of
fame and money through their writing talent. Brian, for example, is
a guy who squeezes in his writing dreams when he isn’t working as
an eighth-grade history teacher.
Follow the basic rules of friend-making: Don’t be obnoxious,
don’t be fawning, don’t pester them to do things for you. Contact
them online — most are on Facebook or have a contact e-mail through
their websites — and show some knowledge of their work. If they
live nearby, ask them if you can buy them lunch or a cup of coffee
at a convenient time. Listen, and allow yourself to be listened to,
and relax and enjoy yourself as much as you enjoy them. In my
experience, most are fun, funny people, full of great stories,
great advice and a great desire to do pay forward the kindnesses
that were given to them when they were like you, on the outside
looking in. I’m not the most socially adept or outgoing person on
the planet, but I’ve made many friends this way, and treasure them
all. And feel confident than if and when my time comes, they’ll
probably help me out however they can.
Here are some of Brian’s time-tested rules for breaking the ice
with book folks:
1. It costs you nothing to be gracious.
2. Every single author you’ll ever meet has been exactly where you
are now. The lion’s share of them never forget that.
3. Most of the authors I’ve met are funny, interesting people, fun
to talk to, and incredibly generous with their time.
4. Because of the changing terrain of publishing most everyone in
the business is looking to network all the time. You rarely
reach a point where you think, “I don’t need to meet anyone else
new.”
5. When you encounter someone who isn’t interested in networking,
you’ll know it (or you should).
6. Every author I know has a horror story about people trying to
take advantage of them.
7. Don’t become someone’s horror story! Don’t ask for someone
to refer you to their agent or their editor within ten minutes of
meeting them.
Sage wisdom, like I said.
So, there you are. Brian and I will be walking the talk on
Sunday. I’ll be taking he and his fiance to lunch before his 3 p.m.
reading. And then I’ll hang out with them at the reading itself.
Come on down say hello, if you can. I’d be happy to meet you … and
I know Brian would.
With such big hype, however,
comes big backlash. There was
much histrionic chatter over booksellers supposedly breaking
today’s release-date embargo when one gave a copy to President
Obama to read during his recent vacation. Novelists Jodi Picoult
and Jennifer Weiner
stirred the pot when they claimed that The New York Times, in
gushing twice over Freedom, is
biased toward white male authors and against a) women authors; and
b) writers of commercial fiction. And The Washington Post, as
if to stand apart from The Times, gave Freedom
a mixed review with many pointed criticisms. And, of course,
many people haven’t forgiven Franzen for
“disrespecting” Oprah in 2002 when he cringed over her Oprah
Book Club endorsement. So bombastic is the blowback that it’s
inspired a new term, “Franzenfreude,” and has made Franzen
“the author we love to hate.”
