The flip side of large advances

Over at Book Angst 101, Mad Max Perkins has posted yet another cautionary tale about how even when things seems very right at first, they can go south real fast. Meet “Keith,” a young thriller writer with several books under his belt. He had all the right tools: a top veteran literary agent, an auction for his first novel leading to a six-figure advance, great reviews, and so forth. But a funny thing happened: bad cover art, bad luck and the book didn’t sell to expectations. Neither did book 2. The advances got lower and lower, and now “Keith” finds himself in a difficult position:

What had been obvious to my agent for some time now became plain to me:

I had to find a new publisher. Yet this would prove much easier said

than done. Many top editors at large New York houses were itching to

read my manuscript, and I traveled to New York to meet with potential

new editors, who were consistently “blown away” by the book, and “very

excited to work with me.” However, not a single one of these editors

would be allowed by their marketing departments to make an offer,

because of my sales track.

Moral: there really is such a thing a

too-high an advance, and mine is a case in point. Had I started smaller

and earned-out, it’s possible that, in the aggregate, I wouldn’t have

made quite as much money. But I wouldn’t be in the insane position I

find myself in now. I’ve been published in a dozen different languages.

All four of my books have received near perfect reviews. My European

sales are respectable enough that I have made two promotional trips

abroad this year alone. I have a contract with a major British

publisher for two books. And yet if I’m going to continue publishing in

this country, I’m going to have to do so under a different name.

Now, anonymous cautionary tales are all well and good, but something about this nagged at me personally. Then I realized, once I’d read through the entire post, that I know who this author is.

No, I won’t reveal “Keith’s” identity, but there are plenty of clues to figure it out if you match the dates and times correctly enough. However I have long thought this is one the most interesting writers going in the genre, one whom I’ve even blogged extensively. And I’d wondered what the status was for the next book, which in the Amazon UK writeup, sounded like a great launch to a new series, but was curiously unlisted at the American site. Now I guess we know why.

Although I do love “Keith’s” books, I could tell almost instantly that this author might have had trouble finding the right audience. He’s known for thoughtful writing and wonderful prose, for plots that deal intelligently with political themes but doesn’t hit the readers over the head with any sort of agenda, and most of all, somewhat moody, very alienated, but always interesting female protagonists. And as there really are very few female protags in thriller writing, automatically “Keith’s” books stood out for me.

But it’s difficult to boil down the essence of what to expect in one of his books. Yes, all of those above traits are vital and important for good books and hooking readers, but when a reader walks into a bookstore and sees the latest by him, they don’t have a real shorthand as to what the book’s about, what’s happening and why “Keith’s” voice differs from any other thriller writer.  In fact, when I worked as a bookseller and would try to recommend that debut novel in one of the store’s special sections,  it languished on the shelf for months and refused to move. Finally, since it wouldn’t sell, the store removed it when they shuffled the special section’s content.

I suppose if there is one single thing “Keith” could have changed, it’s that there seemed to be no real discussion as to what his writing goals were, where his agent and then-editor saw him at in five, ten, even many years later. There’s more of a sense of “here’s a great book, publish it,” then another, and another. No unifying theme. No targets to reach for.

Which is to say that maybe, just maybe, “Keith” should have tried to write a series a little earlier on. Maybe not right at the beginning, but after hooking a top agent (and yes, “Keith’s” agent is every bit as major as he says he is) and a notable publishing house with that first thriller, to then offer up even a short series. Of course, it’s hard to know such things when you’re in the middle of the madness of publishing. As I remarked to a friend, what was “Keith” supposed to do, say no when his book was up for auction? When he got that six figure advance? Of course not.

But I think M.J. Rose really says it best in the comments to the original piece:

What strikes me over and over is that there is no effort on the part of

the publisher or the agent to bring the author into the process and try

to work towards success together. This story is not unusual. I don’t

blame the author. We are not educated in the business of publishing.

And until very recently, no one was opening up and being honest about

how much authors needed to become savvy business people. Which is a

shame. It’s not the same talent – to write a novel and market a novel.

It doesn’t even take a lot — just channels that are kept open at least some of the time.

I’m really hoping “Keith” finds an audience here, even if it’s under a new name. And I’ll be reading that next book anyway, even though for the moment, the only English language publisher is in the UK.