The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing the Modern Whodunit

by Tapply, William G.

  “As an agent, I want to take on writers who will have a long career—collaborators who can repeat the same kind of success, time after time. A one-shot collaboration is less attractive.”

  Written agreements

  Like most writing teams, Don and I plunged in without a written agreement. Then, to our amazement, we finished our first Dr. Peter Zak mystery. After seemingly endless rejections and revisions, we found ourselves with an agent and a publisher. It was our agent who insisted that we sign a written agreement. It specified that we shared equally the copyright, all proceeds, and expenses. It covered all sorts of contingencies (what if one of us dies? what if the work doesn’t get accepted by the publisher? and so on) and included an arbitration clause. Our agent was protecting us, but she was also protecting her literary agency, which was entering into a two-book contract with a publisher on our behalf.

  Partnerships (like plots) evolve, so most teams would be hard pressed to come up with a useful agreement that spells out the how of working together. On the other hand, writers who’ve been burned repeat the mantra, “Get it in writing.” Never underestimate, they say, the power of money and vanity to undermine a good partnership. The experts agree. Put it in writing, up front, while you’re still getting along with each other, and avoid headaches down the road when you’re not.

  In a standard agreement, two co-authors share the copyright, and each owns one half of the entire work and the proceeds from it. If one person is doing the lion’s share of the work, an agreement should be drawn up that spells that out. The Authors Guild advises a flat percentage rather than more complex arrangements.

  If one partner’s contribution is treated as a “work for hire,” then that author receives a flat fee but no royalties or proceeds from the sale of residual rights (paperback, translation, film, etc.). A short written release typically is needed to ensure that the one who commissioned the “work-for-hire” owns and controls the copyright.

  The Authors Guild provides collaboration guidelines for writers, as do other professional writers’ organizations. Two widely recommended books are The Writer’s Legal Companion by Brad Bunnin and Peter Beren and Business and Legal Forms for Authors and Self-Publishers by Tad Crawford. Both contain model contracts.

  Don’t wait until the book is finished to decide on your by-line. Many co-authors opt for a shared pseudonym. For us it was a marketing decision. Editors and agents advised us that a single name was easier to remember, and after all, wasn’t our goal for G. H. Ephron to become a household name?

  If both names go in the by-line, then whose name comes first? And will it be “by Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, M.D.,” or “by Sherlock Holmes with John Watson, M.D.,” or “by Sherlock Holmes as told to John Watson, M.D.”?

  Ups and downs

  Successful collaborating depends on working with the right person. For us, the synergy comes from bouncing ideas back and forth, from taking turns as cheerleader when the other one poops out.

  There have been unexpected bonuses: Sharing the promotional gigs and expenses; taking advantage of two networks of friends, professional colleagues, and connections; and the emotional ballast of someone else in the boat with you.

  The major downside, of course, is having to split the money. Neither of us has quit our day jobs.

  Recently I told Don that sometimes it feels as if I’m collaborating with our character. He laughed and remembered the first batch of pages I emailed him. “I was so surprised. It was like a weird, out-of-body experience, reading about my better half—me, but not me. That’s probably the most dystonic piece of all this.”

  Dystonic? That’s the kind of word Don uses all the time. (Dystonic means that something feels odd, not integrated.) And it’s just the kind of word our character uses, and then has to explain when the other characters roll their eyes.

  “Sometimes it feels as if we share a brain,” Don says. “You have the right side, I have the left. Aside from experience, I bring to the table the organization, plotting, and an understanding of people. That’s all left-sided. You integrate it all and make these leaps. That’s much more right-sided. And the language—language is a left-sided function, but you’re using it in a right-sided way.”

  Using the left side of my brain in a right-sided way? I don’t understand this exactly, but it sounds very cool. And besides, I’ve learned to trust him on just this kind of thing.

  Chapter 15

  Doing Business with Agents

  an interview with Fred Morris

  Q: I’ve finished my first mystery novel. Why should I try to get an agent rather than submitting it directly to publishers myself?

  A: Now that you’ve finished writing, you need to shift gears and start thinking about getting your novel published. After the isolation and focus required to get to this point, it can be a difficult mental switch to make, and it can wreak havoc on your self esteem. It’s important to keep perspective. Finding a publisher is a process. Unless you are incredibly lucky, you are going to get a number of rejections before you find, if you manage to find, your publisher.

  Unless your only goal is to find a small press willing to put out a minimal number of copies, finding an agent, a formidable task in and of itself, is the first step to approaching mainstream publishers. An agent can help you negotiate a deal that will protect you and pay you much more in the long run should your book, and eventually your career, take off.

  Many small presses are happy to consider manuscripts by un-agented authors. In some cases the absence of an agent makes their job easier. Small presses are only able to pay small advances, at best. They need to capitalize on their investment by acquiring and exploiting a wider range of rights associated with a book (such as foreign/translation, audio book, and movie rights), which an agent will fight to retain for you. Smaller houses may also pay lower royalties and try to tie up the rights longer than an agent would allow.

  Should you find yourself negotiating with a small press without an agent, there are any number of books available to help you figure out what terms to ask for. The Authors Guild offers contract guidelines online. The National Writers Union also provides contract advice to its members.

  Aside from some small independent houses, most publishers prefer to receive submissions from agents with whom they already have relationships. Editors are deluged with material to read, and, as is true of nearly everyone in publishing, no one has enough time to deal with everything that lands on his desk.

  It’s a sad fact that thousands of mysteries are written every year which will never make it to the shelves of your local bookstore. In many cases, agents make the first cut.

  If you think your book could draw the interest of readers other than your immediate family and friends, and if you want to find a mainstream publisher willing to invest in you and your book, looking for an agent is the best way to start.

  Agents will give you their unbiased opinion on the value of your manuscript, but it is only their opinion. Any number of factors can come into play in their response to your manuscript. Give it time. Look for agents who work with similar projects.

  The harsh reality is that publishing is, without question, a business. Agents make their living by taking a commission on all the money that comes in from the deals they make. Whatever their personal response to your manuscript might be, their actions, and whether or not they are willing to make an investment of time and energy in working with you, will be ruled by their professional assessment. It’s an agent’s business to be tuned into what kind of books publishers are currently looking for and to have the insight to know what kinds of books will draw a readership even before a publisher has picked up on it.

  An agent is the person who’s in your corner, even after ten publishers have turned you down.

  Q: How can I figure out which agent to submit my novel to?

  A: There are lots of ways to start the process of finding an agent. Ideally your introduction will distinguish you from a host of other writers. Take comfort
in the fact that a well-written query letter with a professional appearance always stands out. Still, the more immediate the connection, the better. If you know a writer who has an agent (and who’s happy with that agent), that’s a good place to start. Writers workshops and conferences sometimes invite agents to give consultations, and they also give you an opportunity to network with other writers who might be able to make an introduction. If you can get a few one-on-one meetings with agents at a workshop, it’s a perfect opportunity not just to pitch your book, but also to refine your approach. Whether they express interest in looking at your manuscript or not, don’t hesitate to ask them what you could do to present your book better. Perhaps they can help you fine-tune your query letter, or even suggest other agents you might approach.

  Other resources with listings of agents and notes on their specialties can be found online and in how-to-get-published books. One place to start is by reading the acknowledgments in mystery novels similar to your own. Often authors will thank their agent. Once you have a name, an online search should yield contact and information on the agent’s submission guidelines and preferences.

  Q: Once I’ve identified a likely agent, what should I send? The whole book? A chapter?

  A: Different agents have different preferences for how they like to receive material. The general practice is to send a query letter with a self-addressed stamped envelope asking the agent if he would be willing to read the manuscript. The query letter should distill your premise into a tantalizing, to-the-point, and easy-to-read single page. Avoid being cute at all costs. If someone can make an introduction for you, all the better. Some writers send email queries. Different agents respond differently. But with the deluge in email nowadays, making the initial contact by email invites instant dismissal.

  No agent likes to be cold-called by a writer. You can telephone to confirm an address, in which case you’ll very likely be speaking to an assistant. Once you’ve sent in your manuscript, it’s reasonable to call and check on its status from time to time.

  After you’ve sent your manuscript to an agent who has said he’d like to read it, give him a month from the time he receives it, and then check in by mail, email, or phone. The time lag can be considerable, and it might try your patience. It’s up to you how much of it you can tolerate. If there’s a special reason you’d like to work with a particular agent, you may want to give it more time.

  Most agents expect an exclusive opportunity to consider a manuscript. Certainly they need to know if other agents have expressed interest in the material or are considering it. If you should be in the enviable position of having two agents interested in working with you, try to meet them both and get a sense who you would prefer to work with.

  Q: What are agents looking for in mystery novels these days? How do they decide whether to take on an unknown author?

  A: There’s no simple answer to this question. Everyone will tell you that publishing is a very difficult business these days. The mystery market is crowded, and new mystery series are hard to launch. But there’s always room for something fresh and intriguing. There’s always a market for smooth writing, intriguing characters, and original plots. Different agents respond to different material, and different publishers are looking to develop different areas of their list. It’s as much about standing out from the rest as it is about fitting in with them. An agent may describe a client as the next Patricia Cornwell, but the fact remains that we already have a Patricia Cornwell. What agents and publishers both want is a client who can sell like Cornwell, not write copycat mysteries.

  All agents want serious writers as clients, writers who will keep writing good books. An agent may be impressed with an author’s first effort and want to keep working with that author in the future even if her current book goes unsold. So take note of who expresses interest in you.

  Q: If an agent decides NOT to take me on, does that mean my book is unpublishable?

  A: In the face of the mounds of rejection letters you might receive from agents, let me give you a little encouragement. You only need one agent. And remember, different agents have different tastes and different time constraints and different methods for identifying new clients. You simply have to keep working through the process of finding an agent, all the while trying to refine your approach to selling yourself. It’s very sad to think of someone who has approached every agent known to mankind with the same lackluster, formulaic, bad query letter only to receive the same form letter saying thanks, but no thanks. Give it time. Get advice where you can find it. Try to distinguish yourself from the rest, and keep writing. When you’re ready to quit trying to place your book, start focusing on the next one. And when you look for representation for that second book, focus on that book and that book alone. Don’t go to an agent with a laundry list of completed manuscripts. It’s overwhelming and self-defeating. Unless you have very impressive credentials that will cause someone to take notice of you, all of your books will steal the focus from each other. The agent will take the easiest path out and just say no to all of them.

  Q: Is it acceptable to submit my book to several agents at the same time?

  A: You can submit multiple query letters. Don’t get ahead of yourself, though. This isn’t a pyramid scheme. Keep your approach personal and specific to that agent. Once an agent is interested, make sure he knows if anyone else has the manuscript. Many agents hesitate to invest time in reading a manuscript if there’s a possibility that the material will be snatched away from them at the last moment. Others will accept multiple submissions with the understanding that the author won’t make any decisions about representation without checking with them first.

  Q: Do agents do anything besides finding publishers for books?

  A: Agents are your connection to the business end of your book. They use their accumulated business savvy and instincts to develop and pitch your manuscript to publishers for the initial sale. And more importantly, they enable the publisher to do business with you. Editors and people in publishing are reluctant to involve themselves with writers, even ones who they want to publish, if they’re not hooked up with an agent. It’s the agent’s job to explain the ins and outs of publishing to you, to help you make good business decisions, and to advocate for you to the publisher. Having the agent involved takes loads of pressure off the editor, who, as we have discussed, is already grossly overworked.

  Beyond negotiating and shepherding the initial deal for a book, agents also have the connections and know-how to explore selling your book to foreign publishers in translation. They have connections to Hollywood if there’s the possibility of selling movie rights. They can help you in developing your next book and help you decide when and if it’s time to change publishers. Part of knowing which editor and which house match up with a manuscript is knowing who’s buying, which publishing houses are stable, and which houses are cutting back. And when your editor unexpectedly quits or gets fired, or any one of a myriad of unexpected setbacks that can happen, it’s your agent who holds your hand and picks up the pieces.

  Q: Do all agents charge fees? Should I work with an agent who asks me for money?

  A: Agents generally charge 15% commission on all domestic sales, including film rights, and 20% on most foreign sales. Agents become, quite literally, partners in the business of selling the rights to your material. If you encounter agents who are brusque, or dismissive, or downright nonresponsive, keep in mind that one of their main resources is their time. They don’t get paid by the hour, and if a project can’t be sold, they make no money. It’s partially the nature of this commitment that makes the agent such an effective advocate for a writer. Underlying the relationship is the tacit understanding that the agent is working in his own best interest as well as that of the author.

  Editors, for their part, give agented submissions more consideration simply because the material has already impressed someone enough to invest time and energy in its representation.

  Do not trust an agent who charge
s a reading fee. The only fees agents should be charging, besides their commissions, are photocopying and postage expenses for the actual submission.

  Many agents have a representation agreement which lays out how expenses will be handled, specifies what commission will be charged, and obliges the author to exclusive representation for the book in question. There should be provisions which spell out how and why the agent-author association may be terminated. It is absolutely unnecessary for an author to agree to any exclusive representation that extends to future work.

  Chapter 16

  Editing and Publishing

  Mysteries

  An interview with Barbara Peters

  Q: You went into publishing after great success as a bookseller. What motivated this move?

  A: I would never have attempted any form of publishing if my husband, Robert L. Rosenwald, Jr., hadn’t been willing to experiment with new forms of technology and with designing yet another new business.

  Rob and I originally intended to reprint books we liked that had disappeared. We were intrigued by new technologies for small presses such as Print On Demand. It wasn’t long, however, before we discovered that the economics of POD meant at best break-even for a press, and more often a loss, given the costs of editorial (sometimes older books needed either revision, correction, or new introductions and updated bibliographies and biographies), acquisition, typesetting and design, set-up with the POD printer, marketing, and distribution. So we shifted into conventional printing using POD for titles that had either small anticipated sales or titles that we had printed conventionally and then needed to reprint in small quantities after they had paid for themselves. Printing costs all relate to scale; with POD, each unit is unique and thus costs exactly the same as every other unit, so nothing is gained by a raging sales success.