'Potter' publisher looks to promote next big thing

Status: Getting the storage unit and should start moving stuff over the next few days up until the first part of next week. (In theory.)

Wrote a little bit more on The Vampiress Hunter, but I plan on shifting to a little bit on The Price of Freedom and Stories of the Dead Earth.

Watching: Nothing.

Listening to: Nothing.

Reading: Kushiel's Scion. Page 555.

TOPIC: SOMETHING TO IRRITATE ME WITH EVEN MORE!!!!

Since Harry Potter has passed on, Scholastic has decided to try for something else with all the glitz, glitter, and endless migraines for people like myself whom are sick to death over the hype of Harry Potter, Twilight, and now this "39 Clues" saga.

Is it me or does this remind you of the days when reality shows started to be up and coming and then suddenly...everyone wanted to do it???

Because of Harry Potter, publishers have been milking this grandiose idea that people will be turned on by the thought of extravagant series that will wow the mass and woo the readers--and I'm just like: "Please...if there is a god out there...? Have him/her/it--shoot me!!!"

Put me out of my fucking misery...that's all I ask.

Getting traditionally published just isn't the same anymore. It really isn't.

It's now become a place where you have to come up with these asinine sagas that will grip the publisher, enthrall the target audience and bore normal people like me...? TO FUCKING DEATH WITH ALL THE OVERBLOWN HYPE!!!

(And here I thought Twilight was bad enough? SM's rabid fan base is getting their heart's desire by having Twilight out on the big screen this December 12th. But I don't expect it too all that well. The fall line up for this year's closing movie saga is piss poor and wanting. There's just nothing there to watch!)

So glad that I don't have to deal with the mainstream anymore. I'll be even more glad when the day comes when we don't have to become traditionally published just be called an "author".

But that's me. I still have a lot of writing to do--but not this month. It could be early next year when I start up again for real. (If things don't work out as well as I had hoped. We still haven't found a place yet. Housing's taking its sweet-assed time--despite our many unreturned phone calls--and the choices to pick is relatively slim to none. We may still end up having to get rid of all our animals. (Simply because--looking around--there is less space to camp out and nowhere to go. Everything's too overdeveloped.)

Anyway...here's the article.

***

NEW YORK - On Sept. 9, the U.S. publisher of "Harry Potter" will premiere a highly ambitious series with a mystery ending for readers and a couple of puzzlers for the industry: How big is the market for a multimedia story — and can a phenomenon be conceived by a publisher rather than created by the public?

"The 39 Clues" is a planned 10-volume set about young Amy and Dan Cahill and their worldwide search for the secret to their family's power. The first book, "The Maze of Bones," is written by Rick Riordan of "The Lightning Thief" fame and has an announced first printing of 500,000. Steven Spielberg has already acquired film rights to the series.

Designed for boys and girls ages 8 to 12, each book will have a different writer, including such best-sellers as Gordon Korman and Jude Watson. Backed by a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, "The 39 Clues" also features game cards, a contest with a $10,000 first prize and a sophisticated Web site that includes games, blogs, videos and thousands of pages of background.

"The word we always used was 'groundbreaking,'" says Scholastic executive editorial director David Levithan. "We wanted to be the first out there to introduce this kind of multidimensional thing."

A Scholastic team, led by Levithan and including about a dozen editors, thought of the series about three years ago, working from the idea of a treasure hunt. The essential outline, including the ending, was set by the publisher. Authors were asked to fill in the details, taking a thread, as Levithan describes it, and turning it into a blanket.

"It's a different kind of challenge," Levithan says. "To use a movie analogy, each director of the 'Harry Potter' films brings their own voice and their own vision to what J.K. Rowling has done. You still feel there's a consistency there, and part of the fun is seeing what they add to it."

Scholastic quickly decided that "The 39 Clues," its title an homage to Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps," would make an ideal multiplatform event. Readers might check out the Web site, just as kids who love online games might then turn to the books. A recent study by the American Library Association revealed that many librarians already use games to attract young people and, ideally, get them interested in books.

"I love the gaming aspect of 'The 39 Clues,'" says Jenny Levine, a digital specialist for the library association. "I could also see a lot of libraries forming '39 Clues' clubs the way they've had Pokemon clubs."

Books for all ages often originate with publishers, and countless best-sellers are made through marketing. But a blockbuster, whether "Harry Potter" or Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novels, virtually always happens spontaneously.

"Harry Potter" was born in the brain of Rowling and immortalized by millions worldwide. The staff at Scholastic, and the British publisher, Bloomsbury, were sure they had a hit, even a classic, but not a record breaker. Other children's franchises, including "Clifford" and "Junie B. Jones," began simply as books and expanded only in response to public demand.

"I remember when 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' first came out; nobody knew it was going to be so big. That's how it works. You need the kids to grab onto a book and tell each other about it," says Beth Puffer, manager of the Bank Street Bookstore, based in New York.

"I can't think of a phenomenon that was presented that way from the start. This is a very unique situation."

Puffer and other booksellers are enthusiastic about "39 Clues," although unsure whether it will be a sensation. Kimberly Diehm, co-owner of the Neverending Story Children's Bookshoppe in Las Vegas, calls the first volume "a perfect tale" by Riordan, but says she has noticed little discussion about it among her fellow retailers.

Becky Anderson, co-owner of the Anderson Bookstores in suburban Chicago, says she is a little wary of the project's ambitions: "It was presented to us as the thing that's going to replace 'Harry Potter.'" But she was "blown away" by "The 39 Clues."

"We're investing big in this," she says. "I think we see it as a way to get some of those nonreaders into reading."

Other multimedia projects are being developed. HarperCollins is working with former Scholastic executive Lisa Holton on an eight-book series for girls. Dutton, a division of Penguin Group (USA), recently acquired a mystery trilogy by "C.S.I." creator Anthony Zuiker that will be complemented by an interactive Web site. Simon & Schuster will release "Spaceheadz," Internet sites and a series of chapter books co-authored by Jon Scieszka and Francesco Sedita.

"In the past we've made the mistake of demonizing other media, saying all TV is bad, all computers are bad, and all books are good," says Scieszka, appointed last year by the Library of Congress as the National Ambassador of Young People's Literature. "Kids know that it's not true; there is great television and there are great games. I just also want to make sure that we don't forget what's unique about a book, losing yourself in an extended narrative."

"I think it will be fascinating to find out if this is a trend that we'll be seeing a lot more of," says Dutton senior editor Ben Sevier, who added that he and other publishers would be watching how the public reacts to "The 39 Clues."

"It's hard to manufacture a phenomenon," he says of the series. "It's an enormous risk, and it signals an enormous enthusiasm."

Sky

FRIDAY'S QUIET MUSINGS

Status: On Vacation; goofing off--catching up on some things

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails

Watching: "The Jim Lehrer Hour" on PBS

Listening to: "What I've Done" by Linkin' Park; "Doomsday Clock" by Smashing Pumpkins (The Transformers soundtrack)

Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (Page 173)

TOPIC: HOOKING YOUR READER

I had this posted on another group when the issue of hooking your reader came into question. If this sounds like a rant--it's because I'm very passionate about these sort of things.

***

I don't bother with hooking the reader. I just start out with something that I hope the reader will find interesting--and just write the story however it pans out in the end.

Trying for the dramatic angle for a beginning is really stupid. It just shows how amateurish you really are.

You can't just drop right into the tension pool and expect people to eat it up with a spoon. You have to build up the moment to that moment.

So it takes your hero 5 full chapters to find what he's looking for. And?

So what!

Will it kill the reader a little if he's not bashing in skulls or performing a Matrix-like move to eradicate his foes at this very second? Nope. It doesn't matter.

He's looking for something important and so he must journey with himself and the reader to search for that one elusive item. But in the meantime, it's dark, it's scary, and he has zombies chasing after his ass every step of the way.

Does it matter if he's avoiding confronting them instead of dragging out a can of patented Whoop-Ass and using it on them in the first page?

Nope.

But the agent will say: "Why is he doing this instead of fighting them? Why isn't there any action?"

Because...? I'm writing it this way. Will you people chill out a little? The action will come when it comes. Not before, not after.

But impatience rues the day and agents are not known for their patience. Neither are publishers. So out goes the little "Dora the Explorer" angle and here comes Neo the Zombie Killer.

The journey of that character gets axed and here is a guy with some cool martial arts moves and an attitude like Rambo on Prozac. (Suicidal in case you're wondering.)

The zombies are dead meat in a split second and both the agent and publisher are happy and titilating with one orgasm after another.

No prose, no need for personal recollection. Just another MDK (Murder/Death/Kill--from "Demolition Man") in action and the reader gets all that more desensitized by what he or she reads as a result.

Oooh! Wow! That was so brilliant! All that hard work put in so that the industry can butcher it into a chain of books that has as much shelf life as your standard house fly.

But this is what they want. Everything marketable has no chance of hanging around. Too many books out there competing for fame, fortune, and a spot on a milk carton or that box of Wheaties one of these days.

And the sad thing is? Most books never make the cut. And those that do are so overdone in themes and lacking originality--that all they are are just boxed pieces of commercialism and nothing else.

How much money did I waste again for buying this piece of crap?

So when we talk about hooks, my eyes glaze over and my head does that thing from the "Exorcist" or "Beetle Juice"--and I'm like, "Oh goody! Let's all do our readers in with senseless gore and violence!"

Who needs to really write well when we have this to draw inspiration from?

It certainly takes the starch and fun out of exploring the worlds we all sit down to create. Y'know?

So the important thing is to remember that hooking your reader isn't dependent on that all important action scene or some commercialized ploy designed to draw in a targeted--or benchmarked--readership.

Having a hook isn't just about the first page either. Hooking a reader is about the whole book being presented as a single entity to your audience. By giving them more to chew on than a single sentence, or a prospective fight scene--you're allowing the reader a change to absorb and assimilate their next favorite read.

And in order to do that you have to start embracing risk and shuck off what the industry tells you to do without question. Show your reader what your book is about by giving them every little bit and piece. In steps--if you want.

Over time.

Hook them through your words, your characters, and your ongoing storyline--not just what the first paragraph says or what the first five pages read like.

If the agents want to play mind games with your work, then tell them to go Cheney themselves. This is your book, right? So shouldn't you have the final say in what's in it that will interest the reader?

Why destroy yourself because the industry doesn't want you to hook your reader in your own right? Just becaused you're a beginner, it doesn't mean that you have to give up your rights to personal imput--because some agent tells you: "This is the way it's always been done." (Yes...maybe back in the 1960s!...what year and century is this again?)

Tell them that if they don't like it, they are free to find some other sucker author is more than willing to play the role of a complete kiss-ass.

People, being published traditionally revolves around two things: Money and control.

Control over your work. Control over YOU.

You want to be sheep to these individuals, then wear a fucking bell around your neck and go, "Baa-aaah!"

You want to take control of your own destiny, then look these people in the eyes and tell them that they can take a walk off a very short pier.

You want money, you want the fame, the fortune, and the whole ball of cheese? Then you're going to have to work for it!

Stop looking for the easiest ways out and start taking more risks with your life and your work as a writer!

If you want to hook your readers than you'd better start writing more than just a fancy-schmancy, snazzed up paragraph that begins with the words: "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Think about what you're writing and who you are intended it for. Most people I've run across say they are writing for their audiences. But boy oh boy...! Are they going to be fucking disappointed in the long run.

Especially when they find out that their target audience has moved on to bigger and better reads.

Wanna know a safer bet? Write for yourself. I can't stress this often enough. Sure, it won't bring in as much recognition, fame, or a publisher's contract. But you want to know what I found all this time? By doing it myself?

I didn't come away disappointed with the results.

My works have come away stronger, better organized, and more interesting than their previous first-gen counterparts.

And the hooks within aren't buried in the first paragraph, the first page, or even the first five pages either.

But the whole book!

The whole book should be your hook. The whole book should be more than enough to entice your reader to want to know more.

You can't do that with such scant information, a limited pitch spiel or a restricted time frame.

Readers these days are going to want to know the whole kit and kaboodle. They aren't satisfied with just being thrown tidbits anymore. And as much as the industry, some hawk of theirs, or someone else is going to tell you otherwise--these days, you have to constantly adapt and evolve the art of hooking your reader with your published books.

And the best way to go about doing that is by getting them involved from the start.

Show them everything there is about your novel. Not just the parts you think will guarantee a future sale. Every element written in has a part to play in your overall success as a published writer.

Most experts will commonly tell you to fixate yourself on just one thing and one thing only. In order to hook your reader, you have to go beyond the first page of your novel.

Show your reader what lies in store for your hero or heroine. Show them what they are up against. Tell them that what kind of a rough ride they are going to encounter as the novel unfolds.

Offer them personal insights and tragedies into your respective characters. Show them their victories and their failures. Happy endings or not.

Don't be afraid to immerse your reader into your own work. That helps them stay engaged with you every step of the way.

This helps you secure future sales against whatever advance you may get.

Because people will remember you and go, "Hey! I know that guy! He's got a great book coming out!"

And from there, he or she will go on so avidly about it, interest in your published tome will pick up in no time.

All because of how you hooked your reader.

Sky

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY.

Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom; Zombie Nation: Outbreak Zero

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails

Watching: Bears vs. Cowboys (10-10; 3rd quarter with 6:24 left to play.)

Listening to: "Sugar Steps" by Kama Sutra (Visions of Ibiza; Chicane--Disc 1); "Maniacal" by Frontline Assembly; "Chemical End" by Death Horror Incorporated (or DHI)

Reading: Resistance by J.M. Dillard (ST-TNG)

TOPIC: CAR INDUSTRY ANALOGY WITH THE PUBLISHING WORLD

I've found that the whole business model of publishing has some severe design limitations.

In order for them to be successful, you have to write what they want for their little co-op readership.

Secondly, not every book gets selected for representation or publishing--which further limits what they can and cannot publish. (They've set up a box for themselves. A box that they cannot escape from so easily.)

Furthermore, they limit themselves to an ever-changing publishing standard which further alienates even more writers from becoming successful. In order for them to be accepted, they have to lower themselves to the same level at which the publishing apparat operates.

Depending on how you look at it, it can be good for you. But then again, it may not be--since there are a lot of inherent pitfalls.

And on top of that, the whole enchillada is slow to adapt, slow to respond, and slow to evolve to anything which threatens their little domain of absolute supremacy.

So of course, you'll see a lot of vanity-press rackets pop up. Because they are catering to a wide audience of desperate and blind authors--who are ill-equipped to deal with the burdens of being published traditionally.

But at the same time--the publishing industry is ill-equipped to deal with the foreknowledge that their time is now limited by the very technologies which have made their cornerstone of the marketplace--obsolete. The same technologies which they had--at first--spurned out of hand.

And it's that same technology which has allowed each and every one of us to break out of the 'wait and see' mold.

Why wait to see if something good comes around? If it's not there, then invent it yourself. Give yourself a home. A platform from which to operate from.

Let the publishing industry wallow in blind obscurity and the vanity-presses die in blithe arrogance--into believing that they are 'traditional press ops'.

Waiting is for fools. No man (or woman) should have to put their dreams of success on hold because some corporate snog told them they "weren't good enough".

That's what pioneers are for. To blaze new trails.

At least, that's how I look at this whole thing.