THE ICE PICK

Beyond the Bestseller : A Literary Agent Takes You Inside the Book Business, by Richard Curtis. New York, New American Library, 1989. ISBN 0-453-00670-1.

The subtitle here gives away the plot, and the plot by publishers to keep authors from getting their money is often pretty thick. If you have written a book, whether you have an agent or not, or are even thinking of writing a novel you should read this book. In fact, even if you’re not planning on getting an agent. Maybe especially if you’re not planning on getting an agent.

This is the first insider book that I’ve really gotten anything out of. Richard Curtis pulls no punches here. His warnings and encouragement are straight on. And he’s funny besides.

He answers questions, such as: Do you need an agent? What good are they anyway? What do they do? How can you tell a good one from a bad one? Should you pay a reading fee? What should you look for in an agent?
Should you bother writing an outline for a novel? If so, what kind? How long should your first novel be and why?

What should you do if you can write books faster than your publisher can handle them? What if you can’t write them fast enough? What if your agent dies, your editor retires, or your publisher merges with Trans-Pacific and vanishes into the sunset? What are the advantages and disadvantages of hardcover versus paperback? Are Hollywood or TV movies better for authors? What kind of a synopsis should you write to show interested producers? Should you ever give a free option to a producer?

What about work-for-hire, audio rights, and book clubs? Should you sign a multi-book deal or sell one book at a time? Can you negotiate better pay, and why does it take forever to get a check out of a publisher? What are escalators and payout schedules, and how can you use them to get your money faster? Should you insist on a provision in your contract so you can audit your publisher’s books? How can you avoid getting ripped off by an agent, the IRS, or a publisher?

When should you quit your day job? How much can you expect to make from a book? How can you switch publishers if you find a better deal without getting the first one mad at you? How can you "breakout" of the midlist doldrums? How does a book end up in a bookstore, and why is the process critical to your career and your bank account?

How can your personality wreck your book’s chances or seriously damage your career?

Well, you get the idea.

It would have made it easier to find things if they’d run the chapter titles at the tops of the pages instead of the author’s name and book title, but that’s life. And my only complaint about the book.

I’ve been told this book is out of print. Well, considering some of the things Curtis says about the publishers and the book industry, I’m surprised they ever published it in the first place. But don’t let that stop you from tracking this book down. After all, you should know your library at least as well as you know your bookstore. If you have a library as poor as the one I frequent, bug your librarian to get it for you on Inter-Library Loan. If you have a decent library, the book should have a call number in the vicinity of Z278.C85 if they use the Library of Congress system or 070.5-070.52.C87 if they’re on Dewey Decimal. If you are lucky enough to find it in a bookstore, the price is $18.95. And maybe, if enough of us keep asking for it, the publisher will reprint it or even come out with a new edition. (We should be so lucky!)

{Published in GPIC, the Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers Newsletter, Feb. 1998. Reprinted in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Feb. 1999.}

THE ICE PICK

Beginnings, Middles and Ends, by Nancy Kress. Cincinnati, Ohio, Writer’s Digest Books.

Science fiction and fantasy stories suffer from having to establish a whole world right up front. Having your hero flit his Nova-charged Wombat up a main street on Noramax 3 isn’t like having him drive his Chevy Nova down Main Street, USA. And too often we try to pile all the necessary information into the first three pages.

Nancy Kress understands, because she writes our kind of stories. So when she talks about beginnings that work or don’t, we can relate to that. I bought her book for help on beginnings, and really found it helpful. I wound up staying for the middles and the ends.

Unlike some how-to-write books, Nancy gives us practical advice we can really use. And she includes exercises for those who didn’t get enough homework in school.

How often have you started a story with a great idea and wonderful characters only to have it fizzle out in the middle somewhere? Nancy’s section on Middles offers help for those short stories and for sagging novels that seem to bog down right about chapter nine or ten.

She attacks the problems on all levels: plot, character, structure, etc., so that you are better able to find one or more solutions to your particular situation.

The section on Endings is filled with advice on how to write and revise your story’s end for maximum punch. And what to do if you’re the kind who polishes endlessly and never finishes anything. She covers the climactic scene, whether or not to add an epilogue, and how to handle series books’ endings, plus the analysis you should do on your last page, paragraph, and sentence.

And the book has a good index to help find those things you vaguely remember reading and want to look at again.

I have found this book extremely helpful. It’s the kind of reference you can read or skim through and always learn something new from.

{Published in GPIC, the Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers Newsletter, July 1997. Reprinted in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, June 1998.}

Well, I'm not sure where I go from here. They sure don't believe in giving instructions. But I guess I've got a blog! I will begin by publishing my "Ice Pick" reviews of how-to-write books.