In the News
By Angela Henry

Check out Walter Mosley's essay in Newsweek about why Americans are obsessed with crime.

John Ridley remembers Chester Himes in the Huffington Post.

Stephen Carter likes to keep his readers guessing in this Q & A for USA Today.

Attica Locke discusses her new thriller Black Water Rising.

Sleep Don't Come Easy is MystNoir's featured title for August.

Kyra Davis will be having a signing/chocolate tasting at Cocoa Bella Chocolates in San Francisco on Saturday August 8th. And you still have time to enter Kyra's contest to win a trip to San Francisco.

Later!

MystNoir Rides Again!

By Angela Henry

Back in 2000 I started a website called MystNoir, which featured mystery/suspense/thrillers by and about African-Americans. The site was a labor of love for me. As an avid, lifelong mystery reader and eventual writer, there just wasn’t much info out there about mysteries by black authors. I figured I wasn’t the only one interested in the genre. So I started MystNoir to share the books that I was finding. MystNoir was featured in Black Issues Book Review Magazine. Won a Golden Web Award. Was named a "Hot" Site by USA Today.com and was a featured website on numerous mystery related sites. However, as the years went by, and my own writing career progressed, I found myself with less and less time for MystNoir. The labor of love had become just a labor and I’m ashamed to say the site fell by the wayside.

Now, thanks to my fabulous fellow Crime Sistah Persia Walker, MystNoir is back in blog form! I’m still tweaking the blog to get it just the way I want it and there is still much updating to be done as far as reviews and resources go. But I’ve posted a featured title for July. Click here for the new and much improved MystNoir! I hope you guys have a safe and happy 4th of July ; ).

Later!

DIY Author

By Angela Henry

Not many people know this, but I started out as a self-published author. I self-published the book that eventually became The Company You Keep under the title The Pleasure of His Company in 2002, three years before it was picked up and republished by BET Books. When I self-published I had no idea what I was doing and I sold very few copies.

But a lot has changed since I self-published. Namely, self-publishing has become a viable and respected way to get your work to the masses. Though there are still many who view self-publishing as the last resort for the desperate and untalented, that view is rapidly changing.

I think views on self-publishing are changing because authors are realizing that talent alone doesn’t cut it when it comes to getting a book contract. Publishing has adopted the blockbuster mentality of Hollywood and it’s not always about what’s good and well written. It’s about what sells. If you don’t have a platform, or you’re not a brand then it makes it even more difficult to get your foot in the door.

Another reason why I think views on self-publishing are changing is because with all the current technology and software out there it is possible for an author to produce a quality book that can be indistinguishable from books produced by traditional publishers. I can usually spot a self-pubbed book a mile away because of the horrible covers, bad layout, and shoddy editing. I've also seen others that are so well done I never guessed they were self-published. And, yes, my first effort could be counted amongst the former. I like to think that I’ve learned a lot since then. One of those lessons being that readers don’t care who publishes a book. They just want a good book to read.

Maybe you’ve already guessed where I’m going with this post. If not, I’ll just come right out and announce that I’m returning to my self-publishing roots. I’m in the beginning stages of publication for book 4 in my Kendra Clayton series under my own publishing imprint. For the past two years I’ve received numerous emails and constant questions about when the next book is coming out. It killed me every time I had to say the series had been dropped. Thus far, no publishers have been interested in taking it over.

So, I did what all authors are advised to do in my situation. I wrote a different book with different characters. And I’m still very hopeful that this new book will sell to a traditional publisher. But even still, Kendra was still tugging at me whispering in my ear and telling me she still had plenty of stories to tell. I had to get this chick off my back. And admittedly it made no sense to me to have two completed Kendra books burning a hole on my hard drive when people could be reading them. I haven’t at all given up on traditional publishing. But I don’t see any reason whatsoever why I can’t have the best of both worlds.

Look for Kendra book 4 this fall!!!!!

Later!

Black Mystery & Thriller Round-Up
By Angela Henry

With all the recent bad news about black mystery writers being dropped by publishers, it got me to wondering what if any new or recent releases by black mystery/thriller writers were either out or on the horizon. So I put on my librarian hat and did some research. Here’s what I found.

Deadly Charm By Claudia Mair Burney is the third book in her popular Christian mystery series featuring forensic psychologist Amanda Bell Brown. I had the pleasure of interviewing Claudia here on the Crime Sistahs Blog back before the series made it’s leap from NavPress to Simon and Schuster’s Howard Books. I’m so thrilled she and Amanda Bell Brown are still around. Release Date: March 24, 2009.

Jericho’s Fall By Stephen Carter. This new thriller by New York Times bestseller Carter is about an explosive secret harbored by Jericho Ainsley, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and a Wall Street titan who is dying. He confides the secret—that foreign governments and powerful corporations alike would kill to have—to his former lover. Sounds like a page-turner. Release Date: July 14, 2009.

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss By Kyra Davis. After a two year hiatus, Kyra Davis is back with the fourth book in her wildly popular series featuring mystery writer and amateur sleuth, Sophie Katz. If you haven’t checked out Sophie and company, you’re in for a treat. Kyra is also giving away a trip to San Francisco, where the series is set, as well as other cool prizes. Click here for details. Release Date: June 1, 2009

Whiskey Gulf By Clyde Ford is the third nautical thriller featuring Charlie Noble. This outing has him investigating a missing sailboat and the couple aboard it. Visit Ford’s website for a video narrated by Morgan Freeman which accompanied the release of the previous Charlie Noble book, Precious Cargo. I’ve yet to read any of Ford’s books but I’ve added them to my ever-growing list. Release Date: July 14, 2009.

Black Water Rising By Attica Locke. Talk about a name meant for a book cover. Ms. Locke’s debut thriller features down and out lawyer Jay Porter and tells how his life is turned upside down after he saves a drowning white woman. This book is getting lots of buzz from heavy hitters like Georges Pelecanos and James Elroy and received a starred review in Booklist. I can’t wait to read it. Release Date: June 9, 2009

Cornered By Brandon Massey. Massey started out writing horror and has made a successful transition into thrillers. Cornered tells the tale of Cory Webb, a successful business and family man who’s dark past comes calling threatening to destroy everything he holds dear. Sounds like another winner. Release Date: August 4, 2009

The Long Fall By Walter Mosley introduces the bestselling and award-winning author’s new post Easy Rawlins character, private eye and former boxer, Leonid McGill. It’s also set in modern day New York City. It’s gotten rave reviews since its release and is sitting on my TBR pile. Release Date: March 24, 2009.

Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Stories by African-American Writers Edited by Otto Penzler-Features short stories by such talented authors as Paula Woods, Gary Phillips, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Edward P. Jones, and many others. This book is on NPR’s Recommended Summer Reading List. Click here for an excerpt. Release Date: March 3, 2009.

If I’ve left anyone out, please let me know. And please support these wonderfully talented authors and their books before black mystery writers become extinct. Enjoy!

The Waiting Game
By Angela Henry

Publishing is a game of hurry up and wait. When you’re looking for an agent or a publisher, and sending off query letters and sample chapters, you’d better be prepared to wait AND wait. Sometimes the answer is a quick yes or no, usually no. Yes, publishing is full of stories of manuscripts starting bidding wars between publishers mere days after being submitted. But those stories are few and far between. The reality is that most of us wait for several weeks to several months.

When I submitted sample chapters of my first book to BET Books back in July of 2003, I got a call about submitting the full manuscript six months later and had an offer of a book deal a few weeks after that. Seven months from submission to an offer is pretty typical. But it can be even longer. When I was looking for a new agent, I once had a request for my full manuscript from an agent who didn’t respond until two years later, after I had already sold the book myself. This particular agent had seen my book deal posted on Publishers Marketplace and remembered she still had my manuscript.

I now find myself in the same position once again. Patiently, or not so patiently—depending on my mood—waiting for an answer from the editors considering my latest manuscript. But things are different this time around because the revival of my writing career could hinge on this submission. It’s been about two and a half months since project X went on submission and I’m getting really antsy. My agent assures me that no news is good news. The longer it takes for a response, the better chance of getting a deal.

You see, for most editors acquiring manuscripts is a process. First an editor or assistant editor reads the manuscript. If they don’t like it, they pass on it. If they do like it, they pass it up the food chain for second and third reads from other folks at the publishing company. If the manuscript makes it through second and third reads, it gets discussed at an acquisitions meeting to see if it’s something the publisher would like to acquire. And this process can take months. Even if a manuscript gets that far, it can be rejected for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing.

For example, if the publisher already has a similar book on its list that didn’t sell well, or the sales and marketing department can’t figure out how to market the book, or if the author doesn’t have that almighty author platform, then the answer can be a resounding no regardless of the fact that more than one person at the company may have loved it. Then there’s the current economy. Many publishers are tightening their belts and being more selective in what they are acquiring, or so they say. A quick peek at the daily book deals posted on Publishers Marketplace shows that publishers are indeed still buying books. In the past twelve months alone, there have been 200 book deals posted for debut authors alone. So books are still being acquired.

As for me, I’m still waiting and hoping that the sound of crickets I’m hearing is a good thing ; ).

Later!

Jumping on the E-book Bandwagon
By Angela Henry

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been very slow to embrace e-books. As far as I’m concerned, nothing can take the place of holding a book in my hands and flipping through the pages. I love books. And I don’t care if I sound like a nerd for saying this, but browsing through libraries and bookstores looking for good stuff to read, is big fun to me. Always has been and always will be. If you saw my bedroom and all the piles of books on the floor and stacked on every flat surface, you’d know that I’m a woman who can’t live without my books. So, sitting in front of a computer reading anything other than a long news article just doesn’t do it for me. Or at least it didn’t until I recently bought an ipod Touch.

When I got my new ipod last week I went wild downloading all of the cool, free apps I could get my hot little hands on including Stanza, an e-book reader. I figured what the hell, it’s free and all of the hoopla surrounding other e-readers like the Kindle and Sony Reader made me curious. With this in mind I downloaded one of the many free e-books from Stanza’s online catalog, which by the way took less than thirty seconds, and started reading. Guess what? I loved it!

On my ipod screen the e-book looked just like a smaller version of a regular book. All I have to do to flip the page is touch the right side of the screen and it really looks like actual pages are flipping! I don’t have to worry about bookmarking the page I left off on because Stanza remembers it for me. I can even adjust the brightness. And when I was done, I didn’t have to worry about where I was going to put the book, losing it, or damaging it, I just turned off my ipod and put it in my purse.

Will e-books ever take the place of regular books for me? No. But in discovering e-books I feel like I’m enhancing my reading experience, and ensuring that one day I'll be able to see the top of my dresser, and that can only be a good thing ; ).

Later!

Niche Buster

By Angela Henry

The thinking behind the black book niche is that being black gives an author a built in audience, that our books appeal solely to other black people, and that no one but black people would be interested in reading books with black characters. Okay, now let’s all laugh together. Well what happens when a black author discovers that the audience that has overwhelmingly embraced her books is outside the black book buying niche?

That’s what best-selling author L.A. Banks discovered about her Vampire Huntress series. Banks recently did an interview with editor Karen Hunter for AOL’s Black Voices.com where she discussed attending DragonCon a few years ago and meeting her fans

"We were in the heart of Atlanta, where the majority of the population is black, but at the convention center, it was about 99 percent white," said Banks, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in business and from Temple with a master's in filmmaking.”

"I had about 300 people in my room for a book signing and maybe five of them were black. I had so many white fans complaining about how hard it was to find my books and asking me why it was in the black section. I didn't have an answer. I went back and told my publisher that they had to do something. They needed to get me into the mainstream section of the stores." From L.A. Banks is Queen of the Damned by Karen Hunter, Black Voices.com.

You can click here to read the entire article to find out if Banks and her publisher succeeded in their quest to get her books moved. But the fact that her latest book in the series, The Thirteenth, is a New York Times Best-Seller should give you a clue ; ).

Later!

Things that make you go hmm

Every time I turn around I'm hearing about low sales figures and mass layoffs in the publishing world and how publishers are going to be tightening their belts and and acquiring fewer books. And, if you are one of the lucky ones to land a book deal in these economically trying times, expect a lower advance, and no book promo budget. Well, if that's the case, why am I seeing deals on Publisher's Marketplace like the ones posted below?

Comedian Kathy Griffin's comedic memoir OFFICIAL BOOK CLUB SELECTION, organized chronologically and promising never-before-discussed personal details about Griffin's life, her background, and how she became who she is today, reportedly in a major deal, "for more than $2 million,"

USAir Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's memoir, to William Morrow, reportedly for between $2.5 million and $3.2 million by various reports, at auction, in a two-book deal (the second said by the Daily Beast to be a collection of inspirational poetry).

Audrey Niffenegger's HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY, "a delicious and deadly twenty-first-century ghost story about her familiar themes of love, loss and identity," to Nan Graham at Scribner, in a major deal, reportedly for approximately $4.5 million, at auction, for publication on September 29, 2009.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge any author a dime of their advance, especially Ms. Niffenegger who's first book, The Time Traveler's Wife, I've heard nothing but good things about and has an estimated 1.3 million copies in print. But Sully? Yes, he's a hero. No doubt about it. I wish he could be my pilot every time I fly. But what about his story haven't we already heard?

As for Kathy Griffin, I saw an episode of her show My Life on the D List where only thirteen people showed up to her comedy DVD signing at Tower Records after she had been all over TV and the radio promoting it. A 2 million dollar advance. . .really?

These are the kinds of deals that make authors want to pull their hair out, especially when you think about all the talented writers who are being passed over because they don't come with a ready made audience.

I'm just sayin'.

Angela