Candice Hughes

I just love my local library. Our librarians put together a fantastic slate of authors every year. This year, they wrapped up the lectures with a bang by inviting Lee Child to speak. The substantial auditorium was jam packed, spilling out into the hall, so clearly our librarians made a good choice.

He was witty during his lecture about his publishing career. During the numerous questions, of which I’m sure he’d heard a few many times, he came across as honest and patient, giving thoughtful answers.

One topic that interested me considerably was e-books. The publishing industry has been in an uproar over e-books for the past couple years. Lee Child gave the clearest answer I’ve heard yet about what price e-books should have and why. First, he said consider that his standard hardcover sells for about $28. The cost of printing and shipping the hardcover is about $5. That means the value of the story (content only) is about $23 for those receiving it first (hardcovers come before paperbacks if there are paperbacks).The $23 covers the cost of all the publishing staff (editors, marketers, etc) plus the very important author- everyone who helped create the story and make it visible to it’s audience (I’m adding this bit, Lee Child didn’t go into this detail).

E-books, contrary to popular perception Mr Child said, do have a cost for creation and delivery. After all, someone had to create the computer program used to format and deliver the book. Estimate that cost at $1 per book. That means the e-book cost is $23 + $1= $24 (or the cost of the story plus the electronic formatting and delivery). Obviously at the much bandied price point of $9.99, someone is losing money.

There were many questions about Reacher, but I’m not going to go into all of them here. I do recommend that if you have a chance to hear Lee Child speak, you should take it.

The Wall Street Journal listed 2 thrillers among the top 5 novels for 2009. These were The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)  and The Associate (John Grisholm). The Lost Symbol was first place. Two of the top 5 have strong romance themes (The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows).

Both romance and thrillers can get you heart pounding and make you forget the dragging ecomony. Little wonder they’re popular!

Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

I love libraries. I love being surrounded by books. I especially love my local library. They hit a home run this week with a lecture by David Baldacci. I knew right away that other people felt the same way because there was not one single parking space left in the lot. I persevered. Parking in a local business parking lot, I trudged through the cold drizzle. Inside the gorgeous new auditorium, I squeezed into one of the few remaining seats.

David Baldacci came to the podium, looking exactly like the photo on his book jackets. (you might question my mental acutity with this statement, but try sometime matching real celebrities to their photos and see how easy it is). Within a few minutes, he had the audience rolling on the floor with amusing “life of an author” stories. One comment I found particularly memorable, although it was not one of his hilarious anecdotes. That statement was that every rejection of an author’s work is a badge of courage. I also learned that if he sees you reading one of his books, don’t expect him to walk up to you and say “Hi”. (You’ll have to learn the story of what happened when he actually did this one time from him.)

All in all, this lecture was worth the walk through a cold, dark, drizzle. I applaude our hard working librarians for bringing us a wonderful speaker. I also encourage everyone to support their local libraries because they’re the heart of every community.

CraftFest and ThrillerFest is over for another year. This year’s meeting was as enjoyable as last year’s. I am continually astounded by how generous leading authors are with their time in teaching up and coming authors the tricks of the trade. Today I will highlight a few tidbits that stuck with me from the conference.

Andrew Gross gave tips for how to keep readers turning the page. One tip was to focus on the essentials of each scene. Don’t get bogged down in unnecessary description, explanation or character definition. Short focused chapters also help. With that said, there is also a spectrum of “pace focus” in thrillers. Some authors voice will call for more description/characterization/atmosphere than others. Writers through exploring their work will find their comfort level in the spectrum. But at the same time writers must realize that the more the book focuses on atmosphere, etc, the more the pace will be slowed down. Readers will gravitate toward authors whose pace is comfortable for them as well.

James Rollins advised writers to set a target number of pages to be completed each day and do it. I find myself that if you focus on a large project in it’s entirety, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So I agree with his focus on daily small goals to achieve a larger goal.

On marketing of thrillers, attendees heard from Robin Cook about his innovative “prequel” movie that was released in installments before his recent novel (Foreign Body). (Note, this is not an inexpensive undertaking so you may not want to try this at home!)

That’s the wrap up for ThrillerFest. I better get to work on my target pages!

ThrillerFest is coming up soon and a lot of writers are wondering if they should pay the fairly substantial fee to attend. Last year I attended the CraftFest and AgentFest portions of the ThrillerFest conference. Based on my experience, I recommend that any writer who focuses on the thriller genre should attend this conference if possible.

CraftFest emphases basic writing techniques as well as pointers for selling your manuscript. Lectures at CraftFest are given by well-known authors, agents and editors. If you you want to learn or brush up on technique, you will benefit from this portion of the conference. You will also have the chance to network with industry professionals.

I highly recommend AgentFest. I don’t know of any other opportunity to pitch to 40 top literary agents at once. That said, the agents do not accept every manuscript pitched to them. Expect that some will say no based on suitability of your novel to their interests. What you will get at AgentFest is experience in pitching and the chance to meet agents who might be interested in your work. I recommend researching the agents before pitching to them. Select those most likely to be interested in your specific story. That will make the experience better for you (the writer) and for the agent. If you haven’t finished at least one full draft of your novel, I recommend not pitching. It’s hard to pitch if you don’t know what happens in the story. (Unless of course you have several published novels that sell well but if that is your situation, you could likely contact agents outside the pitch room.)

To attend AgentFest, you must attend CraftFest.

Good Luck and Happy Pitching!

Apologies for the relative silence on my blog! If I released audiorecordings, the past few months wouldn’t be silence (as it appears on the blog) but an unrelenting click clack of keys typing out words. I’ve been fully consumed by editing novel 2. Beside the editing there’s the query and synopsis writing. Finally, the dreaded pitch (yes, indeed, you can get 400 pages down to one line)!

I’m tremendously lucky to be part of CoLoNY and RWA as a whole. Through these groups, I’ve been cramming with my writer friends. I feel just like I’m at college again! Only this time, I’ve got generous, wonderful, highly experienced writers showering me with advice and reading drafts (not to mention listening to my pitch!)

So, please, excuse the silence and do check back! I hope to get some posts in during the conferences and will definitely post afterwards with some highlights of RWA Nationals and ThrillerFest.

Bookmarked: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

Yesterday while trolling about on the Internet for information for novel 2, I came across a fascinating web site on DNA analysis for crime investigation. If you’re interested in this topic, visit www.dna.gov. This site offers a broad overview of what can and can’t be done with DNA evidence. It’s worth a look!

To hone my thrillers and make them even more thrilling, I’ve been listening to the 2008 Thrillerfest lectures I couldn’t attend in person. Those CDs they offer for sale are fantastic because short of cloning oneself, you just can’t attend every lecture you want to with so many excellent ones to choose from.

I found the best way to listen to these CDs is while driving around running errands. I’ve heard a couple of lectures by Dr. D. P. Lyle where he deconstructs The Terminator and makes it easy to see why it keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Over the summer I had also read Dr. Lyle’s book, Forensics: A Guide for Writers. For anyone writing thrillers, especially medical thrillers, I recommend learning from Dr. Lyle. His lectures and book are all entertaining and easy to understand. Pondering the Terminator also helps put the current economic situation in perspective.

Happy Reading!

I’ve spent a lot of my life in New England where my second novel is set but I believe it’s attention to detail that really makes a story come to life. Plus I just plain love research! Yes, I admit to being one of those bizarre people who loves to wander through library stacks inhaling the aroma and running my fingers over the spines until the right book jumps out. (Online catalogue? Those are for people who order off the menu.)

Besides libraries, I like to wander the streets, listen in on conversations, take photos, stare at people and generally be a pest worst than a tourist. I especially enjoy looking at the architecture of buildings (the older the better usually) and antique furnishings.

I was able to do all of the above recently while researching my second novel to be set in a New England coastal town. I won’t say which one yet because the book is still in the early stages.

I will promise that, like my first novel (which I hope all can soon purchase), it will reveal a terrifying world that has sprung from a series of ancient events. It will blend fact and fiction, contemporary lives and history and love as well as hatred. (Sounds so exciting I can’t wait to buy it! Oh, guess I better get writing! And make a few offerings to the Muse. Do you think she likes chocolate?)

Photo (C): Marina Kortekaas, 2008

Candice has authored a wide variety of creative and nonfiction works. For several decades, she focused on poetry. She published in The Allegheny Review and Pegasus among others. She is a recipient of the Ida F. Snell Poetry Prize.

In the nonfiction arena, Candice has been a full-time medical writer for over thirteen years. During this time, she has written educational and promotional pieces for a wide range of media including the Internet, CDs, and print.

During the past five years, she has turned her focus to fiction. Combining her background in medical science and creative writing, she has completed her first medical thriller and is well underway on a second.

I’m glad you joined me today. As you can see, I’m an author and fan of medical thrillers. Take a look around, whether you are a fellow author, thriller fan, agent or editor, I’m sure you will find something you enjoy on my site. The thing I’m most excited about is my recently completed novel. Here’s a taste:

“In 2110, Meara Flannagan invents a drug that can cure or kill. If her pursuers catch her, the choice may no longer be hers. Meara’s only chance of escape lies with Sebastian Gates, a security guard sent by her former employer to arrest her for theft of the drug.

With time running out to stop a drug-induced holocaust, can Meara and Sebastian stop a fanatical Senator and a cabal of world leaders from destroying the remaining United States?”

Copyright (c) 2008-2009.  All rights reserved worldwide.