It’s official now. This fall, Twilight Times Books, a small literary publisher, will publish The Solomon Scandals as both a nonDRMed e-book and a trade paperback.
My Scandals might be the only Washington newspaper novel that ends with a talking Afghan Hound named Thackeray II doing a Harry Truman send-up at the Cosmos Club. I frame the main plot, set around the 1980s, with a foreword and epilogue written in the late 21st century. I’m just a time-warpy kind of guy—warped, too?—having started the novel back in the 1970s on an electric typewriter. Scandals blends Suspense with Quirky, Washington, lots of Newspaper, some Science Fiction of course, and a few other stray genres.
Bizarre in good company
Twilight seems just right for this debut novel, given the house’s special interest in bizarre creations like mine. Lida Quillen, the publisher, is picky; and I am, too. When I wrote up Lida for publishersweekly.com and TeleRead, I couldn’t get over her existing writers’ praise for the care she lavishes on their books. And Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, a former small-press publisher who teaches contracts in a graduate-level publishing course at Emerson College, confirmed my belief that Lida’s terms are generous. Mass paperback, translation and movie rights are available, hint, hint.
In case you’re curious, I’ll be walking the ePub walk, Jon Noring has already looked over the manuscript and concluded that conversion to ePub should be a piece of cake. Cool. I’d like Thack II to be able to read the 2008 digital version without any fuss.
One way or another, there’ll also be editions in Mobipocket, HTML, PDF, probably LIT, eReader, Kindle, Sony Reader and perhaps others. Lida will at least try to persuade retailers to provide alternatives to DRMed versions. Yes, she and I love paper, too, and the trade paperback should be reasonably priced.
Detail: Afghan Hound photo via Wikipedia. I don’t know whether this one talks.
David,
Congratulations on publishing your novel. I meet so many people who tell me they’re going to write a novel one day. I meet a lot fewer who’ve actually done so.
I hope your publishing experience is positive and that you have great sales.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
Thanks, Rob. At least you know I meant it when I said in past posts that publishers can add value.
By the way, I know of another book that didn’t happen immediately—And Ladies of the Club. Helen Hoover Santmyer began ALOTC in the mid-1960s, using notes she’d written over the decades. She didn’t finish the novel until 1975, and it did not reach print until 1982. If you count the notes, then she took longer. If, however, you include the writing time, then maybe I beat her. Some information on ALOTC is here. Even when published, it didn’t become a best-seller immediately.
In both her case and mine, the big lesson is that publishing tastes come and go, and that writers should hang on in there. Back in the late 1970s, the managing editor or exec editor of Warner Books wanted to go ahead with The Solomon Scandals. Sure enough, Sales shot her down, and I’m damn happy. As a result, over the years, I put Scandals through a number of revisions, and it’s a much better book than if it had appeared back then.
Meanwhile, my continued best wishes to you on your own projects!
David
Said the veteran of NY Major House Publishing: I hope your publisher can produce an understandable royalty statement!
Seriously, with the right timing, yours might be the first “virgin” ebook I buy (that is, one I’ve not read in print).
Don’t know if you saw this grim post of mine:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/for-gods-sake-get-ebooks-going-steve-jobs/
It’d be great if Apple did get into ebooks and yours was one of the first offered at the iTunes Store. You’d have an immediate advantage.
Congratulations!
Thanks, Mike! Lida and I both want people to own the E version of The Solomon Scandals for real! She’s my kind of publisher, a DRM-hater.
Let’s hope that Steve J. does E big—which he might when he has Product ready and can admit that a few people still DO read.
I couldn’t agree with you more about royalty statements.
David
A few months ago I asked David if I could read The Solomon Scandals, and he was kind enough to send me the then-latest draft.
What fun! I think he’s done a great job with depicting the era of the 80s and the miasma of shenanigans his politicos of the time were up to.
I’m looking forward to getting a print copy. Good all ’round read, for sure.
Elle