Paul Colt's Blog - Posts Tagged "romance"

You’ve completed your first book. Congratulations! You knew you could do it and you did. You’re proud of yourself and you’re proud of the book. You should be. Now comes the next gate: Publishing. As I reflect on everything it took to get through this gate, it occurs to me that you can’t do it justice in one post. Let’s start with the basics.

A good place to start is a current copy of Guide to Literary Agents, published by Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati Ohio. My 2005 edition (ouch!) profiles 600 literary agencies. It tells you what genre they consider, what their submission guidelines are and what you might expect in terms schedule etc. It also gives you good advice about properly preparing your query. These are all important guides to the process you need to follow whether you choose to query an agency or a publisher.

Which brings us to the next set of questions. Who are you going to query? Are you going focus on agencies or publishers, print, digital or audio? Do you plan to skip all that and self-publish? Answers to those questions have big implications for this gate and a couple more down the road. Let’s focus on the query process for the moment. It is similar whether you are soliciting an agent or a publisher.

Rule 1: Follow the submission guidelines! You can find them in the literary agents guide or a publisher’s website. They are all different. If you don’t follow them, your query is dead on arrival. They require things like a query letter, including author bio, target audience and marketing plan. That’s right, a marketing plan- more on that later. Remember the letter is a sales pitch. You are selling yourself and your book. Most require a synopsis of specified length and one or more sample chapters. Some want digital submission, others want snail mail paper with a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). The envelope is so they can easily return your submission with their rejection. That’s right, rejection. Get comfortable with the concept. Your work will be rejected. It can take six to nine months or more to get the bad news and they don’t often give you a reason for rejection. That part of the process is what makes self-publishing so seductive. We’ll get to that one next week.

Next week: Agents and publishers.

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Paul

Before you tackle questions about agents and publishers; you need to decide what you want to accomplish with your writing. Is your book a one-time tick on a bucket-list or is it something more? Do you plan on becoming a professional writer; or is writing an enjoyable hobby? Answers to those questions should influence the choices you make. If your book is a one-time thing, a self-publishing strategy might make the most sense. If you plan to pursue writing professionally, you will probably find value in an agency relationship at some point. If you are a serious hobbyist you may want to focus on a publisher relationship. There is no right answer to these questions. The only a right answer is the one that’s right for you. In my case, I said: If I can’t sell it, it’s not worth putting my pseudonym on it. You get experience, picking that gate.

Do you need an agent? You don’t need one; but if you have the opportunity to get a good one, they can open doors for you that help you sell your work. I don’t have an agent. I’d be open to considering it; but I’m not out soliciting one. I have a great relationship with a wonderful editor and publisher. It took a lot of at bats to get to first base; but it can be done.

Let’s talk about publishers. They come in all shapes and sizes- print, digital, audio and self-publishing services. Set the selfies aside for a moment. Publishers are businesses that sell products called books. They usually limit their consideration to specific types of work: fiction, non-fiction, a specific list of genre. Your work needs to match the publisher’s consideration. They produce books in print, digital or audio. My first three books came out in audio. Audio is a niche market so sales were modest. I pitched some digital publishers without much success. Digital is growing; but it is still a niche market. Royalty rates are higher. Price points are lower. Volume can be good if you are a good marketer. Print is still the big game. When I finished Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory I knew I had a good one. One that would open the print gate for me. It did. It took three years.

Now a bit about selfies. The big advantage to self-publishing is that you skip a really nasty gate. Actually you run the risk of skipping two gates. Without having to get through that tough gate-keeper, you may not fully learn the lessons of craft. Like commercial publishers, self-publishing services come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Vanity press print and do-it-yourself digital are the two most common. Based on the horror stories I’ve seen and heard, I don’t recommend vanity print. It can be expensive, quality in some cases is poor and in the end, you wind up with boxes of books in the basement it is up to you to sell. If I was going to self-publish, I’d go do-it-yourself digital. That puts you into digital sales, marketing and distribution that is way better than humping boxes out of the basement. In general, it is also far less expensive.

Next week: Sales and Marketing- Really

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Paul

The writer’s journey continues. You write and promote. In the process you build a brand. Your brand builds reader expectation. When a reader picks up one of your books they come to know what to expect. You don’t think in those terms with your first book. It’s the second one that starts building a brand. It continues to define who you are as an author. When you pick up a Dusty Richards book you know you’re getting a solid traditional western. Pick up a Jeff Shaara title, you know you’re in for a first class historical dramatization. Building a brand is how you build a following. That’s what makes successful writers successful. There are some authors like Loren Estleman and Robert B. Parker who manage two genre. Both write westerns and mysteries. I love their westerns. I’ve never read one of their mysteries. Nothing is more risky than a small sample; but I suspect they have a brand in both audiences.

Building a brand is a bit of a dilemma for me. I love big historical dramatizations I call ‘Unexpected history’. It’s a story that involves some little known or over looked aspect of an otherwise familiar character or event. Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory is unexpected history. Most people don’t know that chapter in George Patton’s career. The trouble with ‘I-had-no-idea’ stories like Grasshoppers in Summer; or A Question of Bounty is that they don’t come along every day. So what do I write when I don’t have my teeth into one of those? We’re about to find out.

A couple of years ago I thought about creating a short novel series for digital publication. I stumbled on an unexpected history premise for the series. Did you know the Pinkerton Detective Agency had a competitor? Most people don’t. I came across a compilation of case reports for something called the Rocky Mountain Detective Association. The group operated across the west in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. I chatted up the idea with my publisher who showed interest in doing them in print. The first release in the Great Western Detective League series will be out in January 2015. It’s a western with crossovers in crime/detective and a sprinkle of romance. The series introduces a colorful cast of Great Western Detective League and Pinkerton characters who pursue criminal cases while battling each other for the rewards and bounties that go with getting the bad guys. The idea is to create a light fun read. Will it muddy my brand? It could. We’ll try to give the series a brand of its own.
That brings us to the end of this guided tour of the writer’s journey. It’s not the end of the journey mind you, it’s only as far as I’ve come. The writing, publishing, promotion and brand building continue. It’s a long way to a best seller; but who knows? Maybe someday. Enjoy the journey wherever you are.

Next week: Saber Master

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Paul

My book, Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory is dedicated to Dick Jackson’s memory. With the help of readers of these pages, we were able to locate Dick’s sister and mother over the Memorial Day weekend a few years ago and send them a book, dedicated to the hero we lost.

Dedication
For Jack

For duty, honor and sacrifice for another. For the letter in the mailbox the day we laid you to rest. The canceled “stamp,” written in your hand reads, “Free.” I have it. I’ll not forget. For you and all those whose names are etched on that black marble wall; and for all those who have or will defend our freedom; your courage and sacrifice preserve us. We remember. We owe you no less.

In Memory:
Sgt. Richard T. Jackson

And who better to celebrate Memorial Day than the late great Kate Smith. God Bless America.

Kate Smith introduces God Bless America - YouTub


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Kevin Costner’s western film credits start with Dances with Wolves (90), a solid entry on anybody’s list of all-time great western films, including mine. Costner starred and directed. The film netted 12 Academy Award nominations, winning seven total with Costner personally picking up Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. It is one of those films you can watch time and again and be enthralled by the elegant simplicity of the story and blown away by the cinematography.

Costner’s next trip west came as Wyatt Earp (94). As I said in our profile of Kurt Russell, Costner’s portrayal of Wyatt had an authenticity to place it squarely in the conversation for Best Wyatt Ever. It comes on the heels of his performance in Dances with Wolves to level his body of work in the discussion with Russell’s Miracle on Ice. As I said a few weeks ago, Best Wyatt Ever for me, too close to call, though based on reader comments to the Russell post, we may have to give him the nod.

Open Range pairs Costner and Robert Duvall in a fine western picture perfectly suited to the theme of keeping the western genre alive in a well-made film. Costner cast Duvall in the title role. He reportedly said that if Duvall had not accepted the part, he probably wouldn’t have made the movie. Fortunately for western film fans, Duvall never hesitated.

Costner’s western outings on the small screen begin with the legendary Hatfield & McCoy feud (2012). Ok so West Virginia and Kentucky are east of the Mississippi. Tune into the action and the show rides and shoots like a western. Forget the zip codes. Enjoy the feud. More recently, his contemporary western, Yellowstone (2018), reflects the fact westerns today are more than stories set in the nineteenth century. Kevin Costner understands the genre. He understands what is happening in western literature and takes advantage of the rich diversity in film.

Next Week: Gene Hackman
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Paul

Gene Hackman is one of those western stars who had a masterful performance defining role in a film, not necessarily western. Kurt Russell had Herb Brooks in Miracle on Ice. Kevin Costner’s Lieutenant John Dunbar in Dances with Wolves. For Gene Hackman it was Norman Dale in Hoosiers. That said Gene Hackman had a distinguished western filmography, starting with Bite the Bullet in 1975.

Hackman’s career plan included avoiding violent roles. In 1992, Clint Eastwood talked him over that line to play the vicious sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in Unforgiven. Good he did. Unforgiven won the Oscar for Best Picture, netting Hackman the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Whatever Eastwood said to get him over his violence aversion must have stuck. In 1998 he played outlaw baron and gunslinger John Herod opposite Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead. That one stacked up bodies like cord wood. So much for non-violent content.

In addition to his acting career Hackman became a novelist. Hackman’s writing credits include Payback at Morning Peak and Escape from Andersonville along with a couple of thriller titles. I guess if you are a successful actor you can afford to be a writer. I digress.

Hackman’s early career has an interesting facet. After an unsuccessful attempt to break into Hollywood he went to New York for a time. There he encountered two other struggling west coast actors. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duval became lifelong friends. The trio lived as roommates during their New York years at various times and combinations.

Next Week: Suffering pandemic hangover? Let’s have some fun with a Patent Medicine reprise.
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Paul

It is little wonder entrepreneurs found opportunity in the nineteenth century medicinal void and stepped in, giving birth to the patent medicine industry. It’s quite a story. We might begin by asking, what is patent medicine? It was not medication for which a patent had been granted in the conventional sense of patents as we know them today. Patent medicines had their roots among the crowned heads of Europe. The original patent medicines were manufactured and marketed under ‘patent’ rights granted as a favor to those who provided medical services to royalty. By the nineteenth century these medicinal tonics and elixirs found their way to markets in the United States. Businessmen and women saw opportunity.

Patents and their recipes could be sold or licensed for manufacture; and thus, our own patent medicine industry was born. In those days, before we had a Food & Drug Administration or a Federal Trade Commission to regulate such things, ‘wonder-cures’ could contain anything people could be persuaded to swallow as treatment for anything the purveyor might claim. Therein lies a recipe for all manner of marketing genius otherwise known as chicanery.

By the nineteenth century, thanks to the establishment and acceptance of public education, most folks could read. Newspapers were popular, giving birth to yet another new industry, advertising. Advertising patent medicine produced stunning claims. If you suffered from dyspepsia, indigestion, constipation, piles or any disorder of the liver, bowels or kidneys- no problem. All you needed was your daily dose of Dr. E. Rowell’s Invigorating Tonic and Family Medicine! As often as not one problem stemmed from the fact ‘Dr.’ E. Rowell wasn’t an MD. Next came the ‘Don’t-take-our-word-for-it’ testimonial. These featured some ordinary, ‘Just-like-you-and-me’ person who’d experienced some miraculous cure attributed to Rowell’s tonic. Why are we still looking for a cancer cure? Hadacol took care of that 130 years ago!

Advertising led to branding. Drug companies glommed onto the notion labels were worth money. People bought brand perception. Formulas and recipes not so much.

Next Week: Medicine Shows
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Paul

Medicine shows were like vaudeville troops traveling in brightly colored wagons. A show would hit town and set up shop, sometimes in a theater or a hall, but most often right there on the street. Each show was emceed by a ‘Doctor’ or ‘Professor’ who doubled as pitchman for tonics, elixirs and remedies for just about whatever ails a body. The doctor or professor persona brought an aura of medical or scientific credibility to the medicinal products offered. Remember the kindly professor with the colorful painted wagon that landed in OZ with Dorothy? He became a wizard in her delirium. Was it type-casting or medicinally induced?

The shows presented acts, often with circus quality entertainment to draw crowds. Muscleman acts were common, demonstrating fetes of strength that could be used to hawk some tonic to vitality. Native American acts or performances by mystic practitioners of some exotic art were also used to give an aura of ancient herbal secrecy to miracle ingredients. Between acts the doctor/professor pitched tonics and elixirs to the gathered crowd. Shills were commonly employed. A shill might step forward to volunteer his or her experience with some amazing medication, responsible for the cure of all manner of ailments and maladies. In other cases, a shill in the crowd might succumb to some obvious distress, such as a convulsion which could be immediately relieved by administration of the offered wonder cure.

The shows ranged in scale from small mom and pop troops bottling tonic in their wagons between shows, to large scale corporate affairs. The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company of New Haven Connecticut makes a striking example of the latter. Founded by John E. “Doc” Healy and Charles “Texas Charlie” Bigelow the firm manufactured ‘Kickapoo Indian’ remedies in a factory. Kickapoo remedies were sold across the country by as many as twenty-five traveling shows. These shows featured jugglers, acrobats, fire eaters, dancers and more.

Next Week: What’s In This Stuff? You do not want to miss this one.
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Paul

The patent medicine story is the story of an industry. A big industry that made a lot of hucksters a lot of money on pure flimflam, much of it highly flammable. Take Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for example. Got a fussy teething baby? A little Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup taken as directed is your answer. That ‘directed’ part is important, at the rate of 65grams of morphine to the ounce. More than a few babies got so soothed, they never fussed again.

How about Dr. Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne? Good for all manner of complaints from coughs and colds to asthma and probably Covid-19 if Dr. Fauci approved. What is Chlorodyne? Laudanum (alcohol infused opium), cannabis tincture and chloroform. Imitators substituted morphine for the laudanum. Feeling run down? Parker’s Tonic should pick you up at 41.6% 83 proof alcohol.

The money was good though. Lydia Pinkham had a brew for female complaints of the cycle. She raked in $300,000 a month in the 1880’s on a mixture of sugar water laced with 18% alcohol. Dr. Kilmer and his brother amassed an estate valued at $10 -15 million on miracle cures for imagined conditions. Dudley J. LeBlanc, State Senator (D) Louisiana, made his fortune curing cancer, epilepsy and serious diseases with Hadacol, a mixture of multivitamins, 12% alcohol and diluted hydrochloric acid. The latter opened the arteries, allowing the booze to work faster.

Patent medicines provided passports to all manner of intoxication in pursuit of curative promises. Take Tilden’s Extract for gout or rheumatism and buzz off on a potent cannabis extract. Join Queen Victoria and Thomas Edison, not to mention a couple of popes in a glass of Vin Mariani as a before bedtime nightcap. Bordeaux wine infused with cocaine should do the trick. Palmerton’s version, French Wine Coca, would one day morph into Coca Cola.

For those poor unfortunates who found themselves addicted to one medicinal narcotic or another, you could kick your habit with Habitina. Addicts were told to replace their addictive drug with sufficient doses of Habitina to “Support the system”. The remedy cost $2.00 a bottle and best of all, it worked. With 16 grains of morphine and 8 grains of heroin per ounce, it should. The only side effect, Habitina addiction.

Next Week: Medicine Cabinet Legacy
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Paul

At the dawn of the twentieth century progressive reformers pressed the federal government into regulating matters of public health and safety. Powerful political forces united with the American Medical Association, scientific community and investigative journalists (remember them?). Fraudulent claims were exposed. ‘Secret’ formulas were analyzed and publicized. Patent Medicine attracted its fiercest opposition from the temperance movement owing to the systemic use and abuse of alcohol.

The battle joined around the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. The legislative battle was hard fought. Patent medicine was big business by the turn of the century with sales valued at $80 million. The industry would not go quietly, though the act eventually passed. Interestingly it did not prohibit the use of alcohol or narcotics in patent medicines; but rather required labeling the products with their ingredients, thereby exposing health risks and the actual sources of claimed relief. Patent medicine gradually fell into disfavor with an informed public who could still read- at least those who hadn’t been blinded by their meds.

While the wild-west days of the patent medicine show would come to an end, some of the products with genuine therapeutic value survived. Check you medicine cabinet. Chances are you’ll find some of these familiar names. Anacin, Bayer Asprin, Geritol, Bromo-Seltzer, Doan’s Pills, Fletcher’s Castoria, Dr. Carter’s Little Liver Pills. They’re all survivors of the patent medicine legacy handed down to us today; because they delivered as promised. We managed to make good choices even before we had the Food & Drug Administration to protect us from ourselves. Imagine that.

Next Week: Classic Western Films
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Paul