{"id":1335,"date":"2011-11-27T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2025-03-02T19:05:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T19:05:56","slug":"why-im-publishing-my-pi-series-on-kindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/why-im-publishing-my-pi-series-on-kindle\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I\u2019m Publishing My P.I. Series on Kindle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The short answer is this: A writer writes to be read, and the two P.I. nov\u00adels I wrote that were sit\u00adting on my hard dri\u00adve weren\u2019t being read by any\u00adone. I want\u00aded peo\u00adple to read them, to be enter\u00adtained by them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I wrote them, and that\u2019s why, after run\u00adning them through the gaunt\u00adlet of tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading, I final\u00adly decid\u00aded to put them on Kin\u00addle. The first one, A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, is avail\u00adable now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Okay, that\u2019s the short answer. Now, for those of you who are inter\u00adest\u00aded in one writer\u2019s tri\u00adals and tra\u00advails, here\u2019s the long answer:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

*     *     *<\/p>\n

Six years ago, when I began writ\u00ading the Dako\u00adta Stevens series, the only form I could imag\u00adine the books tak\u00ading was, well, books<\/em>\u2014words print\u00aded on paper, bound in hard cov\u00aders, sold on Ama\u00adzon and at my local inde\u00adpen\u00addent book\u00adstore. If some\u00adone had told me then that many read\u00aders (and more all the time) would be read\u00ading on their com\u00adput\u00aders and dig\u00adi\u00adtal tablets\u2014actually read\u00ading<\/em>, not just skim\u00adming emails\u2014I would have said, \u201cSure, and some\u00adday soon Apple stock will be worth over $400 a share. Lot\u00adsa luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turns out, I was wrong on both counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo man but a block\u00adhead ever wrote, except for mon\u00adey,\u201d said Samuel John\u00adson, but in my case, as much as I may have fan\u00adta\u00adsized about Big Mon\u00adey from my writ\u00ading, ulti\u00admate\u00adly I did it because I loved the writ\u00ading itself.<\/p>\n

\n

I also loved the pri\u00advate detec\u00adtive genre\u2014detectives includ\u00ading Sher\u00adlock Holmes, Ray\u00admond Chandler\u2019s Mar\u00adlowe, and Robert Parker\u2019s Spenser\u2014and I want\u00aded to see if I could cre\u00adate a mod\u00adern detec\u00adtive of my own who could be as real to read\u00aders as those oth\u00ader detec\u00adtives were to me. I want\u00aded to enter\u00adtain peo\u00adple, engross them. I want\u00aded to give read\u00aders vivid, unique scenes. I want\u00aded to give them a woman who, as a beau\u00adti\u00adful and bril\u00adliant chess grand\u00admas\u00adter, was unlike any oth\u00ader \u201cWat\u00adson\u201d writ\u00adten. And I want\u00aded to give them a detec\u00adtive with FBI expe\u00adri\u00adence in the field and the lab, who solved crimes with shoe leather and<\/em> sci\u00adence.<\/p>\n

I have to admit, though, that my choos\u00ading to write in the P.I.\/mystery genre was part\u00adly moti\u00advat\u00aded by a false idea I had about the mar\u00adket\u00adplace from read\u00ading too many books by \u201cindus\u00adtry experts.\u201d The com\u00admon wis\u00addom goes like this: Since there is a greater demand for books in the mys\u00adtery genre, get\u00adting a mys\u00adtery pub\u00adlished is an ide\u00adal way for new writ\u00aders to break in and get their oth\u00ader work pub\u00adlished. This, I have learned, is most\u00adly bullshit\u2014a pipe dream sold by a few edi\u00adtors and agents who earn a tidy sec\u00adond income writ\u00ading these books and con\u00adduct\u00ading sem\u00adi\u00adnars sell\u00ading false hope. They don\u2019t want the illu\u00adsion shat\u00adtered because then their \u201cHow to Get Pub\u00adlished in 10 Easy Steps\u201d books and sys\u00adtems are doomed.<\/p>\n

What these experts neglect to men\u00adtion is that because so many writ\u00aders believe the above \u201crule,\u201d the mys\u00adtery mar\u00adket is per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly glut\u00adted with man\u00adu\u00adscripts, mak\u00ading it that much tougher for yours to stand out. Also, for this rea\u00adson the ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded and good-inten\u00adtioned agents and edi\u00adtors (the major\u00adi\u00adty) are under\u00adstand\u00adably jad\u00aded, so that if your mys\u00adter\u00adies are intri\u00adcate and well-writ\u00adten but vio\u00adlate the estab\u00adlished for\u00admu\u00adla in any way, they will reflex\u00adive\u00adly reject it.<\/p>\n

Time and again, both when I sub\u00admit\u00adted to agents and when my agent did to edi\u00adtors, the feed\u00adback about my Dako\u00adta nov\u00adels was pos\u00adi\u00adtive: the qual\u00adi\u00adty of the writ\u00ading, the dia\u00adlogue, the plots, the scenes, some\u00adthing\u2014but<\/em>\u2026there was always a \u201cbut.\u201d And the mad\u00adden\u00ading thing was, the \u201cbuts\u201d always con\u00adtra\u00addict\u00aded each oth\u00ader. This agent loved Dako\u00adta, but<\/em> found Svet\u00adlana hard to believe. This edi\u00adtor loved Svet\u00adlana, but <\/em>felt she over\u00adshad\u00adowed Dako\u00adta. Or, the mar\u00adket was already \u201ctoo crowd\u00aded,\u201d con\u00adjur\u00ading images for me of swanky soir\u00e9es with ele\u00adgant women in strap\u00adless gowns, but soir\u00e9es I could\u00adn\u2019t attend because\u2014that\u2019s right\u2014they were too crowd\u00aded.<\/p>\n

To their cred\u00adit, most of the agents or edi\u00adtors tried to soft\u00aden their rejec\u00adtions, assur\u00ading me that all good writ\u00ading even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly finds a home, or, as anoth\u00ader one said, \u201cThe cream always ris\u00ades to the top.\u201d This might be true, but not if every agent or edi\u00adtor believes it and uses this belief as a jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion for pass\u00ading on good work. Some\u00adtimes I won\u00adder how that par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar agent\u2019s career is going; has that agent risen like the cream or stayed at the bot\u00adtom like the what\u2014curds<\/em>?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sev\u00ader\u00adal times\u2014too many times\u2014the Dako\u00adta nov\u00adels came this <\/em>close to accep\u00adtance by a main\u00adstream, name pub\u00adlish\u00ader, and once even by a movie stu\u00addio, who deserves the award for Most Bizarre Rejec\u00adtion of a Lit\u00ader\u00adary Prop\u00ader\u00adty Ever. To this day, I have no idea how one of WB\u2019s pro\u00adduc\u00adtion com\u00adpa\u00adnies heard about me or A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, but they con\u00adtact\u00aded my then-agent and request\u00aded it.<\/p>\n

For two weeks, maybe a month, we were on edge. I won\u00addered if this might be the life-chang\u00ading moment I\u2019d dreamed of. I imag\u00adined being on the set, schmooz\u00ading with the actors play\u00ading Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana. I imag\u00adined a director\u2019s chair with my name and title (Cre\u00adator) on it. I imag\u00adined a lot of non\u00adsense, includ\u00ading whether or not a life in Hol\u00adly\u00adwood was good for a guy like me, a guy with pret\u00adty severe bipo\u00adlar. What if I got into coke? Then again, what if I got to play golf with my idol, Clint East\u00adwood? What if a lot of things?<\/p>\n

Final\u00adly, on a cold Novem\u00adber night, as my wife and I shiv\u00adered in our hov\u00adel of an apart\u00adment, my agent called. In her defense, she was new to her work, so I think mak\u00ading this kind of call was dif\u00adfi\u00adcult for her; but she was excit\u00aded when I got on the line, which I inter\u00adpret\u00aded as good news. It wasn\u2019t. Ulti\u00admate\u00adly the pro\u00adduc\u00ader had read the book and thought it was great. \u201cBut,\u201d this per\u00adson added, \u201cit doesn\u2019t have enough explo\u00adsions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>What?<\/em>\u201d <\/em>I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat,\u201d my agent said, \u201cand that it didn\u2019t feel big<\/em> enough to them. They didn\u2019t see it as a big-bud\u00adget sto\u00adry. They want a prop\u00ader\u00adty for an 80 or 100 mil\u00adlion-dol\u00adlar pic\u00adture. If there were more explo\u00adsions, they might take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nev\u00ader mind that I was dis\u00adturbed that my whole\u00adsome Mid\u00adwest agent was sud\u00adden\u00adly talk\u00ading fast like a wheel\u00ader-deal\u00ader on \u201cthe Coast,\u201d sling\u00ading out words like \u201cprop\u00ader\u00adty.\u201d This whole explo\u00adsions thing and the idea that my nov\u00adels some\u00adhow weren\u2019t big<\/em> enough made me feel like the artist in Woody Allen\u2019s Han\u00adnah and Her Sis\u00adters,<\/em> when a rock star shows up at the artist\u2019s stu\u00addio look\u00ading for some art for his new house. The artist shows him a few paint\u00adings and the rock star says, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s great, but<\/em>\u2026I\u2019m look\u00ading for some\u00adthing big. <\/em>You know, BIG<\/em>. (Spreads his arms.) <\/em>You got any\u00adthing like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The artist cur\u00admud\u00adgeon\u00adly replies, \u201cI do not sell my art by the yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I felt. But more than that I was mys\u00adti\u00adfied by the producer\u2019s remarks. More<\/em> explo\u00adsions? I thought about my nov\u00adel. Had I writ\u00adten a scene I\u2019d for\u00adgot\u00adten about?<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

Num\u00adber of actu\u00adal explo\u00adsions in the nov\u00adel: zero.<\/p>\n

Num\u00adber of oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties for explo\u00adsions (i.e., flam\u00adma\u00adble mate\u00adri\u00adals lying around, like paint thin\u00adner): maybe 2.<\/p>\n

She nev\u00ader said so, but my agent clear\u00adly had want\u00aded me to revise the book and \u201cthrow in\u201d a few explo\u00adsions. I said if they bought the rights to the book, they could cram as many blow-ups as they want\u00aded into the screen\u00adplay, but I wasn\u2019t rewrit\u00ading a nov\u00adel that had tak\u00aden me 3 years to write, adding stuff I didn\u2019t believe in, only to have them poten\u00adtial\u00adly say \u201cnah\u201d to the final prod\u00aduct.<\/p>\n

After that, my agent and I drift\u00aded apart. She sub\u00admit\u00adted the sec\u00adond book in the series, The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, and while cer\u00adtain edi\u00adtors expressed inter\u00adest, again there was always equiv\u00ado\u00adca\u00adtion and qual\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion attached. As for my agent, I\u2019m not con\u00advinced she fought espe\u00adcial\u00adly hard for the book; by then she seemed focused on nonfiction\u2014fiction for\u00adev\u00ader being a tough sell.<\/p>\n

For months after\u00adward, I was bit\u00adter, star\u00ading at the door that had slammed in my face instead of wait\u00ading for the next door to open. I couldn\u2019t under\u00adstand why, after writ\u00ading what I knew were very good nov\u00adels for the genre, I wouldn\u2019t have an oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to see them pub\u00adlished. It felt like I had wast\u00aded years<\/em> of my life on these books, and all I want\u00aded to do was for\u00adget. I was so angry about the time wast\u00aded that when I got an email from Ama\u00adzon about Kin\u00addle Direct Pub\u00adlish\u00ading (KDP), I imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly junked it and spent the next year writ\u00ading a mem\u00adoir apt\u00adly titled Revenge Fan\u00adtasies<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s at this point in the sto\u00adry that I would have turned to drink. I would have gone back to my old friends: Made\u00admoi\u00adselle Beau\u00adjo\u00adlais<\/em>, Mon\u00adsieur Pouil\u00adly Fuisse<\/em>, Mr. Sam Adams, Mr. Bush\u00admill, and, finances depend\u00ading, 18-year-old Mr. Macallan. Would have, that is, if I didn\u2019t total\u00adly turn into Mr. Hyde when I drink. I\u2019m glad I stayed away from it.<\/p>\n

Instead of drown\u00ading my sor\u00adrows, for the past 3 years I\u2019ve been focused on becom\u00ading the best writer I can, and to hell with gen\u00adres and the mar\u00adket. Specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly I\u2019ve been writ\u00ading a lot of short fic\u00adtion and humor, and tar\u00adget\u00ading the top peri\u00adod\u00adi\u00adcals for pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion. It\u2019s been a steep climb, but I\u2019m mak\u00ading progress and I\u2019ve been enjoy\u00ading myself while doing it\u2014making it about the writ\u00ading, and let\u00adting the mar\u00adket\u00adplace do what\u00adev\u00ader it want\u00aded to do.<\/p>\n

About three times a year, though, new ads for KDP piqued my inter\u00adest, includ\u00ading the one where they announced a 70% roy\u00adal\u00adty for writ\u00aders. Sev\u00aden\u00adty per\u00adcent! Still, I refused to bite. I was bit\u00adter about the entire world of pub\u00adlish\u00ading and saw going to Kin\u00addle as a copout, a pur\u00adga\u00adto\u00adry for writ\u00aders not good enough to be pub\u00adlished on paper, by a pub\u00adlish\u00ading house.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You have to under\u00adstand, even though I grew up with tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, when it comes to writ\u00ading I\u2019m old-school. I write my first drafts in pen\u00adcil or on one of my 5 type\u00adwrit\u00aders (this entry began on a legal pad). My first job out of col\u00adlege was as a news\u00adpa\u00adper reporter. Ink on paper. See\u00ading your name in print every morn\u00ading or once a week. And get\u00adting paid<\/em> for your skill. Also, I had grown up with books<\/em>, seen my grand\u00adfa\u00adther read The New York\u00ader<\/em> and The Atlantic<\/em> every morn\u00ading for 22 years, and I want\u00aded to be in print<\/em>. All of my idols were: Chekhov, Tol\u00adstoy, Fitzger\u00adald, Hem\u00ading\u00adway, Chan\u00addler, Nabokov, Flem\u00ading, Cheev\u00ader, Carv\u00ader, Keil\u00adlor, and Boyle. They all got their start in books<\/em>, not on screens designed to resem\u00adble paper.<\/p>\n

But I also know the sto\u00adries of those writ\u00aders\u2019 begin\u00adnings, and with sev\u00ader\u00adal of them, had Kin\u00addle been an option at the time, I\u2019m con\u00adfi\u00addent they would have done it. Chekhov wrote large\u00adly for news\u00adpa\u00adpers in his youth\u2014anything that paid<\/em> while he was going to med\u00adical school and work\u00ading as a young doc\u00adtor. He would have jumped at the 70% roy\u00adal\u00adty. Hem\u00ading\u00adway was a shame\u00adless self-pro\u00admot\u00ader who had sev\u00ader\u00adal years in Paris when no Amer\u00adi\u00adcan peri\u00adod\u00adi\u00adcals would pub\u00adlish his stuff. He would have gone with Kin\u00addle. Chan\u00addler did\u00adn\u2019t pub\u00adlish his first nov\u00adel, The Big Sleep<\/em>, until he was 49. Had Kin\u00addle been avail\u00adable to him, he might have tak\u00aden it. Cheev\u00ader had sev\u00ader\u00adal run-ins with The New York\u00ader<\/em> over mon\u00adey; who knows, maybe he would have jumped ship to the new tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy as well. And Carv\u00ader? Ray\u00admond Carv\u00ader and his wife Maryann were des\u00adti\u00adtute and des\u00adper\u00adate so many times ear\u00adly in their mar\u00adriage that they sure\u00adly would have pub\u00adlished his work on Kin\u00addle, if only to keep the heat on.<\/p>\n

But none of that mat\u00adters. None of those writ\u00aders wrote for the mon\u00adey; they wrote because they had to and they want\u00aded to be read. Same deal here. If no one is read\u00ading your words, writ\u00ading is just anoth\u00ader word for solip\u00adsism.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be hon\u00adored if you bought and read my PI nov\u00adel. It\u2019s well-researched, well-writ\u00adten, and, well, a good read. And when sales of this first one reach 1,000 copies, I\u2019ll release the sec\u00adond book in the series. But I want you to know that I didn\u2019t do it for the mon\u00adey. I did it to enter\u00adtain you, the read\u00ader, and because I love the process.<\/p>\n

At the top you\u2019ll find a link to a page where you can learn more about A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, includ\u00ading its plot and the copi\u00adous research behind it.<\/p>\n

Or, just click here to buy it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The short answer is this: A writer writes to be read, and the two P.I. nov\u00adels I wrote that were sit\u00adting on my hard dri\u00adve\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,19,7,8,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-fiction","category-personal","category-publishingandthemarket","category-writingexperiences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9182,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/9182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}