Comments on: Thriller Writers: Dionne, Eisler, Lynds and Morrell

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:54:26 +0000

He’s a compelling writer and a generous man. It was good to have him here. And you, too. Thanks for stopping by!

By: ridleyfoxfan

ridleyfoxfan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:39:31 +0000

I loved the post with Barry Eisler. I’ve read all of his books and I think that he’s a very talented author. Fault Line, his stand-alone from the Rain series, is a superb fresh start.

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:55:56 +0000

You guys may be interested in how this topic has been picked up by Joe Moore over at ITW Big Thrill site: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/news/

By: 5speener0

5speener0 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:27:16 +0000

WONDERFUL and most appropriate response! Thanks for sharing that…and for staying home from school on that day!

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:02:42 +0000

Good (but totally depressing) point about authors being weighed down by the poor sales of a previous book. All of these hurdles just reinforce the point many folks have made here in the comments that writers get rejected and beat up enough by the business. The last thing we want to do is beat each other up.

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:59:30 +0000

Welcome! And congratulations on finishing your novel and landing an agent! I haven’t heard anything about the market being poor for thrillers. In fact, the bestseller list would prove otherwise. But I don’t know that it matters. If the market suddenly wanted humorous romance novels, I think you’d still be compelled to write financial thrillers, right?

By: Hyperbolyst

Hyperbolyst — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:46:42 +0000

There’s but one sliver of literary fiction that publishers are, indeed, prepared (at times) to take a big, risky position on, and that’s the literary debut by a fresh-faced newcomer that publishers feel has crossover (commercial) appeal. The real issue, regardless of genre/category, is an author’s sales track, the (usually) damning fingerprints left behind at the scene of a criminally disappointing prior publication. Booksellers buy an author’s next book based almost entirely upon the success of the previous; so if that book performed poorly, this one will be taken in even smaller numbers–and so begins the horrible downward spiral that defines so many authors’ careers, because the fewer copies a store takes, the less visibility that title will have, and the fewer it’ll sell. A debut novelist thus is equipped with a phenomenal one-time advantage: no sales track! And so it is that we read, occasionally, about the seemingly astronomical sums that (rarely, but dramatically) get thrown at debut novelists–because, for publishers, this represents opportunity minus a key institutional obstacle…Though it should be pointed out that what they really mean by “literary”–as JessicaK so smartly observes elsewhere in this thread–is itself a study in relativism, because most of what mainstream publishers package as “literary” might more precisely be described as “literate”… To your original question, Hernan: thrillers remain a very attractive and potentially lucrative segment of the publishing industry, especially for a debut writer (like yourself). It’s true that lots more thrillers fail than succeed–such is the reality of the business, regardless of what sort of books you write–but, as every bestseller list shows, there’s a huge and steady appetite for those kinds of books.

By: Hernan

Hernan — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:34:49 +0000

I came to this link via the MWA and am fascinated by Susan’s topic. By way of background, my father-in-law was a thriller writer (with a finance bent) and did quite well for himself in this genre, kicking it off with winning an Edgar for his first book. I helped him edit and research his books over the years which exposed me to his thinking process in approaching his craft. This summer I finished my first novel; yes a thriller with an international politics and financial angle. I’m a banker by day, but the process of writing a thriller was the most fun I’ve ever had. I recently signed up with an agent I respect a great deal and am excited about this next stage of the long and hopeful march to publication. However, there was a comment I heard from several others in publishing over the summer, which has gnawed at me and relates to Susan’s question. The comment was that the thriller genre has been doing poorly as of late, and that publishers are instead more apt to take on literary fiction and even more so, non-fiction, before embarking on launching new thrillers writers. I attended my first MWA Conference and ThrillerFest this year and find it hard to reconcile this comment about the thriller genre alongside the enthusiasm of those crowds. I am curious as to what others are really seeing out there.

By: jonclinch

jonclinch — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:40:37 +0000

“Please tell me you’re writing the next book…”

Thanks, S.

The next one’s on my editor’s desk, awaiting an offer. It’s called Extremity, and it’s my usual lightweight fluff. Plus I’m just now finishing up another project — entirely different in tone and even genre — which we’ll go public with soon. You heard it here first…

By: SusanHenderson

SusanHenderson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:12:46 +0000

Welcome Roy! Thanks for bringing up humor and romance. My thinking is, Disdain has got to go. There’s enough of it in politics for us to create more of it here with our colleagues.