Managing Readers' Expectations can be Fun!

Readers of crime are usually very sophisticated in the genre. This allows the author scope to raise expectations very easily. It is what I call the Jaws Effect. Everyone knows the Spielberg film. The suspense is almost palpable, and the way it is set up is so simple. Once the first shark attack has taken place, all the director needs to do is place someone in the water - preferably a lone woman or a child - and the audience are on the edge of their seats, wondering if this will be the next victim. Maybe a shark will attack and the character will die. Maybe there is no shark this time, and the character will survive. I don't know if this is true of everyone, but I find a shock can be heightened when I'm expecting it. 

Think for a moment about some of the tropes used in other genres: the Gothic mansion in horror, the country house in cosies, the 'calm before the storm' in its many forms. Of course we tire of such hackneyed cliches, but they are not arbitrary. They send a signal to the reader, and serve a purpose. And they can provide a lot of fun for author and reader alike.

There are a number of pre-existing tropes that can be exploited to good effect when writing crime fiction. I use one myself in Cut Short. The situation has been set up so the reader knows there is a serial killer attacking women on the streets at night. Against this ominous background, a teenage girl leaves a party alone. Already nervous, she gets lost trying to find her bus stop. Then she hears footsteps. Someone is following her. Maybe she is being pursued by the killer and will die. Maybe whoever  is following her is not the killer, and she will survive. There it is. The Jaws Effect. 

As with any other technique, tropes must be used sparingly. Authors must invent their own ways to increase tension for readers, as well as using recognised patterns. But tropes can provide a useful means of signalling to readers that something terrible may be imminent. Films use music, as well as visual clues, to communicate to the audience. In the same way, authors can use tropes to raise tension speedily and effectively, like the shark theme in the Jaws soundtrack.

This post was first published on the CRA website.

Buy Cut Short for 69p HERE

Calling America!

Cut Short published in the US by Harper Collins is available to download from 26th November! Please tell all your friends in the US and help spread the word! 
Cut Short (Harper Collins US)

BLOGGING

For far too long I've been using my blog simply as a platform to post my news. And you have to agree, there has been a lot of news to post. Yet when this blog first started, over five years ago, my intentions were very different. My original plan was to write a kind of diary of my journey to becoming an author. Along the way I became so busy being an author, that I lost my impetus to blog about it. To report on my journey has begun to resemble a list of boasts - CWA Dagger Award shortlist, accolades in journals as diverse as The Times and Star magazine, on both sides of the Atlantic, voted and selected for Best Fiction lists, hitting Number 1 on kindle and iTunes, and regularly appearing bestseller charts on amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith, amazon... yes, I'm boring myself. So my blog petered out, apart from the occasional interviews with other authors, and sporadic  posts about yet another promotion, special offer, or bestseller list. Only this week, COLD SACRIFICE was a 'Buzz Book' on iTunes, ROAD CLOSED reached the Top 10 on kindle, and DEATH BED was selected for the amazon kindle summer promotion, reaching Number 3 in crime and thrillers.

It's time to get back to the original purpose of this blog, and explore issues concerning the world of publishing, from the perspective of an author. I have no 'inside knowledge' beyond what I can gather from my own experience. So here's where I am right now.

My debut, CUT SHORT, came out in 2009 as an A format paperback - small, cheap, with a monochrome cover. By 2011 my first three titles had all become bestsellers, and my publisher 'branded' the series, bringing out all the titles in the series in B format, with lovely colourful shiny matching covers. You can see them all on my website LEIGH RUSSELL  if you want to see how smart they look. The row of covers on the virtual shelf on my kindle isn't quite the same.

Here's my little bookcase at home, like a trophy case, only hidden away upstairs where no one else can see it, with 15 editions of  my books on display plus three bookmarks. If you look carefully on the extreme left, you can see the eye on the proof copy of the first edition of CUT SHORT is looking in the opposite direction to the one on the spine of the sale copy.

When CUT SHORT was first published, a fellow author advised me to ask my publisher to bring it out as an eBook. Wait for my next statement... I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about! I'd heard talk of 'eBooks' but it was all something of a mystery to me then. Six months later, the eBook duly came out. The same process occurred with ROAD CLOSED. By the time DEAD END was published in 2011, eBooks were firmly on the map. The eBook was available to download on the same day the print book hit the shelves. Meanwhile, sales of eBooks began to overtake the print version. I'll deal with my response to that in another post. DEATH BED was due to be published in 2012. The eBook was released on December 2011, six months ahead of the print book. The same happened withSTOP DEAD, and that pattern seems to be continuing for the time being. I can't say "for the foreseeable future" because things are changing so fast, it's hard to look ahead.

Sales of eBooks are growing. Some statistics cite them as representing 20% of the market in a rapidly growing sector, other sources say they are now at 25% of the market.

In a statement accompanying its fourth quarter and full year results for 2012, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos neatly summed up where he sees the future of book retailing heading–especially for his company. “We’re now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting,” said Bezos. “After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast – up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%.”
(US Publishers Weekly, January 2013)

From the perspective of an author, it makes little difference in terms of income. The standard percentage royalties an author earns from sales of eBooks is higher for an author than on print books, as the publisher's overheads are far lower. Certainly the sales on eBooks are potentially huge compared to those of print books. My own books have sold hugely in eformat compared to the sales of my books in print.

Personally I'm in two minds about eBooks. I'm thrilled to be earning a living from my books, if a modest one. But I still love the look and the feel of physical books.

Oh, and the links here are to the eBooks on kindle... but you can find links to the print books as well on my website: WEBSITE

Cut Short in Top 10 on itunes

Cut Short is in Top 10 free downloads on the whole of itunes! Please tell everyone you know who has a computer or smartphone, and uses itunes, and help introduce Geraldine Steel to a few more readers!
Thank you!

Inspiration

Here's the scene that inspired Cut Short. If you expand the photo you can see a figure on the path. I didn't notice it when I took the picture!

It was a strange feeling, revisiting the scene I had recreated in the novel!

My Whistle Stop Journey to Publication

Thanks to Your Pinner News for publishing this article See page 10 Honestly, I didn't sign a contract for 3 books just 8 weeks after starting to write,  but my publisher did phone me 2 weeks after I sent out the manuscript for Cut Short - which I wrote in 6 weeks. Needless to say, I had to work quite hard on the editor's notes before the book was published!

London Bookshop

Amazon is still out of stock of CUT SHORT despite my publisher's best efforts. Fortunately the wonderful London Bookshop has leapt to the rescue, selling print copies of CUT SHORT for just £2.99! If you would like to introduce a friend to the Geraldine Steel series, this might be the ideal opportunity. Here's the link 
CUT SHORT physical book for £2.99
Please help support The London Bookshop - amazon may be the biggest kid on the block but it's not the only one!

Back in time for Christmas

A little piece  of good news - after selling out on amazon (just before Christmas - typical!) CUT SHORT is now back in stock. This time it's the brand new edition, and there's still time to order before Christmas! Click on CUT SHORT on amazon if you'd like to introduce a friend to the series, and contact me directly on Leigh Russell website if you'd like me to email a personalised inscription.

Large Print Cut Short

CUT SHORT is now available in Large Print. It is really nicely produced. If you are buying it as a xmas present and would like a personalised inscription contact me on http://leighrussell.co.uk
The link for the Large Print edition is also on my website above or on
http://www.largeprintbookshop.co.uk/cut-short-p-258682.html

Cut Short

Cut Short is now just 99p on kindle, $1.52 on amazon.com and Eur 1.33 on amazon.de (Geraldine Steel  seems to be popular on kindle in Germany where Cut Short is Number 5 on English female sleuths.)

News

I haven't posted for a while as I've been so busy! My three workshops for the Society of Authors were good fun and challenging. All were sold out and everyone who participated and appeared to enjoy themselves, and the Society provided a great lunch (thanks to M & S). As usual, we had a wide ranging group of authors attending, from bestselling crime authors like myself to those experienced in writing non-fiction and considering tackling a new genre. The standard of writing was, of course, excellent, as everyone who came along was  a successfully published author in their own right and I was privileged to be running such a high-powered workshop. (Yes, and a little daunted!)
I am always pleased to accept invitations to give talks in libraries. Followers of this blog know how passionate I am about supporting libraries, so I won't say too much about that here. Please check my earlier post if you'd like to read my views about the importance of supporting our libraries. As always, the audiences at Mill Hill and Pinner were interesting, and interested in what I had to say. Thank you.  And of course it's always a real thrill to meet fans of my books!
You can see the schedule of my future appearances on http://leighrussell.co.uk/ under Events. Please come along and say hello if I'm in your area.
NEWS
My publisher emailed this morning to tell me I am now officially an 'internationally bestselling author' as Cut Short is at number 1 on kindle on amazon.de, number 66 overall, and number 3 on amazon.fr for female detectives.
Thank you to all my overseas fans who have been spreading the word! Please keep mentioning my books to your friends. Without a marketing budget word of mouth is the only way my books are being promoted so I really do appreciate (and need) your support to keep sales going.

CUT SHORT covers

The new design for CUT SHORT is now up on amazon kindle
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-ebook/dp/B005OPLN8E/pocketessentials

The original cover is still in stock in print version. Best to order soon if you want that edition, before it sells out as future reprints will be the new design. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Geraldine-Steel-Leigh-Russell/dp/1842432710/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Why Crime Fiction?

Geraldine Steel - Number 1 female detective on amazon kindle

Most of us would be hard pressed to say anything in defence of real life crime, so how can we account for the popularity of crime fiction? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. As the author of a crime fiction series, I’m more than happy to see my books selling so well. But the contrast in attitudes to crime in reality and in fiction is interesting.
In real life I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to blood and guts, don’t eat meat and would quite possibly have been the world’s worst nurse had my life taken a turn along that career path. But let me loose on a fictitious murder scene and I’ll do my best to describe it, blood and all, with perhaps the odd spot of mutilation to heighten the tension by establishing just how evil my killer is. I daresay readers familiar with my books will nod and smile at that, but if I’d said I intended to embark on the odd spot of mutilation in real life, I hope their reaction would be rather different!
In his review of my 2011 novel Dead End in Crime Time, Barry Forshaw wrote that my books “take the reader into the darkest recesses of the human psyche.” Yet introduce me to anyone vaguely violent in real life and I’ll walk away, quaking, and not look back - correction, I’ll run. By contrast, my fictional killers might unnerve the boldest of readers.
Why are so many peaceful readers avid fans of murder stories like mine? To what can we attribute the powerful appeal of crime fiction?
At the most basic level, crime fiction explores the clash between good and evil. Often characterised as emerging as a genre in the nineteenth century with Wilkie Collins, solving crime has its roots in fiction long before that, as far back as Beowulf and the myths of ancient civilisations, and throughout the centuries crime has played a key role in establishing conflict and tension in literature.
Centuries before Wilkie Collins, Shakespeare’s plays were packed with crimes: fourteen killings, nine of them on stage, severed limbs, rapes, live burial, insanity and cannibalism – at least one atrocity for every 100 lines in the rarely staged Titus Andronicus. It all makes those “darkest recesses of the human psyche” in my books seem quite tame.
The conflict between good and evil is something that touches all of us at some point in our lives. In hopefully insignificant ways we engage with it on a daily basis dealing with injustices and inequities that plague our lives. Children frequently protest: ‘It’s not fair!’ Experience teaches us that life is indeed not fair, yet the notion of a just world is an attractive one, a world where we know where we stand and life makes sense. If only!
It seems to me that the appeal of crime fiction is attributable to a combination of suspense arising from the conflict between good and evil, and the reassurance of knowing that in the end some sort of moral order will be restored. With our modern obsession with originality of plot (Shakespeare never had that problem!) we’ve moved away from the Conan Doyle model of the infallible hero detective with Sherlock Holmes the precursor of Superman as well as Poirot and Rebus. Current fiction is peppered with flawed detectives. They may not be the superheroes of the past, but reflect our relatively sophisticated understanding of human nature.
The same is true of the bad guys. Where Conan Doyle introduces a snarling villain whose face was “marked with every evil passion” so there can be no doubt about who is the villain of the story, some contemporary authors present killers not as stereotypes of evil, but as damaged people. The killers in my own novels are an example, as much victims as the people they kill.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I present my killers in a sympathetic light. There can be little sympathy for someone who takes another person’s life, but I try to see the world as my killers do, and understand behaviour which I can’t condone. Unless I see the world through my killers’ eyes, I can’t create them as plausible characters.
But we can’t blur the distinction between good and evil. As detectives become less than perfect, and villains become increasingly three dimensional characters, there is still a clear line between pursuit of justice and morally unacceptable conduct. With moral guidelines prevailing less in society, perhaps the popularity of crime fiction is not only more understandable, but more important than ever in helping provide us with a moral compass for real life.
This article was first published in Crimespree Magazine 21st June 2011
http://crimespree.blogspot.com/2011/06/good-and-evil-in-crime-fiction.html

Other recent articles and interviews:

E-BOOKS: JUST A FAD OR THE FUTURE OF FICTION?
"We asked bestselling crime writer Leigh Russell for her insight into the eBook phenomenon"
Read the interview in InTouch Magazine (Cyprus) (July 2011)
http://www.freeintouchmagazine.com/in-this-months-issue.html
 
21st CENTURY FAHRENHEIT 451
Leigh Russell writes in Crime Time (July 2011)
http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/index.php/showarticle/1937

Waterstones

Cut Short, Road Closed and Dead End at Waterstones in Guildford where I signed 76 books today. Who says we don't love our bookshops?

This week's interviews

Interview on Harrogate Festival website http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/yourebooked/2011/02/youre-booked-spoke-to-leigh-russell/
Interview on The Rap Sheet
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2011/02/steel-at-it.html

Writers and Readers

I received my PLR statement today. Around 3,000 people borrowed my books from libraries in the UK in the year to June 2010.
Who says libraries aren't popular nowadays?
As an author, it's hardly surprising that I spend a lot of time writing, but these days authors also spend a lot of time talking. As a relatively unknown 'name', my events vary and sometimes I chat to half a dozen readers in a library reading group, always an enjoyable experience. But here are a couple of photos, both taken at a recent talk I gave where more than 200 people turned out to hear me talk about my books. You can just about see me, a tiny dot on the stage.

Maybe one day I'll even see a queue of more than two people waiting in front of my table at a book signing...

Did I say people?

Who moved the goalposts?

We have a strange glitch in our television which causes it to default to Sky sport whenever I leave the room. Curiously it never happens when my husband is out - almost as though the television knows! Thanks to this mysterious glitch, I do sometimes watch cricket and football (while busy on facebook, blogs, email, etc and yes, sometimes even writing…)
So I thought, for a change, I’d share a few of my musings on cricket and football.
Cricket seems to me very similar to life, in being almost completely incomprehensible. Occasionally I have a glimmer of comprehension, but then it’s gone in the toss of a cricket ball and the swing of a bat and I’m baffled again. Yes, I can understand why people compare cricket to life. Just when you think you understand something, you realise you don't.
Football is altogether simpler to understand. There’s a goal post at each end of the pitch and – well, you know the rest and if not, well, don't ask me. The goals are a standard size and are always in the right place. In short, football couldn’t be less like life because in life the goal posts move all the time.
Less than two years ago, I thought I’d be happy just to see a book of mine published. Cut Short hit the shelves. I thought I'd be happy if a few copies were bought. Cut Short promptly sold out – and sold out again - and again. I thought I'd be happy if the book had a few good reviews on amazon. Cut Short was well reviewed, and not only on amazon but in the papers. It was shortlisted for a major award.

After all the accolades, I thought I'd be happy if Road Closed did half as well. Good reviews started to roll in and Road Closed quickly sold out.

Over that hurdle, with sales and reviews better than ever, and I’m wondering about how Dead End will be received...

Will I be happy if just a few copies are bought?

What a year I've had!

It's January 2011 and time to review 2010. And what a year it's been!

Looking back, I can't believe how much has happened. No wonder I'm feeling tired!

Cut Short sold out for the fourth time (or was it the fifth?) and was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, which was a real thrill. I went to Harrogate to hear the announcement and met two charmers, Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham.

Cut Short is being reprinted again, this time in B format, with a new cover which was decided on in 2010, to match the cover chosen for Dead End. When Road Closed is reprinted again, it will have a matching cover, so 2010 was the year my books were "branded" (!)

I was lucky enough to have lots of online interviews and the reviews for both books continued to be amazingly positive!

I finished Dead End in 2010 and the MS for my next book, now with my agent.

2010 saw two bestsellers, two more books written, two new covers and an award nomination. In addition, I was very happy to receive lots of invitations to appear at literary festivals, talk to writers groups and judge competitions, visit bookshops and libraries, and talk to colleges and book clubs.

2011 will doubtless be as busy but I don't see how it can be as exciting!

Help Needed - Support Bookshops!

December was a busy month - until the snow struck. So far I've had to cancel 5 author events this week, in different branches of Waterstones. I really hope readers in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor support their local bookshops which have plenty of Cut Short and Road Closed in stock. Please feel free to contact me for a scanned signature, either for yourself or as a Christmas present, if you can get to Waterstones. They need your support. This week, which should have given them a boost, has been a disaster.
In more positive news, here I am earlier in the month awarding the trophy to John Ward, winner of Watford Writers short story competition, which I was invited to judge. The standard of all the entries was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm delighted to have been invited to judge the 2011 competition!


And here are a few more Watford writers - a very talented bunch.












And of course I've been out and about book signing at least once a week in December - here's a photo taken at Waterstones in Staines

and WH Smith's in Watford (photo courtesy of the Watford Observer)

We braved a blizzard to reach Waterstones in Hemel Hemstead. (If you enlarge the image you can see an unusual 3for2 offer...) We struggled to make it home again, ending up with the front of the car wedged against a kerb at the bottom of a hill. We managed to reverse away from the kerb by putting a pitta bread under each wheel - luckily we'd stopped off for some shopping on the way! While stuck, we met a girl who had abandonned her own car at the foot of the hill. As she as going our way, we were able to offer her a lift home! (We did holding her ransom note but she told us her family had no money to speak of. All they could offer was one small child. Having had two of our own, we reverted to our original offer and dropped her home.)

We made it to Waterstones in Harrow yesterday. Here's an old photo taken there in June 2010 (we forgot to take one today). Add a thick cardy and a fleece to my outfit, and a few more white hairs and wrinkles, and it could have been taken today!

WH Smith's in Harrow today, back to Waterstones tomorrow, and then I'm done!

Apologies to Waterstones in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor for being unable to get to you this week. I hope to visit you all early in 2011.

I'm done - what now?

I've delivered the MS for Dead End to my publisher and am back to polishing my next MS, which is virtually finished.
On paper (sorry!) I've achieved a heck of a lot in 2010 with Cut Short shortlisted for a major award, Road Closed well reviewed and selling as fast as Cut Short, and not one but two more books written.
So as the year draws to a close, I should be feeling pretty pleased with myself.
But (one of the most powerful words in the English language. Like an inconspicuous pivot, almost invisible, it turns everything around) I'm feeling deflated, low, dejected, fed up. (Love blogging where I can repeat, reiterate, witter on in horrendous prose, unlike my 'professional' prose or, as Katie Price allegedly calls it my "book words").
How do other writers react when they reach the end of the monumental (sometimes monstrous) creative effort that goes into writing a book?
Do you party? crawl away and hide? or indulge in rambling on a blog?
This isn't only a question for writers, of course. It applies equally at the conclusion of any task that has required effort. How do we enjoy achievement when the work is done? or do we only feel alive when we're facing challenge? What about the challenge of coping when the challenge is over? (OK, I'll stop now.)