About a year ago those of us who publish with Five Star
learned that things were changing. I thought this meant the end of the Anita
Ray series, and wasn’t sure if I could continue it with another publisher. To
my surprise, I sold the two books in the series to Harlequin, for their
worldwide mystery club. The Wrath of
Shiva came out in mass market paperback on November 1.
The Anita Ray series is an object lesson in the vagaries and
subjectivity of publishing. When I began writing the series, I struggled with
defining the lead character, Anita, and her setting, Hotel Delite. I wanted the
mix of Indian and non-Indian people because even in villages I encountered
variety and extremes in population. Anita emerged in a short story I sold to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
“A Murder Made in India” appeared in October 2003.
I had trouble selling the first book, wrote another, and
after a while sent that to Tekno/Five Star. Then came the fireworks. Marty
Greenberg, co-founder with Ed Gorman, had medical problems, and his wife, Roz,
took over. She bought the manuscript. Then he died and she fought for control
of the company.
Through changes in editors, Five Star took three more Anita
Ray mss. Harlequin bought the first, Under
the Eye of Kali, for their worldwide mystery line but turned down the
second one. I kept writing, and then as editors changed again and again at
Harlequin, I decided to try another Anita Ray. I sent in the third book in the
series, For the Love of Parvati. The
editor inquired politely, “It looks like there’s another one in the series
before this. Can we see that one too?” I sent in The Wrath of Shiva. Yes, the one turned down earlier. The editor
bought both titles. 
I don’t yet have a pub date for the third book, but I look
forward to another gorgeous cover. And in a few months, I hope to interest
Harlequin in the fourth Anita Ray, When
Krishna Calls.
The point of all this is to remind myself and other writers
that there is no order or sense or logic to publishing. Editors make subjective
decisions every day over every manuscript even when they think they’re being
rational and logical and calculating the odds on sales. Whenever I think about
this I could feel better or worse, but mostly I feel the door is still open. I
don’t know what will happen to the Anita Ray series, but I know there is still
opportunity out there.
The fourth Anita Ray story, When Krishna Calls, has drawn a few four and five star reviews and seems to be doing well. It is the only book I've written that has not received a review or mention in the big reviewers: PW, Kirkus, or Library Journal. Despite that, readers and librarians manage to find it.
11 comments:
Susan,
Congrats on your sales to Harlequin! Frankly, I was very pleased that they also published four of my Five Star/Gale novels. They did a great job. The first three of my Kim Reynolds series also originally published through Tekno Books and Five Star all had Harlequin reprint paperback editions. No complaints!
Great post, Susan.
All we can do is keep on, keeping on.
Good luck and God's blessings
PamT
Jacquie, thanks for adding your support. I think Harlequin does a great job and I've enjoyed working with them. It's a simple process.
Pam, thanks for your support. Yes, we just keep on going.
A most heartening post. We do need to keep the faith and see that our books continue to "live".
For example, my historical novel, The Plainswoman, was originally published as a mass market paperback by Ballantine in 1994. The book was a finalist for a Western Writers of America Spur Award. Five Star some years later brought it out in hardcover and a large print edition. Books in Motion produced an audio version which, along with a trade paper edition, is still available. A couple of times the novel had a brush with fairly serious film consideration, but that hasn't yet happened. We authors need to keep the faith, despite the craziness of publishing.
Susan, you've shown us how persistence is key in this business. Congratulations for all your success, obviously well-earned!
Irene, congratulations on your ongoing success with your historical novel. I hope that film offer materializes in the near future.
Jan, yes, the key is persistence. Thank you for the compliment too.
Thank you both for commenting.
This is so true - no rhyme or reason to subjective publishing decisions! This is a heartening post. I have fingers crossed for your for book 4!
Susan, to paraphrase Somerset Maugham's famous quote, "There are three sure ways to get your book published. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Congratulations on your persistence and best wishes for continued success.
My sincere congratulations, Susan. You have done so well despite the vagaries! I, too, sold four of my novels to Five Star and was happy to hear of your success.
Thanks, Christina and Earl and Mary. No one believes how crazy this business is until we tell our stories, and then we see how crazy it is. Thanks for your support and for commenting.
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