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This is the record of a "meet the author" conference on America On Line on May 27, 1996. Keith is logged on as username: Note On.
Les Guy 1: Is this the screenwriting workshop? Giorge: Screenwriting's on Fridays, Les. Les Guy 1: Fridays, mondays, now I'm all mixed up. Note On: Mondays is complete paragraphs, Les.:) Giorge: Note, you go have your saucer of cream! Note On: If you thought that was catty, Giorge...:) GNV1: So how is this mystery chat to start? DorieDee: Is that a mystery? RAINDEAD: I was kicked off but Im back. Our guest tonight is Keith Snyder whose book Show Control was just released. RAINDEAD: I think Keith is going to be a little late GNV1: Well where is Keith Snyder? Note On: Actually, I was a little early.:) Kaanii: well Hiya, Keith:) RAINDEAD: Hi Keith..\ FairEllen2: Hi Keith Note On: Hi, all. RAINDEAD: Has anyone had the chance to visit Keith's web site? Kaanii: Where is it? RAINDEAD: Keith can you give us the address? Note On: Sure! It's http://www.hooked.net/mammoth/showcontrol.html ... shall we wait for the stampede to end? DorieDee: I must be crazy. People are talking to Keith but he never shows Note On: I'm right here, DorieDee. FairEllen2: Dorie, he's Note On Note On: That doesn't exclude the possibility that you're crazy, of course.:) DorieDee: I'm a little slow here. Thanks. CLewis9507: People kept saying Anne Rice was in here from the Cafe.... Kaanii: Lewis.... LOL well Keith is a LOT cuter than old Annie Note On: Oh, blush.:) Giorge: Why do you have a web site, Keith? Note On: Because it's a cheap shotgun approach and I know how to do it already. Zero overhead publicity. CLewis9507: Who is Keith? RAINDEAD: Leoth is the author or SHOW CONTROL a new mystery just released. Kaanii: leoth? RAINDEAD: Keith FairEllen2: leoth is Keith also..LOL Note On: As long as you don't call me late for dinner... Giorge: Who published SHOW CONTROL and do you have an agent? Note On: Giorge: SHOW CONTROL was published by Write Way, a hardcover press in Colorado. I do not have an agent. CLewis9507: How long did it take Keith? Note On: The book took three years to write, a year to sell, and two years to see published. CLewis9507: What did you do in the meantime? Note On: In the meantime, I've been working on music composition and multimedia projects, as well as on the sequel, "Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside." DorieDee: Is it a P.I. or part of a series?GA Note On: It's an amateur sleuth kind of thing. I intend it to be a series, but I have yet to see if a publisher concurs.:) Kaanii::) GNV1: why did it take 2 yrs to pub? Note On: Because small presses don't put out very many books, and there were already several before me. My original contract specified 3 years, but I requested that it be shortened because the online aspect of the book is timely. Kakti: Keith, did you do each chapter in chronological order as you wrote..or skip around? Note On: I wrote entirely linearly... character is the primary motivator for action in my books, so plot outlines are only so helpful... Kakti: Thank you! RAINDEAD: and who says things are linear! Kaanii: Are you in colorado? is that why you chose WRITE WAY to publish you? Note On: I chose Write Way because they offered me a contract. :) Kakti: LOL Kaanii: how did they find you? Note On: I met them in an unusual way... Kaanii: oh? do tell:) Note On: The American Booksellers Association has its convention yearly... Note On: and a few years ago, it was in L.A., where I live. I asked all the writers and editors I knew if it was a good place for an author to sell a book... Note On: They said I'd be an idiot to go there with that intention... Note On: so, of course, I went... Kakti: LOL Giorge: Great story!! Note On: I got in by volunteering at a booth, and Write Way was just down the aisle... RAINDEAD: I visited the web site and dl chapter 20 of SHOW CONTROL...I want to read it from p 1! Note On: Thanks, Phyllis! CLewis9507: Did you write many queries....or attend workshops? Note On: I attended no workshops and wrote no queries. I wrote a book I wanted to write and then annoyed people. RAINDEAD: Keith, I know that writing has not always been your primary focus, can you tell us a little about yourself? Note On: I am first and foremost a composer. I think I started writing to procrastinate from that. GNV1: could you give a brief discription of your novel? Note On: In a nutshell: Computer musician finds himself looking into the onstage death of a performance artist. Note On: Emphasis on character/dialogue. EQ451: Is your book getting national distribution by the publisher? Note On: Yes, it is. Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and all the usual suspects. We're also trying to market through music stores, which is a new thing to try. GNV1: tell us about your protagonist. Note On: Jason Keltner: recently separated, soon to be divorced, mid-twenties wiseass. Basically, he's me without a filter. He's got a great, inherent sense of honor, and needs a distraction from his divorce, so looking into a murder seems like a good idea to him, even though his friends all think he's nuts. RAINDEAD: I think marketing through music stores is a terrific idea...whose was it? Note On: Mine.:) RAINDEAD: ! :) Giorge: How many copies in your 1st printing?/ Note On: 1500 in the first printing. Giorge: Thanks - music stores is a great idea. Note On: Thank you. We'll see whether music store customers agree. EQ451: Does Write Way specialize in mysteries? Note On: Yes -- mysteries and adventures... Note On: If I may pontificate for a moment... Note On: I think marketing is very important for authors. Not while you're writing -- during that time, you should not think about it --... Note On: but I am determined to be published again, and the only way to ensure that is to make sales... Note On: we're doing all kinds of weird things to promote SHOW CONTROL... RAINDEAD: tell us, Keith Note On: for instance, several of the L.A. book signings will have readings accompanied by the electronic/acoustic music group I perform with, The Cosmic Debris... Note On: we're dramatizing several chapters instead of doing straight readings... Note On: and we'll be sure to take pictures and try to get press coverage, which is good both for the book and for the band... Note On: we're trying to get coverage in computer magazines, music magazines... anything even tangentially related... Note On: my point being: if it's your book, you should be interesetd in marketing it. Soapbox descended. CMKMax: Is Show Control the first fiction you've written for publication? Note On: It's the first novel, CMKMax, but I've had a couple of short fiction pieces published. CMKMax: Thanks. By the way, I like your marketing ideas. Note On: Thanks. EQ451: Who arranged the signings? Is publisher paying for it? Where did yur short stories appear? Note On: The publisher arranges signings, though I have fed them leads and concepts... Note On: I'm not sure about the second part of your question; paying for what? EQ451: Transportation, presentation, etc. Note On: Ah. Well, there's not much of a presentation: me, a table, and some books. The books are already stocked at the store, the store supplies the table, and mileage is determined on a case-by-case basis... Note On: The short stories appeared in Writers Workshop Review. GNV1: Are you doing all of the promotion or is the publisher doing some also? Who's paying & how.. Note On: The publisher and I are both doing a great deal of promotion work. As for the money aspect... I don't feel comfortable getting detailed, since it is a two-party contract. Suffice it to say that I find them reasonable. Giorge: What was the general reaction of editors at ABA to your pitch?/ Note On: "Sounds interesting -- send us a manuscript." Giorge: Did you? Besides WW, that is? Note On: I had eleven requests for mss, both from majors and small presses.I sent them all out, got nine very nice personal rejections... Note On: one form rejection... Note On: and a contract offer. EQ451: Are you paying any part of the publishing costs?? Note On: No, it's not a vanity press... Betsylynne: Did you do research for the crime / detective scenes? Where? Note On: since my protagonist is an amateur, I did less research than someone writing a procedural. I did more research (if you can call it that) by reading a lot of good detective fiction. RAINDEAD: Was that a deliberate choice, Keith? Note On: Yes, but not because of the amount of research involved. I simply didn't want to write a PI. CMKMax: Were your short fiction pieces mysteries, & do you think they helped you get Show Control published? Note On: No, the short pieces were not mysteries, and I don't believe they helped me in the slightest. GNV1: did you find it easy to pitch your book to strangers? Note On: GNV: strangers? Yes. Editors-in-chief? No. Betsylynne: I wanted to know if you sent out simultaneous submissions to pubs. Note On: Yes, I did. Betsylynne: Thanks GNV1: do you have physical action ie fight scenes Note On: Yes, I do. Car chases, etc. GNV1: how do you write it? Note On: By making sure I can envision it in detail and then being extremely accurate. THopeB: Keith, in your reading research (what wonderful research to do....!), what authors/books did you find especially well-written or memorable? Note On: My writing heroes include Robert B. Parker (who I'll meet at my June 8 L.A. signing)... Note On: PG Wodehouse... Note On: Hemingway... Taenyth: LOL...:) Note On: Oh, boy, I dunno... many others, too numerous to mention here.:) Taenyth: Ok, thank you..:) CMKMax: Are you working with an agent? Interested in finding one? Note On: I am not working with an agent because they snubbed me soundly at the ABA show and I'm holding a grudge. I probably will work with one on the sequel, or if anything major happens with SHOW CONTROL, but at the moment, I could use a publicity agent much more than a literary one. CMKMax: Sounds like you're doing fine on your own! Note On: THanks. I like to think so.:) RAINDEAD: Keith, here's to success and an agent! Note On: Thanks, Phyllis. Taenyth: Keith, is this your first book? Note On: Yes, it is. First written, as well as first sold. Taenyth: What part of the novel did you find the most difficult? Note On: That's easy... Note On: the bad guy got away with it, completely, 100%. Now what? That was the hardest thing to get past. Taenyth: I see...:) well, get him in the sequel... Note On: I got him in this book, Taenyth -- that was the hard part to write.:) THopeB: Keith, did you have a regular (or semi-regular) writing schedule to make it through your book? I've got to say that your typing is very fast, by the way! Note On: THopeB -- ... I wish I could say I have a writing schedule, but I'm in that *other* camp:writers with no discipline and a lot of drive. I think you have to have one or the other, and I hate schedules... Note On: and the best thing my parents did for me during high school was make me take typing. Taenyth: How did you get a publisher to look at your manuscript without an agent? Note On: None of them had a problem with that, Taenyth. Note On: BUT... Note On: don't forget that I had face-to-face meetings with editors, in an out-of-the-ordinary setting... Taenyth: Ah....I see....OK. Note On: so all the usual rules didn't necessarily apply. If I'd been sending query letters out of the blue, an agent probably would have been a very good idea. However, I generally do things unconventionally, so it all worked out. Taenyth: Yes....I'm finding agents difficult to deal with myself Note On: They're the only people at the show who wouldn't even return a smile. Taenyth: I understand completely! RAINDEAD: I think you have a marvelous way with description. Note On: Thanks! I take a lot of care in language. I think it's amazing how often that's not done. THopeB: [Interesting point about the agents being the non-smilers!] Taenyth: Keith, do you write screenplays also? Note On: Taenyth -- I've been working on a radio drama, as well as a short film. I don't intend to be a screenwriter per se, but I have produced some short films and now want to start producing my own, in addition to the ones I work on with other people. RAINDEAD: You're a multiple threat. Taenyth: I had a hunch that would be your answer. Note On: Gee, you'd think with all this "project name-dropping," I'd have more money. :) RAINDEAD: We have five minutes left people are there any more uestions? Taenyth: I'm also a novelist/screenwriter... Giorge: I wonder how we writers could coalesce to shut agents out. Taenyth: Hollywood makes that very tough for writers. Giorge: You're a person after my own heart, Keith! RAINDEAD: Keith, why radio drama? Note On: Because I know I can produce it myself without seeing anyone else option and then ruin it. I care about the final product. RAINDEAD: I see. I thought you might have a particular fondness for the medium Note On: I do love sound, Phyllis -- the radio show is a Hitchhiker's Guide kind of thing. RAINDEAD: ! {: ) Giorge: It's going to take all of us. Note On: Giorge -- wish I could offer some wisdom, but I basically just get stubborn and push through. ... Note On: I've seen what you're suggesting done with musicians, and it's like herding cats. Writers would be just as bad.:) Giorge: I'm tired of rolling over for folks who know less than I do! RAINDEAD: herding cats.....great picture RAINDEAD: Keith, I think you;'ve given all of us plenty to think about Giorge: I'm glad Keith shared w/ us tonight - thanx. RAINDEAD: Thank you for spening the time and being so thorough in your answers. Taenyth: Best wishes....Keith. CMKMax: Thank, Keith. Enjoyed the chat. Note On: Thank you for having me! I'm always an email away if anyone wants to talk further... RAINDEAD: You've been a great guest tonight! thanks Note On: It was my pleasure, and I hope to chat with you all again. RAINDEAD: Good night Keith, thanks again, and good night to all! Note On: Night, all. I'll be online for a while if anyone cares to pester me. BfloGal: Hi folks! Anyone here for Romance Readers Group chat?
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