Storytellersunplugged

Well, I can’t really blog about being on the road because a) Keene beat me to it, and b) I’m doing that on my own blog: http://jeff_mariotte.typepad.com/myweblog/. Anyway, my road trip is for fun, not work for a change, and the only books I’m signing are for friends and family. Not that I wouldn’t mind being able to write it all off, as that is one of the writerly perks that I enjoy. But I’m gonna check Keene’s website because it’s just possible that I’ll be able to show up at one of his events and ask all the obnoxious questions myself.

So with that out of the running and the fact that I’m not really working on anything while I travel (except for mulling over a proposal in my head, of which not a word has made it to virtual paper yet), I thought I’d bring up an old argument that has rippled through the horror community a time or two in the past. That argument is, are tie-in books worth the time and effort involved, and do they help a writer’s career or hurt it?

I’ve published more than 25 novels. I lose count because I’m not much good at math to begin with, and stuff I’ve written and sold hasn’t been printed yet. I think I’ve sold closer to 30, but I believe about 25 have seen the light of day.

Of those, most have been horror. There were a couple of Star Treks (a novel and a novella) and an Andromeda that were not. There were two books based on the comic Gen13, a superhero comic. Both of these were collaborations, with Chris Golden and Scott Ciencin. The one with Golden we worked hard to turn into a horror novel and also a superhero tale with a lot of horror community in-jokes, but I don’t think more than about four horror readers ever picked it up. The one with Ciencin was more of an urban thriller, but with horror elements. The rest have all been straight-ahead horror.

Five of those books, so far, have been originals. Which means the rest have been tie-ins. Which gives you an early clue about my take on the tie-in biz. I’m in favor of it, for writers and for readers, and here’s why.

Unlike some people (hi, Bev!) I really wanted to be a full-time writer with nothing else getting in the way. Now that I’ve achieved that goal–if you don’t count ranch work, which really does get in the way sometimes–I am glad I did. No day job, no boss, nothing but me and the keyboard and the deadlines. But it’s really hard for a person supporting a family to do nothing but write. Freelance checks are sporadic, and there are times that, after paying taxes and agent’s fees, there’s not much left.

I’m a long way from Stephen King wealthy, but I own my own house and some vehicles, I have no debt, and I can do things like taking a three week road trip through our under construction nation just for fun. And I can do these things because I write tie-in books. The pay is reasonably good–a lot better than many other authors get for originals. There are no royalties to speak of, which is a definite downside, but as long as the advances are healthy I can live with that. I haven’t seen royalties from my original novels either, so there’s no real difference there. Also with originals there’s always the prospect of foreign rights, or film rights, etc., which can make a financial difference, but that’s just a potential, not a certainty. I intend to keep writing originals and keep trying to exploit those other rights, but in the meantime, tie-ins help pay the bills.

And they can be fun. A TV show like Angel or Buffy has a lot of fans, and those fans can easily become fans of the books too. Some of them have become good friends. I’ve been able to attend events like a Buffy convention in London and cast parties in Hollywood. So there’s a ready-made community of people out there which doesn’t exist for original books, at least not early in most writers’ careers. It’s true that it’s hard to carry those readers over to original stuff–I think if you can draw 10% of your tie-in readers along to originals, you’re doing pretty well. But 10% is better than no one at all, which is what might otherwise await a new novel these days.

Of course, if you hate TV, or hate the particular show you’re hired to base a novel on, then chances are you’ll have a miserable time doing the book. But if you like the show–if, like Buffy or Angel, you’re working with one of the best-written shows on TV at the time, with terrific dialogue and interesting characters–then you can take pleasure in writing a book about those same characters, and be challenged by the necessity of fitting your story into the style of the show.

Writing a tie-in is not substantially different than writing an original set in a universe that you know (whether it’s in the “real world” or a fictional universe you made up) with characters (again, real or imaginary) that you have established. In an original novel, you have to be true to the characters as you’ve created them. In a tie-in, you have to be true to the characters as someone else created them. You also get to create your own supporting characters, with whom you can have just as much fun as you like. The literary challenges and opportunities are basically the same, it’s simply who owns the characters that is different. Which means it’s no harder or easier to write a tie-in book–it’s just easier to make money from a tie-in because you can get paid before you’ve written the thing, which is always a plus.

Another advantage of doing tie-ins is that, in modern publishing, people don’t stay put for very long. I sold my WITCH SEASON teen horror series to an editor who had been my editor on Angel novels, but who was moved over to doing more originals. A new editor took over WITCH SEASON, having been brought in from another house, and now she wants more original stuff with me. Other editors I’ve worked with on different projects are now at other publishing houses, doing other kinds of books. So if you can do a good job, in a timely fashion, then you can count on editors wanting to keep working with you, wherever they end up.

Finally, for readers, there are plenty of wonderful authors who work, or have worked, in the tie-in world. Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, Craig Shaw Gardner, Joe Lansdale, Andrew Vachss…I’m not at home with my bookshelves, but off the top of my head in just seconds I came up with this list. There are plenty more, just within the horror community. If you add in mystery and science fiction authors the list grows by leaps and bounds.

So tie-ins? Yeah, I’m in favor of ‘em. Not as a complete diet, but certainly as an occasional treat, a career builder, a steady paycheck. Don’t discount them, not if you’re a reader and certainly not if you’re a writer.

–Jeff Mariotte