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The Drood Review Mystery's Second Century A forum on the future of the genre Original essays Our thoughts Follow-ups This site is copyright (c) 2000-6 by The Drood Review. The Drood Review
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John & Cathie Celestri (writing as Cathie John) The 21st century will be the time when we see increasing numbers of mystery authors take total control of their careers. We?re not talking about those few best-selling authors, rather the good, solid writers who have a loyal audience, but not in sufficient numbers to keep them from being dropped after two or three swings at the plate. The technology is now in place for this to happen. More and more, new avenues are opening up that will allow authors to express their unadulterated visions without the constrictions imposed by a marketing department. Possessing this control will allow authors the leeway to develop without fear of being dumped before finding their audience. It will be a time filled with diverse voices leading to great variety, dismal failures, and refreshing successes. The traditional view is that authors who self-publish do so because they?re not good enough to be signed up by any kind of publishing house ? large or small ? or that they are self-publishing with the hopes that their novel will make enough noise to be eventually picked up by these same publishers. Contrary to that traditional view is the fact that there are entrepreneurial authors who choose to self-publish with no other agenda than to retain independence and control over their own works. What about getting onto the bookshelves? Our personal experience over the last three years is that attitudes are beginning to change and doors that had previously been slammed shut are now opening up. The last three years have also seen a great shift in the publishing industry in general but, in what seems like a turbulent time, authors who strike out on their own will actually find themselves on more stable and permanent ground. The new technologies allow for smaller print runs to be economically feasible, which enables authors to keep and control their backlist. This incrementally growing backlist will, over the years, pyramid authors up to a level of total sales that could add substantial revenues to their bank accounts ? and the mystery world will benefit from their growth as writers and the longevity of their careers. We are optimistic that this next century will see the mystery genre given added depth by the independent author who will enjoy the same respect given the independent film producer, and is accorded to any painter, sculptor, or Broadway and experimental theater playwright. Cathie & John Celestri (Cathie John) are the authors and publishers of three novels, most recently Carve a Witness to Shreds. |