I. J. Parker's Blog (100)

Covers

Covers are part of the publisher’s sales pitch. Authors are not generally involved in the selection process. That can be both frustrating and infuriating. I happen to be one of those people who cringe at ugliness and mistakes.

Mystery novels are rarely blessed with handsome covers. From what I’ve seen and read, the cover “artist” goes to a large universal photography file, selects a likely scene (usually dark and foggy) and copies… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on October 11, 2009 at 2:22am — 7 Comments

I meant to post a blog but . . .

I see that most of you have no problems posting photos and book covers on your blog post. I, on the other hand, don't seem to be able to transfer a cover image from my files (jpeg) to the blog. And nowhere in "Help" is this problem addressed. Neither does the "Upload Photo" method explain why there is an "error" with my image and what to do about it.

Any suggestions?

(And sorry to blog about it, but I didn't know what other route to take)

Added by I. J. Parker on October 8, 2009 at 4:54am — 15 Comments

Akitada Investigates a Historical Murder: "The Kamo Horse."

I get some of my plot ideas from Japanese history and literature. In this case, one of the old chronicles supplied a tale that ended up as a short story.

The TALES OF THE HEIKE is a prose epic that commemorates the bloody battles between Taira Kiyomori and Minamoto Yoritomo which ended the imperial rule and brought in feudal Japan under the rule of a shogun and warlords. The epic contains a number of memorable anecdotal stories, among them that of the murder of the beautiful Lady… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on October 3, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

Writing to the Market

As if my plate isn't full enough at the moment, my agent seems to have started offering my literary thriller again, because here are two rejections. One says "nicely written" but rejects because "our readers" aren't terribly interested in Prussia. The setting of the novel is 18th century Germany. Prussia is only involved because the novel begins at Freiberg (Saxony!) with the final battle of the Seven-Years war. This was won by Frederick of Prussia. The rest takes place near Lake Constance and… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 26, 2009 at 5:04am — 13 Comments

CONVICT'S SWORD among Uncle Edgar's August bestsellers.

From time to time we talk about the specialty bookstores and their gracious way of hand-selling mysteries. A few years ago, Jeff Hatfield, one of the owners of Uncle Hugo's/Uncle Edgar's bookstores in Minneapolis, wrote a wonderful review of HELL SCREEN in the store magazine. It was long, detailed, intelligent, and insightful and appeared together with a review of one of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels. I felt greatly honored. Now, several years later, Jeff Hatfield's customers apparently… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 13, 2009 at 1:29am — 13 Comments

THE CONVICT'S SWORD gets another review

They've been thin as hens' teeth, but now some of the electronic mystery review sites seem to be picking up the book. This is the first (and one hopes not the last). What I like about this one is that the reviewer "gets" the characterization and that she still likes, or likes even better, my protagonist in this novel. I've been a little nervous about other comments that found Akitada to be unlikeable in this novel, when all I was trying to do was to show that even good people sometimes lash out… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 10, 2009 at 12:51am — 7 Comments

More Thoughts on Writing to your Audience

The month of August should have brought the rewards for many months of writing and revising (not to mention other hassles and expenses associated with getting a book into print). It should have been a month of gathering reviews, the fruits of my labors. I love reviews, all of them.

But there weren’t any.

Perhaps I exaggerate a little. I’m horribly disappointed because I consider THE CONVICT’S SWORD my best book. If any book of mine will ever make an impression, I thought,… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 5, 2009 at 1:31am — 8 Comments

Akitada at Cambridge University

What do you know, a fan -- who is also a professor and of Chinese ancestry -- writes to let me know how much she enjoys the series. She writes from Cambridge University, and I express my gratified surprise, having been told by my agent that the British just aren't showing any interest in the series. Not at all, my wonderful new fan tells me. There is a whole group of Cambridge professors who await each installment eagerly, and the local bookstore, Heffers, plans to do a special… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on August 10, 2009 at 4:20am — 4 Comments

Royalties!

For years now the most depressing mail has contained royalty statements from my American publishers. I keep them in a black folder and go into a long depression every time they arrive. They show negative dollar amounts. I owe thousands of dollars. And I hate owing money.

But behold: Here is mail with a fat royalty check! My first! And a very nice one it is in a year when I've earned all of $ 1,500 so far. The check is from my French publisher. Now why is it that the French can sell… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on August 7, 2009 at 5:31am — 10 Comments

Amazon Vine

For those who don't know: this is a program run by Amazon that provides reader reviews of new books by a group of people who have established a certain track record as reviewers. They receive ARCs of new books and respond with their take on the novel.

I discovered the Amazon Vine project recently and thought it an excellent way to jump-start preorders on Amazon. My publisher provided the Arcs, and in the month before release, these good folks read and commented.

For me the… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on August 1, 2009 at 4:55am — No Comments

The French are also in Recession

My French publisher has been more supportive than any of my other publishers. Not only did they bring out the series in tpb, but they followed up with mmpb, and had one Book Club edition. Just now, I received news that they want CONVICT'S SWORD, but the advance is more modest than in the past. Explanation: recession.

I'm just grateful that they still have confidence in the books even in a lousy market. And perhaps we should all remember that times are hard and it's just more… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on July 4, 2009 at 12:49am — No Comments

Kirkus offers grudging praise.

THE CONVICT'S SWORD was reviewed by Kirkus a day or so ago. Now, Kirkus has a reputation for grumpy reviews and a certain amount of snootiness, so I'm not too disappointed -- even if the reviewer misread Seimei's character. Subtlety doesn't always work. :) Here it is:

THE CONVICT'S SWORD

Author: Parker, I.J.

Review Date: JULY 01, 2009

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 418

Price (paperback): $$15.00

Publication Date: 8/1/2009 0:00:00

ISBN:… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on June 27, 2009 at 12:11am — 4 Comments

THE JAPAN TIMES reviews THE CONVICT'S SWORD

I've always been very grateful to the book reviewer of the JAPAN TIMES, Mark Schreiber, because he has faithfully covered the release of each of my novels. This time he has truly outdone himself:

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Eleventh-century lord cracks Kyoto crimes in the worst of times

By MARK SCHREIBER

THE CONVICT'S SWORD by I.J. Parker. New York: Penguin, 2009, 421 pp., $15 (paper)

In Shamus Award-winning mystery author's I.J.… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on June 22, 2009 at 2:15am — 6 Comments

Happy Days!

It's started, the best time of the year for the hard-working author: The first reviews are coming in.

Usually PUBLISHERS WEEKLY is the earliest. In this instance, I was blessed with a short review in THE DAILY BEAST last week. But now PUBLISHERS WEEKLY has arrived with a starred review:

The Convict's Sword: A Mystery of Eleventh-Century Japan I.J. Parker. Penguin, $15 paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-14-311579-3

In Parker's compelling fifth mystery set in feudal… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on June 18, 2009 at 5:21am — 11 Comments

The first review of THE CONVICT'S SWORD

Well, it's a reviewlet, but very welcome. This one is by Christopher Gortner, a fellow author, and appears on the DAILY BEAST. We are still a month and a half from release, so I assume the ARCs are beginning to reach people.

The link is http://bit.ly/q3FpZ.

I like some of the phrases: "brutality-beneath-the-silk" and "This historical reads like a modern thriller." I wonder if I shocked Mr. Gortner. :)

Added by I. J. Parker on June 13, 2009 at 4:58am — 7 Comments

Today on Amazon:

I see that Amazon now also has the cover image up for THE CONVICT'S SWORD. But more importantly: even though the book is not available until the end of July, the Amazon ranking is 19,000 on preorders. I'm astonished.

You must know that my books have never received any promotion, so I can only assume that they are gaining faithful readers on their own. My agent said once that it takes 7 titles in a series to establish it. This is # 6 for me, and I'm crossing fingers that this one will… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on February 8, 2009 at 7:57am — 9 Comments

Covers

The cover for my new one (THE CONVICT'S SWORD) is up on my web site (http://www.ijparker.com). You can get an early glimpse. Amazon doesn't have it yet.

This particular cover caused me some grief. When the first draft arrived for my approval, it had hardly any color and, worse, it looked like a romance novel to me. While it wasn't the bodice-ripper type, being more the ladylike, cozy sort of thing, I took exception. My editor reminded me that it would appeal to women.

Yes,… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on February 1, 2009 at 1:14am — 2 Comments

About Titles

Another blog post discussed covers recently, but my pet peeve at the moment concerns titles. Why must titles be pompous, abstract, or chosen for mere shock value? What is wrong with having a title that fits the story and allows a reader to associate the title with the plot?

I've just tossed two mysteries (by best-selling authors), one after the other, when I realized I'd already read them.

One is by Ruth Rendell (END IN TEARS), surely a title that could fit every single… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on December 31, 2008 at 5:18am — 1 Comment

And Here Are The Galleys

It's only days until Christmas and I've been laid up with bursitis in my hip (which is greatly aggravated by sitting for periods of time), and here is this fat package on my doorstep like some last minute present. Alas, it proves to be work with a deadline attached. I have said elsewhere, I think, that I enjoy the editing process except for proofreading the galleys. Now the fat stack of pages sits on my desk, making me nervous. All deadlines make me nervous. I have a type A… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on December 20, 2008 at 12:00am — 7 Comments

On Editing

I’m one of those people who enjoy revising. That’s a good thing, because in the ordinary run of things, an author must revise a lot.

My drafts tend to be pretty rough, following more or less the story line. They have to be worked over almost paragraph by paragraph, frequently several times. In the past I’ve had readers of the chapters (who never received anything but my best shot), and their reactions then meant another revision. And, when a book is done, a final revision of the… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 20, 2008 at 8:09am — No Comments