1. photograph of mystery author claudia bishop

    2. Words from Central Park West: Books vs. Film

      by Lucienne Diver

      Lucienne Diver is a partner in the long–established Spectrum Literary Agency. Her advice to Claudia has been invaluable over the years.

      Something that always surprises me is seeing new writers talk about the timeliness of their novels based on what’s happening in the film industry. For example, “Fantasy is hot right now, as evidenced by recent films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.” To start, these were books first and the movies, which lagged years behind, were not at the forefront of the trend but were made because of the popularity of the books. This is not to say that more obscure books are not made into movies and that films don’t increase book sales. Both of these things happen, of course. The point is that publishing and film are two completely different fields and while they may chase each other—books based on movies (tie-ins, novelizations, visual dictionaries, etc.) and movies based on books or comics—they’re seldom in the same place at the same time.

      For example, women’s fiction is hot in publishing right now, whether it be romance, chick-lit, lady-lit, or genre novels, like cozy mysteries, with strong female protagonists. On the flip side of that, male stars continue to dominate the box office, so it’s more difficult to option a book featuring a female lead. Not impossible, of course, and there are exceptions, like Tomb Raider, which come immediately to mind. Overall, though, the field is still very male-dominated. Horror, which for many years was anathema in publishing and had to be sold under alternate labels like “dark fantasy” or “supernatural suspense,” is a Hollywood mainstay.

      All of the above is a long-winded way of saying that if you want to get a sense of what’s happening now, take a look at forthcoming and recently published books, but keep in mind that even in publishing, we have a lag time—a delay from the time the book is bought to when it is turned in and then published—often of more than a year. So, what is a savvy writer to do? In theory, if you’re submitting your work to an agent or editor, you’re doing so because he or she is already an expert in your field. (For the purposes of simplicity, I’ll continue on with “she.”) This being the case, she’ll probably have a better take on the pulse of the market than someone who doesn’t work within it on a daily basis. Don’t stress over categorizing your work and convincing us there’s a market for the kind of books we already represent. Just concentrate on writing the best and most original work you can and then on targeting the right agents with a polished, professional submission.

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