Marketing Update #3

Taking stock during the first month of a new year, I find my marketing efforts are crawling along:

 Of the ten queries sent to the last batch of literary agents, I have heard from six (all no thanks) and four are still outstanding.  I plan to put together another batch of queries to send sometime in February.  I also need to get going with the research of publishers.

I finally set up my Publishers Marketplace webpage for Perceval at www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/ccyager (on my blogroll here).  It needs some editing, a visual or two, but I’m happy with the basic form of it.  I continue to search for the stock photos that will best represent the book and not cost my arm and leg.  I plan to also put up a rights offering page for book one at Publishers Marketplace.  This website is an industry business and trolling site for agents, publishers, packagers, filmmakers, editors, writers, etc.  I’m trying to be discerning about where I plaster Perceval info to generate interest and attention, and so I research sites.  Another marketing task that takes more time than it sounds like it would…..

Deals: in the last two months, I’ve been paying particular attention to deal reports in Publishers Weekly and from Publishers Marketplace for novels, specifically the gender of protagonists of thrillers, mysteries, crime, suspense, “general/other,” and debut fiction.  I was curious to see if there would be a preponderance of female protagonists or not.  Interesting to see that the majority of deals I read about for those categories were for female protagonists.  I’m all for female protagonists, but let’s not leave the men behind!  I wonder if this is the “herd effect” that I’ve heard literary agents speak of — if one or a handful of books do well, then agents and publishers want to try to replicate that success.  It could be as small an element as a female protagonist, or as big as an entire plot (think of all the DaVinci Code copycats that actually didn’t do that well) with various narrative props.  If it worked once, then it’ll work again.  (Hollywood thinks the same way.)  So now we’re apparently in a female protagonist groove.  So much for acting outside the box and taking risks (the opposite of the “herd effect”).  No, I am not going to change Evan’s gender….

The economy: the predictions of a recession this year do not help my efforts to get my novel published. 

MOVIE MUSIC

When someone comments to me that he doesn’t like classical music, that it’s boring and impenetrable, I ask him if he’s been to the movies recently or what his favorite movie is.  Not all movies, but most, have soundtracks of classical music, composed for the specific movie, so it’s actually new music.  Some movies have used existing music from the classical repertoire, also.

As I listened to the Minnesota Orchestra concert devoted to cinema music last night on the radio, I was struck by how much of the music evoked visuals from the movie it had accompanied.  The Mother Ship in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”  The big sky and expansive prairie plains of “Dances With Wolves.”  Denis Finch-Hatton and Isak Dinesen flying in the biplane over the African savanah in “Out of Africa.”  The little girl in the red coat in “Schindler’s List.”  Swashbuckling sword fights in “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

And then I thought how often a classical music piece can throw open my imagination’s doors and windows for a flood of images or a unique “movie” narrative for that music.  For me, each piece of music has its own story.  All that’s necessary are open ears, open heart and a willingness to listen, i.e. listen only to the music and not the inner chatter of the mind talking about picking up dry cleaning, or checking the mail, or writing e-mail, text messaging, or anything else that requires some concentration.  I don’t need Hollywood to show me what images music evokes, although I love that the music from a movie will trigger memories of the movie or seeing it.  Day-dreaming while listening to classical music is great fun.  I’ve also used it for opening my imagination to solve narrative or character problems while I’m writing.  The imagination loves to play.

For example, for the Dvorak Seventh Symphony, I have imagined a country wedding reception in the Czech Republic, everyone dressed in traditional costumes, dancing in dipping swirls.  Superimposed over that is the memory of hearing this symphony in concert and the exhilaration I felt.

Beethoven’s piano sonatas have taken me on sea voyages, to a ballet recital, on a deer or bear hunt (Schubert’s piano sonatas, too), and drifting in a canoe on a quiet lake in the moonlight.

Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto conjures mental pictures of 1950’s New York City.  J.S. Bach’s music takes me into the clouds, flying high above the earth, uncluttered by any concerns and simply being in the moment, in the sound.

Evan Quinn, as focused as he is on the composer’s score when he conducts, experiences also mental images, memories and feelings evoked by the music.  This humanizes his work and relationship with the music, and also gives me opportunities to reveal his character and background.  Each person brings his own personal experience, personality and background to music, whether performing it, listening to it, or composing it.  Evan’s emotional experience while conducting, however, needs to be restrained, under his control, fleeting at times, while his focus is always on the score, leading the orchestra.  But he’s only human…. 

Evan also loves movies.        

Future Politics: China

A pleasant surprise and confirmation of my imaginings this week: I read an article in The Atlantic Monthly entitled “The $1.4 Trillion Question” by James Fallows about the financial relationship China has with the U.S.  Over the last five years or so, other articles and reports have appeared in the media about the huge trade surplus China has with us and how China is investing that surplus into the U.S. economy, essentially helping to keep us afloat.  China is not the only foreign country that invests in the U.S.  Japan also has a sizable investment, Saudi Arabia and Russia among others.  How does this apply to Perceval?

Several years ago when I had reached the tenth or eleventh draft, it suddenly occurred to me that Japan had bought a lot of real estate in America so why couldn’t China have also invested heavily in our economy?  And then why couldn’t China threaten to cash in all its investments all at once and effectively trash our economy completely?  I decided that this could be possible theoretically and ran with it.  At the beginning of Perceval, talks organized by the EU and Russia are occurring between China and America in Vienna to persuade China not to cash in all its investments in America.  China has become nervous about the American economy because the social and political situations, from China’s perspective, have become unstable with a civil war, armed resistance, and states threatening to secede.  And China wouldn’t mind strengthening its position as a superpower.  Evan Quinn has a secret that threatens both him and the situation between China and America, and in the story, he must decide what he’s going to do about it.

In James Fallow’s article, he clearly describes how China has invested billions in the American economy to date, and as long as the dollar remains relatively strong, has no reason not to continue investing.  As he put it, “Without China’s billion dollars a day, the United States could not keep its economy stable or spare the dollar from collapse.”  He goes on to examine possible scenarios, and how unlikely it is that China would do anything to hurt us because it would hurt them through their dollar investments.  However, political tensions or global economic shifts could lead to China using this investment “weapon” to try to protect their position.  Not too far from what I’d imagined years ago…..

The entire article can be read at www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/fallows-chinese-dollars.

Conductors and Orchestras — Research

I’m always looking for interesting and helpful articles, books, blogs about conductors and how orchestras function.  Yesterday, following another question about Russian phrases, I found research notes on rehearsals that I’d written several years ago while observing rehearsals at the Minnesota Orchestra.  Hidden treasures.  Can’t predict when I’ll stumble onto them….

 For example, at the Inside the Classics blog (link on my blogroll) which I’ve been reading fairly regularly, I discovered two “Ask the Expert” posts that are helpful also to my research for conductors and orchestras.  The first is entitled “Ask the Expert: Talent Scouting” and deals with how the Minnesota Orchestra’s season is put together.  A glimpse into the gigantic job of planning a season, programs, and booking artists.  The second is entitled “Ask an Expert: Conductor Skill Sets.”  Sarah Hatsuko Hicks, Assistant Conductor at the Minnesota Orchestra, writes about what makes an average conductor, a good conductor and a truly great conductor.  I would put Evan Quinn in the good conductor group with the potential to be truly great, but who knows if he’ll make it?  That’s the deal — experience also has a tremendous influence on the development of a conductor.  Ms. Hicks talks a little about charisma, which can hurt as much as help.  But I do think that a conductor’s personality can figure in his success, too, just as in any human endeavor.  I’ve tried to make Evan curious about the world and people with a desire to share his knowledge and love for music.  No artist works in a vacuum.

I’ve found the Inside the Classics blog to be interesting, fun, and quite helpful to me and I’m grateful to Sam Bergman and Sarah Hatsuko Hicks for their hard work on it.  I recommend it.