When you've finished writing a novel you have no idea how it's going to be received. It's definitely not like the moment when Paul McCartney played Hey Jude for the rest of the Beatles and everyone in the room knew that they were listening to a classic. No, books are much more subjective. For every person who loves Naked Lunch and thinks it's a masterpiece there are ten who hate it. There are exceptions...I've yet to find someone who hates Charlotte's Web but I'm sure there is a nutter out there somewhere who doesn't dig it. (Apologies if you are that nutter.)...
When I finished editing Falling Glass last October I hated the bloody book. I'd read it through half a dozen times and that was enough to kill any love I had for the jokes, the set pieces, the characters etc. I was also discouraged by the rejections I was getting from American publishers who felt it "wasn't commercial enough." My old house, Scribner, passed, Henry Holt passed, St Martin's passed. We started showing it to smaller presses who often boast about publishing "outsider voices from different perspectives" etc. and they all said no too. My Australian publishers didn't even tell me when the book was coming out and I only knew it was out here because I happened to chance upon it in a shop.
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My UK publishers Serpents Tail liked it but they've always been very supportive of me and I did wonder if secretly they hated it and just wanted to spare my feelings. I'll chalk it up to experience I thought. No one wants to read a noir story about Irish Travellers in contemporary Ireland. I'll know better next time...
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But then the reviews started coming in...And the reviews told a vastly different story from what the voices in my head were saying. Spinetingler Magazine was one of the first out of the gate and they loved the book. Spinetingler ran a review and an extract and an interview. The next review I read was in The Guardian newspaper and the Guardian loved it too. Next came an extremely positive review in the Irish Times (and this from a paper who have sent me a few rockets in the past). Last week I got a lengthy write up at The Crime Of It All and just yesterday I got a great review in the Irish Independent from Declan Burke - a man who knows his onions where crime fiction is concerned. Declan's review was interesting because Falling Glass got the lead in the paper above John Banville's latest novel. There have been other reviews along the way on blogs, in newspapers and on Amazon. The only people I've come across who really disliked Falling Glass were a couple of listeners on Audible who couldn't get into the story or "found the narrator dry" whatever that means. My old pal Bookwitch wasn't convinced by the ending and I've had a few emails from people who also felt the same...In general though, as I said in a blog post last week, this is the best reviewed book I've had since Dead I Well May Be.
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Johnny Foreigner has also gotten on board. Serpents Tail have sold the rights to Germany, France and a couple of other EU countries which means that you can get Falling Glass in the entire British Commonwealth and most of Europe but, crucially, not North America. I have to say that I beg to differ with all the American publishers who claim that the book is not commercial in the US market. There is one place and only one place where Falling Glass is available in the US and that's on Audible.com. On Audible, as of today I've had 132 ratings, an average rating of 4.11 (out of 5), and twenty one written reviews. By way of comparison, despite heavy advertising, a recent profile in The New Yorker, radio and TV interviews and a book tour, the latest John Banville crime novel has 10 ratings, 1 customer review and an average rating of 3.30. I'm not knocking Banville but I am knocking the US publishers who think there is no market for me or my novels. The listeners and - a fortiori - the readers are out there!
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Before I get off this solipsistic topic forever I would like to thank EVERYONE who has written a review of any of my books on Good Reads, on a blog, on Audible, in print, on any of the Amazons etc. I do read all the reviews and I take seriously what people say. I often completely disagree with you but if you've taken the trouble to review my book I will read it. And even if the corporate suits in mid town Manhattan don't want to take a chance on me, well there's nothing I can do about that, but I sure do appreciate your support. Go raibh maith agaibh
34 comments:
I think it's true with books that you don't really know what you have. You don't even know what you have necessarily by other people reading it and telling you what they think about it. That whole Buddhist non-attachment thing sounds like a plan, although to be fair, I don't know anyone who actually practices that stuff, if they are honest with themselves.
Of course, I don't know the Dalai Lama either.
Congratulations--whatever you may say, you definitely have fans.
And now, back to Deviant.
Seana
I'll bet Joseph Heller knew he had a hit when he turned in the ms. of Catch 22. That novel brims with confidence.
I don't know about that. According to this Slate piece, its success was "the belated result of a campaign by his editor, Robert Gottlieb, that was more sustained and multifaceted than any that would ever be attempted now, in the era of sink-or-swim publishing". He might have felt certain about Something Happened too, because it was a very good book, but he probably would have been disappointed by the response to it.
Seana
I'll confess that I was happily reading that Slate piece until I got to this paragraph:
"There is no mention of Normandy in the novel, the Herman Goering Division is still a force to be reckoned with, even the Italian campaign was not a done deal. Mussolini is still in power in the novel, so its time frame must be 1943. Which means there was a lot of significant, potentially disastrous fighting yet to be done and that those bombing runs that Yossarian is shirking—even if they were ordered by preening idiots with no concern for the air crews or the war beyond the opportunity for self-promotion—had significance."
No, no, no! He's completely wrong. Rome didn't fall to the allies until June 5 1944 and Yossarian spends an awful lot of the book on leave in Rome so the book is certainly not set in 1943. In fact it is set in the autumn and winter of 1944/5. The reason Mussolini is still in power is that he's governing the rump Italian fascist state of Salo. This is actually pretty important. By the winter of 1944/5 the war was won in everyone's mind except for Hitler's and the bombing missions that Yossarian was on were not that necessary for defeating Nazism. His entire argument is based on a misreading of the novel and a giant historical error.
Good catch, except that you are talking about the other article, which is by Ron Rosenbaum. This one is by Walter Kirn and has a slightly different angle. It's confusing, because they use the same picture, were posted at the same time, and link to each other.
Kirn did get wrong when Something Happened came out, but that has since been corrected by Slate.
In any case, your correction is more important.
Seana
I didnt much care for Something Happened did you?
Well I suppose I cant blame Slate for not correcting an error that no one has actually pointed out to them can I?
I think I was about eighteen at the time I read it and I was very unhappy with it. But I've thought since then that I might like it a lot more.
Gotta go. Looks like Breaking Bad might start getting interesting again.
Seana
Just watched Breaking Bad. A better episode but I still think they could have done the last 4 episodes in 2.
Whats all this business about cats in peril in your lastest book eh? Step away from my moggy mates...or ill change my review of falling glass.
Frankie
No cats were harmed in the making of the book that I promise.
Its kind of based on a true story in my old neighbourhood in Denver.
Someone stole my cat. I just got him back. I didnt eat for a whole week. Such a relief. I can read about people being tortured, doesnt bother me but felines is a different ball game.
Frankie
Listen to me very carefully...
DO NOT READ DEVIANT
Ta for the warning. I wont read it. Always found Mog the Forgetful Cat harrowing enough.
Frank
What about when Bagpuss went to sleep or was that before your time?
It was before my time but Bagpuss has had a revival. I like the tiny mice who fix the broken ship in a bottle. Goes to sleep sounds like an episode to miss, much like the last Morse episode. Ho Hum!
Breaking Bad started out more in the old spirit last night, but it didn't really stay there. I mean, it's good, but it makes me realize how exceptionally tight the writing was in earlier shows. And yes, how fast paced.
I had to set Deviant aside for the night, so I am not sure how it comes out with the cats. But I think that's good advice for someone who has just recently lost their cat for a bit.
Seanna, I've also been thinking that I may like Something Happened a lot more now than I did when I first read it, but that's putting it on a long list these days.
It's too bad publishers can't figure out how to market Falling Glass. Someday it'll be turned into a movie and lots of people will say. "The book's better."
Well, I'm glad to hear the dogs may be safe in this one.
John, yeah, I don't think Something Happened was really written for the under forties.
Glenna, may is the operative word. I should say that it's not that you actually have to like cat killing to enjoy this book.
I don't know if anyone here has read Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household,as I recently did, but that is definitely not a book for cat lovers. I am really hoping that Deviant does not turn out to have a similar plot twist. But at the point I'm at right now, it might.
From the US, thanks for the Audible tip! I'm now looking forward to my upcoming 10 hour drive.
Michael Morpurgo writes lots of cat friendly young fiction. Have you seen any of his? Really popular in waterstones.
Id die for my cat, my family, the Queen. In that order.
Seana
It needs to be a lot tighter that show. What on Earth happened this year...Season 4 of the Sopranos rubbish. Season 4 of Mad Men rubbish.
John
I tried to read Good as Gold a few years back but I just could get into it at all. I gave up pretty much the same place I gave up before.
Glenna
The dogs are safe. And some of the cats.
Jim
Audible is the place and its been getting very nice notices over there.
Frankie
You might want to look into Rita Mae Brown's cat mystery books. Not my cup of tea exactly but I think you may like 'em.
I finished the book and I thought it was good. Although the cat killing is the central crime, I wouldn't say that its the central interest of the novel, nor does the story put you through a lot of graphic renditions of the crimes.
I really just liked the idea that this kid from a completely different kind of place comes to this weird little town and has to sort out what's going on and who his friends and foes are. There were a lot of twists and turns to it and it had a satisfying resolution. I had a few questions about minor things, but they would be spoilerific to talk about here.
Despite all this, I think Adrian's right to advise you against it, Frankie, given your loyalties.
I think it's really just no one in the show is up against a really hard edge right now, even though they keep saying how afraid they are that Gus will kill them.
Remorse is hard thing to use to keep people's interest too.
Sorry--recalcitrant Google problems.
The audio version also is available in the U.S. on CD and MP3 from Blackstone Audiobooks. I work for a seller of audiobooks (website and catalog) and it is via Blackstone's audios that I discovered your work. Gerard Doyle reads them brilliantly, by the way.
I have read or listened to all of your crime novels and I think you are a terrific writer. I look forward to each new one. Needless to say, I very much liked "Falling Glass."
Mary
I agree Blackstone and particularly Mr Doyle have done a brilliant job!
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