Bea Arthur Scares Me: How To Wrestle a Book Deal

Know More: Duane Swierczynski, Five Easy Questions, Writing Resources 2.0, Five Easy Questions

"Stephen King once described this perfectly. He imagines novels as castles, and believes that there is often only one right way into the castle. You might sneak in a side window, only to fall on a bed of nails. You might leap over the moat, only to have an alligator lunge up and chomp you on the butt. You might scale a wall, only to have Bea Arthur pour a vat of boiling oil on you (Bea Arthur scares me)."

That's journalist, novelist, and editor of the brand new anthology Damn Near Dead, beating a metaphor to death--in a good way. Today he's talking to us about how he kept his spirits up during a daunting book deal deadline.

Welcome to the third installment of my interview with Swierczynski, part of my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing...

Jason Boog:
Recently, you published a great essay about your struggle with your two-book deal. How did you go about getting your deal? What's your advice to the fledgling writer shopping around their first novel in the hardboiled market?

Duane Swierczynski:

The two-book deal I wrote about is my most recent deal; my first deal with St. Martin's was offered in August 2004, when I sold The Wheelman...

I think it came to pass because I had zero expectations.

I wrote the book to amuse myself, never thinking it would sell. I didn't even send it to my agent until a few months after it was complete--I assumed he would pat me on the head, say 'Thanks for the
quick read, Skippy,' and go tell me to write a real book.

To my surprise, he loved it. Sent it out in August, the worst month in the publishing year to try to sell something. It sold. Like, fast.

So what do I know? I guess the lesson here is two-fold:
One, write to amuse yourself. Seriously. Don't fake it.

And two, keep your expectations low and you'll always be pleasantly surprised.

Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

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