Some News about Fat Cat

I need to make a public announcement to answer the question that several readers have been asking me. I've told a few people, and did post it in the comments section of my Killer Characters post on the 4th.




You're welcome to bop over there and read the comments, of course, but I'll also tell you the news here. It's official that there will be no more Fat Cat books. As you might know, as a cozy reader, Berkley Prime Crime is mostly getting out of the cozy mystery business. They are keeping a few authors, but not many. A lot of cozy writers are continuing their series at other publishers. I'm so glad for them and happy to see this. In fact, they're getting snapped up, since this is such a popular genre.

The Fat Cat books have a lovely, loyal fan base, too. I get emails almost every week from happy readers who enjoy the books. (See the comments above for more of this, also.)

So, you may ask, why am I not continuing this series at another publisher? For a few cozy writers, the contract doesn't allow this. I wrote this series as a Work For Hire, WFH. The contract stipulates that the publisher owns the copyright on the books. They own the characters so that I can't write short stories featuring them without approval. They even own my author name for this series, Janet Cantrell. For those of us writing WFH, there will be no transferring to another publisher.

You might ask another question. Why did I sign a WFH contract? At the time, about three years ago, it was a good way to get my foot in the door at Berkley. I used a concept they came up with. When they approved the proposal I wrote, I knew they would publish it. Also, they know the market well and I was assured of an audience and probably success of the series. The natural progression, in years past, would be for me to get another cozy series with them, written as Kaye George. No one at that time foresaw how Berkley would forsake the cozy writers, of course.

My agent is sending another cozy series around to several publishers. If it gets taken, it will be announced in capital letters in my newsletter. You may even hear my shouts of joy from wherever you may be!

Meanwhile, the books continue to sell and Janet and Quincy will live on until people stop reading them. I hope that will be in a long, long time!

What is WFH?

 It’s Work for Hire, but what does that mean? And what does it have to do with the fact that I took a pen name just for this purpose?

Yes, it's work, but not manual toil!

When BookEnds Literary Agency signed me on with agent Kim Lionetti, I was writing as Kaye George. Since BookEnds handled a lot of cozies and that’s what I wanted to write, and since I had never written one, Kim had to make sure I could write them. Some people do call my other series cozies, but they are actually traditional mysteries (except the Neanderthal series—that’s sort of traditional, but also historical—prehistorical).

What’s the difference? A traditional mystery contains a murder and can be set anywhere with any kind of sleuth. It can dwell on the gory details and show an autopsy. It can contain seedy characters, some of them with foul mouths and bad habits. A cozy, in contrast, is lighter and gentler. No gory details, no explicit sex, no cursing (or if there is any, it’s minimal), no harm ever done to children or animals. Especially animals. In fact, many cozies feature cats, dogs, and other pets. There may be some romantic interest, even some romantic tension, but the real stuff is behind closed doors, as we say. Many cozies have come to be based around a hobby or a career like baking, catering, sewing, libraries—respectable things like that.

Now, what about this WFH? Jessica Faust at BookEnds explained it better than I ever could, so I’ll put that link here.

http://bookendsliterary.com/index.php/2016/04/07/what-happens-when-the-publisher-owns-a-concept/

A quick summary of that, in case you don’t want to click over, is that the publisher came up with the concept and maybe some of the characters. They may have decided who will get killed or who the killer will be, or that may be left to the hired author. Sometimes auditions are taken, that is, submissions are turned in to them from agencies which have had a writer take on the task and do a proposal. (A proposal is usually a fleshed out synopsis of the plot, based on the original germ of the idea, plus the first three chapters.) When an author is chosen by the publisher, a contract is signed. This contract makes it clear that the publisher owns all the copyrights to this series. They own the concept, the characters, and even the author name (hence my other pen name of Janet Cantrell).

Why, you may ask, would a writer want to do this? There are a few good reasons. Cozies are extremely popular among mystery readers, so they sell well. (And the agencies and publishers know what their readers want.) My first two both achieved national best-seller status, I’m pleased to say. Also, if the publisher came up with the concept and accepted the proposal, that series will definitely get published. Thirdly, it’s a good way to get a foot in the door with that publisher and maybe later get a series with your own name.

One little hitch in my case. Due to multiple mergers and acquisitions, the publisher is looking at the bottom line and deciding to throw in with mostly huge megasellers, discontinuing many of their popular cozies. A lot of cozy writers can take their series to other publishers, and many are doing that, but I can’t, because I don’t own any of this one. Bad timing on my part. The market at this publisher fell apart right as I established my toehold.

The Fat Cat series may be continued, but only if sales of the third book, FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE, which came out this month, are spectacular. I’m hoping, of course, but I’m also thinking of what else I can do, and I’m writing a proposal for my agent to send to other publishing houses. Wish me luck on both these fronts!

It’s a strange business! I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

http://janetcantrell.com/

One more task!

I’m getting more and more excited about the next Fat Cat book. My editor at Berkley Prime Crime has told me to expect her editor’s notes either this week or next.

(The timing is perfect because my alter-ego, Kaye George, is doing her last few edits on the second People of the Wind mystery before turning it over to a few readers. I’m very glad that will be done and out of the way.)

my desk, mid-project

As far as items on the checklist, this one is near the end for me, even though the book won’t be published until April. In fact, this is the next to the last, the penultimate job. After I address any story line concerns that the editor might have (let’s hope there aren’t many! aren’t any?), which will take a few days or a few weeks, I’ll turn my changes in to her.

The last task for me, my last chance to get everything in shape, is copy editing, which come to me from the copy editor, appropriately enough. This consists of typo corrections, instances where one word is used too often or too close to the last use, or punctuation errors. I try to do my most meticulous job with these. I know that nothing is perfect, especially a published book, and mistakes almost always slip through, but quite a few people will have made every effort to prevent this!

By the way, if you as a reader DO see mistakes, I’m always open to receiving them. If more printings are done, and the editors agree that there’s an error, it can be corrected.