So how did you two come to work with each other?
Neil: Best I can remember, my wonderful first editor Dan Conaway had
just left for a new gig at Putnam, and I was wondering who might be
assigned to me at Harper. I had finished a draft of Lone Creek and was
ready for the first editing pass. I knew that Carl had read all four of
my previous books, and we'd hit it off at a SIBA trade show over
dinner. So I dropped him an e-mail to inquire as to whether he'd be
interested in being the editor for Lone Creek.
Carl: Hmmm, that SIBA was more drinks than dinner. Anyway, I was very
flattered by Neil's request but said no, of course not, I just didn't
have that training or experience. I had been edited--and by two of the
best, Shaye Areheart and Sarah Burnes--but I didn't feel I could do it
from this side of the page. But I said, hey, send me the manuscript for
my own enjoyment, and I'll be your in-house sales advocate when your
new editor comes on board.
I settled in one weekend to read Lone Creek and was totally hooked by
Neil's new story line and characters. And then, yes, on p. 9 there was
a small typo, and on p. 25 I wasn't completely sure what time of day it
was . . . and I kept going. It was so pure and good, I had to be a part
of this book's publication. I went in on Monday and asked my boss, Josh
Marwell, president of sales, and Jonathan Burnham and Kathy Schneider,
Harper's publisher and associate publisher, if I could edit Neil and
they gave me their blessings.
Q: Why the new setting and characters?
Neil: A few years back, I had been invited to New York to meet with the
Harper sales department, and in talking it came up that I wrote
mysteries set in San Francisco--I'd spent a lot of time in the Bay
Area, in school and working, and I'd based my Monks character on my
brother, a doctor there--even though I lived in Montana. The
salespeople noted how western fiction had caught on--James Lee Burke,
C.J. Box and others. I gave it a try and quickly found myself writing
much more about my own experience--gut, heart, soul and the way I'd
lived the past 35 years. It was like a new lease on life.
Carl: I loved the San Francisco/Monks books, but Neil's full voice and love of the land just show through in Lone Creek.
Q: Were there any hitches in working together long distance?
Neil: Not at all, despite the long phone calls. And we got to see each
other at the Mountains and Plains show back in the fall. One funny
story: When I first saw the galley jacket, which is a stunner--the
sunset, horses in the foreground--there was one little glitch. I had to
call Carl and tell him that I loved the design and didn't want to sound
ungrateful, but the saguaro cactuses on the cover don't grow on the
cold Montana prairie. They don't appear on the final cover,
thanks to the magic of Photoshop.
Q: So the galley is collectible! Carl, you've been published and now
you've edited a book. How has this rounded out your perspective?
Carl: Omigod, my respect for editors has gone through the roof. I had
some sense that their weeknights and weekends were consumed by reading
manuscripts on submission as well as editing upcoming books, but I had
no idea how hard it would be just to balance editing one book on a
series of deadlines with other work and with one's home life. I have
just the one book and it took up a dozen weekends of work: reading,
rereading and then getting on the phone with Neil, going page by page,
fine-tuning some dialogue here, making a character's motivations
crystal clear in a key scene, that sort of thing. That level of detail
was fun for me, but I was lucky; how does a real editor balance dozens
of current projects at one time AND acquire AND do their marketing
advocacy in-house? Not enough hours in the day.
Neil: My respect for editors is in full synch with Carl's. And,
especially with my Irish Catholic background, I admit to guilt for
heaping more on his already overburdened shoulders. However, that
didn't stop me.
Q: How did your sales and marketing background affect the editing process, if at all?
Carl: That was my other lesson in the Dual Life of an Editor. Working
on the words means living in the author's world without outside
distraction or considerations. I just listened to the rhythm of Neil's
voice, which we all do as readers anyway. Often I wanted Neil to add
more of his eloquent descriptions of landscape. He might feel it slowed
down the action, but I'd say it's okay here and here, and he'd come
back a week later and it would all just sing. When the writing is all
done, on goes the sales and marketing hat. Then begins the work
of settling on the final book title (we had a dozen different ones),
jacket (we got that in just three tries; it often takes more),
advocating for the book in-house, writing flap copy, writing letters to
booksellers and more. A big part of the process, as you know, is
writing other authors to get endorsements as far ahead of time as
possible.
Q: I noticed that posse of blurbs on the galley. They seemed a cut above the usual ones.
Carl: I figured some authors might come through with kind notes, but I
was blown away. We got glowing letters from the western lit
crowd: Kittredge, Crumley, Claire Davis, C.J. Box, Annick Smith, Peter
Bowen, Deidre McNamer and more. I mean, rousing fan letters to Neil
about Lone Creek. And then the starred PW, and news just in of a
"Mystery Pick of the Month for April" in Book Page.
Q: What's next for you two?
Neil: The sequel, Dead Silver. I'm well into it, and Carl and my wife
both seem very happy with what they've read so far: Hugh, Madbird, more
double dealing involving a 12-year-old homicide, and Hugh tumbling down
the rocky slopes of love with the prime suspect's daughter.
Carl: Neil has to take much of April off to tour for Lone Creek, drive
to over a dozen stores in Montana, and then on to Colorado. Lone Creek
is a Tattered Cover First Edition pick for May, and Boulder Books and
the Bookworm near Vail are hosting book groups for Lone Creek.
Then we plan to go through the new manuscript together right before
Book Passage's Mystery Conference in late June. We've been invited to
talk about our Odd Couple pairing. And I'm also helping some young
writers with their early manuscripts, as well as a retired British
actress and her travels to writers' homes around Europe. And oh yeah,
one of a duo that recorded my favorite album in college, Rex Fowler of
Aztec Two Step, found me via my blog, and he and I are talking about
his story of 35 years on the musical road. Having said all that, I'm
firmly rooted in sales and marketing and looking for that new voice to
talk up with booksellers.