Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Actually, I started off very badly today. Dropped the kids off and then to my PO to open my latest royalty statement. Unless this next book boosts the fortunes of the first two, I won't earn out on either any time soon. I sold a respectable number of PNMs the first half of last year, but at the rate I'm going, it'll be a few years before I see a check. Don't even ask on BFA. Frankly, I'm amazed Putnam even gave me an advance on this book, given the downtick.

My wife says, "But they're proud to publish you! Think of the prestige and pleasure you give them in their work!"

Hmmm.

Being a full time businessman now and a bottom-liner my entire life, I'm less than impressed with that. Still, If I had gotten the advance on PNM that I got this time, I'd be bragging my ass off about all the money I'd raked in on royalties since the book came out. And if I had received an advance on BFA that I--quite frankly--would have been happy to have first received on PNM (that's how naive I was at the time), I'd be looking at checks already there too.

Hmmm. Guess I have to blame it all on my agent.

Well, that's not exactly true. The first advance was spectacular and I basically answered the mail with the book (earning back about 85% of the advance in four years). The second advance was a hair bigger, as a sign of respect for the first book, and damn if I still don't think I delivered a better book there (I prefer it by far in terms of analysis and writing), but such is marketing and markets and a host of other things you cannot control.

Now I know how directors feel when they hit it big and when they feel like did well only to have it fail at the box office.

I know, I know. Putnam has huge numbers from all sorts of authors, and the biggies support the smallies in the business just like in movies, the blockbusters cover the mid-levels and the art films. PNM held it's own. Market-wise, BFA performed more like an art film. Well, maybe that's a bit harsh. BFA sold 50 times more volume than my PhD recast as a book for Praeger. Now that one was an art film! BFA actually sold at the level I had hoped, before hand, that PNM might achieve.

Again, only so much you can control. PNM hit the market at a perfect inflection point. BFA hit it when that type of book was scarce and other genres crowded in. I feel reasonably positive that my timing and content this time will be better matched.

But in the end, I had a blast writing both. Putnam, I know, felt good about them both. We both feel good about the prospects for this one, and no matter how well it does, I know it'll be good that I've written it. I mean, why walk away from the opportunity so long as somebody as big as Putnam is willing to front you on it? I sold, between the two, about ten times more books than I ever expected to sell of PNM. Plus copies of both in Turkey, a compilation in Turkey to boot, PNM in Japan and China and probably BFA in China too. Beyond that, there's no question that the two books have made my speaking business happen these past four years (and yes, sometimes I do catch myself shaping the book a bit to maximize on later speaking potential, but I see no downside in that, because punchy is good in either venue).

Anyway . . .

Today I wrote another 5400 words (funny how I managed that--sort of--two days in a row). That puts the first chapter up to 11,000 words with two more sections to go.

I don't worry about a chapter getting too big. I find I pack more into the early chapters than I anticipate, so later stuff gets slimmed. As for the final construction of chapters, I let Warren sweat that. He always says, "write as much as you have to in order to get it down. Easier to cut than to fill in missing pieces."

Today I had a lot more fun. Yesterday I felt the writing was too . . . formal. Today I felt myself just bursting out here and there, sort of bagging the official approach and just writing what I'd like to say. Because, hey! Who wants my version of the official stuff anyway? No one reads me because I sound like somebody else or because I write lit reviews. They read me for my perspective, which is mine alone. You read me and you know it's me, because it can't be anybody else.

I want to keep writing like that, because it's the only way that I get joy from the process. Plus, when I wrote the old way, nobody much liked my writing.

The organizational structure of the second section (a couple dozen-plus entries) made it a bit like the "State of the World" drill: the confined spaces gave me the freedom to jump topics and keep it snappy in a way that works well for my style.

Plus, it became intriguing to link material across entries more and more, the further I went along, making the whole thing come together much better than I anticipated.

But the big thing is, by the time I finished tonight, I could start to feel the book's voice emerging, as well as my style for this one, which remains somewhat Esquire and a bit that tighter op-ed style. But some rantiness from the blog, too. I guess I just don't feel like I have to introduce myself much in this one, so it's a different sort of confidence this time around.

And that's interesting to feel.

Gonna break tomorrow and do a column. Need some sorbet to clear the palate.