Selling a spy novel these days can be a killer.
While there is undoubtedly an appetite for fast-paced,
heart-thumping thrills in print, it seems that a combination of
shrinking shelf space and authors who publish books seemingly forever
are making the competition stiff.
"Dead authors and old authors never leave the marketplace
anymore," says a New York-based literary agent who asked not to be
identified because the thriller community is so small and tightly knit.
"They are taking up the shelf space and the challenge is, if you're a
new writer without a platform, is how to get a number of books taken
that is gonna challenge the weekly onslaught of already-established
writers."
Some hugely successful authors such as James Patterson and Tom
Clancy have started working with less-established writers, which means
they can crank out more books under their already-proven brand
identities. Such trends have seen other authors long departed, including
Robert Ludlum and Ian Fleming, continue to be published, even in death.
"Every time an author hires someone to write books with him,
every time he does that, he's taking up a slot that might have been for a
new writer," says the agent, who adds there is also a flip side: Those
lucky few, the less-experienced authors, can garner attention they may
not have been able to get otherwise.
Howard Gordon, who established his ability to thrill with TV hits like Fox's "24" and Showtime's new hit spy drama "Homeland"
(which has even drawn praise from President Obama), says the market can
be rough. His second novel, "Hard Target," just isn't getting the buzz
he hoped it would.
"It's much different than the world of terrorism on
television," says Gordon, who has just finished writing initial scripts
for the second season of "Homeland" along with his production partner,
Alex Gansa. "On a bad night, you can reach 5 million people in TV, and
I'm struggling to sell copies in the thousands."
Other authors have found that the appetite for spy novels isn't
what it was in the three to five years after the attacks of September
11, 2001, which some believe fueled the demand for spy stories about
stopping terrorists in their tracks.
Former New York Times investigative reporter Alex Berenson
spent some time working in Iraq as a journalist in the years after the
war began and what he saw inspired him to take a shot at writing the
perfect thriller. His latest book, "The Shadow Patrol," features his
recurring main character, John Wells, who is not only a terrorist
hunter, but a Muslim as well. It's an interesting twist in a world
struggling to cope with stereotypes and misunderstandings of religion
versus terrorism.
"I think it has gotten harder to get people interested in
thrillers that are specifically focused on Muslim terrorism and the war
on terror," Berenson says. "There is an audience for that, but I do
think that people have grown disenchanted with both wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan."
Berenson has a couple more books on his new contract with
Putnam, but says that after that, he may retire his leading character.
Gordon says he'd like to write another book, but it won't be at
the same breakneck pace at which he wrote his last one, while juggling
his time between two TV shows (he is also the executive producer of
"Awake" on NBC). It may be even harder for him to find the time if
"Homeland" continues to be such a hit.
If only every aspiring thriller writer had such problems.
by Suzanne Kelly