Today’s Indieview is with Ruth Francisco, author of more than half a dozen novels. Amsterdam 2012, is her latest, a political thriller in tune with our times. Ruth has been published by mainstream but turned Indie when her novel was turned down by her publisher for being too controversial.
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I had written the book because I wanted people to discuss a difficult topic, and they were; I was having an active and open dialog with my readers unlike I ever had with DTB publishing. I was exhilarated. ~Ruth Francisco 3 Nov 2010
The Back Flap
Amsterdam 2012 is about a young woman who witnesses a murder in Amsterdam that touches off a Muslim rebellion and leads to the Great Eurabian War—World War III.
During her summer break, Ann Aulis travels to Amsterdam with her boyfriend Peter to visit the Anne Frank Museum. They spend the night with a friendly Dutch couple, and the next morning discover their hosts have been murdered. Ann and Peter flee to London only to learn that the murders have touched off a Muslim rebellion in Holland, which spreads to England. They return to the US, where Peter is detained at Kennedy Airport, then taken away by FBI agents.
Ann returns to her family in Los Angeles, horrified as she sees Muslim rebellions in Europe spread to civil war. With her lover in Guantanamo Bay Prison, Ann watches the United States slowly get dragged into a Eurabian war. The only thing keeping Ann sane is her deep attachment to Anne Frank, and her love for Peter. Finally, Ann throws off her passivity, and decides to act.
About the Book
When did you start writing this novel?
I started this novel in 2006 after I heard a report on NPR about Islamic tensions in France and Europe. This was soon after the civil unrest in late 2005, which tore through Paris and spread to Toulouse, Lille, Strasbourg, Marseille, and Lyon. I hadn’t been to Europe in about a decade, and I was curious what in the world was going on. I started researching, and discovered some quite alarming statistics coming out of Europe, such as the demographic changes in schools, which in many large European cities are half Muslim. Just last week it was reported by BBC that the number one baby name is now Mohamed. With growing populations comes growing political power. I am not an alarmist by nature, and at the time I wondered if some of the anxiety wasn’t the result of growing pains, the transformation of a singular European culture to a more American model, with many cultures making up the population. But the violence, the intense segregation of many of the Islamic communities, the rejection of democratic principals by fundamental Islamists, was all alarming. And Americans seemed quite oblivious to what was happening in Europe. So I started writing.
How long did it take you?
I did about six months of research before I started writing. The first draft took four months or so. But I always do a lot of rewriting, trying to get pacing and tone right. Amazingly, so many of the things I wrote about 3 years ago have come true—the election of a conciliatory liberal president, the oil crisis of 2008, the growing tensions in Europe, civil war in Somalia, the rise of a Tea Party movement. I don’t think I am prescient, but as a writer, I followed the logical consequence of what I saw.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
I tried very hard to present all sides of the issue, the conservative and liberal points of view, and the Islamic extremist and moderate points of view. I wanted the reader to really understand the complexity of the issue. It was also hard to get all the information across and keep up a thriller pace. I think I gave up some on pacing and character development, but readers have told me they couldn’t put the book down, so I guess I didn’t give up too much.
What came easily?
My main character, Ann Aulis, sees Anne Frank almost as her mentor. I use Frank’s diary as a touchstone for Ann as she struggles to figure out what is happening to the world. There are a tremendous number of parallels between World War II and what could easily happen again. For instance, the extreme rapidity in which Hitler took over Europe. Using Frank’s book seemed an easy way to give credibility to the story, and to remind readers that it wasn’t long ago that Europe was overtaken by extremism.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
My characters are entirely fictitious, and very often present a particular viewpoint I want to explore. This is a little artificial, perhaps, not the way I really like to write character, but it seemed necessary for telling this complex story.
Which authors most inspire you?
Philip Roth, Anita Brookner, and Patricia Highsmith, as well as Ruth Rendell, Joyce Carol Oates, and Stephen King. I guess my tastes run to the dark side. Beyond being great storytellers, all of these writers have characters who yearn for something greater than themselves, who challenge standard ways of thinking and behaving. And they use language beautifully.
Do you have a target reader?
This is a controversial book, and does what controversial books are meant to do—stir up readers and open up discussion on difficult topics. Readers have been adamant about it; several have called it a “must-read,” which is enormously gratifying. So my target audience is everyone who gives a damn.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I wrote Amsterdam 2012 first as a free blog novel, in which I posted new entries every day on my blog. This was completely different than I’d ever written before. I got comments from readers along the way, which I incorporated. I edited the posts into my final manuscript, then published it on Kindle. There is vitality and vigor to writing this way, interacting with your reader along the way.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just Chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I always work from a flexible outline—flexible in that it changes as the story progresses—with just a few sentences per chapter. I started writing as a screenwriter, so I usually have a pretty clear idea of the story line. One technique I’ve found that is enormously helpful is at the end of every writing session, I lie down for a few minutes and outline what I’ll write the next day, sketching out a little dialog. The next morning I never have that lost feeling, wasting time rereading the previous day’s work.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I do little editing as I write—I really want to get the story out first. Then I go back and rewrite, and often the rewriting takes longer than the first draft. With some novels, such as Primal Wound, I rewrote it over and over again, from different viewpoints, even adding a second novel which I interwove with the main storyline. Amsterdam 2012 is pretty much how I wrote it on my blog.
Did you hire a professional editor?
My first three novels were traditionally published, and I worked closely with some terrific editors. But publishing Amsterdam 2012 started out as an experiment, a Kindle experiment, so I wanted to keep expenses down and did the editing myself. Good copy editors are easy to find, but an editor who questions and challenges you, that is rare.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
My first book, Good Morning, Darkness, was published in 2003, and my path was very ordinary—sending out query letters for one book, many agent rejections, writing another book, trying agents again, getting a little interest, then finally, after about a year, getting an agent. Then it was the waiting game all over again as he tried to find a publisher, another six months. Then a year after signing the book contract, the book was published.
I’m not sure if this laborious, time-consuming process is a good option for new writers anymore. I think there are much better ways for new writers to enter the marketplace: 1) Polish your novel and get it up on Kindle and Smashwords; promote it; 2) Write several short pieces of fiction and sell them. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine is very open to new writers in that genre; 3) Write a blog that will draw in readers; 4) Use the internet social network to make writer friends; join writer websites such as authonomy.com; 5) Then, send out query letters to a few New York agents; 6) If you have time and the money, go to at least one writers’ conference in your genre.
With all this self promotion, don’t forget that your writing comes first. Set aside at least two hours a day for writing—six days a week. Don’t even think about checking your emails either before or during this time.
What made you decide to go Indie? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
After my publisher turned down Amsterdam 2012 for being too controversial, and after a year of shopping it around and subsequence rejections by other publishers for the same reason, I decided to put it up on Kindle. I didn’t know anything about epublishing. I actually posted it because I was afraid my aging computer would crash, and I would lose the novel. Or the house would burn down. I figured at least if it were up on Kindle, it would be safe. I set the price at .99 cents. What the hell.
I sold 1,000 copies the first weekend, and soon my book was number 30 on the Kindle best seller list. And readers were responding—immediately—in reviews, on forums, and in emails. I had written the book because I wanted people to discuss a difficult topic, and they were; I was having an active and open dialog with my readers unlike I ever had with DTB publishing. I was exhilarated.
After the success of Amsterdam 2012, I uploaded two backlist titles, Good Morning, Darkness, and Confessions of a Deathmaiden, the rights for which my publisher had recently returned to me. Then three original titles.
Why did I do that rather than submit them to my publisher? For one thing, waiting a year to get published, even if my agent could sell my manuscripts tomorrow, seemed antiquated. Who has time for that? If I write about fresh, relevant issues, I want the stories published now. I was also selling more books on Kindle, reaching more people, all over the world, than I had with DTBs. If I set the Kindle price at $2.99, I make $2.04 per book, about the same as I would for a hardback. If I sold it as a $7.99 paperback, I would only earn about .64 cents per book.
While the ebook market is still only 5-7% of the total book market, it is a growing market. The market for DTBs is shrinking. I chose to go with the growing market.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did it you do it yourself?
I used to work at a digital design company that designed movie posters. I was in the administrative side, but I played on photoshop. I really enjoy doing my own covers. I had quite a hissing fit over some of my DTB covers that I had no control over.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Since epublishing is relatively new, venues for promotion that carry critical weight—such as The New York Time Review of Books—have not been established. But they will be soon—people need help sifting through the huge volume of available books to find what they want. I’ve done little more than promote on Kindleboards, and on the Amazon Discussion forums. Building a presence through a blog, participating in other people’s blogs, book trailers, Facebook, twitter, targeting topic-specific audiences relevant to your book, are all great ways to go. They are, however, time-consuming. You have to be a bit of a huckster at this point.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Don’t wait for an agent. Don’t wait for a publisher. I am a huge advocate for Kindle publishing both for new writers and established writers. You can immediately make some money from your writing, which makes you feel like a writer. You get immediate feedback from readers, which is exciting, improves your work, and makes you realize that, yes, you are writing for an audience. You can make changes on your published material. Traditional publishing is on its way out: it is no longer economically sustainable for publishers; it is too slow to respond to the marketplace; and people are more mobile than ever—they don’t want to lug around a library of books every time they move.
Simply put, Kindle writing is the future of writing: exciting, dynamic, and very likely more profitable for writers. It makes literature suddenly relevant to readers in a new way.
I would also advise thinking very strongly about what you are going to write first. If fiction, I would suggest writing a book that can be the first in a series. A book that has a built-in audience. I would think about how I was going to market the book. Being truly original is difficult, perhaps impossible, but displaying your true authentic voice is unique. That sounds easy, but like good acting, it requires self exploration, and a certain amount of despair. And time—don’t be in too much of a rush.
End of Interview:
Amsterdam 2012 is Available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00…pf_rd_i=507846
Also available at Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8961
Author bio:
Ruth Francisco worked in the film industry for twenty years before selling her first novel Confessions of a Deathmaiden to Warner Books in 2003, followed by Good Morning, Darkness, which was selected by Publishers’ Weekly as one of the best mysteries of the year, and her controversial third novel, The Secret Memoirs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She now has four new novels, including Amsterdam 2012, up on Kindle. She is a frequent contributor to The Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and is the food columnist for Mad Housewife Wine. She currently lives in Florida.
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