Breaking into America

YORKSHIRE, USA

The Long Hard Road to Breaking Into America – by Colin Campbell

First let’s get one thing straight. When I was a Yorkshire cop I was glad we didn’t have as many folk on my beat as you have in America. Fewer to arrest. Not as many throwing bricks, petrol bombs, and insults at me. (I never got shot at although one or two did try to knife me.) Now that I’m a crime novelist it seems like a good idea to get published where the most readers are. That would be your neck of the woods. Across the pond. America.

Working that out was easy. Putting it into practice was a lot harder. It started out okay, attending Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime to promote my English crime novels. Tales from the thin blue line. Uniform cops dealing with everyday crime and how that impacts on their lives. Got some good reviews. A few enthusiastic readers. And a big full stop from the American publishers. Too English was the cry. Not big enough, the criticism.

It was time for Plan B. Hatched with my American accomplice, New York literary agent Donna Bagdasarian. How about writing a novel set in America? Great idea, except I’m a Yorkshireman. If I tried writing an American character I’d be unmasked in no time. Road to Damascus moment. So simple it was obvious. Instead of trying to emulate Lee Child, who very successfully did what I knew I could not, I wrote about a Yorkshire cop sent to America to interview a prisoner. Things go wrong. The story gets big. And any errors in tone would be down to the character being from England.  Simple.

Not so simple. I wrote Jamaica Plain in six months and both Donna and I were hugely excited. Jim Grant was going to be the next big thing. I let Donna do her thing and began to write Montecito Heights, the second in what should become a series.  Six months later. Two books written. Big full stop from American publishers. Lots of positive feedback. In fact the rejection letters included the most praise I’d ever had. Nose to the grindstone. Write number three, Snake Pass. It should only be a matter of time. I now had an agent, an entertainment attorney in New York and one in Los Angeles. Jamaica Plain was represented in Hollywood by CAA. (I had to ask Donna what that was. In case I was joining the 10-step programme.) Still no book deal.

Then it happened. A three-book deal with an enthusiastic US publisher. First option on a fourth. Show me the money. They didn’t. Things slowed down. It was like the old crime scene adage, hurry up and wait. The deal went sour. The deal just went. Back to square one. Keep writing to avoid the depression. A couple of separate books including a young adult mystery and the final part in a gargoyle trilogy. Plotting and outline for book four in the Jim Grant series.

I was like a swan on the river. Calm on the surface, paddling like mad underwater. My agent must have been doing the same because she paddled us right into a better deal with Midnight Ink. Three books. First look at the fourth. The news broke on Publishers Marketplace and the next thing I knew, a very large TV/Film company was ringing my agent for a look at the books, including my young adult mystery. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. I am absolutely over the ***king moon. Long hard road? Yes. Petrol bombs? No. I call that a good result. Thanks Donna.