Pandemic Has Changed Media Usage

In more ways than have yet to be realized, the Covid-19 pandemic has permanent affected Americans’ media-consumption habits. With many people self-quarantining, and businesses requiring workers to work from home, the separation between office and home (and employment and leisure) is becoming increasingly blurred. According to Nielsen, more time at home means more exposure to a broad spectrum of content, and the longer we work from home—regardless of whether by choice or not—the greater the likelihood that our recently developed media habits will stick around, ultimately changing the playing field for how publishers and advertisers are able to engage with audiences. A future where consumers spend more time at home has implications beyond longer time spent with media in general; it means more opportunities for local businesses, as well the focus marketers should be placing on them.

Industry Groups Claim Amazon Uses

Predatory Pricing To Diminish Competition

Three of the publishing industry’s most important organizations have written to the chairman of the House Antitrust Subcommittee that’s investigating the market power of Silicon Valley and “big tech” to examine Amazon’s growing dominance in the marketplace. In a joint letter to Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), the heads of the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, and the American Booksellers Association explain that their members have long relied on a level playing field to publish and sell their works. But today, “Amazon no longer competes on a level playing field when it comes to book distribution but, rather, owns and manipulates the playing field, leveraging practices from across its platform that appear to be well outside of fair and transparent competition.” If Amazon’s predatory pricing and market dominance are left unchecked, the letter continues, competition within publishing could diminish even more and “squash competition in the book selling industry as a whole.”

Malcom Gladwell, Jack Reacher, and the

Grand Unified Theory of Detective Fiction

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of The Tipping Point, has developed what he calls the “grand unified theory of detective/mystery/thriller fiction”—all of which relates to Lee Child and Jack Reacher. Essentially, he says, there are four narratives in this genre: 1) The Western, in which the hero comes to a world without justice or law, and establishes order. 2) The Eastern, wherein the hero works to improve and educate the institutions of law and order in a world where they are incompetent. 3) The Southern, in which the hero restores order to a world that is hopelessly corrupt, and 4) The Northern, which requires the hero to perpetuate order from within a functional system. How do these four narratives relate to Jack Reacher? Check out this piece in CrimeReads to get the scoop.

Bookstores, Authors Find New

Ways To Connect With  Readers

With book tours scrapped and personal appearances cancelled, authors, publishers, and booksellers are resorting to innovative new tools to connect with readers. Prior to the pandemic, San Francisco independent bookstore chain Book Passage typically would invite several authors each week to speak at one of its two Bay Area outlets, but Covid-19 quickly forced management to go online with a series of “virtual events” that features a full spectrum of bestselling writers. Meanwhile, some authors have arranged Zoom chats with various book clubs, while others have turned to Facebook Live to broadcast discussions with readers and fellow writers. Of course, most people agree that these virtual events can’t replace in-person appearances, but they do attract potential readers who typically might not take the time—or make the effort—to step out to a bookstore or conference.

Creating Suspense: Write What

You Know, Know What You Write

One of the most difficult challenges facing any crime or thriller writer is making his/her story more terrifying and suspenseful than what we see or read every day in the news. Author R.G. Belsky, whose new novel The Last Scoop is about a fictional serial killer, says he drew heavily on his experience as a young journalist at the New York Post covering the Son of Sam story in 1977. “I was clearly inspired by—and borrowed from—some of my own real-life journalistic experiences with…legendary serial killers,” he says in an article in Suspense Magazine. “One of the most frightening things about all of them was their total disregard for the human lives of their victims. I spent a lot of time going over quotes like these before writing my novel”:

• “I am a monster...I just wanted to kill them.” —Son of Sam
• “I like killing people because it is so much fun.” —The Zodiac Killer
• “I love to kill people...love all that blood.” —Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker
• “What’s one less person on the face of the earth anyway?” —Ted Bundy

“The Persuaders” Is Never Included

In List Of Best TV Show Theme Songs

As my Latin teacher used to say, “de gustibus non disputandum est.” In matters of taste, there can be no dispute. Nowhere is this more evident than the hundreds of individual rankings of best noir films, heist movies, crime novels, or any other creative endeavor. These lists always become a target of debate and disagreement, as no two lists on the same subject will ever be the same. With that in mind, this week I present several countdowns of the best TV show theme songs of all time, as ranked by several different sources: Saturday Evening Post (yes, it still exists), Digital Spy, and Observer. Personal note: One show that is always overlooked on these lists, and which happens to be my favorite (for reasons that can’t be explained), is John Barry’s theme for the Tony Curtis-Roger Moore action-adventure show The Persuaders, which aired one season only opposite Mission Impossible, in 1971. To help embed it in the social consciousness (and maybe create an "ear worm"), you can listen to (and watch) the opening credits with theme song here.

Sundance Now’s The Suspect

Is A Baffling Canadian Whodunnit

With new true crime "docuseries" debuting on an almost-weekly basis, the differentiating factor between them often is less the freshness of their film-making than the quality of their mystery. Sundance Now’s true crime program The Suspect, which debuted last week, examines the brutal murder of Canadian beer heir Richard Oland—and how authorities pinned it on his son. As The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager writes, “The Suspect proves a worthy addition to the ever-burgeoning subgenre, delivering a baffling whodunit that, like so many legal thrillers, ultimately hinges on the contentious question of reasonable doubt.”

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“Bunzel’s Voice is his own, but with a bit of James Lee Burke and Pat Conroy thrown in. This is a writer that every mystery fan should follow.” –Tony Hillerman Award-winning author Joseph Badal

“This is Southern gothic writing extraordinaire, establishing Bunzel as a kind of William Faulkner of the thriller-writing world. His effortless prose crackles with color and authenticity as the brooding Charleston skies set the stage for the storm that’s coming.” –Providence Journal