Spotlight Profile
June 2001
Now you see her, now you don't ... the mysterious lady known as DL Browne ... and Colin Dunne ... and Diana Killian ... and Diane Browne ... who is this masked ... er ... member?
"Let's call me Fred," she says. "That's bound to drum up interest." Seriously: "DL is what I use professionally. It separates the writer from the musician (to the relief of my family)."
Drumroll ... the writer Colin Dunne recently published Murder in Pastel through iUniverse. Diana Killian, not to be outdone, followed with The Art of Dying, published by Xlibris.
Drumroll ... the musician, Diane Browne, performs with her two sisters and a cousin at Scottish Highland Games and Irish Festivals throughout the Western United States. Appearing as The Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh, their repertoire includes everything from contemporary Scottish songs to Gaelic waulking songs.
Meanwhile, back on the Internet, DL Browne is the mastermind and leader of the Wicked Company community of writers at iUniverse. She's rounded up more than 150 members, and is co-editing a members' short story anthology to be ready for sale at Bouchercon.
And all that's in her spare time. She hasn't given up her day job. So, who is the mysterious lady with the many names?
IC
Will you give us a little personal background?
DL
This is the part I'm terrible at. I graduated from Pepperdine, Malibu (California) with a double-major in English and Humanities. I'm happily single again following the end of a long and exhausting relationship. No kids, but I'm a devoted aunt to four knee-high hoodlums. I love dogs and I usually have a couple, but apartment living makes that impossible for the moment.
IC
You hold down a fulltime job. What kind of job is it? What other jobs have you held that you're willing to talk about -- tinker, tailor, soldier, spy?
DL
I'm the Operations Manager of the Los Angeles branch of an international security company. That sounds even less interesting than it is, which is saying something. I also spent about five years in the exciting and challenging role of substitute teacher in high school. Barely escaping with my life, I was happy to retire to the private sector with a permanent twitch in my left eye.
IC
Tell us about your music, how you started, how often you perform. Did you sing around the house while growing up? Do you sing for love or money?
DL
The Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh have been performing professionally for about 12 years now. It sounds corny, but yes, we did sing together growing up.
When our family went on trips our whole family would sing in the car. My dad taught us all these great Bing Crosby songs; then he discovered the Beatles and we learned all those. Cowboy songs, Peter, Paul and Mary, sea chanteys.
Finally, realizing they had created a monster, my parents locked us up in the back of a camper for long drives -- and that's when my sisters, Pam and Laurie, started figuring out elaborate harmonies to everything. It's definitely genetics. The singing gene runs in our family.
Love or money? Well, we perform for money. Singing is different. I'll be driving somewhere with one of my sisters and a song will come on the radio and suddenly we're singing, taking parts, harmonizing -- totally focused. It's almost like a drug. When we get together, we sing. That's how we are.
There have been some memorable times, but it's all kind of a blur. We always have fun. That's what people always say: "You look like you're having so much fun up there." Playing together is like a little party. George, Pam, and Laurie are the funniest people I know, so we're always laughing -- except when we're trying to kill each other over creative differences.
IC
How long have you been writing? How did you begin?
DL
I always wrote little stories, and all my teachers kept encouraging me (I always had great teachers), so when I hit high school I started trying to sell novels. I didn't actually score until I graduated from college. I finally sold a Harlequin romance, Love's Good Fortune.
IC
You have two novels in print at the moment,The Art of Dyingand Murder in Pastel. What are some of your other titles, and pseudonyms, ifyou don't mind telling?
DL
Well, if I was going to confide in anyone, Pat, it would be YOU (and your 10,000 readers). But for now I think I'll clasp that last little shred of mystery to my chest. I have to admit it's a real challenge trying to promote and remain anonymous. The way the industry is changing, pseudonyms may be a thing of the past.
IC
As leader of the Wicked Company community at iUniverse, you are privy to the pros and cons of self-publishing and print-on-demand (POD). Can you give us an overview?
DL
There are many options for self-publishing, thanks to the new digitaltechnology. Here's a very brief overview I did recently -- this givesyou an idea of the variety of services available.
I selected these firms from Willie Meikle's monthly POD survey. At this point I've had experience with iUniverse and Xlibris. Kevin Burton Smith and I are going to try out GreatUNpublished.com for the PI anthology Down These Wicked Streets.
GreatUNpublished.com: ISBN # (is this not standard?!), they do not copyright, author keeps all rights. Could only find 14 books listed on Amazon; claims 2-3 month lead time; $99.00 minimum fee, but they also offer a Special Imprint program which allows authors to use their own publishing imprint and design their own covers. They also try to do some minimalproof-reading. I found their site difficult to navigate. Will try to get reviews? Ranks #1 on survey. It will be interesting to see if GU can do what they promise -- if they can, I understand why they're number one.
1stBooks.com: keep rights, $900; 4-month lead time; helps promote book with signings, PR release, etc.; 356 books listed on Amazon. Ranks #2 on survey.
VirtualBookworm.com: editorial panel (too time-consuming); emphasis still on e-books; several pages did not work (never a good sign).
IndyPublish.com: 7 books listed on Amazon, moratorium on new submissions. Yikes!! At least they're avoiding the bad decision making that got iUniverse and Xlibris so backlogged authors were ready to sue them!
Xlibris.com: keep rights, $1,200. (We wanted control of the cover, interior graphics, etc.); 4-month lead time, nopromotion help; 5077 books listed on Amazon. Frankly, although their customer service is better than iU, the product is not as nice and they are far more expensive. They do allow authors to keep all rights, and that's a big plus.
iUniverse: lose print rights for 3 years -- and that is a big problem for many people. I probably would not use them again, mainly because of that single factor; $300 minimum (for what we were looking for); 4-month lead time; no promotion help. They copyright, etc.; 5,359 books listed on Amazon. For one of the giants, they have the best prices. Customer Service is abysmal but they seem to be working on it. They do offer the most comprehensive "community" -- a very valuable resource, and the birthplace of our own Wicked Company.
It's very easy and relatively cheap toself-publish these days. The downside is that full editorial responsibility (in most cases) is on your shoulders, and, frankly, most new writers aren't up to the challenge. The other downside is that all the marketing will be up to you in most cases. Of course, that's true in traditional publishing these days!
There are a lot of small and independent publishers out there, and they are generally more receptive to an unagented author than the bigkids.
A collection of short stories by an unknown author is going to be very difficult to sell (although anything is possible), so self-publishing might be a viable alternative for you, especially if you know you have a built-in readership.
At the same time, I think you should always tryto go the traditional route first. There's nothing to be lost by trying. You can always turn to self-publishing if the other doesn't pan out.
IC
You have gone the traditional publishing route, but your most recent novels are self-published -- Murder in Pastel through iUniverse and Art of Dying through Xlibris. Did you have particular reasons for that? Was the process everything you expected? What were the best and worst aspects of it? By the way, that $1200 figure you gave for Xlibris is the high figure. Are the others also high figures?
DL
The figures are all based on what Kevin and I needed for the Down These Wicked Streets anthology. In order to get everything we wanted -- in particular our own cover, interior graphics, and certain formatting choices -- we would have had to go high-end with Xlibris. iU seems to offer a much better package for the money, although we would have ended up going with their $300. package. It looks to me like GreatUNpublished sees iU as the real competition, and I think they're right.
I didn't really try to market Murder in Pastel, and I should have. I knew I wanted to try out the "new" self-publishing, and I knew Pastel was fairly strong, though "niche." I thought it would be a good test run.
And it was, but I learned something about myself: I hate promotion; and marketing a self-published novel takes even more effort and determination than marketing a traditionally published novel, because so many doors are closed through bias or ignorance.
As far as self-publishing? It was the best of timesand the worst of times. Both firms delivered exactly what they promised, which is simply a product. Most new writers are not equipped to deal with that kind of responsibility; they need the guidance and expertise of an editor. Plus, many of them know little or nothing about the industry.
For me, it was an interesting experiment, and there are circumstances under which I might try it again (should my own publishing contract be cancelled, it would be one way of keeping my series alive if it took a long time to nail another publisher). This time I would be prepared for the wait (which, while longer than promised, is still much shorter than is usual in traditional publishing) and for the lousy customer service. Knowing what to expect makes all the difference.
I didn't go into self-publishing with high expectations. I was curious more than anything. I don't believe it is a satisfactory substitute for a traditional publishing contract, but those are becoming more and more scarce.
The positive side of self-publishing is the heady sense of freedom that comes with total creative control. It's adelight -- and a danger. It takes a lot of self-discipline to force yourself to do rewrite after rewrite when you know you can publish as is.
The other very cool thing about the new technology is that if you feel really strongly about a novel, but can't get publisher support, you do have the option of putting your money where your mouth is, and publishing it yourself.
It's a brave new world out there! It scares a lot of writers. Maybe it should.
IC
Given your various careers and projects, this question may cause you to laugh hysterically, but what's your favorite way to relax, assuming you ever find time?
DL
Reading, naturally. I collect old mysteries -- and I collect them to read them, not just for the pleasure of owning them. And I enjoy terrorizing the plants in my garden (I'm a horrible but enthusiastic gardener). I also love renting movies -- especially old movies and especially old mystery movies. In fact, my preferred writing background music is old movies. I belong to the Home Film Festival, so every couple of weeks I get some oddball foreign films or something really archaic in the mail.
IC
What do you read for pleasure? What did you read as you were growing up, and how did your reading tastes change or develop?
DL
I review for "I Love A Mystery," so I actually get to stay current with ... er ... publishing trends, but for sheer pleasure I'm a nut for the mysteries of the 1930s and '40s. Mignon G. Eberhart, Leslie Ford, the Little Sisters ... I love that stuff! I read a lot of romantic-suspense growing up. But I also read and loved cowboy novels: Max Brand, Zane Grey, Louis L'amour -- and then a ton of Georgette Heyer.
I'd like to say that I had a well-rounded reading background, but now that I think of it, it was almost totally in popular fiction. I don't know if my taste has changed a lot. Romance bores the heck out of me -- which is why I may not make a very good romantic-suspense writer! I've gotten to like more hard-boiled stuff -- I don't require happy endings anymore, although I prefer them!
IC
What kind of promotions do you plan for your two new books?
DL
This is a real battle for me. It's one thing to sing in public -- it's almost impersonal, if that makes sense? -- plus the focus isn't solely on me. But to show up some place and hawk my book is really really hard for me. I know I'm not unique in this; most writers would rather write than promote. I'm going to Bouchercon this year -- for me that's a big step. And I've made the resolution to start doing signings with the next book.
IC
Do you have a work in progress? If so, can you tell us anything about it?
DL
I love this project. It's romantic-suspense but the kind of romantic-suspense I like -- a mix of lots of adventure and humor. At least, I hope it's humorous! It's titled Dangerous to Know and it's about an American professor who stumbles across a body on her vacation in the Lake District. Before she knows it, she's involved in the search for a lost manuscript of the wicked Lord Byron. It's nearly complete. Now I have to try and sell the darn thing.
IC
Tell us about Wicked Company, the mystery community you founded at iUniverse. What piqued your interest in doing that? What have been the surprises, pleasant or otherwise, in your first year of leading that very lively community?
DL
What's that quote from "The Lady From Shanghai": "You know nothing about wickedness." If I had known then what I know now ... actually it's been great fun. The community started out for iUniverse mystery writers but from the point that we started a discussion list on Yahoo, it bloomed into something much larger, and more entertaining. Now we have a colorful assortment of writers, reviewers, editors, and the always appreciated readers. The writers come in all sizes and flavors too: aspiring, self-published and traditionally published.
Unpleasant surprises? Not many. It is interesting the number of people who aren't willing to give anything back to a "community." They pop in to promote their books every six months but don't partake in the actual discussions, never offer to review anyone else, etc. The happy surprise is that these folks are in the minority. Most of our members take the concept of community to heart.
IC
Tell us more about the Wicked Community Book Club, and the short story anthology you plan to take to Bouchercon.
DL
I get a lot of credit for the WC Book Preview Club, and I have to say that it was not my idea. It was Club Manager Claudia McCant's idea, and it was a great one. The idea was to cut through the bad rep of self-published novels and let readers sample the work themselves. Let the reader decide if the book is worth buying or not.
Not all the featured books are self-published or even POD, by the way; we have a number of small indie releases we'll be featuring. In fact, next year my job will be harder because I have so many writers lined up I'm really going to have to get picky. So far reader response has been excellent. We picked up about 50 new book club members this month alone.
Down These Wicked Streets, the PI anthology, is a collaboration between Wicked Company and The Thrilling Detective Web Site. It was actually Kevin Burton Smith's idea. Everyone else has the ideas, I just trot along behind, pouring the coffee and fluffing the pillows. We've got seven original stories written by members of Wicked Company -- many (myself included) who had never written a PI story before. It was an excellent test of writing discipline and turned out to be a lot of fun.
IC
As an editor, what are the main weaknesses you see in material submitted to iUniverse?
DL
Most of it desperately needs an editor. I think the freelance editor business should be booming. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of hiring myself out: Have Opinions, Will Travel. Besides all the proofreading errors (increasingly commonplace in traditional publishing as well), you've got writers who don't understand about pacing, structure, characterization, theme (my old favorite) and dialogue. They don't know the basics.
They love writing! And they recognize that much of what is published through traditional venues is mediocre, but what they don't recognize is that while those books are flawed, they are not flawed as desperately as is much of what is self-published. And they struggle against facing the fact that it doesn't matter if someone else's unworthy book is on a bestseller list, THEY have to follow the rules. They have to write BETTER than the traditionally published writer because they've already got two strikes against them.
IC
Gaze into your crystal ball. What will you be doing ten years from now?
DL
When I grow up I'm going to be a geisha and stick to writing Haiku murder mysteries. Anyway, I always wanted raven black hair.
IC
Many thanks, DL, and good luck with your books and other endeavors.
DL
Thanks, Pat. I enjoyed it!
This interview was conducted during the month of May 2001 for SinC-IC
by Pat Browning.
Visit DL Browne at Authors Den.
Or visit her at Wicked Company's home page.
E-mail DL
E-mail Pat
Read an earlier Spotlight Profile
