How to Write, Publish & Sell Your True Crime Book

Welcome to Kerrie Droban’s True Crime Writing Workshop. The format of this workshop will consist of 10 videos up to 20 minutes long. Each workshop will have a downloadable handout worksheet for you to keep and reference throughout the series and beyond.

First, let’s start off with a quote from the infamous Stephen King: “Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.”

Now, what can you expect as you embark on this journey into this genre?

You can expect to:

• Spend long hours researching before you even start writing.
• Closely interact with convicted killers and the victim’s family.
• Attend long trials.
• Have doors slammed in your face.
• Prepare to have a tough skin (if you don’t have one already).
• Explore the human condition.
• Have your life changed in ways you may not expect.

How do you choose a case to showcase in your book? First, explore the cases you want to write about.

• Decide what project you want to live with.
• Ask yourself, “Do I want to devote the next two years of my life to this subject or this person?
• Is it a story that you can tell somebody? Is it a story that has a compelling component to it? Or is it a story that you can tell in a few minutes?
• Why should we care about your story?

TAKEAWAYS

Keep all your ideas. You never know when one idea might become a turning point in another book.

Organize your ideas by topics, ideas and blurbs.

Some things to consider when choosing a case:

• Timeliness. How current is the case? Does it have media or market appeal?
• Are there compelling killers involved? Is the victim sympathetic? Think Jody Arias.
• Is the trial ongoing? It gets complicated if so, but also beneficial as you can take notes in personal.
• Is the case accessible? Try to write about a case close to your hometown.
• opportunity do you have to access sources needed, whether they are public or private? Do you have the funds to access private sources? Do you have the connections to get the story?
• Think about the audience. Is there mass appeal?
• Consider the point of view. You can get clues as to how you’ll write the book from the characters or case themselves.

When conducting interviews, try to bring a digital recorder, unless local laws prohibit recording others. Always control the meet-up location. And, bring extra batteries! 

ASSIGNMENT: YOUR BOOK’S ONE LINER

Practice writing your idea in one sentence. Can you sustain that idea over the length of a book?

Examples:

• LT, born into an organized crime family is recruited by his father’s nemesis to murder his father. (Prodigal Father Pagan Son)
• Charles Falco is a “bad guy turned good” and only one of three infiltrators in the world to have successfully brought down three biker gangs.

Practice your one-liner! 

How do you find the facts?

• Don’t make them up. Ever. Truth telling is a huge responsibility. Once you arrive to the truth, how do you ensure it is the absolute truth?
• Dig through court records. Take the course as it was reported and drill holes. See if there is another interpretation.
• Trial-watching. Take notes. Make friends with bailiff and clerk.
• Rely heavily on interviews. Don’t be intimidated by attorneys or authority. Peripheral interviews can be extremely valuable to attest to character.
• Read more about the case of Kitty Genovese referenced in this lesson on my blog here.

How do you conduct an interview?

• Set up the place, on your turf, in a public setting. Kerrie’s pro tip: Look at courthouses for free conference rooms.
• After each interview, send out follow-ups to each person, especially a thank you note.
• Follow the rules. Gain their trust. Keep things off the record if they request.
• Take lots of notes. Write everything down. Record when possible.
• A great resource when getting started: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published.
• Build a rapport with each person you interview. Don’t get frustrated if conversations ramble.
• How interviews typically go: Retreat, repeat, retreat. If the interviewee feels they gave you too much information they will retreat.
• Don’t have a give and take. Don’t divulge information about yourself.

ASSIGNMENT: RESEARCH

• Describe a location in your next book (preferably one you’ve never been to) in two or three sentences. Now find three interesting facts about your location by looking it up on the internet. Add those descriptions to your last three sentences. Interject the five senses: sight, smell, touch, noise, taste. Now tell if from a different point of view, i.e. from the defendant’s point of view.
• Choose a person to interview whose lifestyle differs vastly from your own.

• Keep an open mind
• Ask open-ended questions
• Start with “warm up” questions to make the subject at ease
• Do not be judgmental
• Focus on facts
• Ask about other witnesses or evidence
• Ask about any contradictions

The objective of the publisher or the agent is to sell your book, so make it easy as possible for them to do that.

Here are some things to keep in mind when pitching your idea to publishers and agents:

• Your proposal should not contain a long, drawn-out factual synopsis.
• Focus predominantly on market appeal and similar cases or books like yours that have done well. What were the sales track records? Who was the publisher?
• Be sure to include how your book is different from those cases/books.
• In one paragraph share what the book is about - the crime, investigation, your credentials.
• Accept when an agent or publisher says they cannot sell your book.
• There are some taboo, risky, off-limit subjects that even the bravest publishers won’t work with.
• Consult with an entertainment lawyer before you sign contracts or embark on a project.

Ensure you have access to high definition photography for the book. Publishers will want you to tell them you have 15-20 high resolution photographs that can be included in the book.

Don’t make it easy for someone to get your research from you. Consider getting a vault at the bank to keep classified documents. I also recommend forming an LLC. This is relatively simple and can be done online for a small fee if you want to do it yourself.

ASSIGNMENT: CRAFTING YOUR PROPOSAL

OVERVIEW (1-2 paragraphs)

MARKET APPEAL  (Sample from A Socialite Scorned)

THE MARKET APPEAL

            This story represents the classic “Who Done It” with a twist. In what has been touted as one of the “most complicated, difficult investigations of our time,” Triano’s case has garnered media attention precisely because of its “story behind the story” of greed, power, and The Fall. Dateline NBC, America’s Most Wanted and countless local and national newscasts have featured the Triano’s bombing at once fascinated by its violence and intrigued by the moral conundrum the case poses, that every action has a price that in the end money is the real killer.     

The book will focus on the anatomy of a crime investigation and the pathology of a killer. In a striking statement, Phillips vowed that she “would rather die than spend the rest of her life in prison.” But in fact, she did both. Indebted to her hit man who blackmailed and threatened her with exposure and confined her to a life in hiding, Phillips never lived at all after Triano’s murder.   

The story is as much about the lengthy police investigation as it is about Pam Phillips and the lives, including her own, she unraveled. Comparative successful books include:

The Palm Beach Murder, by Marion Collins, St. Martin's Paperbacks, July 2004. ISBN: 978-0-312-99086-2, ISBN10: 0-312-99086. The story involves a reckless social climber and adulterer who turned his marriage to a debutante in their Palm Beach mansion, into a luxurious hell. And when his wife wanted out-and threatened to take half of her husband's fortune with her, a hit man unloaded three bullets into her head. Eleven years later a surprise witness brought the cold-blooded millionaire killer’s comfortable life to a crashing halt. The husband was indicted and fled the country to Bangkok, where he was arrested four years later.

In the Arms of Evil:  A True Story of Obsession, Greed, and Murder, by Carlton Smith. St. Martin’s True Crime, 3/30/2010, ISBN: 978-0-312-94802-3, ISBN10: 0-312-94802-6, The story tracks a Maryland woman who became addicted to gambling during her first marriage. Sneaking off to Atlantic City—and sinking deeper and deeper into debt—she began stealing identities, conning family members, and leaving two ex-husbands buried in bills. Then she sold cemetery plots door-to-door and met a man thirty years her senior. He not only bought a grave site from her, he leased a car for her, sold his house and gave her the proceeds. But Nancy wanted more…

Watkins’ body was found in a steamer trunk near the Appalachian Trail. Half-naked and strangled, he remained unidentified for more than six years. Meanwhile, Nancy cashed his Social Security checks and opened new lines of credit under his name. By the time the police tracked her down, she had committed bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and more. The story exposes    the greed, the gambling, and one gruesome murder—and asks the reader to question the very nature of evil

Black Widow: A Beautiful Woman, Two Lovers, Two Murders, by Marion Collins, St. Martin’s True Crime, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-312-93946-5.  At 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, 1995, 911 operator Lynn Turner and her policeman husband, Glenn, arrived at the door of the emergency room at the Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia. Glenn was doubled over, clutching his stomach and moaning. He told the attending doctor that he had been throwing up for days. He’d also had blinding headaches and nosebleeds, and was dizzy when he stood up. Little did he realize his killer, his wife, was holding his hand.

A Perfect Beauty: Socialite, Lover and Brutal Murder, by Keith Elliot Greenberg, St. Martin’s True Crime, 2008. ISBN 13: 9780312949532. Cynthia George was the stunning wife of one of Akron Ohio’s most successful restaurateurs, and mother of seven. She flaunted her money, her body…even her extra-marital affairs. Until she got in too deep with Jeff Zack, her younger, longtime lover who was also the father of one of her children—a secret that she kept for many years.  In a crime that shocked the heartland, Zack was killed, execution style, in the parking lot of a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Akron. From the beginning, investigators suspected Cynthia was involved. Little did they know that her other lover was the murderer.

Gary Triano’s story is distinguished from the above referenced books in that Pam Phillips not only hired a hit man to blast her ex-husband apart, but she was also extorted for years, in a strange turn of justice, by the very man who manufactured the bomb. The book gives new definition to the term, “blood money” and like the others, offers an intriguing expose into the lives of the rich and famous in Aspen and Tucson, and reveals an exhaustive police investigation that will leave the reader asking—how could one cold-blooded killer escape for twelve years without detection?

AUTHOR BIO

SAMPLE CHAPTER SUMMARIES

Finding an agent is like finding a spouse. They need to communicate well with you and shouldn’t be afraid to tell you the truth.

If you’re thinking about self-publishing your first book, please reconsider. There are many legal mines to navigate, and you may get into trouble – not only regarding the person you’re writing about, but also the case itself and people involved.

TAKEAWAYS

You’ll want to sell the book to an agent before you start writing it. So what are some ways to find an agent?

• Read books that you think your book might become and reach out to the agents that represent those.
• Find agents by tracking their sales records. Who is their client list? What publishers have they worked with? How many books have they sold?

New agents are eager to make contacts and connections. You may be taking a risk not knowing their track record, but since you’re also likely new to the game, it may be perfectly fine for you.

Be realistic about the market and the book you’re writing.

When interacting with a potential agent, keep in mind:

• Are they detail-oriented?
• How enthusiastic are they?
• How honest are they?
• How do they address the publisher?
• Is their experience and professionalism conveyed in their communications?

ASSIGNMENT: FIND AN AGENT

• PublishersMarketplace.com is the best place to research literary agents; not only do many agents have member pages there, but you can search the publishing deals database by genre, category, and/or keyword to pinpoint the best agents for your work. Some other resources to consider: AgentQuery.com. About 1,000 agent listings and an excellent community/resource for any writer going through the query process. QueryTracker.net. About 200 publisher listings and 1,000 agent listings.
• WritersMarket.com. About 400 to 600 agent listings. $5.99/month subscription fee.
• Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog is also an excellent resource for news and views related to literary agents.
• If you prefer to hire someone to find appropriate agents for you to submit to, try Grad Student Freelancers.
• Identify at least three agents you might pitch your work to. Verify their client list, publisher and why you believe they might be a good agent for you.