> I think I've seen you mention before,
> Charles, that one or both of your Aleas
> entries is in development for a movie
> adaptation? Any other Hard Case
> originals in line for similar treatment?
Yes -- the first of the Aleas novels, LITTLE GIRL LOST, is in
development as a feature...but there's an enormous gulf
between "in development" and "in theaters near you," so who
knows whether it'll ever wind up getting made. As for other
Hard Case titles, I believe Jason and Ken have optioned BUST;
SAY IT WITH BULLETS is at the screenplay stage; I believe THE
LAST QUARRY is being filmed as we speak (albeit at a pretty
low budget); and DEADLY BELOVED has been optioned to become a
TV movie on the Oxygen Network. THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE has
also been optioned, and THE COLORADO KID has a chance of
being the basis for a network TV series. Meanwhile I talk
with one producer or another about one of our books or
another at least once a week.
All of which is great -- but until the first of these
projects actually hits a screen, large or small, I won't
really believe it's happening.
Would it give sales of our books a boost if one of these
films got made? Maybe in a very small way; it would probably
briefly boost the sales of that particular title, if the
movie were a success, and maybe some people who bought that
book would enjoy it enough that they'd be impelled to hunt
down others in the series. But I wouldn't bet on a major,
lasting, or series-wide effect.
Now, if we could get a TV series on the air called "Hard Case
Crime," I do expect that would have a major impact on our
sales -- when "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was revived on NBC,
sales of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine hit an all-time
peak that was more than 5 times what their sales are now. But
getting such a series on the air is not an easy thing to
accomplish. (That doesn't stop me from trying,
though...)
> Anyway, I sure appreciate what you're
doing.
> I've reviewed a few HC's on my blog, with
more
> to come, and make a point of spreading my
> purchases around to different retailers,
in
> the hopes that they'll all continue to
carry
> them.
And I sure appreciate what you're doing! You're really going
above and beyond the call to help us out, and that means a
lot to me, and I thank you for it.
That said, I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad for us --
we're doing fine. Not rolling in dough, but surviving, and
these days that counts as success. I just wanted to explain,
to the best of my ability, why $2 paperbacks are unlikely
ever to come back again.
--Charles
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 14 Oct 2007 EDT