GUEST SHOT

An Essay

by Dan Tyler

My Book, The Suits & Julia Roberts

I BELIEVE IT WAS NORMAN MAILER who said that most first novels are written out of anger. I discounted that opinion until I wrote my first novel, Music City Confidential, and realized that, indeed, anger, or something akin to it, had been the propelling force behind the book, at least in the beginning.

So, what was I upset about?

After twenty years in the country music industry as a songwriter, music publisher and attorney, I had become increasingly disenchanted with certain trends and changes occurring in my chosen profession. Giant international corporations were buying the local, home-grown companies which had built Nashville and given the town its unique flavor. In the process, these new bosses were encouraging a "canned" approach to music, which I believed was uncreative and harmful. I felt we were losing our identity as the corporate suits took over records and radio, and I wanted to express my displeasure -- in a creative way. At the same time I was disturbed by certain things in country music that didn't change: the exclusive "whiteness" of the music, a stubborn anti-semitism which kept out a lot of talented people, and a weakness for nepotism.

A novel seemed a good way to sort out these demons, and no one, to my knowledge, had ever written a novel about country music from the perspective of an insider.

Let me emphasize, I was not bitter. Country music has been very good to me in all my ventures. I was a successful entertainment lawyer until my first love, songwriting, won out and I walked away from my law practice to write songs full time. I have written eight top-ten singles (to date) and over sixty of my tunes have been recorded by major artists. No, rather than sour grapes, it was more out of my love for country music and my concern for it that I spent three years in the early nineties writing my book.

Though I had some serious reasons for writing the novel, I wanted it to be, above all, entertaining. I confess I'm a reader who is easily bored, and I attempted to avoid boring anyone. I also did not want to write a thinly disguised "tell all," so I went to great pains to create original characters who still embodied the types I had encountered in Nashville, a city full of fascinating people. Finally, I wanted the book to be a fast read, something a person might finish in one sitting. The words I longed to hear most from a reader would be: "I couldn't put it down."

For me, finding a publisher was easy, though it turned out to be a mixed blessing. Shortly after completing the book, I read about a new publisher based in Nashville dedicated to developing local authors. I dropped off my manuscript and hoped for the best. I did not have an agent, nor had I attempted to secure one. Due to the local nature of the book, I felt it could be published effectively by a local company and, besides, I had no illusions about getting a big New York house to go for a novel set in country music.

To my initial delight, within two weeks of leaving the manuscript I received a phone call from the publisher: he wanted my book. The company's president said: "I couldn't put it down." Music to my ears. Though he didn't offer an advance, he promised to make a first rate book, and that was enough for me. I happily signed on the dotted line, hoping that, together, we could beat the odds and make publishing history.

Everything went swimmingly, at first. After about six months of editing and actually producing the book, we had a very successful debut signing at Nashville's premier bookstore, Davis-Kidd Bookseller. We sold more than ninety hardcover books that first night, which was a record for the year, they said. Okay, so I have a lot of friends, but still, it was an auspicious launch. The next day, however, while I was basking in the afterglow of the signing, my publisher called and informed me the company was headed for bankruptcy. He had waited until after the event to tell me the bad news. As you can imagine, I was devastated. So much for local book publishing.

I didn't want the book to get tangled in a pending bankruptcy, so I bought the stock for a fair price and reluctantly added "book publisher" to my already lengthy résumé.

With the help of a good publicist and my sainted wife, I began the hard work of getting the book out to all the people I just knew were hungry for a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller set in country music. I did more book signings in Nashville and Memphis and in several places in Mississippi, my home state. I got an excellent review in one of our local newspapers, and I did a thirty-minute interview for public television, which was probably the highlight of the whole experience. (Let me tell you, there's nothing finer than discussing your book with an intelligent interviewer who enjoyed your book.) To date, we have sold about 1,500 copies, which I understand is respectable, considering the circumstances. I estimate I have given away another five hundred or so.

I have also learned firsthand some of the reasons my publisher went under. It's almost impossible to get paid in the book business. I thought the recording industry was tough, but books are even worse! There seems to be an eternal "returns" policy. I'm not sure when a book is ever really considered sold. Of course, I'm exaggerating a little, but not much. For this reason, I'm marketing the book on the Internet. I have found, to my relief, that amazon.com pays us promptly when we sell a book through their system. No middle man! In the process, I'm learning all about this incredible new technology which is changing our world, for the better.

A final note. Last week, I got a call from Paramount Pictures regarding the book. No, it's not what you're thinking. Music City Confidential is not headed for a big screen adaptation, not yet, anyway. But Paramount did request permission to use the book as a prop in a movie they're making called "The Runaway Bride," starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in their first movie together since "Pretty Woman."

When I asked if there was money for me, the lady said that companies usually pay them to put their products in movies. I immediately saw the logic of her position and gladly granted my permission before she changed her mind. Then I asked how they found the book. She told me Julia Roberts personally requested the book be used in the scene! How 'bout them apples? Somehow, just knowing that Julia Roberts has my book and likes it enough to use in one of her movies makes it all worthwhile. Ah yes, miracles do happen.

[ Copyright © 1999 Dan Tyler. All rights reserved. ]

Dan Tyler has more on Music City Confidential at his website.

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