Deb, that is all so utterly fantastic! And so very, very richly well deserved. And as to your comfort level with all the perks, all I can do is point up to Raq's post above and nod like a madly nodding thing. You don't refuse when someone's paying it forward; the entire universe will look askance.

Well, one other thing besides What Raq Said: you refused it all in the Nice Piano days, and now you're getting it all back, with interest, not just because of what Daymond's been given, but on your own merits, because you're a terrific writer with a big fierce brain. Whatever absurd kind of gift it all is, it's also one that you earned, every bit of it.

Wrod.

Yes.

But also, these cool things (like going to Magic) are expenses that he NEEDS to have, for the project to work. It's not just 'hey, Deb's cool, let's give her stuff' - for you to be able to do justice to this project, you need to go and do the legwork, and the research, and all that jazz. If it was a gazillion dollar project about gutting fish, he'd be spending lots of money sending you around canneries and on freezing fishing boats - it's just cool that the subject is all cool and fun and stuff, rather than fish-gutting. And if you were a suit-wearing businesswoman in, I don't know, advertising or something, and you were researching some kind of project for work, then damn sure work should be financing the travel expenses and the overtime and the hotel accommodation and picking up the tab for all your meals and suchlike - there are millions of people out there asking for a receipt so that they can get their employers to pay for dinner right now.

For this, I really don't think you need to have any sense of guilt, although I can understand the impulse. But don't forget that (1) he can afford to do it, and wants to do it, and (2) you are WORKING for this stuff. It's not freebies.

Deb, what they all said. Is work, is research, is stuff you need to know.

Therefore, hit it with the Guilt-Be-Gone.

Deb, what everyone else said. It's necessary for research and you deserve it.

(mememememe)

GAH. Trickiness and roadblocks.

The initial feedback from Marlene - she made some calls to editors this morning, as pre-conference call feeling out research - was less than thrilling.

Basically, publishers rushed into publishing anything and everything they could get their hands on that even remotely smelled like hiphop, about four years ago. And, of course, since they bought a lot of crap, most of it crashed and burned.

This one is rather different, since it isn't about hiphop, it's about Daymond's avatar, the guy who basically set the gold standard for young black entrepreneurs.

Right now, extremely frustrated. There was interest, but we'll see. Having the Vibe articles, Montel appearances, possible Oprah and documentary film deal to throw out on the table to show an editor that the PR is already in place is a humongous step in the right direction.

The one thing absolutely enrages me is the "but is she BLACK? She can't write about black people if she's white!"

Um - excuse me, dickheads? Were you planning on building a time machine so that you can go back and tell oh, say, Agatha Christie, that she can't POSSIBLY write Hercule Poirot because she isn't Belgian? Maybe tell Peter Dickinson he can't write "King & Joker", which is alternate Royal Family stuff, because he can't possibly know what goes on inside Buckingham Palace? Or shit, let's tell Sophocles to shelve that stupid "Antigone" idea, because obviously, a chick has to write it.

Give. Me. A. BREAK. And shove the PC while you're at it. I'm a writer - and in this instance, I'm a translator, translating someone else's dictated experience - AT THEIR REQUEST - into fiction.

The one thing she got back from the early feedback that I do totally agree with is that they'd be looking more at one big fat juicy book, with a second book as option. Which, thinking about it, might work even better.

The initial feedback from Marlene - she made some calls to editors this morning, as pre-conference call feeling out research - was less than thrilling.

I think it depends how it's marketed -- not only by an eventual publisher, but by Marlene.

An autobiography might have one kind of audience, a heavily hip-hop book (fiction or otherwise) might have another. And the market for either might be light right now.

But what is selling (or was, last time I checked) was fiction by black male authors, with a primarily female readership. Relationship novels, more or less -- harder-edged than someone like Nicholas Sparks, but basically the same idea. A man's take on sex and love.

For example, Kensington's Dafina Books imprint has Carl Weber; Dutton publishes Eric Jerome Dickey, and I know he was on the lists for awhile (or close).

This was originally a non-fiction look at the women who have shaped his life, right? And has become a fiction proposal with the same bent (and a thriller angle). So it seems that if it's marketed to that same readership who likes the Dickey and Weber books, you have a good shot.

The only wrinkle I can see there is, to be honest, your name on the cover. Part of what probably sells the books is the fact that a man wrote them -- if Daymond is not viewed as the primary author, that might be a problem. Would you be willing to ghostwrite them, and settle for the money without the credit?

The only wrinkle I can see there is, to be honest, your name on the cover. Part of what probably sells the books is the fact that a man wrote them -- if Daymond is not viewed as the primary author, that might be a problem. Would you be willing to ghostwrite them, and settle for the money without the credit?

No. But Daymond's name is the big one on the cover; mine's under that, smaller.

AmyLiz, does fiction ever carry two names--something like by Daymond John with Deborah Grabien?

AmyLiz, does fiction ever carry two names--something like by Daymond John with Deborah Grabien?

Not as often as non-fiction. But I'd have to think about it -- I'm sure it's been done.

The issue with some readerships is definitely credibility -- I know when Arabesque started (Kensington's black romance line) they wouldn't publish anyone who wasn't black. I'm just thinking this could be the same kind of issue. I think it's just as stupid as Deb does (writing *fiction* especially -- I mean, I've never murdered anyone, but I write about it), but it doesn't make it less of an issue.

No. But Daymond's name is the big one on the cover; mine's under that, smaller.

It's way early days, anyway. And an editor can say whatever s/he likes on the phone, in response to an idea -- reading the proposal is the clincher. Also, just so you know, I'm definitely not trying to rain on the parade -- just throwing out ideas that may help. Publishing, as you well know, is a business that makes very little sense, and is as quirky and obstinate as it's possible to be.