Last night I saw 1980s band Air Supply in concert. Lead singers Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell are older, grayer, and moving a slower, but for singing chops, man they still have it. The audience, made up of mostly people even older than me, took a while to get to their feet, but the sound we made as all of us sang along on every single song was deafening!
My reason for sharing this with you is not to extol the virtues of 80s bands that still can put on a show, but to share with you a book idea that came to me as I was listening to Air Supply belt out one hit after another. Air Supply is a soft rock band that found outstanding success with ballads…stories of love and loneliness that are perfect fodder for a romance writer. Me, a writer of love stories that are not your typical boy meets girl, they fall in love and are married, listened carefully to the words of each song. And I had a thought.
Wouldn’t it be something to write a series of novels based on Air Supply ballads? Lost In Love, The One That You Love, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, Goodbye, All Out of Love, and, of course, Two Less Lonely People In The World. It’s a virtual bonanza of angst and heart break and heart-warming affirmation. Only problem is, every title, lyric and melody is copyrighted. Would Air Supply, give me permission to use a few lines of their work? Therein lies the conundrum
I’m not a best-selling author, yet, but if I were, I suspect I could work a deal with the owners to offer a cut of the profits in exchange for letting me use the ideas. But would anyone buy the series if I was successful in writing the books and marketing them to a publisher?
Series are a wonderful way to get readers coming back book after book. The first series I ever read was the “All Creatures Great and Small” series by James Herriot. As a child with an affinity for animals, this wonderful series about a small town vet in 1930’s England and the trials he went through dealing not only with the animals, but the mostly rural animal owners, was captivating.
The most recent series I have loved for many years are the “Mitch Rapp” books. The story of a CIA operative is timely, thought provoking, incredibly well written. St.Paul author Vince Flynn who unfortunately passed away much too early in life, would reference a local newspaper reporter named Mr. Schoucheray. Joe Schoucheray was/is a reporter for the Star Tribune newspaper and he’s always a big deal. I bought my first Flynn book intent on finding Joes name in the book. It was Mr. Schoucheray walking his dog. It was cool but was soon eclipsed by the excitement of reading such a wonderful novel.
Sure, the subject material, CIA and terrorism, is not something everyone prefers, but the amount of research and knowledge that goes into the Mitch Rapp books is astounding. At one time Vince was the best-selling author in the country and I have no doubt he would have been even bigger if he had lived. An author named Kyle Mills has taken over the series now and even though those books are wonderful and I buy each one of them, he’s not Vince Flynn. In the case of Mitch Rapp, for me at least, the legend truly was the man.
Anyway, I digress. A well-written and well-received series can become a built-in audience for a writer. Hook a reader with one book and odds are pretty good that the reader will buy your next book. In fact, some publishers, mine included, ask that question of every new author. So, I have been considering a series. Don’t be surprised if somewhere down the road, you find me making love out of nothing at all!
Be well my friends….
~BAL
Author Barbara A. Luker 