I think the most useful—maybe even the most important—thing I ever did in publishing wasn’t as big a success as it might’ve been. I wrote or created the outlines for seventy-three BookShots. BookShots were novellas that sold for $4.99. My idea, my theory, my observation, was that a lot of people didn’t have the time to read four- and five-hundred-page novels or nonfiction books. But I wanted to keep them reading.
So I created the BookShot, and my publishers—Little, Brown in the United States and Penguin Random House in the UK—bought into the idea. Each BookShot was around a hundred fifty pages and could be read in a couple of hours. Lots of suspense coming at the reader in a hurry, like watching a fast-paced movie.
One of the BookShot novellas was called The Murder of Stephen King. It was a nice, twisty story. Believe it or not, Stephen King was the hero, the star. And—spoiler alert—he doesn’t get murdered.
Okay, okay, The Murder of Stephen King was a little wink from me to Uncle Stevie. I figured he could take a little good-natured ribbing. We’re both small-town guys, right? No big egos?
As a courtesy, the publisher at Little, Brown let King’s people know the book was coming out. The King camp didn’t like that. You can’t do this. James shouldn’t do this. This would be a terrible thing to do. Then Stephen King’s representative hauled out the heavy artillery. Does James know that Tabitha King was actually threatened once inside their house by an intruder?
I didn’t know that, and I got the point. But shouldn’t that mean that maybe Stephen King should stop writing his own scary stories—if they were genuinely putting his family members in danger. I’m just saying…
Anyway, out of respect, I decided not to publish The Murder of Stephen King—a cool story with Stephen King as the damn hero. Little, Brown ate the entire print run. And nobody ever sent a note to say thanks.
I still enjoy King’s scary novels. The man can tell a story. But I guess he has trouble with thank-you notes. I’m reading King’s If It Bleeds now, and I’m a little sorry to report that I’m liking it a lot.