Publishers Weekly - 14.10.2019

(Joyce) #1

14 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ OCTOBER 14, 2019


News


Krueger has toured widely for every
book he’s published, and his team at
S&S said the connections he’s made
with booksellers, especially indepen-
dent ones, have been key to his success.
Now touring for This Tender Land,
Krueger estimated that he draws an
average of 100–200 people in the
Midwest. (He lives in St. Paul, Minn., and
much of his work is set in the region.)
Elsewhere in the country, he said he can
reliably bring in crowds of 40–70.
By Krueger’s second tour, Atria began
pitching in, agreeing to foot half of the
bill for his travels. It was on his third
or fourth tour, he said, that he started
to see a shift in his drawing power. He
also recognized that stops at mystery-
focused bookstores, as well as reg-
ular appearances at mystery events
(such as Bouchercon and Thrillercon),
were quickly paying off.
“When I began to tour, I hit a lot of
mystery bookshops, as we had a lot of
them back then,” Krueger noted. “I
developed a pretty significant fol-
lowing within that community thanks
to those stops. Breaking out to the
larger reading audience has been more
of a steady uphill climb.”
Krueger decided early on that he
was committed to making a living as a
novelist. After signing his second con-
tract with Atria, for a single novel, he
broached the prospect with his wife, an
attorney, and they decided it was the
moment to try and make his dream a
reality. “I’d estimate that for five years
after that, we were just scratching by,”
he said. “We weren’t poor, but we had
to budget and watch our expenses.”
Though Krueger’s team at Atria had
a hard time putting a finger on when they
felt he became a bona fide success, the
author started to sense a difference
around his seventh or eighth novel. At
that point, he said, Atria began investing
more in his promotions. He also felt a

power shift within the imprint.
“My editor began to have more
authority in the publishing house
and was able to champion me in
a more significant way.”
Another turning point in
Krueger’s career is unquestion-
ably the publication of his first stand-
alone literary novel, Ordinary Grace.
(He published a standalone mystery
with Atria, The Devil’s Bed, in 2003.)
Recounting the backstory of Ordinary
Grace—it has shipped more than
600,000 copies across all formats,
according to Atria, making it Krueger’s
most successful book to date—Krueger
revealed that it was the only time he
briefly considered leaving S&S.
When Krueger initially proposed the
novel, he explained, his editor was
unsupportive. That indifference left him
feeling that he “would be willing to go
somewhere else.” In the end, his editor
fell in love with the book, and Atria
ultimately “backed it.”
Having a lauded mystery author
produce a literary standalone, which
drew strong reviews, proved an inspired
move. Both Borland and Brown said
that Ordinary Grace opened Krueger
up to an entirely new readership. The
book’s appeal to nongenre readers
stoked its sales; it also brought more
readers to the Cork O’Connor series.
Even more significantly, perhaps, was
the book club appeal of a nongenre
standalone; part of what catapulted
Ordinary Grace to its success has been

its adoption by book clubs and com-
munity reading programs.
The book’s positive effect on
Krueger’s career even inspired Brown
in his dealings with other authors.
Brown encouraged John Lescroart, a
thriller writer, to pen a literary stand-
alone (which resulted in 2017’s Fatal)
after seeing the impact of Ordinary
Grace on Krueger’s following.
For Brown, there are lessons other
authors can take from Krueger’s rise.
One is about the importance of being
patient. Another has to do with starting
close to home. “What I saw [Krueger] do
is a model of success: become a celeb-
rity locally and build out from there.”
Krueger feels he’s reaching yet
another level with This Tender Land:
Atria has shipped 44,694 copies and,
for the first time in his career, a book of
his was named the Indie Next #1 Pick
(for the month of September). It’s an
accolade he doesn’t take lightly, in part
because it’s been such a long time
coming. And it speaks to the advice he
gives writers just launching their
careers. If they ask, Krueger will say,
“This takes time, and perseverance is
the name of the game.”
—Rachel Deahl

continued on p. 10

William Kent Krueger

Desolation Mountain (2018)
Total in print: 49K

Sulfur Springs (2017)
Total in print: 52K

Manitou Canyon (2016)
Total in print: 53K

Windigo Island (2015)
Total in print: 57K

Ordinary Grace (2013)
Total in print: 352K

Krueger’s Recent In-Print
Numbers
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