In a TalkingwithTim.com first, with this interview, I have the pleasure of talking with Lee Goldberg, the brother of someone previously interviewed here (Tod Goldberg). Honestly, when I contacted the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW), I had no idea I would end up interviewing Lee (who co-founded the group). So this was merely a great coincidence. In addition to talking about IAMTW (a group “dedicated to enhancing the professional and public image of tie-in writers…to working with the media to review tie-in novels and publicize their authors…to educating people about who we are and what we do….and to providing a forum for tie-in writers to share information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to our field…”), Lee and I discuss his media tie-in work with Monk (he has a new book, MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP, due to be released in July)  and Diagnosis Murder. My thanks to Lee for an engaging and informative discussion (now I need to go find those old Rockford Files novels that I just found out about…)

Tim O’Shea: IAMTW was initially established by you and Max Allan Collins to enhance “the professional and public image of tie-in writers”. Have you found that Mystery Writers of America, Science Fiction Writers of America, and the Romance Writers of America have given greater credit to tie-in writers since the formation of the group–or what metrics do you use to evaluate the effectiveness of IAMTW’s efforts to date?

Lee Goldberg: We aren’t interested in getting acknowledgement from other writers’ organizations…our goal is to increase awareness of, and appreciation for, tie-in writing among the general public, booksellers, publishers, and the media (print, Internet, broadcast, etc). In that regard, I think we’ve succeeded. We’ve seen a LOT more press about tie-in authors since our organization started, much of it directly mentioning the IAMTW or our Scribe Awards (ie Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Mystery Scene, etc)…and we are noticing increased recognition from publishers, who are starting to mention Scribe Awards and/or nominations for their authors in sales catalogs, promo materials and book jacket copy.

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