Tag: Publishing

Interview with Angelique Clemens

Quan

I’ve known Angelique from way back in my college days. She is a vibrant, outgoing lady with a ton of insight to offer via her debut novel “Can I Borrow Your Skin?” While creating her author website for her at angeliqueclemens.com I took the time to interview her about her book.

What inspires your writing?

Life. I am moved by significant events in my life and the life of those around me. Writing about those experiences and working through different outcomes is what inspires my writings. As humans, we naturally think through what-ifs and daydream. For me that daydreaming and trying to visualize a world different than the path I took can open doors to another story.  

What is your process of developing characters?

I write biographical fiction therefore the characters’ relatability is imperative for the success of the book. I spend time developing storyboard for each of the main character of the book and their relationship.

Did you Start with a story outline or did you make it up as you went along?

It is a combination of both. I spend time developing the characters and their relationship, but I do not outline the entire book.

How much research did you need for your story?

Can I Borrow Your Skin is based in a time period and in an area in the world that I am quite familiar so I did not have to research those aspects of the book.

What researching methods did you use?

I did research some of the sporting event scores and schedules using the internet.

Did you draw on personal experience?

Absolutely! I definitely included elements of my own life in the book. We, as authors, do write what we know and I know my own experiences the best.

How did your publish?

I have a friend that owns a publishing company. He mentored me through the publishing process.

Why did you do it that way?

It was cost-effective and never felt like I was going at it alone.

How long did it take to land representation?

It was instantaneous for me once I reached out to him.

What advice would you have for writers looking to publish the way you published?

Contact Shawn at shawntblanchard.com, his is an excellent author, speaker, and mentor.

Who did your cover and marketing?

Shawn’s team did my cover based on my ideas. I marketed the book based on the advice received from Shawn.

Did you use beta readers? How did you secure them?

I did. I reached out to a group of authors and subject-matter experts that I knew.

How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

Three!

What do you think readers that have never experienced situations like your protagonist will gain from reading your story?

How to love themselves. The protagonist spends so much of her time adapting and in so doing she feels as if she is losing herself. Persons reading my book will hopefully walk away from the book thinking to themselves that it is OK to not be perfect and that trying to be what everyone expects of you will have you in a situation where you are never who you know yourself to be.

What are you writing now?

The sequel to Can I Borrow Your Skin

What is your advice to other writers?

Embrace the process! Allow yourself to enjoy the experience.

Interview with Todd Sullivan

Quan

I am always looking for new authors to interview. I enjoy picking their brain and gaining their insights into the processes of writing, publishing and marketing stories. Horror writer Todd Sullivan was one of the first to reach out to me about a possible interview. Check him out here.

What inspires your writing?

I’m inspired by the world around me. Most of my influences, I have direct contact with. I wrote about Korea because that’s where I lived for ten years. I’ll write about Taiwan as I continue to meet people and experience the culture of the country. If a reader was so inclined, they could read my fiction over the years and follow the progress of where I’ve lived over my lifespan. It’s all there, in the words, like a map.

What is your process of developing characters?

As my mastery of fiction craft has developed, my style of developing characters has changed. Like my inspiration, generally my main characters are based upon people I’ve met. But real life people are only the jumping off part. The characters themselves are not reflections of these individuals in the least.
In the past, I would write very short stories about characters as I was developing them. I picked up this technique from a university professor I met twenty years ago. It’s very useful and very effective, but lately, I’ve found that I don’t have to do that anymore. And when I say lately, I mean in the last year or so. I see fiction narratives in my head quite clearly now. Practicing the craft for my lifetime, I suppose, has given me this ability, as well as the ability to edit more in my head before I even put it on the page.

Did you start with a story outline or did you make it up as you went along?

I don’t outline, and I don’t ask any one I teach writing to to do so with their fiction. Just write the story. People can get caught up with outlining and never finish a story. Plus, that’s what editing is for, to give greater shape to the first pile of words you put down on the page.
One thing I would advise, and have done, if I feel like I’m getting stuck in a story, is to go ahead and write the ending. That way, you now have something to aim for, even if that ending changes as you get closer to it.

What researching methods did you use?

Part of the reason why I developed the practice of writing from direct experiences is because I hated researching when I was young. I didn’t have patience for it. Things have changed now, though. You can research a subject that you want to put in story by simply using the internet. Between google and YouTube, you can get a lot of good information on almost any topic known to man. Because of this, I’ve taken to researching quite a bit, which gives me a greater breadth of what I can include in my fiction.

Did you draw on personal experience?

I draw on my personal experiences, as well as the experiences of people I meet.

How did you publish?

BUTCHERS was published by Nightmare Press, and my fantasy novella, HOLLOW MEN, will be published by Mocha Memoirs Press.

Why did you do it that way?

For business ventures, I simply think it’s better to work as a group. Self-publishing limits your influence to only the people you meet. Publishing with a publisher, at the very least, doubles the reach of your writing.

How long did it take you to land representation?

I’m not represented by an agent.

Who did your cover and marketing?

Holly Wholahan did the cover for BUTCHERS, and Nightmare Press is doing a fantastic job of marketing.

What are some of the methods you have used to generate interest in your book?

Social media events, future book signings, interviews, book reviews.

How did you find a unique approach to familiar subjects like Vampires and the Occult?

BUTCHERS fuses the western vampire mythology to Korea culture to create a unique blend. I feel confident that I’ve written a unique spin on an undying narrative.

What aspect of the book writing process did you find the most challenging?

Finding time to write is challenging. I write every day, usually in the morning as soon as I wake up. I do feel that this is when my conscious mind most easily enters different realms. But usually, I only write about an hour a day, and that means my pace isn’t very fast for completing projects. Sometimes, however, when I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands, I finish projects at a much more heightened speed. I would love to get to a point where I can enter into a new reality for six months, then do nothing but write three months, then enter into another reality in search of new material for another half a year. That would probably be an ideal writer’s life for me.

Did you use beta readers? How did you secure them?

I’m very big on beta readers, and I pray that I never get to the point where I can’t have a variety of regular people reading my writing and giving me honest feedback. Granted, I would like to have a growing audience, but I still hope that I can always get regular readers to give their thoughts. It’s so much better than professionals only, who I feel can lose touch with what a general reader actually wants in their fiction.

How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

I wrote BUTCHERS over four months, but the idea started about five years previously. And I wrote my first vampire story as a child, of which BUTCHERS is its far distant descendant. Basically, I’ve been working on this vampire narrative for my lifetime, and BUTCHERS is only the first of many more to come.

What are you writing now?

I’m writing a fantasy novella tentatively titled DEARTH. It has a long road ahead of it until completion.

What is your advice to other writers?

Master the technique of writing a great first line.

Download your copy of Todd’s Novella BUTCHERS now!

Vanity Press, Thy Name Is Mudd

Quan

My first novel, The Leopard Man, was published through a nefarious book publisher called PublishAmerica. Some of you may know of them and their reputation. I did not renew my contract with them and have since self-published The Leopard Man, even offering it for free on my website. This is an account of my experiences good and bad putting a book out through PublishAmerica.

1. I had just spent 9 months working on my new manuscript. It was an involved process, and I was very proud of the story. But I was intimidated by the process of seeking an agent and publisher. I had failed previously with two other manuscripts, and I wanted desperately for this one to succeed. I was also unemployed, and I was spurred on by the rags-to-riches stories of Tyler Perry and Michael Moore. They succeeded by working hard and believing in their dreams, and I wanted to do the same. I was jobhunting when I came across an ad for PublishAmerica on Careerbuilder.com. I was a little wary, wondering why a book publisher would be on a job hunting website, so I looked them up. I thought I was researching them. I visited their website, where they implicitly said they weren’t a vanity press. So I took their word for it and sent my query and then my manuscript to them. They accepted it without any problems. I was elated to have my book coming out, and told all my family and friends as much.

I missed a few clues that something was wrong. First of all, I had to edit my own book. In addition to that, I only got a $1 advance, they offered a bare minimum (not even that) of promotional support, I had to approach bookstores myself to get the book stocked. Also, The family & friend list idea seemed unprofessional, and I didn’t see any books by this publisher in bookstores near me.

I had made plans to go on a deep, involved marketing campaign. I had read Terry McMillain’s article on self-promotion, and took it all to heart. I was determined to make this book a bestseller, if I had to do everything myself (which I eventually had to do anyway). I had gotten quotes from various publicists. I had contacted numerous Writers conferences about setting up booths or doing appearances to promote my book. I had found an alumni from my college who would help me set up shop in Chicago. I had talked to an uncle who had a Movie producer friend about maybe getting the producer to buy the movie rights. I designed my own book cover, and programmed the promotional website myself. I told everyone at my high school reunion about my book and signed everyone up to my mailing list. I contacted both my Creative writing professors (Jonis Agee, who wrote Strange Angels) and a novelist who was an old classmate of mine (Anne Mallory, who wrote Masquerading the Marquess) about reading my manuscript and endorsing it. I was going to approach my church about endorsing the book, and had planned on taking out ads in local newspapers and magazines. I had gotten price quotes from merchandisers for book-related items like t-shirts and mugs I could give away or sell. I talked with a local bookstore about having a book signing the month my book was released. I had even talked to some music producers I knew about putting together a movie-styled score for my novel. I was thinking up sequels to the book, also.

Then a strange thing happened. I was applying for the Poets & Writers author database and was rejected. They said my credentials weren’t good enough. I wondered why, so I looked up the rules. It said “we don’t accept book published through Vanity Presses…like Publish America.” My heart hit the floor. “vanity press” is one of the most reviled phrases in the writing community. And I felt that I had basically been lied to.

That’s when I did some REAL research on Publish America. I googled them and found a plethora of information, mostly from authors complaining about them or warning others not to do business with them. There were complaints logged in the BBB about them. There was an extensive pro vs. con site about them, with the vast majority of comments being on the con side. Book Reviewers, magazines and industry resources didn’t consider their books as legitimate. Book stores would not carry anything published by them. Legitimate agents and publishers held any works done through them against you when considering future books for publication. Basically, publishers like PA don’t make their money off of actually selling books, they make their money off of the author buying the books from them. And my book was under contract with them for seven years. I saw my hopes and dreams of being a full-time author slipping out of my hands.

I was despondent for about two weeks. I was embarrassed that I had asked my Teacher and Friend, both established authors, to endorse what they could have easily seen as hack work. I was ashamed to be telling people of a book they couldn’t go to their nearest Borders (back when brick and mortar bookstores were a thing) and buy, especially since a great deal of my friends and family didn’t have access to Amazon.com, where my book was being sold at. I canceled the majority of my promotional plans. No more writers conferences. No more movie deal. No hiring of any publicist. No merchandising or ads in any publications. No book signings. I even canceled the soundtrack project. I stopped updating the website. My story covered some powerful topics – one of which I got the permission of a lady who had been through a very traumatic experience to use in my story, and I felt that I had let her down in not getting the issue addressed. I was on the verge of abandoning the book – and my writing – altogether. I had even gotten to the point of questioning how good the book really was, and whether I had what it took to be a successful writer.

Then a few things happened. First, I had gotten a response from the classmate, saying she loved my story and would gladly endorse it. I had told her what happened, and she gave me some words of encouragement, saying that this misstep didn’t have to be the end of my writing career. Some of the friends and family on my mailing list said they sympathized with what happened to me and would support me and tell people about my book. And then the book actually arrived. Vanity Press or no Vanity Press, NOTHING can compare to the feeling of seeing your first book in print. It’s an amazing thing. On top of that, I gave one of my two complimentary copies to Ashlynn, my wife’s teenaged niece, who allowed me to base the heroine of my novel on her mannerisms, opinions and personality. Seeing her face light up as I gave her the other copy of the book reassured me that I did the right thing in getting the book out. It inspired me to redouble my efforts to promote the book, if only to see how I could make the most of my situation.

I decided not to go all-out to promote the book like I had originally planned. I didn’t have the time or funds to sink into a huge promotional campaign (especially if I was doing it all myself), and this was before internet and social media book marketing became a viable thing to do. but I did manage to make some things happen. I approached a few libraries in my hometown and told them about my book. They ordered a few copies and even asked me to autograph one! I got a kick out of seeing my book on their shelves next to Grisham, Clancy, McMillan and Tyreese. I continued to update the website, adding Anne’s endorsement and even moving the site to my personal website when the domain expired. I contacted my college’s alumni magazine and they reported the debut of my novel and how to get ahold of it. I joined up with Amazon’s marketing partnership to help direct visitors to my site to Amazon to buy the book. A middle school English teacher who heard of my plight invited me to speak about it and creative writing in general to classes of young writers at a few schools in Ann Arbor. I still went to one of the conferences – the Sweet Auburn festival in Atlanta – and passed out postcards and flyers promoting my book. And, of course, I wrote this article.

A supporter of PA once said that they were satisfied with PA. The company treated them nicely, and they were happy to have their book published. And that really is fine and dandy…if all you want to do is get a book published. For those hoping to make a career out of writing, however, Publish America’s sordid reputation is a serious detriment. I learned that from experience. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken a more serious look at them, and checked around before sending or signing anything. It wasn’t all bad, though. For one, I did sell a few books: the libraries bought a couple, and a couple of family members bought books. I didn’t get much in Royalties, but with all of the money I spent writing and promoting the book, it counts as a huge benefit for me come tax-time. Since I lost more than I made, I can write all of that off and get some of that money back. I still get a kick out of seeing my book in the library, and my wife’s niece was so happy to be the star of her own novel that she took her copy of the book with her everywhere she went, up until she started attending college.

And I haven’t stopped writing. I’ve since gotten two other novels published with legit publishers or e-publishers, and I made sure I did my homework on them before I signed anything with them. Red Rose Publications, King Jewel and Necro Publications have been very good to me and my novels. My contract with PA finally expired, and I now offer that book as-is as a free PDF download on my website, www.quanwilliams.com. And now I am seeking an agent for two fantasy manuscripts I have completed as of tis posting, and I am , I promisecrrently writing follow-ups to both of them, But when I do finally garner the interest of another publisher, I promise to look before I leap into a situation with a suspect publisher. I don’t want to publish in vain again.

The book in question, The Leopard Man, is available as a free download here.

I Wrote an Unprintable Novel! Now What?

Quan

Every now and then I go through my old archives to see if there are any unfinished ideas that I could mine for inspiration and/or new material. This process was how I got around to doing new material for THE SEIZURE webcomic and for its spinoff webcomic, WEEKEND HEROES. Recently I dug up an old novel manuscript I had written way back in 2002 which never saw print…and probably never will.

Why will it never see print, you may ask? Well, for one, the writing is EXTREMELY raw, and I have no motivation to polish it up. Also, I’m entrenched in my current projects like trying to find representation for these two manuscripts I just finished and writing their follow-ups.

But the main reason why I won’t pursue finding an agent or publisher for the novel is that I’m not too sure I want this book to represent me as a writer. You see, I was in a very dark place in my life when I wrote the story. I had just lost my job to corporate outsourcing, I nearly lost two relatives and a close friend to the attacks on 9/11, the music group and entertainment corporation I had been a part of for the past 2 years was on the verge of dissolving, and I had just been screwed over by an auto mechanic on car repairs. I was NOT a happy guy. At that time I had an idea for a story bouncing around my head because I saw Christopher Walken’s character portrayal in “Last Man Standing” and loved how he portrayed a remorseless thug. I wanted to write a story about that. I had visions of this badass old thug walking down the street with some Deliberately-paced death metal playing behind him. He’d swoop into a city, do some dirt and leave. Kind of like Jack Reacher, except this dude has no morals whatsoever (but he does like dogs). I was also into John Malkovich’s criminal mastermind characters, and I came up with the idea of what if these two guys were pitted against each other? And that was the genesis of my unpublished crime novel BAD MEETS EVIL. While prewriting I heard of some writers debating on whether you could write an engaging story which was devoid of sympathetic characters, and I took that as a challenge. So this story evolved into a full-on evil-fest, starring seven dastardly people (each loosely representing one of the seven deadly sins) locked in a competition none of them could win. There’s a big illegal money deal going down, and everybody wants in on it: from The lazy CEO Vick and his Lustful, philandering wife Barb, to The arrogant Human trafficker Ken and his Wrathful crooked cop brother Abe, to the Greedy Private Investigator Kwame and his Envious girlfriend Terri, and of course The gluttonous superhoodlum John who is at the center of it all.

While writing this story, I ended up pouring all of my anger and frustration at my situation into the book. The result is a story that I wrote to intentionally offend and disgust as many of its readers as possible, regardless of race, religion, gender, social status, or sexual preference. I wanted to piss EVERYBODY off. The story was basically my middle finger to the whole world. Once done, there were actually some people brave enough to want to proofread it (I warned them about it, though. I told them that after reading it, they might want to take a bath). None of them could get past the first chapter. But it was for a reason other than the story being offensive. They simply couldn’t find my central protagonist interesting enough to want to read any more about him. That’s the cardinal rule of storytelling, it doesn’t matter how virtuous or evil your hero is, he has to first and foremost be interesting. And in that regard I failed. And that was the end of that, so I moved on to another story.

I think some people would think creating unpublishable works to be a waste of time, but I beg to differ. First of all, it’s good exercise, and helps a lot towards developing your voice and writing style. Secondly, it can be very therapeutic to just cut loose and not worry about grammar and character development and all that other stuff that content editors harp on. Just let the imagination run and see where it takes you. Thirdly, your unprintable story might have some ideas in it you can come back and mine later on for other more salable projects. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll see some elements from this story in something else I publish. Stranger things have happened.