E.A. Aymar's Blog, page 3

January 30, 2014

...The Story Behind the Story.


Here's a piece I wrote for one of my favorite crime writing sites, the Rap Sheet, about the limits of revenge. FYI, contains a brief mention of Darth Vader.

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Published on January 30, 2014 16:00

January 23, 2014

...Meeting Audience Expecations


Here's a post I wrote YA author Yvonne Ventresca's blog about meeting audience expectations. I talk about erotica fans, and why they need some kissin.'

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Published on January 23, 2014 16:00

January 16, 2014

...Five Tips About How to Get Blurbs


Here's a post I published at the site Buried Under Books. You can read it here.

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Published on January 16, 2014 16:00

January 6, 2014

...Talk Blogging


Just a note: I've been guest-blogging and writing articles for other sites and, for exclusivity, haven't placed those posts on my blog. But here's a listing of where I've been and where I'm going to be (you can also see this list under the "Publications" tab):




The November issue of The Big Thrill featured an essay by me, about writing in Baltimore called  Weekends in Baltimore .



Fellow Black Opal Books author Cathrina Constantine interviewed me for her blog.



I talked about  Creating a Fan Base with Serial Fiction  for Tuesday Serial.



And I wrote about the problems with thriller heroes for Michelle Davidson Argyle's blog.


I have two guest blogs coming up:



1/17 - Buried Under Books is hosting my upcoming essay on how to get blurbs.



2/10 - I have an essay on Sandy Cody's blog about different publishing paths.



I'll be back here before long with an interview and update or two. Happy 2014!



EA

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Published on January 06, 2014 16:00

December 12, 2013

...Give Five Rules for Meeting Writers You Admire


Before I start, I just want to mention that my thriller novella, When the Deep Purple Falls, is available for FREE on Kindle this week (through December 13th). It's a prequel to I'll Sleep When You're Dead, and includes black and white photographs and an illustrated murderer's row of the book's characters. So check that out!



Now, on to the post...



Meeting an artist whose work you hold in high regard can be daunting. As a debut writer, I was nervous and excited about the opportunity to attend conferences and panels and meet some of the writers whose work I’ve read. I was at an event recently with Suajata Massey and Donna Andrews and Art Taylor (to name just three of the terrific writers in attendance) and, happily, everything went well. So, warm with that success, I’ve come up with five rules that everyone should follow when it comes to meeting writers you admire:



1.       Try not to be creepy. Sure you want to smell their hair, and it probably smells divine, but it comes off as creepy if you ask them. I’ve found a more effective strategy is to wait for the moment that the writer has a book in his or her hand, and then knock it out. When they bend down to pick the book up, now’s your chance! Lean over and deeply inhale.



2.       Ask a question they’re not expecting. Every writer has been asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” or “How often do you write?” But not every writer has been asked, “How do you think you’re going to die, when it happens next Thursday?” by an adoring fan. Try it! The answer may surprise you, and the question will certainly surprise them.



3.       Share something about yourself. It’s really hard to make a meaningful connection without vulnerability. That’s why I recommend volunteering something personal, usually at the beginning of the conversation (you don’t know how long you’ll have them for). This is how Meg Abbott found out the details of my colonoscopy last November.



4.       Be cool. We live in an age of social media, and every writer knows the importance of blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads. Most famous writers are used to having their pictures taken with fans and absolutely love being asked. So take a picture with the writer and mention that you’re going to put it on Facebook, in the same album where you keep pictures of the writer’s house, cat, the writer loading groceries into his or her car, and your colonoscopy scans.



5.       Mention their work. At the end of a long day of panels and meetings, a writer wants to do nothing more than have a lengthy conversation with a fan. But you want to prove that you’re a true fan, not someone who just heaps on praise. That’s why I recommend pointing out errors in their books. “Did you know a comma was missing on page forty-three of your last book?” “Why was the main character’s house blue in the first chapter, and red in the third?” Writers LOVE these little tips, and will remember your critiques far into the future, even after you’ve forgotten.



That’s all the advice I have time for but, if you follow my lead, I guarantee any meeting you have with a writer will be memorable. Especially for them.



E.A.

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Published on December 12, 2013 06:26

November 24, 2013

...Detail How I Made a Book Trailer


There are different thoughts when it comes to the success of book trailers, especially because a lot of readers don’t even know books have trailers nowadays. Plus a well-done trailer can be expensive, and you don’t know if you’re going to make that investment back.



Fortunately, I’m terrible at managing my money, so spending a bit on a trailer didn’t worry me.



Had You Ever Done a Trailer Before?



I had shot a trailer for When the Deep Purple Falls (the prequel I wrote for I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead), and I liked how it turned out. It was moody and dark and fit the tone of that story. The only bad thing was that I had to tie a friend of mine to a chair in a basement for the photo shoot. Actually, that was more awkward than bad. But it ended up being a cool photo shoot and I worked with a good video editor who shot and produced the whole thing, and didn’t charge me that much.



When it came to I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, I wanted to do something different. I had seen a couple of animated trailers and liked the look, and I thought it would work for my book. But I really suck at drawing and, even though I know some good artists, animation is a different field.



So How’d You Find an Animator?



I went on a few different sites for freelance graphic designers and put in the project parameters – description, budget, etc. And I received a lot of responses, from designers all around the world. Some of them gave off a scent of scam, and others worked in styles that conflicted with what I had in mind. Eventually it came down to two designers, and I picked Ryan Schiewe based off a short film he had done called Sunday Corner Tap. I imagined my trailer in a style similar to Frank Miller or Bill Plympton and Ryan was a fan of both artists and excited to work on the project. Plus he was a cool guy, and that was important.



If you’re going to hire an animator, make sure the person is a proven professional. Have their portfolio wow you. A lot of people will promise quick trailers at a small budget; I’d be wary of that. Find someone whose work you like, and then work out the budget. Like any business, check their references. Make sure, basically, that the designer has two qualities – he or she is good, and good to work with. Both of those are hugely important. The trailer will represent your book more than you realize. If you rush and accept substandard work from an uninterested artist, then chances are the audience will expect (and probably receive) the same from your work.



What About Music for Your Trailer?



I know a couple of musicians and reached out to Abby Mott, a singer I first came across when she lived in Baltimore (I interviewed her for my blog here). Abby sings in a lot of styles, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine her doing something that sounded like the more haunted songs from O Brother Where Art Thou or the alt-country styling of Neko Case. I broached her on the idea and she was excited, and agreed to work with me on the project. In a couple of weeks, she had written and recorded “When I’m Dead,” the soundtrack for the trailer. I loved it, sent it to Ryan and he was similarly impressed.



Of course, if you don’t know a totally awesome singer or have the money to pay for it, then let the Internet help. You can find royalty-free songs on a variety of sites. Personally, I prefer this one, but there are lots out there. The songs are free; generally, you just have to provide a credit.



How Long Did It Take?



Maybe a couple of months? Ryan set up a timetable and followed it without flaw (same with the budget). The only stumbling block we had was when it came to one of my characters named Diane, and that wasn’t on Ryan. That was on me. Diane is a 300-or-so pound hit woman, and the direction I gave Ryan made her more amusing than threatening. We went back and forth a couple of times, and he came up with a way to portray her that worked. Additionally, I originally had the house at the end in the country, and realized it needed to be placed in the city. I sent him a photograph of the neighborhood in Baltimore and, within a day or so, Ryan had sketched it perfectly. Again, work with good artists.



So, In the End….



Will it be successful? I dunno. I put the trailer out on the same day that my book was released – some say it’s best to have a trailer build excitement for a project, but I wanted people to be able to watch the trailer and immediately buy the book. If you hit pay dirt and touch lofty “viral video” status, then there’s no telling whether those views are going to lead to sales. Plus, think about movie trailers – how many great movies are known for their trailers? Not many, if any.



But a good trailer can’t hurt, and I don’t think anyone should turn down the chance to collaborate with, and build relationships with, good artists in other fields. Plus it’s, you know, the future. You’re reading this post online, and you can click right over to the trailer. Writers and publishers aren’t doing it yet, but it won’t be long before trailers are included in books – you download a book to your Kindle, open it and the trailer plays (actually, that’s a good idea – PATENT). When the waves come, you want to be as far ahead of them as possible.



You can view the trailer for I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead at www.eaymar.com/novel.



E.A.

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Published on November 24, 2013 14:45

November 18, 2013

...Get Interviewed by Cathrina Constantine


Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed by fellow Black Opal author Cathrina Constantine. We talked orgies, editing and...do you need anything else?



Check it out here.

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Published on November 18, 2013 07:47

November 5, 2013

...Review Kill the Architect, by Cage


Aren’t You Too Old To Write About Rap?



Probably. When I was younger, so was rap, and so were rappers. The idea of a rapper over forty, or even in his thirties, was ridiculous, especially for a genre so heavily identified with anger and rebellion. But rap, to the chagrin of its critics and everyone’s parents, ended up lasting and, like any art form, the experience and maturity of its elder statesmen now bring something to it that younger rappers cannot. This year alone has seen a number of industry veterans release albums and, generally, their talent has shown through. Age isn’t seen as a deterrent anymore.



But, yeah, I’m coming close to 40, so you might be right.



Why Write About Cage?



Well, I’ve done it before. Cage’s music was the focus of my graduate thesis, so I spent a couple of years analyzing his lyrics; those were a dark couple of years, actually. He’s an important, underrated and under-appreciated artist, and deserves a wide audience. Although maybe he’d hate that. I don’t know. I just find his music interesting.



Is Cage More Cheerful Than The Last Rapper You Wrote About?



More than any other rapper, Cage has a gift for bringing nihilism to life. Rap (and some harder rock) has had an infamous number of practitioners try to offend or disturb audiences, to the extent that a subgenre was born, but Cage stands above those categorizations (even when he is credited as their pioneer). In fact, his ability to paint a discomfiting image extends beyond rappers – I’d put him in the same category as writers like Bret Easton Ellis or Charles Bukowski or Garth Ennis, or the film work of Lars von Trier. Like those artists, that ability is understandably controversial, but brutally uncompromising, unique, and usually imitated to lesser results.



So Why Is Cage So Dark?



As he occasionally alludes to in his music, Cage’s attitude comes from a wildly-abusive childhood that saw him eventually committed to an asylum; I’m not going to go into detail here, but you can listen to Too Heavy for Cherubs or In Stoney Lodge to learn more. Or read the bio on his web site.



While some rappers turn away from their identity, Cage’s new album shows that he has sunk deeper into his, to the point that he released the album with his old label, Eastern Conference Records. And the new album is good.



Really? What Makes Kill The Architect Good? Some Guy On Youtube Hated It.



The music is sparse, but occasionally sparsely beautiful, and perfectly suited for the rapper. Cage has always rapped like someone who realizes he’s being constantly lied to, and that his refusal to accept lies will eventually destroy him. As he says in the opening lyrics of The Hunt, “I cut my heart open for you, so I can feel it bleed.”



The Hunt is probably the album’s most ready-made single, with a minimalized chorus consisting of a lonely haunting voice singing “I don’t need you” and Cage responding “Sure you do.” Which, really, has been the essence of Cage since day one, and his rebellion from systems that demand servitude. Voices call to him, he calls to others, and the response is invariably silence or violence. The manifesto Cage wrote in Agent Orange, where the young rapper forcefully expressed his disillusion with both science and religion, is etched in stone with Kill the Architect.



What Else?



Haunting references to Jim Jones, David Koresh, Joseph Smith, Aleister Crowley and others, as well as lines like “Only prey will pray” demonstrate Cage’s traditional disdain for organized systems of belief – others, of course, have done the same, but rarely as well.



These are trappings – the identity of Cage, as illustrated in The Death of Chris Palko, was born in a failed system, and rather than escape and change, the image of Cage that comes to mind is of a mental patient standing in a room and helplessly screaming. And even though you want Cage to escape these surroundings, and to leave some of the less desirable aspects of his music behind (like a resurfacing misogyny, or a light that exclusively illuminates unhappiness)…four or so albums later, you get the sense that Cage never will, that he is so bound to Stoney Lodge parts of him will never escape its walls.



So Cage Is A One-Trick Pony?



Not at all. His talent has grown, but critics constantly make the mistake of considering growth the same thing as a change in content. They couldn’t be more wrong. F. Scott Fitzgerald explained it best:



“Mostly, we authors repeat ourselves – that’s the truth. We have two or three great and moving experiences in our lives – experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before. Then we learn our trade, well or less well, and we tell our two or three stories – each time in a new disguise – maybe ten times, maybe a hundred, as long as people will listen.”



 So I Should Buy This Album?



I think so. You might not like it, and I get that. Some people don’t like rap and never will. Some people find Cage off-putting. I’m the type of person who thinks A Clockwork Orange (an early influence for Cage) is brilliant, and I have very smart and talented friends who despise the book. That’s cool.



But the question of audience isn’t one I’ve considered when it comes to Cage. I’m not sure who his music is for. Probably for himself. Probably for the scared person who’s been terrorized or bullied, and needs a voice for their anger. Or a contemporary audience that finds itself balancing between paranoia and fury. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not for a person, or a time, but rather an emotion, the anger and anguish that comes when you eventually cut your own heart open.



EA

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Published on November 05, 2013 16:00

October 30, 2013

...Interview Art Taylor


First, I wanted to give you a quick update about my debut thriller. 



Over the past few months, the novel went through the editing stages, I saw the galley proofs and just received the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). I was happy with the edits and really excited to see the proofs and ARC; essentially, you get to see the book in a nearly-finished stage. It was hard for me to imagine what the pages would look like, but it's really cool to see your writing professionally formatted. The folks at Black Opal Books do nice work.



That said, reading the ARC is nerve-wracking. It's too late to make changes, and the idea that an error somehow slipped through makes me die inside.



But no errors found, and now I'm doing things like finalizing promotions, getting the launch event ready, contacting media and reviewers, all that stuff. The good news is that we're on target for 11/16. Again, I'm thrilled about this, and I hope you enjoy my work. It's been years in the making.



It should be able for pre-order in days. Check back here for more information.



On to the interview...



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Art Taylor is one of today's best short story writers working today, and his particular emphasis is in the mystery and thriller fields. His short fiction has appeared in a number of publications, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, a variety of celebrated anthologies, and has been nominated and/or won the Agatha, Macavity, and Derringer awards. He reviews mysteries and thrillers for the Washington Post and, most important of all, teaches at GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY, home of the 2006 Final Four Men's Basketball Team. Which you should know, if you're a student of American history.

 

So, taking all that into account, you can imagine how excited I was to interview him for my blog. What I ended up with was one of the most informative and open interviews I've had the pleasure to host.


What’s your favorite joke?



I'm not a good joke teller, I'll admit. I hardly ever remember the jokes I hear, and even when I do, I always screw up the delivery. The first joke that popped into my mind here was one which actually was voted the best joke ever. I'm just cutting and pasting it, but I do think it's great:



Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gun shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"



(Ed. Note: HA!)



What do you consider your top priority as a professional reviewer?



Ultimately, I'm not sure that anyone cares whether I personally enjoyed a book or not. That may be the case with more regular reviewers, where a reader develops some knowledge of how a columnist's tastes line up with his or her own, but I certainly don't approach my own reviewing thinking that I'm going to sway folks solely by whatever pleasure or displeasure I take in my own reading. Instead, I want to do two things: first, to provide some larger context on a book (not just thumbs up, thumbs down but some larger sense of how it fits into a tradition or the trends of a moment or whatever), and second, to represent a book in a way that readers can judge whether it's something they should pursue or not. One of the best comments I got on a review was from an acquaintance who said something along the lines of, "I got the feeling from your review that you didn't like that book, but it sounds like just my kind of thing." I think that's a great compliment to a critic. 



Is it difficult to provide a harsh criticism of someone’s work?



On the one hand, recognizing how much work it takes to write a book and revise it and get it agented and sold and revised again and published and…. well, it's hard not to feel a little guilty being negative about someone else's pride and joy. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think that critics in general take great pleasure in trashing someone else's work—in being clever in their own right at the expense of somebody else. Still, I do think there's an obligation to be honest about what's not working in a novel and to try to let readers know (as I said above) if a book might just not be right for them. That's part of the reviewer's responsibility to his/her own readers, and it's not a responsibility to be taken lightly. No one is served well if you just give a little pat on the back to everything you read. 



Do your other professional obligations ever interfere in your writing (for example, regarding the amount of time you can dedicate to writing)?



Absolutely. Reviewing is a lot of fun and I'm obviously reading things in my field, enriching my knowledge and perspectives, but focusing on writing a review means not focusing on writing my fiction—at least for the length of time it takes me to write the review, of course. But I'm not reviewing regularly enough that it poses a tremendous conflict. More conflict—in terms of time and mental energy—comes from teaching, especially during the heavy grading parts of the semester. Everything is a choice, of course.  



Your fiction tends to change its identity according to the story, but many crime fiction writers do the opposite, and work in a recognizable or distinctive prose. Do you think your approach could potentially delay building an audience, considering it plays outside of standard genre conventions?



A good question. Yes, I've thought about that myself. I like playing with different voices, different tones, different subgenres, so my stories range from pretty dark noir to much lighter fare. I've been very lucky to have had attention for my stories in terms of honors and awards, and I've had a couple of publishers approach me about a story collection, but I have serious concerns that my stories so far wouldn't entirely be cohesive enough to gather into a collection—troubling to say the least. And in terms of writing a novel someday… well, I know in today's publishing climate, brand means almost everything.



Here's a telling anecdote: I spoke with an editor at a major publishing house last year about several ideas for novels, and she said that I really needed to think about not just one book but a series, projecting ahead into the future—no big surprise there. But here's what's telling: When I mentioned the idea of working in various directions as I've done with my stories—and hearkened back to a writer like Donald Westlake, who wrote some of the funniest mystery novels ever as well as some of the coldest and bleakest—the editor said that she felt certain those choices had compromised his career (read: "sales") tremendously. I'm not likening myself to Westlake, of course—that was never my point—but the conversation was sobering, and a little intimidating. And I'm not sure what any of that means for the way that I've been approaching my career here. Perhaps not good news.



Is there an average length of time it takes you to write a short story?



I'm generally a very slow writer. I tend to write long and then concentrate my revision in stages on big cuts and then seemingly endless trimming, so I usually write no more than about three stories a year, at most. That said, I've occasionally had a flash of insight. One of my stories, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," came to mind one night during a Chicago concert at Wolf Trap. I made notes on my phone during the concert, wrote the entire draft in one rush early the next morning, let my wife read it immediately, then revised it and had it submitted it to a journal by noon. By 1 p.m., they'd accepted it. I wish they were all so easy! But in contrast, I've also had stories that I've tinkered with over a period of years before finally finding that right balance of elements that left me feeling fully satisfied.



What are your thoughts about the changing state of publishing and the different avenues that have opened for writers?



The rise of both small press publishers and of online journals strikes me as extremely encouraging. I know some folks still hold out for nothing less than being published by one of the bigger, better known publishing houses, but I think there are more ways than ever these days to find someone willing to champion your work and get it out there for an appreciative audience. That audience may be in the hundreds OR thousands instead of the hundred OF thousands, but to many folks—me included—maybe success isn't necessarily in finding the MOST readers but in finding the right ones.  



What’s the best piece of advice about writing you’ve come across?



Anne Lamott's advice about taking things bird by bird sticks with me. It keeps me focused, keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.



What’s your best moment in publishing (so far)?



Back in high school—in my first year of boarding school over in Alexandria—I very nervously slipped a short story I'd written into the mailbox of the faculty advisor for the student literary journal. Later that afternoon, he came bounding into my dorm hallway, calling my name, telling me how much he loved it, how they wanted to publish it. Not that it's all been downhill since then, but I'll admit that I haven't had any other editors come literally knocking at my door like that in the years since.



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Thanks so much, Art. For more information about Art Taylor, you can visit his web site here. You can also find him on his blog, Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon. And while you're at it, follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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Published on October 30, 2013 08:37

October 20, 2013

...Interview Barry Lancet


Barry Lancet's debut thriller, JAPANTOWN, is a gigantic success. It's gone into at least four printings (three before it was even released), the novel has received praise from a variety of bestselling writers and publications, and it's been optioned by J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot (Lost, Alias, the recent Star Trek movies) for a television series.



On top of all that, Barry is a super nice guy. I met him when I joined the Debut Authors program of the International Thriller Writers, and he was friendly and accessible. Even though his novel just came out and he likely has a lot of better and more important things to do, Barry agreed to an interview for my blog:



What's your favorite joke? 



Well, my current one has been woven into the plot of JAPANTOWN, so it’s the exclusive terrain of readers of the book for the foreseeable future.  You won’t see it in interviews!



(Ed. Note: I've read the book so I know the joke, but I won't repeat it here. Instead, here's a different joke: Do oceans talk to each other? No, they just wave.)



Which authors, past or contemporary, do you turn to for inspiration?



I don’t really turn to any authors for inspiration, but there are a number I admire and like to read.  From the old school there’s Dostoyevsky, Hugo, Dumas, some Balzac, some Austen.  In current fiction it’s more on a book-by-book basis.  Contemporary mystery and thriller writers include Robert B. Parker, Elmore Leonard, Gregory McDonald (the Fletch series), Walter Mosley, and Lee Child. 



Newer voices in the genre I’m intrigued with include Michael Sears, Ethan Cross, Sara J. Henry, Taylor Stevens, Alan L. Lee, Kay Kendall, and a stack more on my desk. 



How do you procrastinate?



I have this bad habit of jumping up from my desk when things are going well—writing, research, whatever.  I’ll go in search of a fresh cup of coffee or a snack.  For the longest time I wasn’t aware of this form of self-sabotage, but now I catch myself in the act all the time.  Oddly enough, I still don’t actually notice I’m doing it until I’m about halfway to the kitchen.  At which time I stop myself, make a short circuit of the house, then turn around and get back to what I was doing. 



JAPANTOWN reads as if you meticulously researched Japan, everything from its history to its art to contemporary popular culture. How much of that came from your own experiences in Japan, and how much of it did you learn in writing the book?



I’m very careful to make sure every aspect is accurate.  But since I’ve lived and worked in Japan for more than twenty-five years, much of it is second nature.  Stir in my natural curiosity, the insights I’ve gained from editing countless books on all sorts of Japanese topics, the many behind-the-scenes chances I’ve been given, and you have a potent stew.   



J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions has optioned JAPANTOWN. Can you tell us anything about that (how it happened, potential air date, etc.)?



Bad Robot is in the planning stages of mapping out a quality TV series.  I met with a couple of their people and they were enthusiastic, serious, and ready to go.  They’d already started feeling out studios in Tokyo.  I have a consultancy role, which will come into play for the Japanese material.  I’m impressed with the quality of work they do, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they choose to frame the story and character.



Can you describe your best moment in publishing? 



Two moments of equal importance.  When my future agent called me in Tokyo from New York to express strong interest for all the right reasons, and when my editor called and did the exact same thing from the publishing side and bowled me over with her thoughts on the book.  For my wife, it all became real when Costco put in a large order for the book.  Go figure. 



What do you think about the changing nature of publishing?



I remember when videotapes first came on the market and everyone predicted the death of the movie.  That didn’t happen.  What happened was that movies became available in more formats, so more people watched more movies than they did previously. 



No one knows how things will wash out with books, but I’d like to think that e-books will have a similar effect—that written works will reach a wider audience, and people will buy more books, regardless of the format. 



The digital form makes books an easier lifestyle choice for some people.  The adjustable type size, the instant purchase point, and so on.  This should lead to more readers overall, never a bad thing.  Printed books are still much in demand, and should stay that way.  Ideally, as new readers emerge, the total combined sales should rise. 



Writers, too, have many more options.  If you are considering going the self-publishing route—and this can make sense for some people—do so after carefully choosing the best combination of offers out there.  And no matter what route you take, never publish a manuscript that hasn’t been gone over by a professional editorial eye because it is still your name on the cover. 



Looking back on your path to a debut novel, is there anything you would have done differently?



Finishing sooner would have been nice, but I was aiming high and that slowed me down.  Not a bad thing, in retrospect. 



Is there a motto or maxim you try to live by? 



Here’s three of my favorites:



1. I’ll try nearly anything once.



2. Consider both sides of an important choice.  If one side is going to churn up your insides, it’s the wrong one.



3. If you come to a chasm that impedes your progress, jump over it.  It’s not as wide as you think.



---



Thanks, Barry! For more information on Barry, you can check out his web site at this link.



See you in a week.



E.A.

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Published on October 20, 2013 17:00