“What do you mean?”
“Well, I thought that speed was the most important thing in getting the first draft out, but what happened was that I was so exhausted by the end of that first draft, and basically any draft that I did in under ten days, that I had to take a bunch of days off afterward just to recuperate. I was starting to feel burned out. Remember, I'm not just a writer, I'm also an author.”
I lean back against the swivel chair and cross my legs. He looks at me with his devilish grin and runs his tongue over his lower lip.
He seems to be one of those men who doesn't quite understand exactly how attractive he is or maybe he does and he just doesn't care.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on the cool marble and ask him to explain.
“Traditionally published writers, all they have to do is write. They typically put out a book a year, if they are dedicated, and some do two books a year. It's really hard to make it as an indie author with such a small number of books. Basically, you need to build up a big catalog that people have to read through in order to make any money.”
“You're not exactly scrounging by here,” I say, looking around his place.
“No, I'm not, but most indie authors are not as successful as I am. I invest a lot in Facebook advertising and I invest a lot in educating myself about what's happening in the industry. I take a couple of classes a year and I also attend conferences that focus entirely on indie publishing. I talk to other authors and we discuss what’s working and what’s not. Mostly, I publish.”
I nod and try to interject, but he continues.
“I built up a bit of a catalog so that I have some leeway in terms of my publishing. If I want to take a day off or a week off, I can. Maybe even a month. There are hungrier authors coming after me and I have seen others who have made as much as I have suddenly dwindle down to making almost nothing. If you don't have new books out, then someone else will catch your readers' attention. My readers want to read something new every two months, if not sooner. Perhaps, I can push it to three months, but if I'm only putting out two books a year, I'm going to lose them.”
“Wow, that's a lot.”
“I worked really hard to get here and this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do. My readers allow me to do my dream job for a living.”
“I really appreciate you telling me all of this,” I say. “I had no idea that this industry even existed. I mean, I knew about the Kindle, I knew that some people were self-publishing, but I had no idea that people were doing so well.”
“Some people are making thirty thousand dollars per year. Others are making a six-figure salary. Then there are those that are making six figures a month, and some are making in the high six figures a month.”
I shake my head and think about my salary of thirty-five thousand dollars a year.
“This sounds like a gold rush,” I say.
“It's not. Actually, the gold rush is over. Back in 2011 and 2012, authors were putting their books up on Kindle and doing no advertising at all, with crappy covers and they were still clearing six figures or more. Many of them got traditional publishing deals and the majority of those said that they're not really worth it. There's just a lot more money to be made in independent publishing if you write books that the audience wants, that fit the stories that you want to tell, and if you publish those books consistently. Learning how to do Facebook advertising as well as Amazon and pop-up advertising isn't going to hurt. In fact, that’s pretty much required.”
“So, is that what you meant by you being an author in addition to being a writer?”
He nods and says, “When I was first starting out, the field was pretty robust and competitive, but I didn't have any money to pay a cover designer. What I would do is watch YouTube videos and figure out how to use Photoshop. I started out with some basic covers. They weren't the best, but I have republished a number of my old books and rebranded them with new covers, new blurbs, and things like that. Anyway, you learn if you take the time to learn, and time was what I had since I didn't have much money.”
“What about now?”
“The funny thing is that I actually learned enough that I continue to make my own covers. I don't know exactly how to communicate what I want on the cover since I have no idea what it is that I even want. So, I look for stock images, I manipulate them, and I look at other covers to try to find inspiration. Of course, the covers and the blurbs are your first point of contact with your readers so they have to be spot on for your category, otherwise your book will never be bought.”
“Wow, you know so much about this,” I say, shaking my head. “I wish I could just talk to you about this forever.”
“Well, you're more than welcome to stay for dinner, but only if you promise to tell me something about yourself as well. I'm a bit of a recluse if you hadn't noticed so when I'm around people, I tend to dominate the conversation.”
I laugh and agree to his terms.
27
Emma
When we take the conversation to the couch, I ask him about how he writes now.
He has already told me more than a lot, but it seems like he mainly said what hasn't worked or what has worked in the past. Not what is working now.
“Well,” Liam says, taking a sip of his tea from a glass see-through mug.
The peppermint tea is golden brown in color and there is a pyramid shaped teabag bopping at the surface.
“Why are you so curious about this?” he asks. “Is it just writer's block or is it something else?”
“It's mainly the writer’s block. I’m working on a love story, I guess a romance, and I just don't know where to take the characters. I have introduced them and they've gotten together, but now I'm stuck.”
“I don't know how to help you get out of that predicament except to say that your characters have to want something. Unlike people who go through life generally bouncing around like balls in a pinball machine, with few clearly delineated goals, characters don't have the luxury to do that.”
I swirl the little glass spoon in my see-through teacup and stare at the rip in my jeans.
“Initially, your characters’ main goal was to get together, with one another, wasn't it?”
“Yes, I guess.”
“There are other things going on. If it's a romance, then you had to bring the two of them together. There had to be a spark. There had to be a fight. There had to be some intimacy.”
I nod.
“Now? That's the spot that you're stuck at, right?”
My eyes get wide.
I can't believe that he has pinpointed the exact stopping point in a novel that he has never read or even heard of until this moment.
“So, how do I get out of that situation?”
“You have to create some tension. They've gotten together and now they need a reason to stay together. They need tension. You could break them up or add some drama to their lives. Somebody who is against them, somebody trying to push them apart. Maybe it's something external like his mother, her mother, or money. Maybe it's internal like he isn't ready for a relationship or she is not ready to be exclusive. You could throw in some misunderstandings with an ex-girlfriend, but I would caution you to use those lightly. You can't have too many misunderstandings, unless of course you are writing a comedy. Is it a comedy?”
I think back on my angst ridden, long-suffering heroine and the secretly sensitive, alpha guy that brings her to her knees.
“No,” I say. “My story is definitely not a romantic comedy.”
“You have to think about what's driving the story. What problems do they have and how can you amplify those problems? The biggest issue that first-time writers have, I did as well, is that the main characters tend to be perfect and flat. The best stories are those where you take a flawed character with certain motivations and goals then you throw everything you can at them. They have to go through a lot, as many obstacles as possible in order to get what they want. I think that's what my readers like
best about my books.”
“That's what I like about your books.”
He shrugs and says, “You really don't have to lie. Not everybody likes fantasy romance and that's totally fine with me. My parents haven't even read them.”
“Wow, plot twist,” I say.
He laughs.
“Wait, are you serious? Your parents haven't read your books?”
“Nope. That's okay, they’re not for everyone.”
“Still, I thought that they would at least be interested in your work.”
“You don't know my parents.”
“You're so successful. How could they not…”
The thought is just shocking to me. Despite my parents’ objections to my line of work, I know that they read every single article that I write and always praise me for them.
“My parents never wanted me to be a writer. They thought that it was a waste of time. I have an okay relationship with them, but it exists outside of my work. If you end up writing and polishing fiction, you'll find out that your readers exist on the Internet and out there in the world. They will likely not be found in your family. If your family members do read your book, then they will only be doing it as a favor, and that's not the sort of favor that you want.”
I shake my head, some aspects of who Liam is are finally becoming clear. Yet with every question that I ask and get an answer to, five more sprout up.
“So, no one in your family has ever read your books?”
He shakes his head and starts, “Not that I know of. I use that pen name for a reason. When I was first getting started, I wasn't sure where this was all going to go. Frankly, I was embarrassed by the fact that I was pursuing this line of work, but the more authors that I met, the more that I found out about it, how interested the readers are, and how voracious their book buying is, the more excited I got about pursuing this line of work. Publishing houses will have you believe that there’s something amateurish about what we do but in reality, we work way harder than any of them.”
“Why aren’t more people doing this?” I ask.
“It involves a lot more than just writing. There are a lot of technical components. But also, not many traditional writers know that we get seventy percent of our royalties while they only get ten percent.”
“Ten percent?”
“I don't know exactly and most publishing deals vary a little bit, but it's pretty common for writers to get ten to fifteen percent after the publisher’s expenses.”
“But they promote them, right?”
“No, they don't. They will of course make some general advertisements, send out a newsletter to their subscribers, and do some basic things like that, but when it comes to a real advertising campaign with real money put behind it, like the ones they do for the really big name authors, they will stop short of that.”
“How do you know?”
“I had a three-book deal with one of the five biggest publishers. The first book was a book that I had already written and published. They asked me to expand it another thirty thousand words. They added a new cover and blurb to it. When they published it, they promoted it and I ended up making only three thousand dollars in three months.”
“How much did you make when you published it?”
”Six thousand dollars in the first month. The whole reason that I signed a contract was that I thought they would take me to the next level. They actually took me a few pegs down. They wasted a lot of my time and told me that I couldn’t release books around that time period.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I ended that relationship. It just wasn't working out. This was for a thriller brand I was testing out so it didn't impact my fantasy name at all. I didn't write the books under D. B. Carter. This was earlier in my career, about two years in when I was trying to experiment a lot with different styles and different approaches.”
“Wow, that really sucks.”
“Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who had that experience or something similar to that. I've talked to a number of indie authors who regret going the traditional route when they were offered advances. Most of the time the advances are quite small. Plus, you rarely make anything beyond that amount. Especially, when you're starting out. When it comes to indie publishing, if you can write books you like in a popular genre and they’re good, meaning addictive, the sky is the limit.”
I nod my head, taking it all in. When I first decided to come out here, I had no idea that I was going to get a lesson in how to publish a novel or rather how to become a successful author. Now, the wheels in my head start spinning. Perhaps, I can do something like this.
“Writing a novel has always been a dream of mine,” I say. “Since I wasn't sure if it would ever be published, it felt like an impossible and perhaps useless hobby.”
“Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not. If it's something that's in you, then you should do it. The world has never been more receptive to it. The Amazon Kindle has really changed publishing and opened it up to the world. I can't tell you how many emails I get from people who are discovering reading and the real joy of escaping into my books. I love that. I love hearing those stories because they really inspire me. Whenever I'm having a hard day, whenever I can't focus on anything, I get one of those emails and suddenly I realize what my life’s purpose is. I love to write and I write mainly for myself, but the fact that I can lift my readers up and make them happy, when previously they were not, and distract them from something terrible going on in their life, that's when I really know that it's worth it.”
I open my mouth to say something in response, but my mind goes blank. Somehow, his words really nail it for me.
I know exactly how he feels, even if it's just on a small level. The few messages that I have received about my articles have really made my week and made me feel like this whole writing thing isn't just me talking into an echo chamber.
“I'm surprised that you're such a recluse,” I say after a moment. “I mean, you have so much to say and so many opinions about this, yet you don't really exist out there in a voice.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“Well, you know the role these podcasts, YouTube channels, and blogs play. They’re about how to write and how to publish, etc. I think that your perspective is really needed and yet it's not available.”
He shrugs his shoulders and says, “I don't like to get involved.”
“I know, it's outside your comfort zone, but you have a lot of valuable information to offer people. You yourself have said that you rely so much on these Facebook groups and blogs for information that others have put together in order to start your career and to keep it going.”
He furrows his brow and puts his cup on the slab of granite masquerading as the coffee table.
“Is this your, not so slick, way of getting me to go on the record with you?” he asks.
28
Liam
I haven't talked to anyone that honestly outside of a conference in a while. The people that attend those writing conferences are interested in becoming professional writers and ever since I started selling more and more books, I’ve realized how important it is to give back to the community.
The self-publishing/independent publishing community exists entirely as a result of successful authors telling their stories, along with the mistakes that they have made so that others can learn from them.
I don't know if Emma will actually finish her book. Many people say that they want to be writers, but they don't actually devote themselves fully to it.
My hopes for her are high.
She's a determined journalist.
I have read a number of her stories and they are all well researched and insightful. She might make a good thriller writer.
“So, are you pretty much saying that you’re not going to let me write the story?” Emma asks.
I bite my lower lip and look out of the floor-to-ceiling window that looks out onto the desert.
“I’
d prefer it if you didn't,” I say after a moment.
“Why?”
“I like my privacy.”
“I wouldn’t have to say your real name. It could just be an article about you,” she suggests.
I shake my head and add, “I'd rather not.”
She doesn't press it even though I know that she's disappointed.
I don't really have a good reason for saying no to her. I have said yes to a number of writer conferences and other author events, but then again, I never used my real name. Everyone there just met me as D. B. Carter. Whatever article she would write would be about who I am as a person, where I live, and probably even sketches about my home.
I don't need that.
I can’t have that.
When she tells me that she lives near downtown, I tell her that I used to live in West Hollywood.
“I lived on the second floor of a four-plex, in a one bedroom apartment.”
“Did you have any roommates?”
“No,” I say. “The rent was a bit cheaper then.”
“What made you move out here?”
“Look around,” I say, pointing at the enormous blue sky and the boulders rising out of the earth out in the distance. “I love it here. There's so much nature – ravens, eagles, coyotes, rabbits. They all come out when they think that I'm not home.”
“How much land do you own?” she asks.
“Forty acres. I was planning on building a new house, but then this one showed up and I had to have it. It was beautiful and it fit my aesthetic perfectly; midcentury-modern with some inspiration of adobe.”
“And back around the corner?” she asks. “Is that a pool?”
“Yes,” I say. “I love swimming. I had that put in. It's not very warm now, but I also have a hot tub and there are only a few pleasures that are as wonderful as sitting in it in the middle of the night and watching the Milky Way.”
I watch as she makes a quiet mmm-mmm sound, imagining it.
Her hair falls casually to her face and her eyelids grow soft. She props up her head with her hand and looks around my home.
All the Lies Page 12
