WRITER 2.0: Writing, publishing, and the space between

On episode 57 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast I spoke once again with Robert Dugoni, whose last book, MY SISTER’S GRAVE, hit the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists and reached #1 on Amazon. We discussed: * why MY SISTER’S GRAVE was removed from the New York Times bestseller list; * why many writers fear success more than failure; * what kind of reviews actually sell books; * our issues with the recent New York Times articles about Amazon; * lessons about backstory from J.K. Rowling; * being a 49ers fan in Seattle; * his new novel, HER FINAL BREATH, which comes out September 15 and can be ordered here. Plus, on “Today in Writing,” happy birthday to Leo Tolstoy. About our guest: Robert Dugoni is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series: My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath (September 2015) and A Clearing in the Woods (May 2016). He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, David Sloane series: The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One and The Conviction. Dugoni has twice been nominated for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction, was a 2015 International Thriller Writer’s finalist for thriller of the year, and the 2015 winner of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction. His books are sold world-wide in more than 20 countries and have been translated into a dozen languages including French, German, Italian and Spanish.

On episode 55 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with publishing entrepreneur Ricardo Fayet, the co-founder of Reedsy. We discussed: * the Reedsy platform, which helps authors connect with top editors and designers; * why Big-5 editors and designers are taking on more freelance work; * the online writing and editing platform Reedsy is developing; * his thoughts on the current trends in publishing; * the growth of soccer in the U.S. Plus, on “Today in Writing,” the first ever sci-fi movie. As always, you can get in touch with the show 3 ways: By email: podcast@acfuller.com On Twitter: @acfullerauthor On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acfullerauthor About our guest: Ricardo Fayet is the co-founder of Reedsy, a new publishing model for authors that sits at the intersection between traditional publishing and self-publishing. He’s also an amateur football (soccer) analyst.

On episode 55 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with novelist and podcaster Ani Alexander. We discussed: * the origin of her unique, beautiful accent; * how she learned so many languages; * why she left corporate life; * what went wrong with her first self-published novel; * the process of self-publishing with Amazon; * the importance of keywords for book discoverability. You can find Ani’s website here. And don’t forget to check out the Write 2B Read Podcast here. About our guest: Ani Alexander has been writing since her teenage years. But she set writing aside for a while and entered into an 11-year corporate career. Now she is a self-published author and creator and host of the Write 2B Read podcast.

On Episode 54 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast I spoke with poet, author, and writing teacher H.M. Jones. We discussed: common misconceptions about modern tribal life; her recently republished novel, MONOCHROME; Worldcon—the biggest sci-fi and fantasy convention in the world; her tattoo love for L.O.T.R. and Harry Potter; the process of building a fantasy world; the #1 thing NOT to do when marketing a book. Plus, we hatch a plan to be each others assistants. And on “Today in Writing,” Benjamin Banekker writes to Thomas Jefferson. About our guest: H.M. Jones is the B.R.A.G Medallion author of Monochrome, just picked up by Gravity, an imprint of Booktrope. She is also responsible for the Attempting to Define poetry quartet and has contributed a short story to Master’s of Time: A Sci-Fi and Fantasy Time Travel Anthology, due to be released July 2015. A bestseller only in her mind, Jones pays the electric bill by teaching English and research courses at Northwest Indian College. Jones is also the moderator for Elite Indie Reads, a review website for Indie and Self published books. Find here here.

On episode 53 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I interviewed Mark Coker, one of the major players in the e-book revolution. We discussed: the origin of Smashwords—the free e-book distribution platform he helped create; how authors work with Smashwords to self-publish their e-books; what a good cover needs to do and why it can make all the difference; how to tap into the 1 billion users of the iTunes bookstore; why he thinks authors should avoid KDP Select; why pre-orders are so important; what writers should be looking for in the industry over the next few years. And on “Today in Writing,” happy birthday to Madhur Jaffrey. About our Guest: Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform. He’s also an author, entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor to technology startups. Mark and his wife Lesleyann co-authored Boob Tube, a novel that explores the wacky world of daytime television soap operas. Their book was rejected by every major New York publisher of commercial women’s fiction, despite representation by a top NYC literary agency. The experience inspired him to start Smashwords, a free publishing platform that allows authors to instantly publish their work online. Today, Smashwords is the world’s largest distributor of self-published ebooks. The company has helped over 50,000 authors around the world publish and distribute over 200,000 ebooks to major retailers such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony and Kobo.

On episode 52 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with literary agent and author Chip MacGregor. We discussed: how to avoid getting scammed by predatory agents and editors; why neither of us became sportswriters; how the roll of the agent has changed in the last 10 years; the basic financial model of literary agents; the worst pitch he ever got (it involved a urinal); a fortuitous moment at a literary conference;  some reasons writers get rejected by agents (other than “your writing stinks”) why chasing publishing trends doesn’t work. We also touch on two of his books: Step By Step Pitches And Proposals: A Workbook For Writers  How Can I Find A Literary Agent?: And 101 Other Questions Asked By Writers About our guest: Chip McGregor of MacGregor Literary is a literary agent, author, and speaker at conferences all over the county.

In episode 51 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with poet Jeannine Hall Gailey about: our experiences at the PNWA conference; selling books at Cons; the #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter hashtag print on demand book machines; sci-fi or speculative poetry. Plus, she reads her poems, “Female Comic Book Superheroes” and “Cesium Burns Blue.” And on “Today in Writing, “Slumdog Millionaire. About our guest: Jeannine Hall Gailey recently served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, andUnexplained Fevers.. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, and Prairie Schooner. She teaches part-time at National University. You can find Jeannine on the web here.

On episode 50 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast I spoke with William D. Prystauk: thriller author, podcaster, and horror expert. We talked: * the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and how it’s viewed in the BDSM community; * being married to a writer; * his dark crime thriller, BLOODLETTING * his horror podcast, The Last Knock; * his favorite horror films. Plus, on “Today in Writing”–the birthday of author Tom Robbins. About Our Guest: An award winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and educator, William D. Prystauk began writing stories when he still had hair. A former member of BDSM groups in New York and Philadelphia, he brings his knowledge of the subculture to BLOODLETTING, adapted from his script that won second place in the 2006 Screenwriter Showcase Screenwriting Contest and was the top mystery submission. He’s an assistant professor of English at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. When not writing, he co-hosts The Last Knock horror podcast. Bill enjoys life with his wife, author and editor Ally Bishop, and their puppies. He’s proud of his alternative music and horror movie collections, and the fact that he never leaves any sushi behind. You can find Bill on his website here or follow him on Twitter @crashpalace.

On episode 49 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast I spoke with Christina Thompson, editor of the Harvard Review and author of the memoir, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story. In the interview, we go inside the slush pile process, and we also discuss: whether publishing and academia are an ivory tower conspiracy; how many short story submissions The Harvard Review gets each year, and how many they publish; the different publishing routes one can take after writing a dissertation; how popular trade books are viewed in academia; whether literary fiction is dead (it’s not); struggling with memoir structure; European colonialism in the Pacific; the Maori people and the history of European and Maori contact. About our guest: Christina Thompson is the editor of the Harvard Review and the author of a memoir, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All (Bloomsbury USA, 2008). A recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Australia Council, she is a regular contributor to the books pages of the Boston Globe. She has taught at the Harvard Extension School since 2001 and was awarded the James E. Conway Excellence in Teaching Writing Award in 2008. You can contact Christina through the Harvard Review.

On episode 48 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with novelist and writing book author Jordan Rosenfeld, focussing on her new book, A Writer’s Guide To Persistence. We also spoke about: how to build platform organically;  developing a daily writing practice; why writers self sabotage; writer burnout; when to hire an editor; her most painful writing rejection; how exercise helps us write; her latest novel, Women in Red. About our guest: Jordan E. Rosenfeld is author of the novels Women in Red, Night Oracle, Forged in Grace, and the writing guides: A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (both from Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free! Attracting the Creative Life, with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). She is Associate Editor at Sweatpants & Coffee.com. Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in AlterNet, Bustle, DAME, The New York Times, Ozy, Publisher’s Weekly, Purple Clover, The Rumpus, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Washington Post, The Writer, Writer’s Digest magazine, xoJane and more. Her book commentaries have appeared on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio.  

Here are chapters 1-2 of my debut novel, The Anonymous Source. If you missed the prologue, listen to it first, here. At this point, there are no plans for a full-length audio book, so if you want the rest, you’ll have to read it, which you can do by purchasing a copy here. Here’s what some other folks are saying about the book: “The Anonymous Source evokes comparisons to John Grisham’s finest–The Firm and The Pelican Brief–with a touch of Woodward and Bernstein’s All the President’s Men.” -Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon and New York Times Bestselling Author of My Sister’s Grave “An ode to American news served just the way I like it–fast, bloody, and utterly righteous.” -Roger Hobbs, New York Times Bestselling Author“As a reporter, I relished the chase. As a reader, I can’t wait for more.” -Julia Park Tracey, author of Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop What’s the rest of the book about? Here’s the back cover synopsis: FIND THE SOURCE. BREAK THE STORY. STAY ALIVE. ONE YEAR AFTER the 9/11 attacks, Alex Vane–a brilliant, carb-obsessed reporter for The New York Standard–wants nothing more than to break into the flashy world of TV news. But when he uncovers the scoop of a lifetime, his tightly controlled world is rocked: his editor buries his story, a source turns up dead, and Alex finds himself at the center of a violent media conspiracy. AS HE RECEIVES TIPS from a mysterious source, Alex enlists the help of a captivating professor, Camila Gray. Aided by an Internet genius, a billionaire’s sexy widow, and a washed-up sports reporter, Alex and Camila discover a $500-million secret that could derail the largest media merger in history. IT’S A SECRET THAT unearths dark memories from Alex’s past. It’s a secret that leads back to the morning of 9/11. And it’s a secret that could get them both killed.

Here is the prologue to my debut novel, The Anonymous Source. After listening to it, check out chapters 1 and 2 here. At this point, there are no plans for a full-length audio book, so if you want the rest, you’ll have to read it, which you can do by purchasing a copy here. Here’s what some other folks are saying about the book: “The Anonymous Source evokes comparisons to John Grisham’s finest–The Firm and The Pelican Brief–with a touch of Woodward and Bernstein’s All the President’s Men.” -Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon and New York Times Bestselling Author of My Sister’s Grave “An ode to American news served just the way I like it–fast, bloody, and utterly righteous.” -Roger Hobbs, New York Times Bestselling Author“As a reporter, I relished the chase. As a reader, I can’t wait for more.” -Julia Park Tracey, author of Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop  What’s the rest of the book about? Here’s the back cover synopsis: FIND THE SOURCE. BREAK THE STORY. STAY ALIVE. ONE YEAR AFTER the 9/11 attacks, Alex Vane–a brilliant, carb-obsessed reporter for The New York Standard–wants nothing more than to break into the flashy world of TV news. But when he uncovers the scoop of a lifetime, his tightly controlled world is rocked: his editor buries his story, a source turns up dead, and Alex finds himself at the center of a violent media conspiracy. AS HE RECEIVES TIPS from a mysterious source, Alex enlists the help of a captivating professor, Camila Gray. Aided by an Internet genius, a billionaire’s sexy widow, and a washed-up sports reporter, Alex and Camila discover a $500-million secret that could derail the largest media merger in history. IT’S A SECRET THAT unearths dark memories from Alex’s past. It’s a secret that leads back to the morning of 9/11. And it’s a secret that could get them both killed.

For Part 1 of this interview, click here. On part 2 we discussed: the psychology of gambling; how he ended up playing Mahjong with a group of triad members at the top of a casino in Macau; what unifies all great crime movies; the film American Beauty; why we’re in the golden age of TV; three books that changed his writing life; his new novel, Vanishing Games. About our guest: Roger Hobbs discovered his passion for writing when he was very young. He completed his first novel (a dreadful science fiction book) at just 13 years old. His first play was produced when he was 19. He had his first publication in The New York Times at 20. He signed his first movie deal at 21, graduated Reed College at 22, and signed a book deal with Alfred A. Knopf at 23. By 24 he was an international bestseller, and by 25 he had been nominated for nearly every major award in crime fiction. ​He wrote Ghostman, his debut novel, during his senior year of college and sent off the manuscript on the day he graduated. Ghostman has since been published in more than twenty-five countries around the world and climbed numerous bestseller lists. In 2013 Roger became the youngest person ever to win a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. In 2014 he won the Strand Critics award and was nominated for the prestigious Edgar, Barry, and Anthony awards. Booklist called Ghostman “a triumph on every level.”  The sequel, Vanishing Games, will be out in July, 2015. At Reed, Roger majored in English. He studied film noir, literary theory and ancient languages. He wrote his thesis on the early mystery stories of Edgar Allan Poe, in an attempt to create a theoretical model for understanding suspense. He loves to travel, gamble, and make snarky comments about bad movies.

In a special, double-length episode of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast, I spoke with Roger Hobbs, bestselling author of Ghostman. We talked about his new novel, Vanishing Games, and also touched on: * his earliest writing memory; how his agent found him; whose couch he was sleeping on when he found out his debut novel had sold all over the world; the rabbit hole of Amazon reviews; the emptiness at the center of the Ego and how that relates to his breakout novel, Ghostman. Click here for Part 2 of this interview. About our guest: Roger Hobbs discovered his passion for writing when he was very young. He completed his first novel (a dreadful science fiction book) at just 13 years old. His first play was produced when he was 19. He had his first publication in The New York Times at 20. He signed his first movie deal at 21, graduated Reed College at 22, and signed a book deal with Alfred A. Knopf at 23. By 24 he was an international bestseller, and by 25 he had been nominated for nearly every major award in crime fiction. ​He wrote Ghostman, his debut novel, during his senior year of college and sent off the manuscript on the day he graduated. Ghostman has since been published in more than twenty-five countries around the world and climbed numerous bestseller lists. In 2013 Roger became the youngest person ever to win a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. In 2014 he won the Strand Critics award and was nominated for the prestigious Edgar, Barry, and Anthony awards. Booklist called Ghostman “a triumph on every level.”  The sequel, Vanishing Games, will be out in July, 2015. At Reed, Roger majored in English. He studied film noir, literary theory and ancient languages. He wrote his thesis on the early mystery stories of Edgar Allan Poe, in an attempt to create a theoretical model for understanding suspense. He loves to travel, gamble, and make snarky comments about bad movies.

On this special episode of the WRITER 2.0 podcast, the tables are turned. Independent journalist Jennifer Karchmer took over the show for the hour and interviewed me about my life and my book. We talked about: my #1 essential cooking tool why I was in a maximum security prison in upstate NY Persian food the best piece of advice I got while writing THE ANONYMOUS SOURCE the difference between confidential sources and anonymous sources the Booktrope publishing model when and why I started the WRITER 2.0 Podcast Plus, Jennifer shared some fun facts about George Orwell, and the origin of the song “Paperback Writer.” You can find out more about today’s host here. Want the book? [dt_button size=”small” animation=”none” icon=”” icon_align=”left” color=”” link=”http://www.amazon.com/Source-C-Fuller/dp/1620159635/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1435184048″ target_blank=”true”]On Amazon[/dt_button] [dt_button size=”small” animation=”none” icon=”” icon_align=”left” color=”” link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-anonymous-source/id1008147951?mt=11″ target_blank=”true”]On iTunes[/dt_button] [dt_button size=”small” animation=”none” icon=”” icon_align=”left” color=”” link=”http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-anonymous-source-ac-fuller/1122154522?ean=9781620159637″ target_blank=”true”]On Barnes and Noble[/dt_button]