Stephen Knight – Self Discipline a Key to Writing Success
Stephen lives in the New York City area. He is the author of a number of novels including the bestselling book, The Gathering Dead. In this interview he spoke about how he became a writer and how self discipline has helped him to produce quality books that people are buying. He also discusses the pros and cons of the 0.99 cent price bracket.
Darrell - What made you become a writer?
Stephen - Why, The Six Million Dollar Man of course! I was about eleven or twelve when that show first came out, and I really wanted to emulate the things I saw on the TV screen. Obviously not being bionic (or even very athletic), lifting cars and sprinting at 60 miles an hour and the like was a bit of a stretch. So I found my dad's old typewriter--and it was a job from the 1950s, I think--grabbed some paper, and started writing Steve Austin adventures. With regrets to the writer whose novel started it all, Martin Caidin. I really just never stopped since.
Other influences: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ben Bova, Tom Clancy, David Brin, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (Lucifier's Hammer remains incredibly good even 34 years later), Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Peter Straub, Robert Crais, Jamie Ford, Tony Hillerman, Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, Jack Chalker... heck, I've even got some Danielle Steel books in my library.
Darrell - You've written across a number of genres including horror. Is there a particular genre you are going to focus on in the future?
Stephen - Well, I do have a "hit list" of projects I'll be working on. Right now, I'm finishing an international thriller. After that, I have an action-adventure book, and then the sequel to The Gathering Dead. Then the next two Hackett novellas. I've had ideas for several police procedurals that I want to start putting to paper this summer, and there are two more horror books that I want to write. I even have a piece of commercial fiction that's about one quarter complete, though I've shelved that for now. The only thing I don't actively have in the works is a science fiction piece, which is odd, since SF is my first love. But for some reason, I just can't do that genre justice now.
So I see I've not directly answered your question... I'm spread out, but I see more opportunities for me to write horror and adventure over the course of the next year.
Darrell - Can you describe a typical day of writing?
Stephen - I've actually become much more disciplined. When it's time for me to write, I write no less than 2,500 to 3,000 words. If I have to put off sleep, I do it. If I have to leave the TV off, I do it. I'm in the process of finishing the first draft of the thriller I mentioned earlier, and I expect to generate 20,000-30,000 words this week. Before I started self-publishing, I severely lacked that discipline. That changed after the first story went up, a hard-boiled piece called Family Ties. I've been extremely fixated on generating product, and that of course means I have to achieve a credible word count on a daily basis. I tried it the other way--writing whenever the muse struck--for decades, and it did not work. I'm playing a different game this time. At 3,000 words a day, I can generate a short novel in ten days. Output is part of the recipe for success.
Darrell - Your books are priced at that magical 0.99 cents. What do you perceive as being the bonuses and negatives for being in this price bracket?
Stephen - Bonuses - folks will pick up your title on a whim, and if they enjoy it, they'll be more inclined to make another selection from your offerings. Obviously right now, that's what's fueling the ascent of The Gathering Dead on the horror list, and right now it's hovering between #15 and #20. I am picking up some good reviews, and in the product forums, I find people are discussing it in generally favourable terms. I'm not sure I would have the benefit of these at a higher price point. Fewer people would buy it, and for sure it wouldn't be elevating on the horror list. So at .99 cents, exposure is not a problem.
Negatives - Well, at .35 cents a unit sold, that's not a bucket load of money, is it? $2.99 is a much more pleasant price point because it's a bit more fair across the board--the reader isn't shelling out 9.99 for an eBook, and the writer is actually receiving a couple of bucks per sale, not just .35 cents. But I don't think the returns should be a dwelling point, at least not for me. John Locke makes what, a hundred grand a month on .35 cents per unit? He's a very special case in that he's developed an eminently marketable character with Donovan Creed that a lot of readers automatically "get", so he doesn't have to worry about selling the product to an audience, that audience knows what they want and they found it in John's stories. Honestly, if he were to raise the prices of his offerings to $1.99 or $2.99, it would be less catastrophic for him than it would be for me to raise the price on The Gathering Dead. So another negative of riding the .99 cent merry-go-round? Fear you'll lose everything if you bump the price!
Darrell - Horror has sometimes received a bit of a bad rap over the years. What are your thoughts on the old debate of 'violent media makes people do violent things'?
Stephen - You know, I'm a native Texan, but my mother isn't your stereotypical Texas lady. She hates guns, fears them terribly. When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to have any toy guns at all. So when I'd play with my friends and we'd do Cowboys and Indians (ah, the less PC days of the 1960s!) or Army Soldiers, I was the only guy without a gun. All my friends had pistols and rifles that would shot those little red paper caps. Me, I'd run around pointing my index finger while going, "Pow, pow, pow!" My mother would see this and yell at me to stop, fearing that I'd grow up to become a serial killer. Shoot, I can't even kill a box of cereal anymore, so her fears were definitely unfounded.
Today, what with the TV shows, the movies, the console games, etc., more folks are exposed to violent imagery than ever before. But I'm unconvinced that exposure is responsible for the outbreaks of violence we see on the news. Too many folks are looking for external culprits, things that can be controlled and sanitized to protect society. But the fact is, a well-balanced human being is created in the home. Doesn't matter if it's a single parent household, a traditional household, a non-traditional household... so long as the appropriate values are taught and reinforced, I can't imagine someone would unwind the moment they catch a Resident Evil movie. Human beings just aren't that fragile. The folks who perpetrate acts of violence against the rest of us have somehow found a way around that internal censor that prohibits the rest of us from doing what these characters do. Don’t get me wrong--it would be way cool to drill six rounds of .45 ACP through the hood of that BMW 550 that cut me off, but I’m certain the following jail time would dull the lustre.
Almost all of us are exposed to the same literature, imagery, and circumstances over the course of our lives. A small percentage of us act out in a way that's anti-social and legitimately dangerous. If horror and violent fiction was responsible for that, then Blake Crouch's excellent book RUN would be a historical text as opposed to a road block that’s preventing my book from achieving Top 10 glory, damn it!
Darrell - What advice would you have for someone starting out as a writer, in terms of promoting themselves and getting noticed in the marketplace?
Stephen - Ah, promotion! They toughest thing about this entire endeavour is getting the word out and making yourself stand out from the pack. My approach has been this:
1. Write a good story.
2. Edit that story. Typos and misspellings are not just embarrassing in the professional arena, they make you look like an ass.
3. Have as many people as possible read that story, then adjust it to address the common issues.
4. Come up with a good cover. If you can afford it, hire someone. If not, develop the skills yourself. A good cover is key.
5. A good product description. I'm horrible at these, and actually have others help me out. This is just as important as the cover.
6. The boards and the rest of the internet... your blog or web site, Kindleboards, Twitter, GoodReads, anywhere you have established an online presence, milk it for what it's worth. Other than taking out an ad in the New York Times Book Review, this is about the best advertising you're going to get. (And for those who think an ad in the NYT Book Review is something to consider, I did too. Regrettably, the lowest price is $2,800 for a one-time ad that is 1/20th of a page in size. I can't consider that a cost-effective outlay.)
7. Approach folks to review your books. There are a lot of literary review sites out there. Find the ones that cater to your target audience and hit them up for reviews. Most will do it for free, but it takes weeks to get a review up.
8. Be a good sport. Invariably, someone will disparage your work and take you to task for it. Don't roll onto target with guns blazing. Be as gracious about it as you can be, even if the altercation happens on a message board where everyone can see it. You're offering something no one has to buy, and you won't move many units being a contentious fool who castigates folks who don't properly respect the fruit of your mental loins. Never do this. You always want to be the good guy.
I have to say that my approach has been working out all right so far, but I’m always on the lookout for a new opportunity. Things are changing in favour of the self-pubbed writer bit by bit, so there will soon be more avenues available to exploit. Not all of them will be free, of course!
Thanks for letting me in, and I hope I didn’t make too much of a mess.
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