Bill Ward's Blog - Posts Tagged "thrillers"
Two years as an author!
September will be the two year anniversary of publishing my first book Revenge. Six months later I published Encryption and after a further twelve months I published Trafficking, followed four months later by Abducted, which was two months ago.
Six months ago when I published Trafficking, I was excited to be selling 100 books a month but having serious doubts whether I would ever achieve my ambition of becoming an author who generated a decent income from my writing.
July was a landmark month for me as I sold 1000 books in a month for the first time. Over the last six months, since Trafficking was released, there has been a sharp upward climb in sales, which is showing no sign of slowing down. (I’m now touching wood as I write this!)
I hope to have my next book out in about four months and that will complete the trilogy started by Trafficking.
I share this news not to show off and anyway there are enormous numbers of authors selling far more books than me but if you are in the same position I was just six months ago, I want you to know that even greater success may be just around the corner!
I say greater success because all of us who live our dreams and self-publish our books have achieved a huge success but the reward of knowing far more readers are buying and appreciating our work is the next step in our journey.
So what is the secret to my improved sales? Have I simply written a better book? I don’t think so. I sat down before writing Trafficking and analysed what type of book I wanted to write and thought about the hugely successful writers in that genre. I adapted my style a little from my first two books and learned from the reviews of those books e.g. I was guilty of too much ‘show’ and not enough ‘tell.’ I ensured the plot would move at a very fast pace. I decided to write a trilogy featuring the same characters.
When I published Trafficking, I had no idea how it would be received whereas I was confident my first two books were worth reading. I was filled with self-doubt but the end result seems to be the commercial success I wanted.
I am writing the third book in my trilogy and feel I now understand better my audience and what they want to read. With practice I also believe the quality of my writing is improving.
I spend every waking moment writing and promoting my books so it has not been an easy ride. I take my new career as seriously as I did my previous corporate career.
Many of you who read this blog will be authors and I hope you take encouragement from my story. I don’t feel I have yet anything like fulfilled my writing goals but I have taken an important step forward. I wish all authors great success. We are not in competition but travellers along the same road.
Six months ago when I published Trafficking, I was excited to be selling 100 books a month but having serious doubts whether I would ever achieve my ambition of becoming an author who generated a decent income from my writing.
July was a landmark month for me as I sold 1000 books in a month for the first time. Over the last six months, since Trafficking was released, there has been a sharp upward climb in sales, which is showing no sign of slowing down. (I’m now touching wood as I write this!)
I hope to have my next book out in about four months and that will complete the trilogy started by Trafficking.
I share this news not to show off and anyway there are enormous numbers of authors selling far more books than me but if you are in the same position I was just six months ago, I want you to know that even greater success may be just around the corner!
I say greater success because all of us who live our dreams and self-publish our books have achieved a huge success but the reward of knowing far more readers are buying and appreciating our work is the next step in our journey.
So what is the secret to my improved sales? Have I simply written a better book? I don’t think so. I sat down before writing Trafficking and analysed what type of book I wanted to write and thought about the hugely successful writers in that genre. I adapted my style a little from my first two books and learned from the reviews of those books e.g. I was guilty of too much ‘show’ and not enough ‘tell.’ I ensured the plot would move at a very fast pace. I decided to write a trilogy featuring the same characters.
When I published Trafficking, I had no idea how it would be received whereas I was confident my first two books were worth reading. I was filled with self-doubt but the end result seems to be the commercial success I wanted.
I am writing the third book in my trilogy and feel I now understand better my audience and what they want to read. With practice I also believe the quality of my writing is improving.
I spend every waking moment writing and promoting my books so it has not been an easy ride. I take my new career as seriously as I did my previous corporate career.
Many of you who read this blog will be authors and I hope you take encouragement from my story. I don’t feel I have yet anything like fulfilled my writing goals but I have taken an important step forward. I wish all authors great success. We are not in competition but travellers along the same road.
What responsibility does an author have to his subject?
I choose topical subjects for my thrillers and as a result it isn’t really surprising that people will have a view on my subject matter. With regard to my novel – Trafficking, which has received generally excellent reviews, there have been a couple of negative comments accusing me of sensationalising and trivialising a human tragedy.
There is no doubt that human sex trafficking is one of today’s most abhorrent crimes and sadly is a growing problem throughout the world. So by choosing to write a fictional thriller have I tried to make money out of other people’s suffering?
I was keen to write about this subject for the very reason it is a terrible crime and I hoped that in some small way, shedding further light on the subject helps grow awareness. My book could have been darker and I have chosen a girl as the central character, who deals far better with her circumstances than would ninety nine per cent of girls faced with the same terrible circumstances. She ultimately escapes being trafficked, which very few girls will do in real life so perhaps the story is not a realistic representation of the grim reality most girls face. I certainly wouldn’t want to trivialise something grave but I believe I have license to portray the character who may only represent one per cent of girls if I so choose.
I do feel authors have a responsibility to our subject and that is to be generally factually correct so as not to mislead our readers but it is a fine line as we are by definition writing fiction! Personally, I see my main responsibility as to entertain my readers and perhaps educate a little.
I have given quite a bit of thought to the critical reviews and whether I am guilty of taking advantage of other people’s suffering. On reflection, I believe most of us who write crime thrillers are inevitably constructing stories around terrible crimes, which for some people will have a very personal resonance. A story about a family murder; a chilling story about terrorism or drugs; a story about abuse; are I believe no different to my story about sex trafficking but I do have a biased view!
In the end, reading is for most people a very subjective experience and what one person loves another will hate. Even with the same subject matter, it will often be a case of how the author handles a sensitive subject as to whether the reader has an enjoyable experience or not.
I wondered if anyone else has faced the dilemma of how to cover a controversial subject matter? Are there subjects we should stay away from because they are simply too raw? I would be interested in your views.
There is no doubt that human sex trafficking is one of today’s most abhorrent crimes and sadly is a growing problem throughout the world. So by choosing to write a fictional thriller have I tried to make money out of other people’s suffering?
I was keen to write about this subject for the very reason it is a terrible crime and I hoped that in some small way, shedding further light on the subject helps grow awareness. My book could have been darker and I have chosen a girl as the central character, who deals far better with her circumstances than would ninety nine per cent of girls faced with the same terrible circumstances. She ultimately escapes being trafficked, which very few girls will do in real life so perhaps the story is not a realistic representation of the grim reality most girls face. I certainly wouldn’t want to trivialise something grave but I believe I have license to portray the character who may only represent one per cent of girls if I so choose.
I do feel authors have a responsibility to our subject and that is to be generally factually correct so as not to mislead our readers but it is a fine line as we are by definition writing fiction! Personally, I see my main responsibility as to entertain my readers and perhaps educate a little.
I have given quite a bit of thought to the critical reviews and whether I am guilty of taking advantage of other people’s suffering. On reflection, I believe most of us who write crime thrillers are inevitably constructing stories around terrible crimes, which for some people will have a very personal resonance. A story about a family murder; a chilling story about terrorism or drugs; a story about abuse; are I believe no different to my story about sex trafficking but I do have a biased view!
In the end, reading is for most people a very subjective experience and what one person loves another will hate. Even with the same subject matter, it will often be a case of how the author handles a sensitive subject as to whether the reader has an enjoyable experience or not.
I wondered if anyone else has faced the dilemma of how to cover a controversial subject matter? Are there subjects we should stay away from because they are simply too raw? I would be interested in your views.
