Tag Archives: Donald Maass

My Completely UNAUTHORIZED Interview With Mark Coker, Founder of Smashwords

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I feel like I’m in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1850s, and I have my nice, little St. Louis life, plain, drab, work-a-day, but then, stories come in with wild tales of The West, gold mines, Indians, gunfighters, and more talk of gold mines. Go west! Be a pioneer! A better life awaits!

We are living in The Wild West of the publishing industry, and for those brave enough, fortunes can be had, but also, dreams can be lost. Those people who are going rogue, indie publishing, doing it all themselves, well, they are like the pioneers. And there’s me, even though I have a small press, well, I’m in St. Louis, wondering what I should do.

I talked with Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, yes, let’s ponder that for a minute. I met the founder of one of the largest venues for independent publishing on the web, and of course, he’s a Bay Area guy who lived through the gold rush of the .coms in the 1990s and his story is pretty common. He and his wife wrote a book. They couldn’t get a literary agent or big press to take them on. So they asked themselves, should they tuck their manuscript under the bed and start another one? Or should they go west with a dream?

Mark Coker went west and hit gold. Yee-haw! Eureka! He didn’t just go rogue with his writing, he set up a way for millions of others to follow him. He set up his own Oregon Trail.

I asked him if he was afraid when he went on his own. His answer was interesting. He said of course he was afraid, and he figured he’d fail, but he had a vision, and he wanted to follow that vision to see where it would lead him.

Loved that he assumed he’d fail. I’m just like that. I tell people all the time I’ll never make it, and they blanch, and wonder why I’m even trying.

Because like with Mark Coker, I have a vision. I am compelled. Everyone who has ever sat down to write a novel had to follow a vision they had for themselves and for their work. I think it’s a miracle that any book gets written ever. I think it’s even more of a miracle when a book gets published.

But Mark Coker is changing that. He is taking the miracle out of getting books published. And why not?

At the Pikes Peak Writers Conference there was a little drama between Donald Maass and Mark Coker, and God bless them for that. Gives us writers something to talk about other than sex. And as we all know, all conversations lead back to sex. Or Donald Maass.

Donald Maass, whom I admire, says that the New York publishing industry acts as a filter so only the best books reach an audience. I can see the logic there. But Mark Coker also is saying that, only his filter is far more democratic. On Smashwords, every book has a chance, from the horrific to the sublime, and the market will decide what works and what doesn’t. Shouldn’t every writer who has spent years working on a book have a chance for success?

In the Wild West world we live in, that is a reality. We’ll see what happens, but I’m still in my little St. Louis office, pondering. Could I make it to California? Is there a gold mine waiting out there for me?

Heavenly Fridays: The Angels of the 2012 Pikes Peak Writers Conference

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As many of you know, I wrote a book about angels. Well, not really. I mean, my angels aren’t your typical winged (two syllables, please) creatures that come down from heaven underneath the watchful eye of some deity. Nope. My angels are real, yo. Like street.

So I know a thing or two about angels. At The 2012 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, I got to soar among the angels.

If angels are divine beings who watch over and guide us poor human schmucks, well, then, here is a list of angels who are doing God’s work because ain’t no more schmucky group of humans than writers. Oh, we are a wretched sort and we need as much love, encouragement, and donuts as we can get. Thanks to Laura Hayden, Bonnie Mandeville, Chris Mandeville, Todd Fahnestock, Pam McCutcheon, Bill May, Cathy Dilts, Julia Allen, Jennifer LaPointe, Mandy Houk, Mandy McKenzie, and Jodi Anderson for all the hours they spent, the sorrow, the tears, the joy, thank you so much for giving so many angels a place to roost.

Or can angels roost? My daughter asked the difference between a fairy and an angel. I told her it was generally a question of hypocrisy, theology, and dandelion milk. So what is the difference between a muse and an angel? Ask Bree Ervin because she is both. A muse, an angel, a writer, a publicist, an explosion of a woman. I am so glad to know her.

Let me pitch you real quick. High concept. Vampire Angel. Yeah, you got it. Julia Allen. Vampire Angel. Full manuscript please.

Aaron Ritchey, Julia Allen, phone

Everyone knows that angels are messengers from the gods, er God, er god, er Gods. And fiction writers are messengers as well. Congrats to Chris Devlin, Andrea Stein, and Lawdon for doing so well in the contests. Andrea Stein won in romance! I room with her at Pikes Peak. Yes, that woman knows all about romance. Cue porn music…brown chicken, brown cow. And Chris Devlin! She is my Girl Friday and her book is about Catholic School Alchemy. Didn’t wanna be pitched to? Too late. And yeah, full manuscript please. Props to my girl. And Lawdon? He’s like the Mary Tyler Moore of writers. He’s gonna make it after all.

It’s been said that God takes care of drunks, dogs, and babies. I’d add fiction writers to that list. Eve Morton, awesome. Betsy Dornbusch. Awesome. Terry Banker. Awesome. Angels of the bar! Angels of my heart! I signed their books, and no, Betsy, I wrote books, not boobs. Eve Morton has a fantastic screenplay about clones, Betsy Dornbusch’s first chapter of Archive of Fire rocks, and Terry Banker has a scene that has totally captured my twisted imagination. Angels all.

I opened the gates of heaven to my friend Becky Hodgkins, though I wasn’t there to escort her through. However, Gary Jonas was there, but wait, I don’t wanna get all Gary Jonas on you, but it was great seeing my friend Becky at a writers conference, hawking her wares. Shaking her moneymaker. Dang, I went all Gary Jonas. I’ll stop.

Contrary to some people’s opinion, agents are not demons. They are humans with the souls of demons. Kidding. No, literary agents are the angels of the fiction world, bringing stories out of the rabble and setting them upon the bookshelf of the gods. Unless you e-pub, then you can put your own stories on that lofty shelf. Mark Coker challenged me to really evaluate my life and he followed his vision to the heavens. God bless you, Mark Coker, wherever you are. And for those angelic agents, Kristin Nelson, Taylor Martindale, Weronika Janczuk, may you find the books that move the world. I would imagine that is the best part of your job.

I got to talk to Rob Killam. He’s writing a zombie book. Hmm, high concept, zombie angels. Okay, I’ll stop. Great seeing him again.

And I met John K. Patterson. With a name like that, well, total writer. John was my guardian angel at the conference, always around when I needed a smile. Thank you, John. May angels ride shotgun on your ride through this hard, old world.

After his keynote, who can argue the divinity of Donald Maass? Well, except for Mark Coker, no one. I watched Donald Maass stay up all night talking to writers. He’s a warrior.

I sat next to Jennifer Gottschalk and Jesse Kuiken in the Thursday session. Both writers. Both teachers. Both angels. Judith ‘Judy’ Robbins Rose? Angel with a cool book. Karen Emanuelson? Beowulf angel. J.T. Evans? Guy has angels working a wiki for his books, and those angels are working overtime.

Of course, angels serve God, I mean, like really serve, like sycophants. Angels are the ultimate YES beings. And do you know who I serve? Deb Courtney, Sue Mitchell, and Alicia Howie. I spent a lazy afternoon in the bar with those goddesses, and I’m a better man for it. I expect great things from all three. Someday, if I’m lucky, I’ll be Deb Courtney’s pool boy, and Sue Mitchell’s peon, and Alicia Howie’s chauffeur. Next year, I’ll drive her out in the stretch limo from the literary mecca that is Danville, Illinois. Word.

Zack Bertha is possessed by a demon. That demon’s name? Awesomeness.

I watched Carol Berg talk a young author down off the ledge. She’s angelic.

Ian Thomas Healy fluttered down from heaven on wings of hair. We chatted. Hair wings, gotta get me a pair.

DeAnna Knippling moderated me. It was a thankless job. But lord, do I need moderating. My daughter is reading one of your middle grade books.  And loving DeAnna and her stories!

Ron Cree means angel in ancient Honduran Sanskrit. Look it up.

Do you know who is seated at the right hand of the Father? Well, it’s a critique group that meets on Tuesday afternoons and Thursday nights in Colorado Springs. Anita Romero, R. Powl Smith, Court Pearman, and a whole host of other angels hold court, write fiction, and prepare for the apocalypse. If I am anywhere near Colorado Springs on a Thursday night, I am going to that critique group. I can feel their power from here. Raw angelic power. And the dying monkeys, I can smell the dying monkeys. Or is it mind control? PTSD? I’ll stop. But dude, if my name was Court Pearman, I’d believe in God again.

I don’t know if J.A. Kazimer or Kirk Farber believe in God, but I sat with them and we signed books. I am a lucky, lucky man. You don’t have to believe in God to be a writer. But it helps.

At the conference, they put me in the back with all the rabble-rousers, and let me tell you, ain’t no rabble-rousers like librarian rabble-rousers. Kara Seal, Leah Parker, and LaTonya Frank sat with me and we killed it. That hotel is still shaking. Librarians are angels with a penchant for hushing. It’s cliché, but I used the word “penchant” so that excuses everything.

Yes, in the back of the ballroom, I hung out with other angels with dirty faces. I got to sit with Ed Raetz, a guy named Sander, and of course, I got to talk to Jene Jackson about her life and world. And Christina, Joanne, and Morgan Leigh, whom I am so drawn to. You can’t tell me there’s no God.

So yes, I am blessed, and yes, Virginia, there are angels. I know I missed people in this long, rambling list of divinities, but heaven can rage at me next year, Pikes Peak Writers Conference, 2013. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, the seas and what fills them resound!

My Completely UNAUTHORIZED Interview With Donald Maass

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So, I won’t go into the biography of literary agent Donald Maass, but I will say this–the man is a light shining in the darkness of this hard, old world. He loves books, writers, and story. And I have a little heterosexual-mancrush on him. He is open, giving, and kind.
And I interviewed him, kind of.

 

We talked for a minute at the 2012 Pikes Peak Writers Conference and I asked him how I could better handle the ups and downs of the writer’s life.

And he said what many have said. Networking. If we can build a network of friends and comrades-in-arms, we’ll better be able to handle the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Because the writer’s life is full of slings and arrows and outrageous fortune.

Then he went on, and he didn’t talk about the emotional pits of despair or the lofty heights of blazing praise, but he went back to the idea of revision. And this is interesting because on the surface, dealing with the highs and lows of writing isn’t about revision.

He said that most manuscripts get stuck at the 90% finished phase and writers give up without doing that last 10% of revision. But if we have friends and critique groups to help us, we can better survive the storm and get the manuscript so that it gleams like Excalibur in British sunshine.
So for Mr. Maass, it goes back to the book, always back to the book, the story, the fire in fiction.

Maybe he meant that managing our emotions is easier if our book is the best we can make it, and yes, it might not get picked up, but at least we know that our novel rocks, and what a feeling that is, to be in love with your book.

I am so glad that I debuted with The Never Prayer. I am so proud of the story, the characters, the themes in that book, that when all else fails, when I tremble on the precipice of absolute despair, I can go back to the book I wrote and be glad.

Thank you, Mr. Maass, for our conversation and allowing me to publish this COMPLETELY UNAUTHORIZED interview. The world is better because of your work. Even with all the rejections. Or maybe because of them.

 

More about Donald Maass here.