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Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing


Aug 3, 2019

Mark interviews David Wind about his forthcoming book THE INDIE WRITER'S HANDBOOK, which is coming in September 2019.

Prior to the interview Mark shares a comment from Episode 81 from Jules who shared why he finds it important to write every single day. He also shares a comment that came in via email from Caro who said that she would, in fact, appreciate an episode dedicated to getting your eBook and print book into libraries in the United States, Canada and the UK.

Mark then shares a word from this episodes sponsor...

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and David talk about:

  • When David first started writing and the first book he published in 1981, which he wrote under a female pen name as a way to break into the market because of an industry trend
  • The genres that David was passionate about writing and reading
  • The fact that English and Math were David's two worst subjects in high school
  • His attempt at writing in college, which he set aside for a while before returning to writing in his late twenties
  • Leaving a position within the legal realm to work at a Playboy club in Chicago
  • Writing a thriller (his first novel) just to see if he could write a book
  • The response from Agent William Morris not liking the submitted manuscript but liking David's writing
  • David's favorite editor, Kate Duffy
  • Andre Norton, a legendary science fiction writer David was a big fan of and how she came to mentor him and also publish one of his only short stories
  • How the first book in a YA science fiction series David wrote which has been downloaded close to 70,000 times
  • Why David hates the term "self-publishing"
  • The vanity press, iUniverse, that David used back in 2000 in order to bring back one of his previously traditionally published back into availability
  • How, being fed up with traditional publishing, David whole-heartedly jumped into Kindle Direct Publishing in 2008
  • The fun David had releasing his first POD self-published book, which was a book he had wanted to write for thirty years and how exhilarating that experience was
  • The transition David experienced when he moved from traditional publishing over to indie publishing

  • Why David decided to write The Indie Writer's Handbook
  • How he was getting frustrated at how people were misunderstanding and looking down on what proper indie publishing can be
  • The 18 steps that the handbook walks authors through related to indie publishing your book

After the interview Mark shares a reflection on the reason why David decided to create the book, and shares how he recently wrote an article for a more traditionally focused magazine for writers to serve a similar purpose.

In addition, he shares the two winners of the print book COPS AND WRITERS by Patrick O'Donnell from Episode 84, one randomly selected commenter from that episode and one randomly selected Patron of the show.

And he explains how listeners can win one of two signed advanbced reader copies of David's forthcoming book for writers.

Links of Interest:

David Wind's first novel was published in 1981 and since then he has had more than 40 books published in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, mystery, thriller and suspense.

A hybrid author who cut his chops in traditional publishing and then discovered the opportunity in indie publishing, David brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this interview and to his forthcoming book.

He is currently the Vice President of the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and he has a lot to say about the way by which traditional publishing still looks down their nose and misunderstands what indie publishing is really about. David lives in Florida with his wife and their dog.

The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0