Last week, we started our interview with Alex Hughes, author of the Mindscape series that starts with Clean. Clean is one of the best books I’ve read this year and I recommend you buy and read it immediately.

Seriously, follow that link to Amazon and buy the thing before reading the rest of the interview. I’ll wait.

Got it?

Good.

Here’s the rest of the interview.

4. Could you talk a bit about why you opted for a traditional publisher as opposed to indie or self-publishing?

Back when I was trying to get into the writing world originally self-publishing wasn’t a real option. It was the mid- to late nineties and the traditional publishers were the only game in town. I dreamed of walking into my big-box Barnes & Nobles and seeing my book there. A decade later, my husband and I were beginning to talk about self-publishing when I got the call. I knew that I was finally ready, but as it happened the publisher called me first. I’m still incredibly honored and proud to visit my book at the bookstore, and my publisher has been a partner I’m proud to work with. But there are still many options out there.

5. What’s next for Alex Hughes, and for Adam?

Alex is currently working on book #4 in Adam’s world, where Adam is called in on an FBI case outside of Atlanta. There’s a short story in the world I’ll release sometime in the next few months as well. I’ve also got a few fun projects I’m working on, which include both a novel in another world on my own, and a collaboration project with Kerry Schafer, one of my writing partners. I’ve recently had stories accepted into the Thunder on the Battlefield anthology and The Sea anthology, and had my first invite to an invitation-only anthology, which was a huge personal milestone. What’s next? I try new things and be creative. I *love* this stuff, and I love the readers. They’re awesome, and I want to keep them happy.
6. What question do you wish more people asked you?

Well, I used to wish people didn’t ask about pets. I don’t have actual pets (hubbie is violently allergic), and they treat me funny when I talk about my imaginary cat. But lately, I’ve been considering a small dragon. So I like the question a lot. People like to weigh in on my dragon choice.

I also wished more people asked about my super nerdy academic obsessions. For some reason, that’s not a common cocktail party question, go figure.
7. What’s the answer to that question?

Ooooh! Thanks for asking! I was a history major in college, and I *love* early modern European history, especially social and cultural history. Reading about people who thought and acted differently from anyone I’ve ever met… well, it makes my brain happy. War of the Three Henries? Best named war ever. Plus Cardinal Richeleu was just as conniving in history as he is in the Three Musketeers by Dumas. Oh, I am a major biology nerd. And physics. And brain and behavior. Ask me about The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. And brain surgery. And historical plastic surgery–definitely ask me about that! Or don’t… I can go on for awhile. 🙂

</nerdrant>
8. Tell us about any appearances or new books coming in the next few months, so we can all mark our calendars.

Book #3 in the Mindspace Investigations series is called Marked, and it’s out in April. (Already available for preorder!) Book #4 should be out end of 2014.

I’ll be at the Georgia Literary Festival in November, Costal Magic Convention in February 2014, and Dahlonega Literary Festival in March. (All reader events – come say hi 🙂 )

And like I said, I’m currently working on a few extra projects, so stay tuned for those sometime next year or so.

Thanks again, Alex. This has been fun. Fans with questions for Alex should contact her via her website, or leave comments below. I’ll make sure she gets them. 

Regular readers already know about my writer-man-crush on Jim Butcher. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in his Harry Dresden series, as are most good people I know.

While waiting, I met Alex Hughes at the Willamette Writers Conference. She told me about her Mindscape series — PI stories about a telepath detective in a cyberpunk future. They’re kind of like Phil Marlowe meets Blade Runner. Great stuff.

Alex was kind enough to take a few minutes to answer some questions for us.

1. Let’s start with the numbers. How many books did you write before writing “Clean?” How many queries did you send for “Clean?” How long had you considered yourself a writer before making the sale?

Clean was my third completed novel. Clean was also my learning novel, on which I learned revision, scene structure, story structure, description, pacing, and a whole mess of other lovely and difficult things. By the time the final revision was done for the publisher, I’d taken it through eight drafts. Only a few small scenes survive from the first draft, and those heavily edited; the rest was rewrites and restructures.

I sent many queries for Clean, but more for my previous novel Valence. I believe everyone in the known universe turned that one down. I also got hundreds of rejections for short stories over the years–I sent my first one out to a magazine at age 15, and got a personal rejection note. This encouraged me to send many more stories but for years I made no sales whatsoever. I didn’t get a major project published until age 28, thirteen years later.

2. I’m not the first person to notice similarities between Mindspace and Harry Dresden. What are some other influences and inspirations that helped you create the Mindspace books?

I actually hadn’t read Harry Dresden until after Clean, and then only because people were remarking on it. I grew up on cop shows and Star Trek, and didn’t really see a difference for awhile 🙂 In college, I read a classic cyberpunk book called Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge, in which a tortured telepath struggles to make his way in a dark future world. I wanted to write something like that (I’d fallen in love with the concept), but I knew my guy had to be a detective because of the cop shows. I also had a close friend at the time who was a recovering anorexic who was very open about her struggle, and I know I wanted to talk about habits and addiction. For this kind of project, though, a substance seemed a simpler thing to understand and deal with. So the basic tenets of Clean were born.

As a note, though, Cherabino was originally named McNally or something, and was Irish, blond, and much meaner. My writer’s group in college made fun of me so strongly for that (apparently a cliche) that everything about her had to change.

3. Tell the story of your journey from query to publication. How long did it take? What were the best, worst and most surprising parts?

From the first idea in college to the draft that got the publisher’s attention was maybe seven years and as many drafts. I submitted draft five to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards in 2009 and got back a review that the book was “mediocre.” I was so angry! I’d been working my tail off! It couldn’t be mediocre. So I went out and started finding the classes and teachers and resources I needed to be so amazing they couldn’t say no. I went to writing group after writing group, and I took classes online. I worked. I connected up with people from a Willamette conference, and we worked together. I took a massive online novel revising class. I worked some more. And then I applied in January 2010 to the Odyssey Writing Workshop and submitted the new draft to the ABNA that year on the same week. I got accepted to Odyssey, and the first day there I got the call from the publisher. I nearly had a heart attack.

The best part for certain was that call, as unexpected and out of the blue as it was. Followed closely by the day I heard the voice auditions for the audiobook of the novel. Hearing someone bring my character to life was *amazing.* It made it real.

The worst part is the uncertainty. It turns out that there’s more to publishing and being a successful author than just writing great books. Some of it–like marketing, and social media–you have to learn as you go as best you can. And some of it–like sales numbers–is completely outside of your control. Obsessing about a lot of things you can’t control (or might control, maybe) is a recipe for anxiety and disaster. I’ve had to learn to let things go and focus on the writing, which is what I loved in the first place. I’ve picked up knitting and yoga along the way as well. Yoga is *amazing* for mental focus and stress control.

What’s the most surprising part? I found out I’m a lot better at business sense than I thought I was. My gut is pretty good. And I found out I could write and revise a really good novel in four and a half months. Challenges bring out the best in you sometimes in a surprising way.

Check in next week for part two of Alex’s answers. She had so much to say I couldn’t fit it in just one blog post. Meanwhile, head over to Amazon to buy Clean, book one of the Mindscape series. 

My Favorite way to get new business writing clients

If you’ve read my book “Mastering the Business of Writing” you know I spend a lot of time there talking about setting goals. I recommend promising yourself you’ll get X number of new clients (or new assignments) each month to reach your goal of Y.

One of the chief objections/challenges I hear from my business writing coaching clients comes at the very beginning of the process. It takes a many different forms.

• How do I start?
• Where do I find that first client?
• What must I do to get the new client?
• How do I meet new people?

No matter how they phrase it, a lot of new writers aren’t sure where to find a first business client. Here’s my nearly foolproof, 100% guaranteed to probably work, method for getting yourself three new clients by this time next month. Ready?

Step One: Join the Chamber of Commerce

Your town has one. It’s a meeting place for local business owners. People with small businesses who live near you. People who need a blog, but don’t have time to do the writing.

Step Two: Offer to Teach a Class on Blogging for Business

You know how to write. If you don’t already know how to blog for business, spend this week learning. The basics aren’t hard, and I guaran-damn-tee you already know more about it than the people at your local Chamber.

Step Three: Build an Awesome Presentation

It should describe why blogging and good writing helps business grow, and give five or six tips to help a business owner do it herself. At the end, include one minute about how — if they’re not sure they can do it alone — writing is what you do. If you’re not sure how to make this presentation, shoot me a line. I’ll be happy to help you.

Step Four: Practice the Hell Out of It

Practice the presentation until you catch yourself doing it in your sleep. Work on timing, gestures, different tones and pitches of voice. Practice in a car wash and at a movie to work on dealing with distractions. Master your talk.

Step Five: Give the Talk

Be excellent. Show how much you know and how great you are at presenting ideas. Arrive early and make sure all your tech is working. At the end, stick around to answer questions. Cement yourself in the minds of everybody attending that you are the writing resource in your community.

Step Six: Stalk Your Prey

Identify the five or six most likely clients out of the people who give you business cards at your talk. Touch base with them that week and find out how you can help them. Offer to analyze their existing web presence and show how you’ll improve it. Then collect the payments for your first business writing clients.

Some Chambers of Commerce have a class list scheduled a few months in advance, so you might have to wait to pull the trigger on this. That doesn’t mean you should wait to start your life as a freelance writer. Look for meetups, small business advocacy groups, community centers…anywhere that would host and help you promote a class. Use this model over and over again to establish yourself. Once you wow those first clients, their word of mouth will bring in even more business.

Trust me. This kind of thing is why I haven’t had to get a real job since 2008.

I’ve been teasing and hinting about SEOWiSE for a while now. If you saw me at the Willamette Writers Conference, you know John Ellis and I have been working hard on this for almost a year.

Well, it’s here. 

What John and I discovered at the 2012 convention was that all writers writers need to engage about their work on the web, but almost none of use know how.

So we put together a course that teaches writers how to get the word out on the web. It’s eight weeks long and covers a lot of stuff:

• Basic web concepts (to get you up to speed)
• What Google looks for
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics
• Using Google+ as your social media soapbox
• Researching keywords to give you an unfair advantage
• Leveraging your skill as a writer to own the web
• How to use WordPress to control your web platform
• Reaching out to your heroes for fun and profit
• Content marketing
• Business concepts for writers

This is a business certification course, not for the faint or heart nor the weak of wallet. It’s for serious writers who want to learn new tools to make it in 21st century publishing. In our market research, we’ve found three kinds of writer who really benefit from what the course offers.

Experts — people who aren’t really writers, but rather want to produce a book or blog to further a different career. Experts especially benefit since most of the concept apply as quickly to your practice or business as to writing itself.

Authors — those who write books for a living, or want to write books for a living. Some authors come kicking and screaming to the course, because they think they can still write a book a year and let some publisher worry about promotion. They’re wrong. Even if you want to go the traditional route, building a platform by getting WiSE to SEO (see what I did there) makes you exponentially more likely to get picked up.

Freelancers — folks like me, who write for hire. Learning how to leverage your writing on the web not only puts a freelancer’s work in front of more eyes, but it puts it in front of those eyes by demonstrating that you’re great at what you want them to pay you for. 

Here’s the bad news: our inaugural class is already full. It launches on Monday and I’m really jazzed about it.

Here’s the good news: the second flight still has some openings. Go to www.seowise.co to register for our newsletter, or just email me for more information.

If you want the basics, go to the same website www.seowise.co. Registering will give you access to all the slides from the presentations John did about the WiSE concept at this year’s conference. If you want to learn more, just reach out. We’ll get you the information you need.

I’m just a business writing coach. I’m not an actor, but I do play one on TV.

I’m told that getting a SAG card is a catch-22 situation for starting actors.  There are two rules associated with getting one.

1. You can’t get an acting gig without a SAG card.

2. You must have an acting credit to qualify for a SAG card. 

In practice, this leads to people getting that first gig by trading favors with a casting director or other influential person, or so I’m told. It’s similar to a situation in modern publishing.

1. Agents don’t want to talk with you unless you’ve established a platform. 

2. It’s hard to get a platform before you’ve become a published writer. 

It’s that same kind of catch-22, where getting one thing requires that you have another thing, which takes the first thing to get. Since you don’t have time to chase your tail, what’s the solution?

I’m here to make the case that self-publication is the solution. If you publish a solid book and build its audience with a combination of compelling writing, intelligent engagement and a little bit of traditional marketing, you build that platform the agents want to see.

In fact, I’m predicting that traditional agents will be irrelevant in the next 5 to 10 years because performance of your first book on Amazon will serve the gatekeeping function those agents provided for publishers last century.

So get off your duff and turn 20,000 words into a self-published work over on Kindle Direct Publishing. If you’re a professional, it adds to your credibility. If you’re a novelist, it gives you metrics to show when you’re approaching a publishing deal. If you’re a freelancer, it’s another source of income.

Anybody out there self-publish something yet? I’ve got two self-pubbed books out there right now. One is hitting the top 10 while the other sort of languishes. What advice to we all have for fellow readers?