William Campbell – Writing Persistence Leads to Amazon Top 100
Success has not come overnight for William Campbell. It took the author nine years to complete his Dead Forever trilogy. I interviewed William when one of his books made it to the top one hundred books on the Kindle Free Bestseller list.
He spoke about what led to the writing of the series and his advice for anyone trying to succeed as a writer.
Darrell - What made you want to become a writer?
William - Often, I rather imagine it chose me. I can't even recall ever wanting to "be a writer." I wanted to tell a story, and becoming a writer was the means to do so. Of course, that opened the door to other stories wanting to be told, and the hard work of learning the craft began. In all truth, being a writer isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's grueling work and the pay is rotten, considering the hours invested. But for those of us with a tale gnawing at our thoughts, writing is a form of therapy. Of course, one could simply write journals in that case, but the ultimate resolution to our internal need to share only comes when another is included. And for that to happen, the writing needs to surpass the quality of a journal. By using dramatic structure, a novelist blends their need to express themselves with an entertaining story that carries the reader along. When we get it right, the reader is rewarded, and so are we. Everybody wins.
Darrell - I believe it took you nine years to complete your Dead Forever trilogy. How did you keep up the interest in the project?
William - Life has a nasty habit of getting in the way. Yes, it did take many years, for a number of reasons, but keeping interested in the project was never a problem. Making time to work on it was the bigger problem. But looking back now, I doubt it would have happened any faster, even if I had all the time in the world. Dead Forever is an intricate puzzle that even I had to figure out along the way. It took those years for all the pieces of the puzzle to surface, and my patience with the project has resulted in a mind-bender sure to delight readers who reach the trilogy's conclusion. I did, of course, work on other projects along the way, but none of those will see the light of day. We'll call those "practice," and the lessons learned were saved for Dead Forever.
There are different ways to approach the job of novelist, and there isn't one right way. Some authors pour out titles and publish them. I admire these folks for their ability to produce good work in so little time. On the other hand, there's the rest of us who pour out titles and dump them because they suck. Then one day, we finally get what we feel is right, and publish it. Now reaching that point, I'm hoping my productivity increases.
Darrell - The first book in the series is currently on the top 100 Free Kindle ebooks. How did you manage this fantastic feat?
William - That is difficult to say, other than free is a very good price. Awakening has been on Amazon for 17 months and only recently went on sale at the sweet price of $0.00. It proceeded to climb and peaked at #18, but has since slipped some, not really a surprise, though it did linger for a good time at #1 in Science Fiction. When peddling wares in the Amazon frontier, success equals more success. Once a title gets higher in the lists, it gets more visibility and sells better. And again, free is a very good price. The key is getting there to begin with, and to sustain downloads by having an eye-catching cover and an intriguing blurb. Of course, the quality between the covers is equally important in selling subsequent titles, which is the entire reason for offering the first title for free. This, I can report, is working. Sales of the second and third books (not free) have surged.
Darrell - How do you think writers should best market themselves?
William - First of all, be polite and respectful online. But before that, do the hard work and make a great product. Then make a few more, and build a catalog of titles. Then give one away, a means for potential readers to sample your wares at no obligation. Those who like the work (not everyone will) are the folks who will come back for more. That's where the catalog of titles comes in, the "more."
Now, back to polite and respectful, and an author's online presence. Always be a writer, not only when writing your novels. Apparently (that I have witnessed), some aspiring authors fail to realize that each time they post their words to the internet, for one thing, those words live forever. And being a writer, every post we make is a sample of our work. Make your net communications as elegant as your novels. Think of your internet posts as an audition.
Darrell - What do you think the future is for hard copy books now that ebooks are here?
William - Don't believe everything you read on the internet (including anything I have to say). In my opinion, the death of print is highly exaggerated. Today, printed books remain the primary revenue stream that sustains the commercial publishing trade, and I predict it will remain so far into the future. The number of ebooks sold each year is certainly growing at a fantastic rate, but some folks fail to consider that those numbers do not necessarily represent lost sales of print editions. Readership has increased due to ebooks, meaning people who were buying few printed books in the past are buying ebooks by the truckload because of the convenience and attractive prices. After nearly four decades in the printing industry myself (my day job), I can speak from experience. The printed page is here to stay, though certainly fewer pages thanks to the information age. I believe ebooks are best suited to transient fiction (read once, here today gone tomorrow). Non-fiction and selected fiction with lasting quality will continue as ink on paper for years to come. For works of fiction that a reader loves enough to revisit, nothing beats owning a printed copy on the bookshelf.
Darrell - What advice would you have for someone trying to succeed as a writer?
William - Write, write, and write some more. Then edit and proofread, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite. And hire an editor. Have patience, do the hard work, and produce the best product you can. All the marketing in the world does little good if the reader opens the book and is disappointed with the writing. Step one is to make a good book.
One piece of advice that I often question is the suggestion that authors should read a great deal of fiction, even bad fiction, as if that would teach one how to write better by observing what not to do. I fail to see any logic in this. If one yearns to be a gold-medalist in the Olympic games, watching other athletes fall down has little value. One must practice, practice, and practice more, until a high level of craft is achieved and technique is refined. For authors that translates to write, write, and write some more. Then write even more. Reading the work of others does little to improve a novelist's talent. A better use of an author's non-writing time is to absorb non-fiction pertaining to the craft of writing. A favorite of mine is the Art of Fiction by John Gardner, in which I learned the principle of the Fictive Dream, a vital component of any novel.
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