Thriller Writing
Ebook to publishing deal
While the Alex Morgan character gradually took shape over 10 years of writing and re-writing, so too did Chris’s plan for publication. The first book, Defender of the Faith, was self-published after some promising trade publishing opportunities fell through. “I had submitted the various manuscripts to a number of major publishing house here in Australia and, in most cases, came very close to being signed. In essence, I kept hearing that I wrote incredible action but it just wasn’t ‘what we’re looking for right now’ – a familiar response I’m sure for many aspiring authors out there. And, if you hear those words often enough, then you could be forgiven for questioning your choice of career.” Luckily he didn’t question it for too long. Chris was confident in his story so decided to “take the bull by the horns” and self-publish Defender of the Faith as an ebook on Amazon. With the help of his wife, who managed the social media and marketing campaign, the book was a instant success. “I’m glad to say that I received a very encouraging start to my publishing journey as we eventually sold around two and a half thousand books ourselves via Amazon over the space of about three months – on the back of a very targeted social media campaign that Sarah ran. Short version is that this approach got me noticed.” In fact, it got him noticed by Momentum Books, the digital publishing arm of Pan Macmillan Australia. They republished the first book as Defender and signed him on for an additional two books in the series – Hunter and Avenger.
The next step
Since then, his books have regularly featured on the bestseller lists of Amazon, iBookstore and Kobo. And Chris hopes he may soon be able to incorporate more traditional publishing in the Intrepid series. “My focus is to see my books available in every type of format – digital, print, audio – and in as many languages as possible, because one thing is clear and that is that the world is still coming to terms with digital, and many readers have, or will eventually determine, their preferred format in which to experience a story. I don’t wish to be limited just to one format and certainly I have been asked many times ‘where can I find your book?’” Now that the Intrepid juggernaut has been launched, Chris is writing full-time and working on the next book in the series. He’s also busy negotiating a potential film or television series with US producers. His path to publication may have been an unconventional one, but Chris proves that the discouraging comments from an unappreciative English teacher don’t have to mean the end of your writing dreams. “You must always have faith in your work. If you don’t, no-one else will. Stay the course you have imagined for yourself.” t
If you’re interested in writing action thrillers check out our Thriller Writing course with L.A. Larkin. You can do courses in Creative Writing in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and online.
WritersCentre.com.au
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