Interview With Author Paul Winters

What type of books do you write? I write thrillers. My most recent novel, Deepest Doors, is a psychological thriller.

What is your newest book about? Deepest Doors is a story about a man who felt his life was perfect until a chance collision with a beautiful woman in Central Park. He receives a head injury that forces him to ‘break routine’ and his life begins to unravel as he learns that every memory he has had, and his entire past as he knows it, was planted in his head.

What inspired you to write it? I have always been an avid reader of thrillers. Often, in moments of boredom, I would start to play out storylines in my head. Many years ago, I started writing them down. 

What is the writing process like for you? It starts out fast. When an idea catches hold, I move quickly to develop the ideas and get them out. Many times I have found that when I hit a ‘block’, I just need to take a break and then go for a long jog the next morning. It is amazing how many times I could work through a mental block during a long run. When I was writing Deepest Doors, I was running two or three times a week but with an iPod. One morning, my iPod’s battery died. I had about 10 miles to go and started working one of the storyline points in my head. Amazingly, I had it all figured out by the time the run ended. Now, I do not even know where the iPod is anymore.

What did you do before you became an author? I worked in insurance.

How does it feel to be a published author? It’s wonderful. It is such a long (and often painful) process that there is a sudden sense of relief and accomplishment when you see it in book form and on the major seller’s websites. Obviously, that is not the end of the road but it is certainly a great feeling to know that something in your head is now out there for others to read and enjoy.

Any advice for struggling writers? Probably what everyone says over and over: Don’t give up. For some, writing the book is the easy part. Then comes the seeking of an agent and/or publisher. For many, that is far harder. Lots of rejection along the lines of ‘not for me’. Don’t take it personally. These folks are getting hundreds of submissions a month and some are rejected based on one simple sentence in a query letter. With that in mind, do go to the agent and publisher websites and read IN DETAIL, their submission requirements. Given the number of items they have to review, it’s real easy to whittle that list down by instantly kicking out those who cannot follow simple instructions. For example, if they say ‘no attachments’, don’t attach something. 

Where do you see book publishing heading? That’s the billion dollar question. I think that with the growth of e-Readers, self-publishing has become very easy and also it is much easier for smaller publishers to get books out. Unfortunately, this means that the market is becoming saturated. I see big publishers as the only ones to put any money behind a book and everyone else will be on their own to market it. The big publishers will almost hand groom writers to be successful, first pairing them as co-authors with someone who sells well and then peeling them off on their own after establishing the name as a brand. They will almost never take a chance on an unknown by themselves. This is unfortunate but those can cut their teeth at the smaller houses or self-publish. This will just require more work from the writer. Many writers just want to write. Unfortunately, that model will likely lead to failure 99.9% of the time. It’s nice to say you are published. But, it is better to say you are published and the book has sold a lot.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013