Giveaway: From Spark to Flame

I don’t know how many times people ask to pick my brains about such things like how to get a book published or how they can start writing for glossy magazines or how they can be a rich and famous author. I try to be helpful, but like a lot of writers, I regard whatever success I’ve had to be the result of mixture of luck and hard work. 

So when people ask me how they can do what I do, I offer two pieces of advice: 

1. Figure out how to be lucky.

2. Spend 20 years trying to a writer, and sometime in the 21st year, things will really start to happen.

Now I have an answer for people who want to know how to break into magazines: Get Brad Swift’s book.

My friend W. Bradford Swift (aka “Brad”) is a writer, a coach, a doctor, and a careful thinker. He’s written about 350 articles for magazines and managed to be a paid author and writer for about 25 years.

He’s done what I don’t have the patience to do: He’s thought carefully about what it takes to generate, pitch and sell articles to newspapers and magazines, and he’s put all these life lessons in a book entitled, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Moneymaking Magazine Articles That Make a Difference. 

Yes, I know everyone says print is dead, but people still buy and read magazines because picking up a specialty magazine is one of the quickest way to plug into a hobby, genre, or world that you happen to care about.

And if you know enough about that world to be a fan, chances are you could be making money writing about what you know.

That’s the message of Swift’s book: You can be making money off your expertise.

It’s easier than you think—if you have the right tools.

To promote the book, Swift’s making an offer you can’t refuse: He’s offering to give you a free copy of the book. He’s betting that if you like it, you’ll tell others about it.

Some people can’t give their books away. (I know because I’ve tried.) But Brad, who has been a business and life coach for the last twenty-odd years, had 115 people clamoring for copies within the first 12 hours of his giveaway being announced. He’s pledged to give away 1,000 copies. That’s a huge number. With those odds, it’s worth getting your name in the hat.

I thought I’d talk to him about it.

Who needs your book, From Spark to Flame?

It’s written for the person who may have read a magazine article at some point and thought, “Hey, I could have written that,” but then didn’t know how to go about writing an article, getting it published and getting paid for it.  So, any aspiring writer who’d love to see their name in print both at the end of a magazine article and on a pay check for their writing could benefit from the book. It outlines a proven, systematic process I’ve used through the years to write, publish and be paid for more than 350 magazine articles.
 
Approaching magazines is not rocket science. Yet why do so many freelance writers and new freelancers have trouble with this essential step?

I think many writers get stopped by several different blocks. One of the biggest is that the size of the magazine marketplace is so large it can be hard to know where to begin to market your material.  So, many writers end up like a deer caught in the high beams of a car — they’re frozen into inactivity.

The other big block can be simply not knowing the process — the steps it takes to turn an idea into a magazine article that some editor is willing to buy.

I once heard you say that the process of article generation is a little like a Taffy Machine. Can you explain that analogy? How does the analogy help us?

It comes from one of my fondest memories growing up spending summers at the beach. My childhood memory of a taffy machine was this magical metallic box. The store owner would pour in the syrupy goop at one end, and at the other end would pop out multi-colored, wrapped pieces of taffy.  Wonderful.

For years I wrote for magazines while watching many other writers who I considered much better at the craft than I struggle to get anything  published.  I finally realized I had developed my own version of a Writer’s Taffy Machine.  At the front I pour in the sweet ingredients of passion-filled ideas. At the other end pop out checks with my name on them.  Everything in between is what the book, From Spark to Flame, outlines in rich detail.

If you can hammer home one thing every freelance writer must do to be a success in this world, what would it be?

Purposeful patience blended with persistence.  It’s really so important with just about anything we do in life.  Having now been on planet earth for a little over six decades and coached and written for over two of those decades, one of the ways I see people failing most often is by quitting too soon.  

I believe anything that’s really worthwhile and that truly makes a difference in the long term takes a while to come into fruition.  So, the blending of those 3 ‘p’s are vital.  Purpose: knowing who you are and why you’re alive. Couple that with the patience to not quit when you hit the inevitable obstacles that will arise, and staying persistence in bringing your dreams into reality.  That might sound trite, but I’ve seen it over and over again how well it works.

Once upon a time, you were a veterinarian. How did you go from spending your days with pets to spending your days coaching and writing?

Well, in between the two I burned out...big time. I hit a “dark night of the soul” period where I lost my own sense of purpose and meaning in my life that led me to abuse alcohol and then drugs. The downward spiral continued to the point where I seriously considered suicide.

Fortunately a dear friend found me in this state of emotional and spiritual breakdown and offered to help me get some help. During the recovery phase I discovered the power of working with coaches, reframed my purpose in life, and realized that coaching and writing were two great ways to express that purpose.

Isn’t the whole idea of writing a book to sell it? Why are you giving away so many copies of From Spark to Flame?

I’m still asking myself that question. Here’s the answer that has come to me thus far: I feel I’m making another transition in my own life on purpose that includes a deep desire to help other writers use their talents to express their own purpose while collectively helping to create a world on purpose — my term for a world that works for everyone with no one left out.

I believe in the “priming your pump” approach. Giving away something that I know in my heart can be of real value to other writers is my way of priming the pump on this new Purpose Project. Like the rest of my life, this is just another experiment that I feel guided to try out.

It’s also my way of bringing attention to the Visionary Writers Manifesto Bloginar that kicks off on November 1. During the bloginar I’ll be sharing My Manifesto for Visionary Writers — Creating a World On Purpose with the Written Word in short blog posts and asking for feedback, comments and questions from the readers.

Already, we’ve had people claim their free copy of the book from as far away as India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada and of course, the USA.  That feels really good.

Okay, we’re sold. How do we get our free copy?

Well, first you mail me a check for...no that’s not right. Go to this page on my blog, W. Bradford Swift – Visionary Author, and you’ll find all the details there. 

The giveaway ends on Monday, November 24. I’ve also added a few incentives to encourage people to take me up on the offer and to share it with their friends. It would also be great if people would share in the comment section how they heard about the book giveaway, and anything else they’d like to share about writing. My writer’s Facebook page is here.

Thanks, Brad!

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In the Garden with Patrick Rothfuss

I don’t know what it is with me, books, and gardening. When I’m out working in the yard, I make connections between the task at hand (raking, mowing, planting, etc.) and scenes in, anecdotes from, and authors of various books I’ve read over the years.

This past weekend, I was harvesting the last couple of things from the yard for the season (above), then set about yanking up some weeds that had covered at least part of the beds.

I was amazed how easily the weeds were coming up by hand. And immediately, a scene from The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, popped into my head. In the scene, the weary wizard Kvothe (pronounced “quoth”) is masquerading as a humble innkeeper named Kote. When he asks a neighbor to borrow a pair of leather gloves, the man wonders why he needs him. Kote instantly “remembers” something his grandfather once told him. I had to look up the passage later, but here it is:

Kote shrugged. “My granda always told me that fall’s the time to root up something you don’t want coming back to trouble you.” Kote mimicked the quaver of an old man’s voice. “ ‘Things are too full of life in the spring months. In the summer, they’re too strong and won’t let go. Autumn . . . ’ ” He looked around at the changing leaves on the trees. “ ‘Autumn’s the time. In autumn everything is tired and ready to die.’ ”

It’s a great passage and certainly one to take to heart when the leaves are falling like crazy. Of course, there is some chicanery in this scene. Kote needs the gloves for another reason entirely. Just what he intends to do with them, I’ll leave you to discover in the pages of this great fantasy novel and its sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear.

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Fibonacci: International Supergenius

I got a box of books the other day containing foreign editions of my children’s picture book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci. Thus far, the book has been translated into four languages: Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Catalan.

Spanish edition.

Japanese edition.

Korean edition.

Catalan edition.

It’s always a thrill to get these foreign editions and to try to puzzle out the meaning of the words in languages I cannot read.

In this case, I was especially interested in learning how translators made sense of the English word “blockhead,” which Webster’s defines succinctly as “a stupid person.” 

My use of this word in my title and story was deliberate, if a little controversial. In his day, Leonardo openly made use of his nickname, Bigollus, which people today translate as “traveler,” or “wanderer,” or even “dreamer.” 

No one knows what the words really meant in the Tuscan dialect of his day, but I am persuaded that it must have had a meaning close to the modern Italian word, “bighellone,” which means “dunderhead” or “absent-minded” or “idler” or “loafer.”

While some writers on the Web persist in saying that Leonardo’s name must have been a way for his neighbors to praise this well-traveled man, I say they probably haven’t spent much time in Italy. It seems entirely in character for small-town paisani to openly mock a well-educated math genius for being an absent-minded professor type. At least, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. 

Since I can’t read the Korean or Japanese editions, I’m setting these aside to share with a few friends who can help me out. 

But since I can muddle through in Spanish and Catalan, I was please to see that these editions translate the “Blockhead” of the title as “Sonador” and “Somiador” respectively. Both words mean “dreamer.” 

The title of the book in these two languages of Spain is therefore “Fibonacci: The Dreamer of Numbers.” Both are published by Barcelona’s illustrious Editorial Juventad, whom I thank profusely.

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Cover Story: Night Market

The images behind any book appear first in the author’s mind. What do my main characters look like? How do I envision their homes, their world, their nightmares? 

A writer can go weeks, months, or years carrying these visual images in his or her mind. 

Then the cover artist appears on the scene, and pits his vision against the author’s, striving to create a look that will be highly compelling and marketable. In this occasional series, we’ll look at both sides of the development of an ebook cover. Who was thinking what — and when? Which came first, the author’s concept, or the designer’s?

Today we’re joined by Hunter F. Goss, author of Night Market, and cover designer, Jeroen ten Berge.

Night Market intrigues me because I’m a sucker for novels and thrillers that incorporate historical figures. I loved books such as E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, Caleb Carr’s The Alienist, both of which feature appearances by the financier J.P. Morgan. As far as I can recall, Morgan does not appear in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s The Road to Wellville, but that book’s fixation on food reminded me of some of the over-the-top dining scenes in Night Market. The nonfiction book Appetite City, by William Grimes, about the culinary world of old New York, also conjures up for me the feeling of sumptuous dining in Goss’s fin de siècle world, minus the vampires, of course. Let’s get to the interview.

What is your book about?

Goss: Night Market tells how and why the Undead helped the American financier John Pierpont Morgan rescue some of America’s largest banks during the Panic of 1907.

How did you pick your cover artist?

Goss: I looked at a lot of cover artists who were doing work for indie authors, but Jeroen ten Berge’s work stood out far and above the crowd. When I saw Jeroen’s cover for Steve Richer’s The Gilded Treachery, I knew he could connect with the sort of “what if” historical novel I’d written.  

What instructions did you give him?

Goss: We exchanged a few emails, and Jeroen told me how he works. When I sent him a synopsis and manuscript to work with, I told him about two images I kept getting in my head. One was a kind of Wall Street Journal look, but we knew Mr. Murdoch wouldn’t be amused by this. The second image was that of a female vampire against some sort of Wall Street backdrop. I originally saw her as having her fangs bared and ticker tape for a tongue, but Jeroen didn’t think it fit with the book’s premise. He was right. After that, I just let him alone to do his work and the result is what we see here.

What did you like about the cover he created?

I really liked the central elements Jeroen chose to focus on: Veronica Fontera, one of my two protagonists, and a recognizable Wall Street landmark. That landmark is Federal Hall, which at the time Night Market takes place was being used as a gold depository called the Sub-Treasury. At the very beginning of the story, the Sub-Treasury’s reserves were being depleted by Europeans cashing in government bonds for gold. It was called the Gold Crisis, and the solution to it is what brings my other protagonist, Andrew Kirkland, and Veronica together. 

Jeroen reinforced the idea of money and finance by using a font reminiscent of what we see on United States currency. He uses a serene image of Veronica with a splash of blood at her mouth that’s dripping down over the Sub-Treasury building, suggesting violence and the paradox she represents. The image is completed by the use of varying shades of red, playing up the gothic suspense elements of Night Market. All told, I’d say Jeroen hit the bull’s eye.  

What reaction, if any, have you gotten about the cover?

Goss: Really positive. I actually showed it to two stockbrokers, who immediately “got” what the story is about just by looking at the cover. And that’s what any writer needs in order to sell a book. When my editor saw it, she was blown away. Then she told me we were going over the manuscript one more time. “One more time,” though, ended up being eight weeks before she said, “OK — publish it now.”

Can you tell us anything about yourself, particularly how amassed the knowledge of 19th and early 20th century economics to be able to pull off this book?

Goss: I grew up around the hide and leather business, and except for a couple of years in academia after graduation doing economic research, that’s where I spent most of my working life. I call it the most obscure and unglamorous corner of the fashion industry, but it gave me an opportunity to travel to a lot of places that end up appearing in my stories. Paris was one of those places, and some important scenes in Night Market are set there.

I left the business a few years ago when just too many of our customers decided it was a great idea to manufacture in low-wage countries. It didn’t pay to keep the operation going, and it wasn’t really fun anymore, so I got serious about the only other thing I’ve ever wanted to do: writing. 

Besides papers for academic journals, some wine articles, and promotional material for leathers used at trade fairs, I’ve done some comic and graphic novel work for the European market under another name.

I live and hang out in the Rust Belt along the Pennsylvania-Ohio border. Pittsburgh is in one direction and Youngstown, Ohio is in the other. 

Okay, so let’s switch over to Jeroen. What challenges did you face creating this cover?

ten Berge: I was immediately intrigued by the story, the fact that it mixes historical fact and characters with fictional ones, setting a stage for something that might actually be true. (Well, we now all accept Wall Street is rife with vampires, so it must be true!) Alternate history fiction, or “What if” fiction as Hunter calls it, has always fascinated me. Robert Harris’ Fatherland, which offers a scenario of Germany winning WWII with Hitler still ruling when the Beatles consider touring Berlin, is a prime example of the genre. One of my favorite books in the genre is Resurrection Day, by Brendan DuBois, set in the 1970s, after the Cuban Missile Crisis escalates to a full scale war, devastating Russia and leaving the United States reliant on aid from Great Britain. Both are fantastic reads and come highly recommended. But I digress.

The challenge for me was finding imagery that conveyed the story. I had the elements for the design in my head quite early on. Initially I looked for historical images of New York City and Wall Street, but aside from a few dainty old photographs there was nothing I could use. Then I stumbled on a current photo of Federal Hall I could potentially use. I photoshopped out modern-day trash, street lights, and a railing, to give it a sense of it being 1907. Veronica’s image was easier, as I used my wife for a model, bar the teeth. When I had those two key elements, the rest was pretty straightforward. I added fangs, blood, and text and then played around finding the best composition, most suitable typeface and a striking color scheme. 

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That’s it, folks. Night Market is available via Amazon and Smashwords. Thanks to Hunter and Jeroen for participating in this inaugural post on ebook covers.

Note: Both of my ebooks, designed by Jeroen, are on sale through the holidays for $0.99.

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Flowers, and the One Where I Phoned Ellroy

The weather changed for the worse this weekend in my neck of the woods, but not before I shot some photos of the last few flowers struggling in my front yard. It later occurred to me that both of the flowers I shot had literary connections for me.

The cosmos, which displays its customary 8-petaled Fibonacci number, reminded me of an interview I conducted with organic farmer/poet Scott Chaskey some years ago when I was writing The Newman’s Own Organics Guide to a Good Life, with my co-author Nell Newman. Chaskey, who later went on to publish a charming book entitled This Common Ground: Seasons on an Organic Farm, told me then that cosmos are one of his favorite plants: 

“I know they’re simple and gaudy, but I like them. Last year I planted a long hedge of them, and people would immerse themselves in these six-foot plants and come out happy.”

I myself find these plants really delicate. Every year I dream of sowing them in a thick hedge like the one Chaskey speaks of, but never manage to pull it off. I love watching them bob on their spindly necks. I can’t plant enough of them, and thankfully there are lots of different varieties.

Another Fibonacci eight-petaled flower is the dahlia, which isn’t perennial in most parts of the U.S. In colder climates like ours, if you want them to come back, you have to dig up the tubers at the end of the season and carefully preserve them indoors for planting the following season. I haven’t been able to pull that off successfully either. (Whaddaya want? I’m a writer, not a farmer.)

But I cannot look at these lush flowers without thinking of crime fiction. These days anyone who knows anything about mystery fiction has heard of the famous Black Dahlia murder, probably thanks to James Ellroy’s fictionalized version of the case, and the subsequent film based on the book. But far fewer people probably remember the 1946 film noir called The Blue Dahlia, starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, and William Bendix. The film was produced by John Houseman and is best remembered as the work of Raymond Chandler, screenwriter.

Back a hundred years ago, before I knew anything of Ellroy or the gruesome murder case, I saw the Ladd-Lake-Bendix film at a library film series near where I grew up in New Jersey. The series, introduced by a local college professor who specialized in detective fiction, opened my eyes to a bunch of films that I would never have seen otherwise. I also remember thinking it was cool to have a job as a professor analyzing and writing about mysteries. Who knew that they would let you do that? 

Years later, I became obsessed with Ellroy’s work after reading his Dahlia novel. I bought a bunch of his signed, first editions from The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, and read them all in quick succession. Then, one day, I came across an article in People magazine that mentioned that this mad genius lived in a basement apartment in Easchester, New York. 

Gee, I thought, that’s not far from me. I could call him and tell him how much I like his work. Or something. I wasn’t thinking too clearly on this, I have to admit, but I called information and dialed the number.

“Ellroy,” the great man answered.

I panicked, and hung up the phone.

See what beautiful memories come from a walk in the garden?

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