Up Close & Personal with 'Anvil of God' J. Boyce Gleason
Up Close & Personal is one of The Writer’s Life newest features. Here we feature authors who don't mind spilling the beans and telling what it's really like to write, get published and sell that book. Today's guest is J. Boyce Gleason, author of the historical fiction, Anvil of God. Visit his website at www.jboycegleason.com.
On Writing…
Having worked as a press
secretary and public affairs professional, I have been writing my entire
career. I’ve written op/eds and once even had a weekly opinion column for the
Potomac News, a local daily paper outside Washington.
Writing a novel,
however, is another beast altogether. It
requires a much bigger frame of mind and an immersion into the lives of the
main characters. Very often they took
On Being
Published…
It’s a real rush to
see your book come to life. It’s been a
long journey and there were times I didn’t believe it would ever happen. I was also lucky enough to find a cover
designer who nailed the cover art for the book so that moment of holding the
first copy in your hands was a thing of beauty.
On Publishing
Industry…
I
self-published. And if I were to do it
again, I would wait until I found an agent to represent me. While I think it is great for new voices to
break into the field, there is still a lot of prejudice against independent
writers. I think it would be better if
the mainstream publishers viewed the independents as a farm team rather than as
competitors. There is really no
comparison when it comes to marketing a book.
Mistakes Along
the Way…
I shopped Anvil
before it was ready. I think that is a
common mistake among new writers.
Finding good editors goes a long way towards making your book ready for
prime time. Publishing is a very
demanding industry and you really have to put your best stuff forward.
On Marketing…
It is hard to
market a book. There is so much
competition that media, reviewers and eve readers become fairly jaded when it
comes to new authors. I’ve tried just
about everything. I’ve done media interviews, advertising, blog tours, book
signings. I’ve submitted Anvil for
Awards programs (won a gold IPPY for “Best Historical Fiction of 2014”),
created a blog, learned to Tweet and joined Facebook. It takes a long time to build a public brand
by yourself.
On Goals and Dreams…
I hope to become a
recognized author. I have a good story
to tell and would like the opportunity for that story to be heard (or
read). Anvil of God is the first in a
series of books about the rise of the Carolingian Kings. I’m hoping that with each new book I can
augment my audience until I have a steady group of folks following my
work.
As to tips for
aspiring authors: just do it. Find a
story that speaks to you and start writing.
It’s like playing an instrument or learning a sport; you have to spend
several hours a day at it every day to be any good. The more you write, the better you get. Oh, and stay away from adverbs.
About the Book:
Charles cobbles together a plan to divide the kingdom among his three sons, betroth his daughter to a Lombard prince to secure his southern border, and keep the Church unified behind them through his friend Bishop Boniface. Despite his best efforts, the only thing to reign after Charles’s death is chaos. His daughter has no intention of marrying anyone, let alone a Lombard prince. His two eldest sons question the rights of their younger pagan stepbrother, and the Church demands a steep price for their support. Son battles son, Christianity battles paganism, and Charles’s daughter flees his court for an enemy’s love.
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