I’ve Written Lots of Books
When I think of an exact number, I don’t even know. And if I put a number here, I would have to update this post constantly, and that would clash with my laziness.
Let’s say I’ve written a couple dozen books. At least twenty-five, and probably more than that. Some I’ve written with other authors like Nick Thacker, so not all of those words have come from my pen. When you mix in short stories and novellas and things written for other people, it gets tricky to add up…
Here’s why I write so much…
Because I Love Stories
I love to tell stories, as long as they’re ripe. I’ve loved to read since a young age, and I’ve wanted to tell stories for just as long. When I was fourteen years old I hijacked my father’s expensive word processor to write eighty pages of a horror novel I never finished.
While I made a few detours along the way, like working day jobs that never gave me that sense of fulfillment I wanted, I’ve always yearned to tell stories.
And I have plenty left in the tank, I think, so why not? As long as I can put out book people enjoy without repeating myself too often (hopefully), I don’t see any reason not to put out as many stories as I can.
Being Indie Means Freedom
As an indie, I’m not hampered by trad pub rules. I signed with a traditional publisher for my spy thriller Shadow Soldiers, but it was an Amazon imprint and so it all worked very differently. From signing my contract to the book’s publication date took about three months. Most traditional publishers work quite a bit slower than that.
I know trad pub authors who get around this by having multiple pen names (and publishers) so they can release more than one book per year. As the sole owner of a one-author press, I’m only limited by my own output.
When I started the Micah Reed series, I wrote them at a blistering pace. I wrote the first six in about a year, I think. I’m not sure what inspired me to crank them out so quickly.
Maybe I was simply excited about those stories and wanted to get them out into the world as fast as possible…
Quantity Breeds Variety
With so many books, I’m able to stretch. Fifty years ago, an author would be lucky to have a career long enough to create more than one series. Now, the publishing world works very differently.
Because I have so many works, I’m able to branch into little sub-genres in different series. The Whistleblower Trilogy is a action thriller that doesn’t let up once it gets going.
Micah Reed is a crime series, that occasionally veers between amateur detective and hardcore action thriller.
Layne Parrish is a spy thriller series, and Six Assassins is crime thriller. My point is, because I know I can produce four books a year, I’m able to create an entire series in only a couple years. There’s a lot of freedom in knowing I have room to grow.
