with Cliff Roberts
We are delighted to welcome back author Cliff Roberts to Omnimystery News today, who asked us if he could share his publishing journey with our readers and more importantly to thank his readers for what he calls "one of the best years I've ever had."
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Photo provided courtesy of
Cliff Roberts
In looking back over the last twelve months, 2013 will be a year I will remember for the rest of my life as one of the best years I've ever had. There wasn't anything of a personal note to help solidify the claim but rather it has more to do with business, my book business.
2013 began with me struggling in obscurity to become an author with enough notoriety to be a household name. Looking back it seems to have been a foolish ambition up until that point. I was lucky if I sold a half dozen books a month and many months I didn't sell any. I had been trying to open the door to the publishing world at that point for six years. Yep, six years. I'd had received offers for publishing contracts with three supposed publishers. I say supposed because although they had the title of So and Such Publishing, they turned out to be what the courts called Predator Publishers.
Predator Publishers are companies that make offers to publish books typically from new writers. These publishers have some legitimate published works by established authors, but for the most part they play a game where they string the inexperienced writer along, slowly dragging money out their pocket until the writer has basically paid the publisher several thousand dollars in fees for things like editing, proof reading, beta readers, advertising — which I never saw, formatting, critiquing, professional book covers, and an actual proof copy of the book. All of which should be included in the publishing contract. Now those of us who have been around a while know this isn't how the industry works. But when you're completely new at the game, you're unsure how the game is played, and so you don't want to miss out on having your book published. So you find the money.
My first book, Reprisal! The Eagle Rises, received an offer from the very first book publisher I sent it to. But it turned out the publisher was a Predator Publisher. In the long run, I was taken for almost five thousand dollars and I lost over a year that I could have been working on improving my book, instead of wasting of time on minor editing exercises.
A few years later in 2012 it appeared I was about to get a break and once more I received a couple of publishing offers. Thanks to my previous experience I spotted some telltale language in the contract of one of the publishers and I avoided being taken advantage of a second time, but the second offer appeared to be legitimate and so I signed with them.
Other than a form letter, informing me that they work with their clients based on when they signed up, first come, first served, I didn't hear a word of over six months. When I had finally become frustrated to the point of opting out of my contract, they responded with a nasty letter stating how ungrateful I was and that I should be more patient because publishing was a very competitive world. They went on to say, "Writers who are of marginal talent, writing on a marginal subject, should be bowing at their feet. It is a major expense to bring a professional book to market and so it takes time. If I wished to speed up the process we will gladly skip you to the head of the line, but it will take a demonstration of your commitment to your craft. By investing in your book the sum of $2,500 dollars. The funds would be used to …" and so on and so on.
I insisted on the canceling of my contract with them and they then proceed to send me several letters where they called me names and claimed they only offered me a contract based on their desire to help the lesser authors learn how to properly present a book to the publishers.
The experience of having yet another Predator Publisher try to take advantage of me left me disheartened to say the least.
For the first half of 2013, I continued to trudge along. I was convinced that I had stories people would like and that I had told them well. Whether or not the grammar and punctuation was of an acceptable quality or not, well that was a different story.
Over the years, I have tried several different editors and proof readers. Some provided a service although not quite professional enough. While others wanted to be professional and they tried oh so hard to do a good job, but they had no clue how to do the job. Price was no indicator of talent. The worst editor I tried cost me fifteen hundred dollars to have a manuscript that was panned by the reviewers for bad grammar and bad punctuation.
By May 2013, I was ready to call it quits as far as writing was concerned. I was unable to locate an editor I could trust to do the job and I was struggling to cover the expenses of writing and submitting.
That was when I met Nick Wale. Nick is a young Englishman, with near boundless energy and a deep desire to help people. At least that was what his webpage said. We spoke a couple of times and he finally agreed to do a couple of reviews and interviews for prices I could afford. Two weeks later he got back to me. He refused to post the book reviews because if he did, he felt the public would never pick up one of my books again. He said he loved the stories and the way I told the stories but the editing was so bad, he could not in good conscience not tell the prospective reader about the problem or lie about it.
I explained I was doing all I could afford and that I had just spent a ton on another bad edit. He recommended an editor who would do a reedit for a reasonable fee or about half of what my previous editor had charged me.
Now immediately the warning signals in my brain went off and normally I would have avoided making a decision because it was just like the comments I had received from the predator publishers except two close friends who were far better educated than I am finished reading the same stories and to my surprise, they had said the same thing to me in reply as Nick as said. I bit the bullet once more and hoped I wasn't wasting more money.
A week later, Nick comes back with the edited version, a new book cover and an offer to represent me. His first work had been to reformat the books interior and make a new cover. But he felt I could not continue with my old pen name because it was now associated with poorly edited books and thus a poor product. Having been in business one way or another for the last thirty plus years, I knew he was right. So we settled on Cliff Roberts as my new pen name and we released the book and began working on the second book based on a promise to pay if the first book sold.
Well we all know what happened at that point. Reprisal! The Eagle Rises exploded on to the scene with a very strong giveaway through Kindle and then with continuing sales that to this day so far six months later haven't slowed but a minor amount. We quickly followed the success of Reprisal with Fatal Mistake, which also took right off and proceeded to surpass all expectations. When we released Reprisal! The Gauntlet, my success continued and it quickly eclipsed Reprisal! The Eagle Rises in sales and it too continues today. I then put out a Quote book — What the Writer Said — while we were putting the finishing touches on Republic. Unlike my other books I actually had time to pre-promote the book and when it was released on Kindle, to my surprise, it leapt into the market giving away almost ten thousand copies in five days. Immediately upon the giveaway promotion ending the book became number one in its category due to continued sales. It is still a top one hundred with strong daily sales.
With the help of Nick Wale of Novel Ideas, I now after seven years am on my way to becoming an author with a household name. In the last six months, I have released four novels and all four have become number 1 bestsellers. So yes, I am thankful for all the help and sound advice I have received from Nick Wale. I am also thankful for the readers who finally discovered me and have been just wonderful. Please be sure to spread the word my friends. With your continued support, I will be writing a great deal more for your reading pleasure.
Coming soon is the third book in the Reprisal Series, Reprisal! The Sorrow. Here's an overview: "This time the focus is Europe. Their plans are so spectacular you won't believe it could happen, but it can. Europe is brought to its knees and the American President views it as a good photo opt and an excuse to draw down troops from Afghanistan.
Steven Howard and Chip Clarett begin building a coalition in an effort to battle back the unconstitutional edicts and executive orders, President Starks is using to solidify his control over Congress and the nation. Time is running out fast and the team from Kilauea Corp must find allies or be run over by the Starks juggernaut."
There is also a second book featuring the characters from Conch Republic due out early spring 2014, The Good Samaritan. In late spring, the second book featuring the fallen detective from Fatal Mistake and it is titled Silver Lining (subject to change). All in all, 2014 looks to be an extremely busy year with several new novels and several new non-fiction self-help training books due for release. So get ready, it looks to be Happy New Year for the fans of Cliff Roberts.
As a parting thought, I wish you and yours the Merriest of Christmas, the happiest of New Year, the greatest of Hanukkah, or whatever else you may celebrate, and may God bless and protect you and yours.
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Cliff Roberts grew up outside Detroit, MI then moved around the country a lot, got married, had a family, worked, got elected, worked and was forced to retire. Once retired, he found he had time to kill, began writing in earnest, and the rest, as they say, is the rest.
For more information about the author, visit his Facebook page.
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Conch Republic
Cliff Roberts
A Nate Nevwas Thriller
Enter the world of Nate Nevwas, a crime fighting oaf with a loveable nature.
Follow Nate as he fights crime, writes novels and takes a liking to the ladies.
Follow Nate as he goes to war with the mob and discovers gold hidden under the seas of the Florida Keys …
Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.
