I shake my head, some aspects of who Liam is are finally becoming clear. Yet with every question that I ask and get an answer to, five more sprout up.

“So, no one in your family has ever read your books?”

He shakes his head and starts, “Not that I know of. I use that pen name for a reason. When I was first getting started, I wasn't sure where this was all going to go. Frankly, I was embarrassed by the fact that I was pursuing this line of work, but the more authors that I met, the more that I found out about it, how interested the readers are, and how voracious their book buying is, the more excited I got about pursuing this line of work. Publishing houses will have you believe that there’s something amateurish about what we do but in reality, we work way harder than any of them.”

“Why aren’t more people doing this?” I ask.

“It involves a lot more than just writing. There are a lot of technical components. But also, not many traditional writers know that we get seventy percent of our royalties while they only get ten percent.”

“Ten percent?”

“I don't know exactly and most publishing deals vary a little bit, but it's pretty common for writers to get ten to fifteen percent after the publisher’s expenses.”

“But they promote them, right?”

“No, they don't. They will of course make some general advertisements, send out a newsletter to their subscribers, and do some basic things like that, but when it comes to a real advertising campaign with real money put behind it, like the ones they do for the really big name authors, they will stop short of that.”

“How do you know?”

“I had a three-book deal with one of the five biggest publishers. The first book was a book that I had already written and published. They asked me to expand it another thirty thousand words. They added a new cover and blurb to it. When they published it, they promoted it and I ended up making only three thousand dollars in three months.”

“How much did you make when you published it?”

”Six thousand dollars in the first month. The whole reason that I signed a contract was that I thought they would take me to the next level. They actually took me a few pegs down. They wasted a lot of my time and told me that I couldn’t release books around that time period.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“I ended that relationship. It just wasn't working out. This was for a thriller brand I was testing out so it didn't impact my fantasy name at all. I didn't write the books under D. B. Carter. This was earlier in my career, about two years in when I was trying to experiment a lot with different styles and different approaches.”

“Wow, that really sucks.”

“Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who had that experience or something similar to that. I've talked to a number of indie authors who regret going the traditional route when they were offered advances. Most of the time the advances are quite small. Plus, you rarely make anything beyond that amount. Especially, when you're starting out. When it comes to indie publishing, if you can write books you like in a popular genre and they’re good, meaning addictive, the sky is the limit.”

I nod my head, taking it all in. When I first decided to come out here, I had no idea that I was going to get a lesson in how to publish a novel or rather how to become a successful author. Now, the wheels in my head start spinning. Perhaps, I can do something like this.

“Writing a novel has always been a dream of mine,” I say. “Since I wasn't sure if it would ever be published, it felt like an impossible and perhaps useless hobby.”

“Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not. If it's something that's in you, then you should do it. The world has never been more receptive to it. The Amazon Kindle has really changed publishing and opened it up to the world. I can't tell you how many emails I get from people who are discovering reading and the real joy of escaping into my books. I love that. I love hearing those stories because they really inspire me. Whenever I'm having a hard day, whenever I can't focus on anything, I get one of those emails and suddenly I realize what my life’s purpose is. I love to write and I write mainly for myself, but the fact that I can lift my readers up and make them happy, when previously they were not, and distract them from something terrible going on in their life, that's when I really know that it's worth it.”

I open my mouth to say something in response, but my mind goes blank. Somehow, his words really nail it for me.

I know exactly how he feels, even if it's just on a small level. The few messages that I have received about my articles have really made my week and made me feel like this whole writing thing isn't just me talking into an echo chamber.

“I'm surprised that you're such a recluse,” I say after a moment. “I mean, you have so much to say and so many opinions about this, yet you don't really exist out there in a voice.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“Well, you know the role these podcasts, YouTube channels, and blogs play. They’re about how to write and how to publish, etc. I think that your perspective is really needed and yet it's not available.”

He shrugs his shoulders and says, “I don't like to get involved.”

“I know, it's outside your comfort zone, but you have a lot of valuable information to offer people. You yourself have said that you rely so much on these Facebook groups and blogs for information that others have put together in order to start your career and to keep it going.”

He furrows his brow and puts his cup on the slab of granite masquerading as the coffee table.

“Is this your, not so slick, way of getting me to go on the record with you?” he asks.

28

Liam

I haven't talked to anyone that honestly outside of a conference in a while. The people that attend those writing conferences are interested in becoming professional writers and ever since I started selling more and more books, I’ve realized how important it is to give back to the community.

The self-publishing/independent publishing community exists entirely as a result of successful authors telling their stories, along with the mistakes that they have made so that others can learn from them.

I don't know if Emma will actually finish her book. Many people say that they want to be writers, but they don't actually devote themselves fully to it.

My hopes for her are high.

She's a determined journalist.

I have read a number of her stories and they are all well researched and insightful. She might make a good thriller writer.

“So, are you pretty much saying that you’re not going to let me write the story?” Emma asks.

I bite my lower lip and look out of the floor-to-ceiling window that looks out onto the desert.

“I’d prefer it if you didn't,” I say after a moment.

“Why?”

“I like my privacy.”

“I wouldn’t have to say your real name. It could just be an article about you,” she suggests.

I shake my head and add, “I'd rather not.”

She doesn't press it even though I know that she's disappointed.

I don't really have a good reason for saying no to her. I have said yes to a number of writer conferences and other author events, but then again, I never used my real name. Everyone there just met me as D. B. Carter. Whatever article she would write would be about who I am as a person, where I live, and probably even sketches about my home.