An interview with Stephen Bryant

Stephen Bryant is one of the most talented people I have met.  He inked the designed for one of my books, Animal Kingdom and it blew my socks off.  If anyone needs the service of an artist, then he is your main.  Check out what he has to say below.

Could you tell us what work you currently have available?  

Sure, some of the book covers that are currently available are Animal Kingdom, Alien Aberrations, Mal Contents, Drawn to Danger, Haftmann's Rule, and Darker Than Noir. For a full list you can check out my website as I have a hard time keeping track of the stuff that came out last year. Most of my work is available on amazon.com.

Tell us about your latest release. 

Well my latest release is a design campaign for Jim Coleman Ltd., but no one here wants to read about that. They want action, horror, and suspense. So I will say my latest, and some say, greatest release is the cover for Animal Kingdom. It was a blast to do this cover and it was the first time I painted a full blown carnivorous gorilla. The biggest thing about this image was that I actually forgot the story took place in the UK. So mid final pencil I had to redo everything to place the steering wheel on the right side. Once I had the final pencil all set, the rest of the illustration just came together.

For someone unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe your illustrations? 

 Oh man, I have never been really good with this question. It is why my resume is such a mess. My style is actually all dependent on lighting. The balance between black and white is first and foremost instead of any particular paint style. Due to the fact that I am partially colorblind, I have to make sure the my under painting is spot on, so then I can just add some predetermined colors and ta da!

What else do you have in the pipeline? At the moment I am working on a bad ass fairy tale book, which is all I can say about that. I also started work on a graphic novel title Traumatized. This will display my new pen and ink styling. Soon to be released is Dead Dog which is just such an awesome cover for Gran Mal Press. I went up and down with this illustration fighting it the whole time…it also didn’t help that I was in a cast.  

What artists have had the most influence on your own artwork?  

This is one of those questions that makes you have all kinds of flashbacks. If I had to pick some of my favorites, they would be (in no particular order) Tim Bradstreet, Alex Ross, Richard Krzyka, Jim Lee, Julie Bell, and probably Tom Herzberg my teacher. Tom showed me not only how to paint but also how to break an image down. How does something work, why does it work that way, and finally who is the image for? Allot of artist forget that. It really cool to be able to create a dramatic, ass kicking scene of Spider Man beating up Catwoman, but if the client asked for two mobster fist fighting and you draw superheroes…you got problems.

What was the last thing you read?

I actually just finished reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. I am a huge Matheson fan and whenever I need a little inspiration I sit and read one of his short stories from Button, Button: Uncanny Stories.   

Anything else you’d like to tell us about?  

Yeah I would like to make a statement to all aspiring artists...stick with it. There is a quote from Tim Bradstreet that has been running thru my head the last couple of months “If you don’t have the passion . . . that drive and determination, then do yourself a favor and go back to college. Get a degree and then call me, you can help me with my taxes.” Bottom line you have to keep pushing, keep challenging yourself. No one every got anything they truly wanted the easy way, and for those that did, it was a hollow victory.

Check out his official website at:   http://www.srbproductions.net

An Interview With Grand Mal Press

I'm proud to be a pubished author with Grand Mal Press.  I have found that they are a professional and enjoyable-to-work-with outfit.  So here's a bit about them for those that don't know.  This is an interview with Ryan C. Thomas; one of the key players in the publisher's setup.

Tell us a bit about the history of Grand Mal Press and how it came to be.

The long and the short of it is, a friend of mine was fed up with the current state of the American small press. He’d been published by a couple imprints and the products were crap. I’d seen it plenty as well. Too many companies with bad editing, bad covers, bad rates, etc (which is not to say there aren’t good ones, too, but there are a lot of bad ones). So, we basically said, hey, we can do this and try to not make those mistakes. Grand Mal’s CEO is a huge fan of classic literature and was a college English professor, so between his love of prose, and my history of ten years in the magazine publishing industry, where I learned proper layout and editing techniques, we put our skills together to get Grand Oak Books Ltd, (which owns Grand Mal Press) off the ground. We then brought in professional editors, and proofers, and cover artists to round out our small, dedicated staff.

What type of fiction do you specialise in and what are you not interested in?

We are interested in all genre fiction, everything from sci fi to horror to mystery to westerns to fantasy, etc. We are getting ready to start accepting YA fiction as well. Grand Oak Books—the parent company—also owns kidz4kidz press, which is a new imprint specializing in children’s books.  Right now, we’re not interested in short story collections, erotica, or graphic novels.

 

What are the company’s plans for 2012 and beyond?

We’re still looking for more books to publish; we want to expand the line. We are in talks with audio book companies (Audible already bought some of the Grand Oak Books titles) and just received interest from the Library Association of America to stock our books. So things are happening, but as in all small businesses it takes some time. Our fingers are crossed and we’re working hard.

What is currently on the horizon for Grand Mal Press?

We have 6 or 7 new titles already signed and we’re going to be getting those out shortly. Books by Nick Cook, Gregory Norris, Robert White, Geoffrey James, Craig Saunders, Matt Darst, and more. We have made offers to others as well, but I can’t speak of them until I get the contracts back. But there are some amazing books we’re working to get. We are also looking at our first limited edition hardback series to start soon.

Any advice to authors looking to get your interest?

Send us polished scripts. We get so many we can’t be bothered to read the whole thing right away and if we see tons of errors in the first couple pages it gets rejected. If it’s polished we pass it on to the acquisitions people. Also, read up on our rates first. We’re a small press and we cannot offer a six figure deal—we’ve had a couple subbers and websites get mad at us for that. By all means try for Random House first. But mostly just hone your craft and send us a clean script and we’ll happily consider it. One of our appeals—we hope—is that we have no specific genre in mind. Other publishers are zombie-focused or vampire-focused....but we’ll look at everything.  But of course we look at that popular stuff as well.

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Grand Mal is building a family that is very supportive of each other and I really like that. Everyone seems to be working together to make the brand grow. We can’t wait to add even more members to the table!

New look

My official website: www.iainrobwright.com has recently had a new banner and background to reflect that I am also an author of thrillers as well as horrors.  Horror will still be my main focus, but it won't be unlikely to see at least one straight-up thriller from me each year.  FYI:  SEA SICKNESS has just passed the 30,000 word mark and so far is shaping up to be quite a twisty-turny mystery/horror in the same vein as THE FINAL WINTER.

I am also looking for reviewers for ASBO and THE PEELING, so if you would like a free copy in exchange for an Amazon review, then please contact me via the contact page on my official website.  Thanks.

Author or Businessman?

In its first month, The Final Winter sold about 10 copies and made me about £15.  Now it makes the same amount of money each month that I used to make as an assistant manager at Phones4U.  The other books I have published will eventually make me a similar amount too, I believe, and all subsequent books I release will just add to my monthly kitty, meaning that every year I will potentially be wealthier than the last.  So, in a nutshell, I now earn more, working 30 hours a week doing something I love, than I did working 50 hours a week doing something I loathe.  With a bit of luck I will never have to seek employment for the rest of my life.  God willing I will be able to grow old doing what I love and making good money for it.  God willing.

Lately I have been pinching myself a lot, that I actually set out to succeed at something and managed to do it.  My life had been filled with failures up until that point.  When I finished The Final Winter, I worried, like all other writers, that it was nothing but a pipe dream and that I didn't have anywhere near the talent I thought I did (I probably still don't), but now I have complete strangers emailing me to tell me how much they enjoy my work (I still don't feel right calling them 'fans') and asking me when they can buy the next.  I get satisfaction from my job that I never knew possible, and I get paid well for it!  Factor in that I have a wonderful relationship with a woman I have loved since the day I met her, and I guess I'm amongst those lucky few in the world that have truly wonderful lives.

I'm not here to brag though, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way.  As I said, I pinch myself everyday at how blessed I am.  I appreciate how lucky I am and I always seek to pay back my good fortunes into the 'Karma pot'.  I always reply to emails from people who have read my books; I always offer advice to other aspiring authors; I always do favours for my colleagues (when I can); and I always look after the people I love.  I try really hard not to be a jackass!  That is why I am about to share my thoughts on the current state of the industry and why I think I have been able to carve out a living.  Because I want the same for you.

Being a writer has now become exactly the same as being a businessman.  While some of us will fail and some will succeed (with others floating about in mediocrity) we all now have an equal playing field.  The same opportunities are there for all.  While only 1 in 3 business succeed (I think), they all started out with the same potential and the same freedoms to reach for their goals.  It is now the same for writers.  Gone are the days where a writer would pen a novel and send it off to get twenty rejections.  We don't need some stuffy agent to give us their approval anymore.  There are no gatekeepers.  We can now take the belief we have in ourselves and push things as far as we choose to.  While being the next Stephen King is the ultimate goal, there are now many more modest and achievable goals along the way - such as merely making a living from writing or getting a few fans.  It's no longer an all or nothing industry; there are gradients of success.

Like any entrepreneur wanting to get rich with a great idea, an author can now self-publish and put all of their belief behind it in the same way a salesman would a new product.  We can put our work on Amazon or itunes and promote it, market it, and push it out into the world in any way we want, gaining back success equal to the efforts we put in - in other words the industry is now fair and open to everyone.  It's become more about hard work and less about luck.  How much money you make is totally down to you - how good your work is and how hard you try (but that's the way it should be).  There is no longer anyone in your way saying you're not good enough - it is not for them to say any longer.  It's truly an exciting time and fantastic for those of us that have the burning desire to tell stories.

Stephen King once said that if you write something and somebody pays you a dollar for it then he considers you a writer.  That's what it's all about now: whether we make a dollar or a million dollars, we can all have a fair shot at being what we dream of being.  Nobody has the right to tell you that the novel you just spent a year of your life writing is not valid.  It most certainly is, and if only 1 in 100 people enjoy it, then that just means your audience is small and not everyone gets what you're selling - but that one person who enjoyed your novel makes you a goddamn writer!  At least it does to me.

Self publishing can make you a living, or even make you wealthy, BUT...the work still needs to be good, the editing still needs to be competent, and the cover still needs to be done by a professional - but all of these things now are just business costs that can be controlled by you, the individual.  Releasing your book is no longer a lottery that relies on some random agent or publisher deciding you're worth a go.  It is a product being shipped to market, aimed at an audience who will enjoy it.  Its success is up to you.

So, if you have a novel in you that's been rejected two dozen times, edit it another ten times and then get it out on Kindle or iTunes.  You could be really surprised to find out that people love it (which shows what a load of codswallop the agents that rejected you were talking in the first place.)

If you want to get published the traditional way, then go to the small press.  Why?  Well, because they will give a shit about you, for starters.  They will believe in your work and want to get it on sale immediately and see it do well.  A book sold to Random House may sit around doing nothing for a few years before they even bother to release it - and even then they don't always care how well it does.  A small press will believe in you, support you, and help you to get better.  The readership they will get you is a great way to start your new business (of writing book), and once you are successful with a few novels behind you, you can start trying self-publishing for a couple of titles each year and enjoy the feeling of being 100% in control of your assets, both financially and creatively.  Then you can set up a website, ask people for reviews, speak to your fans, and run your career like a successful enterprise.

While it's obvious that I am a supporter of self-publishing, I myself have also been published traditionally via Grand Mal Press.  The reason I did this, I can admit, is that they know a heck of a lot more about releasing a book then I do.  By publishing through Grand Mal Press I got:

A professional editor
A professional Cover Artist
A support network that included other published authors
Career advice and guidance
A friendly ear about anything and everything
Validity in being a 'published' author
The chance to be part of a brand and to support colleagues who are supporting me
A readership in addition to the one gathered by myself.
Experience in the process of getting book to market professionally

So my overall advice to any aspiring authors (providing they don't get a six-figure offer from a massive publisher), would be to start with the small press (Grand Mal Press being a great place to start) and work with them to become the best writer that you can.  Then, maybe, release every second book yourself on Amazon KDP and Createspace.  This way you have the best of both worlds - pure profits from your self-published books and the backing of a publisher for your others.  This is what I do by choice and it works for me (FYI, every novel I have written has had offers from a publisher, but I have turned them down for some of my titles).

This time next year, I fully expect to be earning twice what I did as a manager in a phone shop.  Thinking about what I will be earning ten years from now makes me start pinching myself again.

The world of writing is finally accessible to anyone that wants to give it a go.  There are no more excuses.  So get writing, my brothers and sisters.