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good. Talk about absurd.
Please explain to aspiring authors and
booksellers just how much work is required,
even as a traditionally published bestselling
author, to maintain your level of success? Have you ever been part of a writers
workshop or group? Was it helpful? Or a
waste of time? Any advice for writers
looking to start or join one?
It’s something that has to be worked at every
day. Of course the most important thing for
any writer is to produce the best work they
can. Writing the book is the one thing a
writer has total control over. So I pour most
of my efforts into just that. Whether or not
I succeed is a matter of debate, but I do try
as hard as I can. You can never forget that
being a commercial fiction writer is a
constant endeavor, a full time job. You have
to give it your full attention.
Is there a marketing idea you've seen bookstores
do that stands out as particularly successful?
The most successful marketing that stores do is
working their customer base through e-mail,
newsletters, and personal contact, making
sure those folks stay customers, participate
in store activities, and buy their books. The
most successful independent stores around
the country follow this religiously.
What is the biggest mistake you have seen a
bookstore make?
My favorite is from about nine years ago.
My book was chosen as a President’s Pick at
Books-A-Million. Being selected entailed
lots of free placement, marketing, co-op,
and promotion at all of the Books-A-Million
stores. Stuff they pay for. Talk about
wonderful. At the same time Books-A-Million
produced a monthly publication that it gave
away in all its stores (which they also pay for).
It was a newspaper like publication that
highlighted what was for sale in the stores for
that month. Inside that publication was a
review on my novel, thrashing it. So, on the
one hand the company paid lots of money in
marketing and promotion to sell the book
then, on the other, more money to print a
review that said the books wasn’t all that
Do you have advice for independent
bookstores on how they can organize
successful events in their stores?
Promotion is paramount. They have to
work their customer base and generate
interest in the writers that are taking the
time to come to store for an event. No
promotion, no successful event. It’s that
simple. Everything else springs from that.
Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia
and graduated from the Walter F. George
School of Law at Mercer University. He was
a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective
office for 14 of those years. He is a founding
member of International Thriller Writers—
a group of nearly 4,000 thriller writers from
around the world—and served three years
as its co-president.
Steve is a New York Times and #1
internationally bestselling author of 16
novels, 12 of which are Cotton Malone
adventures. His books have been translated
into 40 languages with over 21,000,000
copies sold in 51 countries.
History lies at the heart of all of Steve
Berry’s books. It’s a passion, one he shares
with his wife, Elizabeth, which led them to
create History Matters, a foundation
dedicated to historic preservation. Since
2009 they’ve crossed the country to save
endangered historic treasures, raising money
via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons,
dinners and their popular writers workshops.
To date, over 3,000 students have attended
those workshops. All totaled, they’ve raised a
million dollars for preservation.
Steve Berry has had more than a few
awards come his way. In 2012 and 2013
he was recognized by the American
Library Association, which named him its
spokesperson for National Preservation
Week. Among other honors are the Royden
B. Davis Distinguished Author Award; the
2013 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers
Award given by Poets & Writers; the 2013
Anne Frank Human Writes Award; and the
Silver Bullet, bestowed in 2013 by International
Thriller Writers for his philanthropic work.
He currently serves on the Smithsonian
Libraries Advisory Board. A 2010 NPR
survey named The Templar Legacy one of the
top 100 thrillers ever written.
AN INTERVIEW WITH
NY TIMES BESTSELLING
AUTHOR, STEVE BERRY
INTERVIEWS
I would not be a published writer today
except for the writers group I attended
for 6 years back in the 1990s. It was a
brutal experience, but that’s where I
learned how to teach myself the craft of
writing. Writers groups are wonderful, if
they work. Finding the right one is a matter
of trial and error. I’ve heard many horror
stories about bad ones. I was fortunate to
stumble into a great one. I would encourage
all writers to try and either create or find a good
writers’ group. In my time, we had to do it all
face-to-face. But, today, it can be done on-
line with Facetime, Skype, and e-mail with
writers all around the world.
What’s the most important thing a bookstore can
do for an author to promote sales? Obviously,
every book cannot be front and center.
That’s right, which is why placement in
stores has to be purchased. It’s called co -op
and publishers pay dearly for it. Placement
is important. No question. As in real estate,
in the book business three things are critical:
location, location, location. But word-of-
mouth from booksellers helps too. And just not
in the independents. The chains can contribute
there too. Hiring people who are readers, who
actually know something about the product
they are dealing with, definitely helps.
What advice could you give to an author about
dealing with failure?
There’s a saying, When you’re walking through
hell, keep going. And that’s what you have to
do. Keep moving ahead. Never quit. It took
me 12 years and 85 rejections to finally be
published. I’m living proof it can be done.
Read more of our interview with Steve Berry at:
www.TopShelfMagazine.net
TOPShelf magazine
APRIL2017 13