TopShelf Magazine Holiday Edition, 2016 | Page 17

INTERVIEWS

USA Today Bestselling Author of 38 Novels , JON LAND

Jon Land is the USA Today bestselling author of 38 novels , including eight titles in the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series : Strong Enough to Die , Strong Justice , Strong at the Break , Strong Vengeance , Strong Rain Falling ( winner of the 2014 International Book Award and 2013 USA Best Book Award for Mystery-Suspense ), Strong Darkness ( winner of the 2014 USA Books Best Book Award and the 2015 International Book Award for Thriller ), and Strong Light of Day ( winner of the 2016 International Book Award for Best Thriller-Adventure , the 2015 Books and Author Award for Best Mystery Thriller , and the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award for Best Mystery ). The latest title in the series , Strong Cold Dead was published on October 4 , 2016 ; Strand Magazine said it ’ s “ certain to rank Land among a handful of our most talented thriller authors of this decade .” Land has also teamed with multiple New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham on a new sci-fi series , the first of which , The Rising , will be published by Forge in January of 2017 . He is a 1979 graduate of Brown University and lives in Providence , Rhode Island .

Question

Do you read books at a certain time of day and what was the last book that kept you up all night because you couldn ' t put it down ?

Answer

Wow , great question ! I read mostly at night , when I travel , and before I start writing myself . In terms of the last book that kept me awake , I ' d have to go with DOCTOR SLEEP , Stephen King ' s brilliant and long-awaited sequel to THE SHINING . It was literally chilling and I couldn ' t put it down .

Question

Do you write an outline before you start writing a novel ? If yes , how detailed is your outline ?

Answer

No , I ' m a seat of the pants type writer . I figure if I don ' t know what ' s going to happen , the reader can ' t possibly know . I have great confidence in both my characters to guide me and my imagination , or some visionary muse , to steer me in the right direction to get my story out of the hole I ' ve dug for it .

Question

How do you work with an editor without pride making a guest appearance like Jack Nicholson in The Shining ?

Answer

Writing a book is a team effort and my editors are crucial to the success of my books and , even more importantly , the quality . A writer has to realize it ' s impossible to be totally objective about your own work . You need to find people you trust to help get you where you want to go .

Question

How should an author divide their time between writing and marketing ?

Answer

Wow , another great question and there ' s no simple answer . I know writers , plenty of them , who are far better at marketing what they do than actually the writing they ' re marketing . And I know great writers who can ' t move the sales needle no matter how much they Tweet or Facebook . I think a lot of it depends on the genre but , even more , they may be good but most of the really successful writers owe an element of that success , sometimes a lot of it , to luck . Being in the right place at the right time .

interviews

Question

Have you ever been to a book signing event and had no one show up ?

Answer

Of course ! But the advertising , placement , and fact that I left plenty of signed copies behind made up for it . Signings shouldn ' t be judged by how many you sell that day , but overall . Better to sell thirty books in a month than ten books in a day .

Question

Do you have advice for independent bookstores on how they can organize successful events in their stores ?

Answer

Try to have more than one author at a time . Make it more of an event where each author draws a few people to add up to a pretty decent crowd .

Read more of our interview with Jon Land at : www . TopShelfMagazine . net

Available : January 17 , 2017 Genre : Suspense Thriller ISBN : 978-0765337917

www . TopShelfMagazine . net TOPShelf magazine HOLIDAY2016 17

TOPShelf magazine HOLIDAYEDITION2016