Cowboys, Armageddon and The Truth

[TealSock]

Congrats on the book deal! I'm all for empowering people and spreading the word about this horrible religion.

[Hittman]

I'd encourage you to actually engage on the board instead of doing the drive-by promo thing.

But be warned – it can be addictive.

Having escaped long before the internet existed I was never all that interested in ex-JW forums. When I did a podiobook of a novel about a vampire Jehovah's Witness (see my footer) I hit a few of them, but not wanting to be a shill got involved before shilling.

And then I got hooked on this forum.

BTW, after extensive (mostly minor) edits, cleanups and story corrections, Blood Witness will soon be available as an e-book. I've just got to finish the cover and get some final copy-editing done.

[House]

BTW, after extensive (mostly minor) edits, cleanups and story corrections, Blood Witness will soon be available as an e-book. I've just got to finish the cover and get some final copy-editing done.

That's fantastic Dave, looking forward to that and the sequel!

[Scott Terry]

thanks for the warning! I'm pretty good at not getting addicted to online forums....I tend to last about 5 minutes before thinking I should get off of the computer.

Congrats Hittman on the book completion....I'm a huge fan of people writing about their JW experiences, even with vampires in the mix...LOL I think we all have our own methods of purging the JW experience. Some people write blogs, some engage in chat rooms, and others write books.

Maybe there should be a separate category on the forum for authors.....Tony DuShane, Kyria Abrams, Brenda Lee, etc. all have books out there about the dubs......

[Palimpsest]

Maybe there should be a separate category on the forum for authors.....Tony DuShane, Kyria Abrams, Brenda Lee, etc. all have books out there about the dubs......

We use the Book Discussion forum (where this is posted) for all types of literary topics, including topics from/about specific authors. Maybe we could consider doing some type of AMA-style threads with authors from time to time? I think that would be a good idea -- thanks for the suggestion.

And you had asked if it's okay to promote your blog here -- here's a link: http://www.freeminds.org/index.php?opti ... Itemid=860

Scott, do you have any advice to give to ex-JW writers who are just starting to break into the world of publishing? Or any other insights you'd like to share about your process? Do you think you'd write another book on the subject?

[Scott Terry]

I think it's important to encourage exJW writers to share their experiences. But for sure, if I had known in the beginning that it would take me 7 years to finish my book and pitch to agents/publishers, I'm sure I wouldn't have done it. When I set out to write my story, I thought it would take a year or two, at most.
If it helps any, here's some of what I learned, and the process I went through.
I was pretty comfortable with my writing skills, but after my first year, I realized that knowing how to write doesn't necessarily mean I knew how to write a book. So I hired a writing coach to help me learn. That was very productive, and not terribly expensive. But it really opened my eyes and allowed me to be much more critical when looking at my work. That led to two more years of writing....and as time went on, I came to understand how far away my book was from being finished.
In year 4, I hired an editor from New York.....that led to another year of very critical editing/change in the book evolution. She suggested I try to get excerpts from the book published in magazines/newspapers, so I submitted an excerpt to the San Francisco Chronicle, which was accepted about an hour after submission. The Chron editor asked me to write more, which led to my writing 10 stories for them and paid well enough to cover the costs of my New York editor.
In year 5, I started pitching my book to agents, and in year 6 I signed with one. After a year of frustration with her, I fired her and began pitching to smaller presses. In year 7, I was accepted by three smaller indie presses, and signed with Lethe.
If I could give any advice to other writers, it would be to accept the fact that editing and critical analysis through the eyes of a professional editor are EXTREMELY important. Having a great story to tell isn't enough to get a book published in the traditional manner. A writer has to know how to organize a book in the way that readers expect.
Secondly, I would recommend that writers have a serious heart-to-heart with themselves about why they are writing. Many writers are perfectly satisfied with selfpublishing and selling books to family and friends. My ego didn't want to go that route. I wanted to know that traditional publishers had reviewed my work and thought it good enough to take a risk on publishing.
People often remark that writing my book must have been very cathartic. It wasn't. Writing a book doesn't solve anything. It doesn't erase my JW past. But for sure, it makes me feel good to know that I have added one more nail into the JW coffin. And for that reason, I would encourage everyone who has a story to tell to find a way to do so. Writing a blog, a book, or posting in JW forums are all helpful.

[Hittman]

If I could give any advice to other writers, it would be to accept the fact that editing and critical analysis through the eyes of a professional editor are EXTREMELY important.

My novel has been read and vetted and edited by some very smart people, but the last one just found a huge mistake in it that everyone else missed. (Hero does something on Thursday night, then wakes up and deals with it Thursday morning. The timing of everything that happened was very important, so I just made the first event happen on Wednesday night. But it was a huge and stupid mistake that almost made it past everyone.) You need many other pairs of eyes to catch things you are blind to.

Having a great story to tell isn't enough to get a book published in the traditional manner

Getting a book published in the traditional manner is becoming increasingly difficult. Publishers are experiencing the same troubles that are killing record companies. I'm not talking about piracy, but about the huge bite indie publishing is taking from them, and how indies can often make more money as an indie than they can via traditional publishing. (Just as musicians are abandoning traditional record companies because they can now do far better on their own.) No one knows how this is going to shake out, but it's…interesting.

I hope your contract returns the rights to you if/when the book goes out of print. Lots of authors are making good money on their backlists, when they weren't making anything on them before.

[Scott Terry]

Hey Dave....similar situation. My book had been read a billion times by me, and many times by my publisher and editor, but their software program changed a sentence into something that didn't make any sense, and none of us caught it. It was only discovered when I had a couple of people read the Advanced Review Copy, which of course, is part of the point of sending out ARCs....it wasn't a huge mistake, but it was sure nice to have it caught before the book goes to print. I hope there aren't any more errors that we haven't found....LOL.

And I sure agree with you on your points about indie publishing. The publishing world is chaos. After my agent failed to obtain a contract with the big publishers, I decided the smaller indies were the way to go. Smaller indie presses are more willing to take a risk on an unknown auther. Indie presses pay out smaller advances, or in some cases no advances, but still, I think I made the right decision. And in the case of my publisher (which seems to be fairly typical of smaller indie presses, to the best of my knowledge), the copyright on my book belongs to me. The Library of Congress listing is in my name, so my publisher doesn't own my book. They only own the right to publish it for a few years, at which time the rights revert to me if I want to go elsewhere. And I will say that, so far, my experience with my publisher has been fantastic. Of course, the book isn't out until Oct. 6th so all kinds of things could go haywire, but so far everything has been great.

[Scott Terry]

Is it okay if I post a link to an essay I wrote for the Huffington Post here? The essay was written for their Gay Voices page, but is still a story from an exJW standpoint. There is one JW who has posted his thoughts on what I wrote......if any of you care to set him straight (no pun intended), feel free.

I am of the opinion that we all do our part in exposing the religion for what it is. Some of us do it by posting in online forums, others do it by writing for the Huffington Post. LOL Thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement. I do appreciate it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-ter ... 40609.html

[Jezebel]

I read your article, love your writing style. Good article....cannot wait for the book. Your sincerity comes through in your writing. The comments are really good too. I loved the update on Buck.

Jezebel