Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was in the sixth grade. San Andreas school in Pacifica, California, the late 60s. Our teacher would write all of the day’s assignments on the blackboard, and each table of six students would work together to get through them. When finished, you went to the back of the room where each student had a card, green on one side, red on the other. You turned your card from red to green and spent the rest of the day working on extra credit.
One day I chose to write a short story. The next day, my teacher handed me a theme book. She said from that day forward my only extra credit was to fill that theme book with stories. How cool was that? Every day my extra credit time was spent writing in that theme book.
We moved away about halfway through the sixth grade; never saw that teacher again… or that theme book.
But since then, I’ve written dozens of novels, novellas, short stories, screenplays and stage plays. I can point to that day and that teacher. That’s when it started.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I recently completed the “Black Tower – The Complete Series”.
This novella serial is based on the eleven one hour screenplays of the television miniseries “The Black Tower”. This omnibus volume contains all eleven novellas, with each novella a direct adaptation of one of the episodes in the miniseries. They are structured and formatted exactly as the one hour screenplays from which they have been adapted.
BTW, the miniseries is currently being marketed to the industry…
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
It’s not unusual to me. To me, it’s perfectly normal…
What authors, or books have influenced you?
About a year or so ago I noticed that a significant percentage of my fan base is in England. I thought a bit on that… I grew up reading the British science fiction writers from the sixties (Brian Aldiss, John Wyndham, John Christopher), and no doubt my writing style was influenced by them. Perhaps my growing British audience picked up on that before I did.
What are you working on now?
I’m finishing up “Genesis”, the final novel in the Shylmahn Trilogy. It’s scheduled to be published this May, 2015. The screenplay adaptation of the first title in the trilogy, “The Shylmahn Migration”, won the Pacific Northwest Screenwriting Competition” a few years ago.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My marketing methodology is still evolving.
I have developed a fairly significant author platform. I have my own websites (davidrbeshears.com and greybeardpublishing.com) and have a presence on a number of social media sites.
I’ve only recently started looking at the for-fee promotion websites. Over the next few weeks I’ll be placing a different title with each site’s promotion program. I’ll monitor to see what each does for immediate sales, but more important what it does for my long-term fan base. We’ll see what we see…
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t sit on a single title, don’t sit on a single format. Get a number of titles out there, and publish to all formats: print, ebook (multiple formats!) and audiobook.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you want to be a successful author, you need to be equal parts writer and salesman.
I came into marketing very, very reluctantly, but once I set the goal to work 50% at writing and 50% marketing, everything began to change.
What are you reading now?
I’ve made a conscious effort to seek out unknown writers. I periodically go digging through hundreds of ebooks and buy/download five or six at a time. I’m finding that one or two will be quite good, another one or two not too bad, and then one or two that I have trouble finishing.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Once I finish the third volume in the Shylmahn Trilogy, I’m scheduled to start work on an eight part audio web-series. The outline has been completed, writing to start soon. We’ll be producing it in a sound studio we’ve put together here, and we hope to have the episodes available on the greybeard website beginning in June.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I seldom read the same book twice, but if was to choose from my past reads, I’d have to go with Dune, To Kill a Mockingbird and Watership Down.
Author Websites and Profiles
David Beshears Website
David Beshears Amazon Profile
David Beshears Author Profile on Smashwords
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