Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My (pen) name is Eric Martin and I have written two books I have written. I was born and grew up in Seneca Falls, a small town in Upstate New York that is in everyone’s history books as the birthplace of women’s rights. I had a pretty active, some would say overactive, imagination and when I was young would write what would be considered ‘fan fiction’ stories today. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame where I worked at The Observer, the student newspaper on campus. I wanted to be a reporter but my first two jobs in the industry-one at a newspaper and the other at a PR firm in Chicago-didn’t quite work out and through a few twists and turns ended up working in the athletic and running goods industry. Currently I work at Fleet Feet Sports in Chicago in sales and also write and edit copy for the store’s website. I wrote a book under my given name back in 2000 and did early print-on-demand self-publishing that didn’t work out very well and stepped away from writing-real life intruded then-until taking writing back up again two years ago.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, my debut under my pen name, is titled The Trading Society. Around 2000, when I was writing my first book which was dark in tone and dealt with serial killers, I belonged to an adventure story group in Yahoo and, in an effort to take a break from slogging through finishing my first book, created a serial concerning the adventures of a young and beautiful college journalist at Great Northern University named Samantha Grayson who in the first story runs afoul of a ‘white slavery,’ what we now call human trafficking, ring and has to be rescued by her boyfriend, All-American quarterback Tyler McManaway. I grew up in the seventies and every cop show had a ‘white slavery’ episode where pretty college coeds would be kidnapped for sale overseas, I guess I was impressionable back then. The serial progressed from there with Samantha and her friends experiencing danger and peril at the hands of this human trafficking and other adversaries. I always liked writing the serial and when I decided to take a second stab at writing a book I went back to that first story and fleshed it out into a full-scale novel with the idea that the human trafficking ring is run by descendants of those involved in the African slave trade of the 1800s who moved on to kidnapping young women for the rich and powerful when their trade was abolished. Samantha unwittingly discovers this and becomes their next victim to be sold to their most lucrative, and brutal, client.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Other than ingesting copious amounts of coffee when I am writing? I typically do most of my writing in a Starbucks near where I work in Chicago, all the baristas there know me and my gold card has stretch marks on it. I have a particular station on Pandora that plays music from movie soundtracks and I put that on when I am working, letting the music help to set a particular scene.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I might be a little different in the fact that I don’t read much in my own genre as to let my writing and plot and character develop organically, I don’t want to find myself copying what other writers do. I want to be known as Eric Martin, not as a ‘So-and-so imitator.’ That said the author that has had the most influenced on how I write is Tom Clancy. Even though he was known for emphasizing the ‘techno’ in techno-thriller, I took note at how deep he would develop his characters-there were no cardboard cutouts in his stories-and how intricate his plotting was. I still think his best book was Debt of Honor.
What are you working on now?
I am deep into exploring the fascinating world of marketing a book and have discovered that it is almost as much work as writing a book. You can’t take an off day, you have to always be looking for opportunities to get the word out about your book so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. But you have to take a ‘long-range’ view of the objective. You can’t expect a book without the backing of one of the major publishing houses to shoot up to the top right away. You have to take little steps and every one of them is important in establishing excitement for your effort.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As I have only scratched the surface of opportunities I don’t know if I can really say what is the best, and every author is going to take a different approach. Social media is really important-Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads-to make connections to the audience for your book. One thing is to start with your inner circle-family, friends, co-workers-they will want to support your work and will help to spread the word out to people that they know. But I do hope that this interview with Awesome Gang brings increased attention to my work and I do thank you for the opportunity.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write a good story, something people will want to read. And search for an angle or plot that is unique. The reason ‘Fifty Shades’ and ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Harry Potter’ did so well is that each was a concept that hadn’t been executed before. Try to be the one who scales Mount Everest first because history doesn’t remember who was second.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
That would be from my Dad and it is pretty simple. “Do what you want to do.”
What are you reading now?
I just finished The Guns At Last Light, the final book in Rick Atkinson’s ‘Liberation Trilogy’ about the campaign of the Allies across Western Europe in World War Two. The detail is fascinating and it some ways it does read like a novel.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to start work on the second novel in the series. Already have the title. ‘Constellation Rising.’
What is your favorite book of all time?
I can’t choose just one so this will be the books I would want to be stranded with on a desert island. I just finished Rick Atkinson’s fabulous ‘Liberation Trilogy’ detailing the campaign of the Allies through Western Europe in World War Two-An Army At Dawn, The Day of Battle and The Guns at Last Light. The books are rich in detail and Atkinson’s writing style is so sublime I would love to see him write a fictional novel. I’m a big fan of the late Stephen Ambrose so I would take Band of Brothers and his book on the D-Day invasion. I’d have to have some Tom Clancy and my choices there would be the aforementioned Debt of Honor and the book that started it all for him, The Hunt For Red October. Throw into the trunk The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara; Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson; The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and Berlin Diary by William Shirer, the greatest example of a personal diary chronicling his time as a reporter in Nazi Germany before World War Two. And if I want to do some writing I need The Elements of Style by E.B. White and William Strunk. My copy is autographed by the great Charles Kuralt from when he spoke at Notre Dame in 1986.
Eric Martin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account