Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My career as a writer began in journalism. In the 1990s I was senior editor of two of the UK’s most popular ‘X-files’ style magazines, UFO Reality and Odyssey. It was a time when the X-Files was more popular in the UK than afternoon tea, and for this reason the magazines sold very well. UFO Reality in particular became one of the UK’s biggest selling independent publications, and as a result, I became known as one of the UK’s best-known ‘conspiracy journalists’—something I’ve been trying to live down ever since!
For the most part, though, being known in this way did work in my favour. For one thing it prompted one of the country’s top publishing houses, Hodder & Stoughton, to approach me about writing a book on the UFO phenomenon. The result was my first major book release, ‘Cosmic Top Secret: The Unseen Agenda’, essentially an A-Z on the UFO phenomenon from Roswell to the present day, with a particular emphasis on the alleged UFO coverup by the world’s governments and their various secret agencies. It was fun to write and it actually did reasonably well.
But it was my two subsequent books that really changed my life. Titled respectively ‘Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence’ and ‘Princess Diana: The Evidence’, both written with my researcher and co-author, John Beveridge, these two books were the result of a rigorous, exhaustive and, quite frankly, at times terrifying investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding Princess Diana’s death. In truth the latter was the softback edition of the former, but due to the fact that six or seven years separated the two editions, and that so much transpired in that time – most notably the official British investigation into Diana’s death and the Royal Inquest – the latter was pretty much a new book in its own right.
And in any event, it was our investigation into Diana’s death that formed the backdrop for my latest book, an autobiographical conspiracy/spy thriller called The Cut-Out.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As mentioned above, my latest book is called The Cut-Out, a conspiracy/spy thriller based on the true story of how and why I became involved in investigating Princess Diana’s death, and the sheer hell myself and my family went through at the hands of Britain’s intelligence agencies as a result of that investigation. It’s all fairly well documented in my previous ‘Diana’ books, but because I was able to write The Cut-Out in the form of a novel it allowed me for the first time to tell the gritty, personal, at times paranoid and often terrifying human story of my investigation in a way that I was unable to do in either of my two previous books, which of course were both factual documents. For the record, a ‘cut-out’ is someone used by intelligence agencies, often unwittingly, to funnel information from A to B. The fact that I was used in this way in the intelligence-driven media operation that followed Diana’s death, and my determination to tell the world about it, was the sole inspiration behind the writing of the book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that I’m aware of, no. I just try and fit in as much writing time as I possibly can between other essential life commitments!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
To be perfectly honest I’m not a prolific reader so this is a difficult one for me to answer. I would say, though, that the authors who have influenced me most have all been non-fiction writers, people like John Pilger and Robert Fisk, maybe Noam Chomsky.
I also like screenwriter, Paul Laverty, who often works with film director Ken Loach, another of my favourites.
When I do read fiction books I tend to flick from one author to another, one style to the next. I actually like a range of styles, anything from John Lennon’s highly original, if quirky, ‘A Spaniard In The Works’, to George Orwell’s dark, dystopian – and thought-provoking – ‘1984’, to John Buchan’s ‘The 39 Steps’ and Clive Barker’s ‘Weaveworld’. I really like Clive Barker’s writing style. In fact I like his style more than the content of his books.
What are you working on now?
I’m actually a screenwriter as well as an author and I’m currently working on two movie projects—the first a screenplay based on my current book, The Cut-Out, which I actually wrote before the book to be honest, so you could say the book is based on the screenplay. But any which way, the film is now in development. So fingers crossed!
The other screenplay is one that I’ve just finished, called ‘To Be Someone’. It’s set in 1979 ‘punk rock’ Britain and follows the fortunes of a young mod/punk band as they struggle to hit the big time. So very different to The Cut-Out!
To Be Someone has just been optioned and hopefully we’ll start work on the film at some point in 2014.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I guess if I knew the answer to this one I’d be selling more books!
Actually I just try to utilize as much social media as I can, as well as submitting my book to websites like Awesome Gang, Pixel of Ink and so on. It’s really very difficult, especially with a limited budget. When you’ve had the luxury of having a big publisher promote your book, of course, the thought of having to promote your own book can be really quite daunting. But you just have to get on with it and do the best you can. And anyway, being signed to a major publisher is not always as rosy as it may seem—the big promo budget often comes with its conditions, some of which can be really quite compromising. And there’s also the danger that the publisher might decide to hold your book back in favour of another on their list. Certainly I’ve been stung in the past by publishers, in more ways than one, so right now self-publishing is definitely right for me, despite the difficulties involved in having to self-promote. You just have to work much harder to get your book noticed!
Another useful thing to do is to try and persuade some or other radio and/or TV talk host to have you on their show. I find that getting a good, professional-looking press pack together can really help this process.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As above, I guess. And also, at the risk of sounding trite and patronizing, just try to keep going! Self-determination coupled with self-belief must, in my opinion, be the greenest fuel for success. That and hard work. It’s so easy to give up when you receive that first bad review, even more so if you receive more than one, which just about every author does, even the famous ones. Maybe try to take on board some of what the reviews say, but only with a view to improving your skill as a writer, not to beat yourself up!
And remember, the most successful writers aren’t always the best ones. They just have the best editors!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Golfer Gary Player.
Not really advice, per se, I suppose. But you get the drift!
What are you reading now?
‘Ghost In The Machine’ by Ed James. I’ve just discovered this author and I’m really enjoying his wit. A really enjoyable read.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I would say I need to work hard to promote my new book and develop my two screenplays before embarking on anything else, although I do want to start my next novel very soon. Perhaps in the new year.
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 really don’t know to be honest, but they would certainly need to be very long and highly interesting because the chances are I could be stranded for a very long time!
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