Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been a writer of horror for over forty-two years, published the last thirty of those with twenty, two novellas and twelve short stories. Some of them are murder mysteries, dark paranormal time-travel, thrillers; but most are horror. Horror with heart, I like to call my spooky tales. I consider myself a horror writer because most of my stories have a certain darkness to them, although they also deal with the human conditions of despair, hope, hate and love. And I’ve seen so much change in those years, especially since the advent of the Internet, Amazon and the eBook, that I still can’t believe how far it’s all come or how far I’ve come.
Forty-two years ago, when I was a young mother of just twenty-one, I started sending my books, typed on an electric typewriter with their hardcopy pages stuffed into a copy box and sent snail mail, to what was then the only places I could send them to, traditional publishers like Avon, Dell, Leisure, Kensington, and a mess of others now long gone listed in a fat hardcover book from the library titled Writer’s Market. It sometimes took years to get a book read and accepted, more years to see it edited, published and on the brick-and-mortar bookstore shelves. Then every six months or so (often they were months late) I’d get these weird royalty statements I never could figure out. They’d pay me pennies on each dollar the book earned (imagine, I used to get a measly 4%-7% for the paperbacks in the 1980’s) and take back large amounts I could never understand for what they called returns, whatever they were. In fact, the whole traditional publishing route was not very lucrative for most authors, who weren’t treated very well by them, unless you were a best-seller and made oodles of money for the publisher and then you were treated much better. Or so I’ve been told. I never knew for sure because I wasn’t considered a big writer, though whenever someone read my books, they raved about how good they were; wondered why I wasn’t famous. I just couldn’t get the publicity I needed to make that leap to the big name list. Besides, I was a woman, and look at how few women have ever been mega selling horror writers like Anne Rice. Very few.
So I don’t miss those awful days when the traditional publishers ruled the world at all. I love the Internet and, as I’m starting to do with all my books, self-publishing with Amazon Kindle…where I get a generous 70% of my total book sales and actually get a simple-to-understand readable royalty statement on my laptop every month. Total accountability. It’s heaven. But it’s taken some changes in my outlook and how I write and publish my stories. It’s taken some time to bring my career up to date.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My two latest novels, number 19 and 20, are also now my best-selling ones. They’re adventure/thrillers with a touch of horror/sf thrown in. Dinosaur Lake (which was a 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST*) and its sequel Dinosaur lake II:Dinosaurs Arising. You can find them here along with all my other 20 novels: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Kathryn%20Meyer%20Griffith
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. When I was younger I used to work all day (as a graphic artist out in the real world) and then write every evening from about 7-10. Now days I’m retired and can write WHENEVER I WANT. I prefer to write in the mornings on my laptop on my sofa with my big TV on low, for company, and a cup of my famous chocolate coffee concoction beside me on my end table. Heaven. I don’t miss that old typewriter one bit!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King, of course. I love him because, like me, he can write anything almost in a variety of genres. The vampire stories of Anne Rice. Dean Koontz, because he helped me get my first agent (long gone now like the traditional publishers…I agent myself and self-publish and make a LOT more money on Amazon Kindle KDP). I used to read a lot of SF and historical romances when I was younger and had favorites like Ray Bradbury Heinlein.
What are you working on now?
Hmm. The last year and a half I’ve been working hand-in-hand with ACX to produce all my 20 books in audio books. I pick my own narrator/producer and work with them as we record and edit the audio books. So much fun, but taking so much longer than I would have thought. I have 16 out now and four left to go! When done they’re released on Amazon.com, iTunes and along with the eBooks as Whisper Sync. It’s been…interesting. I’m working on my best-selling Dinosaur Lake II:Dinosaurs Arising now with Dan McKinney, a great narrator!
AND I’m writing the third dinosaur book, Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation. Should be done by Christmas 2014 or so. After that, for book 21, I have NO IDEA what I’ll be writing. Should I return to my horror roots or write something totally…different. Perhaps.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang of course. And the list of all the ones they provide. Author marketing Club is GREAT. A whole bunch of places all in one location. Then I post on Facebook and Goodreads and all my writer/reader loops.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be patient. Write. Write. Write. Learn the craft. Hire an editor and a proofreader so you can self-publish (I spent 40 years making peanuts with legacy publishers and now make a living with Amazon Kindle KDP). Get a great cover by a great cover artist….and understand that you might never be famous or rich and that it could take a LOT OF TIME to become a real author. Write because you love to write and write what you love to read.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Learn the craft. Show not tell. Use dialogue whenever you can. NEVER GIVE UP.
What are you reading now?
Just finished Stephen King’s newest novel about a haunted carnival, more a mystery than a horror story.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Like I said…not sure what kind of story I’ll write next. When I finish these last 4 audio books and my third dinosaur novel I will write whatever pops into my head, be it romance, mystery, horror or thriller. I am never out of ideas. For awhile now, because I’m older and time is slipping past, I’ve been thinking of writing a fictionalized story of my big family (we were 7 siblings, mom, dad, grandma and grandpa…sheesh…like the Waltons…lived through the 1950’s-now) ; more a sort of biography. Lots of stories there.
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?
Books by Stephen King, Anne Taylor, Ray Bradbury, Heinlein and the top murder mystery books. A really great ghost story (whatever is big at the time) and a science fiction. I’m looking for new authors to read everyday.
Author Websites and Profiles
Kathryn Meyer Griffith Website
Kathryn Meyer Griffith Amazon Profile
Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile