Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am currently a magazine editor who runs two major UK consumer titles and works on London’s South Bank. I am married with two grown up children – my wife is a retired teacher, my daughter is a veterinary surgeon and my son a professional musician and sound engineer. Apart from one-year of my life (1982-1983) which I spent teaching English in Crete, I have been a journalist since graduating in English Literature in 1979. Those years have been spent working on Fleet Street papers (I actually am old enough to have worked on them when they were based in Fleet Street), the BBC and numerous national magazines in various writing and editing capacities. Appart from my family, the loves of my life are my dogs and cats, writing, travelling, particularly in Greece, sailing, reading, rugby and playing the guitar incredibly badly (much to the frustration of my son). Four of my books about the Greek Islands have been published and a fifth one is already in editing hell and should come out over the next couple of months. My father was the crime writer Douglas Clark.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Corfu – A Notebook has just come out, following my previous three books The Greek Islands – A Notebook (2011); Crete – A Notebook (2012); and Rhodes – A Notebook (2013), as you can probably see a theme is developing here. As a professional writer I always wanted to write a book and when I found myself in a place where I had the discipline to attempt it I followed the age old advice to write about something I knew and loved, so Greece was an obvious choice. To start with my first book was an attempt to see if I could actually write a whole book. I did, and not expecting much else other than a sense of achievement, was amazed that it struck a chord and achieved a limited critical and sales success. Realising I had more to say than perhaps I at first thought, I decided to write a book specifically about the place I first visited, and lived in Greece, Crete. The subject matter was really close to my heart and the book was my most successful yet. I still get a buzz when people in Crete tell me they have had people visit there because of something they have read in one of my books. I followed that with the Rhodes book because I know the island well and spent some happy times sailing around there with some friends and have returned more recently with my wife. Corfu was another island I now know well, although I did not come to it until much later in life, so it seemed natural to make it the next in the series.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure I do, although being a journalist we are used to always hitting deadlines, but also I have a tendency to leave stuff to the last minute. This was a habit I had to break if I was ever going to get through a book, so I write every day on my commute and at lunchtimes and early in the mornings at weekends. I use my iPad to work on, which suits me just fine and I can type almost as fast as on my laptop now. I do tend to plan ahead, so usually I have a few idea on the go for other books as I am writing the current one. I enjoy the whole process so it isn’t a task and I sometimes feel bereft if I give myself a break between books. I think I have a tendency towards an addictive personality, so I have tried to train myself to be addicted to writing.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am an avid reader so the answer to this question will change all the time and my tastes are quite wide-ranging. I don’t know if any one particular writer consciously influenced my style but I was encouraged by the short-form chapters of some of Lawrence Durrell’s travel books to encourage me to be able to attempt to put together a book one piece at a time, taking a subject and writing about it at a length I was used to creating in my journalistic life and building them slowly into a more substantial work. In terms of writing about Greece I have enjoyed Patrick Leigh Fermor’s work, and in the diversity of the material we write about I suppose there is a similarity. His style is far more archaic than mine, and I would not presume to think my work comes anywhere near his brilliance. I like the simplicity and economy of style of Hemmingway who, even if the content of his work may not be to everybody’s contemporary taste, does make his books extremely readable. Although I discovered him after I had started my first book, J.A. Konrath also influenced me through his wonderful blog and set me on the journey to get my books out there. He was also good enough to put me in touch with my book designer and formatter, the wonderful Cheryl Perez.
What are you working on now?
I am currently putting together an anthology of my Greek Island Notebooks, making one large volume which I hope will be out in the next couple of months. I am also starting work on a book with a working title of ‘My Greek Alphabet’ which is a serendipitous journey through Greek history, culture and places meandering my way from alpha to omega. A reader also wrote me a lovely review and wondered whether it would be possible to do notebooks for seperate towns and places, and I am considering this as an idea to. Then there’s the novel… I think that might have to wait until I am retired though.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I really am not good at this as don’t like pushing my work but I have been persuaded to get onto Facebook where I no doubt commit all sorts of faux pas, I also have a basic website am on Goodreads, Greek Island Books and of course Awesome Gang. I contribute to blogs when requested and also to the Voices of Hellenism Literary Journal and also write various magazine features about the Greek Islands. I think that perhaps the best way to get visibility is by writing more books though, although it is a very inexact science. Reviews do help, but they are difficult to ask for, and I think people are not writing as many as they did a few years ago. I think luck also plays a part, and I have certainly been more lucky with my sales than I can possibly have imagined when I embarked on this journey.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Set out to write for the satisfaction of doing it, anything else is a bonus. Write about something you know and be honest and authentic. Write regularly, like everything else the more you do it the better you will become. Get a good editor, cover designer and formatter so your book is a professional product. Don’t rush to get it out there, but deadlines can help the more indolent amongst us to get things done. Enjoy it, otherwise it’s just not worth the effort.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You learn more from a bad review than a good one. (But good ones make you feel a whole lot better).
What are you reading now?
I am reading The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg, have just finished About Face by Donna Leon and Titian by Mark Hudson and lined up on my Kindle is Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen and am awaiting eagerly Sara Alexi’s new Greek Island novel.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t want to count my chickens but the way things are going with the writing I am not to far away from making a living from it, if things go well I would hope to write books full time, spending more time travelling and doing research.
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?
A Smile in the Mind’s Eye by Lawrence Durrell
The Complete Poems and Plays of T.S.Eliot
Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Ask me this again tomorrow and the list would likely be completely different!
Author Websites and Profiles
Richard Clark Website
Richard Clark Amazon Profile
Richard Clark Author Profile on Smashwords
Richard Clark’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile