James Smiley Wightman

Sales of The Holy Kiss have been brisk during the past two months. I participated in the St Petersburg Festival of Reading in October and The Holy Kiss novel moved off the display table all day. In November, after a Cleveland trip, orders began coming in through my website (holykissthriller.www). I’m happy and I trust the readers of The Holy Kiss thriller are just as happy and pass along their copies to friends. For the holidays, The Holy Kiss website is offering a a multiple copy sale as well as give-aways w/sales of The Holy Kiss t-shirt, which has been a popular item. I sold as many t-shirts at the St Pete festival as I did books. The website, of course, utilizes PayPal to assure your security. Let me hear from you readers. I welcome any comments, and as always, thanks for your support. For your information, the sequel to The Holy Kiss is underway, and I hope to have a draft to an agent by mid-summer. Best and happy holidays.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What would you like us to know about you?

At age 67, I left a good payday in advertising to write a thriller novel. I had written a screenplay in this genre a year earlier in evening classes at the New School in Manhattan. The screenplay’s trial balloon was comparable to Dorothy Parker’s dry remark, “My dears, I’m getting such encouraging rejections,” which on my part included a favorable nod from Marty Scorsese. Rejections they were, however, and certainly a novel had a better opportunity in New York. 
A thriller requires an enormous amount of time, particularly for research and interviews. Days became months and months became years. Some days were heartened by what I recognized as good writing; other days discouraging as banalities littered the page. I went through twenty drafts before obtaining an agent. He enthusiastically staged an auction among five major publishers. “Encouraging” rejections again, this time with suggestions. More drafts. More rejections. That year passed in a blink, and saw the dejected agent depart. 
After five years of writing, I was 72 and had a novel that people liked, but that no one would publish. At this point, my bank account had shrunk, even though supplemented with freelance jobs. I then did the smart thing. I depleted my finances even more by using iUniverse to self-publish. A new process began —- readers, comments, rewriting, proofing, galleys, and more rewriting and reproofing. My three sons, always supportive, stayed on the sidelines as their inheritance dwindled. The day finally arrived when the novel became available from Barnes & Nobles and Amazon among others. Now, the promotional expenses begin. A website is produced. Complimentary copies, for which I pay, are delivered for reviewers and bookstores. Ads are scheduled on the web. Displayers and co-op ads are prepared for bookstores and in-home readings. Ka$ching. 
Last night, I sat with my wife, artist Babs Reingold and discussed the road ahead. Her decision: “Go for it!” I may end up broke at 80 and my kids as well as myself sorry I ever wrote a word. Yet, I have a life lesson learned as an 18-year-old Marine in boot camp. Never give up. John Grisham, who had untold rejections before being published, didn’t. My health is good and I’m looking forward to the stimulating task of getting one book from among the 150,000 published each year into the hands of readers who enjoy a good thriller.

What are you doing now? (Career? Married? Single? Children? Pets?)

Writing a sequel to The Holy Kiss. Marketing The Holy Kiss (book readings, letters and books to reviewers, emails to friends and friends of friends, advertising, and so on.

What is your favourite food?

I like all food except liverwurst. My body shape (some 15 pounds over my running weight) aptly displays this fondness.

What is your favourite colour?

Black, which really is the absence of color. Must be a New York thing, and, of course, black does nicely conceal bulk. It also sets off my white hair, which again, is an absence of color.

What is your favourite sound?

Jazz, most no later than the seventies, big bands of the forties, selected classical and opera, and most pop/rock no later that the early nineties. I like all music, I guess, in its place. My favourite line from a country blues tune: “I never went to bed with a bad looking gal, but I certainly woke up with a few.” Best vocalist overall is Billie Holiday. But, if I was a groupie today, I’d probably be following Joan Osborne around.

Who is your favourite person?

My wife, artist Babs Reingold, is my favourite person. We lived together 25 years before being married last year on our anniversary, April 1. This is my third marriage, and needless to say, my last. Babs still has not figured out why she’s with me. Next are my three grown sons, and several grandchildren but they’re neck in neck with our two dogs, a 14-pound Affenpinscher and 90-pound yellow lab. We also have two cats, and they are nice, and not needy. The pet entourage travels with us, except for short trips when we leave the cats.

What is your favourite place?

My favourite place changes from season to season. We have an apartment outside of New York where we spend about half the year; the remainder of the year is in Florida. I love New York but when the cold winds blow, our paradise in St Petersburg, Florida, is the loveliest place. I’ve traveled extensively in the United States and some in France — Paris, Provenance. I was in Japan in the Marine Corps and would like to return there, but it’s not likely. I’m pretty much the type of person whose favourite place is where I’m at as long as Babs and my dogs are with me.

What is your favourite memory?

My favourite memory is tough. It is said writers live in their heads, and that is true to the extent that memories flood you as you write. Memories are then, for the most part, altered to fit your character or story line. I still remember meeting Babs as she rounded a corner in a graphic arts studio I had. She was a vision. Mostly, as I think about it now, my favourite memories are of my dogs that are now dead. I spent more time with them than with any human — wife, child, parent, friend — and how can one not love a dog.

What is your favourite article of clothing?

Shorts and a t-shirt are my favourite articles of clothing. I had a suit on last night for a reading, and our friends were amazed at the transformation. I wore suits virutally every work day during my advertising career, and although it is nice to suit up for a special occasion, say the opera at the Met, my daily wardrobe is shorts, t-shirt and sandels.

What is your favourite word?

My favourite word is “fuck.” It covers all bases. Anger. Frustration, Shocking. Graphic. Irreverence. Admiration (as an adjective).

What is your favourite writers’ quote and why?

I use author quotes all the time, but I never thought about a favourite quote. Let’s see, I can’t remember the author’s name, the short story writer, Kerouac’s friend out west, who said something like, “To write, you go to your station everyday and write.” As a professional ad guy who had to write everyday to make payroll, I’ve always taken this quote to heart and it has served me well in writing fiction.

What is your most favourite quality about yourself?

My favourite quality about myself? I think I’m funny as hell, but Babs doesn’t agree. I guess it would have to be persistence. I learned as a boot in the Marine Corps that one had to persevere to survive. This quality led me to college, the first in my family to be graduated, the stubborness to drive from Cleveland to Buffalo in blinding snow storms to see my kids when I was divorced, and, at Bab’s urging, to finally leave the ad game and write.

What is the least favourite quality about yourself?

Impatience, hands down, is my least favourite quality — and there’s a long line standing behind me that will second this statement.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?

I would like to to Italy for the all the cliched reasons. I like the vast majority of Italian men and women I have met. I like the American version of their food. I like their wine — the better Brunellos and Borolos. I like the movies about the Mafia. What’s not to like. Off we go to Italy!

What inspires you to write and why?

Good books inspire me to write, whether it’s literary, thriller, chick lit, poetry, whatever. Good books remove you from yourself and your environment. It is the most pleasureable of escapes, of self-education, and of enjoyment and enrichment. I wanted to join the corps able to that for another human being.

What is your favourite book and why?

I have no favourite book as I have no single favourite author. Each book, even the most trite of them, has something in it. Early on I likes the Russians, then the Americans —- the lost generation, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Wolfe, Dos Passos, then the English — Martin Amis among them — and back to the Americans, the early Rabbit series, Roth (his American Pastoral is one of the best novels I’ve ever read) and the rest of the Jewish writers, and now Ford and his gang. Richard Harris and Silence of the Lambs is a favourite and Richard Russo, one of the funniest authors I have read who takes the guts of upstate New York life and displays it for our pleasure.

What is your favourite genre and why?

I have no favourite genre, though I read at least 20-30 thrillers of all types each year. Among this genre is some of the best entertainment available in book form, although I would not consider them uplifting in any sense. I read a good deal of literary books, but of late, not much has been coming out of the publishers. I read a good deal of poetry for the richness of its language and imagery.

List your three favourite authors (any genre) and why?

Cormac McCarthy is one of my favourite authors. His ability to craft actions and scenes is on a sacred plane. Rilke is my favourite poet. His poem, The Panther, touches the soul and is most mindful of Thoreau’s “quiet desperation” and his Letter to a Young Poet is a must read for any writer. Third? Too much of a crowd here.

What do you think makes a writer successful?

Reading and experience with people makes a writer successful, in my opinion. One cannot be a writer without reading. With people, one must be a listener, I believe, and acutely observant, always measuring the actions of people against their beliefs and words.

Whta is it that makes you successful as a writer?

I have written a novel, which is receiving acceptance. I do not know if that makes me successful as a writer, but it is certainly satisfying as a person.

What are your goals as a writer?

My goal as a writer is to write. What comes from this effort is then the byproduct of process, and whether successful or not, is evidence you are writing.

What is the best tip you can give to fellow writers?

The best tip for a writer is to write and read other writers.

What do you hope to provide your readers with through your writing?

I trust my readers will receive the same satisfactions I receive when I am reading.

List your three favourite online writer-resource sites and why (include URLS).

Obviously, this site has to be a favourite as I’m spending a great deal of time responding to these interview questions. Other than that, www. published.com is the only other site that I have, at this time, thought resourceful though I’m sure I’ll run across a slew of them as my search continues.

If you have published a book, tell us about your publishing success (title, publishing date and company, where it is available to purcahse).

I have published The Holy Kiss, a psycho-thriller that Kirkus termed “…a lurid but engrossing thriller.” The novel was published by iUniverse and is available on-line from B&N and Amazon among other sources as well as from my website: www.holykissthriller.com.

How long did it take you to write your book(s)?

It took me too long to write this book, nearly five years on and off. Thrillers demand a ton of research and interviews and I am a rewrite freak as well. After 20 drafts, The Holy Kiss was finally accepted by an agent.

What would you do differently if you could repeat the same publishing experience?

I don’t know what I would do differently to alter my publishing experience. Being in the New York area, I had plenty of advice about how to bring a first book to fruitation. Most of the delays were of my own volition. I needed money, so I free lanced, or new information came up and I rewrote. A significant part of my novel was the Port Authority’s Twin Towers. I rewrote these sections after 9/11.

What have you learned about the publishing world?

The publishing world will not take a chance. One editor remarked to me that a new author publishing a thriller today had about as much chance for acceptance as someone finding a seat on the subway during morning rush.

This is your chance to ‘Talk Back’ to your readers. What would you like to say to them?

I adore readers. I love readers. I have my best conversations with readers. There are not enough of us!

What’s the one thing that you want them to know about your writing?

My novel is realistic. It’s graphic. It’s fast-paced. It has characters with backgrounds. Enjoy.

Hero Detective Bosch doing his thing skirting the edge of legal justice in LA. This time he turns up as a suspect in a killing as he tracks a serial killer known as the Dollmaker who has surfaced after years, or was it months, of inactivity. Bosch, of course, has the great house over the canyon, and the Hollywood sign pops up here and there, a bunch of lawyers in this one, for and against Bosch, and some other city cops trying to pin his butte to several murders. The plot gets a bit tangled as most of the efforts of these once-a-year authors. A good airplane book, 2-3 hours read. If Silence of the Lambs was near a 10 for a thriller, The Concrete Blonde is a 5.5.

Not typical Grisham, more like his book on the coach and the returning alum (what was the name of that book?) as a kid drops out of school (Syarcuse) and buys a small town weekly in Miss. (never could spell that state) in the 50’s with help from his aunt. His trials and tribulations as a youngster in a good old boys society, complete w/a vicious rape/murder (everybody knows who did it), the trial, the powerful criminal family of the killer’s who has holed on an island in the northern part of the county, and so-on, including descriptive weekly lunches with a Negro woman (it’s the 50’s, remember) in the black section of town, who later is the first black juror ever selected in the county. All turns out well, if somewhat convulated. He also makes a lot of money with the newspaper and buys an old house which, of course, turns out to be a money pit. The Last Juror is ok if you want a slice of life in old Miss with good guys and bad guys thrown in for drama. Myself, I perfer the tightly constructed Grisham thrillers that make great movies. JSW

I shall next week start reviewing the numberous books I read (thrillers, literary, biographies, etc). Hope you can drop in and blog with me about the reviews.

Today, the last day of January, 2007, The Holy Kiss received a Kirkus Discoveries review. The review is on the holythriller.com website. Much of it was a synopsis of the book and that part of it was eliminated, leaving the actual review part. The reviewer liked it, for the most part though it was “lurid.” The dictionary defines lurid as: “presented in vividly shocking or sensational terms, esp. giving explicit details of crimes or sexual matters,” so that’s not a bad word, though I prefer the word, “realistically.” Crime is not pretty. Victims are pathetic. Killers are not glamorous. Detectives are flawed. Police, political and media people are power brokers. And so-on. The Holy Kiss presents a realistic picture of all these parts in play in what the reviewer called a vigorous story.

After ten months, my novel is now in print and marketing plans have begun. First, my son, Raphael, who has his own web design firm (www.widg.com), on January 30 2007, completed The Holy Kiss website (www.holykissthriller.com). My friend, Laura Bryant, read a copy from the first issue of 10 books received in early January and discovered six or seven additional typo’s. I corrected them (cost $199), fired them off to iUniverse, and after receiving a corrected copy of novel, now await the delivery of 100 copies, scheduled to arrive by February 9. Cost is approximately $1,300, including delivery, or $13 per book. Next week, the public will shall have its first glimpse of The Holy Kiss when I introduce a film, The Naked City, at the second annual film noir series at The Studio@620 in St Petersburg on Feb 12 at 7pm. Afterword, I shall be signing books. Additionally, I’m awaiting a review from Kirkus Discovery, due in mid-to-late February. Meanwhile, the major initial national marketing thrust will be web-based and I am planning the program now. Locally, I will contact book stores in those cities where I am known and offer them co-op advertising, buy-back, a guaranteed turn-out and the like. I shall start in St Petersburg. An interesting statistic from iUniverse: Of the 175,000 titles published in 2004, 93% sold fewer than 1,000 copies. More later as I continue the quest to make The Holy Kiss a best seller.

The Holy Kiss went “live” this past week, meaning the novel is now available from iUniverse “books on demand.” Log on to iUniverse.com and go to “bookstore” and search for “The Holy Kiss.” Within 6-8 weeks, it will be available on-line from Barnes and Noble and Amazon among others. Its publication comes after several steps, the major steps being a copy edit from a pro who is a friend of Babs, and a proof reading from, appropriately enough, a professional proof reader, which cost me less that half of what iUniverse would have charged (my cost: $500). I made the corrections and Babs then input the entire manuscript in Quark Express, the program the publisher’s printer desired. After the manuscript was printed out, I went over it one more time. Meanwhile, I changed the back cover again (the sixth draft of the back cover). The synoposis was rewritten, a bit more fierce, and the psychologist’s quote was returned. The whole package, cover, back cover and test was formatted by Babs unto a disk and off it went to iUniverse. Approximately three weeks later, I approved the final version. Two weeks later, The Holy Kiss was “live.” The initial author’s copies have been shipped to me. Excited, yes. Enthralled, no. Expectations lead to obligations which I have no control over. If, for some reason, I do not care for the printing quality of The Holy Kiss, I shall find a way to upgrade the quality. I hope this is not necessary. Through it all, and particularly in this end game, iUniverse has been supportive, informative and courteous. I have not worked with other self-publishing ventures but I can recommend iUniverse. In all these ventures, however, as in most of life, one has to pay attention to the details or they’ll rise up and bite you in the ass!

Now comes the marketing, the hard part, as my friend author Peter Golenbock informs me. I’m formulating a plan which involves a push on-line as well as a test market here in St Petersburg. Already, I have a reading scheduled in February at The Studio@620, a fiesty literary-fine art-performance facility operated by Bob Devon-Jones and David Ellis with much help from volunteers and supporters. More about all of this later.

Here’s the update on progress. Editorial review came back from iUniverse, mostly favorable (why not, I’m paying for it) with several good suggestions. “…show Stevie more vulnerable, not quite so hard.” as well as several other minor points, including a copy edit which would have cost in the neighborhood of $1700. I reworked several of Stevie’s vulnerable spots, which I trust will help the reader see this is one troubled person. A point from the editorial review suggested an incident in Stevie’s past was a bit formulastic. I disagreed (the material from iUniverse cautions the author that their recommendations are just that; the author has final say). I consulted further with my psychologist friend upon the incident in question, its effect upon a woman and whether the later troubles of Stevie are realistic in keeping with the trauma of the incident. She agreed Stevie’s troubles as an adult were indeed common to earlier trauma, so I buried this doubt. Additionally, I contacted a friend (through my wife, Babs) in New York who is a leading copy editor for a publisher. She is doing the copy edit for a more modest cost. The revised manuscript (a bit over 115,000 words - 347 manuscript pages in Jansen 12 point text) went out overnite to her yesterday.

New back cover copy as well was recommended by iUniverse. They want more of the synoposis and less of my bio and less of the quotes. The quotes included a best selling author (but not in genre), a former NYPD detective and my psychologist friend. I cut my bio and eliminated the psychologist quote. I edited the synoposis as well to a shorter, more crisp look at what’s inside the covers. One part of the bio I kept was my Marine Corps service. Any jarhood that glances over the back cover material will probably buy the book based on our unofficial “Best friend, worst enemy” creed.

Tuesday April 18 2006: My correspondence with iUniverse continues. They forwarded by email and ibook substantial documents, which included my order number, submission ID and ISBN number. It’s quite official when one has an ISBN number. My novel also has an Adobe eBook ISBN. Other documents were a time table for my submission ranging from cover evaluation to editorial evaluation, some 3-4 weeks and “Identifying Your Target Audience and Book’s Position”, a 30-plus page manual with case histories. Also downloaded was the nearly 40-page “Marketing Success Workbook.” Essentially, I have printed half a ream of paper from iUniverse. I wonder if they’re tied into the paper business?

Prior to receiving this material, I had forwarded iUniverse digital graphic files of the cover and back cover. The cover design, by my award winning art director wife, as well as the copy, written by a seasoned advertising writer (myself), had been thrashed over for the past year. After looking over all the material noted above, I emailed my PSA (Publishing Services Associate, one Katie E.) that the cover and back cover design and copy were pretty much set.

Katie thought the cover was “cool,” but asked me to complete a cover submission report regardless so my novel could potentially qualify for “Publishers Choice Designation.” I completed the report, answering such questions as why my novel was better than others in my field (dahhhh. I wrote it!) and what were my impressions of good novel covers compared to bad. I must confess, although I didn’t in the report, that I buy my novels by authors and not covers. Obviously, I hope this isn’t true for my novel for who in the hell knows of James Smiley Wightman, the writer of psycho-thrillers? The cover, by the way, will jump off the rack and it is shown in my website.