I\u2019d love to. I\u2019m calling the series \u201cThe Game Players\u201d because the characters are the kind of people who need a challenge, even in their romantic lives. Just dating and mating isn\u2019t going to be enough for them. There has to be desire that\u2019s suppressed, teased, extended and made more powerful by every move in their games. They\u2019re both aware that what\u2019s developing between them is a chess match, and that\u2019s what makes it so interesting. Marc and Jesse are similar in a lot of ways \u2013 incredibly smart, driven, goal-oriented \u2013 and they\u2019ve been betrayed by men who were their romantic and business partners. They\u2019re also both honest people, in their own ways \u2013 even if that honesty means confessing that you\u2019re not telling all of the truth. The title is \u201cWould I Lie to You?\u201d and that\u2019s really the question at the heart of the story \u2013 if you can\u2019t tell someone the truth, do you lie, or do you walk away, acknowledging that there are things you won\u2019t share, that you can\u2019t trust someone with the truth?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What drew you to writing romance and erotica?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019d flailed around publishing novels under another name that never really went anywhere, and then Aubrey Watt did an AMA on Reddit about being a M\/M smut writer, back in October 2012. I was fascinated by that, especially with the amount of money she was making! I wrote up \u201cGood Cop Bad Boy,\u201d my first M\/M story, and mailed it off to her, asking her to take a look at it and tell me if I had a future in the biz. She said HELL YEAH you do! So that was my start\u2026when Amazon started blocking\/banning a lot of erotica, I moved into writing novels.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You recently decided to become a full-time writer. How\u2019s that treating you? Have you found that your writing habits have changed a lot because of it?<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh my God it\u2019s the greatest. I\u2019ve lost 18 pounds since I left my day job at the end of February! Just being able to be active all day, not chained to a desk, overeating as if trying to chew my way out of the cubicle\u2026I love the freedom. I haven\u2019t signed up for a class or anything yet, because I\u2019m still savoring the \u201cclock free\u201d life \u2013 I\u2019m just not ready to be on anyone else\u2019s schedule again, not yet. I was running on stress for so long that I\u2019m still trying to come down from that\u2026
\nI was really working two jobs for the longest time, getting up at 3 am to write till 6:30, then getting ready for and going to the day job\u2026it made for long days, with no life. My writing habits have changed in some ways but not in others. I still get up at 3 am! I guess I\u2019m still conditioned to that sleep cycle, and in the back of my mind I\u2019m afraid that it\u2019ll all end in tears and I\u2019ll have to get a job again, in which case I better stay used to getting up early\u2026 But, I no longer feel under the gun the way I used to, when I had to keep an eye on the clock with a hard stop at 6:30 every morning. If I sleep in till the unholy hour of 5:00, well, my day isn\u2019t shot!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, when I started, I was just doing short erotica, so there wasn\u2019t any other avenue for it. And, under another name, I\u2019d been through the New York\/tradpub mill, and I had no desire to go through that again, ever. To have no control over your title, cover art, blurb, I hated that. And the WAITING. The endless wait for someone to get around to reading it, the endless wait for them to buy it, the endless wait for publication, and OMG the endless wait for your money! Now I finish a novel one week, edit it the next, then publish it, and two months later, make it rain, baby.
\nYou have to be strong in all areas \u2013 your grammar, spelling, your ability to edit\/copyedit yourself (I\u2019m still catching errors in books in print, that I\u2019ve missed after reading them a thousand times), to write a blurb, to make a book cover, to market and promote yourself\u2026but you get all the profit. And there\u2019s nobody \u201cdoing it wrong\u201d to mess it up for you, other than yourself.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Something you wish someone had told you at the beginning?<\/b><\/p>\n
The hardest part of self pubbing, to me, was marketing. That was the one upside of tradpub, back in the day \u2013 you submitted your book, and they did all the hustling. Of course now they expect you to come ready-made with a fan base, Twitter followers, etc., so there\u2019s no advantage there anymore. I was really loathe to do it at first \u2013 I grew up all \u201cpunk rock\u201d and thought of advertising\/marketing as, you know, infomercial shit, Billy Mayes shouting his way into your head, an inherently bad, bullshit thing.
\nFinally I had a moment of enlightenment \u2013 I realized I hated marketing because I hated sounding like a brochure. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to tell you about my new release!\u201d Blah blah blah. I decided I\u2019d just BE ME on Facebook, etc. Put my real personality out there instead of trying to sound the way I though I was supposed to sound.
\nSo, that would be my advice, I guess \u2013 people are gonna connect with you because of your work, but also because they like you. So be you, don\u2019t be a brochure, when it\u2019s time to do your marketing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I know you\u2019ve had problems with Amazon before and their ridiculous censorship policies, but do you think that Amazon is doing all right for self-publishers? What would you like to see changed?<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, NUMBER ONE would be, clear guidelines for what\u2019s allowed. They say what they\u2019ll ban is \u201cpretty much what you\u2019d expect.\u201d What who would expect? Me, a libertarian sex-positive homo, or some bluenose in Arkansas who has a heart attack at an exposed tittie on TV? But keeping it vague is deliberate, of course, because it gives them leeway to change the rules any time without changing them on paper.
\nNumber Two, which is more realistic, would be a set rate every month for the Kindle Select\/Unlimited \u201cborrow rate,\u201d the amount writers get per borrow each month. It fluctuates all the time, $1.33, $1.39, etc. You don\u2019t know what you earned last month until the middle of the next month. They should just part it at a certain amount and leave it there, I\u2019d say $1.40, instead of leaving us all on pins and needles every month, as they arbitrarily decide how much more money to put into the fund and screw up people\u2019s income forecasts. It\u2019s like getting a pay raise\/pay cut every month \u2013 very exhausting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Do you ever get told by friends or family that you don\u2019t write \u201creal books\u201d? I know I do. How do you respond if it happens?<\/b><\/p>\n
No I don\u2019t, actually. In my circle of friends, writing \u201cgay erotica\u201d is very cool! My mom\u2019s response when I told her about my erotica career was, \u201cSure are a lot of weirdos out there.\u201d The only book of mine she\u2019s read is \u201cApollo\u2019s Curse,\u201d because there\u2019s no sex in it. She loved it, but has no desire to read any of my other books!
\nI wrote a \u201creal\u201d book, a few years ago. I worked on it on and off for five years. It sold twelve copies. That\u2019s the fate I gave Dane Gale in \u201cApollo\u2019s Curse,\u201d before he turned to writing romance novels. I gave him this exchange on the Greek island that pretty much says how I feel about writing romances now:<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what I need, isn\u2019t just\u2026success, money, fame. I\u2026what I\u2019ve been writing, what the others before me wrote, it\u2019s just\u2026commercial fiction, airport fiction. Popular romances. I don\u2019t want that to be my legacy, I don\u2019t want that to be the last thing I ever write.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with romance? Don\u2019t you bring pleasure into people\u2019s lives? Don\u2019t strange and wonderful stories heal their aches, take them from their sorrows?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, but\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe you\u2019re being a bit selfish, yes?\u201d He put on a dark, mocking scowl. \u201c \u2018I am writing a Great Novel nobody will read, which is so much more important than making people happy.\u2019\u201d
\nI had to laugh. \u201cYes, I guess that is selfish. But\u2026I have it in me, I know I do. To do something\u2026wonderful. Something that\u2019s so much more powerful, so much more\u2026well, healing, if you will, than any little entertainment I concoct could ever do.\u201d I looked at his shelves, saw the surprising variety of books \u2013 lots and lots of novels, Umberto Eco, Gunter Grass, Doris Lessing, George Eliot. \u201cYou know. You\u2019ve read these books. You know how much more they do in the world than some\u2026fluff could ever do.\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t underestimate the power of fluff. The power to make someone smile, to get them through to another day, take them away from their cares for a moment. Maybe later, you\u2019ll have helped them feel stronger, maybe later they will read \u2018Ulysses,\u2019 yes?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And finally, having nothing to do with writing at all, tell me about your dream vacation.<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh boy. A whole summer in Europe. Nick in the \u201cKyle\u2019s New Stepbrother<\/a>\u201d series gets to live out my fantasy, just moving from one place to another on a Eurail pass as the whim takes him. I\u2019d have to have the money to do it right; Nick\u2019s young and can crash in hostels and stretch a dollar! But I\u2019d need my comforts. I\u2019d love to see so much of France, Italy, Germany, Amsterdam, Barcelona\u2026yeah, I\u2019d need a whole summer!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brad, I want to thank you again for stopping by and wish you good luck with your writing.<\/b><\/p>\n Thank you so much, Bey! I really appreciate your having me here!<\/p>\n Buy this book<\/b><\/p>\n Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/image-200x300.jpg?resize=200%2C300\")
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