Transcript of Chat with Tim Miller on 3-28-03

Marsha: I'd like to welcome my guest tonight, Tim Miller, whose two mystery-thriller novels, Without a Trace and Out of Nowhere are doing well.

book_addict_leslie: <<<"applause">>>

Marsha: Tim, tell us how you became a writer.

Tim: Writing has always been a hobby of mine, since high school. When I was in the Marines right out of high school, I used to write short horror stories in notebooks during downtime. Then when I got out, I started trying to get stuff published, and in the process, switched to mysteries.

Marsha: Did you sell any of those stories back then?

Tim: No, not back then. Not until I'd been out for about three yrs did I get my first short story published.

Marsha: How long ago was that?

Tim: That was in Jan of 1999.

Marsha: Not so long ago, really. When did you switch to writing novels?

Tim: Around late 1999 or early 2000. After having about 5 or 6 short stories published, they just kept getting longer and longer, and then I got the idea for Without a Trace.

Marsha: Where were your stories published?

Tim: Most of them in a small print magazine called "The Storyteller," then a few in some online magazines as well.

Marsha: Did you make the rounds of the traditional publishers with Without a Trace? Or did your online sales motivate you to seek other ways of publishing?

Tim: I looked at other publishers, but then found out that [the book] was way too short for most publishers, so I decided to go the self publishing route with it

Marsha: So you went with...?

Tim: Originally I went with GreatUnpublished, mainly [because] they were cheap and I didn't know any better. But they don't have any kind of distribution, and they have plain brown covers, so I had this ugly book that wasn't available anywhere, but I still sold about 150 of them doing local book signings.

Marsha: Plain brown covers? How ghastly!!!

Tim: Yeah, they're UGLY. That and at the time I didn't know anyone to help me edit, so it's full of typos too, even though I went through it myself a bunch of times.

Marsha: What a stroke of luck that you were able to sell so many! Where did you hold those booksignings? and if they were in bookstores, how did you achieve that?

Tim: Most of them were coffee shops, some little bookstores here, and even a retirement home.

Marsha: What kind of publicity did you do to attract readers?

Tim: I did several newspaper intereviews here, did a radio interview on a public radio station, and did a TV interview on a local Fox morning show.

Marsha: WOW! Did you have anyone doing the publicity for you, or did you do it yourself—all the contacts, etc.?

Tim: I did it all myself. My wife helped a little bit. She'd run around talking my book up to people she worked with, but as far as the pavement pounding, that was all me.

Marsha: How did you know how to do [your publicity]? Did you read any particular marketing/publicity books that helped?

Tim: Not really, I just went everywhere. I called bookstores, coffee shops, wherever I could. Same with interviews; I just called every newspaper around here.

Marsha: Just kind of instinct, huh?

Tim: Kind of. Some places were really open and excited about it; others were not interested.

Marsha: Were you able to get it into any bookstores in that first version?

Tim: One small bookstore sold them on consignment for me, but that was it.

Marsha: So, you moved on to another publisher because...?

Tim: Well, GU had horrible distribution, which was why stores couldn't get it, plus they had a lot of quality problems back then.--bindings coming undone, pages missing. So I switched to PageFree. They designed [the] current cover and listed with Amazon, bn.com ,and all the major wholesalers. That opened a lot of doors.

Marsha: Then along came the second book, Out of Nowhere. Where did you publish it?

Tim: For that I went with iUniverse, though I kept sending it out to other publishers because it was twice as long as Without a Trace. But iU did a great job with that one.

Marsha: So, were you sending out a manuscript copy, or the published copy, to publishers?

Tim: Manuscript. Most of them would just ask for three chapters initially, or wanted you to email the file. Then Zumaya Publications accepted it.

Marsha: And is that how you got it picked up? Did they know you'd published it already with iU in POD?

Tim: Yeah, they knew, but it hadn't been out for very long, so that didn't bother them as long as iU allowed me to terminate my contract, which they did

Marsha: Wonderful! Now, what happened with Without a Trace? How did you get that one sold to your new publisher?

Tim: After I posted everywhere about Out of Nowhere getting picked up, Christine Leporte at Flying Dolphin was in the process of changing things and getting her company up and running, so she said she was looking for some experienced authors who she knew could market and would promote books. She wanted to do a stright print run instead of using POD, so I told her about Without a Trace, which was still out there, and she read it and loved it and sent me a contract.

Marsha: What a great story! So now you do booksignings with what's left?

Tim: Yeah, until Without a Trace is re-released, then Out of Nowhere comes back out in December.

Marsha: Tell us about your awards.

Tim: There aren't many.

Marsha: The prospective awards, too.

Tim: I just found out in February [that Without a Trace] was nominated for a Dorothy Parker Award, and also an All About Murder.com Bloody Dagger Award. I ended up getting Honorable Mention for [the] Dorothy Parker [Award], but haven't heard yet on the Bloody Dagger.

Marsha: I think you're well on your way to winning that one, Tim. Do you have anything else you want to say before we go to questions from Leslie?

Tim: Not that I can think of.

Marsha: Okay, Leslie, go ahead!

book_addict_leslie: Do you know how many have sold and have you actually been able to make money yet? or is that still to come?

Tim: I've probably come out ahead a little bit. I think with Trace I've sold around 600 or so all together.

book_addict_leslie: That's very good! :) That averages over 10 per state! :) Much better than owing!!

Marsha: I'll second that!

Tim: I lost track awhile ago though. There are so many outlets, it's hard to track exactly. Most of them have paid me already. I think there's one who hasn't yet. Sometimes they take forever. Most [of] the money I make I put right back into expenses for my books.

book_addict_leslie: Of course.

Tim: Some of the places I had signings sold on consignment, but they're corporate, so they have to forward the paperwork all over the place and [it] takes them months to pay.

Marsha: Yikes! What percentage do they charge?

Tim: They get a 40% discount, usually, which usually makes me just break even.

Marsha: I guess artwork auctions and booksellers operate on different principles.

Tim: Yeah, they do.

Marsha: So, are coffeeshops more lucrative?

Tim: They don't take any percentage, they just like to have different events. They're much smaller and have less traffic, too, but I don't have to wait to get paid. People buy the books right from me.

Marsha: So [coffeeshops] don't charge you? That's the way to go, then.

Tim: Its just [that] some are really dead.

Tim: I've been told the average POD book sells 100 copies, so I guess I'm doing good so far.

book_addict_leslie: Wow, and 20 percent is family! lol.

Marsha: That's great! (I guess I'm half-way there, lol).

Tim: Not even that. Maybe 5 were sold to family.

book_addict_leslie: Does the publishing company edit now?

Tim: The ones I have now edit, but the self pubbing ones don't.

book_addict_leslie: Are you working on a new book now?

Tim: I'm working on two. I finished a first draft to the sequel to Without a Trace and now am working on the first draft for a sequel to Out of Nowhere.

book_addict_leslie: BTW, ahem...if you need a pre-reader/pre-editor, I'd be happy to help out! :)

Tim: I appreciate that, leslie!

Marsha: How will they be published? Will your present houses take them, too?

Tim: Flying Dolphin will do the sequel to Trace. I'll see how things go with Zumaya before I make a decision on that one.

book_addict_leslie: Good idea.

Marsha: Zumaya and Flying Dolphin aren't the huge publishers that the New York folks are. Does this cause you any anxiety?

Tim: No, it's a stepping stone, the way I look at it.

Marsha: Plus you're a super salesman!

Tim: Thanks. Self publishing seems to be the bottom of the barrel, then the small pubs, so hopefully my next step will be a NY publisher.

Marsha: We all hope so, too, Tim

book_addict_leslie: Does anyone ever get picked up after 5 books, by a big publisher that is?

Tim: Yeah, I know a few authors who had numerous books with small presses, then get a NY pub finally.

book_addict_leslie] How did you come up with the idea for Without a Trace (since I haven't read the other one yet)? Certain events in the news?

Tim: I just always wondered how a small town like our would handle a serial killer. That was the main thing--something I had always wondered about.

Marsha: With your background in justice, that would be a natural question.

Tim: Yeah, based on the way I know things are done here.

book_addict_leslie: What did you start with next, names? characters? phrases?

Tim: I just pretty much sat and wrote, and came up with the rest as I went along, lol!

book_addict_leslie: Did you make yourself write x amount a day or [what]?

Tim: I try to do about 500 to 1000 words a day, though this past month I've fallen behind some

book_addict_leslie: How did you come up with the title and character and town names?

Tim: I just made them up, nothing special, really. lol!

Marsha: How is your immediate family in supporting you? You mentioned your wife before, that she did some of your public relations. Is she your greatest fan?

book_addict_leslie: Or does she resent it? lol

Tim: Yeah, she has been a lot of support. My parents have been some, too, and I have a good friend I work with who's been a big support, too.

book_addict_leslie: Who are your favorite authors? At least five, unless you really don't have that many.

Tim: lol. Hmmm. Mine are Michael Connelly, Jefferey Deaver, John Sandford, Dennis Lehane and that fifth is like a tie: PJ Parrish, and Robert Crais.

Marsha: I want to thank you for being here, Tim, and you, Leslie, for being such a great participant. Get well from that cold, Tim. We want you to continue writing!

Tim: Thanks Marsha.

book_addict_leslie: Adios.

Marsha: This chat will be posted on my website in a few days, so check it out to see how it cleans up! LOL! Bye.

END OF CHAT