Hi. I’m Patrick, and I’m a lot like you.
When I was a kid, I
had an impossible dream. I wanted to write novels and other books.
I wanted to land book deals with major publishing houses and see my name
in the newspapers and magazines. And I wanted to quit my day job and
become a full-time author.
But if you want to sell your novel for an advance, to a royalty-paying publisher who will actually get your books in stores and do a big chunk of the marketing, then it's not easy. If you want to land a literary agent who will represent you to the publishers and film producers, will watch after your interests and fight to get you more money, it’s not so easy.
And even if you go the self-publishing route, it's not so easy to get people to buy your book or ebook.
The only way to do any of these things is to give people the type of story they want to read.
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| If you're ready to give people what they want, then click on the book jacket above. |
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You can trust me on all this because I’ve done it. In the past 14 years,
I’ve written and published more than 30 books, under my own name and three pen
names. I’ve had worldwide deals with
major publishing houses. I am the ghost
author of a bestselling series of political thrillers.
I’ve routinely received five-figure advances,
and one of the books I wrote received a six-figure advance. And by the way, I’ve also self-published ebooks that have
sold tens of thousands of copies.
My
books have appeared in dozens of countries around the world and have been
translated into many languages, including Italian, Russian, Dutch, German,
French, Portuguese and Spanish. My
British publisher once placed hundreds of five-foot-high advertisements in the London
I’ve been a Los
Angeles Times Bestseller, a USA Today bestseller, and an Amazon.com bestseller,
among other bestseller lists. On Christmas Day
2015, the ebook version of a political thriller I wrote was given away free by
the publisher, and was the most downloaded English language ebook on planet Earth
that day.
Book reviewers have
frequently compared me to some of my literary heroes, including Elmore
Leonard, James Patterson, James Ellroy, Tom Clancy and Lee Child, as well as
filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.
A publishing house once threw a lavish book launch party for me on the roof of a hotel in New York's Greenwich Village. I've been wined and dined in fantastic restaurants, I've stayed in beautiful hotels, and I've had the opportunity to meet hundreds of wonderful people, including readers, editors, bestselling authors and celebrities.
A publishing house once threw a lavish book launch party for me on the roof of a hotel in New York's Greenwich Village. I've been wined and dined in fantastic restaurants, I've stayed in beautiful hotels, and I've had the opportunity to meet hundreds of wonderful people, including readers, editors, bestselling authors and celebrities.
But do you know what
the single best thing about all of this is?
I’ve
gained the freedom to live where I want and spend my time doing what I love. I spend the winter living on the Gulf of
Mexico in Florida. I spend the summer
and fall in Maine.
In recent years, I’ve done time in China, in the jungles of Peru, in Cuba and Tahiti, in Spain and Morocco, and island-hopping on a sailboat in the Caribbean, writing books all the while.
Of course, when I first started out, everybody thought I was crazy. I didn’t have any contacts in the publishing industry. None. Zero. I didn't know much about writing. My manuscripts came in unsolicited, over the transom, onto the slush pile, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope included in the package. I got back countless rejection letters, many of which were impersonal form letters that began with some variant of: “Dear Author…”
In recent years, I’ve done time in China, in the jungles of Peru, in Cuba and Tahiti, in Spain and Morocco, and island-hopping on a sailboat in the Caribbean, writing books all the while.
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| Yes, just like this. |
Of course, when I first started out, everybody thought I was crazy. I didn’t have any contacts in the publishing industry. None. Zero. I didn't know much about writing. My manuscripts came in unsolicited, over the transom, onto the slush pile, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope included in the package. I got back countless rejection letters, many of which were impersonal form letters that began with some variant of: “Dear Author…”
For inspiration, I read the stories of people who overcame repeated hardships.
People like Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the celebrated Kenyan author and activist, who wrote his novel DEVIL ON THE CROSS on toilet paper while languishing in prison.
People like James Clavell, author of SHOGUN and a prisoner-of-war during World War II, who struggled for years to get his first novel published. When asked if it was difficult, he is rumored to have said, "It wasn't as bad as starving in a Japanese POW camp."
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| Don't end up in a POW camp. Read this book instead. |
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To tell you the truth, I was scared. Sure, I wasn’t going to starve to death. Nobody was going to put me in prison. But I was scared that I really wasn't very good at writing. Scared that I was kidding myself. Scared that life was passing me by.
It got to the point where I dreaded the anxious questions and comments of friends and family. They always started out with: "How's the writing coming?" Then they quickly moved on to painful, but well-meaning barbs like: "Many are called, few are chosen." "Maybe you should go to law school." "Why waste your free time on something that's probably not going to pan out?"
One good friend told me, years later, that he was embarrassed for me during those days. I'm glad he didn't tell me at the time!
People say I have a pretty thick skull. I can literally hammer nails with my head. So I didn’t give up. “Press on!” Calvin Coolidge said, *** and that’s what I did. I knew I had stories to tell, and I figured if I could just find out what the elusive secret was…
I read dozens of
books on writing fiction. I took
classes. I floated in and out of
writer’s groups, becoming despondent when I realized that the people in the
groups didn’t know any more than I did about how to get published. Some folks sure thought they knew a lot, but somehow,
despite all they knew, they were just as unpublished as me. So I gave up on writer’s groups and stayed up
late at night, typing away by myself.
This went on for
years.
For me, it was never about making money. Yeah, sure money's nice. But I wanted to see my name in print. Wanted to hold my book in my hands. Wanted that inner sense of achievement that comes from having written something exceptional.
For me, it was never about making money. Yeah, sure money's nice. But I wanted to see my name in print. Wanted to hold my book in my hands. Wanted that inner sense of achievement that comes from having written something exceptional.
I
persevered, and eventually I learned what agents and editors were looking for.
I learned how to write the types of stories that have delighted readers
since the dawn of time.
None of this came as a lightning bolt to my forehead. It came gradually, over years of trial and error, and years of searching out the best information from the most knowledgeable experts I could find. It cost me thousands of dollars and took me endless hours.
Eight years after writing my first failed manuscript, I sold my first novel. Since then, I've published almost non-stop for 15 years. I've written so many novels that in the past few years, I've had to cut back my writing schedule. I'm now writing two books a year, instead of four. I couldn't keep up with the demand from publishers anymore.
And not for nothing - I long ago made back the money I spent learning to write, many times over.
I've developed a system for writing that makes fiction come alive. Use my system, really apply yourself, and your writing will stand head and shoulders above the untold thousands of unsolicited manuscripts that come pouring into publishing houses each year.
Your fiction will grab readers by their throats, and may gain the elusive attention of the industry gatekeepers inNew York , London
None of this came as a lightning bolt to my forehead. It came gradually, over years of trial and error, and years of searching out the best information from the most knowledgeable experts I could find. It cost me thousands of dollars and took me endless hours.
Eight years after writing my first failed manuscript, I sold my first novel. Since then, I've published almost non-stop for 15 years. I've written so many novels that in the past few years, I've had to cut back my writing schedule. I'm now writing two books a year, instead of four. I couldn't keep up with the demand from publishers anymore.
And not for nothing - I long ago made back the money I spent learning to write, many times over.
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| Learn what I know, and leap over years of trial and error. |
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I've developed a system for writing that makes fiction come alive. Use my system, really apply yourself, and your writing will stand head and shoulders above the untold thousands of unsolicited manuscripts that come pouring into publishing houses each year.
Your fiction will grab readers by their throats, and may gain the elusive attention of the industry gatekeepers in
I wish you every success in the pursuit of your dream.
Sincerely,
***
By the way, here’s that quote from Calvin Coolidge in its entirety. They are words to live by:
Nothing
in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is
more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded
genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated
derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan
“Press On” has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.
“Silent” Calvin Coolidge30th President of the United States
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