Self-publishing novelist a force to be reckoned with

WRITE TURN: Self-publisher Marie Force says she’s worked her process to the point where she can write a full-length book in about two months. / COURTESY MARIE FORCE
WRITE TURN: Self-publisher Marie Force says she’s worked her process to the point where she can write a full-length book in about two months. / COURTESY MARIE FORCE

The road to bestseller success is rarely easy, but self-publishing can give authors a new avenue for getting their stories to the masses. Portsmouth-based, self-publishing novelist Marie Force has authored several books that have hit the bestseller lists of The New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
«constant ****SDLq»Self-pubbing” requires as much business savvy, however, as it does writing ability. After nearly three years in self-publishing, Force conducted a survey of readers’ habits and preferences in June. Questions included favorite genres, attitudes toward e-books and paperbacks and opinions on author endorsements. Force observed, among other findings, that while e-books have surged in popularity, more than half of the survey respondents continue to seek books in paperback format. The survey results can be viewed at: ebookformattingfairies.blogspot.com.

PBN: How does your experience working with publishing companies compare to your experience self-publishing?
FORCE: In self-publishing, you have to do everything that you normally get from a publisher: hiring a cover designer, editors, proofreaders, formatters … but that also gives you all the control, too, which is something that is really great. That said, I’m also enjoying working with two traditional publishers. I have good rapport with Harlequin, the publisher of my “Fatal” series – which is a New York Times bestselling series – and my “Green Mountain” series, which is coming from Berkley, a division of Penguin Random House.
PBN: Are there certain works that are better suited for self-publishing?
FORCE: I would say that the romance business is very well-situated to take advantage of the self-publishing boom because the readers are voracious – they read sometimes 10 or 20 books a week. They’re incredibly supportive of their favorite authors in ways that I cannot even begin to articulate.

PBN: What makes your readership so dedicated?
FORCE: First and foremost, the book has to work. Having had this business before and after the self-publishing revolution, sometimes I worry about seeing a step away from quality and craft. … If you have only a 5 percent conversion rate from people who downloaded book one to those who downloaded book two [in a series], then something’s wrong with book one. … The best thing about the digital age, though, is that you can go back and fix what’s wrong with book one, re-upload it the same day, and now you’ve got a different product out there.

PBN: Why did you decide to conduct a survey of readers’ preferences, and how was the survey distributed?
FORCE: We made no attempt to be scientific. The way that we promoted this survey was completely online. … They might have read about it on Facebook or they might have gotten an email. We just were looking to identify some trends and confirm a few things that we already knew. For example, authors spend a lot of time talking about what’s more effective, Facebook or Twitter. I have always said it’s Facebook, because Twitter is so fleeting. On Facebook, you can have an ongoing conversation that can span days, weeks, months. … If an author has a limited amount of time, spend your time updating your website and getting on Facebook. Those trends were very clear from the survey.

PBN: You expect the popularity of audio books to increase. Why?
FORCE: We have the ability to self-publish audio books now. … It’s a pretty decent deal for authors as far as royalties go. Audio books are definitely more popular than they were a year ago, and I expect that in two years, they’re going to be a lot more popular than they are now. … Once you have the fundamental story, then it becomes about monetizing that story in any possible way that you can. E-books, print, audio – there’s going to be technology that we haven’t even thought of yet.

PBN: Prior to becoming a bestselling novelist, you had a career in journalism and also supervised several publications. How have your previous experiences influenced your current career?
FORCE: I’ve always been writing one way or another. So, yes, writing is writing, but I did have to learn the fiction business when I started writing fiction nine years ago. I definitely think that I managed to pick up some good business sense, particularly in my 16 years as a communications director at a nonprofit in the Washington, D.C., area. Also, my husband was in the Navy, so I got to spend about three years each in the D.C. area, Florida and Spain. People ask me all the time, “Why didn’t you start writing books earlier?” and I always have the same answer: “Well, I didn’t have anything to say then.”

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PBN: What’s the next project for you?
FORCE: I am working on book 10 in the “McCarthys” series, which I hope to have out before the end of year. It’s self-published. I’m working on the second book in my “Green Mountain” series for Berkley, which will be out next June. I’m writing both of them at the same time, which is not for the faint of heart. … I’ve got my process down to the point where I can write a full-length book in about two months. The books I have out are enough to support my family, so I don’t have to keep up this pace, but I’m enjoying it too much not to. And I’ve got hungry readers that want more. I’ve got to feed them! •

INTERVIEW
Marie Force
POSITION: Author and publisher
BACKGROUND: Force’s first job out of college was as a reporter for The Narragansett Times; she later served as the communications director of a nonprofit in the Washington, D.C., area and editor-in-chief of a national trade magazine, in addition to supervising other publications. After living in Spain, Washington and Florida with her Navy husband, Force and her family returned to Rhode Island. While noting that her travels have undoubtedly influenced her stories – such as a series set in Washington – Force also credits her “life-long love affair” with Block Island as the inspiration behind her popular “McCarthys of Gansett Island” series.
FIRST JOB: Reporter for The Narragansett Times
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Rhode Island, 1988; bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in public administration from University of Maryland
RESIDENCE: Portsmouth
AGE: 47

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