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Today’s publishing world is an odd combination of nearly unlimited options and common knowledge that thwarts creativity.

We have so many options today as authors. Our books can be short or long, they can be self-published, or traditionally published, they can be digital only, or digital and hard copy.  We can write them alone, or we can write with co-authors.

It’s wonderful to have options.  It’s great for creativity.

But what about the growing body of common knowledge?  You’ve got to write a series.  Pick a genre and keep writing in that genre until you break out. If you can’t keep yourself from writing another genre, use a pseudonym.

What happens if you don’t follow the common knowledge?  What happens if you write a stand-alone novel or maybe write a series in a completely different genre, maybe even with a co-author?

Aiden James

Today’s guest is Aiden James.  As you’ll hear in the interview, he writes books on his own and is involved in several writing partnerships.  He’s got a best-selling action adventure series and a best-selling paranormal series. He writes about vampires, ghosts, biblical characters and grave robbers. He writes books with co-authors he enjoys working with, and he’s not afraid to experiment.

We talk genre hoping, co-authors and lots more, including a musical interlude in this 55 minute interview.  Some interview highlights include:  

• Aiden’s first co-writing experience was with author J.R. Rain. It didn’t work out as expected.
• The next co-writing project with J.R. Rain was one where they took turns writing chapters and leaving the protagonist in a bad situation.
• Aiden’s writing partnership with Lisa Collicutt for Reborn: The Serendipitous Curse began with Aiden providing a “very complete outline” and Lisa doing most of the writing. Aiden came in afterwards as an editor.
• Aiden’s outlines to co-authors may include both bullet points and some full scenes.
• Aiden explains the money flow and responsibilities in the co-writing experiences he’s had to date.
• Aiden describes the interesting way a three-way partnership evolved with a graphic novel version of his Judas Chronicles story.
• Aiden sees his audiobook collaborations as partnerships, and so far he’s chosen to do royalty shares with his narrators.
• Aiden shares the story of two of his most popular series, The Judas Chronicles and the Nick Caine Series.
• When asked why he changes genres, Aiden said, “You do it because you’re inspired.”
• Aiden suggests that authors considering different genres try to include features of the different genres in their current books.
• Aiden has a very open relationship with his biggest fans, and their feedback helps to determine how quickly each series is written.
• A first for The Author Biz – We play a clip from Aiden’s band, The Dead Hollywood Stuntmen. The song is called Break Me Down, and we also play an acoustic version at the end of the podcast.

Links

Aiden’s Amazon Author Page

Aiden’s three Facebook pages:

• Aiden James Author
• Aiden James Paranormal Action Adventure Author
• Aiden James Fan Page

Aiden’s Website www.aidenjamesfiction.com

Aiden on Twitter

The Dead Hollywood Stuntmen on Facebook and Youtube

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