Interview with Les Denton

by Daisy Willis

Les Denton is the owner of Assent Publishing, LLC, a publishing company she founded to bring quality authors and readers together. Les serves as the managing editor for Bad Day Books, Assent's horror, thirller, and suspense imprint. Les will be taking pitches at the Write Stuff conference, looking for new authors to sign and work with.

Assent Publishing supports their authors by offering them a full curriculum--for free--that teaches the skills and strategies needed for sales success. This curriculum is offered through Assent Academy. 

GLVWG member Daisy Willis contacted Les to ask her questions about her company and the types of writing she's interested in.

What inspired you to found your own publishing company, and what sets it apart from the rest?

When the internet broke ground, I offered services in technology. It was an exciting time and I was able to offer many new things to people and businesses. I also write and surround myself in that environment. Recent changes in the publishing industry brought this fresh opportunity to mind, just like the birth of the internet. It is an exciting new frontier where authors have more opportunity than ever before, which is why I founded Assent Publishing.

We are a new, groundbreaking publishing company that stands apart from half-effort e-publishers and old-school traditional publishers. We have proven strategies and an understanding of author marketing needs, a commitment to distribution solutions, and dedication to publishing high quality books. I am excited to be the only publisher to present Assent Academy, the first of its kind, which offers professionally taught marketing and book business curriculum and customized advice at no charge to our authors throughout their careers with Assent Publishing.

You're managing editor for Assent's horror, thriller and suspense imprint, Bad Day Books (great name, by the way!). What's hot in these genres and what's decidedly not?

Thank you for the kind words. The purpose of this imprint is to transcend horror to embrace all goosebump raising, fret inducing, bad day stories. Readers are in it for the ride right now and they seek adrenaline-pumping storylines. Thrillers are big right now. What better way to take a thrill ride without having to leave the comfort of your favorite reading chair. In horror, I love psychological horror and there is a lot of great new material out there drawing attention to the genre.

What’s not so hot? Don’t get me wrong, I love zombies, but they are weighing down the shelves a bit right now. My advice: Make zombies a support element, not the driving force of your book.

Can you tell us about something you've published recently that you're really excited about and that exemplifies Assent Publishing?

There is a great deal of talent out there and it is so hard to narrow the list. I like to think forward and there are a few books we are polishing that I am really excited about. As I mentioned earlier, thrillers are big right now. So are strong female characters. The Pact by C.N. Bring is the first military thriller in a series about a strong female character surviving in a predominately man’s world. On the fantasy front, Rise of the Raven Knights by Paul DeThroe takes an average, contemporary man into the realm of the supernatural, surrounded by demons, shape-shifters, ghosts, danger from evil forces, and a few ill-timed magical disasters.

I am also excited to publish books that assist authors. The second edition of Finding Author Success: Discovering and Uncovering the Marketing Power within your Manuscript by Deborah Riley-Magnus has been updated to address today’s hurdles to success for authors in this turbulent publishing landscape.

What's your role as an editor in the publishing process? What do you find most rewarding and most challenging about the job?

As managing editor for Bad Day Books, I stay with our authors from submission to publication and beyond. We are excited about the career of each author, and the submission process is a great way to find not only the right manuscripts, but to begin sharing a future vision with each author. Working with authors throughout the creative process of publishing is rewarding. Finding bandwidth is challenging and we are constantly streamlining our processes and developing new roles as new talent comes on board to accommodate growth.

Any gems of advice for writers gearing up to pitch or submit their work?

Writing a novel is a process. As a part of concept, and certainly along the voyage, the writer should interact with their target audience through research and marketing. By the time the manuscript draft is complete, the twenty-five word pitch, short description, and even some of the book platform should be in place. Pitching the book should be a natural extension of this process and not, mentally at least, a separate step. Build a plan that shows you know your target audience, your hooks, your competition, and your characters and storyline from different perspectives. By not waiting until you write “The End” to start doing this homework, your pitch will be solid and your knowledge and enthusiasm will sell both you and your work.

Interview #2 With James Scott Bell

[Note: This is the second in a series of interviews with author and writing coach, James Scott Bell.]

James Scott Bell on Conflict, Gritty Suspense, Legal Thrillers, and Zombies

 by Donna Brennan

Jim Bell is an award winning suspense author and the creator of the Zombie Legal Thriller genre. But where does he get his ideas?

Donna Brennan: You were a successful lawyer in L.A, even owned your own practice. Did any of your story ideas come from your experiences as a trial lawyer?

James Scott Bell: Some of my early books employed actual experiences. But I think the great benefit was that the law and courtrooms are such natural arenas of conflict. It was great training in the recognition of story material.

D: So many writers dream of quitting their day job and writing full time. Was it hard for you to leave a lucrative law practice for the uncertain world of writing fiction? How many novels did you have published before you decided to take that giant step?

J: I didn't just quit. I transitioned, and as the fiction area grew for me, I gave up more of the law practice. I am not a big advocate of quitting a day job without having a foundation for the future. I think a writer should have some royalty income and a contract in hand. Or, in these new times, a year or two of proven self publishing income. A day job keeps you from writing “desperate.”

D: All of your suspense novels and thrillers take place in L.A. What is it about that city that seems to draw you, and your characters, to it?

J: If I was smart, I would've set my stories in Hawaii and taken a tax deduction for research travel. Seriously, Los Angeles is such a fabulous noir city. It's not just one vibe. It's a collection of incredible neighborhoods and people and hopes and dreams and scams and restaurants and cultures. On and on. It's where I grew up and it just calls to me. You can never exhaust the story possibilities in a Los Angeles setting.

D: In your suspenseful whodunit series with L.A. attorney, Ty Buchanan, you successfully manage to show the gritty nature of the world Ty is thrust into after his fiancee's "accident" (or was it a murder?) without using bad language or extreme violence. Is there a secret to how this is done?

J: Some of the best crime novels ever written were done in the 30s and 40s. Movies too. Did they use offensive language? Overt violence? I think they were the better for not using those. They created pictures in the reader's mind.  I mean Double Indemnity has so much sexual tension you can cut it with a knife, and you don't need to show every detail. I just don't see the need for it.

D: Is Ty Buchanan based on any particular lawyer you know? Is he a composite of different lawyers you've worked with or squared off against in a courtroom? Are there elements of your own personality in there?

J: He's mostly me, or the me I would like to think I would've been in that situation. When I was an actor, I learned the great secret of acting from reading about Spencer Tracy. He said the secret was to be himself in whatever role he was playing. He would be Spencer Tracy as a priest, or Spencer Tracy as a fisherman, or Spencer Tracy as a father of a bride. He was so natural, so convincing. In a way, Ty Buchanan allows me to “act” in a certain way, and that's one of the fun things about writing fiction. Or acting, for that matter.

D: From Inspirational to gritty suspense to zombies. Is there no end to your writing interests? And what was the motivation to publish your Mallory Caine zombie thriller series under the pen name of K. Bennett.

J: I don't want there to be any end to my writing interests. I love being able to explore whatever canyon or cave I happen to stumble upon. That's what art is all about, or should be. If you just repeat yourself it gets boring.

The main reason I chose to do the zombie series under a pseudonym was to distinguish it for the benefit of the readers. I don't hide behind a pseudonym, I'm very open about it, but it's just a simple way to alert people that this is a different kind of book.

In reality, I think readers of all my work will see similarities in theme and style. But mainly I'm having so much fun with it. I bust out laughing a lot.

D: Okay. Is the character, Mallory Caine, Zombie at Law, based on any particular lawyer you know? And, be honest, are there aspects of you in that character?

J: I think Mallory Caine is sort of a picture of my ideal lawyer. In point of fact, she is probably modeled more on my dad than on me. My dad was a great Los Angeles lawyer who represented poor people a lot, and that's what Mallory does with the oddballs who come to see her. She believes passionately in the Constitution and the presumption of innocence, and my dad did, too. He passed that passion along to me and in many ways that seems to be the theme of most of my novels. 

James Scott Bell will be the Keynote speaker at the Write Stuff conference. He will also be teaching a 1-1/2 day pre-conference workshop: "Novel and Screenwriting Intensive."