An Interview with Science Fiction Author Darrell Bain

Over the last several years, Darrell Bain has become one of the best selling authors in the world in the realm of electronic publishing, winning just about every honor available in that area of publishing. He has now moved actively into print publishing and is currently working on a collaboration with best selling science fiction author and scientist Travis S. “Doc Travis” Taylor. Most of Bain’s books are also in print or scheduled for print and all of them are available as e-books. He produces a very popular monthly newsletter, discoursing on various subjects brought up by fans or by his own voracious reading habit, written in an informal, narrative style. It is available around the first of each month from his web site at http://www.darrellbain.com/. 

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Darrell.  Can we start out by having you tell us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published? 

I am multipublished. 

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why? 

The Pet Plague was my first, written after getting my first computer and learning how easy it was to write and correct mistakes with it. 

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it? 

For the first seven years I was writing, I was the subject of a giant scam by a set of crooked “agents”. I wasn’t being rejected because they lied when they told me my manuscripts were being sent to publishers. My first published book was Medics Wild, with a crooked publisher in league with the crooked agents. Only a few hundred copies of the book were ever printed. 

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows? 

I very nearly stopped writing after I found out how badly I had been scammed. The E-book industry was my salvation. I’ve become one of the very best selling authors of E-books and that’s in competition with top names in the print industry who also have their books e-published. 

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them? 

Commonwealth Publishing was the name of the now defunct crooked firm that published Medics Wild. I chose them on the recommendation of the crooked agents. 

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate? 

I felt wonderful at the time until I learned all the facts. I celebrated by setting up a lot of book signings, then found I couldn’t get books for them. 

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time? 

Book signings. 

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published? 

Of course! I was very naïve. Dealing with those crooked agents probably set my career back by ten years, and at my age it’s hard to spare that many! Having an agent is the best way to go, but NEVER pay an agent anything. 

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author? 

Yes, I’ve had at least three dozen books published now and as many short stories. I’ve become an icon of the E-book industry and have won every major award possible (Fictionwise Author of the Year, Knowbetter best Science Fiction novel 2002, double Eppie Award best young adult and best action/adventure novels of the year 2007, and Dream Realm Award, best Science fiction novel of the year 2007). Almost all of my books are also in print now. So far as growing, I’ve grown enough to be asked to collaborate with Travis S. Taylor on a science fiction novel. He is the co-author with John Ringo of the best selling Von Neumann’s War and has had a number of books published with Baen Books. Our book will be out in July 2008. Having him ask me to be a co-author was the finest compliment of my writing career. I might add that my writing has improved over the years as I learned some of the little tricks of the trade, but nothing can substitute for writing and more writing. 

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?  What kind of mistakes could you have avoided? 

I doubt I could have speeded things up any faster than by finding a genuine agent, or simply trying to find a publisher without an agent. Same for mistakes. I should have done some research on agents rather than picking a name at random like I did. I had the incredible bad luck to pick the worst crooks in the business. 

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published? 

Being asked to collaborate with Travis and having my first hard cover published, Savage Survival.  All those awards haven’t been bad, either! 

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be? 

Astronaut 

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds? 

Yes, at this stage of my life I would. My wife says I would accept a ride on the Space Shuttle even if I knew it would blow up 30 seconds after takeoff. 

How do you see yourself in ten years? 

Alive, I hope! Seriously, I see myself still writing books and short stories, but selling more than I do today. 

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day? 

Yes. Writing is hard work. And writing fiction is a profession where the supply far outnumbers demand so be prepared for a long hard road. One more thing: the best way to improve your writing is to write. And write. And write. And…..

  

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