If you haven’t heard of the best-selling thriller novelist Barry Eisler, it’s time you did. A former CIA agent and tech lawyer, Barry is now the best-selling author of the incredibly popular John Rain series of thrillers.
In this Q&A session, Barry discusses his latest title, “The Detachment,” life as a writer, and the three reasons he turned down a $500,000 advance from a major publisher to go self-publishing.
MANY OF US HAVE BEEN ANXIOUS FOR THE RELEASE OF “THE DETACHMENT”. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT HIM?
“The Detachment” marks the return of my half-Japanese, half-American assassin John Rain, who took time off to try to put his life back together after the sixth book in the Rain series, “Requiem For An Assassin.”
His on-and-off romance with Mossad agent Delilah didn’t end happily (find more in my short story, “Paris Is A Bitch”), and in The Detachment, he finds himself on the wrong side of an attempted American coup, against continual terrorist attacks, presidential strike teams, and a national security state as obsessed with protecting its own secrets as it is with invading the privacy of the public.
WHAT ASPECTS OF “THE HIGHLIGHT” ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Well, it was great to bring together the two universes of the series that I created: the one from the Rain books and the one from the black ops soldier Ben Treven, whom readers met in “Fault Line” and “Inside Out”. Bringing Rain, Dox, Treven and Larison together, and forcing them to wield their alpha male and lone wolf instincts to survive the forces arrayed against them, was great.
Proudest goal? Probably the realism and timeliness of the backstory and plot.
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been much discussion as to whether the thriller, at least the contemporary version, is still a viable form. Despite then-Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey’s admonition that “We have slain a mighty dragon, but now we find ourselves in a jungle full of serpents,” villains seemed rare during the “peace dividend” years. “of the Clinton administration. Nine-eleven and al Qaeda’s explosion into popular consciousness, of course, changed all that, and Islamic fundamentalism provided a new treasure trove of contemporary villains and plots.
For thriller writers interested in realism, however, the familiar “Islamic terrorist villain” plot has a serious shortcoming: Terrorism, of any kind, poses far less danger to America than America’s own overreaction. United in the face of fear of terrorism. To put it another way, the United States has a significantly greater capacity for national suicide than any non-state actor for national murder. Thus, if thrillers are based on large-scale dangers, and if a suspense novelist wants to convincingly portray the greatest possible dangers, the novelist has to deal not so much with the possibility of a terrorist attack as with the reality. of the massive, irresponsible national security state that has metastasized in response to that possibility.
This is, of course, challenging, because unaccountable bureaucracies—what Hannah Arendt called “nobody’s rule”—make villains less obvious than lone bearded fanatics seeking to destroy the Great Satan, etc. , etc. The trick, I think, is to create an antagonist who is part of the ruling power structure but also maintains the perspective of an outsider, personifying and animating an entity that, destructive and oppressive as it may be, is itself too big. and cumbersome to be really sensible. This is Colonel Horton, probably the most ambiguous villain I’ve ever created (and therefore probably the most convincing).
And so The Detachment: a small team of lone wolves, deniable irregulars, each with ambiguous motives and conflicting loyalties, pitted against the relentless, omnipresent and overwhelming force of an American national security state gone berserk. It’s real, it’s timely, and it’s based on an eerily possible premise, and I’m exceptionally proud of that.
WHEN WE LAST SPOKE, YOU SAID IT TOOK YOU 4-5 MONTHS TO COMPLETE THE FIRST DRAFT OF A NOVEL. OVER THE YEARS, HAS YOUR WRITING PROCESS CHANGED?
Not much. Still about a month or two of thinking things through followed by about four months of feverish writing. All, alas, with a lot of interruptions, but somehow everything is done.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO GIVE UP THE $500,000 ADVANCE YOU WERE OFFERED TO INSTEAD OF GOING ON YOUR OWN AND SELF-PUBLICING?
The first reason is the digital divide. A legacy publisher offers authors 17.5% of the retail price of a digital title; a self-published author gets 70%. That’s a lot of volume for the legacy publisher to have to move to make up the shortfall, and I decided that, over time, I could move enough on my own to get by.
The second reason, although I assumed it’s actually so separate from the first, is control over price and timing. The current business imperative for legacy publishing is to preserve the position of paper and retard the growth of digital.
Legacy publishers try to achieve this goal by charging too much for paper books and slaving the digital release to paper. I think my ideal price per unit (the price per unit that times volume equals maximum revenue) is around $5, and legacy publishers won’t price new digital titles that low (in fact , went to war with Amazon over Amazon’s $9.99 price, which they considered too low).
I also want to release the digital version as soon as it’s ready and the paper version later because a paper book takes longer to get to market (pasting, mailing, etc.) and legacy publishers insist on delaying the digital version until that the paper version is ready. That costs me money, because until my books are available for sale, they don’t earn anything.
Anyway, in summary, my second reason was that my philosophy on price and time is antithetical to the philosophy of price and time of legacy publishers, and theirs to mine.
A third reason, by the way, was control over packaging decisions. I’ve lost too many sales to lazy and ill-conceived covers, and I’d rather be in charge of such matters.
REGARDING SELF-PUBLICATION, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL SEPARATE THE TRULY TALENTED AUTHORS WITH NOVELS THAT HAVE LEGITIMATE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FROM THE REST OF THE PACKAGE?
Hard work and luck, as always.
WHEN I LAST TALKED TO YOU, YOU DID NOT KEEP A WRITING SCHEDULE. NO WRITING TIME YET?
I’m still trying to find one! So many interruptions. But I think digital will be good for me. I’ve written two short stories (“The Lost Coast” and “Paris Is a Bitch”) and they’re selling well, and the immediate gratification I get from writing a short story and making it available the same day it’s done is a great incentive to avoid distractions.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT RESEARCHING, WRITING OR PROMOTING?
I write about politics and language on my syndicated blog, Heart of the Matter, and I exercise and, when I’m really lucky, I get to take a quiet walk at night.
And there’s nothing like a good book and a good single malt Scotch.
DESCRIBE YOUR WRITING ENVIRONMENT.
A quiet office, good light, 24-inch Mac monitor, and terribly comfortable sweatpants and T-shirt. Usually with green tea; as the deadline approaches, with a cup of coffee.
DESCRIBE A TYPICAL NIGHT IN THE LIFE OF BARRY EISLER.
Ha. You are looking at one right now.
A TYPICAL WEEKEND?
Not so different, unfortunately. I work too much.
JUST FINISHED “HOW I SOLD A MILLION E-BOOKS IN 5 MONTHS” BY JOHN LOCKE. IT SEEMS YOU SPEND A GREAT AMOUNT OF TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA. ESPECIALLY ON TWITTER. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE of him, HOW IMPORTANT IS THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS TO SELL BOOKS AND HOW DO YOU AVOID EXCESS OF TIME? OR YOU?
I’m not sure if I stop. Everyone has to answer this for themselves because the answer will depend on how much you like or dislike social media and what you’re trying to get out of it.
For business purposes, I believe a strong online presence is important. I can see that just by how high my story sales go up when I post them on Facebook, Twitter, and my blog.
ANY OTHER WORDS OF ADVICE ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
The main thing is to use social networks to build relationships, not to sell books. If you offer value to people (entertainment, information), you will build relationships and sales will follow naturally. If you just try to sell, people will run screaming in horror.
But I think that digital desktop publishing has changed the value of an author’s time to rewrite. I think the best marketing use of an author’s time lies in writing more stories. It’s not that social media and advertising aren’t helpful; they certainly are. But nothing is as effective in selling a book as writing and publishing a new one.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?
Find a way to get people to pay you to do what you would pay to do.
IS IT TOO EARLY TO ASK WHAT FANS CAN EXPECT NEXT?
Next up is a Dox short story, a Delilah short story, and probably a Rain prequel novel. Much to look forward to.