18Q Dan Poynter

Dan Poynter

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?

It chose me. I saw a need to help others, first in parachutes and next in book promotion.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)

I come from a literary family but they were famous creative writers: fiction and poetry.

3. When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?

Not sure but I did not realize I was a publisher until I attended my first book fair.

I thought I was just a vendor to the parachute and hang gliding industries.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?

Direct, to the point, clear and not terribly creative. I have to work on that.

5. What is your writing process?

The procedure is detailed in my book Writing Nonfiction; Turning Thoughts into Books. I lay out the pages and then fill them in. Pages are in a page-layout format. There are four drafts: Rough, Content Edit, Peer Review and Copy Edit.

6. What was your path to publication?

I realized no publisher would understand or know where to sell a technical book on parachutes so I took the project to a printer and sold the books myself.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?

Identify your potential buyer and locate that buyer. Sell you books where there is a high concentration of buyers. Go where they have voluntarily come together because they have a like interest. For example, my parachute and skydiving books are mentioned in skydiving magazines, the books are sold in parachute stores, to skydiving schools, to parachute catalogs and so on.

8. What are the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?

The day-to-day excitement.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?

[Not Answered]

10. What is your proudest writer moment?

Your proudest moment is the publication of your second book. When people call to order, you get to ask: “Which one?”

11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing?

Get the free InfoKit at http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/infokit.cfm

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?

Writing a book is a creative act, publishing it is a public act. Introverts can be embarrassed by fans.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?

Writing books is a business. Businesses can deduct expenses from their taxes. Many of the toy and equipment other people pay for with after-tax dollars, we get to deduct.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?

Write about what you love and love what you write. I started on skydiving.

15. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?

[Not Answered]

16. Who do you like to read?

Because I travel, I consume a lot of eBooks and audiobooks. Some history but mostly fiction. I like Brian Haig, Brad Thor, Lee Child, Michael Connelly and others.

17. What’s your advice for new writers?

Nonfiction: Write what you know and sell to your friends. Write about a subject you love. Turn your passion center into your profit center. I began with books on parachutes and skydiving. Think ahead two years. What do you want to be writing about? What do you want to be speaking about? What do you want to be dreaming about? What will make you wake up at 3 AM so excited that you can’t sleep? Turn you avocation into your vocation. Write what you love. Follow your heart.

18. What are you currently working on?

I rarely have a project on the back burner and I rarely know what I will write next. One day inspiration hits and I jump in.

Dan’s 18Q