Pearls of Wisdom from Jonathan Maberry

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear author Jonathan Maberry speak. Of course, he's famous for a number of works including the Joe Ledger series. When asked what kind of writer he is, he invariably says things like "I'm whatever kind of writer serves the story I want to tell."

Maberry seems to be on the pulse of the publishing world and had a lot of advice for writers. Some highlights include:

• Be active on the internet and with social media, have a blog, website, Facebook page, and/or Twitter.
  
• Be part of the writing community. Help other writers because it's the right thing to do and because you never know when they might help you.
  
• Never take a 7-figure advance because it's difficult to earn out and if you don't ... you're a failure. Instead, negotiate other right such as quarterly royalty statements or bonuses for earning out your (smaller) advance, and similar.
  
• Don't write to the market, but be very aware of it. For example, right now, hot markets include:
  • Zombies for middle-grade boys.
    
  • otherkin/were-creatures
    
  • dystopian fiction
    
  • scary vampires
  
  
• Write regularly
  
• Don't be afraid to turn down a job that's not right for you

I, personally, really appreciate that he takes the time to "walk the walk" and help other writers. Kudos, Mr. Maberry!