Mind's Eye (51 page)

But in mid 2011, I noticed that tens of thousands of eBooks were being self-published. It was simple to do, so I dusted off the
WIRED
manuscript and threw it online, hoping that ten or twenty people might read it. 

And that’s when I won the lottery.
WIRED
went viral. Later that year it spent five weeks on both the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestseller lists, a testament to my brilliant marketing strategy of doing absolutely nothing and scratching my head in wonder as I watched it all happen (I call it the “sit on your hands and hope you get really, really lucky” strategy).

And while I did win the lottery, over the past few years I have come to appreciate more than ever that becoming a successful author is brutally difficult—and unpredictable. The truth is that anyone who has ever hit it big as a writer feels as though they are the luckiest person on the planet. And they’re
right
. Which is the reason, I’ve come to believe, prominent thriller writers are so friendly, helpful, and humble.

Every superstar writer has his or her own story of winning the lottery, and of how luck played a tremendous role in their ascendance. They are all amazingly talented, but they also all know that there are many huge talents who never make it. That making it is like catching lightning in a bottle.  R.L. Stine told me that his first few
Goosebumps
books sold poorly. That it took a fairly long time for them to catch on. That if he had published them today, when publishers and bookstores can’t afford to be as patient as they once were, he would never have made it. Anne Rice, in her address, described how she had written books that were not big successes before writing
Interview With a Vampire
. When she finished this book, she felt sure it was too unusual to ever be picked up by a publisher. She described how she was in tears when her agent called to tell her one was making an offer.

Scratch a wildly successful author and you’ll find someone who toiled in obscurity for years, and was rejected repeatedly and told they weren’t up to snuff and would never make it, from Dr. Seuss to John Grisham. Almost all of them will gladly tell you how lucky they’ve been. Because the sobering, nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching truth is that it doesn’t always matter how much talent a writer has, or even how great a book he or she writes. Both Stephen King and J.K. Rowling have demonstrated this experimentally, writing books under pseudonyms that were well reviewed but never came close to being as successful as any of those written in their own names. Their talent didn’t diminish. Just their results.

So that, in a nutshell, is why thriller writers are so incredibly nice.
And while I have no idea what is in my own future,
I can tell you this. If I get even luckier, win the lottery a second time, and go on to become a household name like Michael Crichton—you will never catch me being haughty, or arrogant, or unfriendly. Never. I will never pretend I should be treated any differently than anyone else. Instead, like the writers I met at ThrillerFest, I will be eternally grateful to readers for supporting my work, and well aware that I’m one of the luckiest people on the planet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Douglas E. Richards has been widely praised for his ability to weave action, suspense, and science into riveting novels that straddle the thriller and science fiction genres. He is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of
WIRED
,
AMPED
,
THE
CURE
, and
MIND’S
EYE
. He has also written six middle grade/young adult novels widely acclaimed for their appeal to boys, girls, and adults alike. A former biotech executive, Richards earned a BS in microbiology from the Ohio State University, a master's degree in genetic engineering from the University of Wisconsin (where he engineered mutant viruses now named after him), and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

In recognition of his work, Richards was selected to be a "special guest" at San Diego Comic-Con International, along with such icons as Stan Lee and Ray Bradbury. He has written numerous feature articles for the award-winning magazine,
National Geographic KIDS—
some having appeared in a dozen languages in as many as sixteen countries
—
as well as essays for the BBC, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Earth Sky, Today's Parent, and many others.

The author currently lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, two children, and two dogs.

Also by Douglas E. Richards
(titles are linked to their respective Amazon pages)

WIRED
 (Technothriller/Science-fiction)

AMPED
(The WIRED Sequel)

THE CURE
(Technothriller/Science-fiction)

Middle Grade/YA
 
(Enjoyed by kids and adults alike)

THE PROMETHEUS PROJECT SERIES
(Science Fiction Thrillers)

Book 1:
TRAPPED

Book 2:
CAPTURED

Book 3:
STRANDED

THE DEVIL’S SWORD
(Mainstream Thriller)

ETHAN PRITCHER, BODY SWITCHER

OUT OF THIS WORLD
(Science Fiction/Fantasy)