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Protagonist's tale
By TIM GRANT, Times Staff Writer LUTZ -- The heroes in John Taylor's adventure novels are out to save the world by either finding Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons or tracking terrorists before they attack MacDill Air Force Base.
"I decided I'd rather live in genteel poverty than fight the corporate world," Taylor said of his decision in 1993 to leave AT&T and settle in the Woodridge subdivision off Lutz's Livingston Avenue. While Taylor and his wife, Peggy, live off his Army retirement income, he has started a new career as a novelist. This year he published Behind the Green Water and A Flash of Emerald. The latter tells the story of Harry Stoner's efforts to thwart an international terrorist plan to attack MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Behind the Green Water is a tale about Nash Devon, a Gulf War hero assigned to Saudi Arabia to find a hidden Iraqi nuclear research facility. Before making the commitment to become a writer eight years ago, Taylor, 63, had for years wanted to be a novelist. His first attempt was in 1970 during the Vietnam War. Taylor said he found a book called Hell in a Very Small Place, describing the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which broke the back of French forces in Vietnam and resulted in the accord that gave the communist government North Vietnam. "That book and the battle it describes stuck in my mind as I was in Vietnam during my second tour," Taylor said. "So I began writing a novel that used the battle of Dien Bien Phu as the opening scene, which I never finished. "As I traveled a lot working for AT&T, I tried writing that novel and I realized I didn't have the skills or the craft to be a good writer. So I resigned from AT&T and moved to Tampa to retire." A battalion commander with the 101st Airborne Division, Taylor had led soldiers on countless combat missions. When he retired, his mission became finding a way to get involved in the area's writing community. Taylor enrolled in a course at the University of South Florida called "How to Write and Sell Your Novel." A turning point came in February 1994, when he attended a regional writers conference in St. Petersburg. "There, I met a lot of other aspiring authors and attended a lot of workshops and got a lot of support from writing professors," Taylor said. "Now every year since then, I volunteer to work during the conference." That experience led to more workshops. Eventually he honed his writing skills and better understood how to tell a story. Eight years later, Taylor has finished two military thrillers. Writing them was one thing; getting them published was another story. Taylor said he became so frustrated with his search for an agent and a publisher that he published them himself. He would strongly advise would-be writers to keep their day jobs. In his case, the financial rewards of self-publishing have not been great. For example, Behind the Green Water, a 361-page book, costs him $6.24 to print each copy, plus shipping. He said book wholesalers, including Amazon.com, require him to sell it to them at a 55 percent discount, leaving him with a $1.41 profit. "By the time I pay shipping from the printer and to the wholesaler, I just about break even," Taylor said. Overall, Taylor said he has sold about 50 books since August, mostly through Amazon.com and direct mailings to members of military organizations he belongs to. "It's very difficult to get anything published as a new writer," he said. "The most important thing is you need a good story that is well written, and I believe I've hit that in these books. Now it's a matter of marketing and getting recognition." - To reach Tim Grant call 269-5311 or e-mail grant@sptimes.com.
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From the Times |
