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Walter Gibson is one of my heroes, and I’ll even argue that he should be one of yours.

Why? Is it because he essentially created “The Shadow” as we know it, writing the first Shadow story in 1931? Is it because he wrote 282 out of 325 Shadow novels? Is it because he held a world record for writing 1,400,000 words in 10 months?

Wait. What? Is that a typo? No, he wrote 1.4 million words in 10 months and sent them in to his publishers, Street & Smith. Shadow stories/novels ran at about 40,000 words each. He wrote two novels per month.

That’s an average of 4,666 words each and every day. On a manual typewriter.

I haven’t read every one of the stories, but I’ve read enough to be excited when I find one I haven’t read. They’re really good, and I can admit that they can be a little weak in places… and then you realize that all of it is a FIRST DRAFT. What do your first drafts look like? Heck, what do your second drafts look like?

I believe we need Gibson as a hero today for one more reason. At first glance, he seems to simply be one of those painfully prolific authors, just like Nora Roberts or Stephen King. Between writing jaunts, he sometimes wrapped his hands in gauze because they hurt so much. He was prolific, but not normally on that scale (if you look at the rest of his life). So what’s the real reason he wrote so many Shadow novels? “That’s how I got through the Depression.”

Are you taking notes, yet?

Amber Heat is the erotica imprint of Amber Quill Press.  The two types of writing that sell well online are self-help and erotic romance.

Amber Heat have a wonderful Top Ten Best Sellers list in the right-hand column of their pages. The numbers are for the preceding month, but it’s a clear way to see the types of things that readers are buying. So, it’s a good way to look at the trends.

Trend count from August:
Menage: 8/10
- Perhaps a bit more. #8 on the list has “group sex” as one of its categories.
Contemporary: 5/10
- Including the Top 3
Werewolf: 4/10
- One strangely entitled as being from the “Vampyre Falls” series.
Vampire: 0/10
- Please see the comment above.
Paranormal: 1/10

The Full List of August 2008 Best Sellers at Amber Heat.
1. His Very Own
- Jamie Craig
(Ménage / Bisexual [M/M])

2. Jesse’s Girl
- Deirdre O’Dare
(Ménage / Bisexual [M/M])

3. Heart and Soul
- Adrianna Dane
(Ménage / Bisexual [M/M])

4. Blood Of Souls
- Vivien Dean
(Ménage / Bisexual [M/M])

5. Vampyre Falls: Heartbreak
- Adrianna Dane
(Werewolf / Ménage)

6. The Horsemasters:
Riding Lessons
- Adrianna Dane
(Contemporary / Ménage)

7. My Knightly Adventures 2:
Just Another Lonely Knight
- Mimi Riser
(Werewolf / Ménage)

8. A Knight To Remember
- Mimi Riser
(Dark Fantasy / Werewolf)

9. Lust Letters
- Caitlyn Willows
(Contemporary / BDSM)

10. Wolfsbane 2:
Leader Of The Pack
- Jennifer Colgan
(Contemporary / Ménage)

You dream about writing The Great American Novel–or The Great English Novel, or Australian, or Dutch, or wherever you’re from. I understand that.

You dream about the day you will see the cover of the novel you wrote just before it goes into print. And the day you receive your first check. I hear you.

And more than anything, I hear the disappointment and pain that you’ve gone through from writing a lot of fiction for a very long time… and maybe you’re not selling it. Or maybe you aren’t even sure what to write, anymore.

You can get somewhere, and I want to help. I can’t publish your work, or solve all your writing problems, but we can talk about what markets are making money, and even solve some Grammar Grief that’s been keeping you in the rejection pile. I write. You write. We love books, and we love writing.

And, um, you can take critique, right? Here’s your first assignment: you have to join a regular critique group, or at least find an experienced writer or editor who is going to read your work REGULARLY. And you’re going to read other writers’ work REGULARLY.

I’m in a group that meets every Saturday at 10 a.m. I have to post as much as 3,000 words every week by midnight on Tuesday. Check out Meetup.com, or ask in writing forums, or start your own group. It’s The Greatest Criticism You’ll Ever Love. See you tomorrow.