New York Times Bestselling Author and TV Show Host of Dark Minds M. William Phelps
New York Times bestselling investigative journalist and serial crime expert M. William Phelps is the author of more than thirty nonfiction books, with over one million copies of his books in print worldwide, and has made over 200 television appearances (Early Show, The Today Show, The View, Fox & Friends, Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, GMA, TLC, History, Oxygen, OWN, and many others). He appeared on USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Wall Street Journal Radio, ABC News Radio, and many more. Phelps created, produced and starred in the series Dark Minds and is one of the stars of Deadly Women and Oxygen’s Snapped, Killer Couples and KillerPost. He is the winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the New England Book Festival Award. A respected reporter, Phelps has written for numerous publications—including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, he also consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and is a constant presence on crime film sets. Currently, Phelps is associate producer and consultant to Piers Morgan on Morgan's ITV series about serial killers. Radio America calls him “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer” and TV Rage says, "M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will…” Touched by tragedy himself through the unsolved murder of his sister-in-law, Phelps is able to enter the hearts and minds of his subjects like no one else. He lives in a Connecticut farming community.
How did you first get started writing and what do you feel the medium of writing books affords writers that other forms of storytelling cannot accomplish?
I began by writing short stories (fiction) and fell in love with words, how they fall onto the page, and the act of re-writing. That led to wanting to get published (LOL), because selling a short story to a major literary magazine was possible only, I felt, only for the Iowa Writers Workshop and New York literary elite. So, I began focusing on nonfiction, starting very small. Newspapers. Magazines. Realized there was no money in that for a freelancer, found a literary agent, and focused on nonfiction book proposals.
Surviving Dirty John by Debra Newell and M. William Phelps (BenBella Books)
Writing books offers the writer the opportunity to explore the depth of a subject and for the writer to expose the reader to new things about the subject. It’s a learning experience for the writer. Write what you know? Please. That old cliché is nonsense. Write what you want to know—that’ll keep the passion level at 100, where it needs to be when you embark on writing a book.
What was it like in working with Debra Newell on her memoir Surviving Dirty John: My True Story of Love, Lies, and Murder?
First book I have written for someone. It was a painless experience, actually. Debra realized—which is so very important within this process—and respected that I was the writer, the storyteller, she the one with the story and information. She did not try to be the writer, which is where contention would begin to arise, I assume. She was very supportive of my process and always willing to go the extra mile to keep me moving along. I would do it again with a new subject, under the right circumstances, in a minute.
“To be creative one needs, I feel, an openness to others being involved in the process…”
What is your creative process like? Any special rituals or habits?
Yes. Get up at 430 AM every day, read for a half hour to get the creative genes humming, and then I hit the hamster wheel in my office. Hard work. Digging in with self-discipline. Not taking success for granted and always working as hard as I can, on a consistent basis. Most importantly, for me, is being grateful every day I am allowed to do what I love for work. I never, ever overlook or forget that. To be creative one needs, I feel, an openness to others being involved in the process and allowing the professionals around you in their individual fields—editors, proofreaders, production, producers, etc.—to do their jobs. Equally as important, though, is to try and read more than your write.
What has it been like in working with Glenn Yeffeth and the team at BenBella books in publishing Surviving Dirty John: My True Story of Love, Lies, and Murder?
First book with Glenn for me and it has been nothing less than an absolute stellar experience. His team at BenBella is on top of every aspect of publishing and at the top of their game. He’s put together a great group of editors and publishing people who love books (the most important requirement for the job) and understand that the process—that is, doing it right—takes a team to produce the best book everyone has in them. I am truly impressed with BenBella, an indie publisher, and how they go about publishing a book, which is not your standard corporate procedure. They invite the author into every step along the way and allow the author to be involved in the entire process. This has not been my total experience in the past. And I’ve written books for six publishers now.
“…write a gangbusters book proposal…leave ego aside and edit it into an even better proposal…get it out there and begin having meetings...”
How did you find your current literary agent and go on to get Surviving Dirty John published?
I hooked up with Mark Gottlieb from the Trident Media Group literary agency, via LinkedIn. And we sold Surviving Dirty John the standard way most nonfiction books are sold: One, write a gangbusters book proposal; two, get everyone to make comments on it; three, leave ego aside and edit it into an even better proposal; and four, get it out there and begin having meetings with acquisitions editors. I was honored, really, when Mark Gottlieb came to me and asked me if I wanted to get involved with Debra and the Dirty John case. To be honest, I was a great candidate, because I had not listened to the podcast or watched anything about the case. I really knew very little about it.
New York Times bestselling author M. William Phelps’s bedside reading.
There any good books on your nightstand at the moment?
I have a nightstand, but my reading material stays on the side of my bed, next to me. Yes, I sleep with books! LOL. I am loving Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons For Our Own, a terrific book by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., about his friendship with James Baldwin (one of my top three favorite writers besides Karl Ove Knausgård and V.S. Naipaul); an old book of essays and criticism by Salman Rushdie called Imaginary Homelands; the latest issue of The Paris Review, London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books, with several New Yorkers underneath the stack. I have magazine guilt, too, I should note. I don’t have enough time to read them all cover and cover, and when I walk by one on my table or bed, a pang of guilt strikes! I will say I was thoroughly enjoying Philip Roth, the latest biography by Blake Bailey, but had to put it away after the allegations against Bailey arose. I just couldn’t read it anymore. I will go back to it, I presume, at some point.
Can you let us know what you’re working on next?
I am working on a book proposal called Divided: Why We Are Who We Are with a Personality Type expert who has forty years experience as a social scientist—a book that is going change the way people think about everything they do and why they do it; preparing my second season of the #1 podcast Paper Ghosts; writing and producing my weekly podcast, Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps (both podcasts with my partner, iHeartRadio); and several unscripted television projects in various stages of development and production.
“You have to be willing to sacrifice and persist to stay in the game.”
You’ve seen book publishing go through some changes in recent years. Where do you see the industry heading?
There are bumps and cycles I have ridden over and clashed with throughout the past twenty years in publishing, but I have always managed to come out pretty much unscathed because, I feel, I was always willing to adjust to the marketplace and not allow ego to infiltrate an industry I view as a business, not a dream. There will always be changes. There will always be down and up cycles. You have to be willing to sacrifice and persist to stay in the game. The fact of the matter is: There will always be books. People will always read. The book business might change, but it was will always remain and always survive (there are a lot of “always” in those answers! LOL).
Any advice for hopeful writers looking to become published authors?
Dig in. Develop a hard, unshakable discipline. Commit to failure. Don’t allow failure to dictate your work or your future. Every rejection means you are not ready. I received over 500 rejections from literary agents and editors before selling my first major project. Nothing replaces passion and hard, hard work. Look at it always as work, not a hobby. Treat your work with respect and honor and dedicate yourself to an apprenticeship, however long it may be. Important: Believe editors when they tell you it’s not good enough. It is never personal. It is a business that needs to make money.
Can you finish this sentence? I love reading because…
… it teaches me every day how to be a better writer and what the marketplace is telling me it wants from writers. In addition, I love reading because words on a page stir in me a passion to write, inspire me, and take me places I will never be able to go in any other medium.