Film Courage: What does it mean to be an international bestseller?
Andrew Warren, Author: For me there's no direct, I don't think there's any specific qualification,
but for me I didn't want to use a term like that unless I could back it up. I hit the best
seller lists on Amazon for my category which there's various categories on Amazon. I tend
to show up in categories like spy thriller, assassin thrillers, political thrillers,
those kinds of categories. I hit number one more so Amazon will award you a bestseller tag if you
hit number one and stay there for a certain amount of time. I don't know if anyone knows how long it
is. Maybe there's a set amount of time. I have a feeling it's probably dependent on the market
and how many books Amazon is selling at the time but just because you hit number one doesn't mean
you get that tag. You have to hit number one and stay there for a certain amount of time. When my
books had hit number one and gotten that tag in multiple countries that was when I was like well
I guess I'm an international best-selling author so and so that was for Red Phoenix no that was for
let's see Tokyo Black hit the best sellers list in Canada and a cold kill I believe hit the best
seller list in America another book called depth chart which is when I co-wrote that also hit the
best seller list in America and the the boxed set of the first three books that also got the when I
say hit the best seller list I mean it earned the Amazon bestseller tag so and so America Australia
you are Canada America Australia those are the three territories where I got it so
what amount of time did that take to happen it was over the course of years I mean for
sure it wasn't all at once because those books were released at different times
yeah I was kind of like I didn't really think about it I was super stoked to get
those bestseller tags of course but at the end of the day they don't mean as much I mean they
draw the reader's eye to the book and of course they're indicative of success but
like I said for example Red Phoenix which was by far my most successful book did not earn one of
those tags it for whatever reason like maybe it was number two in its category I don't know but
but that book was my most financially successful and it didn't earn it so I mean I don't think
I wouldn't really like advise like chasing things like that and I mean sure they're
nice when they happen and of course they can be beneficial but I don't think there's beneficial
as people think I've heard a lot of interviews with really successful self-published authors
like people that are making like millions at it and they've they've kind of done analyzes over
how much of a sales bump do you get when you're the New York Times bestseller versus just being
a successful book and it's not as much as you would think so I certainly wouldn't let that hold
you back being afraid oh I'm not going to hit the best seller list I don't think it's as important
as people believe it is maybe recommended in search more yeah it's possible like I said I'm
sure it helps a little but if you don't hit it that does not mean your book is a failure sure
do you ever go on Goodreads and and as an author and I see sometimes authors interacting and do
you ever I do I not as much as I used to mostly because I find my readers don't use it as much.
I do use it and some I think certain communities are much more active like I definitely think the
romance community is super active on there so you kind of got to go where your readers are
I do have my own Facebook group so I communicate with readers there there's all different avenues
your goal with Tokyo Black was to make millions and retire on a beach somewhere I don't know
isn't that what every writer tells himself right no I maybe I said that in interviews but my goal
was definitely to finish it finish a book and then when I published it I just wanted people to enjoy
it I really wanted people like I said I wanted people to feel like they had gone to Japan or feel
like they'd experienced that and to be excited and it's an action book so of course I wanted people
to get pumped and I remember I remember when the reviews for Tokyo Black started coming in that was
really nerve-wracking actually and this is sort of part of the process so with with reviews on Amazon
you sort of need to kind of jump start it a little bit because probably only about one percent of
people that read your book are going to leave a review that it's not a high percentage of people
that go back and do that so what you do is you you build up a review team of advanced readers where
you're like okay people who have joined your list like I said you build that mailing list and then
you say hey my book is going to launch on this day here's an advanced copy can you please leave
your honest review whether you like it whether you don't like it whatever you think just leave
it on Amazon on this day so you kind of know when the reviews are going to start to come in because
you've told everybody and I remember I was I hadn't I hadn't gone through that because with
Devil's Due that I there was no review team like that was the first thing I launched I didn't have
a mailing list or anything I was building it so I and I hadn't really thought about that then when
I launched Tokyo Black and the launch day came I was like oh my God like I'm gonna get reviews
like what if people don't like it and I remember the reading the reviews that they were coming in
and they were so like just exactly what I had hoped they would be and I don't just mean good
reviews I mean that people commented specifically about the setting and about feeling like they had
taken a trip to Japan and I remember this one woman wrote I've traveled all over the world but
I've never been to Japan and now that I've read this book I'm planning my next trip there oh and
that meant a lot to me because I had really loved Japan and I really wanted to communicate that to
people and I remember I was in the office we were in a different place than we're living now but I
had this office and I'd like grab my dog and I was like rolling around on the floor because I was so
happy with that one review like just because it was it was exactly what I had hoped people would
the way I hoped they would respond right that's great you had connected the reader yeah yeah
have you had any meetings with Hollywood producers on turning the book into a film
television show I have there are at multiple points in time producers have contacted me
some of those options fell through but there is a team of producers now that I'm working with
that are they've commissioned a pilot script I chose not to write it they asked if I wanted to
but I felt like I was too close to the material as a book so I thought it would be better to
get someone else's take on it and we'll see I mean it's yeah it's in progress so to be continued okay
yeah I don't know how much you can actually talk about it but I mean I can talk about it but it's
I don't because I didn't right I don't know a ton about what's involved with it but I mean I know
that they're talking to some they're exploring both movie and TV series they're talking to some
showrunners that have pretty impressive credits but I also know that that's a long road I mean I
there are best-selling New York Times authors that have not yet had their had their books option that
have not yet been turned into Series so I mean I try not to get too involved in that I don't
want to like hold out on that I focus more on the books and the things I am more directly involved
in but yeah absolutely there's a lot of progress being made and I'm pretty excited to see where it
turns up was that a difficult decision to make to say I don't want to do the screenplay no it
wasn't hard at all I it's funny the producer was really surprised but I just felt like
I mean I've spent years writing those books and so and I and I know as a screenwriter I
know that to adapt a book you have to be able to diverge from it where necessary and I think it
would have just been so hard for me to see it in a different way and I'm so involved I mean
there's there's not a day that goes by where I'm not thinking about Thomas Caine [series] and his
world and the next book next story even even in between books what I'm playing in the next one
I just thought it would I wouldn't be able to to give myself the flexibility that you need to
do a good adaptation now maybe down the road I'll change my mind and step in or something
but I thought it would I thought it would was their best bet to like start with a fresh writer
did you ever get to meet the writer yeah I did oh you did okay yeah would you have lunch with
them and kind of like talk about the essence of Thomas Caine and oh okay yeah and he did a great
pilot script for he was working on the TV show side of it and he did a pilot script and it's
I've read it it's good wow I'm excited how was that to have someone else adapt your work it's
interesting it's really fascinating the the ways that it's similar in the ways that it's different
and I was sort of hesitant I didn't want to I was like well do you really want me to give notes and
they're like yeah yeah and I was like okay well I don't think Thomas Caine would do this or I
like this a lot but I would tweak it this way I they're not obligated to follow my notes it's just
but I will say that through again like I mentioned you never know where these different projects are
going to take you because through meeting these producers and through meeting manager I signed
a manager based on these people that I was working with and in one of the conversations
about Thomas Caine the producer who was talking to the manager the producer is a friend of mine
he said oh and Andrew also has this really cool horror script and the manager was like
oh I think I could sell that and it and it led to a whole different Avenue and that script is now
optioned and set up and it looks like it's going to happen so I mean again you just you never know
like what your route is going to be and that's why I think it's good to explore all different kinds
of writing and have lots of different irons in the fire and don't be afraid if something if one
thing isn't working or it's not advancing move over to something else or try try your hand at
this or push this for a little while and see where it gets you because you just never know right so
this this DIY route can actually eventually lead to a quote-unquote gatekeeper yeah exactly I never
thought of it that way but it is a good way to look at it until you get your material out there
you can't do anything with it I mean you need to show that audiences respond to your work and you
need to see for yourself how audiences respond to you and then once you do who knows where
that'll take you or who might get interested or what what opportunities that might lead to.