We recently connected with Michael Scott Clifton and have shared our conversation below.

Michael Scott, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Actually, I wish I had joined writers’ organizations earlier, and that I had attended writers’ conferences earlier. I wasted a lot of time spinning my wheels so to speak before I learned more about the art of writing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I write science fiction and fantasy. I like to mix contemporary settings and contemporary characters with elements of fantasy. For example, a magical artifact that provides a fantasy twist to the story. I also like to write high/epic fantasy sprinkled with mythical creatures, but with characters (often flawed) that we can all relate to. Like all fantasy, world-building is huge, but I try to reduce the amount of extraneous detail that might inflate the word count or size of my books. The story and characters are important to me, so I try to write in a way that they don’t get lost or minimized in the process of worldbuilding. I don’t write books that can double as doorstops! With science fiction, I sprinkle my stories with science facts, or at least, theoretical science where today’s so-called science fiction could be tomorrow’s science fact. Again, the story and characters are always front and center, and I try very hard for them not to get lost in the “science.”
I started writing because the fantasy and science fiction I enjoyed in my youth now seemed too mundane and boring. Books were becoming the size of ship anchors, and so much of it to me was extraneous fluff like the meringue on a meringue pie. So, the idea popped into my head that maybe I could write better fantasy and science fiction…the kind I liked. My first book was published in 2011, and seven books later, I’m still writing!
All my books have won Five-Star reviews on Reader’s Favorite, all my books have Four-Five Star ratings on Goodreads and Amazon, and EdisonJones & The Anti-Grav Elevator won a national Feathered Quill bronze award in the YA division.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started writing, I knew very little about the process of writing. I literally just started pounding away on my word processor. The words poured from me like a breached dam, and six months later I sat back to see what I had created; a one million word count manuscript. I thought, “Man this is great!” Later, I got the bright idea that I would print out a hard copy of the manuscript. Somehow, I managed to stuff all the pages inside a five-inch binder. When I sat back and studied the binder, it struck me that it just didn’t look right. It was huge! The epiphany finally sunk in that my manuscript was far too large to be published as a normal book. In fact, as I later learned, the word count was large enough for TEN books! I decided then, that needed to learn more about the art of publishing and writing. I joined several area writers’ groups and started attending writers’ conferences. I also joined a critique group that contained experienced, published authors. However, I was still left with the conundrum of what to do with my gigantic, one-million-word manuscript. I decided I needed to write some other books first. So I wrote and published, “The Treasure Hunt Club”, and “The Janus Witch.” Next, I decided to condense my million-word monstrosity into a fantasy series. From that came the four-book series, “The Conquest of the Veil.” I can say I definitely learned persevernce from the process.

How did you build your audience on social media?

There is no magic bullet regarding building a readership. You do have to realize it takes work and consistency to both establish a social media presence and to eventually see results. There are a lot, hundreds, maybe even thousands of online “businesses” swearing they can take your books and social media presence to the next level. Most are unscrupulous, and all are out to make a buck. I have found that book fairs, Comic-Cons, book fests, and other venues an author can participate in, will also help build a readership. It’s time-consuming, requires travel, and also has expenses, but face-to-face meetings and talking to readers can be far more effective than a social media blurb. Another thing to keep in mind is that the more books an author publishes, the better the chances of widening the net for potential readers, as well as turning a profit. That doesn’t mean poor-quality writing and poor-quality books will work magic, because the author still has to produce good books. Your claims on SM still have to be backed up with results.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michaelscottclifton.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormsclifton/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormsclifton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authormsclifton/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/authormsclifton
• Youtube: https://bit.ly/3nxDDGX