Today we’re joined by Doug Walsh, author of the travel-inspired fiction Tailwinds Past Florence. He shares his writing and publishing insights and inspiration, with a few tips thrown in for good measure.

This writing niche has attracted more notoriety and attention in recent years, and you can understand why authors choose to forgo the confines of guides books or memoirs to focus on travel fiction.

I started off writing guide books, but they only allow a limited degree of creative freedom, so the obvious next step is to spread my narrative wings into a travel memoir or travel fiction. Each one pulls from authentic travel experiences, but fiction gives you the biggest scope to play with—and the limits are the borders of your imagination.

What all these travel genres have in common is that the destinations are key characters within the book, and you have to get your reader to connect with it in order to keep them hooked. ~~ Jay

Author Interview: Doug Walsh

How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?

I’ve come to describe my writing as travel-inspired fiction with a twist of romantic suspense. I arrived on this like a feather in freefall, swinging back and forth from guidebooks to travel memoir and ultimately settling on fiction.

My travels inspire my stories, and I love to pack them with the authentic details of a travelogue, but I’ve read too many and-then-we-went-there travel memoirs to risk contributing another to the canon. By embracing fiction – and being honest about it – I can take readers on a journey that hopefully scratches their travel itch while delivering a touch of the outlandish.

What motivated you to start writing?

I’ve been writing professionally since 2000, when I signed my first contract with the now-defunct Penguin imprint, BradyGames. I wrote over a hundred officially licensed video game strategy guides for them in the ensuing fourteen years. For the non-gamers, think of these books as travel guides to fictitious places.

But I dreamt of becoming a writer long before that. I’ll never forget the effect reading my first Stephen King novel had on me, at age thirteen. I’d never before read a book that wasn’t a school assignment. And from that moment on, I wanted to become a novelist. Or, at the least, write for Nintendo Power magazine. It was the eighties, after all.

Tell us the journey you went on to get your books published (e.g. direct on your website, self-published, assisted-publishing, traditional publisher)

My wife and I set off in 2014 to bicycle around the world. I did this, fully expecting to write a travel memoir about the multiyear journey. Before we left, however, I wrote a short travel memoir “One Lousy Pirate” (available free everywhere ebooks are sold) about a trip to the Caribbean. I did this for the writing practice, as well as to have a self-published book I could experiment with in terms of marketing.

Halfway through our bicycle trip from Seattle to Singapore, somewhere in the Pyrenees Mountains, I got the idea for the novel that became “Tailwinds Past Florence”.

I spent three years outlining, writing, and revising the novel upon our return home. The feedback from literary agents was very kind – and the book won an award from PNWA — but ultimately, the agents felt a cycling-themed time travel romance was too hard to sell to a publisher. Finally, after receiving too many rejection letters, my wife asked, “Whose permission are you waiting for?” Nobody’s.

What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g. design, marketing, formatting etc.)

I hire out the design of my books along with the marketing materials that rely on the cover. As much as I enjoy designing ads for social media and platforms like BookBub and BookFunnel, I’m no professional designer. I love putting on my Publisher hat and working with a talented artist to get the cover just right. I’m also a big fan of the audiobook production process. I had two books release in 2019 and the process couldn’t have gone better.

I find diving into the ad design or market research a nice break from writing. On the other hand, my least-favorite activity, though necessary, is sending letters and sell-sheets to bookstores and libraries. Despite having made my living as a writer for twenty years now, I do much better in face-to-face situations.

With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?

The one thing I really wish I had learned sooner has to do with story craft. This isn’t to say that I’m done learning – absolutely not. But I had to effectively give myself a crash course in story structure and genre conventions and the like while writing my debut novel. Which, now that I think about it, I suppose I should have taken some creative writing courses in college.

What tips or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?

The sooner you can look yourself in the mirror and be honest about your goals, the better off you’ll be. Success as an indie is extraordinarily difficult and it requires just as much business acumen as writing ability. And it takes patience.

I’m not a fast writer. And few indie authors start to see real money before their third or even fifth book. For me, this could be seven or more years. This is where that honesty part comes in: know your strengths and weaknesses, understand your budget (both time and money), and hold yourself accountable.

And don’t skimp on editing and cover design.

What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?

Ask a hundred authors this question and every one of them will mention email. Building a fanbase that not only reads your emails, but engages with them takes time. You need to gain their trust. But maintaining a mailing list with a high open rate is worth its weight in crypto.

Outside of email, I’m a big fan of BookBub and Book Funnel. Landing a BookBub Featured Deal isn’t easy, but it’s a surefire way to sell A LOT of books. I’m also a big fan of book fairs. Any chance I have to get in front of readers and tell them about my books, I take.

What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?

More than anything, I want them to feel transported – either to a place they’ve never been or to a memory they cherish. Even with my fiction, I try to incorporate as many authentic travel details as I reasonably can.

With “Tailwinds Past Florence”, I intentionally included details a non-cyclist couldn’t have known. This is partly to add a richness to the prose for the benefit of the general reader, but also as an Easter egg for the bicycle tourist. I’m doing the same in my current WIP, set along the Na Pali coast of Kaua`i.

What’s your book’s elevator pitch or key selling points?

“Tailwinds Past Florence” is about Edward and Kara, a twenty-something couple who sets off to bicycle around the world, believing the incredible journey just might save their troubled marriage. As the miles roll by, they encounter several men plucked from history, each with a romantic connection to Kara’s soul in a past life. The novel is a road-tripping love story with a time travel twist, inspired directly by the trip my wife and I had taken.

What’s next on your writing journey?

I’m currently working on a novel set in Kaua`i that I hope to have out in the first half of 2021. It’s an adventurous romantic suspense with literary stylings that should appeal to anyone who likes an action-packed love story.

I’m also in the process of learning how to adapt my novels into screenplays and continuing to expand my teaching offerings. My classes on indie publishing, and the consulting I do with other indie authors, also keeps me busy. Which is always the goal. Thanks so much for asking!

Author Bio

From the cobbled streets of Tuscany to the waterfalls of Kaua’i, Doug Walsh combines his love of travel with a fascination for how romantic relationships respond to the improbable. Originally from New Jersey, Walsh moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2002, several years after marrying his college sweetheart. He’s since traveled to over 30 countries and nearly all 50 states, acquiring the inspiration and richness he imparts on his novels.

As comfortable in the lodge as in the wilds, Walsh has combined his varied passions into a writing career that spans two decades. His debut novel, Tailwinds Past Florence, a romantic adventure with a time travel twist, was directly inspired by his round-the-world bicycle tour. Prior to his foray into fiction, Walsh authored over one hundred officially licensed video game strategy guides. His bestselling memoir, The Walkthrough: Insider Tales from a life in Strategy Guides, chronicles his years in this secretive corner of the multibillion-dollar industry.

Learn about upcoming releases and special offers, and receive a FREE “Annotated Guide to Tailwinds Past Florence”, by joining the Doug Walsh Readers List at DougWalsh.com

Connect with Doug

• Facebook: @DougWalsh.Author
• BookBub: @doug-walsh
• Goodreads: @doug_walsh
• Twitter: @doug_walsh75

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