An Interview with Stephen Wade

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Interviewers...

An Interview with Stephen Wade

It is probably a good thing that you don't have to listen to the recordings of my interviews, as my cover as a super-literary-journo-interviewer-type would be blown in a matter of seconds. The writers and publishing people I meet always sound really professional with a lot of useful stuff to say, when I on the other hand tend to talk a lot of bollocks.

The problem is that I talk too much. I get to meet all these really great people through the Project, and lots of the share common interests with me. The odds always favour me gabbing away about some random point of pop culture or history with a kindred soul, until poof! Twenty minutes have passed and I haven't asked my first question.

This is what happened with Stephen Wade. Steve is a talented nonfiction writer with an impressive backlist of true crime and military history titles to his credit. True crime and history. Well, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to chat about those subjects, was I? We talked about a wide range of things from the collecting the Notable British Trials series to more recent unsolved murders in Hull. It was a fun conversation, so much so that we got turfed out of the student union and had to relocate to a nearby pub to complete the interview.

There are times I really, really love this job.

Hello Steve and thank you so much for putting up with my constant rambling. Have you always liked books and writing?

I left school at 15 with no qualifications. No one in my family read for pleasure; we were proper Yorkshire working class. I'm the only book lover. I was a late developer, too, and couldn't even read until I was 12, but I always loved books. I used to get my mum to buy me these red backed children's classics and I'd hug them, or I'd slide them under my pillow when I went to sleep, waiting for the day I could read them. I just loved books, but I don't know where it came from – not my family.

What started you writing?

Gosh I've been writing for so long, but I suppose I started writing when I was nineteen. The first thing I ever published was a poem in the Yorkshire evening post. Back then the first thing for me was poetry, and I still love poetry now, but in my twenties that was all I thought about, I was going to be the next Milton! I am a huge fan of Seamus Heaney. I wrote poetry throughout my time at University and started writing about poetry as well. I was your stereotypical horrible, snobby, literary critic in my twenties! I wrote a few short stories and tried my hand at longer works, but to be honest I am hopeless at novels.

In 1987 I had a book of poetry published. After that my main ambition was to teach at University. I'd done my doctorate just before that, and I was into academia. I was writing academic texts on poetry, or on writers. I did 6 years teaching at Huddersfield and taught in FE for twenty years before that.

I didn't start taking it seriously though, and thinking that maybe I could earn money from writing, until I was in my forties.

What happened then? How did you move from poetry and academia into popular nonfiction?

In 2001 everything changed. I was working at Huddersfield, and one day in the local bookshop I came across a series of history books called Aspects Of... various towns by Wharncliffe. I thought that it must be fun to edit that type of book, so I wrote to them and put myself forward to edit a second volume of Aspects of Huddersfield. He said yes. I edited the book and thought that was it, back to the English and poetry, only he got in touch and said, "do you fancy doing a local crime history book?" and that was that!

I've always loved history, too, so this was perfect for me. I wrote a book called Foul Deeds in Halifax, which was the first in the series, and it has just gone on from there. It has only been the last nine years that I've written with the view to making some money out of it.

So do you have an agent, then?

I've only had an agent for a year.

For the last four or five years I was thinking, "I'm never going to step up beyond regional publishers without an agent," but not really doing anything about it. For the record, regional publishers are excellent, but I knew that even with my backlist it was unlikely that one of the major publishing houses would consider a proposal from me without an agent.

Then by chance I met a TV presenter who was looking for someone to ghost-write his autobiography after the original deal had fallen through. I just said, "I'll do it!" so we got talking. Through the course of this conversation we discussed the fact that I didn't have an agent, but would need one for the negotiations. The presenter's wife chimed in, saying "I know someone you should contact," and gave me the details for Isabel Atherton. I wrote to her, and she took me on. I was only with her for a month and she'd sorted me a contract – so a good move!

What would you say are the main disadvantages and advantages of having an agent if you write nonfiction?

I'd say that in fiction the advantages of an agent are huge; it is competitive out there, and a lot of places only want agented works. Non-fiction is a bit like that in some areas, but it is a wider market. However, the advantages of an agent is that they have more chances of selling something than an individual writer does. As well as that, a good agent knows what's going on in the industry and will have contacts in publishers that you would not have approached on your own. I wish I'd got an agent when I was younger. Disadvantages, well, I suppose they take a cut of your earnings, but a good agent gets you more work.

I was interested to learn that your background was in literature and not in military history or criminal history. How do you secure contracts to write in a field that may interest you, but you don't have qualifications in?

This is a very typical non-fiction writer's answer: START SMALL! I started in magazines, and once I built up that backlist then publishers were interested in me. I'm not seeing that it is easy because that is far from the case; magazines are competitive but it is a good way to start. Once you have a backlist of articles on a subject you can approach publishers with those as your credentials. If you aren't an academic in the field you want to write for, then regional presses are a good place to start your career.

What mistakes do you think people tend to make when they are starting out writing?

Not being bold enough and brash enough to get a fair deal from a publisher! The reason being, a lot of small publishers work on small runs or print on demand, so they won't even mention the word "advance". Some writers are so grateful to see their work published they won't negotiate a fee.

Also, the contracts are very complicated. A lot of people just sign them without reading them properly. Even if you don't have an agent, you could join the Society of Authors and they can help you with the contract. I would definitely do that.

Also, don't be afraid to ring people. I know a lot of places don't recommend this, but with the smaller non-fiction presses I would definitely say to ring up – I've actually sold projects over the phone this way. You have to be persistent and you have to be thick skinned, but it will pay off.

Is there anything you'd like to write about that you are yet to touch on?

I'd like to write about one particular thing I picked up from my prison work. The proper occasion has not come up for it yet, but basically I worked with an ex-soldier who educated me on the reason why so many ex-servicemen are in prison; it's scandalous, and I'd like to crusade that point.

How important is self promotion for a nonfiction writer?

For nonfiction I think it is essential. This is a competitive field, and I think face to face is the best way to market. It's also a good way to meet people – there's often a spin-off that you never expect. A while ago I did a talk to 70 people – but no one bought a single book. However, at the end a man came up and gave me his card – he was an educational publisher looking for crime writing for kids. So it was worth doing! Doing things face to face is worthwhile.

And finally, what advice would you give to someone wanting to make a career writing nonfiction?

Get busy, get sample writing out there, but have as wide a base as you can. Have your own patch that virtually no one else writes about, but don't specialise too far because you need to be flexible and adaptable. In non-fiction people tend to commission, so the wider area you cover the more work you get. Treat your work like an academic; check, check then check once again.

Oh, and build up your own research material. I've invested a lot of money building up my own private research library. I have dictionaries, law books, social history books, and so on. If you want to make a living from non-fiction then building up your own research resources is invaluable.

Steve's website can be found here, and his books can be bought over here. Massive thanks to Steve for chatting to me, not complaining when we were chucked out the student union, listening to me babble on about the Regency period and to introducing me to the criminal past of Lincolnshire, it was a treat!