Do you have a website where readers may find more about you and your work?

Yes, my author’s web site. I have a blog with nearly 50 pages of reviews at and a few months ago I started a blog, Books for Boys. It’s currently ranked in the top 5 on Yahoo and the top 20 on Google.

What advice would you give to those young adult fiction authors who are trying to break into print?

Be patient and be willing to work hard. Publishers expect authors to get involved in helping their book(s) to become successful. Don’t try to write or sound like someone else. Study the market. Look for opportunities to write books that will be different than most others. I wish I could offer some type of a magic bullet, but there isn’t one.

Remember that J.K Rowling was rejected something like 12 times before a small press purchased the first Harry Potter. Even then, they only printed 1000 copies in the first print run. There are few, if any, overnight successes in music, the movies, or in publishing.

There is considerable debate about having an agent or not. Many authors will tell you they do just fine by representing their own work. But that is changing, and changing rapidly. Publishers want an agent to sift through manuscripts and proposals first, so the publisher knows the material will be good when it arrives.

Anything else you'd like to tell our readers?

Don’t let anyone try to tell you that you can’t do it. But be realistic too. Make sure you’ve written the very best manuscript possible, and that you understand your market, and the publishing process. Don’t be discouraged. If a guy like me, who hated to read, can find a place in publishing, so can you.

Thanks, Max!