Author Interview ~ Jim Stovall

Jim Stovall has enjoyed success as an author, athlete, investment broker, and entrepreneur while dealing with the challenge of his own blindness. During his remarkable life, Jim has been a national champion and Olympic weightlifter as well as the author of several books. In addition to his personal achievements, Jim was honored as the 2000 International Humanitarian of the Year, joining Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Mother Theresa as a recipient of this prestigious award.

As co-founder and president of the Narrative Television Network (NTN), Jim has also helped make movies and television accessible for America’s 13 million blind and visually impaired people and their families. Jim developed The Ultimate Gift Institute which allows participants the opportunity to mirror Jason Stevens’ experiences in The Ultimate Gift, a book with over 3 million copies in print, which is now a major motion picture starring James Garner and Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin.

Steve Forbes, president and CEO of Forbes magazine, says, “Jim Stovall is one of the most extraordinary men of our era.”

What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

The Ultimate Life is a sequel to the best-selling Ultimate Gift which has also been a major motion picture starring James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin. Also coming out this fall, a book entitled Today’s the Day which is a compilation of my syndicated newspaper columns.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I am unique among authors in that, due to my background as a businessperson, athlete, and speaker, my first book was under contract before I even wrote it. I have written a dozen books, and I have never written anything that hasn’t been or is going to be published. My wife, Crystal, is also a successful author of women’s inspirational fiction, so through her, I have dealt with the years of rejection letters, rewrites, and all of the highs and lows of publishing.

Do you experience self-doubts regarding your work?

I experience self-doubt in that, like my readers, I am never able to totally master the principles I write about. So, in this sense, I am the messenger but I haven’t totally embodied the message. I think anyone who is writing about meaningful and life-changing elements deals with this feeling of inadequacy. I am a student of my own message in this regard.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

I think authors make mistakes, as I have, when you listen to people who tell you there is only one way to get published. There are as many ways to get published as there are publishers and writers, and still more that have yet to be explored.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

Write for yourself, about things that matter to you. Then find someone who wants to publish that message. Don’t change your message to fit a slot that a publisher is trying to fill.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

Study the current market and then write something to fit it. In reality, by the time you get it written, it won’t be current anyway.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

It’s never perfect or even good enough. Simply do your best and get it out there. Your readers already know that you don’t walk on water.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

Taking one of my books and the characters within it and making it a major motion picture, created many challenges for me. It is the strain that comes from a solitary to a group process. My characters in my book become our movie.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

As a blind person myself, I never read a whole book when I could see as my readers do. But at age 29, and for the last two decades, thanks to a high speed tape player and the National Library for the Blind, I have literally averaged reading a book every day. From these thousands of books, it would be difficult to single one or a handful out, as my preferences change from moment to moment with my mood. However, I feel my favorites are great storytellers – Louis L’Amour, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, etc.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

I am most proud of The Ultimate Gift as it has sold over 4 million copies worldwide and touched millions more people through the 20th Century Fox movie. The best writing I have done is a manuscript that has not been published yet entitled Keeper of the Flame. I look forward to bringing it to the market, even though it may or may not be as commercial as other titles I have written.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

As a blind person, I realize people do judge a book by its cover. I also can get frustrated with the retail and commercial factors in the business, such as shelf space, print runs, and book tours.

Take us through your process of writing a novel briefly—from conception to revision.

I am unique among writers I know. As a blind person, I dictate all of my books as I am dictating the answers to these questions, to an extremely talented grammarian named Dorothy Thompson. It will not please other writers to learn that I write very quickly and do not do rewrites. I dictated The Ultimate Gift in five days, and the way I spoke it to Dorothy and the way she typed it is the way 4 million people around the world have read it. Since I cannot read the words on the page myself, it is an extraneous process that comes from my mind, hopefully to the minds of my readers. The printing, publishing, and retail process are just potential barriers that, hopefully, don’t come between my readers and me.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I look at my writing in a personal way, not for me but for my readers. As an athlete, businessperson, arena speaker, or television host, I am not looking for an ego stroke. It’s not that I don’t have an ego. I simply get it stroked elsewhere; therefore, I truly think about the person who will pick up my book now or at some point in the future and, hopefully, it will fill an immediate need in their life for inspiration, direction, or just an entertaining diversion.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

No. On the contrary, I never really thought of being an author. I actually don’t think of myself as a writer. I think of myself as a guy with a message or a story that uses books as one avenue to reach people.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

My favorite part of being a writer is receiving, literally, thousands of letters, emails, and calls from readers. I am the only writer I know who has printed his phone number in millions of books. My least favorite part is dealing with discussions of cover art and proofreading. As a blind person, these aspects are somewhat lost on me; however, if they’re not done well, I realize it’s my name on the book cover.

How much marketing/publicity do you do? Any advice in this area?

As a weekly columnist, read in newspapers, magazines, and online publications around the world, as well as an arena speaker and television person, I have some unique avenues open to me. I simply expose my next book to my constituency through the avenues we have created over the years. The best advice I have is to remember: It’s not about you or your book. It’s about your story, your message, and—most importantly—your reader.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response?

I have received many thousands of reader responses. They are all significant. It is fascinating to me that the same book elicits responses from third grade classrooms, prison cells, leading clergy, and heads of business and government. Each impact is significant in its own way to my reader and, therefore, to me.

Parting words?

Everyone who seeks to be an author or calls themselves a writer should keep in mind: It is not a lofty title, but instead it is a privilege attached to a responsibility. Words in print are given extra credibility in our world. We all should be mindful of this and take it seriously.