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Writing Blockbuster Novels Part I: An Interview with T. J. MacGregor

© Deborah Cannon

I think it's possible to sell books without an agent. But you're better off if you find one who fits your needs and aspirations. An agent isn't just the person who sells your books; he or she is your business partner and helps you to make decisions about the direction of your career. The agent is the expert on the business of publishing, left brain to your right brain. As for multiple rejections . . . well, it's part of the process. If you're easily discouraged, then don't be a writer. The bottom line is that your desire to write has to be stronger than almost every other desire in your life. If it is, then rejection only means that the person doing the rejecting didn't like what you wrote. So what? Keep writing.

DC: Names. I think most writers agonize over what name to use. When Stephen King used the pseudonym, Richard Bachman, for his novel THINNER, it sold 28,000 copies. Under his real name, the book sold 280,000 copies. On the other hand, some authors sell very well under a pen name. Barbara Kyle writing under the name of Stephen Kyle has sold over 110,000 copies of BEYOND RECALL. You have written novels under three different names. T. J. MacGregor, Alison Drake and Trish Janeshutz. Why the different names? And which name sold best?

TJM: I sold my first two novels under my maiden name, Trish Janeshutz. Then my editor said that no one could spell my last name, pronounce it, and that booksellers seemed to think my name was Jane Shutz. He asked me to consider a different name and suggested one with initials. He also said it was a marketing ploy, because at that time, suspense and mystery novels by men were outselling those by women. I was married by then and became T. J. MacGregor.

Then when I started a new series, my editor thought I should have a new name, so I became Alison Drake. By then, women were outselling men. But I wrote non-fiction as Trish MacGregor. My birth name, though, was Patricia, not Trish. It got confusing. I would wake up some mornings and wonder just who I was supposed to be that day. And what name was I supposed to use on my driver's license? My passport? My will? My checking account?

Eventually, it all boiled down to two names - T.J. MacGregor for fiction and Trish MacGregor for my nonfiction. As for which fiction name sold best, it's T. J. But Trish writes for a whole other market (astrology, tarot, dreams), so I don't know that there's any comparison.