JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Omar Tyree, author of Corrupted
(Omar Tyree, Inc.)
In an era where hundreds of aspiring writers play an anxious game of musical chairs to entice a shrinking group of New-York-based book editors to buy their freshly printed manuscripts and grant their dreams of becoming nationally published authors, Vincent Biddle reigns supreme.
Coined the man with the “golden eye”, in the past decade, Vincent, a native Bronx, New Yorker, has hand-picked, edited and positioned more than a dozen bestselling books from his stable of authors, while generating more than a hundred million dollars in revenue for the Williams & Klein Publishing Group.
With a tight circle of volatile authors in his midst, their every weakness soon becomes bait to be used against them, while their power-dunk editor assumes a position of absolute authority. And things fall apart around them.
Corrupted, a serial ebook of aspirations, fame, fortune, sex, shame and scandal, as Omar Tyree uncovers the dark, passionate and sinister side of the American publishing industry. Rated R.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write Corrupted?
Omar Tyree: I didn’t have an idea or an inspiration to write at all. I wanted to play professional football with my life and become a business owner. I attended the University of Pittsburgh and ran track with all intentions to walk-on the football team. Then the politics of sports and education hit me dead in the face, with so many athletes who didn’t make the pros and didn’t graduate either.
At the same time, I was becoming a very effective writer and speaker on campus my freshman year. I went with my new calling to write and speak instead, and I never looked back.
JP: What sets Corrupted apart from other books in the same genre?
OT: Corrupted is a brand new book concept in a multitude of ways. Number #1, it’s a serial book which means it’s ongoing and not complete. Number #2 it’s an ebook which means you download it and read through your computer sources. Number #3, you can only download a chapter at a time each Friday as I continue to write it.
presently, we’re on chapter 4 until this next Friday hits for chapter 5. Number #4 is that each download chapter is only $1. Number #5, as I continue to write and post it for sale, that means you can comment on each new chapter and where the book is headed with what you would like to see or read. I can implement that as I continue to write the next chapters, making the book totally interactive.
And number #6, Corrupted is all about the inside world of the publishing industry, which really makes it interesting for all those folks who would like to be writers themselves or who think about our writing and publishing world.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to Corrupted getting out to the public?
OT: Well, it used to be the book and your personality got you over when we all used to get individual attention and do national book signings. But now, with so many new writers popping up every week, and the national book signings not being as exciting as they used to be.
It’s all about the word-of-mouth, the heat of your book and how hard you hustle it as a new jack. The new jack hustlers have the advantage these days, but only to a certain degree.
No one is really able to sell big numbers of one book anymore unless you can get the type of individual attention that Steve Harvey got for his best-selling book. That man sold 2 million copies in hardback, but that’s after Oprah, Tyra and his own radio show and celebrity lifestyle blew it up that high.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish Corrupted?
OT: My writing process is generally fast. I will come up with a subject, then a character, then a city, then research the city, the character and the subject. Then I write the book for the next 2-4 months and finish it through the 2-3 month editing period.
Then I get ready to market and promote it, go on tour with it, read it and discuss it with the leadership and media. Then it’s on to the next book as a solid and professional career writer.
JP: What’s next for Omar Tyree?
OT: Actually, I want to write more non-fiction books now, keep doing the ebook thing, keep hammering at film deals, teach writing and publishing and marketing at the college level, and continue to enjoy my life and all that I’ve been fortunate to do…
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I have read all of Omar’s books and have not been disappointed. I am sure this will not disappoint as well. I just hate the fact that he is teasing us with chapter a week!!!!!!
Ollie Moss
ollimo91@aol.com
I see what you saying in terms of teasing, Ollie. But, I do like the fact that this book is interactive in the sense that readers can chime in and have an affect of the future of this story.
I love Omar Tyre, but I think I will just wait until whole book is finish before I purchase because this is a tease to me and I want to read it all at once.
I’m with you. I read quickly and would rather read an entire book in a week-end, than pay $1.00 a chapter week after week after week… Besides, I can buy a complete book on Amazon for $.99!
On the up side, it’s an innovative idea and is on the right tech track for the direction publishing is now taking.
If my and others’ input can affect the narrative, that makes us co-creators. I think OT should be sharing some of his profits with us.
I was wondering if and when somebody was going to bring up that point. I wonder what OT thinks about that? I’ve reached out to him in terms of this interview. That would be an intersting comment.
Well, ‘Supernatural’ fans are highly vocal about what they like and don’t like, and the series writers’ incorporate their feedback when they write new episodes, but I hardly think feedback qualifies as co-creators – LOL!
Very interesting concept to charge $1.00 a chapter. More like Dickens.