Tomorrow Begins Today...

Dear Friends and Readers, I wanted to take a moment to apologize for my long absences from social media, sporadic communications, and for losing touch with so many of you over the past many years. In 2020, the Department of Justice put an end to the malicious targeting of my books and other work, though many of the negative reviews and ratings caused by these hateful activities remain at Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. As the DOJ stated in their indictments, in exchange for bribes, corrupted Amazon staff facilitated attacks against competitors of those paying the bribes, using their inside access to Amazon's network to suspend competitors' accounts and product listings, remove favorable reviews and commentary, write fictitious negative product reviews designed to hurt sales, post spurious comments to intimidate victims and drive away customers, and much more. All much as I had experienced it and blogged about for many years, including naming names of the competitors responsible.

To be clear, I do not know specifically the particular individuals indicted and convicted were involved in the malicious targeting of my work, as the DOJ tracked the criminal activities of these individuals for a very specific (and brief) time and prosecuted based on the criminal activities identified in this very specific (and brief) time, and not for the entire period of operation. What I do know for certain is the immediate, chilling effect the multiple arrests and indictments by the Department of Justice had on the malicious targeting of my books and other work. Beyond this, as a very few know, I have been dealing with a stalker for many years. This has all been a terrible, untenable situation that just would not end. The experience has been incredibly traumatic, emotionally draining, and has left my health in tatters. I no longer know where I end and the trauma begins, the me that I was no longer exists. All this has made it impossible for me to communicate openly and freely with anyone, including my friends and family. I felt like I had to constantly watch my back and be cautious about what I shared online or anywhere.

As a result, I wasn't able to maintain the same level of communication with many of you as I would have liked. I wasn't able to participate in social events. I wasn't able to even openly share my thoughts and experiences on social media. I know that this must have been frustrating and confusing for many of you, and for that, I am truly sorry. I want you to know that it wasn't my intention to distance myself or cut ties with anyone. I was simply trying to protect myself from harassment, from my stalker, from a situation that would not end, and did not want to put anyone else at risk by sharing too much information online or in person.

Now that the DOJ has done their work, now that my stalker has been imprisoned, I feel like I finally can breathe a little easier and start to reconnect with the people who have meant so much to me over the years. I know that it won't be easy to pick up where we left off, especially as so many years have passed since this long ordeal began, but I am committed to rebuilding those connections and strengthening the relationships that I've had. I hope that you can forgive me for my absences, miscommunications, whatever, and understand that it wasn't personal. I was just trying to survive an impossible situation.

Please also know that this is going to take a very long time. There is no me that I was left, due to all this and for all the years it went on. Though my past work continues to be released, sometimes as if new, I stopped writing, drawing, and painting nearly a decade ago, and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to any of it.

Some few know I suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2016 which were caused by the stress and emotional rollercoaster that I went through due to being targeted online. I have previously pointed out those competitors responsible, but have never before been able to talk openly about my stalker. This person’s relentless pursuit of me took a significant, catastrophic toll on my physical and emotional health. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, worrying about what this person might do next. The stress of the situation became so overwhelming that it destroyed my life. After my stroke and a heart attack, I was hospitalized for several weeks, but the torment of this individual didn’t end there. As this person had been unsuccessful in killing me, which was their stated intent, this person then began a campaign of terror to make me attempt suicide and to convince others, including my readers, that I had died, and in particular by connecting obituaries and death announcements to me online and in social media.

It may be a long time for me to feel somewhat like myself again, or I may never get there, but I wanted to let you know. My health issues affected all aspects of my life. I was unable to work for an extended period of time, and I had to rely on the support of others to get through each day. I felt like my life had been turned upside down, and I struggled to find a sense of normalcy. I don’t even know what normal looks like. My stalker's actions caused me to feel afraid, anxious, worse. I felt like I couldn't trust anyone, and I was constantly on edge. Even after my stalker is finally imprisoned, I find it difficult to move on and let go of the fear and anxiety that had taken hold of me. Despite the terrible ordeal, I have learned a lot about myself and the importance of seeking help and support. I also have discovered the resilience and strength that I possess, even in the face of overwhelming adversity.

I want to take a moment to thank all of those who stood by me during all these difficult years. Your support and encouragement were instrumental in helping me get through the toughest moments. To anyone else who may be going through a similar situation, I want you to know that you are not alone. There is help available, and it's okay to ask for it. No one who’s trying to communicate about all this should have their posts hidden by their stalker reporting them. No one seeking help or to talk about what’s happening to them should be driven into silence or made to feel like they can’t talk about what’s happening to them. No one should have to suffer in silence or feel like they are alone in their struggles.

In conclusion, I wanted to share this story with you not only to provide context for my posts over these past many years, but also to raise awareness about the devastating impact that stalking and online harassment can have on a person's life. I hope that by sharing my story, I can help others who may be going through a similar situation feel less alone and more empowered to seek help and support.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for your continued support and readership.

Sincerely,

William Robert Stanek www.williamrstanek.com

Lifetime Achievement Award – 30+ Years of Books

Huge THANK YOU to readers and others who submitted me for an award for distinguished contributions in writing & American Letters. As a past recipient of awards for excellence in writing, merit and distinguished accomplishments, I'm honored to be nominated. I’ve written nearly 200 full-length works since I completed my first novel in 1986, but it wasn’t until 1995 that I had a breakout hit that established me as a bestselling author.

I wrote those early books for Macmillan and have since had books published and/or distributed by Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Microsoft, O’Reilly, McGraw Hill, Pearson and others. My books have sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages, with well over $150 million in sales.

That type of success is the stuff of Willy Wonka’s wildest dreams. Still, as I wrote about in “How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writinga Career”, wild success doesn’t always mean riches for the writer. Although bookstores, publishers, agents, Uncle Sam and others got the Lion’s share of the wealth, I remain tremendously grateful to my publishers and everyone else in the business who made the dream possible.

In my career one of the things I’m most proud of is my work to give back and to support my fellow writers. Giving back to communities across America and the world is something I’ve written about in “It’s GivingTuesday!”. It took 20 years but my goal to give away $1 million in books to libraries and schools was finally achieved in 2015.

In the early days, I gave back to writers through Writer’s Gallery and other outlets I maintained online, including Internet Daily News (one of the earliest online dailies). In 2007, I launched Go Indie to support independents (writers and bookstores). Other resources include #AmBlogging #FreeToday and the Read Indies blog.

As I look back at my career, I’m also very glad that from the beginning I did something for myself by starting a publishing company. That company began operations in 1995 and I used it to learn about the publishing side of the industry, which is very different from the writing side. By 2004, I knew enough about the industry and was ready to spread my wings and go into self-publishing. I hired a great team and put them to work running my business.

In the beginning, we had quite a large team, that team has whittled down to a few core members, but remains in the business of bringing my works, and the works of a select group of other writers, to the world. They've helped get dozens of translations for my fiction works, which are now available in nearly 100 countries around the globe.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much my traditional publishers and those I worked with in the industry hated (loathed, really) my self-publishing efforts. But my efforts were wildly successful from the start with Keeper Martin's Tale quickly becoming a bestseller at Amazon.com (2002) and The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches rocketing to #1 in Fiction at Audible.com (2005) where it remained a Top 10 Kids & YA bestseller for over 180 weeks (2005 - 2008). 

Today, the industry has changed so much that without self-publishing I don’t know where I’d be. Strange how things can turn around so dramatically. What was once forbidden fruit has now become one of the best ways for writers to earn a living.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Some people are the dog. Others, the tail on the dog. Or alternatively why I’m celebrating my 1000th+ title in active worldwide distribution.

Celebrating my 1000^th title in active distribution isn’t about numbers. It’s more about helping others understand today’s publishing reality. The reality of today’s working-class writers. In publishing today, a writer who sells a million copies of 1 or a few books is a superstar while a writer who sells millions of copies of many books over many years may not even be considered by some to be successful. That’s because the publishing industry is designed to recognize racing rabbits—those thoroughbred superstars who knock the covers off the ball and sell, sell, sell copies of a single book or a few books by the boatload. The publishing industry isn’t designed for the working-class writer—those tortoises who barely get in a few steps toward first base while the superstars are sliding in to home.

But this tortoise has news. You can be a tortoise and reach home plate too. It takes much longer, requires much more dedication, but it can be done.

Although I don’t have any single book that has sold a million copies, I do have many books that have collectively sold millions and have collectively been checked out of libraries millions of times as well. In fact, earlier this year, I celebrated the publication of my 150^th book. Well, at least the 150^th book I counted amongst a much larger number of books of mine that have been published since 1995. For you see, the working-class writer doesn’t have the luxury of writing a book a year or a book every 2 or 3 years. A working-class writer must write 3, 4, 5, or 10 books a year to pay the mortgage, to put the kids through college, to feed the beast.

Many books written for many years help to give tremendous breadth and depth to any working-class writer’s body of work. All those books released in various editions, as audio books and ebooks, as sets and compilations, and as translations into many languages over many years create mountains of active titles in distribution. When those mountains of titles begin to wag the tail on the dog, it no longer matters whether you are the dog or the tail on the dog because at that point you are the whole enchilada. You are the dog, the tail, the dog wagging the tail, and the tail wagging the dog.

My numbers would in fact make most publisher’s drool. I’ve never had a book that failed to sell. My books earn back their advances. My books have long legs and typically have steady sales year after year after year. And by sales I mean all purchases, downloads, check outs, etc that result in a reader getting a book to read. But my books sell collectively in a relative trickle.

When you look at all the various editions, formats, sets, compilations, and translations of my books and track those as individual titles, you find that I’ve had many thousands of titles published over the years. There are in fact over 1,000 active William Robert Stanek titles available right now today (and not including an additional 400 or so of my titles in the English language that don’t even have my name on them as they are sold under brand names). Online bookstores, like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, carry over 600 of my English language titles and there are over 900 of my English language titles in library distribution. You can check these numbers yourself by counting all the William Stanek, William R. Stanek, William Robert Stanek, and Robert Stanek English-language titles.

None of these titles individually is a blockbuster, but all of these titles sell. They sell in that relative trickle I spoke of a moment ago. (For a complete list of my books, read: Books by William Robert Stanek.)

A trickle that turns individual snowflakes into snowballs coming done a mountainside and snowballs into an avalanche that brings the mountain down and levels the playing field with the superstars of publishing. My publishers don’t like it when I give exact numbers, but consider this: if you count only 1,000 of my active titles and say those titles sell only a miniscule 1 copy a day on average, that’s still 365,000 books sold a year.

Being the tail on the dog’s not looking so bad after all. Is it?

Thanks for reading! For more about my 20-year career as a writer, read "How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writing a 20-year Career."


Robert Stanek