Selling Stories to Knight Writing Press – substack.com

An Interview with Sam Knight

Sam Knight has a big smile, a warm hug, and truly embodies the spirit of “a rising tide floats all boats.” I met him for the first time at the Superstars Writing Seminar in February 2024, and his friendliness is infectious. Not only is he a prolific and successful author in his own right, but he helps bring the stories of other authors to the forefront with his publishing house, Knight Writing Press.

From his bio, “he has curated and edited over a dozen anthologies and is the author of six children’s books, four short story collections, four novels, and over 75 short stories, including three co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson, two of which were media tie-ins: a Planet of the Apes story and a Wayward Pines story.”

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with him and his co-editor, Jessica Guernsey, (check out my interview with Jessica here) with my story of a murderous mermaid in the anthology Darker Waters: Mermaidens 2.

AF: Why did you create Knight Writing Press? Is there a genesis story or specific event that motivated its inception?

SK: The genesis is really a confluence of events resulting from trying to learn the landscape after I decided to become a writer. I first dipped my toe into self-publishing in 2010. My experiences learning how to self-publish eventually led me to working with Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, starting in 2013, helping them with WordFire Press, navigating the various publishing platforms, and learning a ton from them in the process.

Meanwhile, I was still writing and participating in small writing/critique groups where I realized that reading other authors’ unedited stories was a great way, perhaps the best way, to learn what not to do in writing. This made me very open to reading other authors’ stories.

In 2015, Villainous Press asked me to take over editing an anthology whose editor had abandoned the project, and I discovered that helping other writers (outside of my usual critique group) develop and improve their stories was a fun and rewarding experience. I felt like I learned from them, and they (seemed to) learn from me, and it was overall a good experience. I went on to do three more anthologies with Villainous Press while working with WordFire Press and eventually realized I had learned enough about curating/editing/publishing anthologies that there was no reason I couldn’t just do it myself. Except there was: taxes. Watching Rebecca Moesta deal with paying out royalties and filing tax forms on them. What a nightmare! (Seriously. $10 in royalties requires a 1099 form be filed, whereas anything else that requires a 1099 form doesn’t kick in until $600 or $5,000. It can cost a publisher more to pay an author royalties than the publisher (or the author) earned.)

But the idea that I knew enough about publishing an anthology that I could do it myself wouldn’t fade. I kept playing with the idea but then convincing myself that it wasn’t worth going through what Rebecca was doing. Then, around 2020, Draft2Digital announced their royalty sharing program, which took those headaches away, and I jumped in. My first anthology published by Knight Writing Press came out in March 2021. Overall, I have curated and edited sixteen (?) anthologies and edited numerous other stories/novels, as well as being involved in the publication of over 400 titles in some way. (I stopped trying to keep track back in 2010.)

I feel like my experiences working with other authors have made me a better writer, and I think (hope) that many of those authors feel like they have learned something from working with me. (Something good, I mean…)

AF: Did you have a different career before diving into the world of publishing? What genre is your favorite to write and publish?

SK: Yay! Two completely disparate questions I shall try to tie together!

I starting playing with writing around the turn of the century… Lol. I always wanted to say that. I don’t know why it just occurred to me. Anyway, somewhere around 2003. Before that I had various typical jobs. I was a cook, I drove a forklift, worked on second mortgages, and then at a title company, and even in corrections at one point. (Worked, not sentenced…)

My college background was in psychology, and I had intended to be a psychiatrist, but as I neared completion of my Pre-Med degree, I realized that I am really an introvert and centering my whole life around close interpersonal interactions was not something I thought I could handle.

Which is probably why I have always been a reader: to escape life/social interactions for a while. Which leads me to the other question. I like to write and publish escapism. I like most any genre, whether I am writing or publishing, but it needs to be engaging and interesting.

AF: If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently?

SK: And risk changing things and not having my kids? No way. That said, I would have started writing sooner instead of daydreaming about being a writer. Also, I would have invested in IBM, Apple, Microsoft, and Disney (because I’m old and that’s what was what back then) so I would be rich enough to support my writing habit, because as anyone in the industry will tell you, it’s an expensive hobby.

Do it for the love of it or don’t do it. Money is scarce as a good mixed metaphor.

AF: What is your opinion on using media-tie in fiction to launch a writing career?

SK: You can’t, not really. To launch a career in media-tie in, you pretty much have to be writing fan fiction, and that’s not legal. But, after you’ve got your footing and start making industry connections, you can work your way into media-tie in, and from there you can gain the opportunity to build a fan base out of people who recognize your name and like your style.

Companies run most types of media tie-ins, which means they are only interested in authors who have proven to be competent, fast, and reliable. It’s super hard to land those gigs when first starting out. You generally have to know someone who can vouch for you, or you have to have already proven yourself. (Not saying it can’t be done, but realistically you’re not going to get it by writing a Mandalorian novel and sending it in to Disney. It doesn’t work that way.)

AF: Do you have any advice for writers hoping to sell you a story?

SK: Whooo boy. This is the same advice you’ll get anywhere, but for some reason, a ton of authors think they are above it or just don’t try.

1. Read and follow submission guidelines. At the very least they are there to see if you are willing to read and follow instructions. That said, there are reasons for (most of) them even if you don’t know the reasons.

2. Put your best foot forward. Read what you wrote after you write it. Make sure it makes sense. Spell check it. Show you care enough about your story that I should care too. If it’s obvious that you didn’t care enough to read it over after you wrote it the first time, I can’t trust you to care enough to work with any edits I send you.

3. Make sure your story is on theme. Throwing in a sentence at the end of the story, showing a duck flying away, after 5,000 words of a domestic violence story, is not a story about ducks.

4. Tell a good story. I am much more likely to work with someone who has problems with their writing but can tell a good story than I am to work with someone who is a good writer but can’t tell a story.

AF: Why mermaids for this anthology?

SK: Mermaids are smexy! Just kidding. I learned that word from my kids. I’m not sure I know how to use it correctly yet. Jessica Guernsey is the editor of this anthology and she had a lot to do with the theme, though I think I probably influenced that when we first started discussing it. Enrapturing Tales (an imprint of Knight Writing Press) had already done a mermaids anthology and it was one of the most popular in terms of both authors being interested in submitting and in terms of sales. So, it was obviously a popular idea at that time. I had already been considering a second mermaid anthology as far back as the end of 2022, and I probably influenced Jessica, but I’m pretty sure that’s where she was leaning already.

AF: What’s in the future for Knight Writing Press and Sam Knight?

SK: Speaking of media tie-ins, I am excited to be a part of one coming out in March or June 2025, from CAEZIK SF & Fantasy (an imprint of Arc Manor). (The last I heard from the editor was the release was supposed to be March, but the pre-orders now say June. Who knows. Things get weird sometimes. As a publisher myself, I get that.) Permutations: A Well World Anthology gave me a chance to play in a world that I loved reading about when I was a teenager, that was created by an author whose multiple works were a staple for me: Jack L. Chalker. (If you’re a fan, I’m excited to say that my story in it is about the Lamotiens!)

Currently Knight Writing Press has, for the first time since 2020, nothing in the pipeline. 2024 was a rough year for me, personally, not the least of which (nor the worst of which) was an emergency appendectomy and surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. Anyone who has had surgery will tell you there is a brain fog that follows and, if I am being honest, the recovery from the shoulder surgery was worse than the back surgery I had a decade ago. As a result, it was all I could do to keep up with current commitments, so I didn’t pile any new ones on. Which means, after I take a deep breath and find my way back to normal (yeah, right!), the future is a bright, shining, unknown full of possibilities!

Learn more about Sam here!

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