Who Is That Masked Man?

Hello and welcome to the Rock Your Writing Career website. I’m Joe Nassise, the man behind the curtain here at RYWC.

I started my writing career with the publication of my debut novel RIVERWATCH through a now-defunct small press publisher in 2002.  Much to my surprise, that novel was nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel  as well as the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel, the two highest literary awards in the horror genre.

While it didn’t win either award, the nominations were enough to garner the attention of the senior editor at Pocket Books, who acquired the rights to RIVERWATCH and my as yet unwritten second novel, HERETIC.

HERETIC marked the start of the publication of my Templar Chronicles trilogy and set me on the path of learning as much as I could about building my writing career.  I knew that being successful long term meant diversifying the publishing companies I worked with as well as the media formats that I published in.  HERETIC was the first book that I began intentionally marketing subsidiary rights for, with the goal of generating as much income as possible from each individual property that I produced from that point forward.

When HERETIC hit the bookstore shelves in October 2005, just in time for Halloween, it did so with endorsements from two of my own personal literary influences – Clive Barker and Peter Straub.

“First-rate, stylish work from Mr. Nassise, with a steady escalation of the story’s speed

that makes it almost literally breath-taking.” — Clive Barker

“With HERETIC, Joseph Nassise kicks off his TEMPLAR CHRONICLES in fine, swaggering style.

This book bobs and weaves like the young Muhammed Ali, keeping us off-guard and entertained

with its every surprising move.” — Peter Straub

Both the Mystery Guild and the Doubleday Book Clubs picked up the rights to do a hardcover book club edition shortly thereafter. In early 2006 the German language publisher Droemer-Knaur became the first of several foreign language publishers to purchase the title.

Russian language rights, comic book rights, and a complete podcast of HERETIC followed in 2007.  The Italian hardcover edition of RIVERWATCH also came out at the same time.

My success in Germany really took off at the point, proving my theory that diversifaction was a key to building a profitable career as a writer. DER KETZER hit the paperback besteller list and its two sequels, DER ENGEL and DIE SCHATTEN, were both well received. Droemer Knaur showed how much they valued our partnership by purchasing three more novels shortly thereafter. By the end of 2008, I had published five novels in four countries, including an international besteller, and had the entire Templar Chronicles series optioned for feature film development.

It was around that time that I succeeded in reaching another goal I had set for my career, working on the well known adventure series ROGUE ANGEL.  Harlequin/Gold Eagle purchased two novels from me featuring their hit character, Annja Creed.  THE SPIRIT BANNER will see publication in January 2010, with YIN & YANG following in September of the same year.

As I write this I”ve just sold two more novels to Gold Eagle (THE BLACK TORC and GHOSTS OF THE CONFEDERACY) as well as a new three book series, THE HUNT CHRONICLES, to US publisher Tor Books.  I will also shortly be adapting one of my unpublished novels into a feature film for Seraphim Entertainment Group.

My intent in laying all this out for you isn’t to brag about my accomplishments, but to show you that I have the experience and knowledge necessary to run a site like this.  I know what it’s like to want to “rock your career” and I’ve pursued various avenues to do just that.  I’ve learned through hard work and experience what it takes and I’m ready and willing to share what I’ve learned with the membership here at RYWC.