Q: In your opinion, what is the biggest downside of being a writer?

A: The emergence of vanity publishing - a lot of it electronic - and the Web have inundated the market. It is nearly impossible to be heard above the deafening noise. Publishers react to this graphomaniacal avalanche by resorting to safe commercial bets. Writers today should be ready to weather exceedingly tough competition for attention, let alone recognition. It is an injurious and discouraging process.

Q: How did you learn to write well? School? Trial and error?

A: Practice makes perfect. I am very far from perfection, of course. But I am a lot better than I was only 4 years ago. I blush when I am forced to revise or edit my old articles with their tortured syntax, mutilated grammar, poor vocabulary, or verbose pyrotechnics. Writing 1500 words a day for professional, edited, outlets such as Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI), and PopMatters has improved my writing quite a bit.

Q: What's the thing about writing that you still need to learn (if anything)?

A: My writing is too narcissistic. I am too in love with my own voice and its reverberating echoes. I'd rather stun and impress - than communicate and convey. I use obscure words, my sentences are florid, my arguments convoluted. I often lose half my readership - and I may well be optimistic here - by the end of the opening paragraph.

Q: What was the turning point in your writing career when you realized you were a success?

A: When I won the 1997 Israeli Ministry of Education New Prose Prize for my tome of short fiction "Requesting my Loved One" and when my book "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" began to be consistently ranked among the first 1000 in Barnes and Noble.

Q: What's the biggest plus about being a writer?

A: It is the only way I can talk to myself and to others. Without my writing I would have been completely cut off from the world. It is my umbilical cord.

Q: What mistake did you make early on that you'd like to warn new writers about?

A: I was too eager, too pushy, too self-centered. An author should, to the best of his ability, cater to the needs and wants of his readership. Authorship is not merely an autistic exercise of self-gratification. It is an intercourse and a discourse. Monopolizing the conversation is not only bad manners - it is bad for sales.

Q: What's your best tip for writers who want to stand out but are stuck in the pack? How can they become known for their work?

A: If an author is looking for short-term gains and if his biography or traits warrant it - he can try to convert himself into a celebrity of sorts. Instant celebrity - even on a local level - translates to product differentiation and enhanced sales.

In the long-term, though, what matters is brand. The books should do the talking, unobscured by the author. To achieve that, they need to meet a few conditions:

1. The titles need to cater to a niche market, preferably one hitherto neglected by other publishers and authors.
2. They need to contain practical information, based, wherever possible, on proprietary data (the author's first-hand account, surveys conducted by the author, folk traditions, interviews, etc.).
3. The author needs to generate a continuous stream of updates and apply the content of the books and their subject matter to topics in the news, or to newsworthy issues. Free content on a web site is a great way of achieving this goal of synergy. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of a continued, consistent, and reliable presence.
4. The author should interface with the media on a regular basis but only when warranted by the topics of his books. Seminars, lectures, guest appearances, columns and other promotional methods should be applied liberally.
5. Collaboration with other, better-known, authors and authorities in the relevant field can generate a beneficial "coattails" effect for the author and his or her books.