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Posted on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 : 7 p.m.

Michigan alum, National Review reporter John J. Miller self-publishes first novel

By James Dickson

John J. Miller is no stranger to doing things his own way.

While most would-be writers at the University of Michigan find their way to The Michigan Daily, Miller - a member of the class of 1991 - chose to write for the center-right Michigan Review.

First Assassin.jpg

"The First Assassin" is Michigan alum John J. Miller's first novel and first self-published book.

Courtesy, Woodbridge Press

While most of the guys he lived with at the Mary Markley freshman dorm moved through college on a diet of random hookups, Miller met the woman who would become his wife at Markley and never looked back.

And at a time when publishers were too skittish to take a chance on a first-time novelist, Miller decided to publish his own novel, "The First Assassin," which was released late last year to an impressive response.

From political correctness, a career was born

Miller was a junior editor for The Michigan Review when he got a call from Richard Burr of the Detroit News editorial page. The News had heard about U-M's speech codes and the rumors that it was considering making a course on racism a graduation requirement. Those rumors evolved into today's Race & Ethnicity requirement for U-M students in the college of Literature, Science and the Arts.

"Think you can go sit in on a few classes, and report what you see?" Burr asked.

"Of course," Miller replied, and took the job and its offer of $100 - the first paid writing gig of his career. 

Outside of putting extra pizza and beer money in Miller's pocket, the Detroit News assignment showed him that, with a bit more practice, he could do this writing thing for a living.

After graduating with an English degree in 1992, Miller left Ann Arbor for Washington, D.C., working for Fred Barnes as an intern for The New Republic during the 1992 Presidential Election.

About halfway through his yearlong fellowship, Miller was offered a job at the Manhattan Institute's Washington office, choosing the stability of a job over the uncertainty of finishing out the fellowship.

He stayed in the think tank world for five years before getting his big break, a job as the national political reporter for National Review magazine, the conservative fortnightly founded by the late William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955.

Like many conservative college papers, The Michigan Review was named in homage to the National Review. For Miller, the chance to write for one of his favorite publications growing up was a dream come true - a dream he still lives every day.

John J Miller.jpg

Courtesy, John J. Miller

The joys and challenges of self-publishing

Miller's interest in fiction dates back to his childhood as an avid reader. As a college senior who should've been studying for the last final exams of his career, Miller was so gripped by Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" that he couldn't put it down.

His interest in writing fiction was sparked about 13 years ago, when Miller was researching his first book "The Unmaking of Americans: How Multiculturalism has Undermined America's Assimilation Ethic." Miller was listening to an audiobook of Stephen B. Oates' Abrahan Lincoln biography, "With Malice Toward None," when an idea popped into his head: what if someone had put a price on Lincoln's head, four years before John Wilkes Booth fired his fatal shot?

"At that very moment," Miller wrote, "'The First Assassin' became a book I had to write."

Working out of National Review's Washington office, across the street from the Library of Congress, Miller spent many a lunch hour over the next several years reading old newspapers on microfilm, becoming an expert on the world he would portray: Washington, D.C., circa 1861.

When Miller's three children were each born, or a publisher came calling with a guaranteed payday, he put "The First Assassin" to the side. Last year, Miller finally decided the time was right to close the book and go to market.

But the publishing market was different than the one he'd encountered with his non-fiction work. What he learned in his talks with publishers wasn't encouraging.

Despite his experience writing books and the audience he'd built over the years, big publishing houses weren't looking to take a chance on a first-time novelist. 

But after 13 years of effort, Miller wasn't about to let his passion project languish in a drawer or in some publisher's circular file. 

So he published it himself. The heavy lifting, after all, had been done. And as the author of three previous books, Miller was more than comfortable playing the role of self-promoter. All he needed was a good printing press, one where he wouldn't be forced to hold onto stacks of inventory, waiting on books to sell.

For that, Miller used CreateSpace.com, releasing "The First Assassin" under the Woodbridge Press imprint, named for the Virginia community Miller and his family call home. CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, offers publishing-on-demand for authors, musicians and filmmakers, allowing artists to reach a mass audience without investing so much in the physical product.

How it works is simple: Any time an order is placed, CreateSpace prints off a copy of the book and ships it. The book takes about as long to arrive as any other package from Amazon.com would.

There is one drawback, and for a writer, it's a painful one: you won't see "The First Assassin" at Borders, Nicola's Books or any other bookstore, at least not now. The only way to buy it is online.

It's been said that most writers have one great story in them. Miller said he still has more on tap.

"I've got plenty of ideas" for fictional stories, Miller said, including one thriller set in northern Michigan. The next one, if there is a next one, would probably be set in modern-day D.C., a terrain with which Miller is familiar and would require less research than "The First Assassin."

Miller said that while he's been happy with the self-publishing experience, the only thing he has to compare it to is the old publishing model, wherein the writer writes the book and promotes it - and the publishing house handles things like typesetting, cover art and distribution. Whenever he's been able to find a willing publisher, things have gone well.

For his next book, Miller plans to go the traditional route, working with HarperCollins. Tentatively titled "The Big Scrum," the book is about former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and his role in the birth of modern football. 

Offering the rare four-point intersection of history, business, politics and sports, "The Big Scrum" is meant to reach a wide audience - the kind of book one doesn't self-publish.

"I'm still a fan of the traditional model," Miller said. "But it's good knowing that when I have something to say that a publisher won't buy, I can still reach a pretty sizable audience."

James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.

Comments

Wolverine3660

Wed, Jan 20, 2010 : 8:25 a.m.

Herbert, a lot of students and other members of the U-M community read the Review. BTW, how did you folks like watching Coakley losing last night?

DaRyan

Wed, Jan 20, 2010 : 2:16 a.m.

Did this guy grow up in Ann Arbor? There's nothing in the post to say where he's from. If he's not from here, are you going to write a story about every U of M grad who writes a book, or only your friends?

Ignatz

Tue, Jan 19, 2010 : 8:31 p.m.

Herbert, Look in the 4th paragraph where Mr. Miller is revealed as a junior editor.

Herbert

Tue, Jan 19, 2010 : 8:22 p.m.

Why isn't it disclosed that Mr. Dickson not only wrote but was an editor for the Michigan Review during his days at the University of Michigan? At least that way, readers would be able to understand why this nonsensical drivel of a book read was written. (Hint: It's a way for Dickson to pump up the importance of a campus leaflet that no one reads or takes seriously.)