Today we’d like to introduce you to John William Law
Hi John William , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started out going to journalism school and worked for daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers on the East Coast. I moved west about thirty years ago and began researching and writing books about film history. My interest in cinema drove my career in writing. Since then I’ve written more than a dozen books and taken part in numerous film and television productions to talk about film history.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think it would be a road – or a journey – if it was entirely smooth. Every effort has its challenges and you have to deal with them to keep going down that road. When you’re a new writer, selling your idea or convincing someone to take a chance on you is often the hardest part. Every writer I know has had more rejection than acceptance in their career. Once you move past that you find you have to deal with others who have ideas on how to change your work, make it better, make it more sellable or marketable, and you sometimes have to compromise your vision to obtain you goals.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I write about the behind-the-scenes of Hollywood history and motion pictures most often. I also host a podcast series called “Hollywood’nt”. I’ve written about people like Alfred Hitchcock, Joan Crawford, Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, and more. I think I have a few projects I’m particularly proud of. My 2014 book “Who Nuked the Duke?” helped inspire the 2024 film “The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout” and I was invited to appear in the film talking about the story behind John Wayne’s worst film. My 2016 book on Lana Turner called “Movie Star and the Mobster” won the Hollywood, New York, and London book festivals as best non-fiction performing arts title of the year. More recently, my 2024 book on Bette Davis, called “Wicked Becomes Her”, won a literary excellence award and has been featured in my podcast series.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I suppose the most important lesson I had to learn is that you have to find something that you are passionate about. For writing, I’ve worked on lots of projects – tech writing, corporate marketing, news reporting, as well as ghostwriting and research. I’ve learned that how we define success is important and that if you are going to spend the amount of time on a book that it usually takes, you should make sure you are interested in what you are writing about. As for success, you can define it as simply writing a book, getting it into the hands of one reader, or something much bigger. Making money at it is a nice bonus, but don’t do it for the money, or you may find yourself disappointed with the result.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aplombpublishing.com
