An Interview with Rich Leder: Author of Cooking for Cannibals

Rich Leder has been a working writer for more than three decades. His credits include 19 produced movies—television films for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark and feature films for Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Longridge Productions, and Left Bank Films—and six novels for Laugh Riot Press.

He’s been the lead singer in a Detroit rock band, a restaurateur, a Little League coach, an indie film director, a literacy tutor, a magazine editor, a screenwriting coach, a wedding consultant, a PTA board member, a commercial real estate agent, and a visiting artist for the UNCW Film Studies Department, among other things, all of which, it turns out, was grist for the mill.

He resides on the North Carolina coast with his awesome wife, Lulu, and is sustained by the visits home of their three fabulous children.

Tell us about your book.

Cooking for Cannibals is a dark comic thriller. Horror black comedy at its wildest. Here’s the back cover blurb:

Fountain of youth? More like murderous medication!

Carrie Kromer pushes the boundaries of science, not her social life. The brilliant behavioral gerontologist’s idea of a good time is hanging out with her beloved lab rats and taking care of her elderly mother and the other eccentric old folks at the nursing home. So no one is more surprised than Carrie when she steals the lab’s top-secret, experimental medicine for aging in reverse.

Two-time ex-con Johnny Fairfax dreams of culinary greatness. But when his corrupt parole officer tries to drag him from the nursing home kitchen, the suddenly young-again residents spring to his defense and murder the guy—and then request Johnny cook them an evidence-devouring dinner to satisfy their insatiable side-effect appetite.

As their unexpected mutual attraction gets hot, Carrie and Johnny find themselves caught up with the authorities who arrive to investigate the killing. But even more dangerous than the man-eating not-so-senior citizens could be the arrival of death-dealing pharmaceutical hitmen.

Can Carrie and Johnny find true love in all this bloody madness?

Cooking for Cannibals is a dark comic thriller with a heaping helping of romance. If you like fast-paced plots, unconventional characters, and humor that crosses the line, then you’ll have a feast with Rich Leder’s wild ride.

Why did you write about this particular subject?

If the original idea strikes me as a fun and funny and wild ride, then that’s an idea I run with until it’s fleshed out enough for me to think of it as a project. A stolen drug that profoundly reverses the aging process but carries with it the side effect of cannibalism struck me as a fun, darkly funny, wild ride. Turns out I was right about that.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Control. Some of the aspects of book creation are great fun–cover design, interior design, editing, proofing. Generally speaking, Trad publishers take over that part of the process. I didn’t want to lose involvement in the building of my book. And now that the Big Four lean on the author to do the heavy lifting in marketing the book and building a platform and whatever, it makes no sense not to self-pub. You have to do your own marketing either way. Might as well build your book too. And then hold on to more of the money that flows your way in waves.

Would you self-publish again?

Absolutely. Though I would consider selling paperback rights but not digital rights.

What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?

Rising above the din of ten million books. Outlay of cash for editing, cover, design. My books are pure pleasure while I’m writing them. They become beloved products I’m trying to sell when I publish them.

What tips can you give other authors looking to self-publish?

Like anything worthwhile, it’s hard to do this right.

What was your steepest learning curve during the publishing process?

Marketing. That’s a curve that just won’t quit.

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

Most days, I write in the afternoon. I don’t have a word count. I don’t beat myself up. Whatever I get done that day…awesome. Eventually, miraculously, the book is done.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Writer’s block is a function of two things. 1. Lack of research. 2. Lack of planning. When you can’t write it’s generally because you don’t know what to write. Do more research, revisit your outline/beat sheet/planning pages. The more you read and research the bit where you got stuck, the more you retool your planning pages, the easier it will be to jumpstart the writing engine.

What are your plans now your book is published?

Continue marketing throughout the year…and on to the next book!

What’s next for you as an author?

I’m finishing the fourth and final book in my Kate McCall Crime Caper series, Gottiguard.