Bestseller

May 10, 2015

Can Christopher Wright find the same unconventional success on the screen he’s found on the page?

Smoke from a dry ice machine poured out of the black stretch limousine when Christopher Wright arrived at Saturn Booksellers for the 2006 launch of his book, "Gargoyles of Gaylord."

"He appeared from among the mist," said Jill Miner, 22-year owner of the Gaylord bookstore. "There was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down and clapping. He just knows how to make a great production that kids will respond to."

That’s the kind of showmanship that Wright – aka Jonathan Rand and aka Christopher Knight – used to build a publishing empire that’s grown to include his own bookstore/roadside attraction just north of Indian River called Chillermania.

This year, Wright hopes to expand his realm with the release of a movie based on one of his novels for adults, the aptly titled "Bestseller." The film will have its world premier at the Cheboygan Opera House May 23.

DO-IT-YOURSELF STEPHEN KING

Wright is sort of a do-it-yourself Stephen King. The 50-year-old has sold more than 5 million books in 15 years. He writes the Freddie Fernortner series for lower elementary-aged readers and the "Chiller" books for upper elementary ages, both under the Rand pseudonym.

He also writes novels for adults under the name Christopher Knight.

His most popular works are the 16 "Michigan Chiller" and 40 "American Chiller" titles, books that see awful alliterative things happen to Michigan cities or other states, with titles like Aliens Attack Alpena or Angry Army Ants Ambush Alabama.

Wright’s adult novels might remind readers of Stephen King. The narratives are talkative and feature somewhat salacious quirks and broad pop culture references. Wright doesn’t mind the comparison as he attempts to break into filmmaking, just as King did early in his career.

"Stephen King, bless him, he’s a wonderful guy, but I don’t think he stacks his warehouse," Wright said. "And I do. And I don’t mind it. I love it. I’ll be around here cleaning up boxes or something and, all of a sudden, bingo, you know, here’s an idea for a story. It’s just the way it happens sometimes."

A NORTHERN MICHIGAN PRODUCTION

While Wright is involved in every aspect of his publishing business, he recognized the need to keep the movie he would bankroll at arm’s length. He explained that, he wanted control so badly, he knew he needed to relinquish it.

"I know that if I was involved in the movie, it would drive me absolutely insane because you’ve got to work with this crew of people and you’ve got to get these people working on this page and everybody has to get their things done and if somebody drops the ball, then that holds up everything," he said.

Wright assembled a talented, ragtag team to make the movie. Travis Goddard, a fan of Wright’s work, volunteered to adapt the novel into a screenplay. Petoskey resident Christina Rohn was tapped to direct, and a cast of actors with Hollywood experience was assembled, including Melissa Anschutz, DJ Perry, Terence Knox and Lana Wood, Natalie Wood’s sister.

When Wright wrote "Bestseller" nearly 15 years ago, the whole story came to him in the middle of the night and he jumped out of bed to put an outline on paper.

The novel tells the story of a New York literary agent who spends a week in a remote Upper Peninsula cabin where she is stalked by someone who may, or may not, be a lowly aspiring writer.

Michigan Chillers were just taking off, so he had very little time to flesh out the story.

"So I wound up going up to the UP, which is where the story was based anyway, and I rented this cabin for two weeks and I stayed there and I wrote the entire book," Wright said. "I wrote it as a movie. When I wrote it, in my mind, I saw it unfolding as a movie in my head."

The movie was to be filmed in the Upper Peninsula in 2013, but early production was plagued by severe storms that slowed the crew even as they crossed the Mackinac Bridge."We had torrential rains the first couple of days. That, and some other problems, that set us back," Wright said. "And we just decided, let’s pull the plug and regroup and let’s start the whole thing over again. And we did. And at that point, trying to do it in the Upper Peninsula wasn’t feasible. So that’s when we scouted out and we found some locations in Petoskey and did everything here."

FIRST RELEASE: AN AUDIOBOOK

Wright began his literary career intending to write fiction for adults. He released his first title, "St. Helena," in 1997 as an audiobook only, a fact that influenced the name of his company, Audiocraft Publishing, Inc.

An audiobook made sense for Wright. He’d spent his formative years in Grayling, where he learned to tie flies and worked as a fly-fishing guide on the Au Sable. A stint at Kirkland Community College to train to be a state conservation officer didn’t work out, and he found himself backing into a career in radio.

By the late 1990s, he’d worked at stations across northern Michigan and owned a production company that he operated from a cabin in the Cheboygan County woods. He found success voicing and producing commercials for clients nationwide, but he wanted something else.

He started writing. His idea to release an audiobook-only novel hinted at a talent for finding unconventional ways to succeed in publishing, but it didn’t win approval from publishers.

"Everybody seemed to think it’s an interesting idea. One of them I had a conversation with said, "˜You know, it would cost too much money.’ And I said, "˜Well, you know, not really. I wrote it. I would narrate it. I’ve got my own studio,’" Wright said. "I think they probably thought, "˜Sure you do. Up in Cheboygan County, you’ve got your own studio.’ They didn’t realize that I really did have a state-of-the-art studio."

GAS STATIONS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS

Wright and his wife, Boots, struck out on their own. He recorded the book himself, aadded music, and even made homemade sound effects.

"I bought a duplicator, a high-speed stereo cassette duplicator, and duplicated the cassettes myself, put labels on them myself, assembled everything, in the old cassette cases, shrink wrapped them myself, put pricing stickers on there myself and took them around to all these bookstores and convenience stores and restaurants and everything," Wright said.

Wright knew he was onto something, but many of the store owners he approached weren’t sure.

"I was excited about it," Wright said. "My thought was people don’t come to northern Michigan necessarily to go to a bookstore, but I thought, people come up here, they do have to put gas in their car, they do have to stay somewhere and they have to eat. So I went around to gas stations, restaurants and hotels."

No one wanted to pay Wright for the cassettes. He agreed to leave them at the businesses and come back in a couple of weeks. If they had sold, he’d collect his cut.

"And they were like, "˜Fine. Perfect.’ Got me out of their face. Then, like a week later, I started getting these calls, "˜Hey, we ran out of audiobooks there.’ And that’s how this whole thing kind of springboarded," he said.

CHILLERS TAKE OFF

Wright hawked Michigan Chillers with the same enthusiasm. He and Boots toured the state like hucksters, returning to the same gas stations and restaurants.

The first two, "Mayhem on Mackinac" and "Terror in Traverse City," were difficult to sell to bookstores, initially. He sent 300 copies throughout the state.

"My response was really dismal," he said. "The local bookstores around here, they were very favorable and everybody stocked it, but as far as the other bookstores, I would call and, "˜Well, we never got it.’" Soon, Wright realized the sales advantage of living in a tourist area. Lots of kids bought his book on vacation. They read it and then they wanted the next one.

"So, these kids are reading the book and they enjoyed it, and then all of a sudden they’re reading the first four chapters of "Terror Stalks Traverse City." And this is Billy from Auburn Hills, who got this book on Mackinac Island. Now he’s back in Auburn Hills, at home," Wright said. "And so [his parents] go into these Borders and Walden, when Walden was around, and B. Dalton and say, "˜My son wants these; he loves these books.’ So it forced them to carry my books even though they wouldn’t give me the time of day earlier."

BREAKING THE RULES

Wright became a successful author by breaking all of the publishing industry’s rules. It remains to be seen whether he can transfer that success to the big screen, inventing a new formula for making it in the movies.

Wright has secured a distributor interested in "Bestseller" and he plans to sell a DVD as soon as he’s able. He’s looking forward to the public premiere of the film later this month, where some of the cast and crew will be on site to meet fans.

"I hope it’s successful. I hope it’s something that people want to see and want to tell their friends about," he said. "You know, I’m a capitalist. I’d like it to make money."

A day after his interview with the Express, Wright was scheduled to screen the movie for the first time from beginning to end. Was he nervous?

"No. I’m really not. I’m excited. Maybe talk to me tomorrow. I am excited because of the caliber of people that I’m working with," Wright said. "The things that I have seen have led me to believe that it’s really going to be a cool production."