Dr.
Randy C. Dockens has a fascination with science and with the Bible,
holds Ph.D. degrees in both areas, and is a man not only of faith and
science, but also of creativity. He believes that faith and science go
hand in hand without being enemies of each other.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Auburn
University he went on to graduate school at Auburn and completed his
first doctorate degree in Pharmaceutics. He began his scientific career
as a pharmacokinetic reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration and
later joined a leading pharmaceutical company as a pharmacokineticist,
which is a scientist who analyzes how the human body affects drugs after
they have been administered (i.e, absorbed, distributed, metabolized,
and excreted).
Through the years, he has worked on potential medicines within several
disease areas, including cardiovascular, fibrosis, and immunoscience to
seek and develop new and novel medicines in these therapy areas.
He has also had his attention on the academic study of the Bible. He
earned a second doctorate in Biblical Prophecy from Louisiana Baptist
University after receiving a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the
Internet Bible Institute under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Congdon.
Randy has recently retired from his pharmaceutical career and is
spending even more time on his writing efforts. He has written several
books that span dystopian (The Coded Message Trilogy), end-time prophecy (Stele Prophecy Pentalogy), science fiction (Erabon Prophecy Trilogy), and uniquely told Bible stories (The Adversary Chronicles).
All his books, while fun to read, are futuristic, filled with science
to give them an authentic feel, have a science fiction feel to them, and
allows one to learn some aspect of Biblical truth one may not have
thought about before. This is all done in a fast-paced action format
that is both entertaining and provides a fun read for his readers.
He has also written some nonfiction books as well. One is to show how
all humans are connected from God’s viewpoint by looking at biblical
prophecy (Why is a Gentile World Tied to a Jewish Timeline?: The Question Everyone Should Ask).
This book shows how all scripture is connected and inclusive of
everyone. In addition, he and his editor have written two books about
writing. The first is on writing techniques themselves and is entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read.
This book not only addresses the techniques of writing, but what makes
writing unique to each author. It conveys not only how to better hone
one’s craft of writing but also the brand an author wants to portray.
This helps an author make their writing unique as well as captivating
for his/her audience. The second is a companion book to this one
entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Self-Editing: Framing Your Colorful Masterpiece to Keep Readers Engaged in Your Story.
This is best used in conjunction with the first one. Yet, self-editing,
though intricately connected to writing, is a distinct event. The
better the quality of a writer’s draft manuscript when it is delivered
to one’s editor, the higher the final quality of the manuscript will be
for readers, and that is extremely important.
Dr Dockens is still not done. He has other creative ideas he is bringing
forward as he is currently working on two new futuristic series. So,
stay turned!
Website ➜ https://www.randydockens.com/
X ➜ https://x.com/RandyCDockens
Facebook ➜ www.facebook.com/Randy.C.Dockens
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/randydockens
Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16453941 📙 Thank
you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.
Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an
author and pen this book?
Randy C. Dockens: Although your question about how I decided to
become an author sounds straightforward, the answer is a rather
convoluted one. I think I’ve always had the desire to write a book and
be published. Yet, there was never any real follow-through as it seemed
like such a daunting task. Plus, I never felt I had the time for such an
endeavor as I was so focused on my career: first pharmacy school, then
graduate school, and then working with the Food and Drug Administration
and then transitioning into the pharmaceutical industry. Yet, several
years later, I decided to go back to school for biblical studies. I at
first just wanted to learn to better understand the Bible, but then when
I was asked if I wanted to audit or take the courses for credit, I
decided that if I was going to do the work, I might as well get the
credit. Again, no real plans there, just a desire to learn. Yet, one
thing led to another, and I found myself with another doctorate. This
time in biblical prophecy. I found the subject so fascinating. That’s
when I had to decide what I was now going to do with all that new-found
knowledge.
Once, for my pharmaceutical job, I had to take a round-the-world tour
stopping in India and Japan for several meetings. So, while in flight,
the idea of writing a book came back to me and I began to write out what
later became a nonfiction book about how the entire world is tied to a
Jewish timeline, the topic which stemmed from my dissertation about
Gentiles in the Bible. Yet, I never got any real traction from agents on
that concept, so I began to think about taking my biblical learning and
putting that into fictional stories. I took my understanding of science
and of end-time prophecy and wrote a story about a character living in
the coming Messiah’s promised kingdom and what his life could possibly
look like in that environment. Most people I asked about their
understanding of this time in future history as discussed in the Bible
stated they really didn’t understand what the Bible taught about such a
kingdom, so I thought readers could learn something and be entertained
at the same time.
When I talked to a publisher at a writer’s conference about my idea,
he stated that while my idea was possibly a good story, that may not be
the best idea for a debut novel. So, I had to think about a more general
and relatable story. Driving home from work one day, my mind thought
about the current world view and how God seemed to be less and less in
our culture. I then thought about what would happen if the knowledge of
God was completely taken away or banned. What would that look like?
That’s when I started on The Coded Message Trilogy. This story is about
an astrophysicist who works on a Mars mission and finds certain
discrepancies at his work that then lead him down a road discovering how
the masses are being controlled by mind manipulation. He then begins to
search for the truth certain elites are trying to hide from everyone.
It became a dystopian mystery trilogy and the first series that became
published:
T-H-B,
F-S-H-S, and
T-U-L-E. The book
titles are the clues the characters in the books must solve to
understand the truth for which they are seeking. The books allow readers
to go on the same discovery mission along with the characters. And,
just as an aside, I did get my nonfiction book eventually published:
Why is a Gentile World Tied to a Jewish Timeline: The Question Everyone Should Ask.
I don’t have time to go into it here, but if one likes an academic view
of the Bible but puts it into everyday language, you may enjoy this
book.
Despite what my publisher told me, the idea of helping others
understand end-time biblical prophecy and being able to demystify it for
others never went away from my mind. Therefore, being able to now put
on both a scientific hat and a biblical prophecy hat allowed me to
present a unique perspective for writing the Stele Prophecy Pentalogy
series. This allowed me to present fictional stories which can provide
entertainment for readers but can also provide biblical education at the
same time.
This five-book series is a presentation of five stories during what
biblical prophecy says will be a time when a Messiah will come to this
Earth and reign. This series also calls this period the Refreshing
because things are made new: those who were righteous have been
resurrected, all pollution generating machinery and factories are
eliminated, and all disease and death have been abolished. This is a
one-thousand-year reign of the Messiah where he will reign as King of
kings over the earth with his base of operation in Jerusalem, Israel.
All my novels in this series are connected to each other but can also be
read separately. Because death has been rescinded during this time,
except for those who rebel against the King, characters within the story
of one book can still be part of the storyline of the next book even if
the storyline of each book is separated by several hundred years. The
main characters in one book become the supporting characters in the
other books.
This explanation doesn’t let you know why I chose this period to be
the backdrop for my novels in this series. So, let me now explain one of
the main purposes for the genesis of this series. As I stated earlier,
there are certain aspects unique to this future time that I want readers
to better understand. Let me elaborate.
In my first book, Mercy of the Iron Scepter, I wanted people
to experience the wonder of this kingdom with all the peacefulness,
beauty, and unity that will exist during this time. In Scripture, it
talks about this Messiah, this King, to reign with an iron scepter. That
means he will deal harshly with the sin of rebellion. So, I show what
that looks like, but also show that there is a merciful side to this
harshness as well. While the King deals immediately and decisively with
rebellion, he is also loving and wants the best for his citizens of the
world. I show that side of him in this novel as well as readers going
through the adventures of the main character, Kalem, who is unearthing
stelae concerning a potential prophecy regarding the King and one who
may overthrow him.
In contrast to this utopian time is its precursor which Scripture
calls the Tribulation Period, a time of chaos and all sorts of
calamities—an apocalypse of sorts. Promised Kingdom takes the
reader through this time and what it might be like to live through such
an ordeal as we walk through this time with the main character, Edvin.
Another thing many are confused about is that sacrifices will be made
again during this time of a future kingdom. As most Christians believe,
Jesus Christ came as the promised Messiah the first time he came to
earth fulfilling the Law of Moses and became the sacrifice that the
Mosaic Law required for the redemption of mankind. Therefore, today, we
no longer have sacrifices. So, what would make them needed in our
future? My novel, Hope Renewed, talks about this as one goes through the adventure with Ya’akov and the decisions he makes about his destiny.
Another aspect to this future time is that someone named the Prince
is introduced in the book of Ezekiel in Scripture. There are various
beliefs as to who this person is. Through my book, Darkness in the Light,
as one goes through the struggles with Me’ira, one will see that this
Prince is not the Messiah and is not King David as some purport. This
novel gives a reason for him being a separate individual from these and
what his duties will be for the citizens of the world during this future
time.
Then there is the aspect of dealing with human depravity. While this
is a time of peace, harmony, and wonderment, there will be those who are
still not satisfied with the status quo. I want people to understand
that while we have dark spiritual forces today that make us do bad and
evil things, even when those forces are held at bay (which will be true
during this future time), the heart of mankind can still be evil and
against God. People born during this time still need a Savior and their
decisions, just like ours today, can have eternal consequences. As
readers go through the storyline of Janet in Iron in the Scepter,
we cheer her on to make the right decisions even though deep down we
know she likely will not. It is similar to when we knew Anakin Skywalker
would turn into Darth Vader, yet we kept hoping that he would not make
those fateful decisions that we knew he was going to make.
Rather than present all this in a nonfiction format, I thought it
would be more interesting to create relatable stories that readers can
identify with and have the “learning” be in the background of these
fictional stories. While the stories are unique to this time period of
our future history in regard to what technology is utilized and how some
spiritual beings are now visible, these stories are quite relatable to
us today as these characters must still go through many of the same
struggles and challenges we face in our day-to-day lives. People are
people no matter in what historical timeframe in which they live. Just
like Kalem, we struggle with knowing what is really true and don’t
realize that truth is what determines our ultimate destiny. And like
Edvin, we struggle to find significance in this life and sometimes we
must go against what seems like the best solution for our career just
because it is the right thing to do. Me’ira, just like us today,
struggled with finding true love, and our decisions can have
consequences that ripple through time for many generations. Then, just
like Janet, we sometimes let pride get the better of us and cause us to
make decisions that are unwise and actually hurt the ones we love even
though we think we are doing something for their good when it is really
not good at all.
I know this was a long answer to your question, but I wanted to
explain how this series is a layered presentation to readers. The
stories are full of adventure, mystery, and romance in a futuristic
setting. If that is all a reader wants out of the story, then it’s
there. Yet for those who want to understand more about this future time
and what occurs behind the scenes on a daily basis, that is also there. I
think readers will be able to identify with the struggles of each
character because we struggle with those same concerns and emotions
today as well. Reading this series is a way to enjoy a story but learn
at the same time without realizing you are actually learning something
you may not have known.
📙 Is this your first series?
Randy: Well, yes, and no. Why am I uncommitted in my answer? You see,
this was the first series I wrote, but not the first series I
published. I talked about this somewhat in my previous answer. I think
my
publisher felt that this series, while he liked it, might not be for a
wide audience. Yet, I think one can argue that the stories themselves
can be appreciated by anyone who likes a good story. At any rate, he
suggested the first series to be published should be The Coded Message
Trilogy. This is a dystopian mystery about an astrophysicist who is
working on a Mars mission who gets caught up in a worldwide conspiracy
where the reason for the Mars mission is far more sinister than the
public is aware.
So, from a published standpoint, this is my second
series. Each book was published four months apart, so it took about a
year and a half for it to become a completely published series.
📙With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
Randy: My publisher is a hybrid of both traditional and indie. It is
what is called custom publishing. The publisher provides many of the
services of large publishing houses, but the author maintains all rights
and control of their work and bears much of the cost as well.
There are a few reasons for choosing this method of
publishing. One is that this allows me to maintain control of all
aspects of my work. I didn’t want to go completely Indie because there
was so much about publishing a book that I did not know. I did not go
the traditional route because I first had to go through an agent, and I
just could not seem to find an agent who had the same vision as me about
this series. They just could not get past the idea that it was about a
future kingdom as described in the Bible which they seemed to not be
able to comprehend. One agent told me that it was too much “out there.”
It needed to be “different” from what is already published but “similar”
to what is already published. Confused? I know I was. It seemed he and I
just could not get on the same page with my vision for this series.
Therefore, I went with custom publishing. The publisher had worked in
the traditional publishing market for several years and really knew his
stuff, so he was able to guide me through all the hurdles of getting
published. I felt good, though, that in the end all was still owned by
me and I did not have to give up any rights to any part of my work.
📙Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey? The pros and cons?
Randy: I think I have answered some of this in my answers to the last
few questions. It was a rocky start, I have to say. Maybe all beginning
authors start this way, but I was trying to get published while I was
learning how to write well. That may have hindered my initial success
because I was trying to incorporate all that I read about good writing
into my writing. I likely should have waited a little longer to go to
agents and publishers until I knew what I was doing. But that was the
problem, I thought I did know what I was doing, but really didn’t.
Authors, agents, editors, and publishers wrote articles about their “pet
peeves” and I took it all to heart. However, my writing became worse
instead of better. What I later came to realize was that all their
comments were guidelines and not something that could, or should, be
implemented across the board. They didn’t communicate that, however.
This realization hit me when I read an article about a pet peeve which
contradicted another article about someone else’s pet peeve. That’s when
the light went on in my brain and I realized that there was no magic
formula to writing well; it was the intent of what I was writing that
was important. I could “break” the rules, so to speak, but I had to do
that with intent and purpose.
As an aside, because of this experience, I and my editor have
recently written two books about things new authors need to consider so
they do not fall into this same trap I did. I wanted to pay it forward
so that others could begin with a more positive experience than I had.
These two books are Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read and Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Self-Editing: Framing Your Colorful Masterpiece to Keep Readers Engaged in Your Story. These are not the end-all for writers but is a good start to have in one’s arsenal of becoming a good writer or author.
I think my initial not-so-positive encounters with agents and
publishers led me to consider custom publishing earlier than perhaps I
would have otherwise. Also, I think my topics and goals were so
different from their experience with other authors and goals they didn’t
really know what to do with me in the beginning. They couldn’t see my
vision, or perhaps I just didn’t have the right elevator speech at that
time to give them something that would grab their attention immediately.
By going with custom publishing, I was able to take control of the
process myself even though I didn’t have the experience to do so because
of the experience and guidance of my publisher.
📙What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
Randy: First of all, publishing is an extremely competitive business.
Agents and publishers are so busy they have very little time for you
and can appear extremely rude when perhaps they don’t mean to be. I had
one agent tell me that they read the first sentence and make an
immediate decision of whether to continue reading or just throw it in
the trash. Ouch, I thought. That seems rather harsh. But they
have so many inquiries that they can afford to do that. They are not
trying to catch your vision but see what will “sell.” Catching your
vision on their part comes much later. You will likely have to go
through many rejections before success happens.
I found writing conferences to sometimes be quite cold as well. Some
people write a book and then join these conferences to teach so they can
get name recognition. This isn’t true for all, but I did find that
these conferences can also turn into more of a business model than a
true place to teach new writers. Don’t get me wrong, if you haven’t been
to a writing conference, it is worth going as you will definitely learn
something. Just realize they can have the potential to not be as for
you as you would wish.
Realize that you are in it for the long haul. If you go the
traditional route, you must first get the attention of an agent. Once
you have that, it is then getting a publisher to give you the time of
day for a pitch. Each step is a long process and a hurdle. You must have
confidence in yourself and your product to get beyond all the
rejections so you can get to the finish line a winner.
Also, understand that just getting published is not the end. You need
to promote your book. Not all traditional publishers are very helpful
in this department. They rely on you, the author, to do much of your own
publicity and advocacy for your product, your book.
I don’t say all of this to be negative, but just realistic. You will
need thick skin, a belief in yourself and your product, your book, to
make it to that finish line.
📙Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
Randy: There are pros and cons to each type of publishing. Let’s look at each one briefly.
Traditional: I addressed some of this in the previous
question. This is typically a slow and arduous process. There are those
quick success stories, but they are not the norm. As I stated, often you
must first go through an agent (and they are quite ruthless in their
selections), and then that agent pitches your book to a publisher. There
is no guarantee of the agent’s success in this regard either. Yet,
their success is likely higher than you pitching your idea to a
publisher. The advantage is that you will not have to incur any upfront
costs. What you get on the backend is up to the contract the publisher
makes with you. They will do some form of publicity for you, but they
will still depend upon you to get the word out about your book. Another
positive is that just being part of a reputable publishing house gives
you some credibility that other routes of publication still do not have
(yet, that recognition is fast becoming not as advantageous as it once
was). There are several downsides you need to consider as well. As we
just went over, this could be a long, arduous journey. There is much
competition to get an agent’s attention, then your agent has several
authors he is working with, so you are not necessarily the highest
priority on his agenda. Another downside is that you may have to give up
certain aspects of your book to the publisher as they may feel they
need to control to better ensure their success. They could change the
title, or change the ending, or other things to make it sell from their
point of view. At times, this could be fine for you. Other times, it may
not be, but this is something you will need to consider.
Small press: My understanding is that this is very similar to
traditional publishing. The positive is that you are likely to be a
higher priority on their agenda because the number of clients they work
with at any one time is small. In addition, you may not necessarily have
to go through an agent to get to them. They may have fewer requirements
for you to yield over to them before publishing. However, the marketing
of your book will likely be expected to be done by you with very little
input from the small press publisher.
Indie: There are several advantages here as you have more
control over every aspect of your book and its publication. Yet, there
is also great responsibility for you at the same time. I can’t tell you
how many poorly written books there are that go through this process
because you as the author were unaware of the poor quality you were
accepting during various aspects of the publishing process. Just because
you think it is good does not mean it is. Although you have control of
your book, you still need to understand what publishers do and the steps
to get a book completed the right way, and the best way. As with
everything, there is a good way and a bad way to get things done.
Custom: This is a blend of traditional and indie. Your
publisher usually has a lot of experience like a traditional publisher
and will be able to guide you through the process. Before choosing one,
be sure and ask questions in regard to their experience. This is very
important. The downside is that you will be responsible for all monetary
aspects of your book, just like an indie author. Yet, the difference is
that you will have expert advice given to you to help you be more
successful and have a final product with much better quality than you
likely would if you were an indie author and had no publishing
experience. I would say that even if you wanted to go the indie route,
go the custom publishing route first so you know the steps in the
publishing process and how to get them completed in the right way.
📙What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Randy: As you have probably gleaned from my other responses, there
are many things to consider and understand, not only as you write but as
you publish. First and foremost, I would say to learn how to write and
how to write well before you go to a publisher with any of your work.
There are many books out there that can help you. Although biased, I
would suggest the two books that I and my editor published just recently
which are geared for new authors. Some books are geared for writing but
do not really give you the foundation of the why behind what they are
telling you to do. The why is just as important, and I believe more
important, than the mechanics of writing. Check them out, I think you
will find them extremely helpful. We talk about not only writing but
self-editing. There are differences between the two, and writers should
know how to do both well.
Just because you have written a book does not mean you have learned
to write well. Trust me on this. You will likely have much more
self-editing to do if your work is your first book. Get your work to the
highest writing level you can before you send it to an editor. This is
crucial. And don’t think just because you have edited your own work that
it is good enough. It is not! Period. Full stop. There are different
types of editors, so do your homework and get one that you feel gives
you the best advice for the money they are charging. Good editors are
worth it, so don’t be too skimpy on this step.
If you don’t go with a traditional publisher, getting a book
published can be quite expensive. Every step of the process requires a
monetary output from you, the author. Many go the indie route because of
this and find they can publish relatively inexpensively. Yet don’t fall
for this trap. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Don’t
sacrifice quality for money. I would strongly suggest that if you are
not going the traditional publishing or the small press route, at least
go custom publishing for your first book. That way, you can get good
advice, know what to do and the correct steps in the process. Then, you
can decide how to do those steps and maintain your quality if you take
on some of those roles yourself. Be wise. If you put out a bad quality
book, that could hurt your sales of any additional books that may be of
higher quality. People will judge other books by an author just by
reading one book by that author.
Most authors are not made of money, but please don’t sacrifice
quality just because you can get published inexpensively. And remember
that the marketing of your book will most likely be up to you. So, try
and get a platform as soon as you can and gain subscribers to a
newsletter or blog that you may put together. If you have any book
signings, then be sure you have a sign-up sheet to add them to your
newsletter and/or blog posts. The more people you have who you can reach
out to when you have a new book, the better. You want as many reviews
as you can get relatively soon as your book is published.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. An educated author is a powerful author.
