Former Portland State student publishes book

The book is called Extremely Successful Book and the author is recent Portland State graduate Matt “Danger” Stares.

Stares’ book is an abstract comedy compilation of essays he wrote in class, including one linking space and politics. Stares also has a chapter composed of Craigslist advertisements, which was the book’s main selling point.

“I guess they were so ridiculously obnoxious or funny that they approached me about writing a whole book of Craigslist ads, but I told them about all of this [other] stuff I was working on,” Stares said. “Some of them were class essays that were slapstick-y and got turned into chapters in the book.”

PSU’s director of publishing, Per Henningsgaard, who taught Stares in his “Creative Business of Book Publishing” class, advised him on how to market his book. They mostly discussed the social media aspect of book marketing.

“Matt and I had quite a few conversations about publishing,” Henningsgaard said. “I think that it was a matter of hearing a variety of different approaches to market a book…The more samples you look at, the more successful you are in publishing your book.”

Other PSU resources Stares used in developing Extremely Successful Book included maxing out his 500-page paper limit per term and printing advance digital copies in the PSU libraries. He would also spend time before classes writing in the local sports bar, the Cheerful Tortoise.

“I don’t care for writing in libraries or around the student centers because it’s not conducive for me to write around other students,” Stares said. “I like being in a dark corner with some background bar rabble…I’d just set up my laptop, get a $2 breakfast and coffee, and just write it for at least three hours every morning.”

The book was Stares’ first, and was published through Word Branch Publishing. Extremely Successful Book is the first comedy book for Word Branch, which typically specializes in science fiction.

Stares was granted 40 percent of royalties while Word Branch and Amazon each get 30 percent. In addition, Word Branch provided Stares editorial advice and copyediting sessions. Stares was happy with these resources compared to what many authors get.

“I took a publications class to study how other authors were treated in the past, and this is actually some of the best treatment that an author [can get],” Stares said. “They ultimately let me write whatever I wanted, which was nice.”

Stares recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in arts and literature with a minor in writing. He spent more than a year working on Extremely Successful Book and wrote more than seven drafts before releasing the book on Amazon.

“You just have to keep working through it. I would just open my Word document every day, going through it, making sure it’s good, adding to it, reading it, being like, ‘Is this funny at all?’ So only the A-plus [material] gets put out there,” Stares said.

Stares gave copies of his book to several friends, including Los Angeles comedian Joe Sib and TV comedian Michael Ian Black. He also gave excerpts to both Henningsgaard and his sister Arica.

“Matt’s hilarious,” Henningsgaard said. “He has a terrific sense of humor and unique style in both his writing and his humor.”

Extremely Successful Book is available in e-book format for $2.99, with a hard copy due later this year.