:00:03. > :00:09.Now, it is time for this week's Meet The Author, Nick Higham is at
:00:09. > :00:12.a busy London Book Fair. David Baldacci is one of America's most
:00:12. > :00:17.successful thriller writers. His 25 book Secretary of State far have
:00:17. > :00:22.sold more than 110 million coppice around the world. This is the
:00:22. > :00:28.London Book Fair. David Baldacci's latest novel The Hit is getting a
:00:28. > :00:32.lot of publicity on the stand of his British publishers. People come
:00:32. > :00:38.here to buy and sell foreign rights. It's a place to do business. You
:00:38. > :00:45.don't seen many authors here. This is where we came to meet David
:00:45. > :00:51.Baldacci. David Baldacci, this is a side of the publishing industry I
:00:51. > :00:55.suppose most people don't see. Is it one that you, as an author, are
:00:55. > :01:00.comfortable with? I am. I love book fairs. I have been here a few times,
:01:00. > :01:03.Frankfurt and the one in the States it is a great place to meet
:01:03. > :01:07.publishers and quality time with them. Meet authors that you haven't
:01:07. > :01:12.seen in a while. I love being surrounded by book lovers. If you
:01:12. > :01:20.are not happy here as a book lover you are in in the wrong place. This
:01:20. > :01:27.is a fantastic energy. You have sold three million coppice in the
:01:27. > :01:30.states. People say that the price for e-books is low. Publishers, are
:01:30. > :01:34.getting squeezed and so are authors? It's probably one of the
:01:34. > :01:38.greatest opportunities we have in publishing right now electronic
:01:38. > :01:44.readers. We are content providers, content is King. What we do, there
:01:44. > :01:48.are lots of different ways to read books. We have huge companies like
:01:48. > :01:53.Apple who sold 20 million iPads at Christmas. 20 million more people
:01:53. > :01:55.who never downloaded a book on anything. If you capture 10%, 20%
:01:55. > :02:05.of that audience, millions of new readers. This is an opportunity we
:02:05. > :02:06.
:02:06. > :02:49.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds
:02:49. > :02:56.book with conspiresies and someone getting shot or someone getting
:02:56. > :03:01.blown up, it seems to me, every 15 to 20 pages. How far are you
:03:01. > :03:09.playing to readers' expectations. How far do you say - this is what I
:03:09. > :03:13.have to give? I try not to be run to a formula. I give myself
:03:13. > :03:18.challenges. This book is about two damaged people. When I created Will
:03:18. > :03:23.and Jessica it was like they had body armour over them they couldn't
:03:23. > :03:27.feel anything, they were killers. I tried to chip away until I could
:03:27. > :03:32.see humanity underneath. When the bombs are going out you have to
:03:32. > :03:37.realise these are human beings doing it. At the end of the day
:03:37. > :03:43.what toll it took on them much I looked at it from a psychological
:03:44. > :03:50.point of view, I write the hard scenes but the stuff about them
:03:50. > :03:53.finding out who they are. The rest is cream on top of the cake. These
:03:53. > :03:57.two different people were trying to understand if they could survive as
:03:57. > :04:04.normal people or will they be killers for hire, shoot and move on.
:04:04. > :04:12.Shoot and move on. At the end of the day, who were they? One of the
:04:12. > :04:17.cilt criticisms levelled at books is that they encourage a culture of
:04:17. > :04:22.violence. Exciting and desensitise people to the consequences of what
:04:22. > :04:26.they do. Is that a criticism that you accept or that you recognise?
:04:26. > :04:31.People can be desensitised. I see the video games that kids play.
:04:31. > :04:35.They look so real it's unimaginable. When I write my books I feel a
:04:35. > :04:40.certain responsibility. If I have some type of bomb in there that can
:04:40. > :04:45.cause mass damage I fudge details so they will never be able to work
:04:45. > :04:49.it out in the real world. When people do bad things there are
:04:49. > :04:53.consequences and punishment for. It I don't want to ever write when
:04:53. > :04:56.someone does something really bad, people are killed, there are no
:04:56. > :05:00.consequences or repercussions actions have consequences. I never
:05:00. > :05:04.do anything that happened out in the real world and actions have
:05:04. > :05:14.consequences. I do feel. I sometimes pull back from pushing
:05:14. > :05:33.
:05:33. > :05:37.control. The second amendment say you have the right to bear arms.
:05:37. > :05:41.Sensible gun control, background checks we know that people who have
:05:41. > :05:48.mental illness can't have guns. If you want to own a gun, that is fine
:05:48. > :05:53.fine much you have to be trained. If you want to drive a car you need
:05:53. > :05:57.training. If you buy a gun you have to by a -- buy a gun department
:05:57. > :06:02.where it is locked away and be a responsible gun owner. If someone
:06:02. > :06:05.uses your gun and you didn't do that you will have serious
:06:05. > :06:10.consequences you might go to jail. Let's have consequences on people.
:06:10. > :06:15.If they want to own guns they have to do it properly. How likely do
:06:15. > :06:20.you think the United States are to do it? Almost zero. The Senate
:06:20. > :06:22.passed the background checks, the problem is it has to clear the
:06:22. > :06:25.House of Representatives. A lot of people in the Republican side don't
:06:25. > :06:30.agree with that. I don't know if they will get the majority through.
:06:30. > :06:38.If they can, terrific, at least on background checks. I'm pessimistic
:06:38. > :06:41.about it Newtown affected everybody. I saw Republicans coming out of the