Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 431 - An Interview with Writer, Producer, and Celebrity Publicist William J Bruce III
Mark interviews writer, producer, and celebrity publicist William J Bruce III.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments, and a word about this episode's sponsor.
This episode's sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report.
In the interview, Mark and William talk about:
- The weird series of events that led William into his current career
- Meeting a film producer on the day of a school evacuation
- How a lot of William's work is done online and behind the scenes
- The importance of doing due diligence as a publicist to make sure the interviewee doesn't get "trapped" by the host/interviewer
- The memoir that William wrote and why he wrote it because of a really low point in his life
- Looking at your life and your faith when in a dark place after having made a grave mistake
- The novel that William is currently working on
- How people can be heartless when it comes to talking about celebrities
- The story behind how William is publishing his novel
- That negative voice whenever you're trying something new
- And more...
After the interview Mark reflects on that feeling of self-doubt as well as the perspective of heroes and villians and good and evil.
Links of Interest:
- William J Bruce
- Self-Publish Like a Pro (Sunday August 31, 2025) - Reedsy Virtual Event
- Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link)
- Buy Mark a Coffee
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- EP 430 - Rambling Reflections from a Lemons to Lemonade Road Trip
- Mark's YouTube channel
- Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
- An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
- The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
- Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
- Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
William J Bruce III is a writer, producer and celebrity publicist.
As a publicist he has worked with Shawn Harper of the NFL and the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase of the WWE during Ted’s peak in Google Trends.
As executive producer to the compilation album Bridge Wars, he brought together artists such as F.E.R.N (Capitol Records artist produced by DukeDaGod of The Diplomats), and Mahogany Jones (four-time Champion of BET’s “Freestyle Friday’s”). Later in 2016 William became the executive producer and host of the Aussie Osbourne Show. The show featured in-depth interviews with celebrities such as Mike Mullane (former NASA astronaut), Alveda King (niece of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the daughter of civil rights activist A.D. King), and Charlene Li (Harvard magna cum laude graduate and NY Times bestselling author).
His writing has landed him cover stories with former Victoria Secret model Kylie Bisutti, P.O.D front man Sonny Sandoval and the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase of WWE. William's work in film and his ability to hone the craft of writing assisted him in his role of script revisionist for the Eric Roberts film In the Blink of an Eye. The author of the memoir Penholder, William has also written the introduction to the 150th Anniversary Edition of Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Currently William is completing a novel called "Hate"(working title).
The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0