1/18/2013
Brief Interview with friend for their blog (who remains anonymous due to publishing firm affiliations, I however can share it freely, ty interviewer):
Interview with Independant Author, Alexis Lewis:
Q: "So Indie-Publishing...hard? Or way of the future?"
A: "Indie-Pubbing? No, that's the easy part. I think it's going to over-run the big firms eventually, or at least their going to have to begin adapting to it soon. Writing something that's worth publishing is the tough bit...and marketing without an advance budget, that's a labor of love. Probably a greater gift to the audience than the story itself. Publishing independantly is pretty much plug and play these days."
Q: "How do you find an audience without advertising or backing? How did you get to over a thousand eBook downloads to begin with?"
A: "Oh, I advertise. Just not in the conventional sense. Facebook fanpage, that's where I tell most new Indie-Authors to start. You're friends and family are great and a fanpage lets it spread to their friends and family. I also gave my first book away for free for a few days. Amazon's KDP lets authors do that with their work, so within a day of the promotion a couple hundred people had my book to enjoy and tell people about. Those weren't 'sales' but they generated more than double the royalties I let go of. Nice to give people a chance to read it for free too. I was that kid in college, I never had money for fiction. Makes you wonder why the big names don't do it once in awhile just to give something back...anyway. I commision books to private store owners too, and do contests on facebook and twitter. You don't need money to advertise. If an agency is trying to convince you that you do, it's becuase they're terrified of this new fangled thing called the 'internet' and 'electronic social media'. All of that is advertising, even if fans never join the webpages. Most of my royalties are spawned in Japan for some reason and I don't have a single Japanese reader following my accounts that I've noticed.
Q: "Could that be due to the current Eastern metropolitan trend towards modern science-fiction?"
A: "Sure, could be. I hope so. Is that a thing? I've wondered if it doesn't have something to do with my cover art. The truth is, most eBook sales are created by a good cover."
Q: "You designed your own cover, right?"
A: "I did. Another nod to producing with no money invested yet. I painted it so I own it, like the story itself. Indie-Illustrator too I guess. Gives me more control over the concept, biggest pay off for not sending my manuscript out to the giant publishing firms."
Q: "So would it be fair to say that you're actually an Indie-Author/Illustrator/Publisher?"
A: "Sure, sure. All those and an Indie-Editor/Typesetter/Formatter/Graphic Designer. I wear alot of pants-easier to just refer to those of us who hire out for absolutely nothing as IATW's. 'Indie-All-The-Way-er's" laughs "We IATW's we've got our many pockets full of WIP's."
Q: "Your book is available in print though. The big syndicates are starting to notice the Createspace/Amazon publishing trend, and they're worried. Was creating the print copy harder than getting an e-Book out?"
A: "Are they worried? I don't think so. It'll be a few generations at least before franchise networking goes anywhere. I love that people with talent but no resources can finally be heard, but I highly doubt anyone in Hollywood's worried about it. Maybe 'Wool' raised some eyebrows with the muckity mucks but I don't see it creating any stock issues for anyone. As for it being 'harder'...no, it really wasn't. I had to teach myself what a gutter margin was but the print version is exactly the same 'book' as the e-version. eBooks have covers and inserts too now. They even have more than print copies, they have authors notes, xray excerpts, soundtracks for chapters, all sorts of neat stuff. The print process is totally free and much easier. There are tutorials that guide an Indie through designing the physical print copy in something like eight simple steps. Anyone can do it. Internet retailers want our software peices to fill the Kindle/Kobo shelves with, to drive hardware sales. In a way 'they' court 'us'. A lovely change from tradition. Honestly, I wouldn't have even created the physical book except that some of my friends have a fascination with the smell of paper. 'Things' are a thing of the past. E-libraries, that's what the Giant NY Five should be worried about. Prices are going to drop for movies too when no-one needs to pay for a disc that exists as a .99 cent rental in the cloud, and when truly great acting talent can be spotted on youtube rather than forced down our throats by a celebrities agent who requires million dollar contracts for the same quality of art."
Q: "That makes people like me think of updating our resumes."
A: "Really? How's it read now?" laughs "I think you'll be alright. You're kids kids will be pushing meta-data platforms or something by the time it's a relevant change."
Q: "I read your book. It's good. Which is not the norm. Like 'Wool', it isn't a junk vanity novel like the thousands Amazon is being flooded with. Does that ever bother you, the vanity releases? It makes works like yours very hard for a reader to find without a firm behind you."
A: "Fair enough, yeah I'd agree with that. Vanity books are awful. I've fallen into that trap myself when I just wanted something for under a dollar to read in the bath. I think the consumers are wisening up though and I imagine KDP will get the kinks worked out...set up a grammar filter or something eventually. It's easy enough to avoid. Stick to books over 200 pgs. long. Writers driven be greed, narcissism or boredom don't usually stick around for more than fifty. There are alot of really great books out there now for under $5...like really really good books, it's just about finding the unknown authors. I think our tiny fan bases are the best in the world becuase of that. They have to actively search out the entertainment they want, and it changes the dynamic of the artists relationship with them entirely. I can honestly say the handful of people who've read and liked my work are worth a million popularly franchised authors fans. Like you. I'm glad you enjoyed my book. I'm glad I get to sit here with you now."
Q: "Wow, I see what you mean. It's very personal isn't it?"
A: "I think anyone who's ever created anything would claim that's it's personal. I just like that I get real feedback from it, real shared moments. Funny...electronic media allows me that more than any firm would."
Q: "If my higher-ups came begging for your book, what would it take for you to sell the rights? Is remaining self-published an ethical bias for you?"
A; "No, not at all. Most of us little authors would jump at that kind of chance. They'd just have to offer us money and wider distribution. It really isn't selling out, becuase it wouldn't be about the money, at least not for me. It's about getting my book into as many hands as possible. I said my fan base was better becuase it was a small direct relationship. Not that I wouldn't want to expand it. All authors want to be read. And the money supports my ability to continue writing-anything more than that is good luck and should be put to good use. You'd be amazed how many of these supposedly multi-millionare artists blithely hand out huge donations to worthy causes. We know why we do what we do, and we know that it isn't generosity when the money was never ours to start with. People who don't understand that principle, the ones who own five ferrari's...they're behind the de-clutter trend in a big way. The syndicates need to start rethinking how the contracts they offer work. All someone like me would need them for is wider distribution, and right now I'm in Japan and the UK everyday somewhere while a Kindle reader strolls to work or sits in a park. The big publishing houses need to realize that they need to pay us for the right to advertise our work. Everything else I can do myself for free. The real problem is that the publishing syndicates haven't figured out that they should be looking for people like me. I'm not wasting money and time seeking them, let them find me if they want to offer something worthwhile to their consumers. The days of paying to mail out a hundred manuscripts have passed. They don't even except electronic entree's yet. Are they nuts? What a waste. They only bottom line their hurting is their own."
Q: "You seem very passionate about these principles. Does that show you think in your novel? Did you always know you wanted to write science-fiction?"
A: laughs "Nice subject change. I hope my passion shows in my novel, unsubtly the lead charachter is a philosophy student as I myself was. I don't really think of it as science-fiction. It is fantasy in a way, but it's also possibility. I would write just about any genre. Hopefully before I die I'll give each a try. Fiction is my favorite to read though, I suppose that's why I started there.
Q: "Over 300 pgs. is quite a start."
A: "Nah. Besides, I'd say I started years ago and haven't begun yet."
-Interview Q&A with Independant Author, Alexis Lewis-
by Anonymous
