MwM Self-Publishing Spotlight: James Mace
Marketing with Mandy Self-Publishing Spotlight: James Mace
Q: Please take a minute to tell us a little about yourself.
A: I grew up in Meridian, Idaho, which is just outside of Boise. I spent three years in the Air Force and was stationed in Phoenix before getting out and moving back to Boise. I worked full-time as a federal technician for the Army Guard for fifteen years before recently resigning in order to focus exclusively on writing.
I am the author of four books in the series Soldier of Rome – The Artorian Chronicles, as well as a short novella based on one of the characters. Writers are often stereotyped as introverts, hence why one of my best friends told recently that he's surprised it's what I do for a living as I am the most sociable person he knows.
I work out religiously, hitting the weights, swimming laps, running, or bicycling five to six days a week. My goal is to compete in my first Spartan Race this year. I also belong to a rather insane running / social club called The Hash House Harriers.
Q: What prompted you to self-publish your book(s)?
A: After writing my first book in 2005, I made numerous attempts to go the traditional route. The perception was that you had to have an agent and go to a big publisher, otherwise you were a failure. I sent out approximately a hundred queries and received about twenty responses. I was told that was phenomenal, since the response rate was supposedly only about 2%. I shrugged it off, as even though I got twenty responses, none of them would take me on as a writer. No one said they didn't like the story; what all of them said was, "There is no market for this". Apparently they'd never seen "Gladiator". A friend of mine had written a book a few years back and recommended that I try self-publishing.
Q: How has the experience been to date?
A: It was slow at first. I certainly was not writing in order to become rich. It was simply a hobby that I made a little bit of money at. The issue with self-publishing is you are completely on your own when it comes to marketing and advertising. You are also required to front the costs, though these are not too bad.
Where my real success has been is in the rise of the eBook. I tell people all the time that Amazon Kindle is my new best friend! Around the spring of 2011 I managed to get all of my books onto Kindle and the sales immediately took off. By summer I was making substantially more in royalties off Kindle alone that I was working full-time for the federal government.
Q: What do you know now that you wished you knew when you started?
A: I've gone through many hard lessons learned, foremost being don't skimp when it comes to proof-reading and editing! Unfortunately, no one has written a "Self-Publishing for Dummies" guide, so I had to learn most lessons the hard way.
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: This is still something I'm actually trying to learn more about. I've done the occasional blog tour, plus I have a fan page on Facebook, along with my official website.
Q: What is one thing you'd want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Keep writing! Sounds clichéd, I know. Thing is, focus on what you're good at and start getting a catalog of quality work out. Also, like I mentioned above, don't skimp on the proof-reading / editing. You may think you can proof your own work. Trust me, you can't. The brain will see what is supposed to be there, but it may not be what is actually printed. Also, if you don't put your works onto eBook, especially Kindle, you're only hurting yourself. Between my four books (my novella is eBook only), I sell maybe a hundred or so copies per month combined. Conversely, I sell several thousand a month on Kindle. And if you have short stories, you can publish those directly to eBook and sell them for $0.99, thereby giving readers a sample of your writing style.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: My latest release was my short novella, Centurion Valens and the Empress of Death. Though it has characters from The Artorian Chronicles in it, it is not a "military" story. I classify it more as a semi-erotic thriller involving a Centurion and the fallout that comes from his transgression with the notorious Empress Messalina. It's about 26,000 words, so about a quarter of the length of one of my regular books. It has been well received and in fact is my best-seller in the U.K.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP's (works in progress)?
A: I am currently working on the fifth installment of The Artorian Chronicles, entitled Soldier of Rome: Judea. This will be the second-to-last book of the series, so I am looking at branching out into other eras of history. That is why after Judea is released I will be working on another short novella before I jump into the final book, Soldier of Rome: The Last Campaign. This particular story will take place during one of the most brutal sieges of the Napoleonic Wars which took place in April 1812. It is called Forlorn Hope: The Storming of Badajoz.
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