David’s Comments (group member since May 27, 2011)

David’s comments from the Q&A with David M. Brown group.

Sorry about Mrs B's absence - she's full off cold. However, she's passed on her next hints:

1) Book trailer: you don't have to spend a lot of money. The one for Fezariu's epiphany cost under £50 and has attracted many hints on the internet. It's a talking point and as long as you don't spend your whole marketing budget on it, you won't need it to sell that many copies for you for it to be worthwhile.

2) Indie Book Collective - a great site if you're an indie author with lots of supportive people: http://www.indiebookcollective.com/In...

3) Indie Author Group on Facebook - amazing hints every day from people who are willing to share their successes (and failures) in advertising, promos, marketing etc. Wonderful people, really keen to share http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=g...

I'd certainly agree about the blog. When I first started blogging I didn't think I'd have anything to write about. Now I have a regular stream of posts and really enjoy exploring another avenue of writing.

I'll confess that most of my publicity, web and promo work is done by Mrs B but I've asked her to share her list of sites and sources for getting the novel out there.

The question 'who influences you?' works in a similar way to 'what's your favourite colour/word/food/sweet etc?' in that it leaves you momentarily blank. There are so many answers and yet they all seem to vanish as soon as you need to recall them. Nonetheless, I've managed to recall a few: "Norse mythology, Final Fantasy games, J.R.R. Tolkien, medieval history, my wife, Ernest Hemingway, Anime, Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki".

Feel free to ask me for more information or to share your own influences!

Technically "Fez" as it has become affectionately termed by me and Mrs B isn't my first novel but it's certainly the first I've decided to pursue to publication. It's taken two years to write, edit and polish and several months ago I decided I would be self-publishing. There are many benefits to going through a publishing house but most of all I wanted to know: do the readers like it? and I thought self-publishing would help me find that out. I'm ready to embark on novel two but I want to be sure I've listened to the people who read book one. Self-publishing enables me to do that and also means I can engage much more with the people who will (hopefully!) read and enjoy the book.

So over the next month I'll be happy to answer all your questions on my writing, my future plans, Fezariu's Epiphany and how I've found self-publishing so far. Feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my very best to answer.