Nick Russell and Big River interview.

Nick Russell is a self published author of Big River, a kindle edition that is going great guns on Amazon. A generous man who lives in an RV in America and travels the road Nick was kind enough to participate in this short interview.

If you were ever looking for inspiration to publish on Kindle, Nick has the formula/drive/talent to follow.

 

What was your reason for going the Kindle route?

 

I have been involved in self-publishing for many years, and have several nonfiction books out in print. A number of years ago I wrote my first novel, a mystery set in the White Mountains of Arizona, called Big Lake. I sat on the book for a long time because I had no confidence in my abilities as a fiction author. In early 2011, I began researching e-publishing, and a friend and my wife both urged me to publish Big Lake on Amazon. I decided that it was a good way to test the waters and see what the reading public thought of it.   

 

Were you computer literate before you decided to go digital?

 

Yes, I work at a computer every day. We publish a bimonthly RV newspaper called the Gypsy Journal, and I publish three blogs, so computers are the tools of my trade. 

 

Do you think you need a big social network to promote your book Big Lake?

Kindle edition link

 

There is no question that the followers of our newspaper and my blogs played a huge role in the early success of Big Lake. When I announced that it was available in Kindle format, many of them went right to Amazon and ordered a copy.

 

How did you promote your work?

 

I started with an announcement in my daily RV blog, and announcements on Facebook and Twitter. I also mentioned the book on two or three RV and writing forums. As sales progressed, I posted updates on the blog and social media websites.

 

Are you pleased with sales/results of your efforts?

 

Sales of Big Lake have exceeded my wildest expectations. I thought that I’d sell a few copies a month, but sales grew steadily. In July, I sold 103 copies, by October I was up to 545 copies. In November, sales exploded, with 4,283 copies sold. As of today, Christmas Day, December sales are at 24,713 copies.

 

How long have you been writing to get to this point in your career?

 

I’ve always used writing to express myself, and I’ve been fortunate to have made my living with the written word for much of my life. I owned and published small town newspapers for 30 years, as well as self-publishing niche books and booklets.

 

Would you recommend Kindle/Amazon to budding self publishers?

 

I think that the Kindle program is excellent for any author, be they an experienced wordsmith, or a newbie just wanting to break in.

 

What one piece of advice would you give to a writer who is about to embark on Kindle publishing?

 

Buy and use a good style guide. Spend the time to learn the basics of punctuation. I have seen many Kindle books that have an excellent story line, but the terrible punctuation makes them hard to read, and detracts from the finished product. Do not try to proofread your own manuscript. Have your manuscript proofread by somebody with good English skills. More than one proofreader is even better.

 

What are your future writing plans?

 

I have a sequel to Big Lake, titled Big Lake Lynching almost finished, and I hope to have it available in the Kindle bookstore in the next month. There are a couple more books germinating in the back of my mind that I hope to turn into something in the next year.

 

What are your future publishing plans?

 

I believe that e-books are the future of publishing, and Amazon’s Kindle Desktop Publishing program is leading the charge. I plan to continue writing and publishing, and to be part of the e-book revolution.

 

Finally, where can we see/download/buy/read/chat/find Nick Russell and Big Lake.

 

Big Lake is available on Amazon in Kindle format, and on Smashwords for those who use other e-book readers. I have an author’s page on Facebook, Nick Russell’s Writing Life, at http://www.facebook.com/NickRussellAuthor. I also publish a daily RV blog at www.gypsyjournalblog.com, a self-publishing blog at http://publishing4profit.com/blog, and a general rant/soapbox blog at http://badnickblog.com.

Famous Authors who self published

Is self publishing a dirty word? Is it still seen as the back door to getting the book out there?

Here are a few of those now famous who did it themselves.

• John Grisham, 
• Stephen King, 
• Amanda Hocking,
• Oscar Wilde
• Rudyard Kipling
• George Bernard Shaw
• Mark Twain
• Beatrix Potter

• Virginia Woolf

Self publishing stigma?

These days the stigma of self publishing is gradually going. Granted everyone who has ever written a book wants the big bucks and the big contract and the recognition that someone else besides their family thinks they are a genius, but with all the noise in the market about the publishing houses financial woes...well why not do it yourself

What first? 

There are numerous houses out there that will help you self publish. I went for LULU but there are others (listed below). You first need a manuscript that is perfect.  This sounds easy but it takes a bit of time to get it right. If you don't have it right then everyone will see the mistakes. Believe me I know!

So get it edited. Spend the money, ask a writerly person, an English teacher, or someone you trust. Do the line edit (a good blog for the steps).

Read the intructions

The computer stuff for Lulu is set out in easy steps. Follow them and use the help button. The formatting isn't hard and if you stuff it up then the ms gets rejected and they point you in the right direction to get it right. You can save and go back at any stage so its no hassle to go to the original and fix the problems. It took me three nights to read all the instructions, because I'm a stickler for thoroughness. I wanted to know where I was headed before I got down and dirty. Those three nights were invaluable. I read a number of the trouble shooting problems, the forums, the way people went about doing things and so when it was my turn I had all the fact.

DIY

I tried to query for my book Literary Licence but after 50 rejections I decided to self publish. The public reaction has been great. I purchased 80 copies and sold 60 in 60 days without really trying. 

I don't feel a failure. I feel I have put a good solid product on the market. I feel entrepreneurial and quite proud of myself. It is a start and I think I'm in good company. Am I fooling myself into thinking I'm as good as those above? Maybe, but we all have to start somewhere. I'm the original cynic, but if self publishing gets your work out there...after all, we are entertainers aren't we? And sometimes even the best play only gets a small house or a short run.

here are some Australian publishing houses for the self published

http://www.selfpublish.com.au/

http://www.bookpal.com.au/

http://www.seaviewpress.com.au/

http://australianselfpublishinggroup.com/

http://www.xlibris.com.au/

http://selfpublishingnews.com/2008/10/15/amazon-kindle-submission/
kindle self publishing

A writing question? The E book

When is a book published?
In the rareified atmosphere of publishing a book is only deemed to be "published" when it can be held in your hand.
But what of E books. They are becoming popular. They are cheap. So are they published in the real world, even if they are self published.
I think anything that is out there in the public arena can be considered published, even without the backing of a 'house'.

How to publish an E book

I have been through the process of self publishing an E book. I chose smashwords and quite soon realized I needed to learn a few things. So Smashwords have an excellent step by step guide. And I mean step by step. I had the instructions open and my document open and when they said to do something...I did it. In the process of formatting my manuscript I learnt quite a bit about a word document. Where all those hidden things are that make writing a much more enjoyable experience, even down to how to change the default for the font.
Formatting a book for the E market is I think an essential tool, no matter if you want to publish or not. I would recommend using Smashwords style guide and really you cannot go wrong. They explain where to find all the tools on your document etc. and what you should look for etc. All up it took me 4 hours from start to finish.
At the end when you upload the Smashwords widget tells you if you need to fix something. Then you have to go back to the original document and fix it and then upload it again. I missed one dot in the dot com and that was it.
If you ever wanted to get the most out a the word document tool bar this instruction book is invaluable. They talk about tools I never knew existed, but now I use all the time.
click on the title of this post to take you there. Upload the guide yourself and get started.