Please welcome writer Ev Bishop, who does a fine job of inaugurating the new Indie Tuesday event!
Thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your blog’s Indie Tuesdays, kc. I’m thrilled about your leap into indie publishing and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Q: Do you have a favourite genre to read—or write—in? What draws you in that direction?
A: I don’t know if this makes me unusual or not, but no, I don’t play favourites. I read everything under the sun, women’s fiction, romance, horror, literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, poetry, you name it—and I write across the genres too, in a variety of lengths and forms, both fiction and non-fiction.
“Love one woman, many guitars,” and thought, Hey, that’s me, but one man, many genres!
Hopefully all my stories, though, regardless of their category, have realistic characters that you care about—love or hate—absorbing, compelling plots, and themes of value (even if said themes are very simple ones). That’s my goal anyway.
Q: Why Indie publishing instead of the traditional route?
A: For me it’s not so much “instead of” as it is “as well as.” I’m a hybrid author—someone who has been published (and seeks to continue being published) by traditional publishers and goes the independent route with some works. I’m excited to say I’ve finally found the path that suits me best and gives me the most joy/least frustration. I choose different publishing tracks for different projects for the same reason I write in different genres: every story has a way it is best told—and best shared.
Q: What’s your favourite review one of your stories has received?
A: I’m honoured (and relieved ) that both Bigger Things and Wedding Bands have received good reviews, but what may go down in history as my all-time favorite reader’s response came from my husband who doesn’t usually read my books. He decided to change that and read both Bigger Things (which he liked enough to coax some of his male coworkers to buy, too) and Wedding Bands.
The latter had him so engrossed he couldn’t stop reading it—was even back late from his lunch break, something he never is. At home, he kept talking about the plot, told me more than once that I “got him”—that he hadn’t seen what was coming at all. And topping it off? Just before he was finished, he proudly announced he was sure he knew who the love interests would be in Book 2. Yay! I was ridiculously touched that he not only read it, he really liked it. (Of course, he also complained a lot about how it was weird for him to read romance—and worse, to have people at work know he’s been reading and liking it . . . Heh, heh. I don’t know if he was convinced when I said pretty much everyone loves romance; they just don’t always like to admit it. But seriously, what else does any human care more about than his/her relationships?)
Q: Will you offer a piece of advice either to Indie writers or Indie readers, based on something you have learned from the process?
A: Sure, for whatever it’s worth.
Indie writers: Going the independent route isn’t a magic ticket to bestselling books, financial freedom, or ego-bolstering accolades. It will be just as much work—or more work—than having your work published traditionally, with just as few guarantees about finding readers or selling enough books to support yourself, greater financial risk, and way larger challenges in terms of distributing your stories to the masses—but the upside (the huge, exciting, exhilarating upside!) is that you have full control over whether your book gets published, what it looks like when it is, and how you want to market and promote it.
Enjoy the business venture, but know that it is a business venture. Make sure that before you publish, craft-wise, your work is ready for publishing. Create (or, better, hire a designer to create) professional covers that suit the story you’re trying to sell. Get your books professionally formatted. Surround yourself with supportive people and cheerleaders to encourage you when you hit bumps in the road—and be supportive and cheer others along the way.
Indie readers: When you enjoy a book, please review it wherever you bought it and/or on your blog, Facebook or Goodreads, or anyplace else you talk about reading. Reviews help authors more than you could ever know. Even the simplest one-line comment with a star rating is incredibly helpful and appreciated!
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Ev! I guess that makes me a hybid, too. [Call me Prius…]
And let’s finish with a little blurb of Ev’s latest book: Wedding Bands, Book 1 in the River’s Sigh B & B series.
A terrible misunderstanding separates high school sweethearts, Jo and Callum. When they meet again years later, will they be able to get past their hurt pride and old wounds, or will they go their separate ways permanently?
You can buy Wedding Bands in eBook here: Amazon.com ~ Amazon.ca ~ Amazon.co.uk KOBO ~ For your NOOK at Barnes & Noble ~ Apple/iBooks ~ Page Foundry ~ Scribd Don’t have an eReader and/or prefer print books? Wedding Bands will be out in paperback at the end of the month, available for order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore. Ev loves to connect with other readers and writers, so please reach out. Subscribe to her newsletter. Visit her online at http://www.evbishop.com, or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks again, Ev! And as a special treat, the first five people who retweet or post a ‘Like’ on Facebook to this post will win an e-copy of WEDDING BANDS. Watch this space for the winners!
More soon…
~kc
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