Interview with H. Jonas Rhynedahll

Briefly describe your journey in writing your first book.

I first had the idea for Orphan thirty-five years ago.  Life being life, it was not until 2006 that I finally had time to complete the novel.

Did you query agents or traditional publishers before publishing on Amazon?

I did, but with no success.  This process in the United States has become, in my opinion, near impossible for anyone with no connections or prior track record.  The middle ground that existed for new authors years ago seems to have completely disappeared.

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish?

Once I learned about the digital publishing process at Amazon, B & N, and others, I realized that I had the necessary skills to publish at a cost I could afford: a great lot of hard and determined work.

Did you design your cover art? 

I created the covers for Orphan and my short story collection, Not Your Typical, Scantily-Clad Virgin Sacrifice in the open source program Blender 3d with some models from MakeHuman and text and graphics from Gimp, both also open source.

How did you feel when you got your first sale?  Are you pleased with sales so far?

My first sale was like a straight injection of excitement, close but not quite as grand as that when my children were born.  I am happy that my books continue to sell, but like all authors, I will always be happy to sell more.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned during your self-publishing journey?

Perseverance is the key.

What kinds of social media [twitter, facebook, webpage, blog, writing forums] are you involved with trying to garner attention for your book(s)?

I twitter occasionally (Please don’t tell my kids!) and spend a good bit of time in forums, but don’t really have the time to devote to the rest. I have a website for the Key to Magic series at http://keytomagic.rhynedahll.com.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?

Orphan is available on Barnes and Noble for the Nook and also on the iBookstore.

What’s next for you?

I am in the process of editing the second book in my Key to Magic series. Magician will be available on Amazon by January 1 and B & N and iBookstore shortly thereafter. I have two other books stewing, one is Not With a Bang, a novel that takes place after a not-quite-apocalypse, and the other is Tunnels, a science fiction novel dealing with a culture that is trapped inside the works of genetically-engineered worms designed to dig the tunnels for metro lines.