Interview with Kevin Newman

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book?

This is a collection of short stories.  Most of the stories are experiments in fiction, and these experiments range from the vernacular, themes, plot and narrative used.  They also span genres.

Did you try the traditional route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?

Yes and I still am.  In the meantime, I wanted to get myself out there and since I’m not too keen on the effort needed to get short stories published in magazines vs the rewards involved, I decided to self-publish a collection of them and offer them for free.

Do you belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?

Not really, I just surround myself with highly critical people.  That helps.

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish to Amazon?

It was one venue among others that was useful in helping me find my audience.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?

Not for this work.  I scrutinized it myself.

What have you’ve learned during your self-publishing journey?

A great deal.  I’m also sure there’s quite a bit more to learn.  But the most important things were: finding out who the various free self-publishers were, what their criteria were and various aspects on how to market an eBook.

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

The Book is on Smashwords, Blurb, Lulu and most importantly, my own website www.voxnewman.com

What kinds of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?

I used all the above, in addition to paid internet advertising.

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?

Yes.  The marketing takes up pretty much all the available time I would have to write.  I’d like to get back to essentials.  This is probably why one needs a traditional publisher.

What advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing arena?

Brian S Pratt pretty much covers it.  The best advice I got was after I goggled him.

What’s next for you?

I’d like to finish up some other novels and also get a publishing contract.

**All Night by the Rose is currently FREE at Amazon. Click on the icon below to download.