Sunday, December 9, 2012

In the mind of Best Selling Horror Author: My interview with Scott Nicholson

Thank you very much for taking the time to join us Scott.

1. You have been on the editing side and the author side, which is your favorite and why?

I did freelance editing on the side for a few years, and it was a great chance to grow and learn and, hopefully, help some other writers. But I am essentially a writer. I have done other things on the side based on my experience, such as teaching, leading workshops, promoting, and even hosting comic conventions. It's all part of the same creative journey to me.

2. Your new release The Home shows in production, can we have any details?

The Home was actually out in paperback in 2005. I revised it for digital release, and it was optioned a couple of years back. A script is now circulating and we're optimistic. Still, don't quit your day job.

3. You are very prolific, do you ever run into writers block and if so how do you handle it?

Not really, because I have so many different outlets that I can switch up. As a self-publisher, I have to run all aspects of my business, and content creation is just one part of the job. So it's both and art and a profession, and I enjoy it all, even the gummy parts like marketing and bookkeeping.

4. How do you think KDP Select is affecting the market?

The "free" genie is out of the bottle, for better or worse. Overall, it can't help but devalue the market at some point, especially when there are thousands of free books every single day. On the other hand, I never expected the digital boom had a long term. So making books free is a great way to meet readers at no cost to either of you, and that's really what it is all about. The Prime subscription service Amazon is using is a natural fit for ebooks, and a stroke of genius as the company understood early on (unlike Apple and BN) that this is a content war and not a device war. I expect Prime will become one of the bigger avenues of ebook delivery in the next few years. But it's hard to see how author compensation is going to be more than nickels and dimes when everything moves to an "all-you-can-eat" buffet along the lines of Netflix.

5. Do you ever feel that you have a complete grasp on the whole Indy market/publishing niche or does it change too rapidly for that to happen?

No, I learn every single day, and I always assume it has changed since yesterday. I keep jumping ahead and taking chances, because new readers enter the digital ocean every single day. My goal is to meet three billion of them.

6. What do you have in the works that readers can look forward to?

AFTER: THE SHOCK is the first book in my post-apocalyptic trilogy, due out Dec. 18. I am also releasing a revamped novella called FANGS IN VAIN, and I'm working on SPIDER: WEB with J.R. Rain that will probably be out in early 2013.

7. Is there any character of yours that you identify with and why?

I like Ronnie Day in The Red Church, because I can identify with those identity struggles during my own coming-of-age. Of course, I didn't have a haunted church around...

8. You were recently out of the country, were you doing research for a new project?

Yes, it was for Spider: Web, which takes place on a cruise ship and is set in Honduras.Hear that, IRS?

9. What type of marketing do you find the most beneficial to get books out to readers?

I try a little of everything and no one onows what will work on a given day. That's why we keep taking chances. Readers deserve some consideration because they are constantly bombarded. So my favorite typoes of promotion are giveaways. I've helped give away about 30 Kindle Fires this year, as well as a couple thousand dollars' worth of gift cards and other prizes.

10. What is the one thing you wish someone would ask you and the answer?

How do you grow good garlic? The key is lots of wood ash, and to plant very early in the winter.

You can see my work at:

http://www.hauntedcomputer.com. Come follow me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AuthorScottNicholson and Twitter http://www.twitter.com/eScottNicholson.

Thanks, Mark!

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4 comments:

  1. I know how to plant very early in the winter!
    Interesting interview,thank you.I read and have many e-books on my computer, though not Kindle Fire.Hope,that Santa will come with one for me.

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  2. Thanks for the comments about the evolving nature of marketing and promotion of eBooks on Amazon. I agree, in the end, it's a content rather than a device war :)

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  3. Thanks for hosting me, Mark, and I am glad you stopped by, Anon and Carrie!

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  4. It was a blast having you Scott. Thank you!

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