Today we have a short interview with K.C. May. She writes fantasy and science fiction, and, though she doesn’t have a huge body of work out there, she’s already doing quite well for herself as an indie author. Her The Kinshield Legacy is a fantasy bestseller and the higher-priced science fiction thriller The Venom of Vipers (science fiction thriller) sells a lot of copies a day too!
She’s agreed to answer a few questions for us:
What led you to e-publishing?
My first novel was published by a small press in 2005, but without marketing, it didn’t sell many copies. I received the rights back in the summer of 2010, and so I decided to try my hand at self-publishing through Amazon.
It was such a great experience that when it came time to publish my next novel, I set my heart on self-publishing it, too. I did query my old agent about it, but he didn’t respond and so I went ahead with my plan.
Can you talk about your road thus far? I’ve seen you rework your cover art, and I know you’ve been working hard to promote your books. It seems to be paying off!
I went in totally clueless about everything! There’s a lot of info on the internet about how to format books, how to market, etc. and over time I gained a better understanding of what works for me and what doesn’t.
I did have my cover redone after readers told me the original one looked like it belonged on a YA vampire novel. hahaha! That was so NOT what The Venom of Vipers is. I’m quite happy with the new cover.
I’ve found that there are two effective promotion approaches. One is to play by the rules (don’t spam, post only occasionally to the sites that allow it and only on their allowed schedule) and be yourself the rest of the time (hang out with other readers, talk about books, let people get to know you as a person).
The other is to make a name for yourself as a rogue — spam your book ads at every opportunity and insult readers publicly if they don’t like your books or your marketing approach. Both methods seem to work to sell books, but I can’t bring myself to try the latter. 🙂
What are your projects for the future? Can you see this being a full-time gig someday?
I’m currently working on the sequel to The Kinshield Legacy. This will be the second and last book in the series, but I could see myself writing more (unrelated) stories about the characters in the story. I would LOVE to write fiction full-time! It’d be a dream come true. I write professionally for a large technology company, and I do love my job, but I’d give it up in a heartbeat if my books took off. 🙂
Want to learn more? Visit KC May on the web.
I don’t know what the old cover looked like but I like both of these very much. Congratulations on doing so well.
Thanks, Loren. Both of my covers are do-overs. Heh. I hope the first attempt at a cover for The Wayfarer King is the last. 🙂
Thanks, Lindsay, for the interview. I enjoyed chatting.
KC
I have read The Kinshield Legacy and The Venom of Vipers and loved them both. I have been looking forward to the sequel to Kinshield since the day I finished it and am very excited to see it is almost ready.
Scott
Always good to see an indie writer succeeding, and you’re right about the importance of the cover–if I don’t like one I often won’t bother to even read the description.
Kinshield sample downloaded. Cover intrigues me actually. Will certainly check it out. Thanks for the interview!