Five Thrilling Finalists - Kirkus MacGowan

This is the final in a series of incredibly interesting interviews with the other four Best Indie Thriller 2012 finalists. Each author details their journey, answering the same set of questions. We have so far met Rob Lowe, Stephen Woodfin, Craig O. Thompson and today I'm pleased to introduce Kirkus MacGowan.

Profile

Kirkus MacGowan

Kirkus MacGowan wrote his first book at the age of eight, about traveling to Mars to find the cure for cancer. He put his writing dreams on hold for twenty-five years and focused his energies on playing baseball. He moved on when he found playing softball with his friends more enjoyable than his pipe dream.

Since then, he graduated with a B.S. in Psychology, married a woman too good to be true, and moved back to his hometown. He gave up an amazing career waiting tables and now stays at home with his two crazy children. He spends his time writing thrillers and fantasy, playing softball with friends, enjoying the occasional computer game, and wrestling with his kids.

The Fall of Billy Hitchings

John Reeves, an ex-Marine, drives to Myrtle Beach hoping to repair a damaged relationship with his fiancée. Instead, he finds her unconscious in the hospital, the victim of an unexplained explosion at a local restaurant.

Reeves meets Billy Hitchings, a teenager who knows more about the explosion than he should. Their questions lead to an ancient legacy best left alone.

Pulled into yet another crossfire, John Reeves fights to protect his friends and keep a primeval power from falling into the wrong hands.

JP: You wrote a book. You published it yourself and hoped others would love it in some way, as you do. You read in the press over 250,000 books were independently published in the last year. Then you get an email from Jeff Bennington, founder of the Kindle Book Review - you made the final five for their best Thriller, Mystery books of 2012. Now tell me:

Just how did that feel?

Surreal is the word of the week. We have all these dreams and aspirations when we set out to become the next big author. We talk about what we’ll buy when we’ve sold a million copies, how we’ll star in our own movies.

The reality is that none of this is likely to happen, but we still have our hopes. To hear something like this from Jeff Bennington is a great form of validation. What makes it better is that the competition is reader based. It’s not about how many friends we have, how big of a bankroll we have behind us, it’s simply how much these avid readers enjoy our book.

We have proof that writing is important to you, tell us what moved you to write in the first place and then how that became writing a book.

I had an obsession with books as a child (and still today). It didn’t matter if it was a picture book, if it had words, I loved it. I’m betting psychologists would have a field day with this one, but I read phone books too. I don’t know if it was the funny names, or just the written language, but I’d spend hours in front of those huge yellow tomes.

When I was around age eight, my mother bought a typewriter for work. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe this little machine produced the very words pored over every night. I spent weeks copying books into typewritten form.

This is also about the time I fell in love with baseball. Without going into too much detail, I spent twenty-three years chasing the baseball dream before coming full circle.

Writing a book was something I’d always wanted to do. I’d graduated from college two years ago, had my two-year-old son rolling around on the floor in front of me, and felt ambition knocking at my door. I chose to write a book to show my son that it’s okay to chase dreams, that even if I don’t succeed, he can chase his as responsibly as I have my own and never question whether he made the right choice.

In crafting this story and the characters, what part of you is reflected in the story creation and these so real fictional people.

I’m assuming there are bits and pieces of my personality strewn throughout the story, but it’s hard determining whether they are pieces of me, or piece of all of us.

Like Billy Hitchings, for example. He’s your everyday nineteen-year-old kid. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life, he hates his horrible job, and he just wants more. This relates to what I said before about my dreams as a writer. I knew I wanted more out of my life, it just took me years to figure out what it was I wanted.

John Reeves has a tendency toward snarky comments and being flip at the most inopportune times, especially when put in situations he can’t control. I grew up in a “snarky comment” household, not just my immediate family, but extended as well. You couldn’t keep up if you didn’t have quick wits.

Then we have Amfar Ditpra, the (partially) insecure brainiac. He has many of the same doubts most men have, particularly with women. If anything, he symbolizes the brainy part of my personality. To this day, when I find a subject I find interesting, I’ll spend hours and hours researching only to satisfy my curiosity. This happened during my research for my second book. I searched for court cases where DNA evidence played a significant role and I didn’t log of the internet until almost four in the morning!

How long did it take to write this book? From page one to pressing “publish” on Amazon? Tell us a little about the process.

I wrote around 50k words in six months. It was also during that time that I learned about writing through a combination of writing itself and multiple how-to books.

I end up mentioning this in almost every interview I’ve done, but this was around the time I heard one of the best pieces of writing advice to date. I found an interview of Alexander Yates, author of Moondogs, where he described his writing process. His suggestion was that we should put the first draft down without ever going back for edits until the manuscript is complete. Why should we spend hours rewriting and editing a chapter that may not end up in the final draft anyway!

I took his words to heart and got down to business. I wrote the next 80k words in a little over a month (plus 50k words in two other books). I’m glad I took his advice. By the final draft, I had removed almost 25k words from the beginning of my manuscript, and another 15k later. Imagine if I’d spent my precious time editing those chapters now lost to the Horrible Writing Graveyard.

The rest of the process was rather straightforward. Edits, more edits, more edits, and then more edits. Cover design, more edits, and finally published. From the moment I wrote the first words to the moment I pressed publish (on my dad’s birthday) took a total of eleven months.

Did you ever lobby agents, had you been published traditionally, and what did you learn from this if you did?

As I mentioned above, I spent around six months studying the craft while putting down the first 50k words in my draft. I also learned about agents, traditional and self-publishing, editors, and just about every other aspect of the literary field.

I had everything lined up. I knew which agents I would query first, which publishers I hoped to sign with, how I would go about the process. Then… skip to the next question.

At what point did you think: 'I could publish this myself?' And what made you do this?

During my learning process, I found a book by J. A. Konrath named, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. I’d heard a bit about self-publishing, but nothing concrete. Konrath published traditionally for years before jumping into the Indie author field. I thought he’d have a unique perspective on the subject, and boy did he ever.

His book (a blog compilation) pointed me toward Indie publishing and I never looked back. He explained how newbie authors receive very little in the way of promotion unless they happen to be one of the lucky few. On top of this, they’re lucky to receive two dollars on a ten-dollar print book, or twenty-five dollar hardcover. Self-publishers receive the same royalties on a $2.99 eBook!

I figured that if I was going to promote myself more than a traditional publisher anyway, I may as well self-publish, promote the same as I would anyway, and receive a much higher royalty rate.

I’d still sign (probably) a print contract if offered, but with the recent explosion in eBook sales, no way I’m giving those rights away!

Once you made the leap, what drove you to produce a book of this quality? Tell me about typos, grammar, synopsis and the book's cover.

Luck? Seriously, it’s probably my perfectionist personality type. The problem is that none of this comes naturally. I worked my butt off! Of course, working hard doesn’t constitute quality, but I continued working until it was as good as I could possibly make it.

Looking at it now, there are plenty of changes that could improve my debut novel. That’s part of the process. If you can’t look back at your past works and see things you need to change, then you aren’t growing as an author.

On top of this, I’d read so many horror stories about bad formatting, editing, and plotting, that I didn’t want to be one of those stories. Like the old-school attitude states, if I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it well… at least the best I can at that given time.

As with all aspects of book creation, the book cover took multiple drafts before I was satisfied. I went through one professional, created a cover myself, and then went on to another professional before I was satisfied.

Remember that perfectionist attitude? There’s always the possibility I’ll change the cover again. It’s hard for me to leave something alone if it’s not perfect. An entire rewrite isn’t out of the realm of possibility either.

Do you publish outside of Amazon and what are your thoughts on the Amazon Select program?

The novel we’re discussing today, The Fall of Billy Hitchings, is only available through Amazon in eBook format, but through multiple retailers in print. I originally started my novel on multiple online retailers but that quickly changed when the KDP Select program began.

I could go on about KDP Select for hours so I’ll try to keep this short. When I saw the success other authors were having by joining the program, I jumped on the wagon.

The Fall of Billy Hitchings has had amazing success. I’ve run a few freebie days on Amazon and given away around 40k copies. In the long run, those giveaways will hopefully bring readers around to check out my other books, and maybe bring in some reviews, but the best part is the effect on your sales afterward.

One of the ways Amazon promotes your book is through its popularity. That popularity is a combination of multiple factors and one of those factors is how many copies you give away on a free day.

Okay, I’m already rambling. KDP Select is great for Indie authors, at least for now, but we have yet to see the long-term ramifications.

A journey that started a long time ago has led you to these characters and this book. You're already a finalist. Tell me what it would mean to have your book named as the Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Thriller 2012?

Regardless of who wins, this has been a wonderful ride and I’ve met some cool authors along the way. I’m just happy there are readers out there who enjoy my books.

If I win, then I look forward to working with The Kindle Book Review to get the word out about my debut novel. After I do a happy dance of course. I honestly can’t give a straight answer. I can’t imagine winning, just as I didn’t imagine making it to the top five in my genre.

Every validation along the way feels better than the last. I’m honestly just happy doing what I love. If winning means I get to spend more time writing (and my family), then I’ll be ecstatic.

Before I go, I want to give a shout out to John Potter for allowing me the opportunity to interview on his blog. I also need to say thanks to Jeff Bennington for this creating a wonderful website dedicated to the support of Indie authors.

Thank you so much, for this interview.

It has been a real pleasure Kirkus. I loved the Alexander Yates advice. Thank you for taking the time.

Omar on Amazon US

Omar on Amazon UK

Join Kirkus and 9 other award-winning authors in the BEST INDIE BOOK FESTIVAL,

Featuring 10 Literary Fiction & Thriller Titles!

TWO DAYS ONLY!

Tues. Sept. 18-Wed., Sept. 19th.

10 Award winning books and SEVERAL chances to win a

$10, $20, or $50 Amazon gift card 

(3 lucky WINNERS will be chosen!)