Five Thrilling Finalists - Robert B. Lowe

Robert B. Lowe is one of five finalists for the Kindle Book Review's Indie Thriller of 2012. Here's a little insight into what brought him and Project Moses to this point.

Robert B. Lowe

Author Profile

Robert B. Lowe has adopted San Francisco as his home and sets his fiction there too. He has a Harvard Law school degree and spent twelve years in investigative journalism - earning himself the Pulitzer prize along the way. He draws his fictional inspiration from John Grisham, Dick Francis and Lee Child, blending his own style with a mix of Bay landmarks and culture. When he isn't writing he enjoys a day at the golf course and spending time with his wife and daughters.

Project Moses

A very good book

Enzo Lee is burned out. He's swapped out the east coast and a life at the cutting edge of investigative journalism, for anonymity and the quiet life writing fluff features for a Bay newspaper. Life is good. He runs, revels in his Chinatown roots and alternatives between Tai Chi and women drawn to his exotic looks.

His quiet life ends when he's the only reporter on the desk when a local prosecutor and then judge die. He is pulled into the case by his instincts for a good story and the judge's attractive niece: Sarah Armstrong. Quickly uncovering evidence of bioterrorism that local government officials and silicon valley titans will kill to keep concealed. When Lee and Sarah become targets themselves, it becomes a countdown to whether they can uncover the truth before their time runs out.

Interview

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 Indie Thriller, Mystery books of 2012. Now tell me:

Just how did that feel?

Yippee!  Hoorayy!  Whoop!  Whoop! Whoop!   Seriously, I was pretty happy.  It’s tough even when you start getting some readers and are getting nice reviews to feel you are making any giant strides toward becoming a “successful” writer, as in someone making a serious part of their living at it.  So, it felt nice from both pure ego/vindication to get selected but also to feel like it’s a nice step in achieving your goal.

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.

Having been a journalist for 12 years, I was able to write professionally and always enjoyed the process.   There is always the draw and challenge of a book, though.  I knew many co-workers working on books – some were very successful and others less so.  So, part of me wanted to try my hand at it.  Also, I’ve always been an avid reader of mysteries, particularly those with suspense.  Wanting to emulate the examples you admire and wanting to fix the ones that were flawed entered into it as well.

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

I’ve been a reporter and a lawyer.  I’ve also spent enough time in board rooms with high-powered corporate types and seen a lot of the business politics and uses of power in that context.  I borrowed all that in creating the people and situations.  Since the main protagonist is a reporter and the path followed is generally his, I relied a lot on thinking of what I would have done and felt in his place.  Often I didn’t know in advance what the next steps would be.  I left the character with the problems and then put my reporter’s  hat on to figure out the next steps.

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

It took me 18 years.  I wrote a first draft in 1994 when I had 3 months off between jobs.  I put it down and literally didn’t look at it for 15 years while I had a couple of careers, raised young kids, etc.  Then, I found myself with time again late in 2011.  My wife had badgered me the whole time to finish it and get it published.  I learned about the whole phenomenon of Indie publishing and went for it.
Being able to reread your manuscript after 15 years was amazing.  I’d forgotten major parts of the story.  Some parts made me cringe and others made me quite happy.  It was a once-in-a-career luxury but it was very clear what needed fixing and I think the improvements were huge.

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

I did make a run at finding an agent and publisher in 1994 but to no avail.   It convinced me I didn’t want to go that route.  I doubt that I would have gone back to finishing the book if not for the Indie route.  My view is that you have a choice of  two walls to beat your head against.  1) The hunt to find an agent/publisher.   2) The effort to self publish and try to get your book and yourself known.  They both are tough.  But, with the second at least you have a book out. You can get readers, show friends and family what you’ve done and move on to the next project.

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

The main ‘Aha’ moment was when I create a mobi file for the first time of part of a draft of Project Moses and it looked just like best sellers I’d been reading on my Kindle.  The field was leveled.  Then, it wasn’t so much that I had this whole strategy for publishing, marketing, getting sales, etc.  It was just “I can finish this book and have it out there looking as good as anything so-and-so has out.”  After that, it’s just been a series of “now whats,” taking the next step until now.    

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.

Well, I did have 18 years to hone it so it should be pretty good.  Seriously, I was a working journalist for 12 years and my wife was one for about the same length of time.  She was an editor for much of that time and  edited a couple thousand articles before putting them into the newspaper.  Between the two of us – and feedback from some careful readers who reviewed it prepublication – we had it in pretty good shape.   (I’ll probably have a professional copy edit of the next one.)  As far as the synopsis, I just did the best I could and kept revising as I listed it in new places or had to provide descriptions to bloggers etc.  I also listened to how others described it – reviewers, bloggers, etc.   I did have someone help me with my website who gave me good advice on the entire publication process.  For the cover, I actually found the art – a flower in flames – while looking for ideas online.  I suggested it to a cover artist – a guy who does work for some more successful thriller indies – and he took it from there.  Cost was several hundred dollars but it was the difference between amateur and pro, I think.

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

I initially put it up everywhere.  After I had around 20 reviews on Amazon, I decided to try the select-free program.   I bought ads and let the availability of those drive the timing.  I did a lot of prep to be listed on the sites that list free books.  Many of them seem to automatically pick out the ones with high review scores – either automatically or someone uses that filter and hand selects from there.   I had a virtual tour going on around the free days.  Project Moses was #2 in the overall free Kindle listings the entire second free day of the two-day free period.   It reached  #109 overall  for paid Kindle three days after the Select free period finished because of the carry over in paid sales (priced at $0.99).   Of course it declined steadily from there but it was an amazing ride, I learned a lot, and I’m convinced it was a big step toward getting exposure for the book and my name.   On the other hand, I tried to take a second bite 60 days later and had nowhere near the response. Perhaps I just got lucky the first time. Or, maybe it was too quick to list again.  People/sites may have discounted it because they knew it wasn’t ‘new.’  So, it may have been a fluke and I can’t comment on how this all will turn out.  But, it worked out for me this time around.
    
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?

It would be amazing because I think it’s a very meaningful award.   You see some out there that seem rather obscure or more for making the organizers money with a price high enough to exclude many authors.  I think this is the real deal and the quality of finalists in all categories is apparent.   So, it would be a true honor.  And, of course, it would be a wonderful achievement upon which to keep building.

Thank you so much, for this interview.

My absolute pleasure. Best of luck Rob.

Project Moses from Amazon US

Project Moses from Amazon UK

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