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| Tim Anderson |
It can be a hard slog being an indie author. To keep self-published writers
inspired our indie correspondent Raelee
Chapman chats to Tim Anderson, a native of North Carolina, whose self-published
memoir about his time living and working in Tokyo, Tune In Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, published in 2010, was picked up
by AmazonEncore and republished to a wider audience a year later. It has now
been translated into Thai.
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| The original cover |
Why did you choose to self-publish Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries and which company/tools did you choose for
this path?
I actually went the
self-publishing route after a few years of my agent pitching the book, getting
close to closing a deal, then getting the dreaded "not right for us at
this time" response. One editor told us that, because David Sedaris had just
released a book featuring a chapter set in Tokyo, she was going to pass, since
that one chapter in that one book had obviously saturated the market with the
one comical story set in Tokyo that could be told! So I started on the next
book, but couldn't shake the feeling that there was an audience for Tune in
Tokyo and I wanted to try to find it. I used the CreateSpace platform
available from Amazon. I chose CreateSpace because the process seemed
pretty straightforward, and it pretty much was!
What were the initial difficulties you encountered when you self-published?
Well, the process took me a
little while, since I laid it out myself and designed the book jacket. Before I
laid it out I got an editor I trust, Kristen Elde, to copyedit, tighten, and
proof the manuscript. I was lucky because she was also a friend who shared my
general sensibility and playfulness with language. Then I just exported the
files as a hi-res PDF, and voila, the files were all set for print-on-demand. I
only did paperback in 2010 as it wasn't as easy as it is now to format an eBook
- it was still super-glitchy - so I just stuck with the basics. Sales
were...modest is a nice word for it in the beginning. It was tough getting
attention for the book. I had a great book release party for it in New York,
which garnered some local press attention, but most of the time I felt like I
was shouting into the abyss, which essentially you are as a self-publisher,
let's be honest. The good news is that folks who are social media savvy have
all these great avenues for getting noticed, even if the old guard utterly
ignores you. I'm sadly not so great at utilising social media! So it's a good
thing Amazon Publishing found me, otherwise I'd still be selling copies door to
door.
How did you get Publishers Weekly to review the book initially - I heard
it was their review that caught the eye of an editor at Amazon?
It was serendipitous, really. The
book was available in June 2010 and Publishers
Weekly announced in September that they were going to start a quarterly
insert dedicated to self-publishing called Publishers
Weekly Select. You could pay to have your book listed and you would also be
eligible to be chosen for a review. They chose Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries and gave it a great review they
also did a profile of me in the inaugural issue. This coverage caught the
attention of Terry Goodman, an acquiring editor at Amazon, and they offered to
reissue the book, which they did in November 2011. The only difference in the
self-published version and the Amazon reissue was a few minor copyedits. And,
because the reissue came out in the wake of the horrible earthquake that
hit Japan in 2011, I took out a flip reference to earthquakes I made in
the prologue.
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| The AmazonEncore cover |
What is AmazonEncore imprint? You also have a new memoir, Sweet Tooth,
published under another Amazon imprint Lake Union Publishing. What are the
problems or benefits associated with this?
I should say that before they
contacted me I had no idea that Amazon had a publishing division! But yeah
AmazonEncore is Amazon's imprint for self-published books that they've found
and want to republish and bring to a larger audience. I'm not sure how
many imprints Amazon has but it seems like quite a few, for romance, mystery,
sci-fi, young adult, translated works, etc. The main problem with having Amazon
as your publisher is that, because bookstores hate Amazon with such a white-hot
rage (this isn't a judgment it is a statement of fact!) many of them refuse to
stock Amazon Publishing titles. This is incredibly frustrating for an author like
me who would like to go out and visit bookstores, do readings, and meet readers.
Barnes and Noble, in fact, have a blanket policy regarding Amazon titles, they'll
order it for you but they won't voluntarily stock it. So my books often don't
exist anywhere but in the Amazon ecosystem. It's a great ecosystem, don't get
me wrong! But it also feels incredibly limiting, and as a reader I resent the fact that bookstores
are actively ignoring good books by good authors because they hate the
publisher. My own local bookstore in Greenpoint, Brooklyn - which is
always yammering on and on about how it supports local authors - wouldn't allow
me to have an event there because of the Amazon connection and they also
obviously refuse to stock either of my books. When we started the publicity
push for my latest book Sweet Tooth,
many media outlets didn't know what Lake Union Publishing was since Amazon did
a "soft launch" of the imprint. I don't know for sure if bookstores
know Lake Union is Amazon-owned, but I'm assuming they do, since I've yet to
see Sweet Tooth on any bookstore shelves.
How do you promote your works?
Well, since doing readings at
bookstores is off limits for the most part, I have to take advantage of any
other opportunities that come along. I've done some radio interviews and panel
discussions, I've FaceTimed with a few book clubs, and I try to blog
semi-regularly. Plus I don't turn down any invitations, I'll read/chat to a
room full of illiterate mannequins if I'm asked!
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| The Thai cover |
Has Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries been translated at all? Is it going to be translated for an Asian market?
It's been translated into Thai,
actually! It was published by Matichon Books last year. They sent me a copy and
the jacket design and layout are fantastic. I was hoping there'd be
interest in translation rights from Japanese publishers, but as far
as I know there hasn't been.
You are writing a new collection of travel stories. Has the new book
already been picked up by a publisher and when is it due for completion or
coming out?
Yeah, I'm working on it now - a
collection of travel stories set in Japan and Thailand among other places. It
hasn't been picked up by a publisher yet so I'm getting ready to embark on an
agent search (back to square one). I'm still contractually obligated to show my
next manuscript to Amazon. If they like it, then I'll have to decide what I
want to do. I appreciate being published by them, but like I said, I'm very
frustrated by the distribution problems. And, of course, a collection of travel
stories should be in airport bookstores everywhere! I'm not sure if Amazon can
make that happen.
What tips do you have for other writers wishing to self-publish?
Well, number one is to write a
good, solid manuscript - and the only way to be assured that you have done that
is to get people close to you who you trust to read it. Feedback is absolutely
crucial. Because as a self-published writer you have a lot to prove - for one
thing, you have to prove you can put together a great book that could
conceivably have been published by an actual publisher. Hire an editor to work
the manuscript over, tighten the prose, and deal with any continuity issues,
logical inconsistencies etc. The book also needs to look good, so if you have
no design experience, avail yourself of some of the services out there that can
help you get the look you want. There's a lot more assistance out there now
than there was even when I self-published four years ago.
You read more about Tim and
follow his blog by clicking here.
Tim’s books are available
at Amazon and Book Depository.