Welcome, Alison!
How long have you been self-publishing? What is
your biggest takeaway when it comes to indie publishing and trying to
make a dent in a crowded market?
I’ve
been self-publishing for almost 5 years. It’s been quite the ride. The
biggest lesson I’ve learned is that nothing stays the same in indie
publishing. You have to constantly pivot to keep up with the changes in
the market. A year in this business is like 7 years outside of it.
Almost anything becomes dated (as far as marketing goes) within 6
months. So making a dent in the market is becoming increasingly more
difficult because every genre is just saturated now. So I focus on what I
can control— I try to write the best story I can and give it the best
cover and blurb I can to make it stand out. So learn to adapt. That’s
the most important skill in this business.
What three pieces of advice would you give an author looking to self-publish for the first time?
—
Be prepared to do a lot of things that won’t be writing. You’re a
publisher, and that’s an entirely different job. If you can accept that
and embrace it, you’ll be ahead of the game.
— Do not
make your own cover or use any cover that isn’t as great as the covers
on the bestsellers’ lists. This does not necessarily have to be
expensive. I don’t think people realize you can get amazing covers for
less than $100. Even so, do not skimp on this. And be honest with
yourself. “Acceptable” is not going to work. Not in this market. The
cover has to be great. It has to tell the reader immediately what genre
it is and what they can expect from the story or they will scroll (or
stroll) on by.
— Nothing matters more than writing. If
you’re not getting words in, you’re wasting time. Yes, you have to do
plenty of non-writing stuff. But nothing should ever come before words.
Don’t get distracted by anything else. There’s no course or marketing
plan that can make up for not having words to sell. Writing is king.
What are the biggest misconceptions people have when it comes to the indie book market?
I
don’t know if people still think this, but it used to be that people
considered anything self-published as being crap. And sometimes it is,
but those books don’t sell. It’s not like it was in 2013 when it seemed
anything would sell. Today, indie books (the ones that sell and the ones
on the bestsellers lists) are indistinguishable from any other book on
the market. That’s the great thing about it becoming a competitive
market, in order to do well you have to be good. You have to have a
professional product. Indie publishing is no longer the slush pile in
ePub form.
Tell us about your latest crime series--Murder on the Redneck Riviera.
My Murder On the Redneck Riviera series is about the Beckett
sisters, Dee and Meg. The sisters are estranged and haven’t spoken in
years due to a dark secret they share. When their dad dies, Meg is put
in charge of the dilapidated panhandle beach (the Redneck Riviera is the
nickname for the beaches on the Florida panhandle) motel their family
has owned since the 1950s. Dee is forced to come home for mysterious
reasons and begs Meg for a job and a place to crash. Despite Meg not
wanting anything to do with her sister, she agrees and that’s when the
trouble begins. Dee’s first night working the front desk of the motel
she finds a dead body in one of the rooms… and she knows the guy. Except
she thought she killed him ten years ago.
It’s
a very Florida story. I was inspired by other Florida series I love by
Carl Hiassen and Dawn Lee McKenna. There’s eccentric characters, murder,
family secrets, and nothing is quite as it seems. Much like Florida!
(You can preorder it now.)
You live in South Carolina and really embrace the setting in your
thrillers. What is it about the South that lends itself to crime
fiction?
I think what’s great about
the south are the people. I mean the south is full of eccentric
characters. What’s the old saying? Something about in the south we don’t
hide our crazy people. We show them off in the living room and offer
them a cocktail. No one asks if you have crazy people in your family,
they just ask you what side they’re on. I absolutely LOVE southerners.
They aren’t afraid to tell you who they are and they tend to have
complicated pasts. They also live in this very haunting place with a
dark and Gothic history. I love the Spanish moss, the confederate
jasmine that creeps up its antebellum homes, and I absolutely love the
food and unwillingness to part with certain traditions. There’s a
bizarre sort of social hierarchy that still exists in the south today
and I think it’s the perfect recipe for a good crime story.
Who are your favorite authors? Who are you reading right now?
My
favorite author of all time is Pat Conroy. I love Fannie Flagg, Carl
Hiassen, Liane Moriarty. Shirley Jackson and Flannery O’Connor are up
there with Conroy for me. I love the darkness in their stories. Right
now I am reading a lot of domestic suspense, I just read a great book by
Anna Pitoniak called Necessary People that was very good.
What TV shows are you binge watching?
I
mean, sadly, I watch a lot of reality TV. I really love studying the
women on the shows, their desires and their motivations. It’s also just a
shallow escape. As far as actual television shows, I am obsessed with
The Crown. I love the show Bloodline which is a Florida suspense series.
Veronica Mars. Breaking Bad. I’m very into Succession right now.
Alison lives in Charleston with her husband and kids. You can connect with her via Instagram to find out more about her work and her life.
And buy her books! You won't be disappointed.
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