Day 94--Author Interview with Kevin Rau

Jennifer: When did you publish your first book and who published it?

Kevin: I self-published my first novel, H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis, in August of 2011. I made it available on Amazon first, and later Smashwords, DriveThruFiction, and soon Bibliocracy. I had a three-month period where I entered the KDP Select program with Amazon and pulled the books from other outlets. 

Jennifer: If you've written more than one book--which one sells the best? Tell us about it and why you think it sells better than your other books?

Kevin: I've written six (6) novels to date. They are an ongoing series, and the first sells the best. I believe the first sells the best both because it is the first in a series, and most readers prefer to read them in order, as well as the fact that I've put out the first book with free days on Amazon when I had it in KDP Select. Because of that, it appears in more cross-links with other novels.

Jennifer:  If you are self-published--who does your book covers? Who does your copy editing and proofreading?

Kevin: I design my own 3D art (the superheroes in my novels), and then mix and match them as appropriate to make the covers. For the first five novels, I had a variety of picky readers that I know go through and proofread for me. The sixth novel I went through Frankie Sutton, who provides a proofreading service for a fee. I also had a friend read through and give me a "does this make sense" read of the novel.

Jennifer: If you have a publisher--what do they require you to do to promote your book?

Kevin: I don't have one, so I do all of my own promotion. I have a Facebook page for the series of novels (http://www.facebook.com/herobooks) where I put a lot of character art. I also have my own website (http://www.kevinrau.com), a twitter account (@kevin_rau), have run Facebook ads, Google ads, hired a separate service to promote them, and have just gotten into Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/kevinrau), where I post character art and cover pictures. I also joined the Independent Author Network, and they send out daily tweets for me to a page on their site.

Jennifer: Please tell us your top three, most successful book marketing tips.

Kevin: To be honest, I believe the only things that have helped at all are having my own website with all the character art (and using Twitter to send people to it), and using Amazon's KDP Select free days. I free rather strongly that all of the other advertising/marketing I've done have cost me far, far more than they've returned.

Jennifer: Do you have an author blog? If so, how do you attract readers? What is your blog's address?

Kevin: I do, it's at http://www.kevinrau.com/blog.asp. I found traffic very poor, so I rarely post any more, and use Facebook and Pinterest to try to garner attention by the character art. Twitter sometimes sends some traffic to my website, although I've not tried creating blog entries and promoting them there.

Jennifer: If you are on Twitter, how do you get followers and what are your favorite hash tags?

Kevin: Since my novels are likely to be attractive to comic book readers, I look for #comics, #comicbooks, #amreading, #amwriting, #author, #indie, #indieauthor. I've also tried following people who like large comic book franchises.

Jennifer: Where do you go to request reputable, free reviews?

Kevin: I'll happily let you know when I've found such a place. None have proven reliable on giving reviews in my experience.

Jennifer: What have you done that has successfully increased your online sales?

Kevin: KDP Select probably had the biggest impact. After that, I'm guessing all the art that I (freely) provide to support the novels.

Jennifer: What online sites do you prefer to network with authors, publishers, editors or readers?

Kevin: Twitter is my largest networking tool with other authors.

Jennifer: What advice would you give aspiring authors about publishing or self-publishing?

Kevin: Either hire a professional proofreader, or at the very least have numerous (picky) friends go through a novel to hunt down errors. Make sure to listen when people tell you things don't make sense (such as a character knowing about something ahead of time). Use KDP Select for your first novel, and use the free days right off the bat.

Jennifer: What do you think authors should know about book marketing?

Kevin: Primarily, that they will have to do it all themselves. It's no small feat, and will end up absorbing a massive chunk of your time. Try new things - a LOT of new things. What worked (or doesn't work) for someone else may or may not work for you.

Jennifer: What projects are you working on now? Please describe.

Kevin: After well over 600,000 words in the six H.E.R.O. series novels, I'm putting together an illustrated guide to it. It will have a collage of art for each of the 28 characters I've done 3D art for, some statistics, background information, and other information on Metrocity - the fictional city my superheroes have their adventures within. When I finish the internals, I'll send it to my editors to go through and begin the cover design. Then I'll begin work on the seventh novel in the series.

Thank you for the opportunity to interview with you, Jennifer!

Thank you, Kevin Rau! You can find all H.E.R.O. novels on Amazon, or on his website with links to every outlet. (H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis, H.E.R.O. - New Markets, H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall, H.E.R.O. - Dark Research, H.E.R.O. - Horde, and H.E.R.O. - Paragon)

Kevin Rau's H.E.R.O.'s Books