Author Spotlight: Joe Peacock

 

If you had a writing motto what would it be?
"Just start."

Where do you draw your inspiration?
Everywhere! It used to be the internet and rapidly accelerating technology, but now "The Internet" is just "Culture." There's no divide these days. We are so engrained in connected society that at this point, there's no difference -- much like there ceased to be a difference between music and culture, television and culture, the telephone and culture, and so on. So I just watch. I watch how people behave, both online and off, from all age groups and demographics. I look at now and think "what's the one thing that WON'T change in 100 years?" And inevitably the answer is human behavior.

What is one interesting fact about you?
I own the world's largest private collection of animation cels and art from the film Akira, and run the Art of Akira Exhibit.

Have you learned anything from the self publishing process and would you do anything differently next time?
Holy crap yes. I published my very first books independently back in the early 2000's, and it was a vastly different process. Back then, the internet was still "The Internet" and it was a much, much smaller society. Simply being online and producing work daily was sufficient to at least be in conversations about content and things happening. Since then, the audience and number of people producing work have both grown by at least two orders of magnitude, so you drown in the sound of everyone trying to get peoples' attention. The only remedy I've found: keep writing. Keep making. Keep doing. Don't let numbers be the determining factor of the quality of your work. Just keep doing what you do. If you reach even one person, you've won. Keep winning!

What has been your most successful marketing strategy?
Writing the next book! I'm on Volume 4 now, and I've seen downloads and sales increase with the release of every single volume. Keep the story going if it's a serialized or ongoing story, or get busy on the next book. Don't let people forget you exist!

What is the best kept secret you have found in regard to indie publishing?
There's a massive list of bloggers, reviewers and readers out there willing to check out what you write and talk about it in exchange for a copy of the work: http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/. It's not a guarantee that they'll all say yes, but it IS a guarantee you won't get a "yes" if you don't submit! Set aside a week of evenings and query every one that matches your genre!

Visit the author’s website
Read Marlowe Kana (Volume 1)