In our series of self-publishing interviews, we are talking today to Tucker May, author of the mystery, The Lemon House Murders.
Tucker May is a writer of mystery novels, whodunit short stories and all kinds of fun, puzzling tales. Murders, crimes, and mysteries abound. He grew up in Missouri then attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He’s a diehard fan of the Los Angeles Rams and Geelong Cats. He lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife Barbara and their cat Principal Spittle. He is the author of The Lemon House Murders and Death of a Billionaire.
Visit Tucker’s website at www.tuckermay.com.
You self-published your latest book, The Lemon House Murders. Would you please take us through the process? You had an idea for your book, you wrote it, then you decided to find a publisher. What were your experiences with that? Or did you decide to self-publish right off the bat?
For this book, I knew I wanted to self-publish right off the bat. I had a good experience self-publishing my first novel, Death of a Billionaire. I appreciate the top-to-bottom control that self-publishing allows. I've also found it very rewarding to engage with the community of self-published authors at large.
What different online stores carry your book?
Both of my self-published mystery novels, The Lemon House Murders and Death of a Billionaire, are available on Amazon using the links below.
On the other hand, self-published authors have the edge over traditional books in the regards that the author has all the control. I’d like to begin with your cover. Did you make it or did you have someone else design it? If you had someone else, can you tell us who it is?
I designed the cover myself. One of the very rewarding aspects of self-publishing has been learning more about graphic design so that I can create a book cover I feel happy with. I actually designed three separate covers and allowed my Advance Reader team to vote and decide on the final design used. It's a great way to make sure I have control over the cover overall, but still let some of my dedicated readers have a hand in the process as a reward for their support. If anyone out there would like to join up and help on my next book, they can do so at www.TuckerMay.com.
So where do you see self-published authors making the biggest mistakes overall?
EDITING! Few things make a novel look more amateur than releasing it into the world with typos or grammatical errors. I am a writer who operates on a shoestring budget, but I always find a way to pay at least two professional editors to do a pass on the book before it goes out to the Advance Reader team. I instruct those Advance Readers to also keep an eye out for errors as they read but if I've been thorough in doing my job, they won't spot any. So far, so good.
What was the hardest challenge for you to self-publish your book?
Many self-published authors likely have the same answer here: marketing. It's difficult to get eyeballs on your work without the machinery of a major publishing house or marketing firm anchoring your efforts. It's easily the most discouraging part of self-publishing in my opinion, but I continue to work at it, learn, and devise new plans of attack! Anyone with suggestions or advice for me on this front can find me on Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook at the links below. I would certainly love to hear from you!
Did you get someone to format your book for you or did you do that?
I actually use a software tool called Atticus to handle the formatting for my novels. It's quite affordable and makes the process painless. It's got plenty of customizable settings so that your book can look exactly the way you want it. Highly recommend!
What steps are you taking to promote it?
For my debut novel, Death of a Billionaire, I threw a launch party here in the Los Angeles area where I live with my wife. For this second novel, The Lemon House Murders, I'm going fully online. I'm relying on my Advance Team of readers for early reviews. I'm working with a wonderful service called Pump Up Your Book to organize a virtual book tour to start just before the book's release, and I'll be utilizing a few Kindle Book promotion sites to get it in front of readers as well. I'm still very much in the process of refining and perfecting a promotion process for my books, so we will see what works best and move forward from there!
Do you have any advice you’d like to share with other self-published authors?
KEEP CREATING ART! Just because the gatekeepers of the publishing industry haven't yet picked up on your work doesn't make it any less valuable. Write stories that speak to you. Publish what you feel proud of. Keep on putting your work out there because if there's one thing that the world definitely needs during these turbulent times it is MORE BOOKS! I am proud to be a self-published author and I hope it can help me continue my writing journey.
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