Delve into the thrilling world of indie fiction with Nathan Burrows, a self-published author renowned for his page-turning thrillers. In this exclusive interview, Nathan offers a glimpse into his creative process, from sparking inspiration through ‘what if’ scenarios to the nuances of crafting characters. Aspiring authors will find his advice on self-publishing invaluable, emphasizing the importance of that first book. Nathan also shares his strategic insights into marketing and promotion. Join us to learn about his proudest work, “The Preacher,” and his exciting journey into the next installment, book 4 in the Preacher series.
How do you find inspiration for your stories and characters?
I normally start with a ‘what if’ for the story itself. So for The Preacher, the ‘what if’ was ‘what if an American preacher was wandering around the United Kingdom’. Then I flesh it out with more ‘what ifs’. What if he was ex-military? What if he could fight like Kung Fu? What if he could sense people’s feelings by touching them?
The characters are a bit more nuanced. They’re normally based ever so slightly on real people, so the inspiration for The Preacher was a Texan vicar based in the south of the United Kingdom who I met a few years ago. Sometimes I’ll read about someone interesting in the newspapers and base a character on them. I try to give the good guys traits I’d like to have myself, or that I admire in other people, and just reverse it for the bad guys.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors considering the self-publishing route?
Just write the first book. Get it out of your head and onto a computer / paper. The rest of it, you can worry about later. There’s an enormous amount of stuff to get your head round with independent publishing – so much so that it can be overwhelming. But until you’ve got that first book, you don’t need any of the other stuff – the only thing that writing the book will cost you is time.
And when you have got a first draft, just remember that you are now the target market for a whole bunch of people who want to sell you stuff, whether it’s editing, proofreading, design, marketing advice – the list is pretty endless, so choose where you spend your budget very carefully. Aside from advertising costs, editing and a professional cover are the only things I pay others for, and I would advise any aspiring authors to think very carefully before spending a lot of money on anything else. The independent publishing community is fantastic at supporting each other, so don’t be afraid to ask for advice from other authors further ahead than you are. We were all aspiring authors at some point!
How do you approach the marketing and promotion aspect of being a self-published author?
The marketing and promotion of being an independently published author is the second most important thing to me (with writing being the first). I’m definitely a planner in that respect, and I map out everything to the last penny / cent. Marketing and promoting is difficult to say the least! I try to focus on activities that will give me more bang for my buck, so I don’t do things like book signings. I’d rather concentrate on Facebook and Amazon advertising, and rarely do book giveaways anymore (although I did when I started out).
Part of the marketing and promoting is to make sure that my products are as professional looking as possible, which is why I’ll pay for editing and professional covers. I want my books to stand alongside traditionally published ones and look and feel the same.
I also keep a very close eye on costs to make sure that I’m in the black at all times, so every day’s a spreadsheet day for me. I run my writing as a business, completely separate to my personal finances.
Which of your books are you the most proudest of, and why?
I think at the moment, it has to be The Preacher. It was really good fun to write and the characters really started to come alive in my head, which is always a good thing.
What is your most recent book and/or what are you working on currently?
My most recent book is The Soldier, book 3 in the Preacher series, and I’ve just started working on book 4 in the series.
Is there a book project you have in mind that you plan to write one day? If so, can you tell us a little bit about it?
My main focus at the moment has to be the Preacher series. It’s been far and above the most successful of my series to date, and has been the one I’ve had the most fun writing!
You can find Nathan Burrows on his web site, on Facebook, in the BookSounder app, or on him BookSounder profile page
Stay tuned for our next indie author interview next week.
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