“Hurray for free Kindles!” you say, but who the hell is Jeremy Robinson?
Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the author of eleven mixed genre novels, published in ten languages, including the popular fantasy YA series, THE LAST HUNTER, and the fast-paced Jack Sigler series (also known as Chess Team—not nearly as nerdy as it sounds), PULSE, INSTINCT and THRESHOLD from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.
For more about me, or my books, visit www.jeremyrobinsononline.com.
The Rationale behind the tour
When I finally decided to have a blog tour of my own, and settled on doing each and every weekday in October, my first thought was, “This will be cool,” which was immediately followed up by, “Holy crap, I can’t think of something interesting to say twenty times in one month!” I can barely think of something worthwhile for my own blog just once a month.
Huzzah!
But fear not. There are other rewards for sloughing through the questions and answers. I’ll be giving away two Kindles to two randomly selected readers who sign up for my newsletter. Details on the giveaway can be found below.
On to the questions
1. You list Doctor Who as one of your early speculative fiction influences - if given the chance what kind of story would you write for the show?
I like to raise the stakes, often to apocalyptic proportions, and I think I’d do the same for him. Not only would I put everything at risk, but I’d have him fail to save the planet. Cope with an Armageddon-type event that he couldn’t stop. Really darken things up. Of course, he can go back and try to save everything again, but at great personal sacrifice. This is probably more like a standalone Dr. Who movie rather than a single episode, but I like my body counts high…like in the billions. And I’ve never seen a gritty Dr. Who. I think it would be cool. I haven’t watched all the series, so maybe there is something like this, but if given the option, that’s the way I’d go.
Oh man, what a hard question. There are a lot of my books that would really make perfect movies. In fact, some of my first novels are based on screenplays I wrote first. Since I’m attached to many of them equally, I’ll tackle the question from a more analytic point of view, considering budget, audience and sequels.
The Jack Sigler books would all make great summer popcorn movies, but these kinds of movies are pricey and without the right A-list actors are hit or miss. Both Jeremy Bishop books would make amazing horror movies, that I would love, but their potential income is limited by the horror genre.
So I think I would go with THE LAST HUNTER. Not only would this series be visually amazing, but the appeal is wide (teen and adults). There’s something for everyone—monsters, mystery, action, violent combat, crazy effect, and enough heart to make viewers misty-eyed. It’s also a five book series, which means lots of sequels and continued revenues. The Hunter series are also, I believe, my best books.
If you’re going it alone, self-publishing via e-books, the number one thing you can do to improve your odds of success is be professional. Set your standards higher than those of the big publishers. Basically, you want your book to be indistinguishable from the top tier books on the market.
The biggest mistake most self-publishers make is rushing the book. They slap on a homemade cover, have their mother edit and don’t have a marketing plan. Be willing to spend money on covers, editing, formatting, etc, OR spend years and years learning how to do it on your own, professionally. That’s the route I took.
I design my own covers, and e-book formatting, and I’m good enough that other publishers hire me to do these things, too. The point is that while self-publishing is now easy, doing it right is still hard. And if an author wants to be taken seriously, he or she needs to take the business seriously. After all, the competition is a collection of mega-corporations with resources that dwarf those of the individual author.
Hope that was as good for you as it was for me. Now how about that kindle giveaway?
Here’s the deal: to be entered to win one of two free kindles all you have to do is visit my website—www.jeremyrobinsononline.com—and sign up for the newsletter. That’s it.*
The first kindle will go to a randomly chosen newsletter signup on October 31. For the second kindle, there’s a catch. The second giveaway will only be triggered if one of my kindle books hits the Amazon.com bestseller list (top 100). So pick up some books (most are just $2.99 a pop) and spread the word! If one of the books squeaks up to #100 for just a single hour, the second kindle will be given away to another randomly chosen newsletter sign up on October 31.
Thanks for spending some time with me today. Hope you enjoyed the Q&A, and good luck with the kindle giveaway!**
-- Jeremy Robinson
*When you sign up for the newsletter, be sure to include the name of the blog that referred you in the field provided. I’ll be giving away two $50 Amazon.com gift certificates to the blog that refers the most sign-ups and another to the blog who referred the first kindle winner.
** I will announce winners via Twitter, Facebook, my blog, and newsletter (which you will be signed up for!) but I’ll also e-mail the winners directly—I’ll need to know where to ship those kindles!
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