My pet hate is the futile, never-ending cycle of self-promoting tweeting between Indie-Authors. Writers should be more creative and supportive of each other when approaching promo. Tweeting “here’s my book, buy it,” fifty times a day is like throwing adverts written on confetti and hoping one person in ten thousand reads it after picking it off their jacket; and that one person in a hundred thousand, follows the link to your book.

Mark Wilson – 30 May 2013

The Back Flap

POWER DOESN’T ALWAYS CORRUPT

Abandoned by his parents as a child, Rob Hamilton has developed an unshakeable sense of right and wrong. He also has some very special gifts. If he can stop hiding from them and get his life together he may just be the greatest hero the world will never know.

Arif Ali is an English teenager from Battersea, London who is now living and studying in Pakistan. Arif is about to become a prized asset of Al-Qaeda. He and Rob will form an unlikely friendship that will alter one of the most notorious days in American history.

Kim is an American intelligence agent from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She heads up the agency’s anti-terrorist response, is an obsessive workaholic and is relentless in the pursuit of justice. Kim could be the worst enemy the friends have, or their greatest ally.

Set in Scotland, England, Pakistan, Afghanistan, France and the United States; Naebody’s Hero is a fast-paced global thriller spanning four decades, reaching its climax on one horrific day in September, 2001.

About the book

What is the book about?

My most recent novel, Naebody’s Hero, is about three very different people, each very gifted and each very damaged, who are drawn together for a variety of reasons but ultimately because they need a family.

Abandoned as a child, Rob Hamilton lucked into some pretty amazing foster parents and some unique gifts.

Arif Ali is an English teenager from Battersea, London. Disillusioned with life in Britain, Arif is now living and studying in Pakistan. Arif is about to become a prized asset of Al-Qaeda.

Kim is an American intelligence agent from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She heads up the agency’s anti-terrorist response, is an obsessive workaholic and is relentless in the pursuit of justice.

The three are set to collide and change history.

When did you start writing the book?

I wrote the book between September and December 2012.

Where did you get the idea from?

The basic plot for Naebody’s Hero came in the early hours as I was falling asleep in a farmhouse just outside Barga in Tuscany. I’d ignored these ideas that present themselves in the semi-dream state in the past and regretted the choice to do so, having lost the idea by the time I woke. Fearing this, I dragged myself out of bed and spent an hour typing out a rough plot on my iPad. Then I slept. It took a year to revisit the idea, mainly because I couldn’t find the time, partly because I knew that I hadn’t developed the skills to write the book yet.

As a life-long comic, graphic novel and book reader, I’ve always had a soft spot for Superhero stories, particularly the ‘What If’ type tales. That’s what led to this book. What if?

What if a normal boy/man, with normal, daily problems living in the normal world, really had incredible and unlimited powers? What would this damaged, brave wee Scots boy do with these gifts?

What would you do?

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I based the climax of the book around the events of 9/11. I questioned this many times but the book is basically wish-fulfillment and I think most right-minded people would wish that that days’ events away if they could. I worried that I was being disrespectful but decided that wishing people back to life couldn’t be disrespectful.

What came easily?

Writing Arif Ali came easily. I wanted a complex, Muslim character, who despite long periods of being lost and questioning himself, was the bravest character in the book and the truest to himself. Arif, for me was a joy to write and I’ve been missing him since I finished the book.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

My main character Rob is abandoned by his parents at the beginning of the book. This happened to a friend of mine, he just woke up one morning, aged eight, and both parents were gone, never to return. He never knew why.

Arif is entirely fictitious but his family are based on a Pakistani family who were very important to me growing up.

Kim, strong and in charge, capable and committed. Deadly. Kim is an amalgam of all of the strong women I’ve known in my life, including my wife and my gran. She is very much the mentor of the boys in the book and the strongest female role model I could write. Kim however, is very far from perfect. Kim is the female Jack Bauer, except she’d kick Jack’s ass.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

I love all forms of literature but comics/graphic novels are always most influential to me. Writers like Mark Millar, David Lapham and Frank Miller have thrilled me for years with their characterization and ability to make you believe in the worlds they write about.

John Niven, Irvine Welsh and Jonathon Maberry are current favourites also. I think that Irvine Welsh’s Glue may be my favourite book, but it’s a close call with Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice.

Do you have a target reader?

Not really, Bobby’s Boy (my debut novel) is incredibly difficult to categorise. It’s just a good, honest tale of one kids’ journey. It’s quite heavy on bad language and local dialect, as reflects the community the book’s initially set in, so that sort of limits the audience a wee bit.

Naebody’s Hero is a much more universal book and I suppose aimed at a younger readership as well as the Speculative Fiction market, but there’s elements that make it a good crime/thriller also.

The business side of me tries hard to market my books to people I think would love them but ultimately I write my books from a non-commercial place. If I ever sit down to write with a formula in one hand and a list of settings, scenes, characters, designed to appeal to this or that demographic, in the other I’ll be disappointed in myself. I believe in letting the story go where it wants and in producing the very best novel I can with no thought to its commerciality.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

Nothing solid, no. As I have a day job teaching Biology, a small publishing house to run and two kids under four to tame, I’ve learned to be very productive in very little time. Writing a novel usually is a 90 day process for me. 90 days of writing when everyone’s asleep, during spare moments on the train, in coffee shops, during my lunch break or in the early hours.

1000 words a day is my target. I never fall below this and frequently exceed it. There’s always time to rewrite later.

I’m not the sort of writer who plans out every chapter. I prefer to write by instinct. I have a beginning, middle and end (sort of) in mind and I take the book a chapter at a time and see where the characters go. This is the only way that I can write and it helps to put an unpredictability into the story as I don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens. The characters sort of begin to guide me after a few chapters.

Plenty of writers have much more detailed plans for writing their novels, using percentages and mechanisms etc, but this is the most natural way for me to write.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I normally get to a natural break in the story and then go back over what I’ve written to that point. Sometimes that is one chapter, sometimes ten.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Yes. I have a freelance proofreader and editor as well as a graphic designer and several formatters. There are so many good people around in all of these areas it’s not difficult to make reliable contacts.

In setting up my Independent Publishing company, Paddy’s Daddy Publishing, I’ve been careful to develop a good rapport with these professionals. They’re invaluable to my new company.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Always. Music, books and movies are forever connected in my head. A quiet house gives me the creeps.  The type of music I have on changes with the scenario I write. Always present , though, are Rage Against the Machine, a wee bit of Coldplay and Hopeless Heroic.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

Not even once. I never considered this option.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I was very lucky to benefit from the advice of several authors who’ve spent some years in the publishing industry. In particular, I had a very long chat with Gavin Bain, a friend of mine who’s experienced in the music and literary business. We chatted about agents, contracts, advances, small publishers versus large ones and I spent months doing my own research on the biz. With a push from Gavin I followed my gut instinct to go Indie. I’ve never regretted this and set up my company to help other Indie-Authors produce the best quality book that they can, but maintain control of their work.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I did the cover for the first book on my own and promptly changed it after a month. For the cover of Naebody’s Hero I ran a competition in my school and discovered a fantastic graphic artist by the name of Brad Pow. Brad is now my cover guy at PD. Publishing.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I do and I don’t . As I said earlier, I do market the book as best I can. I choose the categories, litter my descriptions with keywords relating to the book I’ve researched on Google and Amazon and get the books formatted for paperback. I’m also in the process of widening distribution for both books to sell on Smashwords.

As for promo, I hate it. I’d much rather be writing another book but it’s a necessary task. I try to get creative with promo. I speak at a lot of events and have quite a few contacts in local press, which all helps, but the biggest aid is getting a good book in front of people who’ll enjoy it and hope it catches.

My pet hate is the futile, never-ending cycle of self-promoting tweeting between Indie-Authors. Writers should be more creative and supportive of each other when approaching promo. Tweeting “here’s my book, buy it,” fifty times a day is like throwing adverts written on confetti and hoping one person in ten thousand reads it after picking it off their jacket; and that one person in a hundred thousand, follows the link to your book.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Do it. Don’t ever take an advance. Don’t ever give a publisher control over your work. Write the stories you love and produce them yourself, with the help of a circle of freelance specialists or a good indie publisher who loves your book. Oh, and don’t expect to earn a fortune, most of us don’t. Do it because you love it.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a little mining town in Lanarkshire, called Bellshill. Very rough, very poor but wonderfully funny people.

Where do you live now?

I live in a wee house in Edinburgh with my wee wife and our two kids.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on the follow-up to Naebody’s Hero, a coming of age novel about the fallout of divorce from a kids’ POV  titled, Last Season’s Children and a YA time-travel novel titled, ML4.

End of Interview:

For more, visit Mark’s blog or that of his publishing company, Paddy’s Daddy Publishing.

Get your copy from Naebody’s Hero from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), or Barnes & Noble.