Hi again and welcome to the next fascinating interview in the popular series, Secrets of Best-Selling Self-Published Authors. This interview is with the very interesting Armand Rosamilia. Armand is a staunch indie author who has been at the coal-face of digital publishing for many years. Along the way he has written many great horror books and has supported and implemented many initiatives in the indie publishing world, especially in his favorite field of zombie horror fiction. Anyway, make sure you
subscribe now to get on the mailing list for all updates and new-release information (there is a link with a special offer at the end of this interview if you'd rather get straight into it). Here he is, the talented Mr Armand Rosamilia.
Do you think that your life experience has gone some way towards
making you a successful author in your chosen genre? Where do you get your
inspiration from for your writing and for the way you brand yourself as an
author?
I think life is definitely a
great motivator for writing, and especially for my horror work. I use an old
joke that I’ve killed my ex-wives over and over in stories, and it isn’t far
from the truth. I can channel some of the negatives from my past and find
closure in horrible thoughts and people. And kill them. In a story.
You write across a number of different genres, how important do you
think diversification is for the survival and success of an indie author?
Build the Brand that is you. I am
a horror author who’s had much success writing zombie books. I also write
horror erotica, erotica, thrillers, contemporary fiction, ghostwritten a
military romance… as long as you stay true to your voice you’re just writing a
story with horror or thriller or erotica elements to it. The reader needs to
love your writing style and voice first and foremost.
If you could pinpoint one thing in particular that has grabbed
readers of your work, what would you say it is? I.e. what is it about your
books that keeps your readers coming back for more?
I’d like to think the
readers care about my characters and not just the main ones. They are invested
in what happens to these people. They cheer for the ‘good guys’ and sneer at
the ‘bad guys’ although sometimes it’s hard to tell who is really who. My
favourite compliment was from a reader who read my “Dying Days” zombie book and
said she dislikes zombie books and at a few points forgot it was a zombie book
because the characters are so interesting.
Is there a particular moment in your career as an author that
you realized that you had done something right to get where you are now? Can
you pinpoint what it was that spiked your success to date?
I believe in Karma and
helping others. I learned through trial and error simply yelling ‘buy my book,
buy my book’ might get you a few initial sales but it pisses off many, many
potential readers. I sell more books by helping other authors now, like my two
massive zombie blog tours each year, Winter of Zombie and Summer of Zombie. I
also love guest posts on my blog, I belong to several re-tweet groups and I
collect author-signed books for soldiers in remote areas called Authors
Supporting Our Troops. I am a mentor to a couple of new authors and try to
answer every question anyone asks. I also do two podcasts on Project iRadio
interviewing other authors to promote them.
You formed your own publishing company (Rymfire Books) to
independently publish your books – would you advise other authors to set-up a
publishing company to publish their own books, or do you think that the same
results can be achieved by a self-published author without forming a publishing
company?
Rymfire Books was
formed by a man who had money and thought he’d get rich in the publishing
business about 5 years ago. He put out my book and some anthologies, got bored
and handed it to me. I put out a few anthologies and some of my work but it got
to be too much work. I sold the anthologies to Charon Coin Press, who does an
excellent job with the “State of Horror” series. I concentrate on my
self-published work through it now. In today’s world no one cares if you are
self-published and don’t hide behind a pseudo-publishing name. I kept Rymfire
Books around because I like the name . . .
For more of this fascinating interview, please visit Self-Publishing Successfully for full transcript.
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