1. What can you tell me about your experience as a writer?

Hello there, and many thanks indeed for having me as a guest! My name is Jon Richter, and I have seven traditionally-published novels as well as three self-published collections of short horror stories. The novels span genres including crime thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, so I’m definitely a bit of an eclectic writer!

2. What made you decide to write a book?

I’ve always wanted to write since I was very, very young – I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading and then wanting to recreate the feelings that my favourite books could conjure! In particular, I’ve always been a fan of a shocking twist, so virtually everything I’ve ever written features some sort of unexpected surprise…

3. What circumstances brought you to the decision to self-publish your book?

It’s very difficult to find publishers willing to publish collections of short fiction, particularly in the horror genre and particularly from a lesser-known author like me, but I was so proud of some of the shorter stuff I’d written that I wanted to ‘get it out there’ into the world.

4. What has your experience as a self-publisher been like?

It’s been great in terms of creative fulfilment: having complete control over the book’s content, its title and cover image is very liberating, unlike traditional publishing where there’s a lot of input from your publisher and editors, which is often very helpful but sometimes prevents you from taking creative risks (and sometimes can result in book titles or cover designs that you quite simply don’t like).

However, in terms of sales it’s very difficult to achieve big numbers, as of course you don’t have the marketing support of a publisher behind you, although my experience of traditional publishing is that you actually get less of this support than you might think! Even big-name writers do a lot of their own promotion.

5. How do you respond to the negative stigma attached to self-publishing and self-published books?

It’s a really tricky one, because I do think there’s a lot of self-published stuff out there that, bluntly, isn’t very good. However, there is of course a lot of traditionally-published stuff that isn’t very good either! And, of course, what I consider ‘good’ is different from what others will enjoy… but I do think there’s a basic standard of writing quality (including basics like spelling, punctuation and grammar) that some self-published books sadly fail to hit.

Of course, there is also some absolutely fantastic self-published work out there – an obvious example that springs to mind is Hugh Howey’s fantastic Silo novels, which have recently been made into a hit TV series that my wife and I are enjoying immensely!

6. What is one very important lesson you have learned as a self-publisher so far?

Following on from my previous answer, I suppose I’d encourage people to reflect on why their work hasn’t been picked up by an agent or a publisher before deciding to self-publish it, as the feedback they’ve received might be very helpful and constructive and might enable them to improve the work, and indeed improve themselves as a writer. However, it is definitely possible that work of outstanding quality simply doesn’t fit the current publishing ‘zeitgeist’, particularly if it’s highly original in content or structure. One thing publishers always ask for are other successful books that your book is similar to, so the industry sadly doesn’t embrace innovation!

I would also stress the need to ensure your work has been reviewed by a professional editor AND a professional proofreader (which are different roles/skillsets), or at the very least the proofreader. Nothing ruins a reader’s experience more than a glut of typos or easily-corrected grammatical errors. (I’m sure readers can find many blunders in my own un-proofread words here, and I’m a trained proofreader myself!)

7. What do you know now about self-publishing that you wish you knew at the beginning?

I think it’s important to go in with your eyes open: you’re entering a highly saturated market (particularly if you’re writing in a genre like crime or romance) that’s incredibly challenging to make any money from, and you’ll need to undertake a huge amount of self-promotion across multiple social media channels if you want to sell any books outside of your family and friends. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll have any commercial success whatsoever, so if that’s your goal, self-publishing is unlikely to be the best approach.

However, if you have written a highly original book that is struggling to find a home, and you primarily want the satisfaction of releasing it into the world and hearing the thoughts of a few readers, then it’s brilliant that this option exists – and you might even end up with a surprise hit on your hands!

8. A lot of authors of self-published books have reservations about promoting and marketing their book. Some even feel that it is a form of vanity or self-importance. What is your opinion about this?

This has been a major challenge for me, as I absolutely fall into that trap. I feel I have under-promoted all of my books, and that perhaps is part of the reason that I’m not troubling the bestseller lists! But when I have undertaken self-promotion activities on social media, what I did find was a large community of incredibly supportive fellow writers, and I’ve made some lifelong friends thanks to this fantastic and exhilarating new side-career. So my advice to self-publishers would be to promote shamelessly, because (a) you won’t sell any books if you don’t, (b) many other writers will be doing it, and people will end up reading their books instead of yours, and (c) you are likely to meet some fantastic people along the way!

9. How do you promote your books and what form of book promotion has worked the best for you?

As mentioned above, I’m rubbish at it, so perhaps I’m a good example of what not to do! In my case I’ve tried lots of different approaches and not really stuck to any: Twitter (I refuse to call it X and may be forced to make the switch to Bluesky soon given the right-wing hellscape it’s rapidly becoming thanks to a certain odious billionaire…), Facebook, Instagram, blog posts, hosting my own podcasts, a newsletter, even attending some in-person author events.

I think the key is to find a small number of channels that work for you, and to focus on those, and to keep relentlessly hammering them. In my case I’m lucky if I send out one promotional tweet per week, while others are churning them out on what seems like an hourly basis; yes, it’s sometimes annoying to keep reading them, and yes it can seem a bit vain or big-headed, but this is the reality of marketing and these are the writers who are selling more books!

10. What are some other important things you have learned as a self-publisher?

Cover design is really important. I love the three covers for my self-published horror collections (Jon Richter’s Disturbing Works Volumes One and Two, and Jon Richter’s Dark Fiction), which were designed by the brilliant Rosewolf Design based on my ideas; if I’d tried to create them myself the results would have been amateurish at best! I mentioned above that many readers can be put off by a large number of typos or grammatical errors, but before they even get to that stage, readers need to first buy your book – and they won’t do this if the cover is poorly made. Professionally designed covers can cost less than £100, and if you’re serious about your writing then this really is an essential investment.

11. Do you feel that self-publishing is a viable choice for other authors?

Self-publishing is absolutely fantastic if you have written a book you truly believe in, which has been professionally edited and proofread, and which has struggled to find a home with an agent or publisher because of its genre, its originality, or some other reason you are comfortable you understand; you also don’t care about commercial success or, if you do care about commercial success, you are prepared to put in a huge amount of marketing work to achieve it, as well as spending a bit of money on important things (like the design of the front cover).

If this is the case, I absolutely think self-publishing will be a viable, rewarding and unique experience!

12. How do you feel that self-publishing their books has helped many unknown authors finally get the recognition their books deserve?

Publishers used to be the all-powerful ‘gatekeepers’ of the writing industry. While I do think their views are important and their expertise is of immense value, and while I believe the removal of this barrier to entry has allowed some substandard work to be published, it’s important to stress that publishers are fallible humans, just like the rest of us – sometimes they get it wrong! There are many writers of brilliant books whose work was turned down by dozens of publishers before finally being given a chance, or who have self-published instead, and have gone on to remarkable success. And even those who haven’t had much commercial success, like me, have had a fantastic and very rewarding experience, and are extremely proud of the books they have created.

ABOUT JON:

“I’ve been a published writer since 2017 when my first crime thriller was published by HarperCollins, and since then have had six other novels published and self-published three short horror story collections. All of these can be found on my website or by searching for me on Amazon or other book sites, and I can also be tracked down on social media (currently Facebook, Instagram @jonrichterwrites, or the dreaded Twitter @richterwrites – BlueSky imminent!)”