Richard Phillips – Kindle Ebook format Leads to Bestseller Status
Richard Phillips was born in Roswell, New Mexico which is an interesting coincidence considering he’s a successful science fiction writer. He is the author of the bestselling Kindle series – The Rho Agenda. When I interviewed Richard, he was working on Wormhole, the third book in the series.
Darrell - It's interesting that you were born in Roswell, New Mexico, home of the infamous UFO crash. Did this have any bearing on your interests in writing science fiction?
Richard - It certainly added an air of mystery I found fascinating. Although the incident happened before my time, the people involved were still alive while I was growing up in the area.
Darrell - What writers influence you the most?
Richard - Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, and Robert Ludlum.
Darrell - What advice would you have for someone looking at self publishing their own ebooks?
Richard - Do it on the Kindle first. Amazon's eBook model is far superior to the other platforms when it comes to giving independent authors the opportunity to have their works discovered. Publishing on the Kindle is easy, fast, and free. You do have to set up an Amazon.com account and supply banking information so they can deposit your royalties. By the way, Amazon pays 70 percent royalties for books priced at least $1.99 that sell in the U.S. or Canada (35 percent otherwise). The reason Amazon is superior is simple. They have a great system of categorization and sub-categorization. It takes a much smaller number of sales for an author to move into a best seller list in one of the sub-categories than is required for the major categories. For example, once you manage to make it into the top 100 bestsellers in the Sci-Fi/High Tech sub-category, people start finding you. Then, assuming they like what they find, your sales begin rising until you move up into the next higher category of bestsellers.
Darrell - You have some of the most successful science fiction books on the Amazon Kindle. What do you do in the way of marketing to promote yourself?
Richard - Before I self-published on the Kindle, I did a variety of Pod Cast and radio interviews, as well as book signings etc. None of that really worked. For me, the important thing was to publish on the Kindle and to set the pricing on my first book at a price point that followed the iTunes model. That allows people to try an unknown author without risking much money. My second novel is priced at $4.99.
Darrell - Your first book in the Rho Agenda series is selling for 99 cents. To what degree is pricing a factor in your publishing success?
Richard - I think it is an important factor for the first book. Most successful eBooks from unknown independent authors initially start at that price (you can change it at any time). It looks to me like eBook pricing is headed toward the $2.99 price point.
Darrell - Do you think there's life on other planets and, if so, do you think they've visited Earth?
Richard - When I look at the number of galaxies, the number of stars in those galaxies, and the probable number of planets, I think it is extremely likely that life exists beyond earth. Intelligent life exists on earth, so with that many throws of the cosmic dice, it probably exists elsewhere. As to whether or not they've visited earth, I really can't say.
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