Interview with author, Adam Oster – Part Two

Adam's new book is THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL.  It's the sequel to THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO and the second book in THE DEFENDER'S SAGA.

Saving the world doesn't mean squat if no one knows it was ever in trouble. Buddy Hero and the New Defenders may have defeated the villainous Dominion and saved the world from ultimate destruction, but thanks to another worldwide redaction, no one knows. So when a familiar face appears and claims to be the head of the Meta Human Defense Team, the heroic team finds themselves facing the ultimate decision.

The New Defenders find danger coming at them from all sides as they face off against yet another world-threatening calamity, all in full view of the Sun City Comic Convention and the Real Life Superheroes.

Now if only they could come up with a way to pay the rent.

Here is how Adam describes himself on his Amazon author page:
Father, Husband, and Office Drone by day, author Adam Oster spends his nights crafting worlds that abound with action and adventure, and fills them with stories of excitement and wonder. He lives in Eau Claire, WI with his wife and two kids. Together they explore the planet, giving him a plethora of new ideas.

Adam, there are a number of companies out now to aid in self-publication. CreateSpace is the largest, which stands to reason, because they are a subsidiary of Amazon.  There is also Bookbaby, Smashwords and Lulu. Which company or companies have you used and how would you describe your experience with them?
I'll be honest. I hated reviewing which self-publishing companies were out there in order to determine which one to use. There are just so darned many of them and ultimately the differences between them are rather small. I currently only use CreateSpace and Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (for ebooks) because Amazon does a really great job of helping out with (a minimal amount of) marketing. And, let's face it, they're really all about the self-pubbers right now...probably due to their battles with the big 6. I have used Smashwords in the past and found it to be a situation where it was too easy to get lost in the crowd. It does get you into a whole bunch of different sales platforms, but I really had no way of increasing my visibility on those platforms. Staying with Kindle Select might mean I don't get on those additional platforms, but more people actually see my covers, and that's what I'm looking for right now.

What promotional or craft building efforts have you done that have grown your following/fan base the most?
If there's one thing my fans know about me, it's that I'm a terrible marketer. That's not to say I haven't tried a multitude of things. Book reviewers, book promo sites, Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts, my blog, message boards and whatever else, I try pretty much anything that comes across my plate. I've even tried some Google and Facebook ads. What I've found is that although they may give an increase in visibility, generally the crowd that it's being brought to is the wrong one. A lot of the followers of these different things are other authors hoping to find readers, who are generally disinterested in finding new things to read. So, in the end, they do nothing for the sales, but take a great deal of effort, and a hefty dose of stress. I'm always researching new methods for promoting my books, but I've yet to find anything that markedly increases exposure.

I will say, however, that between the two promotional opportunities available for Kindle Select authors, there seems to be a great opportunity to get your work in the hands of readers. On the free days on Kindle Select, you can see your book fly off the virtual shelves to 100x your normal sales. Many of them probably won't read the book because they are just clicking due to the word free being there, but it's safe to say you'll get some exposure that way. I've found that the new countdown deals they have actually work out better. Something about a discount seems to work for consumers better than just handing things out for free. I mean, how good could it be if it's free, right? I was amazed at how many sales I made with the countdown deals over a short period of time compared to normal numbers.

Thank you for taking time to share your new book with me and my readers.  I'll speak for all of us in wishing you much success on your launch of THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL.
Thanks for this series of insightful questions. I actually really enjoyed answering them.

THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL will be available on Amazon.com starting August 1, 2014 at http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Mogul-Defenders-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B00M9LFJBI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406823195&sr=1-1/.

Find out more about Adam and his books for both young and old at http://fatmogul.com/, Twitter at @fatmogul and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/fatmogul/.

Sign up to receive e-mail notifications about new book releases by Adam Oster at http://fatmogul.com/email/. Feel free to e-mail him at adam@fatmogul.com.

Check out his Amazon author page at http://www.Amazon.com/Adam-Oster/e/B00C5RBJR4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1/.

And obtain your own copy of THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO at http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Buddy-Hero-Defenders-Saga-ebook/dp/B00C4VHP4W/ref=la_B00C5RBJR4_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406263445&sr=1-2/.