Coffee Break

Name: Paul Salvette

Latest Book: America Goes On: A Novella

Web site: http://paulsalvette.com

Decaf or regular? Two regular cups in the morning, and two more in the afternoon, please. Who the heck drinks decaf?

How do you like your eggs? ไข่ดาว, which is Thai for sunny-side up, but I’m not too picky if someone else is paying.

What do you think of the Kindle Revolution and how it’s affecting the publishing industry?
The Kindle Direct Publishing program is the best thing to happen to the written word in a long time. Authors no longer have to write to please the suits in the Big 6 or some know-it-all critic. It is a way to connect directly with those who are really important – the readers.
For me, I live in Thailand and trying to get a book published traditionally that would reach an international marketplace would have
been a complete nightmare. The Kindle Revolution allows the sharing of eBooks instantaneously and easily, and this is great for both authors
and readers. It also helps that the prices are dirt cheap.

Describe your favorite character of all the ones you’ve created.
My favorite character would be the protagonist from my latest novella, America Goes On. He is a Marine who has returned from Iraq and is wandering through America, from the West Coast to the East Coast. He
is simultaneously filled with both wisdom and confusion, and he is also very frustrated at what has happened to the country he has defended. I am not a big fan of the superman-type protagonists, because morally ambiguous and flawed characters seem to be a lot more interesting.

What’s surprised you most about digital publishing?
You can’t just put your eBook for sale and expect people to buy it. You really have to get out there and market yourself. However, you don’t want to be a spam bot that tweets the shortened URL to your
Amazon page every five minutes. It is very necessary to get involved with the author and reader community and provide something of value to help make a name for yourself. That is why I created a tutorial series
on eBook formatting for other indie authors, and I hope that someone out there will find it useful.
http://www.paulsalvette.com/p/ebook-formatting-tutorial.html

What’s the best piece of advice on being an author that you ever heard?
Dean Wesley Smith always harps on how writers have to frequently practice writing. He argues that talent is overrated, and writing is something that is mastered over years of hard work. That’s strong motivation for me to keep trying and improving in the craft.

If you could dabble in another genre, what would it be?
I’m trying to write a sci-fi/cyberpunk type book at the moment. It’s pretty fun, and you don’t have to do that much research, since you just make that stuff up.

Want a slice of pie with that?
Yes, there are not enough pies in Thailand. Lots of rice, but no pies. What a shame!

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