Author Interview:  Rob Johnson

How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?

The five books I’ve published to date have been quite a mixed bag. ‘A Kilo of String’ is my only travel memoir so far, and my other books have all been novels – three comedy thrillers and a comedy time travel adventure called ‘Quest for the Holey Snail’ which has been variously described as “utterly bonkers” and “wonderfully mad”.

What motivated you to start writing?

I caught the bug at a very early age when I was about seven years old. A teacher at school asked us to dramatise a story we’d read about Robin Hood, and I loved doing that so much that writing became something of an obsession from that moment on. I used to write short plays and stories in my spare time throughout my childhood, but it wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I got the opportunity to write professionally. The day that a touring theatre company commissioned me to write a play for them was definitely one of the best of my life. Up until that point, I thought that actually being paid to do something I loved was little more than a pipe dream.

Then, after having four of my plays professionally produced, I decided to turn my hand to writing novels and also my travel memoir A Kilo of String.

Tell us the journey you went on to get your books published (e.g. direct on your website, self-published, assisted-publishing, traditional publisher)

With my first book, a comedy thriller called Lifting the Lid’, I contacted about sixty literary agents to try and get it traditionally published. A small handful of these expressed interest, but it was a case of close but no cigar. So that was when I decided to self-publish and I’ve never even bothered trying to get traditionally published since then. As a self-publisher, I have complete control over every aspect of my books and also a far better royalty percentage!

What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g. design, marketing, formatting etc.)

Even though I’ve worked professionally as an editor in the past, I really don’t enjoy editing my own work. Having said that, I usually produce about seven or eight drafts before I decide that the book is fit for public consumption. Like most self-published authors, I have to do all the marketing myself (or pay somebody else to do it for me), and although it’s not something I particularly mind doing, I do resent the time it takes that I’d prefer to spend actually writing.

With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?

I certainly wouldn’t have wasted all the time I spent on trying to get traditionally published.

What tips or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?

These will all sound like well worn clichés but are probably worth repeating anyway. Make sure your book is the best it could possibly be before you hit the Upload button. This includes a professional-looking cover and an attention-grabbing sales blurb. If you can afford it, I’d also recommend hiring a professional editor. If there’s one thing readers hate, it’s a book full of typos and grammatical and spelling mistakes.

If you’re serious about writing and self-publishing, I’d also strongly recommend joining the Alliance of Independent Authors, where you can get all kinds of excellent advice. They also have a members-only group on Facebook, which I find invaluable in answering any questions I might have about pretty much any aspect of the self-publishing process.

I also follow David Gaughran’s blog and subscribe to his newsletter. His tips and advice are always incredibly useful and up to the minute.

What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?

I have a website, a Facebook page dedicated to my writing and a newsletter that I send to my mailing list of readers with information about my new books, price discounts, etc. Occasionally, I’ll run a Kindle Countdown Deal on Amazon and promote it through various book promotion sites, some of which are free and some reasonably cheap.

For several months now I’ve also invested in paid Amazon ads. To be honest, it seems that these days your book will rarely get noticed on Amazon unless you’re prepared to splash some cash in their direction.

What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?

Whether it’s a travel memoir or a novel, my primary aim is always to entertain and, above all, give my readers a good laugh. Comedy is highly subjective, of course, but the majority of the feedback I’ve had suggests that most people appreciate the humour, and I love it when a reader makes such comments as “Left me laughing so hard I would have spat out my dentures, if I wore them.” One of my favourites, though, was “‘Laughed out loud till my scrotum split.”

What’s your book’s elevator pitch or key selling points?

After living in Greece for thirteen years, writer and reluctant olive farmer Rob Johnson has got used to most of the things that he and his wife Penny found so bizarre at the beginning. Most, but not all. Or as one reader put it, “Fabulously funny – a real must for lovers of all things Greek.”

What’s next on your writing journey?

Many people who’ve read A Kilo of String have asked if there’s going to be a sequel. It’s certainly a possibility at some point in the future, but at the moment I’m writing the third novel in my Lifting the Lid comedy thriller series. Like the second in the series (Heads You Lose), this is set almost entirely in Greece.

About the Author

Rob Johnson is an English author and self-described ‘reluctant olive farmer’ who moved to Greece in 2004 with his wife Penny in search of better weather. They live halfway up a mountain on a 5-acre smallholding on the west coast of the Peloponnese with six (at the last count) rescue dogs, two cats and four hundred olive trees.

His often bizarre experiences in Greece prompted him to produce a series of podcasts which eventually formed the basis of his book ‘A Kilo of String’.

In his previous life, Rob worked for several years as an administrator and publicist for touring theatre companies and then as a playwright. In between writing plays, he had a variety of temporary jobs (e.g. motorcycle dispatch rider and a fitter’s mate at a perfume factory). He has also taught English as a foreign language and been a freelance editor, mainly for environmental NGOs.

• Amazon Author Page: @Rob_Johnson_Author
• Website: www.rob-johnson.org.uk
• Facebook: @RobJohnsonAuthor
• Twitter: @RobJohnson999