--> Today I interview a fellow member of the Brandywine Valley Writers Group, novelist Ken Lozito. Ken is now a full-time author specializing in military science fiction. Ken is the author of several well-received and successful series. His latest release in his First Colony series is Discovery: First Colony, Book Five. This series continues the adventures of Colonel Connor Gates, which began in Genesis: First Colony, Book One.
1) Let me start a little differently than usual. The recent death of short story writer and screenwriter Harlan Ellison brought this to mind.
Many of us were inspired to become a writer by someone. It might have been another writer, or a teacher, or even a parent. For me, it was discovering the work of Harlan Ellison as a teenager. I wanted to do what he did!
Was there one person in your life who inspired you to become a writer?
That's a tough question to answer. My first thought was, not
really, for me being a writer was something of a pie-in-the-sky idea that
people much smarter and more talented than me achieved. A friend of mine
introduced me to Piers Anthony, which got me hooked on reading stories in
middle school. I started writing in high school. I always had ideas for stories
churning along in the back of my mind, but I never made a serious effort at it
until much later in life.
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is one of my favorites,
and when he died, it was heartbreaking. This massive series was going to be
left unfinished. Most fans of the series know this, but a new and up and coming
writer at the time, Brandon Sanderson, was brought in to finish the series
based on Robert Jordan's notes. I was a bit skeptical at first but when I read,
The Gathering Storm, I was pleasantly surprised. I googled Brandon Sanderson
and read and watched videos of his interviews particularly his journey to
becoming a published author. We're pretty close in age, and I kept thinking
that if I'd made different choices or took my desire to be an author more
seriously, then I could have achieved the dream of becoming an author. All this
was going on around 2010. I'd just finished my master's degree in Business
Intelligence while working full-time and raising kids. While I was putting in
all this extra work, I kept thinking that I could be putting this effort into
writing. I'd even considered applying to Ph.D. programs with the intention of
becoming a college professor because I thought it would afford me more time to
write fiction on the side. Those plans didn't work out and thankfully so.
Toward the end of 2012, I'd decided to make a change. I was going to finish the
story I'd been tinkering with for nearly twenty years. This isn't the part
where I say I finished it and that story became a massive bestseller and
champagne fell from the heavens. But I did finish that story and then wrote
another one. One of the driving forces for me to finish that first book was my
kids. I'd been telling them the story, and I needed to finish it. Plus I also
wanted to show them that you can pursue your dreams.
Back to your question of who inspired me to become a writer.
I guess you can say it was a couple of people and experiences that inspired me.
What started as something to show my kids what was possible blossomed and grew
to what I've accomplished today.
2) Ken, tell us about
your First Colony series,
which began with Genesis: Book
One.
The First Colony series is about our first interstellar
colony. The story is set over two hundred years in the future. There is no FTL
or wormholes.
Genesis is a
military science fiction story about Connor Gates who wakes up to find that
he's been smuggled into a stasis pod aboard a colony ship that is now sixty
light-years from Earth. Unable to return home, Connor must find his place on
this new world, but he soon learns that this world wasn't the original
destination of the colony ship.
3) You like to write
books in series. How many series do you have out now?
I have four series out now. Two of them are complete
(Safanarion Order and Ascension series are complete.) First Colony series is
ongoing.
4) Unlike a lot of
authors, you have created a business plan for yourself. Would you like to tell
us what’s in your plan?
I've found that most successful authors have a plan that is
clearly defined so I chose to emulate that.
At the top of my plan are the words "Pay
Mortgage". When I discussed changing careers to become a full-time author
with my wife I knew I needed a plan. I'd been writing and publishing for four
years at this point and had a record of increasingly successful series.
My business plan has things that you'd find in any plan I
would think:
·
Mission - Provide literary entertainment through
writing fiction & Pay Mortgage
·
Description of the business - Similar to the
mission but more clearly defined.
·
Products (Current and Future) - Books I'd
written and future series I'm planning.
·
Pricing strategy - Based partially on the models
created by successful self-published authors.
·
Financial plan - Income and expenses are tracked
monthly. Monthly metrics will show individual books and series incomes to help
align marketing strategies within budget, determine series solvency, and
planning for new series.
·
Production schedule - Books I will write and the
publication of those books. This one is actually a challenge to put together
and I didn't really do this until I'd transitioned to become a full-time
author.
·
Target Audience - I write in different genres
and each of those have a specific audience I'm writing for.
·
Marketing - This can be a complex one to
explain, but at its core it's how I get my work in front of readers. Everything
from advertising to my release schedule can be tied to this.
·
Long Term Goals & Solvency Determination - Each
of these things have their own level of importance, but I added the last one
(Solvency Determination) on my own. I need to earn a living so I thought it was
important to include in my plan, actions that I would take if I wasn't earning
enough money to make a living. This will vary from person to person, but for me
this is what I measure against. If my income falls below a certain point then
something needs to change so I can do things like pay my mortgage and buy food.
I think it's important to be able to define what success is
so you can strive to achieve it. Most people have their own definition of
success so it's important to define what success means for you.
5) I downloaded the
ebook version of Genesis: First
Colony, Book One, and I notice it’s priced differently from the
others in the series. Have you experimented with different prices for your
books?
Yes I have. Genesis is currently priced at $0.99 cents for
the ebook and the other books in the series are priced at $4.99. Most ebook
prices range from $2.99-$5.99 depending on genre. Genesis is discounted as part
of a promotion to help bring new readers into the series. Not much risk for a
potential reader at that price point and they might find that they enjoy the
series.
6) The majority of
your sales are as ebooks, although hard copies of your books are also
available. Since most of your readers buy the ebook version, do you hold a book
release party for each new book?
No I don't. I announce new releases to my newsletter and on
Facebook. I mostly celebrate when I finish the first draft of a story with a
Guinness or bourbon. By the time I release a new book I'm already writing the
next book.
7) Anything else
you’d like to add?
Bottom line, you have to put in a lot of work to get your writing
to a professional level and even then you'll still have a lot to learn. Read a
lot of books especially those from authors in your chosen genre whose success
you'd like to emulate, but also read outside your genre. You might find that
your writing is better suited to a genre you hadn't expected. Keep writing and
don't just tinker with the same story for years. If it's a series, write the
next book. You will improve. This is the best time to be a writer and the
barrier to become an author has never been lower.
Thank you for your time, Ken. You can follow Ken on social media here:
Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/645833775795441/
Facebook Author page - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKenLozito/
Website - https://www.kenlozito.com
