A few weeks ago, I began chatting with David Niall Wilson. We began chatting about books, Crossroad Press and more. While David writes in a different genre than I normally read- listening to him talk about books was interesting. I approached him about an interview- and here it is!

Interview with David Niall Wilson

David, can you tell us a bit about Crossroad Press?

Crossroad Press was formed in 2009 as Macabre Ink Digital.  The original intent was simply to bring my own out of print books to digital, and to try and get a few of them done as audiobooks.  My background, besides being an author, is in IT.  I’m IT Manager for a very successful company, and have extensive background in web development, networking, and computers.  All of this made learning the basic tools of the trade a short and simple task.

When I started getting my titles out there, a few friends noticed what I was doing.  Digital had just begun to take off.  Everyone was afraid of being left behind.  Some publishers were moving into eBooks, but seemed bent on making as much money as they could while, as usual, excluding the authors.  Those friends asked if I’d help them with their books.  They offered to pay me.  I declined.  Instead, I asked for a small percentage.

That is the backbone of Crossroad Press.  We are now a growing, widely distributed digital publishing company.  Our books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Diesel, Kobo, and Smashwords.  We are also distributed to libraries through EBSCO (once Net Library) and Overdrive.com, as well as through direct sales to several library consortiums.  We are on the verge of a major deal with libraries in North Carolina.  We have published over 650 titles, and expect growth to continue exponentially.  We are approached by new agents, publishers, and authors almost daily.

The beginning was simple.  We set out to find out of print books that had been forgotten, the horror and sci-fi and mystery books we enjoyed that could not be easily found, and that had missed the switch to digital completely.  We found a lot of authors with boxes of books in their garage that no one was ever going to read.  I developed a quick and simple way of scanning these, and between myself and my associate editor and partner, David Dodd, a database and programming whiz, we figured out how to reconstruct those OCR scans into word documents.  We have a small army of folks working for us proofing and copy-editing, mostly for the love of books, or for free reading of the rest of our library.

We keep our bottom line as low as possible.  Most cover art is handled in house.  We are committed to never changing the original model.  Eighty percent of all net sales of eBooks go to the author.  A clean copy of any scanned book goes to the author.  We handle everything, and the author gets 80 percent, mostly on works that are just not available.  If you are an author with a back-list, and your agent, or friends, or anyone, really, is urging you to publish digitally through someone who charges fees for the “service” of publishing you – you should contact us before you make any decisions.

We keep the prices of the eBooks reasonable.  Most old, novel length paperbacks can be had in print from Amazon for .99 plus shipping.  We sell most reprint genre books for $2.99 – $3.99 to hit the minimum price Amazon will pay out 70 percent on.  Scarcer or larger books we scale upward.  The most expensive eBook we’ve sold is $6.99.  I remember when I used to read incessantly, and I remember that around $5 a book is where it was no longer an impulse buy for me, and I had to think a lot harder before buying something new.

Along the way we’ve picked up authors like Clive Barker, Jay Bonansinga, P. F. Kluge, James Dalessandro, Jo Landsdale, Jack Ketchum, Chet Williamson, the estates of Hugh B. Cave and Irving Wallace, International best-selling authors Thomas Sullivan and William Bayer, most of the estate of Charlie Grant, works by John Farris and Neil Barrett Jr., and even the eBook s for the Stargate Series.  We have developed some original series works, and are pursuing those aggressively with some good results.

I noticed in the store that there are some books by you, David. Are you continuing to write?

I’m a writer first.  As I mentioned in my first answer, Crossroad Press only started as a way to get my own backlist into digital.  I’ve written more than thirty books, had over 200 short stories published, won some awards, and write constantly.  My most recent novel, just out, is Nevermore – A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe.  It’s well-reviewed so far and I have high hopes for it.

Today, people talk about e-books vs paper books. Do you have a preferred format? Does one format have more benefits for the reader?

I find the whole argument silly. We had stories that people told one another, way back before books.  Then we started writing them down, but they were expensive and few owned them.  Then books became cheaper, and easier, and before you knew it, everyone could own and read books.  Books (printed books) have been with us for a very long time, and I don’t think they are going anywhere anytime soon.  eBooks, audiobooks, all of these are just new formats – stories, are stories.  Everyone has their own preference – I like to own, and hold real books, but I read more often on my Nook or my Kindle because I am a digital publisher, and carrying around fifty books is not practical.  I love to read, and for me it’s about stories, and words.  The format should not be the reason someone does, or does not buy a book.

Traditional publishing vs self-publishing- what are your thoughts? Is either way better? Or does it not matter?

Again, I don’t really fall on either side.  I’m a hybrid.  I published for many years through the traditional system, and when I started my own company, I began publishing on my own.  Crossroad Press is a publisher – though – not exactly a NYC style publisher, more of a hybrid.  We have nearly 150 authors and 700 titles…not tiny any longer.

Publishing (again) should not be the focus. What is most important is a good story.  It is also important that the story be well-written, edited, proofread, and presented in a pleasing manner.  If you take that as a given, the only advantage NYC has over other forms of publishing is their huge budget and a bunch of pretentious people trying to protect their jobs by pretending they know things others don’t.

Authors are using social media to help promote books. Is this a good thing? Is it a necessary evil?

A lot of people are out there telling authors that they have to promote through social media.  After four years of digital publishing, this is what I know.  If you have a social media following made up of family, friends, and other writers, you are mostly wasting your time and bothering your friends.  Social Media marketing works just like any other marketing.  To be successful it has to reach out to people you do not know and who are interested in buying books.  That is harder.

A lot of “services” have sprung up, asking authors to plunk down money to be marketed.  We have tested a lot of them, others we avoid like the plague.  The key to whether or not you should use a particular kind of social marketing is results.  If you can’t find someone who can say “I did this, and I sold this, and this is how,” it’s probably a better idea to spend your time writing.  I’m not saying not to talk about your books – it’s part of what authors do – I’m just saying spend your time – and money – wisely when you schedule marketing for your book.

*Special thanks to David Niall Wilson for this interview

For more information on David Niall Wilson, check out Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter or his website.