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#13 - How Hugh Howey Got into Writing

30 min • 27 december 2013

Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame: Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.

This is the third in the series of three interviews and features international bestselling author Hugh Howey. In the interview, Camille and Hugh discuss:

Hugh’s start into writing, the multi-faceted journey his life took, including being a ship’s captain
How Hugh was working as a bookseller when he started on the path of writing a book, publishing it, and then moving on to the next project writing the next book
Hugh’s perspective on the importance of joining a writing group; in particular the group he joined (the High Country Writers)
The critical role that revisions of that first draft play for a writer, whether you are self-publishing or want to send it to an agent or publisher
The role being a bookseller played in helping to inform Hugh about the realities of the publishing industry
Hugh’s belief that we should celebrate the fact that there are so many people out there able and willing to express themselves through literature like they do all other art forms
How Europe, often seen to be lagging behind the North American trends is, in Hugh’s opinion, actually progressing quite a bit more quickly than the U.S. in terms of accepting self-publishing
The meetups that Hugh participates in when he is traveling, as a way to connect directly with readers
How Hugh uses social media to make himself available and to interact with his readers and friends
How Kobo Writing Life has been a major avenue to international readers for Hugh’s eBooks
How Hugh sees the KWL interface as the cleanest and most user-friendly platform, presenting data in an interesting format, and how he tells the other platforms they should be copying what Kobo is doing
Hugh’s 7 week tour through Europe promoting the book, and his embrace of a hybrid approach (Hugh sold the print only rights to WOOL to Simon & Schuster)
The incredible innovation that several of Hugh’s publishers have demonstrated in promoting WOOL

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, discusses a point that Hugh makes in the interview regarding patience and the strategy of continuing to work on your next book (rather than focusing all your time and attention worrying about your already published title or titles) -- he also references a recent blog post by Dean Wesley Smith entitled "The New World of Publishing: Some Perspectives of 2013" in which Smith notes the importance of building a career over decades rather than giving up after a few books and very little sales (or, as the case used to be with publishing, quitting after 50 rejections)