Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Novelist HP Mallory Shares How She Sold Nearly 23K Copies of her eBooks in a 30-Day Period

After finishing her first paranormal romance, “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble,” HP Mallory landed her dream agent who shopped her manuscript around New York.

However, after 2-3 months of rejections from publishing houses, her literary agent—like many these days—mysteriously disappeared.

Deflated, HP gave up. For two years she did nothing from a publishing standpoint and even considered giving up on her dream of being a published novelist.

Then, after someone told her about other novelists who were having great success with independently publishing their novels as ebooks, HP figured she had nothing to lose.

She uploaded her first title in July 2010 and saw immediate sales. Then, in December 2010, she sold almost 23,000 copies of her titles—impressive sales by any standards, especially for a one-month period.

Not only is HP a remarkable publishing success, she’s also an amazing novelist and a very pleasant, down-to-earth lady. It was a genuine pleasure conducting this interview with her.

Here’s the interview:

Describe how you brought your first book, “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” to market.

Well, after deciding I wanted to go the self publishing route, I simply uploaded Fire Burn to Amazon (this was back in July 2010) and then after realizing nothing much was happening, I set up Google Alerts on keywords that described my book such as “paranormal romance” and “urban fantasy.”

Whenever I got an alert that someone mentioned these words, I checked the emails and if they were book reviewers, I emailed them and asked them if they’d like to review my books.

I must have contacted hundreds of book bloggers and that’s how I started spreading the word about my books and getting really good reviews which the reviewers posted on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (which also helped me climb the ranks in both).

I also participated in forums where I would talk to readers and introduce my books.

How long, after making it available, did it take for you to generate your first sale? Then, significant sales?

My first sale was immediate. That’s because I hustled to get the word out there. My first month with two books, I sold just shy of 400 copies.

What would you say have been your most effective promotional tools? Your least?

I think anyone’s most effective tool is social media–Facebook, Twitter and blogging. The most important thing to remember is to create relationships with your readers. That’s how you get word-of-mouth started.

I can’t tell you how many readers have emailed me saying they told their friends/relatives/coworkers about my books not only because they enjoyed my books but they loved the fact that I’m so accessible.

I haven’t really done anything that hasn’t contributed to my success so far, at least that I can see. I think some tools have been better than others but there hasn’t been anything that has been a waste of time really. So far, I think Facebook has been the best tool.

Do you see any advantages with being an indie author versus working with a major publishing house?

There are advantages and disadvantages to both which is why I ultimately decided to become indie and traditional (I have three books coming out with Random House next year).

With a huge publisher, you have the benefit of a marketing department, PR department, internet department and you can rely on their immense knowledge when it comes to bringing a book to market.

Being an indie is great too, though, because you are much more in control of your books. It’s easy to do testing of content, pricing and the like. Yes, it’s way more work because you have to do everything for yourself but you also have way more control.

Congratulations on signing with Random House! What are you hoping to achieve with Random House that you are unable to do yourself with self-publishing?

Thank you! I think Random House was an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. Because of the fact that e-books only account for 30% of total book sales, I wanted to branch out in the hopes of becoming a well known name in paranormal romance. This way, I’ve got a foot in both camps and they should just feed off one another. I’ll always be an indie author for one of my self published series and the other will be available through Bantam (Random House imprint).

Plus, I think it’s really exciting to go through the publishing process and see it from another perspective!

Is there anything that you regret about publishing independently? Any mistakes you’d like to share?

No regrets at all. Self publishing literally changed my life. I quit my job and I’ve never looked back. And haven’t really made mistakes… so far….

What has your experience been like working with CreateSpace? Also, would you use them again?

I like CreateSpace. I don’t sell as many print books (nowhere near as many actually) as my ebooks. Yes, [I] would use them again.

I’ve read that you’re writing a book about your self-publishing journey. Will that be an indie book and do you have a time frame for when it will be available? Also, where can people sign up to get updates on it as well as other forthcoming novels?

Glad you mentioned it! Yes, I’m writing an indie, self publishing how-to book. It will basically outline everything I did to get where I am today with a huge emphasis on social media and online marketing (in my past job, I was a director of online marketing).

I’ve also reached out to people from pubit! from Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, huge review sites like Dear Author and social media gurus to get their input.

It should be out at the end of this month, June 2011.

And people can always visit my website: www.hpmallory.com for more info or friend me on facebook (which is always a good idea because I have an online writer’s club on my facebook page).

Describe a typical day. Also, when drafting your novels, do you have a word goal? Page goal? Time goal?

Yes, I give myself a 5000 word goal each day if I’m running close to a deadline which means I’m usually stuck writing 5000 words per day. LOL.

Otherwise, I try to aim for 2500 each day. I don’t really have time or page goals. As long as I get my word count in, I’m fine.

And a typical day consists of me taking my son to his nanny in the morning, working out for an hour or so at the gym, coming home to write and then going to pick my son up again.

How long does it generally take you to finish a first draft?

I can finish a book in 3-4 months. That’s inclusive of edits and rewrites.

How many drafts do you ultimately write before finalizing a manuscript?

I don’t really work in drafts. I write a chapter, massage it, send it to my editor, send it to my critique partners, read it once more and it’s finished.

What’s your writing environment look like?

My office: desk, couch, two computer monitors, shelf with tons of computer stuff on it, my certificates from USC and UCLA and at the moment, a few trucks and an aqua doodle in the corner of the room. LOL

How did you approach edits for your indie books?

I have a great editor who just started focusing on expanding her editing business and she is taking on more clients. You can learn more about her at www.editingfairy.com.

Do you ever experience writer’s block? And, if you do, what usually helps?

No, never. I experience writer’s “I’d rather be doing something else than write right now” syndrome but that’s about it. I don’t get writer’s block because I outline everything into the ground. LOL.

All of your novels get amazing reviews, including your latest title, “A Tale of Two Goblins.” Tell us about it.

Thank you! “A Tale of Two Goblins” is the second book in my Dulcie O’Neil series, about a fairy in law enforcement. In “A Tale of Two Goblins,” Dulcie must team up with hunky partner, Knight Vander, to stop a Dreamstalker from killing people in their sleep.

What are you working on now?

I’m actually two chapters shy of finishing the third book in my Jolie Wilkins series–about a witch who becomes Queen of the Underworld. This book, titled “Be Witched,” is the first book I’m writing for Random House!

Any words you’d like to leave for aspiring novelists?

Just never give up. I know that sounds trite but it’s so true. I am a perfect example of how your dreams can come true. Just stick with them!

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Lastly… Do you have a favorite quotation?

“Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim.” — Latin from Ovid.

It means: Be patient and tough. Someday this pain will be useful to you.

Thank you, for such a great interview, HP! As I mentioned before, you’re an inspiration.