Author Interview with Michael Hammor.

Before we begin, a short introduction to todays Interviewee:

Michael Hammor.

Michael Hammor is a homeless vet living in an RV with his famliy. They live somewhere is the desert near Bisbee and Sierra Vista. MH was laid off from a DOD contract job at the local military base.
MH has chosen to support his famliy by writing the sick little stories in his head. Previously, MH has been a Janitor, a soldier, a photographer, and a Military Intelligence Instructor. MH has trained over 600 soldiers, how to find, fix, and finish, the Enemy.

 

-Living in the Arizona desert must have played a key part in building the world you've created with Bedtime Tales From The Apocalypse, where did the idea for the actual story come from?

 

 Where did the inspiration for my current series come from? I was deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009. I left behind my 11 month old daughter and my chronically ill wife. I was gone for a little more than a year. I had the same worries as every soldier; what will happen to my family after I die. Since I am paranoid, I amplified that question with “What will happen to my family if the world ends and I can’t get home because infrastructure has collapsed?”

 The nucleus of the story was formed. The Girl is my daughter, basically. Rather, the monster she was forced to become through circumstances and my not being there to protect her.

 The Arizona desert did play a large role. There is no tougher environment to attempt to survive in than the desert. Other locales have it easy; plenty of water, good soil, and plentiful game. The desert is no joke.

 

 -Out of all the Post Apocalyptic stories out there, what separates yours from the rest?

 

What separates my work from the multitude of other apocalyptic fiction? I have found one other indie author, Katie Salidas, which writes anything remotely like my series. I spent a decade in Military intelligence developing realistic scenarios to predict enemy behavior. I used this experience to develop the universe I placed my characters in. I added a splash of the paranormal because the wife and I are Supernatural Junkies, and I grew up on horror, paranormal, and fantasy books.

 In my current series the world ended in slow slide into anarchy. The Veils between worlds thinned and supernatural and metaphysical beings crossed into my character’s reality, as I am sure some normal humans accidently found themselves transported to a strange reality in which their normality was suddenly supernatural.

 Basically my current series is The Road meets Supernatural. Katie Salidas’ work is set 200 years after the end of the world, mine is set less than twenty years after the fall of man.

 

-Since you're releasing these stories as a 'serial', any plans to put them all together in a single book once the story is finished?

 

That is the plan, Justin. Once I finish the sixth and final book in this phase of the series, I will bundle the books together and rewrite them into a novel with some expanded content. It will be entitled, Daughter of the Apocalypse. I have plans for two more novels released as serials to fully complete the series.

 

-If Bedtime Tales From The Apocalypse were to be adapted to film or TV, who would you pick to direct?

 

That is a tough question, Justin. I like the directing in the Walking Dead, Battle Star Galactica, and the humor in Firefly. The most important thing is that the spirit and message of my work is preserved. One more thing, I won’t allow them to cast some raven haired fox as the Girl. The story is set in a society in ruin. Thigh high boots and a pair of Desert Eagles are way out of character. The Girl is a vagrant, she is always dirty, she probably stinks, and she clothes herself in cast off or salvaged clothing. She is petite, so the clothes are almost always too big. She’s plainly attractive, not hot.
I write this series as if you are watching it on screen. I don’t include a ton of fluff. My writing is direct and to the point.

 My biggest fantasy is having this series picked up for a tv show or movie. That would solve my financial issues and be massively cool.

 

-Do you have any other stories demanding to be told in the works?

 

I am currently working on a Sci-fi stand alone novella about a clunky, obsolete spaceship and her gritty, jaded, cynical captain. It’s sort of a homage to Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, but more realistic. I was dissatisfied with Star Wars, so I am putting my own spin on it.

 I am also working on a collaboration with Stacey Welsh. It’s a thriller series (Novellas) featuring a young mother forced into doing the unthinkable to save herself. As it turns out, by the second book, she’s good at it.

 I also write shorts for a magazine, Far Horizons. I published a prologue to my current series, and an unrelated apocalyptic short entitled, The Lottery.

 

-Giving your current 'living situation', has it been difficult funding your writing career (editing, covers, marketing, etc.)?

 

Justin, it has been very difficult funding my career. I am currently unemployed and living in a small town that is totally dependent on the local military base. The base continues to cut the civilian workforce and our town is slowly dying. I am not the only author in our town. Connie Roberts-Huth and Brenda J. Kurtz write fantasy and live nearby. We correspond regularly and I was even interviewed last month for Brenda’s blog. Connie helps with occasional editing.

 Since I have no budget, I do what I can using free services from various websites that promote indie authors for no cost. I advertise on face book and twitter. Occasionally I participate in live events. Connie hosts a vendor expo here in town twice a month.

 I used to be a photographer so I shoot all my own cover images. I do all my own photoshop work. The model for the Girl was a local young homeless woman. About the time I asked her to model for me she got pregnant! It was a few weeks before we could shoot. She had started to lose the gauntness I was looking for but I am still very satisfied with the results. She is now living in a house in Tucson with her boyfriend and they are expecting a little boy in a few months. 

 My editing is handled by a good friend of mine, Jeffrey Covert. I list him as Clandestine Publishing Services on my kindle listings. Once a friend of mine gets her publishing company off the ground I will publish my series through her company.

 

-Who has influenced your writing?

 

That is a long list. I grew up reading Stephan King, Piers Anthony, Mercedes, Lackey, Heinlein, Dick, Asimov, and others. I was a voracious reader. I have been reading more indie authors lately like Alexia Purdy, J. McCoy, and Katie Salidas. Tolkein has had the biggest influence. He created a whole world with religions and races and included mythos. An amazing amount of work went into that. I can’t imagine.

 

-To you, what are the pros and cons of 'Traditional Publishing' over 'Self-Publishing'?

 

There is a huge divide between Indies and “Real” authors. The Pros of traditional are: Larger exposure, bigger payouts, less self promotion. The cons are: Loss of creative freedom, the rarity of getting selected and published, and the constant rejection.

 The Pros of Indie publishing are: Freedom, creativity, and the satisfaction of knowing that you and only you are responsible for your success. The cons are: Lack of exposure, self promoting, and knowing that you and only you are responsible for your lack of success.

 Self promotion is the largest hurdle. I spend nearly a hundred hours writing and rewriting. I spend thousands of hours on promotions. Sometimes I promote for 8 hours in a day and reap only a single sale. This is not an easy trade.

 My biggest peeve is the amount of money that my vendors keep. They do nothing to promote my work. Nothing! So why do they think they get to keep 70% of every dollar I try to make? Sadly, readers pay attention to Amazon listings and rankings. Indie authors really don’t have another option, amazon owns a huge share of the market.

 I was solicited by a publisher a while back. I was talking to one of their new authors and they liked what I was saying. They asked me to submit my work and I never heard back from them. I emailed them a few times and get excuses back. They offered a $500 advance which would have paid a lot of bills.

 

-What was your reaction when people started reading and leaving reviews for your stories?

 

The first person to ever read a prototype of The Girl With No Name is now my editor. He works for free in exchange for being the first to read my books. It was his encouragement that drove me to publish. I love reviews. I do a little happy dance every time I get one. I love feedback, even negative feedback as long as its constructive. The two worst reviews you can ever get are ‘Its great!’ and ‘It sucks!’. Those tell a potential reader nothing about your work.

 

-What marketing tactics do you find to be the most productive?

 

The most productive tactic as far as sales go are promoting with book lists. There are eight that I use regularly. I make more sales in a single day with these lists than I do with any other method. I also participate in several facebook groups. People end up asking for my links and I sell books. I am also a member of several forums with 100k plus membership and I post my books there once in a while and I always see a huge bump in sales.

 

Here are the listings I use:

 

www.readcheaply.com
www.ohfb.com
www.ebooklister.com
www.pixelofink.com
www.theereadercafe.com
www.readingdeals.com
www.ebookasaurus.com
www.bookpraiser.com

 

I also find that interviews help. Exposure always helps and an interview lets you express your personal side that many readers never get to see.

 

-What marketing tactics do you find the LEAST effective?

 

The marketing tactics I have found to be the least effective are spamming facebook groups and waiting for people to stumble upon your work. I know I basically ignore any book spam I see in a facebook group. For one, I have no money, and secondly, I can’t possibly read any more books than I am now. One of the benefits of being an author is that when you make friends with other authors, they all send you their books for free!

 Free promotions do not work, at least in my experience. Most authors have flooded the market with free books. There are just too many to choose from. I have 800 free books on my kindle account right now. I never buy the other books. That might be because I’m dirt poor, but part of it is that there are so many free books to enjoy that I don’t need to buy any.

 I haven’t had a lot of success with live events, either, but I will still keep doing them when I can.

 

-Other than your current genre, what other genres would you like to take a shot at?

I am currently writing a sci-fi novella as well as a thriller collaboration. I mentioned them before. I’d like to write some straight horror someday. Readers often ask me why I don’t write military themed books. The answer is simple, it’s too soon. I can’t face that part of my life in that much detail yet.

  am toying with the idea to co-write a children’s book with my daughter. She is drawing way above her level, utilizing perspective and composition. I am very proud. She comes from two very creative and talented parents.

 

-What genre would you never consider writing?

I could never write romance or erotica. I did write a short romance based in the world of my current series, but that is the exception. It’s for a breast cancer benefit anthology. Hopefully I will get some extra exposure. I also have a short story slated for a different anthology coming out in a few months.

I know I could make some fast money writing erotica but it lacks creativity. There is only so much you can do with sex. I suppose I could write a novel shell, change names, occupations, and hair color and release the same book over and over. Brett the cowboy becomes Brent the Pilot trying to woe Josephina the Latina Bartender who becomes Joanna the waitress. I also don’t want to explain to my daughter later where the money came from.

Michael's Website.

http://www.bedtimetalesfromtheapocalypse.com/

Michael's Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/mike.hammer.54390

Michael's Blog.
http://michaelhammor.blogspot.com/