Author Interview:  Andy Hewitt

How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?

I have previously written two technical books to do with my professional speciality, but The Furthest Points is a travelogue about a motorcycle tour that my wife and I undertook to discover more about Spain and Portugal shortly after we moved there.

What motivated you to start writing?

My technical books were written with the aim of helping people who wished to learn about my speciality within the industry and to fill a gap in existing information. The Furthest Points was written because I wanted to do something different and write about two passions in my life – motorcycling and Spain. I thought that I had a story to tell which people would enjoy.

Tell us the journey you went on to get your books published (e.g. direct on your website, self-published, assisted-publishing, traditional publisher)

My technical books were totally handled by the company who agreed to publish the books at the time that I first developed the concepts – I just supplied the manuscript and worked with their copy editor to correct errors and the like. The Furthest Points was more of a hobby, so this time I wanted to try the self-publishing route. The first thing I needed after completing the manuscript (or so I thought) was a copy editor.

Victoria Twead is an author whose books I have enjoyed, and I knew that she was involved with Ant Press, so I contacted her and asked if she could recommend someone. Victoria introduced me to the wonderful Jacky Donovan who explained the various services that Ant Press offered and from that point on, Jacky held my hand through the whole process. Not only did she provide the full copy-editing service, but she offered excellent advice on the target audience and editing the book. She also, arranged for the cover design, conversion into Kindle and paperback formats and finally loaded everything onto Amazon for me. I am immensely grateful to Jacky for not only helping me though what I now know is a difficult process for a first timer, but also for greatly helping to improve my original manuscript.

What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g. design, marketing, formatting etc.)

I guess that I enjoy the writing the most – after all that’s what writers do. My kids tell me that I am ‘IT challenged’, so I am happy to leave the design, formatting, conversion to Kindle and all that complicated stuff to others. I am a consultant in real life, so I am well aware of the value of using someone who is an expert in their field to do what they do well, as opposed to having a go myself and taking much longer to produce something inferior.

Jacky gave me some good advice about selecting icons for the start of each chapter and section breaks and we jointly came up with something that I think gives the book a very pleasing and professional appearance.

The cover design took some to-ing and fro-ing. I wanted an image which told the viewer exactly what was in the tin, so it had to be typically Spanish/Portuguese and include a picture of our motorcycle. I’m not much of a photographer, so my own photos from the trip just weren’t good enough for the cover. Jacky advised me to find and buy a stock photo from the internet and she then had a techy person to photoshop the bike onto it. Not only am I delighted with the result, but many people have complimented me on the cover. I could never have produced anything like that myself.

As a businessman, I am well aware of the value of marketing and this was reinforced by both Jackie and Victoria, who both encouraged me to get involved in social media and particularly Facebook. I used to have a complete aversion to social media, but it has now become a part of my daily routine and I have to admit that I have enjoyed re-connecting with old friends and meeting new ones. I have found the authors on the Facebook group We Love Memoirs particularly supportive and I feel that I have made some genuine new friends there.

With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?

For sure! The main thing though, was that it would have been very helpful had I identified my target audience from the outset. I set out to write a travelogue primarily for bikers and as such, it had a lot of content that would be either meaningless or uninteresting to non-bikers and a fair amount of, let’s say, ‘biker language’. Jacky pointed out that most travelogue readers fall into a completely different category and for maximum sales we had to make it appealing to this target audience. This meant that I cut huge amounts of content from the manuscript and toned down the language somewhat and made it’s a lot less ‘blokey’. The upshot of this is that I have a lot of material sitting there, ready to go into another book.

What tip or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?

Get in touch with a professional from the outset and allow them to guide you and provide you with advice as to the direction of the book and its target audience. Also, when the manuscript is finished, allow them to do what they are experienced at doing and listen to their advice. They have done these things before, so it will usually be valuable advice.

What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?

I have already discussed social media and at the moment, this is limited to Facebook where I join discussions in biker groups, groups about Spain and the We Love Memoirs group. I have not attempted other forms of social media as yet.

I have prepared articles based on the book and sent them to magazines and web-based publications where I offer the articles for publication in exchange for a mention of the book. I am shortly to have such an article published in HOG Tales, the Harley Owners Group magazine, which is distributed to thousands of members internationally. The Harley Owners Group operates through local chapters and I have sent articles to editors of their chapter newsletters on a similar basis.

Our local radio station has a regular feature called Book Corner where books are discussed, and authors are invited to take part. I am hoping to get a spot on that shortly.

What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?

I think the same as any other author in that I want my readers to enjoy reading the book and to be entertained. I would also like them to learn a little about biking, Spain and Portugal and share my enjoyment of my personal passion for these things.

What’s your book’s elevator pitch or key selling points?

I have been told that my book is easy to read, entertaining and informative, so I guess that these would be its key selling points and I am happy to have achieved them.

What’s next on your writing journey?

To do what I can to make The Furthest Points successful and then to think about another book which will probably be a memoir of my life as an expatriate of some twenty-something years, but with a biking theme running through it. This will make good use of the content that we cut from The Furthest Points.

About the Author

Andy Hewitt was destined from an early age to be a biker — amongst his earliest memories are riding in his dad’s sidecar and sitting on the tank of his BSA Bantam. He first took to the road two years before he was old enough the get a license and from that point, motorcycles became a big part of his life.

Born in the UK, Andy has lived and worked in Africa, the Middle East and Europe and has owned many bikes, including five Harley-Davidsons. He has ridden bikes in eighteen different countries and on many of these occasions, he has been accompanied by his wife, Kim.