Author Interview with Travel Writer Tom Fay

Tom Fay Author Interview Must See Japan Travel Guide Writer

This week we’re joined by Tom Fay who is a British author and writer in Japan.

He has written for The Guardian, The Japan Times, Forbes Travel Guide, Japan Today, Taiken Japan, Bunkacho (the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan) and Kansai Scene Magazine. He’s a hybrid author who self publishes his own guides, and also has a contract with a traditional publisher.

Tom has established his travel writing brand around his knowledge of his adopted home, and today he’s sharing his writing and self-publishing journey for his Japan Travel Guide, which is an insider’s guide to seeing the best of the country in one trip.

~~ Jay

Author Interview: Tom Fay

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

My writing so far has mostly been focused on travel and the outdoors.

What motivated you to start writing?

I have enjoyed writing since my early teens, but took a break from it for a number of years. Then I moved to Japan and was inspired to start writing again.

Tom Fay Fushimi-Inari Shrine in Kyoto

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

After a few years of writing travel articles for various publications I finally felt it was time I tried my hand at writing something bigger and more substantial. I noticed on Amazon that there were a number of cheap travel guides for Japan, but most of them seemed very amateurish and full of vague and not particularly helpful information.

After years of helping many friends plan their trips to Japan, and getting asked the same questions over and over again, I was sure that I could write a much better travel guide than most of the other ones out there. So I wrote and published ‘Must-See Japan’ for Kindle in 2016, followed by a paperback version a year later. I never wrote it with any great expectations of becoming a best-seller, I just wanted to try getting a book out that would provide value and maybe help a few people. So I decided to do everything myself, from the cover design to marketing. In that respect it was a good learning experience.

Around the same time as the ebook version was released, I signed a contract with a traditional publisher to be the main author of a hiking guidebook for the Japan Alps and Mt Fuji, so suddenly I had two books on the go!

Tom Fay Must See Japan Guidebook

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

I like the satisfaction of a book slowly coming together until the day it is finally ready to be released. The actual act of writing can be very enjoyable, but there are also days when it seems like a real chore and nothing much productive gets done.

I would say that formatting was the most tedious part of the process, as it is fairly time consuming and by that point you just want to get the thing published.

Tom Fay near the summit of Tateyama — Tom near the summit of Tateyama

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

I wish I had tried writing a book earlier. There really is no reason to put these things off.

Tom Fay Kamikochi in the Japan Alps — Kamikochi in the Japan Alps

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

Just get started, that’s probably the hardest part. Then just keep at it, little by little, until you have something you are happy with. Get someone to proofread your work before publishing (preferably a professional editor), as there will be mistakes or things that only a second pair of eyes will notice.

Tom Fay Giant Buddha (Daibutsu) at Kamakura — Giant Buddha (Daibutsu) at Kamakura

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

I didn’t do much marketing at all until earlier this year, but I’ve now started experimenting with AMS (Amazon) ads. I tried Facebook ads but that didn’t prove to be fruitful for me. I occasionally plug my work on my social media channels, and it’s useful to have your own website so that you can link to it when you write articles.

Tom Fay Popular Japanese dish, shabu-shabu — Popular Japanese dish, shabu-shabu

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

I honestly just want my books to be useful to visitors to Japan. It can be quite a bamboozling place for foreigners, but I think my books are full of genuinely useful information that I’ve picked up after living here for many years. It’s nice to get emails or read positive reviews from people you don’t know who say they found your book useful.

What’s next on your writing journey?

I’m currently putting the finishing touches to my forthcoming guidebook ‘Walking and Trekking in the Japan Alps and Mt. Fuji’, to be published by Cicerone Press in February 2019. It’s the first English-language guidebook dedicated to the region, so hopefully it will help people who want to see and explore some of Japan’s most wild and spectacular areas.

After that, I’ll start working on the 2019 update of ‘Must-See Japan’, and I have a few other book ideas whirling around too.

Read how #travelwriter Tom Fay is using his knowledge of #Japan to build his travel blogging empire and establish himself as a subject matter expert. Click To Tweet

About the Author

Tom Fay is a British travel and outdoors writer based in Osaka. Since moving to Japan in 2007 he has been exploring and travelling extensively all over the country. This has led to articles and features for The Guardian, The Japan Times, JNTO, Forbes Travel Guide, Japan Today, Narita Airport, Lonely Planet, Navitime Travel and other media outlets.

He wrote and self-published a travel guidebook for Kindle called ‘Must-See Japan’ in 2016, followed by a paperback version the following year.

Tom has a special interest in the outdoors, nature and mountaineering. He is a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and is the lead author of the forthcoming guidebook ‘Walking and Trekking in the Japan Alps and Mt. Fuji’, to be published by Cicerone Press in February 2019.