Indie spotlight: Inspiration from Onnagatta and Onna bugeisha

Indie spotlight focuses on self-publishing and indie authors.

K. Bird Lincoln, an American, now lives in the Midwest, but she has previously lived in Japan.  She is the author of the medieval Japanese fantasy series, Tiger Lily, which explores the gender-bending lives of rebellious girls living during a period of Japanese history relatively little-known in the West.

Here, K. Bird Lincoln talks to Alexa Kang about Onnagatta and Onna bugeisha, gender-fluid Japanese who inspired her character, Tiger Lily.

Indie Spotlight: Matthew Legare

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, Matthew Legare discusses his new novel Shadows of Tokyo, the first in a projected historical thriller-noir series set in pre-World War II Japan. The second book, Smoke Over Tokyo, is coming soon.

Matthew is an indie author publishing under the Black Mist Books imprint. He also reviews new fiction and interviews authors on his blog.

So, over to Matthew…

Indie spotlight dual edition: (2) Understanding how to market on Amazon

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, in the second of today’s Indie spotlight dual edition, Ilan Nass, from Taktical Digital in New York City, gives general advice on how sellers can maximise sales through Amazon. Indie authors can adapt this advice to suit their own aim: selling books.

Indie spotlight dual edition: (1) Christie Dao on Actualize Your Dreams

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, in the first of today’s Indie spotlight dual edition, Christie Dao, a Vietnamese-American now based in Singapore, explains how she came to publish her inspirational book, Actualize Your Dreams, and why it was important for her to work with an Asian-American editor.

Christie Dao was born in Vietnam and moved to the United States as a 12-year-old. After graduating high school and gaining a full-tuition scholarship, Christie finished her bachelor’s degree one year ahead of schedule. After earning her master's degree, she relocated to Singapore as an employee of Intel Asia Pacific. She has lived and worked in Singapore for the last 18 years.

Actualize Your Dreams: from wishful thinking to reality is Christie’s self-portrait of growing up in an Asian household in the United States. It charts her determination to achieve and obtain her personal education and career goals from her teenage years until today. Learning English and the cultural norms Americans take for granted were just two of the stumbling blocks she encountered as a new immigrant to America. But she overcame the barriers, and her life came full-circle when her career brought her back to Asia, the continent she left as a 12-year-old.

So, over to Christie…

Indie spotlight: An indie author’s guide to marketing, part II – selling

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, in the second of a two-part series on marketing, Alexa Kang, a Boston-based, Chinese-American author of World War Two historical fiction, published through her own house, Lakewood Press, gives advice on selling. This follows her post on branding, which appeared last Friday.

Alexa recently brought out Shanghai Story, which is set in 1936 Shanghai. It is the first book of a projected trilogy set to chronicle the events in China leading up to World War Two, as well as the experience of Jewish refugees in Shanghai.

So, over to Alexa…

Indie spotlight: An indie author’s guide to marketing, part I – branding

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, in the first of a two-part series on marketing, Alexa Kang, a Boston-based, Chinese-American author of World War Two historical fiction, published through her own house, Lakewood Press, gives advice on branding. She will follow-up with a post on selling, on Monday.

Alexa recently brought out Shanghai Story, which is set in 1936 Shanghai. It is the first book of a projected trilogy set to chronicle the events in China leading up to World War Two, as well as the experience of Jewish refugees in Shanghai.

So, over to Alexa…

Indie spotlight: Alexa Kang on Shanghai Story

Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, Alexa Kang, a Boston-based, Chinese-American author of World War Two (WWII) historical fiction, discusses Shanghai Story, which publishes through her own house, Lakewood Press, on May 18.

Shanghai Story is set in 1936 Shanghai. It is the first book of a projected trilogy set to chronicle the events in China leading up to WWII, as well as the experience of Jewish refugees in Shanghai.

So, over to Alexa…

Indie spotlight: Soulla Christodoulou

Indie spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Tim Gurung, chats to Soulla Christodoulou, author of the women’s fiction titles Broken Pieces of Tomorrow, and the forthcoming The Summer Will Come, about her experience of self-publishing.

Indie spotlight: Travis Lee

Indie spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Tim Gurung, chats to Travis Lee about his new book Expat Jimmy, in which he draws on his own experiences of teaching English in China. The novel concerns a young American teacher, who arrives in Wuhan looking for a year-long vacation, paid for by teaching English as a second language. Waiting for him is Adam, a jaded laowai (foreigner / expat) determined to crush his preconceptions of China, and to introduce him to the dark side of expat life.

Indie spotlight: how to launch a new book like a pro by Tim Gurung

Hong-Kong-based Tim Gurung edits indie spotlight, Asia Books Blog’s monthly column on self-publishing. Tim is the self-published author of both fiction and non-fiction titles. His non-fiction covers topics as various the Gurkhas, the afterlife, fatherhood, and women's rights. Launching a book can be nerve-wracking. Tim here draws on his own experience to offer a few tips, particularly for debut authors.

Indie spotlight: Tim Gurung

Some of Tim's books

Hong-Kong-based Tim Gurung has just taken over as the editor of indie spotlight, Asia Books Blog’s monthly column on self-publishing. Tim is the self-published author of both fiction and non-fiction titles. His non-fiction covers topics as various the Gurkhas, the afterlife, fatherhood, and women's rights.

Tim says: “I have been self-publishing since early 2015. I am now working on my 15th book. I became a self-published author by choice, started from almost zero experience of publishing, and learned the trade almost on my own. And after selling a little over ten thousand books by now, I should know a few things about self-publishing, right?”

In this his first column, he outlines how to categorise indie authors, and advises how authors can move between the categories.  

Indie spotlight: Tabby Stirling

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan offers a platform to indie author Tabby Stirling.

Tabby now lives in Scotland with her husband, two children and a beagle, but she was previously an expat in Singapore. She has had several flash and short stories published in Spelk fiction, Camroc Fiction Press, Literary Orphans, Mslexia and others.

Tabby recently signed with Unbound, a UK-based literary crowdfunding publisher, for her novel Blood on the Banana Leaf. This shines a light on the maid abuse that came to her attention whilst she was living in Singapore. It explores how women cope in the most demeaning of circumstances.

Over to Tabby…

Indie spotlight: J. W. Durrah

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan talks to indie author J. W. Durrah 

J. W. Durrah published his first short story, Something to Remember, in Essence magazine in 1972. An American, he has travelled widely in Asia, and he drew on his experiences when writing his debut novel Jacob The Jew Vs. The Chinese Blood, which was published in July, through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. A detective thriller, it is the first in a planned series featuring NYPD detective Jacob Jennings.

When Jennings signs on for a three-year tour with the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, he expects to be deployed to Vietnam like his father before him. Instead, he finds himself in Hong Kong, working a complex undercover sting in cooperation with the Chinese police. Along the way he encounters Jerry Baofung, a much-feared sorcerer, with links to the trade in illegal drugs.

Indie Spotlight: Marco Lobo

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month she talks to indie author Marco Lobo.

Indie Spotlight: email lists

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month she advises indie authors on the importance of maintaining an email list.

Indie spotlight: Victor Cunrui Xiong

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko interviews Victor Cunrui Xiong, Professor of History, with a special interest in Asian history, at Western Michigan University, USA, and author of the historical novel Heavenly Khan.

Heavenly Khan is based on the story of Li Shimin (also known as Tang Taizong), the second emperor of the Tang dynasty, and arguably the greatest sovereign in Chinese history.  He grew up in a world of devastating upheaval that tore China apart, and he found himself thrust into the role of a military commander in his father’s rebel army while still a teenager. He proved himself to be a great military genius, vanquishing all his enemies on the battlefield. As emperor, ruling from 626 to 649 CE, he was open-minded. He encouraged critical suggestions by his court officials, which he often adopted, and he lent support to Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity. The international prestige he won for Tang China was so high that the states of Central and North Asia honored him with the title of ‘Heavenly Khan.’

Indie Spotlight: Pierre Dimaculangan

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko interviews Pierre Dimaculangan, who was born in Manila, although he now lives in the States.  Pierre has just published The Sage, the Swordsman and the Scholars, the first in his projected historical fantasy trilogy, Trials of the Middle Kingdom (China).

When enigmatic nonhuman visitors arrive from the sea, the very foundations of the Middle Kingdom are under attack. The evil agenda of the invaders sparks a war that will determine the fate of the Ming Dynasty and the nations beyond. A young, legendary swordsman allies himself with a banished Shaolin monk, a defeated bandit chieftain, a carefree Mongol, and an unknown philosopher who knows the only hope for victory. Together, this band of misfits strives to be proven worthy of the impossible task before them. Determined to combat the invaders' initial offensives, they must also repel countless internal enemies who have rallied to bring down the mighty Ming Dynasty.

So: over to Siobhan and Pierre…

Indie Spotlight: Allison Izard of Pixalib

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan Daiko interviews Allison Izard, the Hong Kong country manager at Pixalib, an international company providing a publishing platform and online bookstore for visual books by indie authors.

Indie spotlight: book awards as part of a marketing strategy

Indie spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Siobhan Daiko, looks at awards for which indie authors are eligible. This ties in nicely with the poll Asian Books Blog is currently running, to find the book of the Lunar Year, and which pits indie authors up against traditionally published ones.  If you haven’t yet voted, you can find details of the shortlist, and instructions on how to vote, by clicking here. But now: over to Siobhan…

Indie spotlight: Christmas marketing opportunities

Indie spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Siobhan Daiko, who is herself an indie author, explains how Christmas presents many marketing opportunities, to those with a book to sell.