An Interview with E.J. Wedge: Author of The Noble Exiles

Edmond Joseph “E.J.” Wedge is a resident of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and lives with his wife, Tina. Both of them have a shared love of the ocean and traveling.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Book publishing is suffering from the same thing as television and movies. Everything is “bundled” at the executive level to drive maximum profitability and appeal to major investors, e.g. massive hedge funds. Everyone wants the biggest payout; advancing a company, let alone a huge one, by small steps, is very unfashionable right now.

I believe that’s wrong-headed, and so I’d rather strike out my own and move the proverbial chains, a little at a time, and do it right, rather than chase and then be beholden to people that don’t care. As shown in current events, time and again: hedge funds and wealthy people aren’t even that good at investing and managing anyway.

“Independent” does mean something positive, I think, in the present media environment, so I embrace it.

What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?

I used Microsoft Word to write the manuscript; Adobe Photoshop and Campaign Cartographer by ProFantasy for maps and illustrations; and Adobe InDesign to do all the formatting and editing for the final print. I had some experience from five years ago.

Would you self-publish again?

Yes.

What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?

Not doing 100% of what is necessary to launch. There’s no shame in it; like with any project, in the big business world or for indie writers, as the launch date cometh, suddenly things that aren’t done that were important for the project are cast to the wayside. But all of it is important: marketing, editing, proofing, testing.

Good books are big projects and it can be overwhelming as one begins to reckon with the all the different people to coordinate and involve. It requires authors to be more gregarious and “out there” in the world than I think some are ready to accept, at first. That’s just the fear of putting yourself out there, though, and everyone has to overcome that when you’re sharing your art.

What tips can you give other authors looking to self-publish?

Learn the tools. As they say in the movie business, “everyone has a great script.” Knowing what tools you have and how to use them to be efficient with your time, so you can be writing more when you want, is everything. Whether that’s “pro tools” like Adobe or some other substitute, the mechanics of writing and editing and the tools that go with it, software or hardware, are really important. It will also, usually, save you money.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Pacing in my house. A lot of pacing, and hot showers.

Who are your biggest writing inspirations and why?

I first started writing “Star Wars” fan fiction when I was a little kid. I didn’t know it was called that at the time, but that’s what it was. Starcraft and Chrono Trigger, video games granted, but nonetheless were also creative inspirations for me when writing stories when I was young. In terms of books, though, I was influenced on the military fiction side by Tom Clancy and on the sci side by Isaac Asimov. I also read The Stand by Stephen King more times than I can remember when I was young.

What are your plans now your book is published?

Write the next one! Part of this project was to make it so we can release the next volumes fairly quickly. The art is already done for some of them. Our goal is to release Volume II next year.