An interview with Paul Kater

In early July I was contracted by a new publishing platform to write some blog articles. Unfortunately the deal fell through when the client didn't pay for the test article as promised and failed to produce any kind of contract. Therefore as I own all the rights to the material I have decided to publish it here first. On Wednesday I will publish the second article, an interview with none other than Valerie Douglas.

There aren’t many writers out there who can say that they published their book because a fan demanded it. But in 2010 that is exactly what Paul Kater did after he wrote the first of his Adult Fantasy series “Hilda – the Wicked Witch” during a friendly writing competition.

Three years on and his first book still continues to do well on popular book retailers notching up a total of 78,000 downloads. And there is little doubt that the character is a firm favourite with readers as Hilda has her own e-mail address that regularly receives fan mail. This kind of desire from readers for more has prompted the writing of a twelfth book. And it is the writing of a series that Paul feels is part of his success.

“I think a good series is a great way to build a platform where people know you.”

The author considers Hilda, as well as many of his characters, an extension of himself. Being able to see and talk to them has created an environment in which storylines easily flow forcing Paul to type fast to keep up with their conversations.

But Paul hasn’t always had it easy during his writing career. One of the lowest points for an author is when you receive your first one star reviews.

“I think the lows are mostly the first few negative reviews on books. Those are the sour apples you need to get through.”

Despite these negatives Paul has certainly strived to achieve better with each book and his latest, Hilda - Magic on the Rocks, has only received glowing five star reviews.

This bounce back attitude helped him most during his early writing days when he approached Traditional publishers about buying his book. He was turned down at every corner when the publishing houses didn’t think there would be a market for such a character or genre.

Since he joined the world of self publishing Paul has noticed there has been a large influx of new writers. While some of writers are skilled in their craft, some of them lack the basic skills needed for industry such as spellchecking and proofreading. To him part of his success (and any author) is having top quality books. There should be no taking shortcuts when it comes to storyline, grammar, spelling or formatting. Any errors and readers will pick up and scold you for them.

Paul also has his readers in mind at every point of his creative process; giving updates regularly through his webpage and Facebook. He added that every author needs to keep their readers up to date with what they are doing. This reminds readers “...that 'the author' is actually a real person that talks back, responds.”

It is certainly a policy that is serving Paul well as demand for new books continue.

You can find out more about Paul Kater at his website