Not going nowhere: Interview with Mindstir Media

Both my partner and I are veracious readers and so I feel very lucky to be able to interview J.J. Hebert, the Founder and President of Mindstir Media

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today… Straight off the bat, what does Mindstir Media do exactly?

Here at Mindstir Media, we help authors with self-publishing, book marketing and publicity. We work with authors from all walks of life. We’ve worked with medical doctors, therapists, stay at home moms and dads, and everyone in between.

At what point did you decide to do away with the Publishing Houses and self-publish yourself?

In 2009, I decided to bypass traditional publishing houses to publish my debut novel, Unconventional. I launched Mindstir Media in order to publish the novel. It went on to sell over 100,000 copies at Amazon.com and then I eventually used Mindstir Media to help other authors with their publishing projects.

How important is marketing do you think? If someone writes a truly amazing novel, won’t word just get around?

Book Marketing is crucial. We offer a wide array of book marketing services to our authors. At the very least, each author needs his or her own author website. From there it’s important to also have a social media presence that is updated regularly. Facebook marketing is key for authors, as is Twitter and Goodreads. Authors need to be aggressive with marketing. Word doesn’t just get around and you can’t count on people to just stumble upon your book.

Do you still enjoy paperback books yourself, or are you all about digital copies? I’m still totally torn about this myself… I love how many books I can churn through on my Kindle… especially when I’m travelling... but a real book is just special to me.

I personally prefer paperback books over Kindle and other ebooks. A lot of misinformed folks out there think that ebook is more popular than print, but that’s just not the case. Many industry reports indicate that we still live in a predominantly print world. Ebook still only accounts for 30% to 35% of the book market. At Mindstir Media, we help authors publish paperback, hardcover and ebook.

How important is social media to an author? It looks like you prefer authors to create an e-mail list instead of using social media directly… why are you such a big fan of the e-mail list?

As I mentioned earlier, social media is one of my top book marketing recommendations. I believe that you can use social media to drive traffic to an author website and get email sign ups. Once you have a legit email list, you can email those prospective clients without a problem, and at your own discretion.

Are you happy to talk to authors who are just starting out?

Absolutely. Many Mindstir Media authors are newbies. But we also work with authors who have published numerous books. Don’t let the idea of publishing overwhelm you. We really do make this an easy process.

Thanks so much for your time… where can people reach you?

We are actually very active on social media and can also be reached on our website and via phone at 800-767-0531.