Interview With A Fantasy Writer
Jaque Thay is the author of Jaque’s Magic Beans and Twictions and is here alongside David Heyman of Dead Star Publishing at Cardiff Comic Expo on Saturday 26th February 2011 in the Mercure Hotel. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about Dead Star Publishing?
Dead Star Publishing is a small publishing house which specialises in science fiction, horror and fantasy. So far we’ve had some short stories, a collection of graphic novel ideas, some posters and we’re looking to take on at least one of the comics [at the convention today].
And what books have you published through Dead Star?
Jaque’s Magic Beans is a book of twenty short stories, detailing journeys and ideas and appearances and it’s told through a variety of different genres of story. So there’s a bit of sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, a bit of horror with some general fiction thrown in. Then Twictions, which is the one I am better known for: I write a short story every day on Twitter that is exactly 140 characters long and Twictions is a collection of the best of those.
How did you get involved in Dead Star Publishing?
I’ve known David who owns the company for a long time and we got talking one night and the rest is history.
What would you say is the most difficult part of making your own books?
The money. Finding it.
What is the most rewarding part?
People coming back to you and saying “I like this!”
Do you have any tips and advice for people who want to get involved in writing or indeed in comic books?
If you want to write I have only one tip for you: Start writing!
Before I move on to speak to David, where can people expect to buy a copy of Twictions or Jaque’s Magic Beans?
You can buy all of Dead Stars books on Amazon, Waterstone's, WH Smith... you can also get them from the Dead Star website.
We are now speaking to David Heyman, Head of Dead Star marketing. How long have you guys been going?
Technically we started last August after the Bristol convention. Me and Danny Weston [Lead artist and creative advisor] were doing some comic work anyway. We looked around and started talking to people and basically found that the easiest way to promote yourself in the comic world is to publish yourself. And I had enough friends who were editors, artists and general writers so we thought, actually, we should start our own company. So we looked into it and it actually turned out to be quite easy and here we are.
How is it going so far?
Really well actually. Sales are pretty regular, we’ve got a lot of distributors on board which is making selling a lot easier and a lot of positive feedback from people who are working with us and people who are buying from us.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting your very own publishers?
The most difficult part is probably choosing what to publish. We get a lot of submissions coming through on a weekly basis, there’s a lot to read through and we do like to reply to everyone, even if it is to say “No thanks”. But it’s finding the right things to fit the market we want to try and fill. That’s probably the hardest bit about it.
What do you find most enjoyable about the process?
Conventions, really. Hearing that everyone likes what you’re doing and talking about what you’re writing and publishing.
What sort of things are you bringing out at the moment?
It’s a pretty busy year for us. Later today we will actually be looking to sign a contract with The Pride and Stiffs so we’ll be doing that this year. We’ve got a couple of fantasy novels coming out, we have another one of our ‘Rising Stars’ Annuals being released later in this year and a couple of short story collections. We’re trying to do something a little bit different; we’re trying to merge a short story compilation with comic work so rather than having a separate thing, we’re going to merge the two styles together. So it should be interesting.
It’s nice to hear about a Welsh comic book publishers. What advice would you give to any young people in Wales looking to get into the comic book industry?
We don’t have too much going on in Wales, this is actually the first Cardiff Expo. The nearest one before has been in Bristol, which isn’t too far away but it’s quite awkward. I would definitely say talk to as many people as you can. Everyone who is involved is really friendly and really helpful. I’ve not spoken to anyone who has told me to get lost. I would also say if you are looking to start up your own company, look at people like the Prince's Trust, because they are again very useful for people who are starting up small businesses.
What’s your hope for the publishers in the future?
If we can keep on growing on what we’ve already got that would be wonderful. We’re looking to start competing in the market with media publishers, we’re technically small press at the moment but after this year we are hoping to start competing.
What’s the next convention for you guys?
Bristol and after that we are definitely doing Thought Bubble again this year and we might be in Birmingham too.
Dead Star Publishing are currently taking on submissions for Artists, Writers as well as Artist & Writer Teams. Please see the Submissions Guidelines on their website for more info.
You can read Jaque Thay's 'Twictions' by following him on Twitter or by buying the book from the link above.
1 Comment – Post a comment
Jaque Thay
Commented 14 months ago - 5th March 2011 - 02:17am
Thanks for the interview Ana, good speaking to you.