KindleObsessed

Dear Kindle-ites!

I won’t waste your time with loads of mumbo jumbo but I did want to (very quickly) introduce author and fellow Kindle enthusiast Stacey Cochran.  I was first introduced to Stacey through his Ustream show “Book Chatter” and was immediately enamored with his vast knowledge of eBook publishing. Up until this point I have never seen anything but the unwavering serious side of Stacey but today (lucky for us) he has embraced the smart-ass within (I blame my own influence for that one) and has graced us with a very interesting and informative blog.

Happy Reading! – Misty

P.S. I didn’t ask for all the flattery, but I’m a girl so hey… I’m not going to argue… or remove it!

Thanks so much, Misty, for letting me visit the KindleObsessed Blog today as I make my way around this 2-month Blog Tour. For folks unfamiliar with a “blog tour,” it’s a basically the eBook author’s version of the traditional book tour. Only, instead of visiting brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries, I’m visiting blogs like Misty’s. If you’d like for me to make a stop by your blog, just drop me a line. It’d be a huge help to me as I’m spreading the word about my new thriller CLAWS 2, a Kindle exclusive publication.

Misty, you probably know me best for the interviews I’ve done on Book Chatter. You’ve certainly been a great panelist the times I’ve been honored to have you join us on the show. Book Chatter is currently on a 2-month hiatus (imagine that), but we plan to start airing new LIVE episodes in September.

That said, I thought I’d try and entertain you with an interview of myself at the KindleObsessed Blog today.

Ready?
__________

INTERVIEWER: Stacey, thanks so much for visiting us today. Have you lost weight? You’re more handsome in person than I expected.

STACEY: I use a Sham-Wow after showering. That’s my secret. Don’t tell anybody.

INTERVIEWER: You sometimes seem to be kind of polarizing. Like some people really hate you. While other folks seem to dig your style. How do you account for that?

STACEY: Again, I blame the Sham-Wow.

INTERVIEWER: I’ll have to try one of those. Didn’t that guy get arrested? The Sham-Wow guy?

STACEY: Yes, but he’s a celebrity, and he’s selling towels. It goes with the territory.

INTERVIEWER: Seriously. What can you tell us about your fabulous new novel CLAWS 2?

STACEY: Well, it’s available exclusively from the Amazon Kindle Store. I decided to launch an eBook only novel this year because I had some pretty good success last year with the first CLAWS novel and with The Colorado Sequence. For now, the POD paperback versions of my books have too high of a base cost, and they simply don’t sell well enough to justify the time spent in booking, formatting, and designing a wrap-around cover. eBooks on the other hand are inexpensive; CLAWS sells for 99 cents and CLAWS 2 sells for $2.99. Folks who have never heard of me are much more likely to give my books a shot at those price points.

INTERVIEWER: So, is this whole eBook thing just a fad?

STACEY: I don’t think so. Or, at least if it is, it’s going to be a decade-long kind of fad, like how CDs were a fad. I think the landscape of publishing is changing in a dramatic and fundamental way. People want to read like they haven’t in 30 years, but they want something new as a way to get them into a book. There’s a researcher named Dr. Lotta Larson at the University of Kansas who has done some extraordinary research showing how reading on a Kindle dramatically improves reading retention and comprehension among younger readers. (Teaching literacy using a Kindle)

Amazon has forever altered the way books are distributed, and now with Kindle they’re re-imagining what a “book” is. I, for one, wish this change would have occurred twenty years ago.

INTERVIEWER: You’re a true believer.

STACEY: I believe in the Sham-Wow. That is all.

INTERVIEWER: Doesn’t Misty have a cool blog?

STACEY: I think it’s one of the neatest blogs I visit on a regular basis. I love her style, and I love her passion for books. We are all truly blessed for having folks like Misty with us.

INTERVIEWER: You’re just sucking up to get a good review of CLAWS 2 aren’t you?

STACEY: Do I seem like that kind of person?

INTERVIEWER [long pause]: So, uh, how does it feel to be interviewed?

STACEY: You ask such probing questions. You’re gonna make me cry.

INTERVIEWER: What in your childhood made you want to be a writer?

STACEY: My parents used to lock me in a dark coat closet for days on end. When they let me out, they beat me with a whip.

INTERVIEWER: You’re not serious.

STACEY: No, my parents are boringly middle-class folks. I had a very ordinary childhood.

INTERVIEWER: So what accounts for your tenacity as a writer?

STACEY: I genuinely want to become a better human being. When I was in my early twenties, I was diagnosed with some pretty shitty mental issues, and was once at the point of total self-destruction. Somewhere along the way, I hit rock bottom, and decided I wanted to try to do good things with my life… rather than constantly fuck shit up.

INTERVIEWER: What was “rock bottom”?

STACEY: Again, with the probing questions. You’re trying to make me cry, aren’t you? Do you get off on this?

INTERVIEWER: The people want to know.

STACEY: Which people? Who wants to know? I want their names and numbers.

INTERVIEWER: Rock bottom, Stacey? Care to discuss it?

STACEY: Well, if you really must know, I had a pretty nasty drug and alcohol habit. Nothing that a lot of college kids don’t deal with every day, but I took it to the extreme. Got arrested a couple times. Sitting in jail, even if only for a couple days, kind’a sucks.

At first I was like, “I don’t have a problem.” After a bunch of shit like that, I finally started to realize that I did actually have a problem. Then, I wanted help. It’s been a long road these past ten years.

INTERVIEWER: What has been your high point recently?

STACEY: You mean aside from speaking with you?

INTERVIEWER: You are a charmer.

STACEY: I do my best.

INTERVIEWER: What’s next for you?

STACEY: Hopefully, the wonderful readers here at Kindle Obsessed will ask some questions or post comments. Maybe they’ll tell Misty what a wonderful job she’s doing and how much they appreciate her. I could respond to that kind of stuff.

INTERVIEWER: So if CLAWS 2 was made into a movie who would play Angie Rippard?

STACEY: Where has Julia Roberts been the past ten years? I think movie fans would love to see her on the screen again.

INTERVIEWER: Really, Julia Roberts? I would think Angelina Jolie would be a better fit.

STACEY: I think Julia Roberts is ripe for a comeback. She’s been quiet a long time.

INTERVIEWER: Who would play Abraham Foxwell?

STACEY: Robert Duvall would be great. On the other end of the spectrum, Richard Gere might be interesting. Plus you’d have the whole Julia-Richard thing. Reunited. Tom Hanks doesn’t make a bad picture.

INTERVIEWER: The Man with One Red Shoe?

STACEY: Okay, Tom Hanks hasn’t made a bad movie in twenty years. Is that better?

INTERVIEWER: Hey, I wonder how Sandra Bullock would do as Angie Rippard?

STACEY: Sandra would rock it. Nice call, Interviewer. She’s golden. Do you know her agent?

INTERVIEW: Sandra Bullock’s agent?

STACEY: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: I’m sorry. I don’t.

STACEY [looking at watch]: I really should be wrapping things up.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

STACEY: Thank you, Misty, for having me and the Interviewer at your blog today! You’re an angel.

INTERVIEWER: Stacey, have you lost weight? I’m serious, you’re really a good looking guy.

 

(Stacey Cochran was born in the Carolinas, where his family traces its roots to the mid 1800s. In 1998 he was selected as a finalist in the Dell Magazines undergraduate fiction competition, and he made his first professional short story sale to CutBank in 2001. In 2004, he was selected as a finalist in the St. Martin’s Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Dr. Susan K. Miller-Cochran and their son Sam, and he teaches writing at North Carolina State University.)

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