Donald McDonald
Interview by Sammi Hide
Donald is the author of Antichaos, the Book of The Month for
December 2007. Our Editor, Sammi, caught up with him for a chat about his book and the process of self-publishing with Lulu.com
Firstly Donald, tell us a bit about the plot of ‘Antichaos’.
It’s a comic crime detective novel mostly set in Clydebank and the Kilpatrick hills. An ordinary family guy who is fed up being skint decides one day that he will rob a bookies. He’s got an old Luger pistol and fires it in the air when he makes his entrance to the shop, which has disastrous consequences for the rest of the book. After this incident the main character is on the run from the police, Glasgow gangsters, and private detectives.
Where did you find the inspiration for your novel?
I always fancied trying to write a novel and it was a bit of a nostalgic journey for me, going back through my boyhood in Clydebank when me and my pals used to spend all our time in the hills fishing. The book reflects my experiences as it takes you back to the 50s and 60s. It’s more of a tongue in cheek look at life in Clydebank than anything else.
What do you think makes a good crime book?
Surprise, suspense, well written characters, good dialogue. “Antichaos” is not a run of the mill crime novel, however; it’s a crazy spoof, – I see it as an antidote to Rebus, Taggart etc.
Your novel, ‘Antichaos’ is self published – what made you decide to go down that route?
I wrote the book years ago and tried in vain to interest a publisher. At one point a literary agent took an interest and she also tried various publishers, but without success.
Tell us a bit about lulu.com, the website you used to publish your book, and the processes and costs involved.
I heard about lulu from a local librarian. It’s simple to work with if you have basic ICT skills. You can upload your word file to lulu, where it is converted into a pdf file (preserving your paging structure). You can then download the pdf file to proof read etc. You can keep repeating the process until you are happy with the work. You can use your own cover art or choose from the extensive lulu gallery. At this point you can place your work on the lulu marketplace at no charge. If you wish to market the book more extensively, however, you need to pay £80 for a distribution package; this gets an ISBN assigned to the book and feeds out data to other online retailers, puts you on google book search etc.
What made you choose lulu.com over other websites or companies?
Would you recommend it to others looking to self publish?
It’s straightforward, easy to use with no hidden financial costs. Your final product is a professionally produced paperback. I highly recommend it.
Donald, Thank you very much for your time and best of luck with the book sales
‘Antichaos’ is now available for purchase or download on
lulu.com, or you can win a copy in this month’s competition!