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Q: What inspired you to start writing?
I was originally an academic, teaching at first rate Japanese universities, then branching out into writing textbooks. As educational publishers are notoriously poor at graphics and photography, I submitted my own photographs to supplement each chapter in textbooks. My extensive travels throughout Japan gave me the opportunity to photograph anf write about many varied places, particularly Japanese gardens, which is my specialty.
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Q: Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
World Heritage Japan covers all of the Japanese UNESCO sites, including the Intangible culturl assets of Japan such as Noh Theatre, Kabuki, Japanese cuisine etc.
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Q: How do you create your characters?
My main interest is in photography rather than writing or characterization.
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Q: What does your typical writing day look like?
It is really more a matter of photo shoots and photo editing, using Lightroom and Photoshop.
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Q: What has been the most rewarding part of being an indie author?
It has been a challenge.
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Q: What’s one challenge you’ve faced in your writing journey?
Full color photography books are expensive to publish, therefore many publidhers are reluctant to gie the green light on such enterprizes.
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Q: Do you have any favorite writing tools or apps?
Not really.
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Q: What advice would you give to new or aspiring indie authors?
Persist, persist and persist some more, there are many publishers out there that are eager to publish your work, the trick is to pinpoint which ones fit your genre
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Q: How do you handle book promotion as an indie author?
Small publidhers rarely have a budget for much publicity. Social media, Zoom presentations, are cheaper methods of getting the word out about one's book.
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Q: What’s next for you? Are you working on a new book?
Yes, as my specialty is the topic of Japanese gardens, I am trying to get "Hidden Gardens of Kyoto" and "Hidden Gardens of Tokyo" published in the near future.
