Milton J. Davis must be one of the busiest writers in the self-publishing scene. He’s contributed stories to anthologies by such notable publishers as Baen, Titan, and even DMR Books, and still manages to make time to publish a variety of titles (including graphic novels and role-playing games) through his own company, MVmedia. Read on to learn more about his work.

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
Hi, I’m Milton J. Davis. I’ve been writing and publishing for over 14 years. During that time, I’ve published over 40 books. 21 of those books were authored by me, the others are anthologies I’ve published or novels I’ve published by other authors. I’ve been nominated twice for the British Science Fiction Society short fiction award, and my story “Monsters of Mena Ngai” appears in the Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda anthology.

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
I would say the two authors that influenced my writing style are James Baldwin and Frank Herbert. From James Baldwin I learned to be a precise and descriptive writer; from Frank Herbert I learned to be a meticulous world builder. I think I keep from being derivative by having my own concept of what I want my writing to be, and applying the lessons from these authors are just a part of that.

Many authors say marketing is one of their biggest challenges. What tactics have you found to be most effective for getting your name out there?
I have a sales background, so marketing isn’t daunting to me. I use a variety of tactics; social media, advertising, attending cons and festivals, and calling on local bookstores. The most important thing about sales and marketing is being consistent. If you want any chance of being successful at it, you have to do it every day.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
Like most authors, I’m my favorite audience. My approach is to write what I like, then find readers that like it as much as I do. I feel like that’s the only way to approach it because whether or not a book or story is considered ‘good’ is so subjective. So there really is nothing that holds me back from experimenting, except for genres I don’t like or things that go against my morals or ethics.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
The cool thing about self publishing is that you’re always being published. I have stories in my Spyfunk! and Terminus 2 anthologies. I have a story that will appear in Straight Out of Tombstone, a space western themed anthology published by Baen Books. There are a couple more stories coming out in projects I can’t mention as of yet.

Name one newer and one older book you have read and enjoyed recently. (“Newer” meaning from the past year or so, and “older” meaning written before 1980.)

For newer books, I just finished Redemtor, the second book in the duology by Jordan Ifeuko. I’m usually not a YA reader, but this series was recommended by my daughter and was very good. As far as older books, that’s a tough choice. I’d have to go with Imaro by Charles R. Saunders. Charles was inspired by the same sources as I was, and the results were similar. I sometimes wonder if I would have created an African based sword and sorcery hero if I had read Imaro first. Probably not.

Any final words?
Thank you for the opportunity. If your interested in my books, you can find me at www.mvmediaatl.com. I also have a MVmedia YouTube channel, where I post my readings, interviews and other cool stuff.