We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Craig Roberts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Craig, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

After 27 years in Law Enforcement, working in Patrol, Bomb Squad, SWAT, undercover, public relations and 14 years flying police helicopters (with three engine failures and several “precautionary landings”), and having served as a US Marine infantryman in Vietnam, and also spending 30 years active and reserve in the military including my 4 years active duty in the Marines Corps and 26 years in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. I retired in 2006 as a Lt. Colonel. I then began focusing on a career in writing and investigative journalism.
I am internationally published, and the author or co-author of 24 books and several dozen magazine articles including a staff writer for Soldier of Fortune magazine.
I was the only Tulsa Police officer that was assigned to work the Oklahoma City bombing case, and my investigation went in directions the FBI didn’t, and refused, to go. My 3 years investigating that case resulted in my last book, “The Medusa File II: The Politics of Terror and the Oklahoma City Bombing.”
Other books I’ve written or co-authored are: One Shot–One Kill: America’s Combat Snipers, The Walking Dead: A Marine’s Story of Vietnam, Crosshairs on the Kill Zone, Combat Medic:–Vietnam, Police Sniper, Desert Storm, The Medusa File–Crimes and Coverups of the US Government, Kill Zone–A Sniper Looks at Dealey Plaza, and 13 books in Time-Life Books “New Face of War” series.
I’ve also written dozens of magazine article for various military, history and shooting magazines.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After writing one of my main signature non-fiction books and my NYC publishers refused to publish due to the sensitivity of the contents I decided to form my own publishing company, Consolidated Press International. Due to the size of the book (number of pages) it was cost prohibitive to publish the entire manuscript. However, the first third could be a book in itself, so I extracted that part and published it. It sold so well that it provided the funds for publishing the second portion. The two books were in fourth printing when I decided to publish them on Amazon which has print on demand, eliminating the need to print, store, distribute, etc. Now all my books are on Amazon, which pays royalties monthly at 75% of cover price verses Simon and Schuster and Pocket Books paying 10% semi-annually. The majority of my books are non-fiction, with several being products of my own investigative journalism.

Have you ever had to pivot?

How did you go from career law enforcement an military to writing and publishing?
When I retired, and my New York City agent could not find a publisher for my latest and most significant book, I decided to self-publish. I did all the typesetting, contracted a printer and cover designer, and printed 2000 copies. By doing radio interviews, YouTube videos, and the public speaking circuit, the books sold out within four months. I then went into second printing. By fourth printing I had made enough money to publish the remaining two thirds of the book and both are doing very well and continue to sell both in paper copy, Kindle and Apple Books. Since then I have converted all my books including three novels into Amazon print-on-demand and Kindle. Last month my agent sold audio book rights to one book, “One Shot–One Kill: America’s Combat Snipers” and it is now in production.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I used to carry my books on my website but ow use Amazon for publishing and distributing my books. Once published, they print-on-demand, and the royalties at 75% of cover price, paid monthly. They handle distribution as well. I do the marketing by doing radios shows and internet pod casts and public speaking.

Contact Info:

• Website: www..riflewarrior.com
• Facebook: Craig Roberts

Image Credits

All images Craig Roberts.