Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an author/screenwriter originally from New Orleans and have been writing since I was eight years old. It started back in the third grade due to always being one of the kids who finished their worked first and got bored. After my teaching caught on to what I was doing, she simply told me to ‘Just keep writing’. That evolved over the years to writing plays once I got to college and later morphed into screenwriting. The odd thing is that while I’ve always been a writer in some fashion, being a published author was always something I laughed at because I’d never finished college. There was no way in my mind that it could ever happen. My dream from and early age was working in Hollywood as an actor/screenwriter. However since I was in the third grade, my mother always told me that one day I would write a book. Fast forward to today, I’ve written and published two novels, two short stories and a children’s book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is REVELATION: THE RETURN OF JACOB FORLORN which is the sequel to EXODUS: A REQUIEM FOR JACOB FORLORN. The book is loosely based on several horror stories I’ve heard from other people’s relationships with a supernatural twist to it. Jacob Forlorn is a beleaguered everyman escaping from the shadows of a bitter and broken past to find his place in life when he meets Miranda, a beautiful and mysterious woman with a past of her own. Drawn by love at first sight, a whirlwind interracial romance brimming with intense passion ensues, culminating in the birth of a beautiful child. But all is not well in paradise. Against the remains of a hidden past, something dark and deadly emerges, threatening to either warn Jacob or rob him of both his heart and his sanity. Jealousy, resentment and deception emerge, soon forming a deadly web of intrigue, lust and secrecy which all have repercussions far beyond anything he ever imagined.

As dark visions and nightmares haunt him repeatedly, Jacob soon begins to walk a very fine line between right and wrong, against a backdrop of misery and death that pushes him to the limits of his faith in God. Someone…or something is after him. The secrets of the past begin to destroy him both physically and spiritually, forcing him to make a dangerous choice.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m usually better at writing late at night or early in the morning. Other than, drinking absinthe also helps. The rumors about hallucinations are false but it really does inspire creativity.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been inspired by everything from great authors to screenwriters and of course movie directors. As for writers/directors, the list is as follows:

Ernest Hemingway

Truman Capote

James Baldwin

Richard Wright

Stephen King

Arthur Miller

August Wilson

Edward Albee

Akira Kurosawa

Quentin Tarantino

Elmore Leonard

Aaron Sorkin

What are you working on now?
My latest project is a novel entitled PORN AGAIN, which is a funny and insightful take on my years of working as a manager in an adult retail store. For years, the one question I always heard was ‘What’s it like working here?’ I’ve always said that I could either write a book or make a movie about it, so here it comes.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far Kindleboards has given me a tremendous wealth of knowledge not just in terms of writing, but also in terms of better networking and marketing strategies. Others that I use are World Literary Cafe and Author Marketing Club.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write the material that you would want to read, and write with an honest voice. You can go to school or workshops and learn everything from structure, narrative to characterization, but a unique voice can never be taught. You either have it or you don’t. Also, study the best practices of the top selling authors. Can your book stand on the same shelf with theirs? If the answer is no, then spend a valuable amount of time finding out what makes them successful. Whether it’s getting professional book covers done (which is a huge plus) investing in a website/blog or use of social media, always try to emulate the success you want for yourself.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Just keep writing.” Courtesy of my third grade teacher Ms. Hayes.

What are you reading now?
Currently reading Physics of the Future, by Dr. Michio Kaku.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The next step for me is to take my short story OCCUPATION and adapt it into a screenplay. The story deals with the epidemic of zombies invading New Orleans during the time of Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Art of War

The Great Gatsby

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Sun also Rises

Author Websites and Profiles
lazarus Infinity Website
lazarus Infinity Amazon Profile
lazarus Infinity Author Profile on Smashwords

lazarus Infinity’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

lazarus Infinity is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in rural Scotland on the edge of a very small settlement with my partner. I have been writing for a number of years , mainly young adult fiction, which is my favourite reading material as well.

I have completed three books, Water’s Edge and Power’s Out (Troubled Times Series) and am working on the third and final installment Earth’s Descent. You can probably guess from their titles we’re talking climate change or Cli Fi. I have also written one other novel Eternal Inheritance which is a fast paced thriller set in Scotland and aimed at the 12 – 14 age group.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Power’s Out , which was released in December 2013. Well, for inspiration I just need to turn on the news to see and hear about some of the worst weather the UK has seen in the last 100 years. I have always liked end of the world novels, John Wyndham, John Christopher etc but have also always been interested in that bit just before the end, the bit where the society we live in starts to teeter and crumble and where the social norms begin to fall away. I suppose I like to place ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I start without knowing how it will end. I used to spend time working out the plot and structure but I found it works better if I just start…….

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Day of the Triffids, which I have read so many times. In fact anything by Wyndham is fine with me. i also like John Christopher, the Death of Grass, it is gritty and there are no happy endings. I also like the work of Alex Shearer who writes for children and young adults and has a dark and interesting sense of humour (Tins) .

For gripping reads Robert Cormier, an author who never flinched from the cruelty of children and who wrote some fantastic books with brilliant titles such as I am the Cheese.

What are you working on now?
Currently working on third and final part of the Troubled Times Series, Earth’s Descent.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have had some good feedback on Goodreads

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t underestimate the amount of time promoting and marketing take up and try to fit in some time for writing….

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just keep writing as you do improve all the time

What are you reading now?
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully more books, more sales, more readers…..

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh this is hard…..

The Silver Crown by Robert C O’Brien

Fallout by Gudrun Pausewang – which has a moment in it where you can hardly believe the author has been so brave

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham because it has everything

Shelter by Frances Greenslad – not my usual kind of thing but it is a beautifully written book.

Author Websites and Profiles
Rachel Meehan Website
Rachel Meehan Amazon Profile

Rachel Meehan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Rachel Meehan is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written a few under a different pen name which for the time being shall remain undisclosed.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called “Billionaire on Board” and the story simply assaulted me on a 30-minutes drive. I stood no chance, it demanded to be written.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write in bed and I don’t eat or sleep until the book is done. Great diet! :-/

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Thousands and none

What are you working on now?
I’m in recovery from my last birth, sorry, BOOK, but the next one already lives in my mind.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Write a bloody good book. The rest will take care of itself.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Kill your darlings.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Kill your darlings

What are you reading now?
Wilkie Collins “The Moonstone” and John le Carré “A most wanted Man”

What’s next for you as a writer?
“Green Tea Won’t Help You Know!” – my next novel.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
George R.R. Martin: “A Storm of Swords”

Lev Tolstoy: “War and Peace”

Agatha Christie: “The Man in The Brown Suit”

Lucia St. Clair Robson: “Ride The Wind”

Author Websites and Profiles
Dasha G. Logan Amazon Profile

Dasha G. Logan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Dasha G. Logan is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a self-taught writer who as read books for as long as I can remember. I live in a small cottage in a rural area just outside Sydney.

I’ve written two books, the first “Playing the Part”, a contemporary romance published by Carina Press. I decided to give self-publishing a try with my second book, “The Devils’ Cradle”.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “The Devils’ Cradle”, a thriller set in Tasmania, Australia.

The first germ of the idea for “The Devils’ Cradle” was planted way back when I was about 10-years-old. My mother’s car broke down in the middle of nowhere and a man stopped to help. She could feel the hairs on the back on her neck stand on end and even though all her instinct told her not to get in the car with him, she found him so convincing that she agreed. Fortunately, a young man happened to be passing and stopped. The other man took off and days later a body was found in a field close by. That scared the hell out of me and has always stayed with me. Although that scene in “The Devils’ Cradle” has changed dramatically, that’s where it began.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, I just try to write whenever I can.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
C.S. Lewis was a huge influence in primary school, but once I started high school, I began reading Stephen King and devoured every book of his I could get my hands on. When I ran out of his books, I started on Dean Koontz and haven’t stopped reading either of them to this day. More recently, I’ve discovered Sandra Brown, who I just love.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my next book, which will have a small amount of supernatural, but still remain firmly based in reality.

I’m also working on the ghost story for a class I’m doing.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still new to this, so am learning what works best at the moment.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write the book you would want to read.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When you can’t think of what to write next, just write garbage. Keep writing, writing, writing, and eventually what you want to say will come out.

What are you reading now?
On my Kindle I’m reading “Finding Claire Fletcher” by Lisa Regan and on Audible I’m reading “The Haunted” by Bentley Little.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just to keep on writing

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“Lightning” by Dean Koontz

“IT” by Stephen King

“Breath of Scandal” by Sandra Brown

Author Websites and Profiles
Darcy Daniel Website
Darcy Daniel Amazon Profile

Darcy Daniel’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Darcy Daniel is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a high school English teacher and now an author. I have written since I was a teenager, but wasn’t serious about my writing until 2010 when I made my first New Year’s resolution. I found a publisher that year and it has been an adventure since that time. I have an epic fantasy series, The World of Samar, the fifth book of which will be published sometime this spring. I also have a murder mystery series, the Peyton Brooks’ Mysteries, the seventh and final book having been published last month. I also have a contemporary romance, Ravensong, and will be publishing a new contemporary fantasy this spring.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last book was Murder on Treasure Island. My murder mystery series takes place in my hometown, San Francisco, so it seemed natural to set the last book in a beautiful, spooky setting like Treasure Island. My sons and I had a wonderful time exploring the island and photographing it for inspiration.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I don’t set a word goal for myself. I feel that’s too restrictive. The only thing I do that might be “unusual” is I think up the entire plot, ending included, before I write anything down, then I spend a few months acting it out in my mind before I write.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love American authors, especially John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, but more recently, I decided my favorite author is Zora Neale Hurston. I teach Their Eyes Were Watching God to my 11th graders and every time I teach it, I find more to marvel at.

I have always been influenced by Shakespeare and this summer I will have the opportunity to study him at the Globe Theatre in London. This is a lifetime opportunity and I am beyond excited.

What are you working on now?
Write now I am editing the fifth book in my epic fantasy series for my publisher and finishing the final chapters in my new contemporary fantasy series. I’ve never written in first person before, so this new series is a departure for me since it is in first person.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am a true believer in advertising. Exposure is key and so I’m always looking for new ways to get my books in front of readers. That’s why opportunities like the Awesomegang are so important to me and I’m delighted to be included here.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I know it sounds trite, but write and then write some more. As with anything, the more you practice your craft, the better you’ll become. And people watch. Become a student of humanity. In order to create convincing characters, they have to have a mirror in real life.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Ironically, it came tonight. I was watching the Beatles’ 50th anniversary and Alicia Keys and John Legend sang “Let It Be”. I had an aha moment listening to the lyrics. Sometimes you’ve just got to let it be.

What are you reading now?
I have become addicted to the Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich. I’m waiting for the next one to come out. They are fun and the characters are engaging. My credit card isn’t happy about this obsession, though.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am excited to publish my new series, the Avery Nolan Adventures, and then begin work on the spin-off to my murder mystery series, which will be entitled Peyton Brooks, FBI. I’ve enjoyed creating new characters, but I’m also wanting to visit with my old favorites.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Hamlet

The Grapes of Wrath

Their Eyes Were Watching God

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Author Websites and Profiles
ML Hamilton Website
ML Hamilton Amazon Profile
ML Hamilton Author Profile on Smashwords

ML Hamilton’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

ML Hamilton is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my very first book

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Foreclosure Phenomenon “How to defend your home from an impending foreclosure”

I was reading CNN on my computer towards the end of 2012 and I came upon a news reports of a lady had been forcefully evicted from her house just a few days before Christmas, because someone forgot to tell the bailiff that they should not evict people during this time of the year.

Then I remember my own struggle of going through a foreclosure, and I started to search the internet for similar cases of forceful evictions and I noticed that that evictions and foreclosures are no longer making headline news but they are still happening. At that point I decided to share my story and and my knowledge, hopping to offer some help to the struggling families that are loosing their homes to foreclosure.

It was very difficult for me to come out and share this shameful period of my life. For many years I have tried to erase this episode of my life. However, I overcame the shame associate with a foreclosure and I hope that my story will bee r some help to many families.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am not much of an speaker, but I think that I am much better at expressing my feeling writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Bible, Thing and grow rich, The magic of believing, The law of success in sixteen lessons, The law of attraction, How to win friends and influence people, See you at the top, The magic of thinking big, etc

What are you working on now?
For the families that already lost their homes, this book is a few years too late. My next project is on how to recover financially from the devastating loss of a foreclosure. in this book I will cover how to handle, collection agencies, how to speed up the recovery of your credit rating and how never to be found out of balance financially.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
That is a difficult question as I am still trying to figure that one out

Do you have any advice for new authors?
yes, Social media is the best way to promote your book. Also I fund very helpful the book called “How I made $42,000 in 1 month selling My kindle e-book”

In fact this is the very reason why I am contacting you in this promotion

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It is a phrase credited to Mary Kay “If is it to be, is up to me” If you are going to enjoy any success in any field, it is all up to you.

What are you reading now?
How to win friend and influence people, for the third time

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on my next book, designed to help people recover their credit rating and thrive financially after a foreclosure.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, The law of success in sixteen lesson, The master key of success, Ask and it is given

Author Websites and Profiles
Joaquin Benitez Website
Joaquin Benitez Amazon Profile

Joaquin Benitez’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Joaquin Benitez is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a SCI FI writer at heart, but I blend a lot of other genres into the mix such as fantasy, mystery, romance and paranormal. I began writing ten years ago and have produced 13 novels to date. A former reporter, I was taking a plunge into creative writing because I had a desire for knowledge, most specifically our universe.

Including metaphysical topics into my books, I hope to bring readers education as well as entertainment whether my Special Agent is chasing a demon or humans are colonizing their first planet with the help of AI.

I believe a lot of science theory, or the metaphysical, will be proven and accepted one day, just like the belief that the world was flat was found to be a misconception.

I hope you’ll give any one of my Caitlin Diggs a try, including the most recent, 9 INCARNATE.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
9 INCARNATE is a story which hopes to uncover some of the secrets of ancient Egypt, including our greatest enigma, the pyramids.

My protagonist, Cailtin Diggs, finds herself joined with Isis after an incident with a crystal. When the other Egyptian gods arrive incarnate, Diggs must decide if their motiviations to assist humanity are authentic, or is there another agenda? Murders and a mass abduction cloud this issue for the agent who must decide if she is investigator or suspect because of her ‘Isis’ connection.

A trip to the past will reveal secrets but also change Caitlin in a way she never imagined.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I really don’t, usually opting for a certain day or time to write. Kind of formal in that regard.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dean Koontz who has great dialogue and believable characters. I would rank Isaac Asimov as another influence because I love androids. I also credit Jim Butcher and his Dresden Files series with my inspiration for Caitlin Diggs, an agent who crosses into a universe resembling urban fantasy.

What are you working on now?
I am planning the third book in a series entitled: Camden Investigations. Two sisters begin a ghost hunting business and are soon joined by UFO hunters when a mystery becomes too ‘grey’ to investigate.

The first book Coalescence should release in 2014. This third book will take the investigative team on what may be their ultimate and last investigation.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still seeking that answer and that’s why I’m here. I recently revamped and updated my website and also rely on Facebook groups.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Persistence is the key whether you are plotting, writing, editing or promoting the final product. I believe writers must have patience also. and not be afraid to walk and/or sit alone.

A cartoon was recently posted that shows how a writer is locked in his/her room for days trying to ‘communicate.’ It’s an irony. We spend so much time trying to convey our ideas but locked up in solitude.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Show don’t tell.

What are you reading now?
Dean Koontz’s Relentless.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue with more novels of course. I have another novel slated for this year entitled Dead Market about zombies and Big Pharma.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Stand, Watchers, Dresden Files StormFront.

Author Websites and Profiles
Gary Starta Website
Gary Starta Amazon Profile
Gary Starta Author Profile on Smashwords

Gary Starta’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Gary Starta is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My novel White Heat won the Shamus Award for Best Indie P.I. novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. White Heat also won an award in the Mystery-Suspense-Thriller-Adventure category from SouthWest Writers.

I’m a former “script doctor,” and the author of over thirty published short stories, including several award winners, which have appeared in a variety of book length anthologies and magazines. LA Late @ Night, a collection of five of those stories, has just been released.

Publishers Weekly says White Heat is a “…taut crime yarn set in 1992 against the turmoil of the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of the police officers charged with assaulting motorist Rodney King…. the author ably evokes the chaos that erupted after the Rodney King verdict.”

And Woody Haut, journalist and author of Neon Noir (Contemporary American Crime Fiction) and Pulp Culture (Hardboiled Fiction & the Cold War), says “[White Heat] really caught early 90s LA, in all its sordid glory. And had me turning pages late into the night. I think WH is up there with the best of the LA novels, but has an air authenticity that many lack.”

I also have the distinction, dubious though it might be, of being the last person to have shot a film on the fabled MGM backlot before it bit the dust to make way for housing. According to Steven Bingen, one of the authors of the recent, well-received book MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot: “That 40 page chronological list I mentioned of films shot at the studio ends with his [Paul D. Marks’] name on it.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, LA Late @ Night, is a collection of five of my noir and mystery stories. Since it’s a collection of five stories there wasn’t one inspiration. But if I had to pick one – or at least the one thing they all have in common, it’s the City of Angels – Los Angeles.

Welcome to Los Angeles. The city that sleeps with one eye open. Enjoy the hot Santa Ana breeze while you sip your tequila. Take a stroll down Sunset Boulevard. Dip your toes in Echo Park lake. Walk down Raymond Chandler’s mean streets.

Meet your new neighbors: A rising star defense attorney with self doubts. A dinosaur LAPD detective resistant to change. A beat cop with anger control issues. A drifter who is easily led astray. And two brothers with extra bad luck.

And of course, the city itself. The City of Angels. La-La Land. Los Angeles.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a night person. I sleep during the day and write all night long. I’ve always been a night person and whenever I couldn’t be as soon as I could again I’d drift back to it. And these days I’m going to bed later and later or is it earlier and earlier? My wife says if I keep going the way I am I’ll eventually wind up on a “normal” schedule.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My writing inspirations are all over the place, everything and everyone from Hemingway to Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, James Ellroy, Carol O’Connell, etc. Also film noir and rock ‘n’ roll and the city of Los Angeles. In fact, I recently did a blog post on this on a blog I’ve started writing for, 7 Criminal Minds. You can find that post here and really get an eyeful of my influences, if you have the time and inclination: http://7criminalminds.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-moveable-inspiration.html

What are you working on now?
I’ve got lots of irons in the fire. The sequel to White Heat is about done. I have another mystery novel that’s also just about done. That one is set on the World War II homefront and “stars” a character that’s appeared in three of my published stories. In a less final state, I’m working on a couple of different novellas and short stories, both for myself and on assignment for a publisher.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Great websites that help promote indie writers, like the Awesome Gang, of course, are great for getting the word out about your books. Also interacting with readers on social media like Facebook and Twitter. It can be time consuming. Sometimes I feel more like a PR flack than a writer, but it’s part of the job.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t quit. And don’t get discouraged by your early drafts. It doesn’t matter how “bad” they are, just keep at them until you get them right.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In real estate they say it’s all “location, location, location.” In writing I would say “revise, revise, revise.” Even after something of mine has been published I see things that make me cringe. And you need to have objective readers who will tell you where you’re going wrong. Be open to criticism. You don’t have to follow everything, but you should listen to it. Then, after you think you’re done, put the work down for a couple of weeks and come back to it and you’ll see all kinds of new things you want to revise.

What are you reading now?
I alternate between current authors and the classics, both genre and non-genre. At the moment I’m reading “The Grifters” by Jim Thompson, upon which a great movie was made with John Cusack and Angelica Huston.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just to keep on plugging away at it. Work on the sequels to White Heat. Maybe a short story here and there. Novellas. My idea file has hundreds of ideas. I don’t think I could write them all in ten lifetimes.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham, a survival guide, a very thick book with very dry pages that I didn’t care about that I could use for kindling and The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas to give me inspiration for the revenge I’d be plotting against the person who stranded me there.

Author Websites and Profiles
Paul D. Marks Website
Paul D. Marks Amazon Profile
Paul D. Marks Author Profile on Smashwords

Paul D. Marks’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Paul D. Marks is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a child of the Midwest and though it’s not considered “cool” to be okay with that, I am. Sure, I’d like to wake up every day to an ocean view, but I’m not interested in the hectic life on the coast. I prefer the slower world of rural America, where it sometimes takes a week to get something done. Maybe that’s why I’m slow at writing books. I’ve managed to publish roughly one a year, bringing the total of books in the Amaranthine vampire series up to six. Of course there’s also a short story collection, and the controversial “list book” 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Children of Shadows is the sixth book in the Amaranthine series, and will be available on March 15, 2014. The title was actually inspired by an online title generator who gave me one title with Children in it and another that had “Gate of Shadows”, so I combined the two.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I used to be a very linear writer, but now I’m more “timey-wimey”. I tend to hop around through the book adding, deleting, changing, and writing bits. Sometimes, by the final version, I can’t remember what order events actually ended up in.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
VC Andrews actually had a big impact on me when I was in junior high (the real VC Andrews, not the replacement writer who’s written 90% of the books). I loved the book My Sweet Audrina because there are all these normal things that VC Andrews manages to turn sinister, like the shelves of teddy bears in the “first” Audrina’s room. It’s the paralells and contrasts; all these things which should be sweet, but are evil instead.

What are you working on now?
I have started book 7 of the Amaranthine series (which currently needs a name!) and I’m working on a short story collection, Tales of the Executioners; short stories about members of the Executioner squad – the vampire’s elite police force. The first story, Aine, is available for free on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and several other sites.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven;t found a magic bullet yet. The best results I had as far as sales was when I ran a paid advertisement on a website (You gotta read, I think it was), but how many of those sales translated into people who actually READ the book and/or went on to buy the rest I don’t know. I do know that free books don’t work the way they used to on Amazon, though I have had success with free short stories on Barnes and Noble. the stories, vampire Morsels, are about secondary characters in the book series, so there is a connection to the novels, but they aren’t a *part* of the novels.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Edit. Then edit again. Then cut out at least 10,000 words and edit five more times. We love words, and we love to splatter a lot of them on a page, but wordy books don’t always make good ones. If I don;t cut out at least 12,000 words from my final book, I don’t feel like I’ve done my work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don;t give up. It’s pretty much universal.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Escape from Harrizel By CGCoppola. It was an awesome, awesome book! I literally could not put it down, and in fact got behind on my own work because I took a day to read the last half in. It’s the first in a series, so now I have to wait for the second one.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to turn out my little vampire stories until I die, get bored, or everyone else does. Whichever comes first. I’m also working on a comedy vampire story with Jonathan Harvey, the co-author of 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire. It’s going to be fun.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Faun and the Woodcutter’s Daughter by B. L. Picard, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien,

Author Websites and Profiles
Joleene Naylor Website
Joleene Naylor Amazon Profile
Joleene Naylor Author Profile on Smashwords

Joleene Naylor’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Joleene Naylor is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This will be my first book. Not only am I planning a series, but I’m planning multiple series, and am thinking about having cameo’s in between the different series. Personally I thought that would be cool, but we’ll see how others like it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first and latest book so far is Prodigies, and it was inspired by actually a plethora of different works across different forms of entertainment to tell you the truth. If you want the main inspiration, I guess you could say it was the end of the Harry Potter series which made me decide that I wanted to write a book of my own.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that I’m aware of… If I had to decide I think it would be on how I try to sneak in a reference to other works within my book that inspired the book to begin with. Now that I think about it, I do have a habit of using a simile a lot. I’ve since cut back on that in the second book.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.K Rowling most definitely. I read all the books, watched all the movies. At the end of it you kind of go… Well what now? Guess you can say I decided to take that leap that maybe I could do it myself. It may not be anywhere close to where I want to take the series and its characters, but my inspiration really did come for her.

What are you working on now?
The second book to the series. Hopefully this doesn’t take too long because I’m confident that the cliffhanger at the end should have gotten people interested.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Right now… This website. Not even playing. I’m a free author, and sooner or later I would hope to get a contract with an agent. I am however not in a real rush though. I’d like my story to evolve at its own pace rather than be rushed into something the both of us isn’t ready for.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice would be to start writing. That may not be the hardest part, it may not even be the longest part. I’ll tell you one thing though, is that if you don’t do that first step then you won’t really get anywhere. We’ve all have an unlimited world floating around in our heads. The best way to get them out is on paper. Another thing would be that don’t let anybody else’s success overwhelm what you think you can do. Remember, at one point, they were you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The usual cliche… Never give in, keep trying, etc. They’re all true, but it’s been said before. Maybe I no longer hear these advice because they are pretty much embedded to me already.

What are you reading now?
Scott Lynch’s Red Seas under Red Skies. It’s the second book to the Lies of Locke Lamora series. He is pretty good and if you haven’t heard of him, I suggest you go check him out. I think they were planning on doing a movie not too long ago so it is getting pretty mainstream.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Garner fans, gain attention, do everything I can to make sure my fans will get the service I’m giving. I may be an upstart, but I believe that I can take my ideas farther than I’ve ever seen possible.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
If future books count I would say Goerge R.R Martins last works. I think I would definitely need a conclusion to that.

Jerrell Fowler’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Jerrell Fowler is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Christina Li, BA, MA, is an author, editor, journalist, wife, and mother of five. She home-schools four of her five children (the oldest is in college!!) and has seen first hand the amazing things that happen when you say ‘yes’ to God.

She and her family live in the NorthWest suburbs of Chicago, serving on the ministerial staff of The Life Church of Des Plaines, IL. Besides writing, Christina LOVES a great cup of coffee, fresh roasted and brewed by her wonderful husband.

She has written and published several books, in various genres, including non-fiction (encouragement), children’s fiction (HomeSchooling), and romantic suspense (fun, inspirational, and sprinkled with humor).

To date she has two books in the ‘A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance’ series with one more coming soon!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Rescuing Vanessa: A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance

This book was a lot of fun to write. What inspired me was my children’s love of sitting love of sitting on the roof of our house in the summer time drawing, reading, or doing school work. The neighbors were a bit concerned and I used the idea of this as a scene for this book.

Other elements included were pink, striped duct tape. One of my daughters loves this! And, chess. (The kids usually beat me, but we have a lot of fun!) Of course, coffee is an element as well. Because my husband roasts our coffee, I was able to have Vanessa’s grandparents do this as a business and included some real-world knowledge of this. (The smell is utterly fantastic!)

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I seem to write in fits and spurts, partly because I’m organizationally challenged and partly because I have five kids that I homeschool. Anyway, for me it’s best if I outline the whole story first, major scene by major scene. There is ‘wiggle room’, but this is so much easier for me. I can sit down and know exactly where I’m going, but it’s often fun and surprising how my characters get there!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Jane Austen books as well as Grace Livingston Hill, LaJoyce Martin, and Baroness Orczy. I love the adventure, mystery, and innocence. I can enjoy these books with my children without worry.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m working on a third book in the ‘A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance’ series called, ‘A Rose to Love’. This is the story of Jesse (Sam’s brother from Violet Miracle) and Guinevere (a British girl). I love the fact that Guinevere is British (love the accents!) and that she plays the violin (my husband does as well). Jesse has opened up a detective agency with his friend Will and they have to keep Guinevere’s American uncle out of prison. That has been so enlightening researching what a private investigator really does!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon’s KDP select program free days (5 every 90 days) and getting the word out through Author Marketing Club, Awesome Gang, and other awesome sites like this one!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. Your best advertising and marketing comes from having a backlist. As you put more books (in the same genre) out there, you’ll get more ‘customers also bought these books’ and yours will be included.

Also, take advantage of ‘free days’. These do boost sales and it’s great getting your book out there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be afraid to give away your book.

What are you reading now?
Several! I’m in the middle of Charlotte by Karen Aminadra, a continuation of Pride and Prejudice. So, far it’s terrific. Also, I’m reading A Confident Heart by Renee Swope. Wow!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep writing. After I’m done with ‘A Rose to Love’, I’m going to finish my motivational book and get that published (finally!) and start outlining for Ivy and Will’s story, finishing up the ‘A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance’ series. Then, I’m thinking I might try my hand at regency fiction. I love that sub-genre.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bible, some kind of survival book,

Author Websites and Profiles
Christina Li Website
Christina Li Amazon Profile

Christina Li’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Christina Li is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I landed on Earth in Stockton, California sometime in the 20th century. Writing and acting were my two passions and I was fortunate to combine both when I was hired as a weekend gunslinger at a western amusement park called Pollardville Ghost Town. I played various characters in the skits we performed on the main street of the town and eventually wrote a few. On the same property was a melodrama/ vaudeville theater called the Palace Showboat. As soon as I hit that stage, I got to do everything I ever wanted to do in show business. It was kind of one stop shopping. I could act, sing, dance, perform stand-up, MC and of course write and direct the shows.

When I finally moved up to Oregon at the turn of the millennium, my writing career took off with my first book, a movie memoir called IN THE DARK: A LIFE AND TIMES IN A MOVIE THEATER. I followed that up with a novel, a road rage saga called RED ASPHALT. Then I took a lighter path with my next two, PLEASE HOLD THUMBS, a true travel tale about my South African journey and a collection of the works I wrote for the Palace Showboat entitled NOW THAT’S FUNNY.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
SONG OF THE CANYON KID is a western comedy romance about a singing cowboy who returns home to face a hanging judge who’s taken over the town and the girl he left behind, now about to marry a known desperado.

This one is a total cartoon. The main character is a singing cowboy. What is the last book you hummed? The characters are intentionally over-the-top and the entire tone is a sweet parody, an homage to the B-movies westerns of yesteryear. And in full disclosure, it’s also a novelization. I based this novel on my comic melodramatic play entitled SONG OF THE LONE PRAIRIE or POEM ON THE RANGE, one of the shows I wrote for the Palace Showboat Theater at Pollardville.

I realize the stigma of a novelization, but I felt creatively stagnated and needed an writing exercise to get myself in gear. Digging through my old writings, I came across his script for LONE PRAIRIE. a melodrama I consider to be the culmination of everything I learned at Pollardville. Adapting it into novel form came fairly easy, fleshing ot the characters and transposing the stage direction into prose. Soon, it took on a life of its own and I was hooked.

Overall I had a blast with this, the most fun I’ve had with a project since I wrote the original back in the ’80′s. SONG OF THE CANYON KID has given me back the joy of writing. By returning to my roots, I found that in order to move forward, sometimes you can go home home again

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, though I can write just about anywhere which is why I am never without a pen. I wrote a lot of THE CANYON KID in my car. No, not while I was driving.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
From the first time I read it when I was a teenager, J.D. Salinger’s CATCHER IN THE RYE resonates with me to this very day. I aspired to write like Richard Brautigan and Tom Robbins in my early years and their collective influence is in my sub-conscious. Anthony Bourdain’s writing, particularly A COOK’S TOUR and KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, inspired my non-fiction work.

What are you working on now?
I just completed a script for an interactive murder mystery for the Mel O’Drama Theater in Nashville, set to debut in April. Next up is a long gestating novel that I hope to complete by the end of the next millennium.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
When I started as an independent author that was nothing at my disposal except e-mail lists and press releases. Now there is such a wealth of promotional help out there that it is difficult for me to mention just one. Okay, how about starting here? Would that be considered sucking up?

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read. Write. Repeat.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s so simple that it’s almost trite, but I think it speaks volumes. “You can’t win if you don’t play.”

What are you reading now?
My tastes are so diverse. I started the year with Mary Roach’s hilarious biology lesson GULP and followed that up immediately with FLIP, Kevin Cook’s biography of Flip Wilson. Then I went right into Dennis Lehane’s crime saga LIVE BY NIGHT. Next up is MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN. Like I said, diverse.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More promotion, more writing. SONG OF THE CANYON KID made me fall back in love with writing again. But I really tested myself with that murder mystery script because I had such a short deadline and I made it with minutes to spare. At this point in my life, I’m ready for another challenge. Bring it on.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Four volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Author Websites and Profiles
Scott Cherney Website
Scott Cherney Amazon Profile

Scott Cherney’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Scott Cherney is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m originally from the Portland, Maine area and lived and worked there for years before moving to Southwest Florida. My first book, Jack Canon’s American Destiny: He’s All In, is a Presidential Thriller, or some might say White House Mystery Thriller, packed with action and adventure. I just completed the sequel to Jack Canon’s American Destiny – which is titled Jack Canon’s Women of the House: Love, Lust and Loyalty (A story of Kindness, Passion and Courage that can’t be separated. It’s has all of the same components of the first but leans toward a Presidential Romance, or White House Romance Thriller. The sequel is just as action packed, but with a bit more spice than the first, some would say it’s very sensual. Anyway both are available on Amazon now.

My next project is a Supernatural Romance Thriller, it involves an angel, Gabby, short for Gabriella – Basically, a man during a visit to Bar Harbor, Maine encounters a beautiful angel named Gabby; quite accidentally, he is told – she wasn’t supposed to make him aware of her existence. His purity of spirit, kindness and capacity for love has revealed her to him. Naturally he falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful creature, as humans can not resist angels. The book is titled Gabby, Angel of God, Guardian and Messenger (Keeper of the Peace, Love, Hope, Charity and Faith. She’s quite something and they go on a quick but exciting adventure helping people in trouble. There’s even some horror thrown into the mix. Gabby fits nicely in the Supernatural, Romantic Thriller, Paranormal and Time Travel genres. All three books have adventures and thrills, are fast paces and even some hilarious moments. The Jack Canon series will eventually be about 7 books, book three is tentatively titled, Jack Canon’s Ghost Operative, it’s a Presidential Agent Thriller and deals heavily in the shady dealings of the CIA, Global Terrorism, and the do-what-ever it takes spy mentality. Anyway the attitude of President Jack Canon is to make things right, No matter what! My hope is to have people read the stories and let me know their thoughts. My dream is to write full time and return to beautiful Maine in the Summertime while spending winters in Florida. I probably share that goal with a lot of people.

My Dad and Mom were artists, my father painted and my mother wrote poetry and loved to garden. Most Saturdays we loaded up the 1970 Chevy Impala to trek to a one man show somewhere or other. I took a different track graduating with a business degree; owning and operating an Award Winning Franchise Fitness Center. Currently a professional manager I am living in Florida with my beautiful wife and children, and following my passion.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Gabby, Angel of God, will be released soon. Eighteen years ago while on vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine, in the time it took for my heart to beat three times I witnessed something incredible.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not especially, I love to write early in the morning with a cup of coffee.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mostly Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle, the Maryanne Williamson, I love books on spirituality

What are you working on now?
Besides finishing touches on Gabby, I am working on two books, the first is Elizabeth, the Queen, the second is the third in the Jack Canon series of Presidential Thrillers, called Jack Canon Ghost Operative.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I like to use Digital Book Source.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to cut out parts of the story. Find a good editor.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A quote from Hemingway – the first draft of anything is shit.

What are you reading now?
Currently I am reading my next release Gabby, Angel of God.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully to be in a position to write and make a living doing it.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, that would be it.

Author Websites and Profiles
Greg Sandora Website
Greg Sandora Amazon Profile
Greg Sandora Author Profile on Smashwords

Greg Sandora’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Greg Sandora is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Oregon with my husband and four children. I work full time for a tech company so I have my hands full! But I love to write. More than love it, it is my obsession. I have writing apps on all my devices so while I might not have time to write in the traditional sense I can write a chapter on my phone while I am waiting for a sporting event to start.

I have 3 books available on Amazon (two are under the name Melissa Jones) and many others either completed or in progress.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Morning After. The title was inspired by the name of the coffee shop in the book. This book is my first foray into Contemporary Romance. My previous works were Historicals. I really enjoyed writing it. I fell in love with the characters and cheered for them!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Besides writing on the touch screen of an iPhone? No. I write all the time in my head. I am always thinking about characters and scenes. I write on my phone just so I don’t forget the ‘great idea’ I had.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh so many great authors! I am an avid reader and often get sucked into a series by a particular author because I want to see where the characters go. I don’t think they influence my writing because my writer’s voice is something that I’ve cultivated since I was a teenager. I can rember at that time trying to describe things the way another author did and it just didn’t work for me.

What are you working on now?
I am always working on about 8 different things!

I have a series that is historical romance that is currently being edited. It follows a group of friends and subsequently their children. It is the Randal Family Saga

Of course I am working on the next two books in the Reynolds Security Series. Jace’s story and Zoe’s story.

I am also working on a new series called the Cain Brothers. About 6 brothers and the women they love.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still looking for the best method!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
After you write, take a break and then read it. If you are an avid reader and you like what you write it is probably good. Also, don’t read the reviews and don’t take them personally. Some people are mean just for the sake of being mean!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
After my first bad review I was kind of bummed and my teenage son put his arm around me and said “Mom, haters gotta hate.” It was funny because he never talks that way but it was also true. There are always people out there who insult just to make themselves feel better. So now I choose not to read the reviews.

What are you reading now?
I have been hunkered down in writing mode for many months so I have fallen behind on a couple series. I just caught up on the Scangards Vampire series by Tina Folsom and the KGI series by Maya Banks. I still have to catch up on Rough Riders by Loreli James. Mostly I have been looking for and reading books by other Indy authors I follow on Twitter or FB. I want to read the real story not the publisher ‘dumbed down’ version. I am tired of the cookie cutter heroes!

What’s next for you as a writer?
To write of course. Knocked Out, the sequel to Morning after is going live soon and I am still finishing the next book in that series.

I will never stop writing. I don’t think it’s physically possible at this point!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would bring my ereader. Then I could have my whole collection!!

Author Websites and Profiles
Melissa Hale – Jones Website
Melissa Hale – Jones Amazon Profile
Melissa Hale – Jones Author Profile on Smashwords

Melissa Hale – Jones’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Melissa Hale – Jones is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Although this is my first “officially published for a viewing audience” book, I have been writing in various capacities all my life.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“…Alone (again) on my boat with an enormous amount of cocaine, I fully intended to blow my

heart to smithereens. Cutting fat lines sure to end my misery, an unrelenting voice in my head

urgently insisted I “write this down!”. Finally giving in, I found a pen and began. My hand would not

stop writing. What spilled out onto that paper astounded me so that I threw the cocaine overboard.

Alive and 20 years later, those very words begin Chapter 1 in my book “Dark to

Light…”.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
20 years ago, in the deepest throes of my addiction, I would stay isolated out in my shop, drunk, stoned and talking to the spiders, writing. Writing and writing. It was my only release. Definitely an unusual writing habit!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love obscure little inspirational books that I sometimes find by accident or a friend might pass them on. For the most part, I like stories about good guys kicking bad guys asses.

What are you working on now?
Coming Up: The true story of a young girls life affected by verbal and emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment issues from birth to the age of 16 when she finally found trust and began to blossom into a loving, caring, fearless, courageous young woman. The story is without end, maybe in 5 years we’ll catch up with a 21 year old and see how she’s grown.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
LinkedIn is great to connect with like minded professionals, clients and groups.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do the opposite of what your mind tells you and go exactly where your heart points you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You’ve got to break a few eggs to build a battleship.

What are you reading now?
Michener’s, ‘Alaska’.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Researching a book about a young girls life affected by verbal and emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment issues from birth to the age of 16 when she finally found trust and began to blossom into a loving, caring, fearless, courageous young woman. The story is without end, maybe in 5 years we’ll catch up with a 21 year old and see how she’s grown.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Stowaways For Dummies

Mad Magazine

1,000 page blank journal

Author Websites and Profiles
Dean Ingram Website
Dean Ingram Amazon Profile

Dean Ingram’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Dean Ingram is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the author of the ‘Adventures of Eric and Ursula’. Over the last 18 years, I have lived near Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, war-torn Sri Lanka and above the Hadron Collider in Geneva. Currently, I live in Prague, not far from a space rocket covered in giant babies.

The idea for ‘The Adventures of Eric and Ursula’ came to me while hiking in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia and is my first series of novels. I have written two of them so far.

For an older audience, I wrote the films ‘Seagulls’ which was shown at the Brighton Film Festival and ‘your baby disappeared’ which premiered in Prague in 2011. When I am not writing I enjoy spending time with my family, cycling, watching movies, listening to comedy and being creative.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called ‘Survival Instinct’. I wanted to create superheroes and characters which were believable and would appeal to young adults. To do this, I was inspired to create Eric and Ursula, who are eleven years old. Unlike other superheroes, they don’t wear their underwear on top of their trousers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wrote my first two novels using a trusty fountain pen which broke as soon as the second novel was finished. Maybe one day the handwritten copies will be in a museum.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy the ‘Artemis Fowl’ books by Eoin Colfer. He has created a whole world which is both fantastical and fun. Also ‘Holes’ by Louis Sacher because it is just a brilliant story.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the third novel in ‘The Adventures of Eric and Ursula’ series. It is going really well and I think it is the best of the series so far. The provisional title is ‘Fall Back’ but this may change.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Personally, I think the best method of promoting is to try something new each week and don’t worry if it fails. For my first book, I tried sending a mock ransom note to TV and radio stations. A DJ in Switzerland loved it but the BBC in the UK thought it was genuine. Oops! Also make sure that you mix promoting with writing. If you do too much of one, the other will suffer.

The best website for promoting your books is your own. So, make sure links to where your book can be bought/downloaded appear on every page.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t expect to be an overnight success. Nobody knows you, nobody has heard of your books and you are currently in last place. Work hard and, with a bit of luck, you’ll end up near the front. Keep a track of your successes, no matter how small, as they will keep you motivated.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“If you want something hard enough, you’ll have to work hard for it,” my grandmother

What are you reading now?
‘The Passport’ by Herta Muller.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will finish the four books in ‘The Adventures of Eric and Ursula’ and then possibly try something new. I was thinking about a non-fiction book about peoples’ dreams (as in what they want to achieve in life).

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
‘Suite Francaise’ by Irene Nemirovsky because it is a beautifully written book.

‘Blackberry Wine’ by Joanne Harris. I read it ten years ago and keep saying to myself that I will read it again.

‘The Essential Chomsky’ by Noam Chomsky so my brain does not turn to mush.

‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe. I may pick up some handy hints.

Author Websites and Profiles
A.D. Winch Website
A.D. Winch Amazon Profile
A.D. Winch Author Profile on Smashwords

A.D. Winch’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

A.D. Winch is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the second youngest of six children, and have always loved being part of a large family! I work as a Veterinary Assistant, and love being able to help animals. My favorite hobby is horseback riding, and I have a horse named Rory (she came with the name, probably not one I would have chosen) I have been writing since my Freshman year at Wisconsin Lutheran College. I have written 8 novels including the two I currently have published, and one I wrote as my undergrad research project. The two I have published are Tracker and Kindred, the first books of the Earthshaker Series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The most recent book I’m working on is Hunter, and it is the third book of my series. I get my inspiration from all over the place. People I know, books I’ve read, tv shows and movies I’ve seen, and sometimes they mix together to make a fun story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve never been able to plan out events in my books. My writing has always been kind of a free-flow thing. Every time I’ve tried to plan, it ends up completely different than I intended it. I also need some kind of background noise to get into writing. When I was in college I listened to a lot of music by Josh Groban. Now I turn on cartoons as background, and that seems to work pretty well.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’d have to say Kay Hooper, for the Noah Bishop Series, influenced parts. I have also been writing in the first person which was influenced mostly by Rob Thurman and Jim Butcher. Love all of them!

What are you working on now?
I am working on editing Hunter: Earthshaker Series book 3, and also working on marketing Tracker and Kindred, the two I already have published.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have used quite a few Facebook Groups, Google+, just joined Twitter, and I have a blog and a Facebook page. My books haven’t been out very long, so it’s hard to say what works the best, but I’m going to do kind of a cop out and say that having a wide variety of areas to promote your work is the best. Any one way isn’t going to do it on it’s own.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be persistent. You aren’t going to be a best seller overnight, you need to work at it. And enjoy the little things- a ‘like’ on your page, a genuine interest in your novel, etc. Don’t get dragged down by a lack of immediate results.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Have a marketing plan. Start marketing your book before it is available, so people are looking forward to it when it comes out. I didn’t do that for Tracker, because when I started I had no idea what I was doing, but I did a little for Kindred, and I plan on doing quite a bit for Hunter and any other future books.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading Insurgent. I just finished reading Divergent. Very interesting story!

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing. And editing. Always. It’s important to keep moving forward. Yes, I need to keep working on marketing the first books, but I need to also continue the series and get other projects rolling.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, Madhouse (by Rob Thurman), The Bourne Identity (by Robert Ludlum), and The Hades Factor (by Robert Ludlum).

It is really hard to say for sure. On any given day my choices could be different!

Author Websites and Profiles
Adrianne Lemke Website
Adrianne Lemke Amazon Profile

Adrianne Lemke’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Adrianne Lemke is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
From the moment I read Gone With the Wind at the age of twelve, I was hooked on romance. So much so, that I immediately set out to write (along with thousands of other love-struck young girls, I’m sure), what I hoped would be “the great American novel.” Obviously my dreams of grandeur didn’t go anywhere (grin), but I did write 150 single-spaced pages of a story that is actually the basis for my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure. Hard to believe that almost forty years passed before God breathed new life into that early attempt and inspired me to finish my childhood novel of passion—only this time the “passion” would be for Him!

Since I penned my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure, which won American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Book of the Year, I’ve written ten more books for a total of eleven. My tagline is “Passion with a Purpose,” which means my books are a tad more passionate than the majority of fiction in the Christian market today, both romantically and spiritually. Because boy meets girl is fine, certainly, but when boy meets girl and faith, it creates a romance that transcends to another dimension where romantic passion and spiritual passion merge, creating a 3-D love story: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together.

I invite you to check out my website where you can read my favorite romantic and spiritual excerpts from each of my books plus scads of interview questions that will give you an idea of who I am and why I write the way that I do. Here’s the link and thanks for stopping by! http://www.julielessman.com/

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
That would be Dare to Love Again, which is book 2 in the “Heart of San Francisco” series that launched last April with book 1, Love at Any Cost. The series itself is kind of a poor-man, rich-man scenario among three cousins during the Irish-political landscape of 1902 San Francisco. Think Little Women meets Dynasty. ☺ And for those too young to remember the TV show Dynasty, think family wealth and poverty in a political setting.

This series is a bit of a departure for me because it’s a little lighter and I hope a little more fun than the angst and high drama of my two prior series. And, without question, Dare to Love Again is the lightest, “sweetest” and funniest of all my books so far where spontaneous combustion between the two main characters explodes right off the bat! My spunky, hot-tempered Irish heroine goes head-to-head with my hard-as-nails, Italian police-detective grouch of a hero in the first chapter—or maybe I should say the first round. I have to admit, I had WAY too much fun at the expense of these two in a relationship that goes from fireworks to a flaming romance in the short lick of a fuse.

Here’s the jacket blurb.

She’s a sassy socialite burned by love.

He’s a jaded cop burned by the upper class.

When sparks fly … will love catch fire again?

Spunky Allison McClare is determined to be a fearless, independent woman. But when she takes a notion to explore the wild Barbary Coast, she quickly discovers she’s no match for the unsavory characters that haunt the dark streets.

Detective Nick Barone would rather do almost anything than teach this petite socialite self-defense, but it seems he has little choice. Sparks fly every time the two meet until a grudging friendship develops into something deeper. But is he just a fraud like all the rest of the men Allison’s cared for? Or the one man she can dare to love again?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Big grin here. Well, I’m quirky and crazy and just a wee bit off center, so I have a number of rituals with my writing such as the must-haves—a constant cup of hazelnut decaf with Half ‘n Half, peppermint tea or cold peach iced tea, lots and LOTS of lip gloss, Kleenex (for the soggy scenes I write), ear plugs if the squirrels or birds get too noisy, pad of paper and pen for quick notes, and a mirror handy for those facial expressions I’m trying to capture.

My biggest ritual, however, is ambiance. My family jokes that I am an “Ambiance Queen” because dim lighting with candles during dinner is a must, as well as a mainstay for my winter writing. During the summer months (basically May through October), I sit outside on my lower deck that runs the length of the house, overlooking a lush, green wooded area that has sunlight dappling through the trees. I have my feet up on this cushy lawn furniture we have at all times (like now!), and a fan gently blowing while I sit with my laptop. In the winter I’m in the hearth room with a crackling fire, all the essentials mentioned above and a picture of my husband on the table beside me for the ultimate inspiration. ☺

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Without question, Margaret Mitchell got it all started for me with her amazing novel, Gone With the Wind. That book instilled a love for romance in me at the age of twelve that I hope carries through into my novels today. And, of course, King Solomon who wrote the “Song of Solomon” in the Bible, which opened my eyes as to just how passionate God’s love is for each of us. As far as craft, the author who had the most influence on me would be Donald Maas and his masterful book, Writing the Breakout Novel.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m still pretty busy promoting book 2 in the Heart of San Francisco series, Dare to Love Again, which just released in January. Then more promotion to do — first, on my new writer’s workbook Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Inspirational and Sweet Markets, which I just published in both paperback and ebook. Then my Irish love story, A Light in the Window—winner of the 2013 International Digital Award, the 2013 Readers’ Crown Award, and the 2013 Book Buyers Best Award—now in paperback to accompany the ebook. I have to admit, I just LOVE the video my artist hubby did that stars my daughter, so I hope your readers will check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGKjHddYNeE&feature=youtu.be

Regarding future projects, I’m happy to say I’m going to lay low in 2014 to focus more on God and family and just to enjoy writing unencumbered by contracts and deadlines. I’m really excited to finish a contemporary I started before I got published, about a reformed rebel who’s found God and returns home to her small-town roots after ten years. Although the purpose of her homecoming is to be in her sister’s wedding, she knows deep in her heart that God has led her home to rebuild bridges she burned between an estranged father she defied and a former fiancé she deserted. In a small way, it’s somewhat biographical, so I expect it to be a wee bit therapeutic as well.

Author Websites and Profiles

Julie Lessman Website

Julie Lessman’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Julie Lessman is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a former journalist from Chicago, getting an early start in both fiction and nonfiction as a teenager writing for the local paper and online ezines. Out of college, I first wrote 3 research books on given topics from Atlantic Publishing on business, housing and pet care.

As recently as October 2013 I published my first novel ALL THAT GLITTERS, a YA Urban Fantasy/Suspense.

ALL THAT GLITTERS is the story of a jewelry thief with the ability to get by undetected. The only trace he leaves is candy in place of what he steals, the media dubbing him “The Candy Caper.” He won’t give up until he finds the item said to be possessed with ancient magic…but what is in it for him? And what if someone else gets in his way?

This is my first published novel, as I have many written that need to be tweaked!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Currently I am working on a YA Paranormal/Thriller entitled GUARDIANS OF LIGHT, in rough draft mode.

In GUARDIANS OF LIGHT, Freshman Sky Monroe seeks sanctuary and spiritual guidance from the campus spirituality group. To her, they seem to have all the answers…and not to mention some spiritual “connections.” Sky has her own reasons to join the group, but she finds more than what she bargained for… and once she gets sucked in it doesn’t look like she can turn back.

I had a lot of inspirations behind this book, namely real paranormal encounters I’ve read about! There is another real event that happened that is a major plot point in the book, and I can’t reveal what it is!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think my inconsistency is unusual. I know many writers who have a set schedule: Get up, write an hour before work, write an hour coming home from work, etc. I write when I can and when the mood strikes me. I just don’t really follow a schedule.

One funny thing that I have been doing lately is writing with the TV on. Sometimes you just need a little background noise.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I do love Sarah Addison Allen’s writing style, how she can take the normal life and add a little bit of magic to it. Also, the creative minds of Neil Gaiman and of course, J.K Rowling to create worlds that are so believable we feel as though we are a part of them.

Currently, I am reading Stephen King and Gillian Flynn for current inspiration in thriller and horror. They are inspiring me to create tension and buildup in a story and center it around the story’s main antagonist or threat.

What are you working on now?
Writing up a draft of GUARDIANS OF LIGHT to be given a full-body treatment later. There are some loose ends to tie up, especially with paranormal providing believability and explanation.

Also writing up some plot outlines for a horror series, I’ve got about 10 books so far with a good idea of where they are going. I have plans for this to go on even further and I can’t wait to build on it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still new to the promoting and marketing department, but online communities such as Goodreads and Facebook are always a huge help. Book reviews are important to get as many as soon as possible, and keep them going. People read book blogs for ideas and new things to read and if someone reads a review of your book on one, especially a though-out and detailed description, it is basically advertising.

Websites are important too, and they do tie in with social media and other sites. If people read about you somewhere, they are going to want to see more and the website is the place to go. Consider it your online headquarters to showcase all of your work and have your readers have a place to connect with you.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you do not have a website, get one very soon. You should have one up and running before your first book comes out in order to build anticipation. You can use that space to blog, take pictures, share excerpts of writing and links to your reviews.

I would also say to have a Facebook page separate from your personal one. Create a page for your author self and that is where you post all of your book-related activities and gather followers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Early on, I heard to develop a thick skin. You will hear this often, but it is the most important.

Our books are our babies. They are precious to us and hearing any form of criticism will be a hard thing to deal with. Not everyone is going to like your book. Even a friend or family member might not like it, which is actually perfect for them to be honest instead of giving you false praise just because they want to support you. They support you better by giving you information you can use. The important thing to remember is everyone is going to have a different opinion.

I’ve had people tell me that my first novel was wonderful, they loved the characters and the storyline very much. I’ve had people tell me that it wasn’t what they expected and were disappointed. The only thing I did was shrug, and be thankful that they had an interest and took the time to read it in the first place.

If you ever get a bad review, and we will all get them, go to Amazon and type in the name of your favorite book. Scroll down and read all of the one star reviews. You will feel better.

What are you reading now?
Finished all of Gillian Flynn’s books and am now in my Stephen King collection. Reading The Dark Half.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Creating a draft for GUARDIANS OF LIGHT and working on my horror series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
3-4 books on how to survive on a desert island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jackie Sonnenberg Website
Jackie Sonnenberg Amazon Profile

Jackie Sonnenberg’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Jackie Sonnenberg is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m thirty years of age, and I live in Cheshire in the U.K. I have written many short stories over the years but at the time I never committed myself to them but it all changed when I started writing the Toby Ripwood Series. Toby Ripwood in The Dark Sphere Enigma took me over three years to complete, probably longer due to my mild dyslexia but I had support from my partner. It was a tremendous struggle but I pushed through to complete it. It is my first book I have written with completion and I am now currently working on the next instalment for the series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Toby Ripwood came to my mind as I had a bus ride home in North Wales where I used to live in the U.K, but at the time I did not think anything more of it, until years later I thought to myself that this could actually work as a young adult fantasy fiction story.

Many other aspects of my life, personal and made up inspired me, my dreams and nightmares play a big role in them and my brothers also inspired me with their amazing writing skills.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Besides staying up to 3:30am in the morning writing, I can’t think of any.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I suppose many stories have influenced me from the iconic Harry Potter to Dr Who. Both have amazing worlds full of details and characters. There isn’t any in particular as many books are greater than great.

What are you working on now?
The next instalment for the series. Toby Ripwood. The story will be more fun, intense and more insanely surprising.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook yet it is not always helpful, any websites that give authors the support needed free or paid.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep going no matter what, writing for me is a giant struggle at times with my dyslexia so no matter who you are or what problems you have anyone can achieve writing a story if they stick to it and let nothing get in their way, plus every writer is always learning new things. It’s a long long learning process.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up on your dreams no matter how little they are.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Ben Mears – The Haunting of Tyler May. It takes me a while to finish reading a book being a writer and all.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully trying to get published professionally if not I’ll continue to do what I am currently doing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series. I love fantasy, horror and mayhem!

Author Websites and Profiles
Paul Roberts Website
Paul Roberts Amazon Profile
Paul Roberts Author Profile on Smashwords

Paul Roberts’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Paul Roberts is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been writing since 2005. My first book was a collection of poetry entitled ‘Ybo’ and Other Lies’. It is now out in a new edition (I don’t recall how many editions it has had, Amazon say 13, I’ll go with that). I have also published a grammar book, a study on Dante and Coleridge, a collection of short stories and, most recently, my baby, ‘The Road to London’, a novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘The Road to London’, my novel, came to me in the strangest possible way: while dancing in a gay club in London, which I have now revealed to be Fitladz, where I am doing the first book signing. I used to go there every Friday; I was the first in and the last to leave. It was, and still is, the temple of ‘scally’ culture in London, possibly the world. Anyway, I always went with my best friend, my ‘sister’ as I used to call him, Stephane, to whom the novel is dedicated, and, suddenly, the first words of ‘The Road to London’ simply came to me. The whole novel wrote itself through me in that club, a chapter a night. I would then rush home and write it up.

Why did it come to me? It was a special time in my life, maybe one of the happiest, but also most painful periods in my existence. I was desperately in love, like I’d never been before (maybe with one exception) or have been since. It was a time when suddenly everything seemed to make sense: my whole life seemed to have a meaning, basically, I believed I had been put in this world to be with this guy I loved. It’s strange how love changes the perception you have of the whole world. ‘The Road to London’ is about that: how pain, suffering, bullying, life and even death make sense on a personal, but also cosmic level, if we see our life as a gift of love whose meaning is to meet one’s soul-mate and share love with him or her.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do not write on command; I do not decide to write. Words tend to come to me, often at night, sometimes even during dreams (that’s why ‘The Road to London’ takes place partly in this world, partly in the world of dreams, and partly even in the after world, or, as I’d like to say, in our metaphysical dimension). That had always happened with poetry, but having short moments of elation when a poem comes to you is not the same as knowing for a long time that the Muse has decided to present you with a novel, and will be visiting you regularly and for many hours each time. When I write, I am in a trance. I don’t plan, I don’t organise, yet the structure of my work becomes clear to me, even if it is sometimes quite complex, while I am writing. I still write with a fountain pen, by the way, I don’t type. I find that writing by pen gives me a more visceral relationship with the words on the page. When I write, I hear the echoes of other writers in my head too: ‘The Road to London’ has many different voices from literature in it; I believe some readers are now looking for ‘hidden quotations’: well, they have hundreds to find out. But they are not hidden quotations, they are just the texts and authors who have influenced the texts I write who simply want to have their say. Having said this, you can read ‘The Road to London’ even if you don’t know these writers or you can’t spot their words. ‘The Road to London’ is easy to read: it has many layers of meaning, but it’s very reader-friendly.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have read quite a lot, being an academic myself, and I would say that almost every book I read influences me. I’m not a writer, I’m a sponge, or a catalyst, Eliot would say. However, the deepest influence on ‘The Road to London’ is certainly ‘Wuthering Heights’. When I started it, the first voice that came to me was that of my great idol, and the King of Literature, James Joyce. I’ve always revered his genius, yet I noticed that the words that came to me had a feminine touch to them: they were in fact, Molly Bloom’s last words in ‘Ulysses’, ‘Yes, I will yes.’ I felt them coming with a feminine voice, so, although I feared I was about to write a sort of sequel to Joyce’s colossal novel, and I do mean it when I use the phrase ‘I feared’, slowly but steadily, like speaking through a veil, two other voices came to me: Virginia Woolf’s and Emily Bronte’s; I could hear the timbre of their voices, literally. Virginia Wolf started almost singing, I didn’t understand why at first, but once ‘The Road to London’ was finished I realised that she knows I am synaesthetic, and I see colours and shapes when I hear sounds, so, she took the lead in the rhythm and colours of ‘The Road to London’. Some readers have pointed out that there are paintings in the novel, and in fact there are, and every chapter has a specific palette. An art critic has told me on Goodreads that an Art magazine is doing a feature on how ‘The Road to London’ translates paintings into words. I owe that to the Queen of Literature, Virginia Woolf. Emile Bronte was whispering to me, with a very mellow and fluid voice; her words were not clear at the beginning, but grew with the novel, becoming louder and louder: ‘Stop looking at the mind, look at the soul…’ Eureka! Yes, of course, whatever subgenres we like to categorise novels into nowadays, there are two main genres in novels: realism and the gothic tradition, the former finalised with brittle and almost crystalline perfection by the Mother of the novel, Jane Austen, the second by the great rebel and ‘naughty’ Princess of Letters Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Yet, Emily Bronte has started a third great tradition, which Literature has not honoured: the spiritual novel. Certainly Virginia Woolf was influenced by this tradition (in her time consisting of only one author), yet hers was the time of psychology and psychiatry, and let’s be honest, Freud was not a great supporter of the idea of the soul (even if I see more Jung than Freud in Woolf), and his influence in those times was huge. When one reads ‘Wuthering Heights’ one can see the other side of the gothic tradition: we do not feel that the supernatural is alien to the human being, but its own essence: Katherine and Heathcliff share the same soul, they are one cosmic entity, despite having two different bodies. The gothic shows us the supernatural as opposed to the human, the spiritual novel says. ‘No. Humans are supernatural, and what we are fighting against is not the metaphysical, the supernatural, but our physical existence, its limitations, which stop us from being who we really are.’ This is the discourse that ‘The Road to London’ has reignited: the cover shows a picture of what is basically my face, yet transparent, and one can see the stars and the sky through it (if you look carefully, you can see the aura around the face). ‘The Road to London’ is, in fact, the story of a boy whose physical existence is his problem: he was born in a homophobic country, in a grey city, yet he becomes gay, and his dreams become part of his reality. He then takes to drugs, which we should not condone, but to the boy, they offer a vision into a world that is not the grey and soulless dimension of his reality. He then starts hearing letters he himself has written in a gay club in his future in London, all addressed to his great love, My Dear. These letters clearly do not exist, but they reflect the way ‘The Road to London’ was born, and also give the boy not only an insight into a possible future where he can be himself, both sexually and psychologically, but also the opportunity to ‘write his own future.’ The letters are very important in the novel: they are where the free will of the boy plays a crucial role in his life. The theme of flight, which may lead him into a world, represented by London, where he can be himself, has also links to a spiritual flight, a flight into the after world, which some readers have seen in relation to the dedication.

What are you working on now?
Well, I have a few projects going… I’ve gone back to my roots as a poet, and working on a collection of poems inspired by Art, some are already available, ‘Shadow Whisper’ for example. I am also about to publish a simple guide to the Romantic Poets, and I’m writing quirky short stories. Of course, deep beneath, there is my great dream of writing an epic poem.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think the best method of promoting a book starts when one puts pen to paper. However, my favourite method is to let readers discuss them freely: they see many things in my books, some of them are of course, their own experience and creative perspective of them. But the books belong to them. There are some very interesting discussions on Goodreads: it looks like readers have had very different experiences of ‘The Road to London’: some like the fact that it deals with sex and fetish, others like the fact that it has a poetic style at times, others are talking about how it relates to Art or Music. My favourite comments are by those readers who say that ‘The Road to London’ has been a life-changing experience, lots of the readers seem to go back and re-read it, often soon after the first read. It is in many Goodreads ‘lists’ or charts voted by readers, and one that has really pleased me, though all do, is that readers have voted it number 20 in ‘books that are good enough to read twice’, that for me, shows that many readers have loved it quite intensely.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be courageous; write something new. I mean, we know that it’s easier to ‘make it’ if you write a book that is similar to a best-selling book; but that’s like, let’s say, in music: anyone can write a cheesy pop song and be instantly recognised, make a few bob, then forgotten as soon as the next cheesy pop comes along. But who do we remember? Those artists who are in it for long run, those who dare to change, to invent new forms, new styles. You need to ask yourself why you are a writer; if the answer is to make money, then, be my guest, but if you really want to contribute to Literature, then be original.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I must say, this will sound cryptic, and it was to me at the time. Well, when I was a young lad, I of course, had a massive crush, well, let’s be honest, that was love, big time, on a school mate. It ended in tragedy, of course. I didn’t even understand that was love, I just thought the world had changed, I thought I was no longer myself. After a week of crying my eyes out, I went back to school; my Latin Teacher at the time stopped me on the stairs, I remember he was carrying an umbrella, yet is was June and in Italy, and he said, ‘There are things you cannot understand now, but one day you will.’ I found it very odd, very out of place given the situation. Only many years later his words came back to me and they made sense: don’t try to understand the whole of the universe, Fate moves in mysterious way, and his ways only become clear once all the intended consequences of a painful moment have come into being. I am not saying that the future is inscrutable, but that if we try to see it, it simply moves further and further in the distance.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading ‘Seelie’ by Sarah Luddington. I’ve just started it. I loved her Lancelot series as it always played with ambiguity, especially sexual ambiguity, and I love the Middle Ages and historical novels. Now she has written a gay urban romance, ‘Seelie’, I think this is a courageous move, going back to what I was saying before. I also re-read many of the classics on a regular basis; Dante is a daily read for me, in fact, I have the best edition of ‘La Commedia’ (in Italian) always on my bedside; I also have a copy of the very first edition of Carey’s translation of ‘Inferno’ on my bedside, and always Milton’s work and a few others.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t know. I don’t decide. I hope Calliope will call upon me again to write. Certainly, I am not one who writes sequels. I know for sure though, that if she does, it will be to write something original and new yet again. What? I do not know; I am not trying to read the future, I’ll let the future speak to me.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Hard choice, but certainly ‘The Odyssey, ‘Dante’s ‘Commedia’ ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Ulysses’.. May I break the rules and add ‘Hamlet’, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘The Aeneid’? Just to remind me of the major steps towards becoming a human being…

Author Websites and Profiles
Adriano Bulla Website
Adriano Bulla Amazon Profile

Adriano Bulla’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Adriano Bulla is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
In my long and checkered career, I have had more publishers than currently exist in New York today, among them Dorchester, Penguin, Warner Books, St. Martin’s Press, Harlequin and Tor-Forge. Mostly I have written historical romances–32 to date. In addition, I’ve done romantic suspense and political thrillers (the latter under a pseudonym Alexa Hunt). All in all, I’ve had 35 books published by major presses in New York.

Then the most exciting part of my publishing career began three years ago, when I started putting up my backlist novels on Amazon, Nook, Apple and Kobo. Now I am writing original, never before published e-books, beginning with books two and three of my House of Dreams Trilogy, LOVING LUCIFER AT MIDNIGHT and LOVING LIES AT MIDNIGHT. These and several other of my series, are set in Regency England, although my first love has always been the American West.

After receiving my master’s degree in history from the University of Missouri, I taught history at a large Northeast university until they abolished the requirement that students take intro history courses for bachelor’s degrees. No requirements, no adjunct faculty. Alas. I moved over to the university’s English department where I taught freshman composition. After two years of grading remedial themes, I bottomed out. Let me tell you, readers, there are a finite number of times a teacher can explain to a college student what a verb is before she’s done for.

Since I’d always loved reading romance novels, I decided to try writing a historical myself. The result was my first book, GOLDEN LADY, published by Warner Books in 1986. Writing stories is like eating popcorn…once you start, you just can’t seem to stop.

I have been married to Jim Henke, a retired university English professor, forever and we have a son who works in telecommunications. We live in St. Louis in a big cedar house that we share with two very spoiled tomcats, Pewter and Sooty. Sooty’s claim to fame is killing nearly 100 moles in 2013. Pewter’s is utter indolence, 2008-2014.

I have won seven awards from ROMANTIC TIMES MAGAZINE, three from AFFAIRE DE COEUR MAGAZINE, twice been a finalist for Romance Writer’s of America’s RITA, won a BOOKRAK bestseller award and have been recognized as one of the “Pioneers of the Genre” at the 2013 RT Convention. I have also been on USA TODAY’s bestseller list.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a Regency romance, LOVING LIES AT MIDNIGHT, last of a trilogy. All three of these novels involve London’s most infamous bordello, the fabled House of Dreams where rich English noblemen can act out their fantasies. In the first book, LOVE LESSONS AT MIDNIGHT, an earl asks for “lessons” which will enable him to please the woman he intends to marry. In LOVING LUCIFER AT MIDNIGHT, an English spy against Napoleon blackmails a beautiful French aristocrat into helping him uncover a dangerous plot. In both of these books, a young woman had a small “walk-on” part. Lorna didn’t even have a name at first. She was just another girl the bordello owner rescued from the streets, offering shelter education with the chance for a better life. Only those who chose to do so became courtesans. Lorna was destined for a respectable marriage. That was as much as I had figured out in the first two novels. But she kept flitting around the back of my mind until I decided she deserved her own story. After she was established as the adopted niece of a wealthy cit, she met a most unsuitable man–the heir of a duke, a rakish, charming rogue who utterly captured her heart. But what if she captured his heart, too? Dare she tell him about her lowly birth or upbringing in a bordello? If she did not, what would happen when the truth came out? The more I worked on this idea, the better I liked it. Geoff and Lorna’s courtship is witty and warm. I hope readers will take both of these winsome young people to their hearts.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wrote my first 25 novels in longhand on looseleaf paper with a ballpoint pen. My best friend Carol Reynard transferred my illegible scrawl into typewritten manuscripts, then onto computer pages. Finally around the turn of the millenium, I learned how to use one of those “devil machines” myself. Now I write on the computer. But another computer lives on the lower level of our house. At that one, my husband Jim works, helping me with research on the net, editing and polishing my work. We go back and forth so much that there are often disagreements, okay, yelling matches as we hash out plot and characterization.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Rosemary Rogers’ SWEET, SAVAGE LOVE hooked me on the historical romance genre way back in the late 1970′s. The dense historical richness and dark, mysterious hero made me eager to read more. Then I discovered Roberta Gellis’s wonderous Medieval romances, Lisa Gregory’s RAINBOW SEASON, the list goes on and on. I could name dozens of wonderful authors whose work inspired me want to write.

What are you working on now?
After a long series of attempts, I finally got the rights to my first romantic suspense novel back from Penguin. BOUQUET is set in the California wine country and features a mysterious drifter who comes to work at a Napa vineyard, where he and the owner’s daughter spend a summer falling in love. But someone is trying to kill Adam and Marti wonders why he won’t tell her about his past. When he suddenly vanishes, she is uncertain if he deserted her or if something more sinister happened.

When this book was published, I wrote a sequel, which was never published. Now I am rewriting that book, working title CALIFORNIA HEAT. It is a tale involving a cynical San Francisco homicide detective and a sensitive New Orleans artist. She’s the cop, he’s the artist. Gray witnesses a murder while having a one-man show in San Francisco. Linda is assigned to the case. When he draws an exact likeness of the killer (whose face he saw beneath a street light), they find that the man is a war hero, self-made millionaire and personal friend of the police comissioner. He also has an air-tight alibi. But Linda believes Gray when he insists Cleary is the killer. A game of cat and mouse ensues with an evil and deranged man. The reader knows Cleary is the killer, but why has he done what he’s done? That is what Linda and Gray must figure out if they are to survive.

I hope to have these e-books up for sale in late spring. In many ways, I think CALIFORNIA HEAT (or whatever the title ends up being) is the best I’ve ever written. I can’t wait to see how readers react!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve never been much of a promoter since coming to the e-book business, simply because I was overwhelmed learning the ropes of having my backlist books scanned, formatted and going through the arduous (for a troglodyte like me) process of registering to sell my books and then to upload them on the various platforms. Now my husband Jim has begun researching all the wonderful sites such as Awesomegang.com. This is my first attempt to reach out to readers in this medium.

My website and cover designer, Kim Killion, has set up a great site for me, on which I feature each new book as it is released, an excerpt from the book, an email site for readers to contact me, even a page where I post original recipes for my favorite dishes. Jim writes a humorous (but curmudgeonly) newsletter every quarter or so, telling about the crazy goings on at the Henke asylum. I have a Face Book author’s page and post as often as time permits on FB. Beyond that, I’m still in the process of learning the best ways to reach readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Now that you can publish your own work on Amazon, Nook, Kobo and Apple, the sky’s the limit! But I would offer a few caveats: find (hire if need be) a good copyeditor. You don’t want to put out a book filled with mistakes. Also, if possible, it is best to establish credibility by getting some work published traditionally in New York. Either way, write the book of your heart. Good luck!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“What goes around, comes around.” Be kind to other authors and to readers. Just because the Internet can be anonymous should not give anyone license to be snarky to others.

What are you reading now?
EXTRAORDINARY POWERS by Joseph Finder. It’s a nifty CIA thriller with a fascinating premise about ESP.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have always wanted to alternate writing historicals with suspense. Having just finished a historical romance trilogy, I am moving on to publish BOUQUET and its sequel. After that, I’ll complete HEARTSTOPPER, a suspense book set in Miami. Then, for sure I’ll write another Western historical romance, ALL THE CAPTAIN’s WOMEN. I love the freedom to write what I want and move around so, hopefully, I stay fresh in my writing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A Michael Connolly mystey featureing Harry Bosch, a Lisa Gregory romance, a political thriller by Daniel Silva featuring Gabriel Alon, and, of course, the Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Shirl Henke Website
Shirl Henke Amazon Profile

Shirl Henke’s Social Media Links
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Shirl Henke is a post from Awesome Gang