Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in sunny Arizona with my beautiful wife and two adorable little girls. I am a nationally recognized author and the agent/owner of Irons Family Insurance, a multi-state health insurance agency. When I’m not helping clients I enjoys writing, studying the Bible, serving my community, spending time with family, and strives to glorify Christ in all I do. Over the years my heart has been burdened for entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur myself, I understands the trials and frustrations business owners go through on a daily basis. As a result I felt compelled to write books oriented to help encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners and help lead them to the comfort and peace found in Jesus.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Upward Entrepreneur. I am an entrepreneur myself and I know first hand the struggles we face on a day by day basis. This book confronts those challenges and provides encouragement and ideas to breakthrough those barriers. I was inspired to write this book because I wanted a devotional of sorts to be more interactive than a traditional inspirational book. I wanted a book to help lead the reader to the Bible text and unpack the truth it was teaching.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I get a lot of inspiration when I am driving. I keep my phone with me all the time and I am constantly recording or jotting down my ideas as they come to me. I might be listening to a radio program or podcast where I liked their idea or illustration and I quickly record it as it happens so I don’t forget when I get in front of my manuscript.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love John Piper, CJ Mahaney, John F. MacArthur, as well as CH Spurgeon. There are really to many to list. I like a lot of older Puritan writing these days because people just don’t speak or write with the elegance of their day.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a more general audience book on how to live a radically changed life for your good and God’s glory.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang.com of course!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Continue to work hard and write what inspires you. If you love what you write chances are people will love reading what you write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be consistent and get your butt in the chair and write. It won’t happen on its own. Most of the time you won’t be flooded with streams of consciousnesses and inspiration before you start writing. The ideas and inspiration flow when you start putting words on paper, crossing them out, putting new ideas down, and moving forward.

What are you reading now?
I’m a real nerd. I am reading a systematic theology book by Dr. Wayne Grudem. Learning about God and unpacking ideas about God really excite me. Again, I’m a self professed NERD. Ha ha ha.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue to write God glorifying books that help encourage people in their daily struggles and help them look to a good and great king instead of worrying about their current circumstances.

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?
Just 3-4? You are making this too hard Off the top of my head I would bring:

1. Bible
2. John Piper’s “Desiring God”
3. Iain H. Murray” “Forgotten Spurgeon”
4. CH Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening”

Author Websites and Profiles
Matthew Irons Amazon Profile

Matthew Irons’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book but not my first publication. I have published poems in anthologies as a teenager and interviewed professors at CSU, Sacramento. I am a widow with 5 kids. Only two of them are left at home. I am a private tutor, historian and mother. I love my dogs who are all older dogs that I rescued from an animal kill facility. I believe that service is the highest expression on the human existence and I live those words. I realize that I can only do so much even though my heart says otherwise.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Because My Mother Did it!”

What started out as a research item to understand why the kids of my step sons’ generation were getting hammered exploded into something much bigger! We (my husband and I) noticed a pattern. This pattern turned into a cycle. The more we researched, the more we found. We found problems and solutions. We knew we needed to share what we found. Then my husband died from a sudden cold of all things. Before he died, Thomas made me promise that I would finish the book, publish it and not list his name as author. He was dying so I made the promise. Instead of putting him down as an author, I wove stories from our life together to demonstrate the principles we found. So in the end, he is not listed as an author but rather the hero in the book. A hero in a non fiction book about relationships? Huh? Find out how I got to give him the credit he deserves and keep my promise too!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I write, I need absolute quiet. So I close myself up in my room and write for hours at a time. The longest stretch was 12 hours straight. Some times when an idea flows it can go on forever.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Joseph Campbell (Hero with a Thousand faces) and Steven Forrest (Skymates) influenced me the most.

What are you working on now?
Book #2: The Peanut Butter Essay: How to Slay The 5 Paragraph Essay and other Academic Paper Dragons). I am half way done writing this. I am expecting to publish it about mid to late March.

Book #3: “From a “We” to an “I”: Re-inventing the Self after Catastrophic Relationship Failure — it is a kind of sequel to Because My Mother Did It! I want to publish this in May 2016.

Please don’t hold me to these dates. I have to finish the promotion of Because!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am taking a three prong approach. One I am using Fiverr.com to get assistance with Linked In and Twitter. My daugher and I post my books on Facebook groups and websites. The third prong is through promoters.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I highly recommend going through the Self-Publishing School, putting together a launch team and realize that there is just as much work to be done after you hit publish as there was to get there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Done is better than perfect!
Be True to yourself!
If it is going to be, it is up to me!
Keep Calm and Carry on!

What are you reading now?
The Productive Person, Breaking Out of a Broken System, The Author Identity, The Benefits of Stress, As a Man Thinketh and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif! Hey Rick Riordan is a can’t put down read! I am hooked thanks to my kids!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue to write, finish starting up my ebook formatting business and play in my garden all while threatening my phone with colorful language. The dang thing doesn’t do what it is supposed to!

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?
Only 4? Ok. I would bring a very thick book, cut out the inside to hide my kindle (which is loaded with books) and a solar re-charger. Then I would add a book on poisonous plants, rebind Joseph Campbell’s Masks of God series into one book, and a book on how to build boats, paddles and houses on deserted islands. Yes that is cheating.. but 4 books.. that is criminal!

Author Websites and Profiles
Shana Rhinehart Amazon Profile

Shana Rhinehart’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two. Attraction and Know Who The Hell You Are, which is not out yet.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest , Attraction. I was inspired to write this book after I had been through a lot of negative events in my life. My life changed, because I changed the way I thought about life. In my previous life, I thought you had to struggle through life to get where you needed to go in life. I cried out to God, in anger and said, “I know you did not bring me hear to experience all of theses struggles.” God answered and said, “You are responsible for my life.” God told me, “you are in control of your life.” “You are the creator with your thoughts, words and actions.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I normally get ideas from a video, book, people and from within.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Rhonda Byrne, Bob Proctor, Joe Vitale, Claude Bristol, Napoleon Hill, Andrew Carnegie, W. Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie, Tony Robbins, Earl Nightingale,Joseph Murphy, James Allen, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar and more

What are you working on now?
I am working on , ” Know Who The Hell You Are.” I

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Not sure as of yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep a note pad by your side for new ideas at all times.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do not stop working on your craft.

What are you reading now?
How to publish an eBook.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have several more eBooks that I am going to 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?
The Secret, Surrender and Positive Thinking

Author Websites and Profiles
Labarron Kennedy Amazon Profile
Labarron Kennedy Author Profile on Smashwords

Labarron Kennedy’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Polarity in Motion is my first book, and I am working on a sequel that takes the same characters into a more complex, risky situation.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The book I’m working on now is Polarity in Love. It was inspired by readers who asked deeper questions about Ethan, one of the main characters in the first book. In fact, a high school English class in Minnesota is currently reading the first draft of my new book. Their questions and feedback are helping me to discover more about Polarity and Ethan–making their relationship and their story go to a new level.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write a quick, sketchy draft of a scene, and then leave it a day or so. The sketch sort of worms its way into my subconscious and fleshes itself out–sometimes even when I’m asleep. Then after a couple of days when I go back to scene, it rewrites itself.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Justina Chen’s book North of Beautiful is one of my fav YA’s. Love the Hunger Games and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series–had to read them without stopping.

What are you working on now?
Polarity in Love

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve tried a little of everything. It seems as if the most effective way to move large numbers of books is through ads. I love connecting with readers on Goodreads, but as an author I feel a little shy about it. I don’t want readers to feel pressured or harassed by authors. But I do love getting the readers’ feedback.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
One of the most helpful strategies for me has been to find beta readers. People who are willing to read your works in progress and give you honest, blunt, sometimes brutal feedback.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
There’s no such thing as good writing–only good rewriting.

What are you reading now?
I like to have three books going at all times: audible, paper, and device. This week I’m listening to Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter. I’m reading the paper version of The Tyrant’s Daughter, and on my phone’s kindle app I’m reading Some Sort of Crazy by Melanie Harlow.

What’s next for you as a writer?
There’s a minor character in Polarity in Motion that a surprisingly large number of people have asked about: Arvey. Their questions have opened a need to tell her story. She’s growing and developing everyday. The next book will be about her.

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?
1. Anything by Eckhart Tolle–he speaks to my soul
2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese–it’s one of those rare books that I want to read again.
3. something new and long. (love big fat books and on a desert island, you’d want a hefty read.)

Author Websites and Profiles
Brenda Vicars Website
Brenda Vicars Amazon Profile

Brenda Vicars’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have loved religion and philosophy since my earliest memories. Having always felt a strong connection with the Light, I began playing around with fiction as a means to convey principles back in the early 2000’s. My intent was to put higher ideals into the minds of those who would never pick up a set of scriptures.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
After honing my craft for over a decade, I have now released my most recent fable, The Acolight – Waxing Crescent​. It has been inspired by the teachings of the Masters as recorded by both Baird T Spalding and Godfre Ray King at the end of the 1800’s and the early 1900’s.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on book two of The Acolight series, which is a fun series to work on. These stories are filled with light and love so they keep my head in a good mental space. I need more books like these in my life, and so I’m excited when my readers enjoy them as well.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My favorite method is meeting with people in person, or chatting with readers through social media. It’s encouraging for me to learn of all the wonderful experiences people are having with the Light.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write the story for you, and then share that story. Don’t concern yourself with what you think other people want to read. Write honest, write for you, and you will find that your own words will take your life to new heights.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you don’t want what you’ve always had, then do something different.

What are you reading now?
Reading more of the I AM series from Godfre Ray King. Love those, and there’s about twenty of them, so I never get bored.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Truth be told, I’ve always had an itching to write for younger children. Maybe a fun chapter book or two, or maybe a graphic novel geared towards elementary-aged kids. I have eight kids of my own so sometimes I feel I live in that world already, might as well play around a bit while I’m there.

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 love ancient religious texts so I’m afraid my list would include a shovel, a map, and a diary so I could go dig up any books hidden on that desert island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mani Lys Reed Amazon Profile

Mani Lys Reed’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Keith D. Guernsey is retired and living on Lake Lanier with his lovely wife Susan and his four-footed son Harley (who really is the king of this castle!). I has a 40 year career in sales and sales management with Comcast, Motorola and Cahners Publishing. Susan and I are proud to announce the birth of our first grandchild, Harrison Anthony “Harry” Guernsey to our son Keith and daughter-in-law Kate. I have written one book so far and am working on a sequel now.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Confessions of a Beantown Sports Junkie was inspired by the remarkable love and devotion of my late father Gordon.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write a minimum of three sentences each and every day

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Grisham/James Patterson/David Baldacci

What are you working on now?
The sequel to “Confessions…” will include everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about “Deflategate”!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
awesomegang/facebook/twitter

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, be consistent and write something every day

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stay focused

What are you reading now?
It’s Good to be Gronk

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing and publishing my sequel

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?
Mine and three Alex Cross books

Author Websites and Profiles
keith guernsey Website
keith guernsey Amazon Profile

keith guernsey’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, this is Geetanjali, and thanks for reading this interview. So far I have published 6 non-fiction books. I also have a completed novel that I wrote for Nanowrimo last year.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, which came out in September of 2015, is Anyone Can Get An A+: How To Beat Procrastination, Reduce Stress and Improve Your Grade. I was first inspired to write it years ago while still in high school, when I went from barely passing some of my subjects to getting the top marks in the O-level equivalent board examinations. From that experience I realized that it was possible to dramatically change not only your grades in school, but also your perception of yourself as a student, with just a few changes in study habits. I also realized that our schools and teachers, no matter how well-meaning, are not only not teaching us many crucial study skills, but they also contribute to entrenching the self-perception of certain students as “stupid” or “bad at math” or “lazy and un-motivated”.
I wasn’t labeled any of these things in school, but I definitely felt the judgement from my math and science teachers, because I happened to be struggling with those subjects. Instead of giving more attention to the struggling students, I noticed they were ignored, and left to fend for themselves. Others with poor grades seemed resigned, even belligerent about the notion that they could improve significantly. And when I did do well? No one asked me how I did it – instead they simply assumed that I was “really smart”. I am on a personal mission of sorts with this book – at a time when it is crucial that we all have the technical skills to keep up with a changing world, no child should be made to feel that they don’t have the intelligence or ability to learn and do well in school.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if my habits are unusual, but I do tend to have a different writing process for each book. The most recent book I was able to sit down and write the draft in only 3 weeks, and I wrote it long-hand on A4-sized paper. The book I am writing at the moment, I have found it really hard to get into the right frame of mind to work on it, except in coffee shops with incredibly sweet coffee concoctions. My waistline is not happy about that, I can assure you!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am sure I have been influenced in some way by every book I have read, and my writing has been richer for all the reading that I did before it. Specifically, my style of nonfiction writing, especially for my latest release, was inspired by the hundreds of self-help and general nonfiction books I have read over the years. I wanted to write a book that was readable, full of stories and anecdotes, and yet contained research from scientific studies and principles that the reader could begin to apply immediately. In that way I suppose, I was influenced most by Malcolm Gladwell, and the genre of writing that his work inspired.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a book of light-hearted essays on my time at college. I am about halfway through the first draft.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still learning a lot about marketing and promotion, so probably the answer would change in a few months; but at the time I would say Twitter. I was initially very intimidated by Twitter, but so far it is my best method for putting the word out, and connecting with other authors in general.
I think in terms of the best method, I would say it is whatever you can spend more time on and enjoy most. I read this advice somewhere, that the social platform you get the most out of is the one you enjoy spending time on the most. The one where you are most authentically your real self. It is strange that as a writer I would pick the one platform which constrains how much you can say, but in a way I find constraints actually force you to be more creative. Plus it feels like the stakes are so much lower, and I feel like Twitter is a lot more forgiving as a medium.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice that I could give would be to figure out for yourself what you really want from your writing career, and don’t feel like you have to go at the pace that others are going at. What is most important is that you write, as often as you can, take risks in your writing, and really see what you can accomplish. Don’t get overwhelmed by the enormous amount of advice out there – on building a platform, on finding a niche, on choosing between traditional and self-publishing. Do what works for you, but most importantly, focus on writing the best books you can. Don’t waste too much time on anything that detracts from writing more, even if it is marketing and promotion. I firmly believe that if you write really good books, and also invest time in promoting yourself, eventually you will find readers and create your own little space in which to make an impact as an author.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I have read more writing books than I can count, and most of them were chock-ful of great advice, so it is pretty difficult to isolate any one thing. But the advice that has helped me the most is this – write shitty first drafts. Lay track. Don’t edit, don’t judge, just put down one thing and another until you have a draft. A pretty crappy one. And then fix the easiest things that you can fix. And do that again. And keep doing that till you have a less shitty draft. Till you get somewhere that actually looks good.
As a writer sometimes, starting is the hardest part. You get the flash of inspiration, and suddenly you see this brilliant book, in all its glory, and you fall in love with it. And then you sit down to write, and all the garbage that comes out resembles that glorious image in your head in no way. And in despair, you stop writing. You think maybe you should wait, till you get some more inspiration. Till the words start to come out better. But that never happens. Don’t wait, write. Right now. Lay track.

What are you reading now?
I am reading Shonda Rhiimes’ memoir, Year of Yes. It’s a really wonderful read, which is not surprising since she spins such incredible stories on TV. I am also reading a book of essays by Lisa Scottoline, My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space. I love her non-fiction books. I recently finished reading a wonderful book by Susan Jane Gilman, The Ice-Cream Queen of Orchard Street. The only problem is that I kept craving ice-cream the entire time I was reading the book!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have ideas for my next 3-4 books. I have an unedited Nanowrimo novel that I hope to edit and publish. I have plans for a historical novel set in my hometown. I also hope to take my marketing and promotion to the next level, and reach out to more readers. I also hope one day to take on more formats – write a play, maybe even a musical.

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 love non-fiction books, so perhaps How To Thrive On (and Get Off) A Deserted Island would be first on my list. I would also take Anna Karenina – which I have been trying to read for a while, there would definitely be enough time on that island, Pride and Prejudice, because who could be better company than witty Elizabeth and dreamy Mr. Darcy, and the boxed set of Harry Potter books, because well, one always needs a little magic.

Author Websites and Profiles
Geetanjali Mukherjee Website
Geetanjali Mukherjee Amazon Profile
Geetanjali Mukherjee Author Profile on Smashwords

Geetanjali Mukherjee’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in London and have been a writer for over ten years. As well as novels I write short stories for women’s magazines having had over fifty published. My first novel The Water Gypsy was inspired by reading about the history of the canals in Victorian England and the people who lived and work on them. The canals today are very different from Victorian times and are used mainly for pleasure. the boats are also very different. The Water Gypsy was chosen as a finalist in The Wishing Shelf Award 2014.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is The Watercress Girls and was inspired by the street sellers in Victorian times when watercress was an important part of the diet of the workers. Watercress it provided the vitamins essential for their well being in the nineteenth century. I also write about the mudlarks who scavenged in the Thames for bits of copper or brass, wood or coal to make a living. I hope I have shed some light on the hardships of their lives and given them a happy ending.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write by hand with a pen on paper. This would be classed as unusual these days.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love reading Anne Perry, Dilly Court or Lesley Pearce. I also love Dickens stories and his amazing characters. I love all the classics but I also read James Pattison and Ian Rankin.

What are you working on now?
Currently I’m busy promoting my books but also working on short stories for magazines.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My second novel is in Kindle Select and although my first novel and short story collection are also in Kobo, iTunes, Nook and Kobo I still think Amazon are the market leaders when it comes to selling e-books.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be true to yourself and follow your passion. Write what you want to write and don’t be put off by negative reviews. You can’t please everybody. Above all I’d say never give up. Success may be just around the corner.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Believe in yourself, never give up and get a good editor.

What are you reading now?
Just gone back to reading Dickens. I might try Anthony Trollope next.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep on writing the short stories and think about a third Victorian 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?
The Collected Works of Charles Dickens, War and Peace and The collected works of William Shakespeare.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kay Seeley Website
Kay Seeley Amazon Profile

Kay Seeley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Since I retired from my corporate job in 2009, I’ve published four novels and will release a fifth one next month. Little did I know when I started writing books that I would spend almost as much time marketing them and building a platform for myself.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Living with Markus” will be released next month. It’s about a thirty-year-old man who repeatedly shoves his own dreams aside to run to the aid of his dysfunctional family members. When he finally realizes his true purpose in life, it isn’t at all what he thought it would be.

I try to write stories that make readers think about what they would do in a similar situation. What inspired this particular story was a series of “what if” statements. What if a family member came to you for help with something? Well, everyone has been in that situation. What if more than one family member came to you for help? Probably still not that uncommon. But what if helping them disrupted your own life and you saw no end in sight? What would you do then?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think I have any unusual writing habits unless you consider jumping up every time my eighteen-year-old kitty calls for me from another room. Hey, isn’t it about time for a few more treats? Can you pet me for about five minutes and then I’ll jump off your lap and do my own thing. Or come watch me walk across the room to my cat bed. I just love that one.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have always admired Dennis Lehane for his storytelling ability and Nicholas Sparks for character development.

What are you working on now?
My current project is about a middle-aged novelist who thinks her husband has been mimicking the actions of some of the characters in the cozy mystery books she writes. What has her particularly worried is that her current book is about a husband who contemplates doing away with his wife. She’s changed the ending several times.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use a variety of sites to promote my books, but BookBub by far has resulted in the greatest ROI, exposure, and number of reviews. They are one of the most expensive book promotion sites and accept only a fraction of the submissions they receive, but because of their huge subscriber base and the fact that they don’t promote very many titles per genre at the same time, they are the best game in town, at least in my opinion.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
On my website www.novelelements.com I share everything I’ve learned about writing and promoting novels. There I talk about writing techniques that work, establishing your author platform, recognizing scams, where to promote your books, and more.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read, read, and then read some more. Become aware of what draws you to the author or book and then do the same.

What are you reading now?
I am a reviewer for indieBRAG and am currently reading an English author’s debut novel.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope what’s next for me as a writer is the ability to continue publishing one book per year and make enough money to fund a nice vacation or two with each one.

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?
Can I bring my Kindle?

Author Websites and Profiles
Florence Osmund Website
Florence Osmund Amazon Profile

Florence Osmund’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, to my wonderful Italian parents, I grew up in an average Italian family household and with being the youngest out of three siblings. I had a habit of getting things that I wanted. As I grew older and made my way to Iowa State University, I learned that as an adult I couldn’t continue my childhood lifestyle which pushed me to pursue my entrepreneur career.

Unfortunately, I made some very irrational choices that led me to a federally funded paid vacation for several years. While I was away, I had to re-evaluate my life and it’s meaning. I decided to take up writing to pass time. After looking back at my life and other associates of mine, I was able to come up with not just one, but a series of novels that are filled with both fiction and non-fictional events.

I’m here to share my story and show insights into a world that many people know of, some have actually attempt to try and only a handful succeeded.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Bliss 2, My books are a continuing of what is to be come a 3 to 4 book series.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write at night and if I can get to the point I’m able to financially do it, I would focus 6-8 hrs a day to writing. I usually will go for several weeks writing, which takes me to a roadblock so I take a week or two off to regroup and go again. It took me a total of 8.5 months to write to books just the first draft though.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
skyscraper by Zane was a big influence for my writing style.

What are you working on now?
doing my research for Bliss 3.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I usually use social networking, along with book promo sites, and my personal site for my books blissthebook.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up and just keep writing, hard work and dedication will pay off in the end!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Work smarter not harder!

What are you reading now?
The Forbidden island by Alex O’Brien

What’s next for you as a writer?
currently working on the research for book 3 but also working with movie individuals to get my book adapted for TV

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?
Thats a hard question there is so many books I like, But I would have to honestly think about this, I’m more of a visual person so the book would have to be able to play a movie in my head for me to keep reading it.

Author Websites and Profiles
B.A. Talarico Website
B.A. Talarico Amazon Profile

B.A. Talarico’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a professional blogger, freelance writer, content marketing manager and author. I have penned 14 books to date. They are primarily self improvement, nonfiction works. My business is Nicholl McGuire Media, an independent virtual assistance and publishing firm

I began writing for clients in 1997. I started publishing online and offered clerical services in 2007. I currently own and manage many blogs and social media pages covering topics such as: parenting, business, relationships, and spirituality. She has self-published over 10 self-help, non-fiction e-books, many printed books, and is currently working on a few do-it-yourself publishing projects.

I work part-time as a virtual assistant and am partnered with staffing agencies providing administrative temporary assistance to Fortune 500 companies . Before writing online, I was an apartment leasing consultant and later became a property manager. I also spent time acting and received two lead roles in dinner theater productions. When I’m not writing, I provide inspirational speeches and spiritual teachings online. (http://www.youtube.com/nmenterprise7)

I have almost 10 years writing online, over 20 years work experience, and a background in journalism and communications I am a wife and mother of four who has experienced my share of challenges on and offline, and knows all-too-well what it takes to perservere through life storms in pursuit of personal joy and freedom.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Too Much Too Soon Internet Dating Blues I was inspired to write this book after noticing a pattern of relationships coming to an end between couples who met online.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like having my room divider up behind my back while I write. I just like the closed feeling sometimes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

What are you working on now?
A book for Christians who have to face opposition as a result of their faith.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stay the course. Whenever that moment strikes you to write, do it, don’t put it off. You lose good thoughts that way. Also, don’t allow people, places or things to distract you. Take a break, a pause, and then get back to writing. Be prepared to cut anyone or anything off temporarily or a lifetime that hinders you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stop caring about what people think and don’t put off publishing your book.

What are you reading now?
My own book, “What Else Can I do on the Internet?”

What’s next for you as a writer?
Speaking engagements offline.

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?
My own to remind myself just how far I have come in life and why it is necessary to stay alive.

Author Websites and Profiles
Nicholl McGuire Website
Nicholl McGuire Amazon Profile
Nicholl McGuire Author Profile on Smashwords

Nicholl McGuire’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I’ve been writing for a good chunk of my life so far; about 15 years, to be specific. I started by writing fanfiction in different fandoms (So Weird, Harry Potter, and Wizards of Waverly Place, to name a few), and somewhere along the way, I discovered my talent for writing horror.

I finished my first book, Nightmares & Horrors, under a pseudonym (after an artist in one of my favorite movies), but after much deliberation, I decided to produce another version of the same book under my own name.

The result was Nightmares & Horrors Volume 1: Demons, a re-branded book with new stories and a fancy new cover illustration.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In my time online, I encountered a lot of people who said that they want a book where unrelated stories are tied together with a common thread, and I was finally able to achieve that back in February 2015 when I finished Nightmares & Horrors.

The stories are inspired by different things. Some came out of nowhere, but some were a bit more personal. Fun fact: almost all of the characters are named after people I know.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not more than any other writer, I’d say.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dean Koontz and Stephen King are two big ones, but writers for shows like The Twilight Zone and American Horror Story also inspire me.

What are you working on now?
Nightmares & Horrors Volume 2: Sins & Tragedies. It’s a 9-story set about the Seven Deadly Sins, as only Nightmares & Horrors can do them.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote heavily through Maniacal Writings, my Facebook page, but I also use Twitter, Tumblr, and even LinkedIn. Of course, word of mouth is invaluable and has accounted for all of my sales so far (both of them).

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t let the perceived competition and inevitable rejection get you down. If you keep writing, you’ll keep your passion for your craft burning bright and the rest will fall into place.

Oh, and lightning doesn’t always strike the first time. Keep putting out material; that way, if one book gets popular, the rest will sell themselves.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Accomplishment doesn’t have an expiration date.

What are you reading now?
God of the Dead by Elias Anderson.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Promoting my book, of course, and working on the next project!

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?
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
The Necronomicon

Author Websites and Profiles
Christopher Lovato Website
Christopher Lovato Amazon Profile

Christopher Lovato’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Toronto, Canada, over a half century ago–darn–and moved to Japan when I was twenty-six. I’ve been here ever since, trying to make a living teaching English. Writing happened to me very late in life, in my late forties. It’s something I feel that I have to do…pretty OCD, but there it is.

As for how many books I’ve written, so far, the count is over fifteen novels, primarily Young Adult (YA) and I plan on having more out this year–at least five more–and probably more in the future.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s entitled Just Another Quiet Little Town, and while nothing inspired it per se, I’ve always wondered “what if”…and I see where that leads me. It’s a fantasy, about ambient magic changing people for better and for worse. It’s not the powers they get–it’s what they do with them, for good or ill. The concept of doing good or bad has always fascinated me, and I tried to explore it in this novel.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, I just park my butt in the chair and start typing away. I do go out for a cigarette every now and then–yes, I know it’s bad for me–but while smoking, I can think about what to do next.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Any S/F or Fantasy stirs my imagination. Growing up, I grooved on Bradbury, Niven and Pournelle, and as a teenager, Robert McCammon. I also loved the classic adventure novels, such as The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, and all of those elements twirled in my brain and made the slightly eccentric writer I am today!

What are you working on now?
A novel entitled The Titans of Ardana, a YA story about a young teen who wants nothing more than to get an autograph from his favorite female television star…and finds out she isn’t who she’s supposed to be. That’s all I can tell you…you’ll have to read it when it comes out!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This one, of course! However, I also used Twitter, Facebook, and contact any blogger and reviewer who will give my novels a fair shake. I don’t expect five stars right out of the gate…I can only hope they’ll be honest.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, read, use your imagination, and then write some more. Aristotle once said you learn to play the flute by playing the flute. Writing is no different. Analyze why some writers are successful. Granted, there are some awful books out there that’ve made it to bestseller status, but they’re sort of rare. The most popular writers around have something going for them, not just luck. Study pace and narrative tricks, character development, tone, mood, language…all of those, and come up with something wonderful and original.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t stop. I can’t make it any plainer than that.

What are you reading now?
Rereading some of Ray Bradbury’s short stories in The Illustrated Man. Those never get old for me.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books, improving my craft, and hopefully, having Hollywood notice 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?
Anything by McCammon, Dickens, Bradbury and Poe. Pretty different mix, but those are my choices.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jesse Frankel Website
Jesse Frankel Amazon Profile

Jesse Frankel’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A lifelong resident of Virginia, I grew up in the rural southeastern part of the state with a large extended family. I majored in Religious Studies and minored in Creative Writing-fiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. I now live in a rural area near Richmond where five year old beagle, Leah, has room to run. I spend my free time with my favorite activity, gardening, participate in Midlothian Wordsmith’s Workshop, and read and write as often as possible. At university, I was fortunate to have many incredible writing teachers, the most recent being authors Clint McGown, and Sheri Reynolds, bestselling author of “Rapture of Canaan”, among others. I learned from Clint McGown that prose can be as beautiful as poetry and I gained a love of southern fiction from Sheri Reynolds.
In 2012 I began writing stories about a boy growing up in the south in the 1960’s. Those stories became a collection of three books: “The Adventures of Roland McCray”. All three volumes are also in print and audiobook. Some of my books are available in or can be requested at many Public libraries and paperback versions can be ordered from several major offline book retailers.
I also have a new book, my fourth, that is a radical change from the “Roland McCray” series- “Falling Water: Stories & Poetry” a well-received collection of unusual short stories & poetry that is also available in print and audiobook (narrated by Charles Kahlenberg). Among other projects, I’m currently working on a science fiction novel that I hope to complete in early 2017.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Falling Water: Stories & Poetry
I’ve written in journals and notebooks for many years, and, looking at the state of the world, I felt I might have something of use to others who may be dealing with loss, grief, or searching for some greater meaning in life. Having experienced love lost, grief, suffering, and ultimately joy, happiness and personal growth, I’ve come to believe that there is an inherent goodness and happiness to life that everyone should be able to experience.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I find that I write best in the evening, regardless of the events of the day. Writing and reading are on my list of daily activities and I consider both activities to be important in maintaining emotional balance.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list them all, but the Bible (NIRV) was the first book I read, followed by Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” and his other works, with “Fahrenheit 451” being pivotal to my understanding of the world. Isaac Asimov is one of my favorite authors and Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” affected me greatly. Richard Bach’s “Illusions” is a book I’ve read several times and shared with others. I read so much that this is nowhere near a complete list, but I read a great deal of science fiction on a regular basis. I see science fiction as both a warning and promise in regard to the ever-accelerating technology in modern society.

What are you working on now?
My first novel- an alternate-earth/science fiction story set in the not too distant future. I hope to complete the first draft by mid-2016 and, if all goes as planned, I’ll have it completed and ready to published in early 2017.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I get some response from Facebook, although the few paid ads I’ve run didn’t seem to affect my sales. I’m active on Twitter, if for no other reason than to keep my books in public view. Paid ads in various book sites’ newsletters are helpful as well.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read, read, read, then write, revise, write, revise, then read some more- the best way I’ve found to improve my writing is by reading the work of other authors.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stephen King’s dictum: “Read! If you don’t have time to read, then you don’t have time to write.”

What are you reading now?
A science fiction series that takes place in a near-future American society.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing and publishing novels, probably more short stories and possibly nature essays for magazine publication.

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 copy of the Bible-NIRV edition (it’s complex enough to learn something new with each reading), Richard Bach’s “Illusions” (a short, inspirational read), the longest anthology of short science fiction I can find, and, of course, a good survival guide!

Author Websites and Profiles
Blaine Coleman Website
Blaine Coleman Amazon Profile
Blaine Coleman Author Profile on Smashwords

Blaine Coleman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Fresh out of high school I took a slew of civil service tests and got a full time entry level job as a secretary with the Department of Mental Health for the State of Michigan. The job was at the Pontiac State Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan. The original name of the institution was the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane upon its opening in 1873. By the time I left the hospital in 1989, the name had been changed to Clinton Valley Center. Around this same time, all other state mental hospitals were undergoing sanitized renaming. I stayed with the hospital for twenty years in various clerical and supervisory positions.
I loved the creepy, moldy, sweaty, spooky ambiance of the whole place. A medieval, sprawling structure of bricks and turrets … cavernous echoing hallways, tunnels which connected buildings to buildings … and even tunnels beneath the tunnels. By the time I left in 1989 to move to Tennessee with my husband due to the furtherance of his career, there were rumors that Clinton Valley Center would be closed and eventually demolished. It finally did close in 1997 and was totally demolished in 2000. I was sad to see it go. There is a subdivision there now. I hope it’s haunted.
In 1989 I moved with my husband to Tennessee and got a job working as a social worker in a local nursing home. I managed to survive the job for five years before I ran screaming from the building with my hair on fire. I enjoyed working with the elderly patients. I couldn’t take the politics of private healthcare. I moved on to various other positions within the field of social work. I retired in 2006 after eight years with the University of Tennessee and under contract with the Tennessee State Department of Human Services. We moved to a retirement/resort community in Middle Tennessee. It is picturesque. I do not join social clubs. So, fairly soon I was reduced to stepping onto the deck every fifteen minutes to look out over the lake. Yup, it was still beautiful. I was bored as all get out.
I volunteered for a while but tired of working for no pay. My creative juices started to flow and I discovered acrylic painting. I got to be quite good at it. The only problem with painting is that fairly soon one starts to run out of family and friends to force one’s artistic talents upon. Canvases began to stack up in closets.
Then, my aunt introduced me to quilting. I got to be quite good at it. I ended up with the same problem I had encountered with the paintings. Soon, family and friends were covered up with quilts.
I requested a laptop as a Christmas present in 2011 and rediscovered my love of creative writing. This creative outlet has proven to be a keeper. Now, my creative masterpieces fit on a little bitty flash drive thingy.
I wrote short stories during high school and my love of writing took a backseat to salaried jobs for more than 42 years. I have a lot of writing to make up for and am finding words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters of stories to be falling out of my head at an alarming pace.
I won first place with “No Wake” in Mystery Times Ten 2013. I signed a contract with Buddhapuss Ink out of New Jersey. Two eBooks followed with “Daredevil” and “Shanghaied”. Each book is promoted as “A Leslie & Belinda Mystery”. A fun, cozy mystery series; Murder She Wrote meets geriatric versions of Laverne & Shirley. Nonsensical and fun mysteries. The primary character, Leslie, sees mysteries everywhere. If one doesn’t exist, she will make one up just so she can run her best friend, Belinda, ragged trying to solve it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The third Leslie & Belinda Mystery will be published by the summer of 2016. The title of book three is “Rambler”. Rambler was inspired by my own personal history. In 1970. I fell in love with a used 1960-something Ford Falcon. I was not yet eighteen and needed my father’s permission to buy the car. I was working my senior year of high school and had the money for the car and the insurance. My father refused to allow me to buy the car. He refused to accept that his third-born (and puniest) daughter was even capable of having a driver’s license much less owning her own car. Evidently it was okay to work a job but not drive a car.
I lost my father when I was twenty. When I see him in heaven, I’m going to cover him with hugs and kisses. Then, I’m going to punch him in the nose over that Ford Falcon.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write continuously in my head. When I sit down to type out the words of a story or a book, I am often surprised that the words aren’t already on the page. I can’t keep up with myself.
I will often get up in the night because I need to put words to paper. I can’t sleep until I wring out whatever words and/or chapters that are keeping me from sleep.
Funny story: One night I was up quite late and I started getting very cold in my little study so I went shivering to bed. The next morning I learned that my husband had gotten up and turned down the heat to force me to come to bed. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky husband.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite book of all time was The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. Check out my blog at lindabrowning.net. Absolutely adored that book. I also read every girl detective book I could get my hands on as a child; Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden were favorites.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on another series. I wish to promote the series as “A Cold Case Girl Mystery”. I won second place in Buddhapuss Ink’s Mystery Times 2015. My short story, “Parlor Game”, is getting good reviews. The book series continues the characters I created in Parlor Game…minus that particular ghost.
The short story was inspired by my adolescent pajama party years and our love for messing around with the Ouija Board. Everybody loves a good ghostly tale.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
To be perfectly honest, I am lousy at promoting myself. I’m pathetic. It’s sort of like…”Hi, Want to buy my book? No? Oh, okay, sorry I bothered you.”
I also struggle with social media and the devices which follow everyone around I bought he dumbest Smartphone I could find, and I still can’t figure out the danged thing. I’m working on it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you want to read and enter contests. Experiment with writing in first person, third person, etc. and stick with whatever feels the most natural. I am at my writing best when I write in first person.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be careful with over describing a character, a room, or a scene. If paragraphs about the color of the sunset or whatever isn’t important to the story, then they are just words. I like to describe just enough for the reader to fill in the picture in their own mind and let them run with it. If I go on and on about the pink roses in the wallpaper, it’s because there is a body behind the wallpaper.

What are you reading now?
The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully the series based on “Parlor Game”. It’s more who-done-it mystery writing than the Leslie & Belinda series. I like writing both series though because I get to employ different sets of writing skills.

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 Webster’s Dictionary and a Thesaurus. A box of pencils would be nice; otherwise, I’ll write on rocks and stuff with whatever I can find.

Author Websites and Profiles
Linda Browning Website

Linda Browning’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Thank you for the opportunity. I’m in my mid-40’s. After a career in IT I was downsized last Fall and decided to spend my time writing books. It took me almost six months writing and editing around the clock, but I penned three books about the Zombie Apocalypse and published them as e-books and print-on-demand books. I’m writing my forth book in the series for release in April, 2016.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book series was inspired by my 104-year-old grandmother. She passed away in 2014 and for some reason I felt the need to write a short story about her. I couldn’t just write something sweet and innocent, so I put her in a world where she is surprised by her live-in nurse who had been infected by a zombie virus. The story is how she escapes her bloodthirsty nurse. After I wrote it, I was so interested in the character I decided to keep on going. A book emerged. Then three books. I’m working on book 4 as we speak.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
It’s hard for me to know what is a “usual” habit for a writer because I don’t know any other writers well enough to ask them. I run marathons on the side, so I’m used to getting into a groove and just getting lost in the moment. Maybe it’s unusual that I’ll sit down to write and I’ll crank out words for hours and hours, rather than portioning it out evenly over many days.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The most influential book for me as a writer was by George R. Stewart called Earth Abides. It was one of the earlier (1949) examples of post-apocalyptic fiction, which is the genre I read and enjoy writing about. In that story a terrible plague sweeps across the earth, and the hero must pick up the pieces of the dying world to start over. He was the inspiration for later greats such as Stephen King’s The Stand, so you know it’s quality!

What are you working on now?
I wrote my first book, Since the Sirens, not really knowing where the story was going to take me. My hero is a 15-year-old teen named Liam. He has to rescue his 104-year-old great-grandmother from the zombies in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Since I have written additional books you can probably figure out if he escaped. However, once I was done with book 3 I really thought that was going to be it and I would move on with my life to something else. However, the books did so well, and I had so much left unexplored in the world, I was happy to start book 4. I’m about 34,000 words into that story, and I already have 50 pre-orders for it! It comes out April 28, 2016.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
That’s a great question. The honest answer is “I don’t know.” The reason I have to say that is because Amazon—where I sell my books right now—has no metrics for authors to see where their buyers come from. There are many fine websites which promote books for authors like me, and I’m willing to spend money to get in front of an audience of readers, but the only way I could find the “best” method or site would be if I did one website a day and watched my sales. This is a missed opportunity for Amazon in my opinion because when I sell books, they sell books. I will say, as a tip of the hat to Awesomegang.com, I’ve not seen a site with as slick an interview system as this. I would love to do more interviews, but where do you go? I love that you make it easy.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Wow, so much advice out there. I’ve spent the last six months swimming in it. Perhaps the best and most comprehensive advice I could give is to treat your writing as a hobby but treat your publishing as a business. If you just want to write a story for yourself, you really don’t have to worry about editing, covers, and story quality. However, if you publish it, and want people to buy it, you have to treat it as you would any business. Pay a little money to have it edited (you can do this for under $200). Pay a little money to get a great cover (you can do this for as little as $5, but I spend about $150 on mine). The key to the whole thing is having your building in order so that when you turn on the lights in your store, the customer/reader will admire your products and tell their friends (reviews). If you’ve shortchanged yourself on any of the above keystones of your store, you will find it very hard to succeed. As a reader do you go back to an author that has a million spelling mistakes? Do you look twice at an author who has covers that look poor? The answer for me as a reader is no. As an author that goes doubly so.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’ll stick to advice in the writer world. Fellow zombie authors Mark Tufo and Armand Rosamilia have a podcast where they said something that I found very profound. I can’t remember which of them said it, so I’ll credit them both. Basically, they said writing is like a mistress. She comes calling at all hours, and at any hour. They said it was VERY IMPORTANT to let my wife know that my distracted looks and thousand yard stares were the result of being inside my story, and not because I didn’t want to be with her in the moment. At the time it seemed silly, but as I became more engrossed in the craft of writing I realized I wanted to write ALL the time. That’s when I took the advice to heart, learned to scale down my brain in the evenings during family time and on the weekends just to give my brain a day or two off. Strangely enough, after working for years in the IT field and dealing with technical issues all day long, I found that writing uses even more brain power over a consistently longer period of time. If I had the stamina I could write for 20 hours a day just because the story inside my head just keeps going.

What are you reading now?
It’s been said a good author needs to be a voracious reader if they have any hope of being good at their craft. I read a lot prior to starting to write my own books, and I’ve had very little time since then to get into the books I want to read. I’m currently reading IMPACT: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, by Matthew Eliot, and an old World War II paperback called Hell Has No Heroes, by Wayne Robinson. I wish days were 40 hours long. I could fill every one up.

What’s next for you as a writer?
We’ll just see how this book series goes. My first book went live in mid-December, 2015 and I hardly made anything in the first few weeks after release. However, after my second book went live (mid-Jan) I noticed the revenue stream started going upward, and once my third book went live (mid-Feb) I realized I could potentially make a living at being a writer. If that were to happen, I’d probably explore other genres which interest me such as Science Fiction and Fantasy. I grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, so that would be an exciting direction for me. Or, I may just keep writing post-apocalyptic and dystopian. My books tend to have a positive spin on the future (I know this is hard to believe in a zombie book) so I could carry that with me wherever I go.

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 am not an overly religious person, but my first choice of a book would probably be the Bible. Primarily because it is loaded with stories. I’m talking the huge tome with onion skin pages and seemingly endless chapters and verses. If nothing else it would keep me busy, and if it accidentally saved my soul, so much the better. From there I’d probably bore you with books which covered medicine, hygiene, boat construction for castaways, or how to identify plants to eat. I kind of have that survivalist mentality, so I’d stay with books that would help me, rather than entertain me. If I was forced to pick absolutely one book for entertainment purposes only I’d pick Earth Abides. The story has a Robinson Crusoe feel anyway because the hero emerges from the plague and lives alone for a long time before he begins to rejoin civilization. If I was on a deserted island, I would find great comfort in that story as well as entertainment.

Author Websites and Profiles
EE Isherwood Website
EE Isherwood Amazon Profile

EE Isherwood’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a queer author writing in the LGBT sandbox. A lot of my work is m/m, but I’m branching into f/f, transgender and asexual stories. My latest work is a science fiction epic novel I’m very excited to have out in the world.

I’ve also written historical paranormal, contemporary romance, erotic horror, and under another penname, YA fantasy and science fiction.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Perihelion is the first in the Queenships series and the seed of the idea started with my desire to write about sentient space ships. I’ve always been entertained by the idea of ships that can think for themselves and, in this case, talk back.

As space operas usually are, Perihelion is a politically tangled plot involved with epic battles and rogue AI. I spent several weeks before writing the book watching all nine seasons of The West Wing– a political TV show on in the early 2000’s. (It holds up very well).

Perihelion is also the first book where I made a deliberate choice to diversify my cast. Both MC’s are black, there’s a collection of Native Americans, many characters have names I pulled from nationalities I’m unfamiliar with, so a lot of research has gone into this book to get them right.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I spend the majority of my day on the corner of my couch wrapped up in blankets convincing myself it’s a good idea to do some writing. Drafting, of all the processes one needs to go through to produce a book, is the one I dislike the most. I outline heavily, try to draft something as fast as I can, then spend time lingering in the edits, which I love most.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Before I started writing, most of my influences were popular writers I could find in the local bookstore. And generally outside of my chosen niche, which has only recently been producing more mainstream attention.

Now that I have a social circle of other authors, it’s largely comprised of other LGBT folks you’d never find in a bookstore! Jordan L Hawk, L.A. Witt, E.E. Ottoman to name a few. You can find them all on twitter.

What are you working on now?
My current project is a short contemporary m/m romance I intend to submit to a publisher. It’s called Dawn Patrol and features a surfer that falls hard for an artist. It’s only a few thousand words long, so by the time this goes live I’ll probably have moved on to a new project! Come find me on twitter to see what I’m doing now.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There’s nothing better than having my own website where I can control the look and feel of the books as my fans come to see them. All the stories are organized how I’d like them and I can provide links to free stories/novels that other websites might not be able to include.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Finish often! New/aspiring authors often get caught up in starting stories or struggling through the middle of them after the rush of inspiration is gone, but practicing how to finish is just as important! If you don’t finish your work you can never publish it and it takes just as much practice to perfect how to finish as it does how to start. Don’t neglect finishing!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Finish your work! (See above) I believe… Neil Gaiman was the one I heard it from, but I honestly couldn’t say for sure. Even if he’s not the source, you should google the commencement address he gave (it’s on youtube). It’s quite inspirational, I love it.

What are you reading now?
Currently I’m reading a science fiction novel by Autumn Kaloquist called Better World, but I just started it today so I can’t tell you how amazing it is yet!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m moving this year into more contemporary m/m and f/f, maybe some shifter stories. I’d like to get a series going that the popular readers can sink their teeth into. Blood In The Water (historical Paranormal) and Perihelion (scifi) are both labors of love, but they’re not hitting the popular ranks and I could use the boost in visibility that contemporary brings.

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?
This is almost a silly question now that the kindle has been invented! I’ll take my phone and have a thousand books! But if I needed to break it down I’d bring Stephen King’s On Writing, which is always great for a reminder on how to get back to basics, and then I’d take 3 blank notebooks so I had something to write in when I finished reading my how-to book!

Author Websites and Profiles
Tami Veldura Website
Tami Veldura Amazon Profile
Tami Veldura Author Profile on Smashwords

Tami Veldura’s Social Media Links
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have always loved the mystique of the written word. My very earliest memories of books are now merely elusive images lost in the hazy mists of childhood. However, I can clearly mark that space in time when the world of literature opened up to me in a very real and concrete way. I was eight years old, third grade, when my teacher opened a book in class one day entitled THE GHOST OF BLACKWOOD HALL by Carolyn Keene. Yes, it was one of the Nancy Drew amateur sleuth series. As she read, I was suddenly whisked away into a land of adventure and intrigue–a magical, mystical journey into another place and time. That was my first love affair with the written word, and that love continues even now.

For me, creating my own tapestries with words was a natural spin-off from reading the works of others. Writing became a means of expressing all of the thoughts and feelings and dreams and emotions that I harbored within myself–a place where all things were possible and my imagination could run free and wild. I wrote primarily for myself, a source of self-satisfaction, from journals to essays to short stories to finally my first novel, RAIN OF TERROR.

As RAIN OF TERROR, Book 1 in the Blacklick Valley Mystery Series, exemplifies, I have a proclivity toward the mystery genre. The twists and turns in plot, the questions, the clues, the suspense, the final revelations, the challenge of bringing it all together captivate even me because often I’m not certain where my characters will take me. My second book, A REASON TO KILL, and my third in the series entitled ANGUISH are also chilling mystery thrillers combined with a little romantic suspense. Coming in March of 2016 is DEADLY SECRETS, where the characters from the first three books combine into an explosion of mystery, romance, and intrigue that you won’t want to miss!

I have written a total of four (4) books in The Blacklick Valley Mystery Series:
RAIN OF TERROR
A REASON TO KILL
ANGUISH
DEADLY SECRETS (Release date March 2016)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest book, DEADLY SECRETS, will be released in March 2016

Inspiration? I love the challenge of creating a mystery/thriller–the twists and turns in plot, the questions, the clues, the suspense, the final revelations, the challenge of bringing it all together captivate even me because often I’m not certain where my characters will take me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When the inspiration strikes me, I start writing from scratch–no outline, no plan, no plot. The words just start flowing; and as I said, even I don’t usually know where my characters will take me. Also I write non-stop–morning, noon, and night until it’s done. Then I go back and polish.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Brad Thor, Lee Childs, Nelson DeMille, Dean Koontz, James Patterson

What are you working on now?
I’m getting DEADLY SECRETS, Book 4 in The Blacklick Valley Mystery Series, ready for publication in March 2016.

I’m also working on the AUDIO release of A REASON TO KILL, also scheduled for release in March 2016.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter and Facebook

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t quit! Follow your dream with determination and hard work and hope.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never be a quitter!

What are you reading now?
Editing my own book, DEADLY SECRETS.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I think I’d like to do a compilation of short stories and essays for a change.

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?
GONE WITH THE WIND
WAR AND PEACE
The Bible
Brad Thor’s newest book

Author Websites and Profiles
Donna Cummins Amazon Profile

Donna Cummins’s Social Media Links
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m on my 7th. The first five were a mess, though. It takes a while to get good. Meanwhile, you’ve got to pay the rent. Appease your landlord. Pour drinks, sort the mail, move furniture. Whatever it takes, really…

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Blackspoon. I saw an article on the BBC about soldiers smuggling heroin back from the war in Afghanistan, and thought it was a really interesting jumping off point for a thriller and character piece. Especially as there was no follow up to that report. Like, what happened then..?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No. I basically avoid it at all costs like most writers.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lately, Steve Toltz, Owen Jones and Patrick De Witt have really blown my hair back. Just amazing work. You really dream of being half as good.

What are you working on now?
The Sweet Oil of Vitriol: A Tom Glaze Hit.

It’s a thriller about an ex-Mossad operative who goes undercover at a top London hotel (posing as a room-service waiter) in order to perpetrate the perfect hit.

First in a series, hopefully. A sort of combination between Tom Ripley and Jason Bourne.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Right now I’m just trying to collect a bunch of reviews, trying to make an impression. Work out who’s who…

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You’re a soldier.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Einstein said, ‘Keep it simple, but no simpler that it need to be.’

What are you reading now?
The Establishment And How They Get Away With It, by Owen Jones.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to watch every episode of the Sopranos. Take notes this time.

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 Fraction Of The Whole, by Steve Toltz
The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick De Witt
Ransom, by Jay McInerney
The Contortionist’s Handbook, by Craig Clevenger

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a full time writer. I have written four books plus screenplays, stage plays and programmes for TV and radio.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called, ‘Flocking Bustards!’ I was once a local newspaper editor and never failed to be amazed by the very real and surreal stories of peoples’ lives in a small town. This book is a section of small stories that blend into one big one featuring some characters many would find unbelievable.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to fully immerse myself in whatever I am writing. For a recent screenplay about Shakespeare’s brother I listened to Elizabethan music and spoke to my wife only in Middle-English until she threatened to stop feeding me. I don’t know how unusual this is, I’ve never asked anyone else.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love well-written comedy and am a huge science fiction fan. I am an incurable Trekkie.

What are you working on now?
An adaptation of my stage play, ‘Trevor’s House’ which is being made into a television series here in the UK next year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth and a flyer distribution helps initially, then a couple of well-crafted press releases are helpful too.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you know and love, it will shine through in the finished product. And never let go of the dream. NEVER!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From my father, ‘Never ask a man where he is going when he’s carrying a spade.’

What are you reading now?
Essays if Elia by Charles Lamb – it’s a window on to a lost world.

What’s next for you as a writer?
A childrens book. Can’t say too much yet but I am really enjoying it all.

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 Forge of God by Greg Bear; Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharp The Stand, Stephen King and In Search of Shakespeare by Michael Wood

Bob Rogers’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the award winning author of the Fern Valley Series which includes Fern Valley, Return To Fern Valley, and Cooking In Fern Valley, as well as the new Quack and Daisy Picture Book Series, a public speaker, amateur photographer, a blogger, and SCBWI member. In addition, I host writing workshops for children in first to sixth grade, offer library and school visits, and speak at events. I resides in lovely Shelby, Ohio with my beautiful daughter, wonderful husband, and our crazy cats Max, Daisy, and Fluffy. My motto is “Kids Who Read Can Do Anything!”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Quack and Daisy – Beyond The Meadow is my latest book and the second in my Quack and Daisy picture book series. It is the story of two unlikely friends and their adventure as they find out that a mother’s advice is meant to keep her children safe. The cat character was inspired by my family’s own cat Daisy.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I generally try to write early in the morning before everyone else is awake. It is much easier to write while it is quiet versus the continual Mom, Mom, Mom moments.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Probably too many to mention, but some of my favorite books as a child were Goodnight Moon, The Little Red Hen, Corduroy, Little House on the Prairie, Heidi, etc…

What are you working on now?
Currently I am in the production process for the third book in my Quack and Daisy series called, Quack and Daisy – Room For One More about the ability to love and make room in one’s heart for many individuals. I am also working on a children’s mystery, and several new picture book ideas.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have several. I have my own website Fun With Aileen as well as a separate blog called Aileen’s Thoughts. My favorite social media sites are Face Book and Twitter.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I actually have ten tid-bits of advice for new authors and they can all be found at http://aileenwstewart.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-10-things-new-authors-should-be.html

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t Give Up!

What are you reading now?
I am always reading from a stack of picture books I obtain from the library as I review on my blog every Monday.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just the usual. School Visits, Book Festivals, and more 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?
I would definitely bring my Bible for inspiration, hope, and direction, but for entertainment I would probably bring Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. And since I’m stranded, a bird identification book would be great as well.

Author Websites and Profiles
Aileen Stewart Website
Aileen Stewart Amazon Profile

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