Please check out the authors below and share them if you like on social media and help them out.
Good karma goes a long way. If you belong to an Author group help spread the word about our free author interview series. We have started a new Facebook author group that focuses on author interviews and podcast interviews. Come Join us!

Adam Grzesiczak 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve published one book “The Bar Where Nothing Works”, a science fiction novel. I work in IT, and I live in London. I’m also trained electrician, and I have a degree in tourism which looks random but all the dots in my life helped me to write my first novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first novel “The Bar Where Nothing Works”, the first book in the sci-fi series. The book was inspired by all the characters, dialogues and ideas I had in my mind for a long time.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I started writing my first book on my phone while waiting for the train to get to office. I did it for a few years and this is the best place and method for writing new stories. You never know when best idea hit you.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mainly science fiction but also biographies and reportage books. The book that inspired me most is The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy.

What are you working on now?
Mostly the second part to “The Bar Where Nothing Works”, but I’m writing other ideas and expanding them too.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still testing different marketing techniques.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write, write what’s in your mind. It doesn’t matter what it is, how bad it is or how random it is. Just write. Don’t ask how to write at this stage. Just write. Edit later.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
See above.

What are you reading now?
I Robot and Isaac Asimov biography.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing more and creating worlds.

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 hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy and a few Stanislaw Lems novels.

Author Websites and Profiles
Adam Grzesiczak Website
Adam Grzesiczak Amazon Profile

Adam Grzesiczak’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Heidi Skarie 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing novels after a series of six dreams that were like watching a sci-fi, space opera movie. The dream story took place during a time of an interplanetary war. I was so inspired by the dream-story that I decided to learn the art and craft of writing novels.

After I wrote my first sci-fi novel based on my dream, I went on to write a whole series of sci-fi novels called the Star Rider Series. Finding a publisher proved to be difficult, so I wrote a historical novel Red Willow’s Quest about a Shoshoni maiden studying to become a medicine woman. That was published in 2000 by a small publisher. After that I self-published the first three novels in the Star Rider series, and another historical fiction novel about the epic adventures of a woman kidnapped off the coast of England by the Vikings.
I’ve also been in four anthologies both fiction and nonfiction.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Star Rider and Bonds of Love just came out in April 2021. It’s the third book in the Star Rider series and is about two of the main characters from the first two novels. The events in this story flow naturally out of the second novel in the series. Toemeka wants to live peacefully with her husband Michio, but her dreams are shattered when old enemies, from her days as an undercover operative, reenter her life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m always looking for stories in the world around me. I keep a journal of stories I’ve heard and experiences I’ve had that can enrich my own writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a child my parents read me At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. The stories were very inspiring and in At the Back of the North Wind the little boy Diamond travels with the north wind.
As an adult I loved Mary Steward’s King Arthur series, Jennifer Roberson’s Sword-Danger fantasy series, Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax’s sci-fi series, and Ken Follet historical novels.

What are you working on now?
The fourth and fifth books in Star Rider series, Wind from the Mountain and Fly like an Eagle. These two books are about the main character’s children and their adventures as the interplanetary war continues.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve enjoyed doing book launches, speaking on radio and podcasts, doing fairs with other authors, book store events, keeping a blog and newsletter, and Amazon ads. I’ve found it take a variety of activities to promote a book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write because you love to write. It’s a hard field to be successful at, but if you love it, much of your reward will be the enjoyment that comes from the process of creating a story and sharing with others.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Join a critique group. It will help you make your writing a priority since you’ll be sharing your work with others. You may also want to join groups that focus on marketing.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Marian Fiorato’s Beatrice and Benedick. The story is based on the tale of the lovers, Beatrice and Benedick, before Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing begins. It’s beautifully written and a complicated plot, full of witty dialogue and deadly events.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to connect with more readers by promoting Star Rider and Bonds of Love and publish the next book in the Star Rider series early next year.

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?
Stranger by the River by Paul Twitchell
Wisdom of the Heart by Harold Klemp
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
And paper and pens to keep writing my own books

Author Websites and Profiles
Heidi Skarie Website
Heidi Skarie Amazon Profile

Heidi Skarie’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Toni Kanzler 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Life Giving Dementia Care is my first published book. Life brings lots of challenges that might steal your joy. Being a caregiver is among the most difficult. The key to overcoming these challenges is having an optimistic perspective and positive attitude. My writing encourages you to look beyond the obvious, to see truth that lives in the ordinary…and extraordinary.

I wear several hats: wife, mother, friend, CPA, entrepreneur, private school administrator, non-profit volunteer and board member. But it was as a daughter that I had the privilege of being my mother’s caregiver during her years-long battle with dementia. I’m passionate about helping others have greater confidence and experience joy in their caregiving journey.

I live in Indianapolis, Indiana with my husband, Dan. We are blessed that all three of our grown sons live in town. When I’m not writing, I like to read, learn, watch movies (especially historical series) and listen to Disney or acapella music. But I have lots of interests and experiences. I’ve traveled to Europe and China, learned to make stained glass art, love Broadway and flower gardening, have sung in an ensemble with a top symphony orchestra and am a CPA. I’ve got that right brain/left brain thing going and it makes life so much more interesting!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Life Giving Dementia Care is my latest, and first, book. I was inspired to write it after caring for my mother for several years during her dementia battle. I made some good decisions during that time, and some not so good. A few years after her death, I decided to document my caregiving experience for my sons, so they would be better prepared if they have to care for me someday. It can be easier than I experienced.

Over time, though, I realized that many of my friends and co-workers were dealing with being caregiver to a loved one. I was often able to help them by sharing my experience. I decided to publish a book about caregiving to help more people in addition to my boys.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Most of the guidance I’ve read about writing encourages you to write in the morning, every day. But for me, I still have a full-time career outside of writing. Mornings are just not good – I’m not getting up at 5 am to write. I stay up too late for that. I don’t know how unusual it is, but I start writing after dinner, usually for 1-2 hours. I accomplish a lot and don’t have to get up before dawn.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am drawn to authentic, conversational writing. Text that exposes the humor in life and isn’t especially “uppity” sounding. Stories that engage me. Mark Twain, Shel Silverstein, JR Tolkien, JK Rowling, Erma Bombeck. And I love books that challenge my thinking – Ton Clancy, John Grisham. The most influential book – the Bible.

What are you working on now?
Companion pieces to my book. I promised readers of Life Giving Dementia Care that I would follow up with a workbook containing various checklists caregivers can refer to and use throughout that journey. What to ask doctors, care facilities, your patient. I’m also developing a 20 day devotional for readers – one chapter per week to support the book chapter they are reading. Somewhere in there I’ll record the audiobook myself and have the file professionally produced.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m new to the promotion game. But I believe going wide, expanding beyond Amazon, is the best option. I am working with Draft2Digital and IngramSpark, in addition to Amazon. I have my first post-launch promo week coming up soon and have several days of paid and free promotion scheduled. We’ll see how that works. I also believe YouTube is the promotional wave of the future and will be diving into that mode.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Absolutely! First, be faithful to write daily, whether that is 500 words or 1500. You will finish if you keep at it. I started writing my book in late May and finished in early September, writing 1-2 hours per weeknight. Second, promoting your book never ends and is much more challenging that writing the book. Don’t give up. There are lots of free resources online and on YouTube to guide you, plus a number of great paid couching sources.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As it relates to writing and publishing…You eat an elephant one bite at a time.

What are you reading now?
Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace. It tells the story, day by day, of the atomic bomb during WWII. Fascinating account of history.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to write additional books – I’m considering children’s books, Christian devotionals, education administration topics. My interests are quite varied, as is my experience (nearly 40 years in accounting and consulting, 20 also in K-12 school administration, 30 years working with Fine Arts non-profits). I could write on many topics, so I’m honing that list. I also plan to further expand the reach of my dementia caregiver book through blogs, podcasts, speaking, etc. And then to develop my business as a writer to include content creation, particularly in education, parenting, caregiving.

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 bible for comfort and hope; an Erma Bombeck book to laugh; a survival guide like SAS Survival Handbook; a good world history book.

Author Websites and Profiles
Toni Kanzler Website
Toni Kanzler Amazon Profile

Toni Kanzler’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

William Mangieri 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write speculative fiction (in my case , that means science fiction, fantasy, and light horror.) I’ve only written one novel (Swordsmaster), but I’ve also written over ninety pieces of short fiction, including two series (Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire, and Detective Jimmy Delaney.)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The most recent story I’ve put out there is Copy Cat – the eleventh of my Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire Series. It would probably be more interesting to know why I started the series to begin with.
I really hadn’t intended to write a series. The story that became the first Herc Tom Story wasn’t even supposed to be about cats – I just had this line pop up of a space fighter pilot saying “I hate uncontrolled reentry”, and I had to find out who this was and what kind of a fix he’d gotten himself into. He became Herc Tom, and more feline as I wrote until Purr Mission was complete.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a discovery writer, or what’s known impolitely as a pantser. we don’t generally plan what we’re writing – words just spill out of our minds (or wherever they’re coming from) until there’s a complete story there (or at least a rough version of one.) I don’t think I do anything unusual – although some people might find it strange that where my stories go can surprise me as much as it does my readers.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Edgar Alan Poe, Orson Scott Card, Tolkien. I should also credit Rod Serling and the original Twilight Zone (I often see my stories as though they’re on a TV screen.)

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the 7th of my Detective Jimmy Delaney stories – another series that I never intended to write. Of all the characters I’ve written, Jimmy seems the closest to being… me.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Book promotion is one of my weak points as an indie writer. All I know to do is write my stories and but them out to online retailers, and then use my WordPress blog to help drive traffic to them.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read and write what you love. But mostly, stop wanting to be a writer and JUST WRITE.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t let your internal editor (I call him my Infernal Editor) touch your story until you’ve finished the rough draft.

What are you reading now?
Michael J. Sullivan’s A Theft of Swords (the audiobook – it’s hard for me to make myself read if I have time to sit and could be writing instead. I can listen to books in all those times that I can’t write.)

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working through my 7th, 8th, and 9th Detective Jimmy Delaney stories, then I’m committed to write another five pieces of short fiction before I return to the sequel to my Swordsmaster 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?
I’ll cheat and call a book series one book:
Harry Potter
The Lord of the Rings
The Wheel of Time
Patrick Rothfus’ King Killer Chronicles (I’d have chosen A Song of Ice and Fire, but I’m more certain that Rothfus will finish his third book than that George R.R. Martin will ever finish his last two.)

Author Websites and Profiles
William Mangieri Website
William Mangieri Amazon Profile
William Mangieri Author Profile on Smashwords

William Mangieri’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Peter Hughes 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m Peter from the U.K
Apart from my day job, which sometimes includes nights, I am an indie author.
Having an interest in Hindi and Urdu, I helped a friend write their book to help beginners learn the Hindi Alphabet. That was last year during the outbreak of Covid-19.
When I get time, I try and update my Hindi learning channel on Youtube under Peter Flashman’s name.
Other than that, the last book I released was The Ultimate Horror Thesaurus back in 2018. I class myself as a 100% Indie author as I’m learning to do everything for myself, and I’m still getting to grips with publishing and formatting, so after a few revisions and amendments to that book, I’m now concentrating on completing several stories I’ve had on the back burner for a few years.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Ultimate Horror Thesaurus came about from an epic brainstorming session. Having gathered research on various horror-themed topics and then listed hundreds of prompts, I thought maybe my ideas could help others who needed a push to get over a bout of mental block.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a few, which may be weird to some writers—having worked in several jobs where investigation and information gathering is key to role, I have brought some of those habits to my writing.
On my desk, I have a series of prompt cards; they act like a checksheet for each scene. For example, one covers the setting, including atmosphere, daytime, night time, etc. Another identifies the characters and their objectives. Even the senses get their cards to include emotional state and even smells.
Other habits include rules which I try and stick to with mixed success-but I am getting better. The number one rule is don’t edit as you write.
Next would be don’t research when writing. To stop this habit, I’ve stopped writing on my laptop. Now, every detail of the initial drafts goes inside a notebook until completed. I did use a writing pad, but the sheets came loose and got out of order or lost, so I tend to buy several notebooks at once.
Another quirk is dating my writing. Seeing how much or little I’ve written day-by-day by pages gives me a boost to get the draft completed.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ive always like anti-heroes a few of my favourites include.
George MacDonald Fraiser for bringing to life Victorian Britain’s worst cad, Flashman.
Don Pendleton’s pulp, Executioner series from 1960s to present day. In the original stories he is a vigilante waging war on the mafia and is often said to be the model for Marvel’s Punisher stories.
I also enjoy reading Warhammer stories and look forward to new works from William King, C L Werner, Nathan Long. When I was younger I also enjoyed the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman. I need to see what they have done recently.
In the world of horror there are some great British authors, Will Hill of the Department 19 series and Iain Rob Wright.

What are you working on now?
I have a series of horror books in the works which I hope to start releasing by the end of 2021.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method is whatever gets you to sit down and concentrate on writing. I think ensuring you have a dedicated couple of hours a day is key.
For promoting books I recommend Awesome Gang, they have a huge following and a genuine interest in Indie authors.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never step away from your writing and do a little each day. Make sure you keep going at it until you get it all down, because if you don’t it will always be at the back of your mind. Plus once you have done your dedicated writing for the day you can relax and concentrate on other things-at least until tomorrow.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just keep on going. Its very hard to take on board especially when you feel low or tired but pushing to do a little a day is a good habit and will help you reach your destination.

What are you reading now?
When I was younger, I would only ever read one book at a time. If I wanted to read a second book, I had to finish the current book I was reading. Nowadays, I find myself flitting between several books on my Kindle. At the moment, I’m reading a very mixed bag, including the Necroscope vampire series by Brian Lumley. The heroic tales of Doc Savage and Devolution by Max Brooks.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To finish my current list of stories. Have a break for a couple of weeks then get them all edited and released on Amazon.

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 Warriors by Sol Yurick. A favourite since my teens and nothing like the film produced by Walter Hill. Think Lord of the Flies mixed with A Clockwork Orange.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It’s been years since I last read it but it really captivated me at the time.
Third I guess out of necessity would have to be, How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls.

Author Websites and Profiles
Peter Hughes Amazon Profile

Peter Hughes’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Jacki Ring 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written one book under my pen name Jacki Ring. I have written four books under my legal name Ilene Withers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I grew up on a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. When I was a teen an escaped convict was known to be camping out in an abandoned house a few miles from us. Most of the neighbors would leave a vehicle gassed up, unlocked, and with the keys in it in the hopes that he would steal it and go. My father locked everything up and carried a loaded rifle instead. The county sheriff refused to drive out and arrest the convict so we passed several days in this way. Finally, the convict moved on to a neighboring county and that sheriff did arrest him. It made me think just how remote ranchers are when violence strikes. They are remote, but not vulnerable.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write a novel and then put it away for a while before I revisit it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I cannot say I have been influenced by any particular fiction author. Instead, I read a lot and that has taught me so much. The book I have been most influenced by is “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. It is not about creative writing, but it has certainly influenced my easy writing style.

What are you working on now?
I am working on another romantic suspense set in western Nebraska. This features a sculptor, a DEA agent, and a retired drug dog.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think most authors try to use social media as I do. I like Twitter best.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t over plan. Set a word count goal for each day and just write. Once you get the story written, then you can rewrite and fine tune it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you know.

What are you reading now?
“Purr M for Murder” by T.C. Lotempio

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to finish my work in progress and then write one more book set in Nebraska. I want everyone to realize what small town and rural life is like.

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 take any random new release romantic suspense or mystery novels. It is always fun to discover new authors.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jacki Ring Website
Jacki Ring Amazon Profile

Jacki Ring’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Randy Zinn 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written a dozen books in different genres, including fantasy, memoirs, and other non-fiction.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Adventures in Opposite Land is my latest memoir. I wanted to share some short stories of crazy – and sometimes humorous – events from my life, and which I think everyone can relate to. The theme is expectations meeting reality so that everything seems backwards.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I used to write with a dictation program after a tendonitis injury stopped me from typing. After the initial learning curve, I became a better writer, but I don’t use it anymore.

What authors, or books have influenced you?

What are you working on now?
My next book is a memoir about my childhood, wherein I dealt with discovering my difficulties in school stemmed from being Learning Disabled. I also developed speech problems that would greatly impact me. It’s a story I have long wanted to tell. The book is called Refusal to Engage.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon ads work best along with Facebook, for steady sales.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My possibly unique advice is to try writing with a dictation program, long enough to get comfortable. It frees you from typos and spelling so you can focus on the words. This improved my writing long after I stopped using such programs.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You’ve never really failed until you quit.

What are you reading now?
Usually marketing books! Right now it is Write to Market.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am trying to establish myself as a memoirist and am working hard on this via marketing and writing more books.

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 Troll Circle, The Princess Bride, and the Complete Edgar All Poe

Author Websites and Profiles
Randy Zinn Website
Randy Zinn Amazon Profile

Randy Zinn’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

K Kangzhi 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a mathematician of languages. I have been writing a book since last six years, experimenting. The off shoots of the experiment are these books I am going to release in a series. It is out already.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Time in ink is the name of my latest book. It came out when I could no longer proceed with what I was doing. I had come to a still and that is when I wrote the time in ink.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Murakami’s writing.
Hemingway’s language.
Borges’ brain.
The stranger.
Kahlil Gibran.
Rumi.
Kafka.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the same book. All the books I write in my life are but one book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang as of now.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
No advice.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
No advice.

What are you reading now?
life

What’s next for you as a writer?
to build a cult around my voice.

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?
White books and my time in ink.

Author Websites and Profiles
K Kangzhi Website
K Kangzhi Amazon Profile

K Kangzhi’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Tannis Laidlaw 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Although I published many academic papers over the years, I mostly write fiction now – psychological crime books: thrillers, suspense or mysteries – utilising my background as a research and clinical psychologist (and, yes, I was headhunted to a medical school in a top UK university like Sophie in ‘Half Truths and Whole Lies’). I have published four stand-alone crime/domestic thriller novels, a mystery series of four books featuring Madeleine Brooks Amateur Detective, plus two collections of short stories. Two new books will be published this year, ‘Marcia’s Dead’, a stand-along mystery and ‘Death at the Olde Woodley Grange’, the fifth in the Madeleine Brooks Mystery series.

Most of the time I live with my husband in New Zealand alternating between Auckland and an adobe house high above an isolated beach in Northland. Whenever we can, we also spend time each year off the grid on a remote lake in the Canadian wilderness in NW Ontario. All are wonderful places for writing.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘Marcia’s Dead’, due to be published shortly, is written about a place where we spend a lot of our time on an isolated bay on the east coast of Northland, some 3½ hours north of Auckland, and in Auckland itself. It is the only book I have written based in New Zealand, but I enjoyed it so much, I plan on another. Or maybe a series…

What inspired it? I was sitting on our beach in the sunshine, a beach in front of a tiny hamlet of only six houses and surrounded by a forest (we do share the beach with the occasional visitor, of course), leaning against a little rowboat. My over-active imagination had the boat out on the water, drifting, and a red blob – a life-jacket with the body of a woman tied to it – slowly making its way into shore. And that is my opening scene for ‘Marcia’s Dead’. The book is about her ex-husband and their daughter searching to understand how Marcia ended up drowned. It was great fun to write and I hope readers will fall in love with ‘the bay’, like I did for the real bay.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have heard other authors say they want their writing spaces in isolation away from distractions. I do like the quiet but I have positioned my desks (I’m talking about 3 of them – one in Auckland, one on ‘the bay’ and one in a cottage in Ontario, Canada) where by raising my eyes, I can see far distances. In Auckland, I can lift my eyes away from my screen to be greeted by a peaceful view of the leafy glen out from my back garden with only the occasional hint of other houses nearby, at the bay, an amazing view of the rocky Northland coastline, cut by beaches, stretching towards the sunny north, and in Ontario, out over the lake to a distant shore without another soul in sight. Isolation, you bet! But visual stimulation in plenty!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I loved Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham and the other classical ‘queens of crime’, all female crime writers, as a child and teenager (and still enjoy ’em!), then Ruth Rendall, Patricia Cornwell, Minette Walters, Tess Garritsen, Val McDiarmid, Sue Grafton – I could go on, but I’m sure my list is little different from many crime writers today. All female – did you notice? Actually I did that on purpose, but I do love the books of male writers, too such as Peter May, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, David Baldacci and John Grisham among others.

What are you working on now?
‘Marcia’s Dead’ is out to some beta readers now and will need tweeking, most likely. The fifth book in my murder mystery series, ‘Death at the Olde Woodley Grange’ is nearly there. All the books in the Madeleine Brooks Mystery series (bar the prequel novella) are somewhere around 60,000-70,000 words and I have just hit the 60 mark with several scenes still to be written. Editing and re-writing usually adds to the word count as my first drafts are often sparse in the type of detail that brings a location, a person or dialogue to life. And that makes the re-writing great fun.

Like all the Maddie books, this one takes place in rural Oxfordshire (a bloody county, given how many books and television murder mysteries are located there – one of the Midsomer Murder episodes was being filmed in a nearby village when we lived there). The eponymous Grange is based on a real house owned by someone I knew, located in a valley like the one described in the book. I’m particularly enjoying writing about an ‘old’ hippy or two. Great fun, actually.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I guess I have to say the best used is Book Funnel where authors team up with other authors to host a promotion of a specific type of book – in my case, I have been promoting the first of the Madeleine Brooks Mysteries there, plus I have been successfully building my email list by giving away my series prequel novella in their newsletter promotions.

I have my book ‘Half Truths and Whole Lies’ in an upcoming Awesome Gang promotion which is exciting. Fingers crossed!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think being an introvert is a natural advantage, but if you are on the other side of things, you will have to create a spot for writing that isolates you from others. Maybe a stand-alone (yes, that means away from the internet) location without your phone (important!) and with strict instructions for family and friends not to contact you between – well, you know when your best writing time is each day.

Then head down, plan then write. I used not to plan (a ‘pantser’ but planning does help immensely and does not – repeat: does NOT – hinder the flow of imagination, even if eventually, you have many diversions away from the original plan). A plan means you don’t get stuck. Simple.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Character first. Have your character’s beginning, middle and ending in mind before you get into the plot. Readers love characters. Plotting is something different, important, yes, but only after you have figured out where your main character (or secondary main one) will be going from beginning to end.

What are you reading now?
A Tess Garritsen book. She gets the medical stuff correct (she should, she’s a doctor) which I like. Also Lisa Cron’s book on writing plus a Peter May book. I usually have several on the go, often all on my Kindle. Actually, the Peter May book is an audiobook for listening when in the car.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m playing with a series of novellas, based on a small town marriage counselor. Another idea I’ve had is a series about a mature post-grad student who is a whizz at research (solving academic mysteries) and thus solving murder mysteries. She has an odd background…she says she lived in a nunnery for more than a decade, which contributes hugely to her knowledge of people and their behaviours. As you can see, I start with a character and see where it takes me. I am trying to be more disciplined at planning now, but we will see.

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 biggest anthologies of crime novels I can find. Just so I can wallow in crime stories and the more the better! Oh, and how about the biggest non-fiction description of true crime as well – that will help the construction of my own stories in my imagination.

Author Websites and Profiles
Tannis Laidlaw Website
Tannis Laidlaw Amazon Profile
Tannis Laidlaw Author Profile on Smashwords

Tannis Laidlaw’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Niki Kamerzell 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written one book, Last Time She Died, completely. It was published in February. I have another book I’m currently working hard on and several others in the works.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called Last Time She Died.
The idea for how I came up with it is a weird and hopefully funny story. I was out kayaking with a friend and we were both pretty new to it. It was my first time and all the equipment I was using was brand new. I managed to flip the kayak in very shallow water and I could brush the bottom with my fingers but not flip over. The release strap was too tight and I couldn’t release myself so I was stuck, upsidedown, strapped into this kayak.
I did, obviously, manage to get free but I had this lingering thought after that perhaps I’d died and was too stupid to have realized it. I chatted with a coworker about it who had a similar ‘almost died’ experience and we joked that perhaps we were all dead.
And thus, the idea for the book was born.
It did, however, go through a lot of changes and the end product still has that premise. She’s dead and just doesn’t know for several years.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure. I know that when I get really into what I’m doing, I tend to stop eating or drinking. I’m not sure that’s unusual, but it’s probably very unhealthy.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many. But I think my biggest for this book was probably a weird combination of RL Steine and Stephen King. When I was younger, Goosebumps were my absolute favorite. I bought each one the day it was released and read it in a couple hours. I loved the spooky stories and as I got older, I loved things that were in that same vein. I found Stephen King and I just love his books.
My book isn’t horror, but I wanted the scary parts to give the same feels as Stephen King and I read a lot of his books while I was writing.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a book about a young girl who accidentally kills her mother because she has the power to control fire and finds out at the worst possible time – during a fight with his mother.
I’m about halfway through and I’m really enjoying writing it. I’m hoping I can wrangle my characters and tell them to do. Time will tell, but I’m excited to see where this story takes me.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t really found one yet that I can say alone did amazing. I find that it’s a combination of many things to get your face and your book out there to as many people in the places they look.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you love it, keep doing it. Your first book might not be amazing. It might not sell huge amounts, and that’s ok. If you reach one new person, that’s wonderful. People write for so many reasons and none of them are wrong. If you love what you’re doing, keep doing it. You’ll find your audience.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Kill your darlings. It sounds so easy, but it’s very hard to kill plot lines or characters or whatever that you love, even when you know they aren’t doing anything for your story. If something in your writing isn’t serving a purpose, cut it out.

What are you reading now?
I’m finishing up a book by Austrian Spencer called The Sadeiest. It’s a dark book about death and I’m really enjoying it. I should have it finished tonight!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not sure. The world, maybe. But, more likely, I’ll just be out here doing my thing. I’m just amazingly proud that I’ve made it this far and for all the love Last Time She Died has gotten me. Every new review makes me smile and I can’t wait to keep going.

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?
Funny question. Someone asked me this the other day and I joked that I would take books on how to survive on desert islands. I know that’s not the point of the question, but…I want to live and then write a story about my amazing tale once I get home. I have skills for living outdoors, but that’s in the mountains. I don’t know how to make drinkable water from the sea. So, while it’s a joke, I stand firm. Survival books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Niki Kamerzell Website
Niki Kamerzell Amazon Profile

Niki Kamerzell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Ricardo Fainsilber 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I just published my first book. The closest I had come to writing a book before was in academia as I wrote my thesis and then my doctoral dissertation. I think I have a curious mind, which has led me to study many fields and develop a multi-disciplinary perspective on things. I have studied several fields both academically and more informally, but always reaching advanced degrees. I have also lived in different countries, learned from different cultures and through all that, developed a particular take on things. I have been very fortunate and I feel I have come to a point where I would like to share more of my perspective on the things I am interested about.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called Grow into investing wisdom: A psychosocial guide to building wealth through personal development.
I was inspired to write on the topic because I think that in order to become a successful investor, a person needs to acquire technical knowledge. But that is easy. There are countless schools, courses via many channels, books and other resources that can teach someone about investing. However, there is an important aspect that has not been attended to enough. The psychological and emotional development that needs to happen to be able to support the intellectual development is the core of what allows someone to become a sound investor.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know what I would call unusual. I think each writer has personal preferences about when and where to write. In my case, I need to be alone, in a quiet space and without being interrupted.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I spent so many years in academia reading mostly theories, research and academic papers, I think that is my main influence. Freud, Erikson, Jung, Winnicott, Klein, Kahneman, Gladwell, are some of the main book authors that have made a mark. However, these days I read mostly financial research every day.

What are you working on now?
I am currently pondering a couple of ideas, I’m not writing yet. But all the ideas I have at the moment are inspired by my background in business and psychology. My writing serves me as a vehicle to integrate both areas and hopefully it also helps others develop a distinct perspective.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t really have any previous experience promoting books since this is my first one. So far, I think what has worked best has been talking to family, friends and professional networks and at the same time asking them to promote the book as well with their own networks.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’m a new author myself! I had only published academic papers before this book, but I always think that if someone has a clear idea for a book, it should be written. Simply because when something is important for someone it surely holds value for someone else. The idea might have been said before, but the context changes and that is enough to make the idea worth being written.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I think the best advice you can get is relative to the context. What was the best advice I’ve ever heard when I was a teenager is irrelevant today. Just like the best advice I heard recently would have been absurd when I was a kid. However, the best advice I heard recently was to benchmark myself with the best in class.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading The God equation by Michio Kaku.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I would like to come to a decision about the ideas I’m considering and get back 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?
If I was stranded on desert island, I don’t think I’d be doing much reading! and if was going to read something, I would want it to be practical knowledge on surviving on a desert island. Having said that, if I was going to isolate myself in beautiful beach resort and I could bring 3 or 4 books with me, I would probably do a lot of research before going to find the most interesting books could find. I don’t really like re-reading books unless I’m consulting something in particular to use as a reference.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ricardo Fainsilber Amazon Profile

Daniel Trump 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a mentally ill writer who has somehow managed to write ten or so books. I haven’t counted for a while, but that seems about right. Listen – if I can write ten books then anyone can do it. I graduated from the University of Iowa and tried doing temp work while writing novels on the weekends and at night but life intervened: I broke down with a terrible mental illness. The doctors think that it is paranoid schizophrenia. I had to spend fifteen years dealing with that in order to get ready to become serious about writing. During the last five years I have became more prolific.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Omniscience Cult was inspired by all the wonderful people I’ve met who are not like me: who are the charming and well-spoken and intelligent and successful people. I decided that some of my fellow geeks can be evil and that some of the “hated” popular kids can be wonderful and amazing and charming and perfect. I decided to write a book about that very concept. I also really like the idea of an ironic title – they aren’t omniscient or anything, just very scared and ignorant kids screwing up. That intrigued me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Doesn’t everyone? I can write any time, day or night. I write most days now.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I loved The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Grendel by John Gardner, and World War Z by Max Brooks. I also recommend Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Shining by Stephen King. Those are the classics, I think.

What are you working on now?
I am just starting a sci-fi novel which won’t have a marine lead or laser swords or big action set pieces but will instead have wonderful characters and interesting problems and developments. There will be romance, drama, and some interesting people in difficult – devastating – situations.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I like cheap ads. They get the word out. I’m bad with people so I don’t do a good job of advertising my book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, write a lot, read a lot, and re-read your work over and over. Memorize what you wrote. Show it to people and see what they think of it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Use more direct action and better dialogue.

What are you reading now?
Moby Dick by Herman Melville and Konrad Curze The Night Haunter by Guy Haley.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to write the great American novel. Here’s hoping.

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 Lord of the Rings. I haven’t read them since grade school and would love to lose myself in them.

Author Websites and Profiles
Daniel Trump Website
Daniel Trump Amazon Profile

Andrea Gault 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was an avid (and hopefuly writer back in the early 2000s) but could never find an agent. I recently met an author friend and they have encouraged me to strike out independently and now I’m publishing my first book in one month- and I have two more completed books I will publish ‘soon’ and I’m writing a sequel to the one that is publishing in May.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Faire’s Fair. I was inspired by a particularly handsome kilted musician at a Renaissance Faire- and I imagined an entire story from this inspiration.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I get up at 5am and hit the gym in the morning- this allows me an hour or more to write / do writing business before work. I also use the app Marco Polo to get feedback from a set of friends.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh gosh… for writing guidance I really like Save the Cat Writes a Novel, along with Romancing the Beat, and Take Your Pants off. For reading pleasure- I’ve found Jen Deluca- because her books are set around a Ren Faire and that was too fun to NOT read. Jasmine Guillory, Emily Henry… and Diana Gabaldon. Also for paranormal, Jeanienne Frost is my FAVE.

What are you working on now?
A sequel, a YA book, and breathing life into several already completed books. (not all at the same time!)

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t think there can be just one- you have to really work and put yourself and your book out in as many ways as possible.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Perfection is the enemy of done.
Worry is suffering twice.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Kate Clayborn Love Lettering.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing and lots of marketing to get my first book reviews and sales!

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?
Outlander
Halfway to the Grave
Adrian’s Undead Diary
Bushcraft 101 (hey, I need to know how to SURVIVE on the deset island so I can read those other books)

Author Websites and Profiles
Andrea Gault Website
Andrea Gault Amazon Profile

Andrea Gault’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile