1. How long did it take you to publish, ‘Heart of the Wolf?’
About three years. It took a year before it was picked up, and another two years with edits and the publisher's schedule. Now, with each of the books, since book 3, I've been selling on a 2-paragraph pitch, which means I write the book, and about a year later, it's published.
2. If you could choose one thing about the whole work involved from writing your first book, to its publication, what would you say was the hardest thing to achieve?
If we're talking about my very first book that I wrote, it's learning how to write a story well. I can make up stories all the time, and always have, but when it's on "paper," there was a learning curve on how to present the story in the best way possible.
3. Of all the books you have written, which book did you enjoy writing the most?
I love all of them. If I hate a book, it's not going to do well. I wrote one like that. I just couldn't get into it. I think it was because I was trying to write a "straight" contemporary young adult book, instead of adding my usual paranormal influence, or like in my Highland stories, where I have the Highland aspect. And I always have some suspense, mystery, and humor. Without those, I was having a real time writing it. Have I published it? No, and it will never be published.
4. How long did it take you to get your first successful book published?
Ten years. This was way before we could self-publish. With self-publication, my teen fae series took off and are still doing well. I'm working on Phantom Fae, book 6, next.
5. If you could give one piece of advice to a new writer, what would it be?
Never give up. That doesn't just apply to writing. Because what if writing seems to be your thing, but it really isn't. Writing is work. It's fun for me, because I love telling stories. Always have. But, it's also a lot of work. It's not just the writing of the story, but the countless edits, and then it's the acceptance of the story—or not. But if this is what you love to do and just can't not do it—double negative there, I know—but it's applicable, then never give up. Don't write for the trends, but write what you love. If you write that new western romance because you're a cowgirl at heart, live on a ranch, read western romances, watch western shows, eat and breathe that sort of thing, don't write vampires just because that's the big thing now. Which, it's not, but just saying. Write what you love. Readers can see it in a writer's story. If you're a vampire, you might want to write about something else. Not that you wouldn't have the knowledge for the subject, but your fellow vampires might not like you sharing all their secrets.
6. Many writers are warned about the dreaded ‘rejection letter,’ but speaking from your own experience, what is your take on the rejection letter?
I have to smile about this. My mother told all her friends that she had never seen anyone happy about a rejection letter like me. But I told her, "Yeah, but they want to see more of my work. It's a good rejection."
A rejection letter means we've reached a point in our writing where we're no longer revising and rewriting, but ready for the next step. Just like the characters in our book must move forward to reach their goals in the books, we must move forward to reach our goals. And being published is one of them. Right? We can't expect that editors or agents will see the gem in every book we create. Everyone has their own biases also. They might hate vampires or werewolves or comedy, oh my. So we have to find a good fit too. One time, I found on agentquery.com, an agent who was looking to represent paranormal teen books. When I sent her mine, she was like, "I hate vampires." Teen? Check. Paranormal? Check. So in a case like that, it's an automatic rejection. And the blockbuster Twilight came out about two years after that, but that agent would never have been the one to make the money off it, because she hated vampires.
How I looked at it was that if this book wasn't what they were looking for, the next one would be. I never gave up. I had maybe fifteen novels or novellas written, wrote several short stories for magazines, and finally published with a big publisher. I had also published with a couple of small publishers before this. So I never gave up.
7. What would you say is the first steps of publishing?
Write the best story you can. Find your voice. You don't want to copy others. You want to be you. You're an original. Your story, your way. And how do you do this? Just write the story. You'll see some things begin to emerge. Are your stories always dark? Humorous? A mix? Do you like suspense and mystery and incorporate that in your stories? Do you love historical? And your voice fits the more humorous Regency, or do you thrive on paranormal? That's your voice.
A long time ago, I read an agent's blog where she talked about two of her successful authors who co-wrote books. They had a 3-book contract and in the first book, it was really humorous. In the second book, no humor. The editor sent it back to them and had them add the humor in. That was their voice.
Write what you love. I can't emphasize this enough. When I wrote Heart of the Wolf, I asked myself if I could write more of the wolf shifter series. I was certain I could. And it was a good thing too. Because I'm now contracted to write 4 more books in the popular series bringing the total to 19, it's a good thing too!
8. If a new and upcoming writer was trying to publish their own novel, how would you recommend they go about it?
With a publishing house, we have lots of editing done on our books. I know with my earlier works, they needed lots of work. I've learned tons over the years. And this is even after I read every book on writing that I could get my hands on. If you want to self-publish, make sure that your story is top-notch. That it's been edited for all the dumb stuff that is impossible for us to see even after revising it ourselves umpteen times. Have someone look at the content for plot holes, loose ends, that the emotions, character development is sound.
Learn the craft of writing. Telling a story and writing it in a way that shows real skill can be two different animals. Sometimes we're too close to the story to see the pitfalls. I've read a lot of self-published novels that looked like first books where the author hasn't learned to really write well. And yet, I've seen some of this in published works with traditional publishers also.
But we don't really care about what others are doing. WE want the best book out there. Because that great book will lead to more sales for a series. So before you write a book and toss it on the Internet, take the time to have others look at. Some pitfalls are telling instead of showing. Writing tons of stuff that just clutter up the story but don't move it forward. Starting the story in chapter three when it needs to be in chapter one and the first two chapters need to be moved or tossed. Writing too much narration or backstory. These are all things I did when I was brand new at writing. It's just stuff you learn as you write more, if someone makes you aware of it. You don't want reviewers to tell you of all your mistakes. You want to catch them before you put your work out there.
9. We all love writing our own characters, giving them personalities, histories and lives, but if you had to choose two characters from your own books, which two would you say are your favourites?
It's always the ones I'm currently working on. I just finished writing A Silver Wolf Christmas, but then got A SEAL Wolf Hunting edits to do, and then final proofing of Jaguar Pride, and then I finished edits on Call of the Cougar—within three weeks' time. So which were my favourite characters? All of them, but the one that was the favourite at the time was the one I was involved with because I have to be focused on them, their lives, their trials, their happiness.
10. The publishing industry is beginning to get increasingly difficult, with less and less books being published each year, and this year is no exception. Book deals and publications are at an all-time low.
Many writers are turning to Amazon, Smashwords, Nook, etc. and self-publishing their books.
But this choice isn’t for everyone.
What would you say to young, unpublished writers out there who are debating about which route to take?
Write the best book you can. It all comes down to that. And some of being successful is based on luck. You can have the best book written by mankind, and never find any fame. And yet some other book that isn't half as well written can be turned into a series and movies and become a huge fad. It's happened so many times, and it will happen again. We don't have any control over that. We only can write the best book we can.
And had you been starting out all over again, would you still take the same route?
Yes, I would. Because I learned so much on how to write the book as editors helped me to see my mistakes. It helped me to build a fan base. I had to learn how to market my books. The only difference would be that if a book was rejected, I wouldn't have had it languishing for years on my computer, but would have revised and self-published much earlier on.
I'm what they call a hybrid author, both traditionally published and self-published, both successfully. Now, I say successfully, but that's not to say ALL of my self-published books do really well. Some genres do better than others. My Highland medieval series, and cougar shifter series, the teen fae series, and my teen vampire book, need to write more, and one of my romantic suspense’s (psychic, Bound by Danger) have done really well. Some others, languish. But probably because I haven't written more in a series for them. I've had a lot of requests, just no spare time.
I think sometimes with an instant-gratification society, we want to do something now, want instant sales, want instant recognition. I saw this with a new author who didn't want to wait to get critiques on her work. She wanted it out now. She wanted money now. She hadn't had it edited, not enough feedback from other writers, none from readers. Her sales and reviews suffered from it.
What I always do is set the book aside and begin work on another. Then when I haven't read it in a while, I go back to it and with a fresher view, reread the earlier book and oftentimes find more that needs to be revised. I would rather wait a little on a release, than release something that isn't ready. Sure, we can revise later and upload it again, but readers often don't see the updates. And the reviews are already up so authors can't do anything about them.
We want to do well, so take the time to learn the craft of writing well, have outside feedback from readers/writers/editors who can help you to see your difficulties, and then take it from there. Whatever works best for you is the best way to approach the publishing business. No one way is the best way. Most of all, never give up and love what you do. It will see you through all the rough spots because even after you've written over 60 books like I have, you will still see where you can improve, and some will love what you write, and some won't. It's just the nature of the writing beast.
* Thanks so much to Jade for interviewing me and good luck to everyone on your writing journey. Writing for me is one of my greatest joys and when it is, it will show in my writing too.
About three years. It took a year before it was picked up, and another two years with edits and the publisher's schedule. Now, with each of the books, since book 3, I've been selling on a 2-paragraph pitch, which means I write the book, and about a year later, it's published.
2. If you could choose one thing about the whole work involved from writing your first book, to its publication, what would you say was the hardest thing to achieve?
If we're talking about my very first book that I wrote, it's learning how to write a story well. I can make up stories all the time, and always have, but when it's on "paper," there was a learning curve on how to present the story in the best way possible.
3. Of all the books you have written, which book did you enjoy writing the most?
I love all of them. If I hate a book, it's not going to do well. I wrote one like that. I just couldn't get into it. I think it was because I was trying to write a "straight" contemporary young adult book, instead of adding my usual paranormal influence, or like in my Highland stories, where I have the Highland aspect. And I always have some suspense, mystery, and humor. Without those, I was having a real time writing it. Have I published it? No, and it will never be published.
4. How long did it take you to get your first successful book published?
Ten years. This was way before we could self-publish. With self-publication, my teen fae series took off and are still doing well. I'm working on Phantom Fae, book 6, next.
5. If you could give one piece of advice to a new writer, what would it be?
Never give up. That doesn't just apply to writing. Because what if writing seems to be your thing, but it really isn't. Writing is work. It's fun for me, because I love telling stories. Always have. But, it's also a lot of work. It's not just the writing of the story, but the countless edits, and then it's the acceptance of the story—or not. But if this is what you love to do and just can't not do it—double negative there, I know—but it's applicable, then never give up. Don't write for the trends, but write what you love. If you write that new western romance because you're a cowgirl at heart, live on a ranch, read western romances, watch western shows, eat and breathe that sort of thing, don't write vampires just because that's the big thing now. Which, it's not, but just saying. Write what you love. Readers can see it in a writer's story. If you're a vampire, you might want to write about something else. Not that you wouldn't have the knowledge for the subject, but your fellow vampires might not like you sharing all their secrets.
6. Many writers are warned about the dreaded ‘rejection letter,’ but speaking from your own experience, what is your take on the rejection letter?
I have to smile about this. My mother told all her friends that she had never seen anyone happy about a rejection letter like me. But I told her, "Yeah, but they want to see more of my work. It's a good rejection."
A rejection letter means we've reached a point in our writing where we're no longer revising and rewriting, but ready for the next step. Just like the characters in our book must move forward to reach their goals in the books, we must move forward to reach our goals. And being published is one of them. Right? We can't expect that editors or agents will see the gem in every book we create. Everyone has their own biases also. They might hate vampires or werewolves or comedy, oh my. So we have to find a good fit too. One time, I found on agentquery.com, an agent who was looking to represent paranormal teen books. When I sent her mine, she was like, "I hate vampires." Teen? Check. Paranormal? Check. So in a case like that, it's an automatic rejection. And the blockbuster Twilight came out about two years after that, but that agent would never have been the one to make the money off it, because she hated vampires.
How I looked at it was that if this book wasn't what they were looking for, the next one would be. I never gave up. I had maybe fifteen novels or novellas written, wrote several short stories for magazines, and finally published with a big publisher. I had also published with a couple of small publishers before this. So I never gave up.
7. What would you say is the first steps of publishing?
Write the best story you can. Find your voice. You don't want to copy others. You want to be you. You're an original. Your story, your way. And how do you do this? Just write the story. You'll see some things begin to emerge. Are your stories always dark? Humorous? A mix? Do you like suspense and mystery and incorporate that in your stories? Do you love historical? And your voice fits the more humorous Regency, or do you thrive on paranormal? That's your voice.
A long time ago, I read an agent's blog where she talked about two of her successful authors who co-wrote books. They had a 3-book contract and in the first book, it was really humorous. In the second book, no humor. The editor sent it back to them and had them add the humor in. That was their voice.
Write what you love. I can't emphasize this enough. When I wrote Heart of the Wolf, I asked myself if I could write more of the wolf shifter series. I was certain I could. And it was a good thing too. Because I'm now contracted to write 4 more books in the popular series bringing the total to 19, it's a good thing too!
8. If a new and upcoming writer was trying to publish their own novel, how would you recommend they go about it?
With a publishing house, we have lots of editing done on our books. I know with my earlier works, they needed lots of work. I've learned tons over the years. And this is even after I read every book on writing that I could get my hands on. If you want to self-publish, make sure that your story is top-notch. That it's been edited for all the dumb stuff that is impossible for us to see even after revising it ourselves umpteen times. Have someone look at the content for plot holes, loose ends, that the emotions, character development is sound.
Learn the craft of writing. Telling a story and writing it in a way that shows real skill can be two different animals. Sometimes we're too close to the story to see the pitfalls. I've read a lot of self-published novels that looked like first books where the author hasn't learned to really write well. And yet, I've seen some of this in published works with traditional publishers also.
But we don't really care about what others are doing. WE want the best book out there. Because that great book will lead to more sales for a series. So before you write a book and toss it on the Internet, take the time to have others look at. Some pitfalls are telling instead of showing. Writing tons of stuff that just clutter up the story but don't move it forward. Starting the story in chapter three when it needs to be in chapter one and the first two chapters need to be moved or tossed. Writing too much narration or backstory. These are all things I did when I was brand new at writing. It's just stuff you learn as you write more, if someone makes you aware of it. You don't want reviewers to tell you of all your mistakes. You want to catch them before you put your work out there.
9. We all love writing our own characters, giving them personalities, histories and lives, but if you had to choose two characters from your own books, which two would you say are your favourites?
It's always the ones I'm currently working on. I just finished writing A Silver Wolf Christmas, but then got A SEAL Wolf Hunting edits to do, and then final proofing of Jaguar Pride, and then I finished edits on Call of the Cougar—within three weeks' time. So which were my favourite characters? All of them, but the one that was the favourite at the time was the one I was involved with because I have to be focused on them, their lives, their trials, their happiness.
10. The publishing industry is beginning to get increasingly difficult, with less and less books being published each year, and this year is no exception. Book deals and publications are at an all-time low.
Many writers are turning to Amazon, Smashwords, Nook, etc. and self-publishing their books.
But this choice isn’t for everyone.
What would you say to young, unpublished writers out there who are debating about which route to take?
Write the best book you can. It all comes down to that. And some of being successful is based on luck. You can have the best book written by mankind, and never find any fame. And yet some other book that isn't half as well written can be turned into a series and movies and become a huge fad. It's happened so many times, and it will happen again. We don't have any control over that. We only can write the best book we can.
And had you been starting out all over again, would you still take the same route?
Yes, I would. Because I learned so much on how to write the book as editors helped me to see my mistakes. It helped me to build a fan base. I had to learn how to market my books. The only difference would be that if a book was rejected, I wouldn't have had it languishing for years on my computer, but would have revised and self-published much earlier on.
I'm what they call a hybrid author, both traditionally published and self-published, both successfully. Now, I say successfully, but that's not to say ALL of my self-published books do really well. Some genres do better than others. My Highland medieval series, and cougar shifter series, the teen fae series, and my teen vampire book, need to write more, and one of my romantic suspense’s (psychic, Bound by Danger) have done really well. Some others, languish. But probably because I haven't written more in a series for them. I've had a lot of requests, just no spare time.
I think sometimes with an instant-gratification society, we want to do something now, want instant sales, want instant recognition. I saw this with a new author who didn't want to wait to get critiques on her work. She wanted it out now. She wanted money now. She hadn't had it edited, not enough feedback from other writers, none from readers. Her sales and reviews suffered from it.
What I always do is set the book aside and begin work on another. Then when I haven't read it in a while, I go back to it and with a fresher view, reread the earlier book and oftentimes find more that needs to be revised. I would rather wait a little on a release, than release something that isn't ready. Sure, we can revise later and upload it again, but readers often don't see the updates. And the reviews are already up so authors can't do anything about them.
We want to do well, so take the time to learn the craft of writing well, have outside feedback from readers/writers/editors who can help you to see your difficulties, and then take it from there. Whatever works best for you is the best way to approach the publishing business. No one way is the best way. Most of all, never give up and love what you do. It will see you through all the rough spots because even after you've written over 60 books like I have, you will still see where you can improve, and some will love what you write, and some won't. It's just the nature of the writing beast.
* Thanks so much to Jade for interviewing me and good luck to everyone on your writing journey. Writing for me is one of my greatest joys and when it is, it will show in my writing too.