The Power of the Blue Medallion – author interview – Les Berman

About The Power of the Blue Medallion

This Captivating novel follows the wild adventures of three charismatic
young aliens from the distant planet Hebutar, and their companion on
Earth. Zytor, the son of the ruler of Hebutar, is determined to stop a group
of terrorists from causing chaos in the United States. Against
his father’s wishes, Zytor travels to Earth and meets a young girl, Tandy,
whose father was killed by terrorists. Zytor’s sister Phelena, a Captain in
the Hebutarian Military and a fellow soldier, are dispatched by her father
to bring Zytor back to Hebutar before he mingles into the affairs of Planet
Earth. While tracking down the terrorist, Zytor gets his medallion stolen (a powerful weapon), forcing him to team up with his sister and devise plans to retrieve the medallion, and help authorities stop the evil terrorists from executing
a terrible attack in Washington D.C.

Interview

Q: Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

A: I only use a computer when writing. My handwriting is so bad I sometimes can’t decipher my own scribble.

Q: Do you work from an outline?

A: In writing this novel, I was able to just sit at the computer and the plot just materialized as I typed out the chapters. I definitely would not reject the idea of outlining future writings.

Q: Nicest rejection you’ve ever received?

A: I received an e-mail from an agent in New York who raved about my adding math problems for High School Students related to the story. Unfortunately he said he was unable to take me on as client at this time. He further encouraged me to send out hundreds of queries to agents and publishers.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A: I see myself on the golf course thinking up evil plots after shanking my drive into the woods.

Q: What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

A: I very much enjoy reading thrillers and mystery novels. Especially, those that have an intricate plot that keeps me in suspense.

Q: In writing your book/novel if you could do it again what would you do differently?

A: I would use a speech recognition software program rather than type into the computer. My spelling is so bad I would have finished the novel in half the time if I had this software.

About Les Berman

Raised in Southern California, Les Berman earned his bachelor degree in Sociology with a minor in Math from Long Beach State University, and a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University.  Currently retired from the ABC Unified School District, Les also volunteers his time coaching young track and field athletes for a private club in Long Beach California. Les has coached many International and Olympic Athletes over the past forty years, and has been selected as a United States International Coach four times throughout his career.

Les can be found at www.NovelWithMath.com

and www.ThePowerOfTheBluemedallion.com

Gracious Living on Social Security – Author Interview – Valerie Kent

With today’s economy some of us can barely live on our regular income let alone even thinking about a retirement income or social security. However, Author Valerie Kent found that she must have been doing something right when so many of her friends remarked at how well she lived on a minimum income. Thus, the idea for her retirement memoir/self-help book was born Gracious Living on Social Security (Tree Farm Books).

ABOUT THE BOOKGracious Living is an easy-to-read decade-long journey that offers tips and suggestions on how senior citizens can stretch their dollar and get the most for their money. Eleven chapters cover every important aspect of living together, from the wedding preparations to where to live. Key considerations follow each chapter for quick reference: considerations like where and when to buy clothing, choosing a place to live and juggling your finances. Artist Jeff Nitzberg adds his unique touch with original drawings introducing each chapter.

ABOUT THE AUTHORAt eighty-eight, Valerie Kent is the survivor of a long lifetime spent adjusting to dramatically evolving worlds. She moved from Britain to the United States in 1933. Valerie began at the age of forty-six the drawn-out process of education – seven universities – that would generate, initially, a career as a drug and alcohol counselor for troubled women, then a decade as a celebrated college teacher and – ultimately – a final, exultant marriage. This is her story.

INTERVIEW

Hi, Valerie Kent.

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

Glad to be aboard.

Q: Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book?

A: The writer and publisher, Burton Hersh, a good social friend, remarked at how well we lived on a fundamentally minimum income. Out of that came Gracious Living on Social Security.

Q: How did you come up with the title?

A: The title recommended itself. So many people commented on our elegant life style and demanded to know our thousands of secrets that I embarked on Gracious Living.

Q: How did you find an agent and publisher?

A: The whole idea was a recommendation of the writer and publisher, Burton Hersh, who nurtured this project and oversaw the publication within his own enterprise, Tree Farm Books. No agent was involved.

Q: Who reads your work in progress?

A: My husband Rick and Mr. Hersh kept me on track.

Q: Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

A: Imaginative editing and design by Burton Hersh and George Pequignot kept us on course. We were impressed by the brilliant, biting, and hilarious illustrations by Jeff Nitzberg.

Q: How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

A: Perhaps a year.

Q: How long did it take from start to publication?

A: Almost two years.

Q: Do you have any advice for new authors?

A: Writing is hard work and the publication process is sometimes maddening. Sell insurance.

Thank you, Valerie Kent, for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of your tour.

Thanks for giving me a chance to share a few ideas. For more detail about Gracious Living and me, look at the Tree Farm Books website, www.treefarmbooks.com.

Valerie Kent’s GRACIOUS LIVING ON SOCIAL SECURITY VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 officially began on July 6 and will end on July 31. You can visit Valerie’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of July to find out more about this great book and talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

First Night – A Jackie and Alex Adventure – Author Interview – Tom Weston

First Night Book Excerpt – A Jackie and Alex Adventure
“And to drink?” asked the waitress.

“I’ll have a beer, if I may?” replied Sarah.

“Can I see some ID please?” asked the waitress. “Sorry, but we have to check.”

“She’s just joking,” interrupted Alex. “She’ll have some water, like us.”

“Surely, you are not going to drink the water?” asked Sarah. This world differed so greatly from her world, but even these people must know the danger of drinking the water?

“Yes, why not?”

“Do you want to die of the colic or worms of the brain?”

“We have something called sanitation now,” sniped Alex. “If you’d had it in the seventeenth century, you might still be alive.”

“Or dead!” offered Jackie.

“Or dead, yes, absolutely,” amended Alex.

About The Book:
Alexandra O’Rourke, aged 16, is not a happy camper. It’s New Year’s Eve. She should be partying in San Diego with her friends, but instead she is stuck in Boston, with just her younger sister, Jackie, for company. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she is being haunted by Sarah, the ghost of a seventeenth century Puritan. Oh, and there is the small matter of the charge of witchcraft to be sorted out.

Armed only with big shiny buttons and a helping of Boston Cream Pie, the sisters set out to restore the Natural Order. Can Alex solve the mystery of the Devil’s Book? Can Jackie help Sarah beat the sorcery rap? And can they do it before the fireworks display at midnight? Because this is First Night – and this is an Alex and Jackie Adventure.

Interview:

It is a great pleasure to have our young adult author Tom Weston here at Paperback Writer.

Hi Tom Weston,

Welcome to Paperback Writer

Q: Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book?

A: I had just written a screenplay called Fission, based on the real-life story of the scientist Lise Meitner, and the race for the nuclear bomb. Now, that story began in 1906 and ended in 1968, and included two world wars and the collapse of an Empire. It was very much in the mold of the epic or mini-series genre: quite serious and dramatic and high-brow.

When that was completed, I thought that it would be fun to go in exactly the opposite direction, and see if I could come up with a story where all the action takes place in just one day, something light and whimsical. And I was in Downtown Boston on New Year’s Eve when I realized that Boston and the First Night Festival would make the perfect backdrop for the story.

First Night also began as a screenplay, but as it progressed, and the story began to take on a life of its own, I realized that it was becoming a bit darker and heavier than I originally planned. I needed to address that; so I put the screenplay on hold and turned to the novel.

Q: Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?

A: The simple answer is yes to both questions. I outline first, and then create a sketch that is about 20% of the finished work, so I can test it for continuity and pacing. But when it comes to fleshing it out, that’s when the characters take over and push the story in different directions than I expected.

So the mechanics of the plot: the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ – those things are sketched before I begin writing in earnest. But once I’m deep into the text, I’m often surprised by the ‘why’. If there is a message in the story – that is not planned but evolves.

Q: Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?

A: Yes, I usually have a mental picture in my head, not of the words, but as if I was watching a movie. In the case of First Night, before I began writing we created a little five minute animation of the ending. I didn’t even have names for the characters yet, but I knew how the story would end.

So I start with the ending and then work out a route that takes me there. As I said, occasionally the characters like to take a detour, and I have to round them up and get them back on track. Sometimes, it’s like herding cats.

Q: Do you have a process for developing your characters?

A: I don’t do character profiling. I prefer to define my characters through dialogue and by what they are thinking. So although the book is written in the third person, much of what the characters are thinking is in the first person; and they will share their thoughts with the reader, but not necessarily with each other.

The interesting thing for me about the characters in First Night is the way in which the roles of Protagonist and Antagonist are interchangeable, depending on the preferences of the reader. The first protagonist was Sarah, as I wanted to tell a ghost story from the ghost’s point of view. But as the story progressed, there was quite a tug-of-war between Sarah and Alex for top billing. I’m still not quite sure who won.

But this is just how this book turned out – I can’t say that I have a consistent methodology.

Q: It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?

A: They are all my alter-egos. The clinical term is Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), Fiction Writers are lucky that they have an outlet for this behavior.

My friends and family think that they see familiarities between the characters and other people – that is mostly imagined and coincidental. So they say, ‘ah, you are Uncle Jim’. And the answer is yes, but no more so than any other character.

If there was a character I related above all in First Night, it would be Alex. Going back to the question of character development, she was the one most changed by the experience. In this respect, she was the proxy for my own voyage of discovery.

Q: What is your most favorite part about this book?

A: The end (ha, ha). No, but really, I find the ending very moving. I did when I wrote it and still do every time I re-read it. Authors are supposed to be god-like when it comes to their characters, but I found that they had a destiny to fulfill, and that I couldn’t change or interfere with their destiny, as much as I may have wanted to.

The fun thing for me, apart from the logistics of the journey, is in presenting the readers with an ending that may surprise them, but also engages them.

Q: When in the process of writing your book did you begin to look for a publisher?

A: From my prior life as the head of a consulting company, I had written business books, and I had already gone down that road of finding an agent and a publisher, and failed miserably. It was no big deal because what I was writing was fairly niche stuff for people that were clients or potential clients, so I was able to circumvent the process and interact directly with the customer.

First Night was my first non-business book, so I repeated the hunt for an Agent/Publisher when I had the galley copies to send out, with equally miserable results. The cliché in publishing is that the first 99 rejections prepare you for the ultimate acceptance. I wasn’t prepared to wait that long. In many ways, First Night is also a niche book, being set in Boston during New Years Eve. So I knew that there was at least a local market for the book that I could tap into, even if a national market failed to materialize.

Q: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?

A: From the publisher’s perspective First Night is a difficult book to categorize. It is part ghost story and part history lesson – a History Mystery one reviewer called it. It’s a story with teenagers, but a lot of my feedback has been coming from parents. “Unique – like no other book I’ve read,” said another reviewer. So where to place it on the bookshelf is a problem that most publishers don’t want to deal with. They weren’t about to create a new category called tom weston.

So I created my own. We formed tom weston media to handle the publishing of not just the books, but also the audio and video projects that we are planning. With the new dynamics of the Internet, this isn’t necessarily a Don Quixote delusion; we already had the business acumen. And we have marketing at the local level that is aimed at Bostonians and visitors, as well as traditional book buyers.

Q: What has been the best part about being published?

A: The response from the readers has been fantastic. From people I would never otherwise meet. I had an email from an elderly lady, an octogenarian, who told me that she had been reading the novel in bed, unable to put it down, and at 2:00AM, when the ending was revealed, she ran around the bedroom, punching the air in jubilation. To realize that this little story has that kind of impact is just incredibly humbling and rewarding.

Q: What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?

A: The book begins with a quote: ‘Everything is connected.” At its heart, First Night is about faith and trust, and things for which we have no tangible proof, but may still influence our actions; because there is a reason for everything, even when we do not understand the reason.

I’m hoping that my readers, while reading the book, are saying, “Why did that happen? I don’t understand it.” This was intentional on my part, not to confuse or misdirect them, but because I wanted them to trust that by the end of the book, they will come to see that everything is connected and makes sense after all.

Q: Do you have plans to write another book?

A: There is an Alex and Jackie sequel, The Elf of Luxembourg, which is planned for publication before the end of the year. Structurally, it has much in common with First Night, being another tale of the supernatural and lot of history, this time about Luxembourg. This one has vampires instead of ghosts. And it’s Jackie that is scheduled to be the protagonist, but I’m sure that Alex will put up a fight before then end.

Q: Would you care to share with us how the virtual book tour experience with Pump Up Your Book Promotion has been for you?

A: Two things have taken me my surprise, albeit pleasantly:

First, I was a little surprised at the amount of effort it has taken. Before turning to writing full time, I did a lot of public speaking, and I almost never prepared my remarks beyond a punch-line or two. My style is to improvise and be spontaneous. So I sort of had this idea that I could just turn up and chat. And of course it doesn’t work that way. The written and spoken words are different mediums, and I’m fully aware that what I write may remain in the blogosphere long after the tour is over. So, I’m trying to engage my brain before I speak, and that is a fairly new experience for me, but equally satisfying.

Second, I was surprised by the diversity of questions and approaches of my hosts. Some things at first seemed trivial or surreal, but when taken in the context of the whole tour, it all turned out to be both fun and educational (from my point of view). Not only did I get to chat about the book, but I also got to resurrect the characters for a while. I’m fond of my characters, so that was nice.

The Virtual Book Tour is a reflection of what I was saying about the dynamics of the Internet. Writing is a satisfying pastime in itself, but if we are to reach beyond our own four walls, we also have to think about this as a business. Most books, even those published by the large houses, will fail to turn a profit. To cut costs, publishers are taking fewer chances and shifting the responsibility for marketing a book back onto the author. So I think the lines are starting to blur between traditional publishing and self publishing. And the author, who wants to sell books as well as write them, has to put on the business hat.

Having access to things like the Virtual Book Tour helps to level the playing field for us little guys.

Q: Where can readers find a copy of your book?

A: The book is on sale on-line at places like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as from our own web site. And as Ingram is the distributor, it can be ordered at practically any bricks and mortar book store that doesn’t have a copy on the shelf. We’ve also signed up for publishing via the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), which means you can go into any library or store that has an EBM machine and get a copy printed while you wait.

It is available in Hard Copy (ISBN 978-0-981-94130-1), Paperback (ISBN 978-0-981-94131-8) and e-Book (ISBN 978-0-981-94132-5), including Amazon Kindle.

Q: Do you have a website for readers to go to?

A: www.tom-weston.com

Thank you, Tom Weston, for sharing your book and characters with us today. It has been a pleasure and I hope you have had a successful virtual book tour.

Thank you.

Tom Weston’s FIRST NIGHT VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 officially began on July 6th and end on July 31st. You can visit Tom’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of July to find out more about this great book and talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

Lose the Diet:Transform Your Body By Connecting with Your Soul – Author Interview – Kathy Balland

Join Kathy Balland, author of the self-help book, Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul (Blissful Publications), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in July and August on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

ABOUT THE AUTHORKathy Balland, an expert in the mind-body-soul connection, teaches people how to tap into their own inner power for success. Clinically certified in hypnotherapy, her publications and seminars provide deep insights into the true causes and their remedies that prevent people from achieving their goals. Balland is a graduate of the University of Phoenix and the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

She is clinically certified by the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners and certified by the American Board of Hypnotherapy. As president of Blissful Publications and author of “Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul,” Balland provides information to enrich and empower people to achieve happiness and success.

ABOUT THE BOOKYou’ll discover your power to achieve and maintain a healthy weight naturally without diets. Food deprivation is uncomfortable and ultimately causes weight gain. Instead, enjoy the good health and joy that you deserve. Lose the Diet shows you how.

• Drop the diets and the weight in a healthy and natural way.
• Find out why deprivation doesn’t work.
• Learn about the mind-body-soul connection’s effect on weight.
• Discover that happiness leads to a healthy weight rather than the other way around.
• Insightful tools and information that help you to find balance — from the inside out!

Hi Kathy

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

Q: Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book?

A: I came up with the idea after having experienced yo-yo dieting over the years, and then subsequently studying mind-body wellness, which further helped me to understand the real answers to permanent weight management.

I then wanted to reach out to others with the information because obesity has become a crisis in the US. More than one third of US adults – over 72 million people in addition to 16% of US children are obese. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, since 1980 obesity rates for adults have doubled and rates for children have tripled. And obesity has led to other health issues. Even though we know everything there is to know about calories, carbs, fats, proteins and how much we “should” weigh, the problem keeps getting worse. I wanted to talk about why that is, and what we can do about it.

Q: Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

A: I guess it was building for a long time, and then suddenly I realized that I needed to put all of the information together in one book.

Q: How did you come up with the title?

A: I wanted a title that people would find if they are looking for diet and weight loss books. Lose the Diet was the perfect combination, because that is part of the message: Diets do not work. (It is now my trademark.) This is a healthier, happier and more effective way to lose weight.

Q: How did you find an agent and publisher?

A: I never looked for an agent or a publisher. I wanted to maintain control of the book myself. I wanted to be able to put it out in E-Books or whatever format I choose, and at whatever cost I choose. I can actually make it more affordable by publishing it myself. That is why I formed Blissful Publications, which is from the Joseph Campbell quote: “Follow your bliss, and the world will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

Q: Who reads your work in progress?

A: My editor was Carolyn Porter.

Q: Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

A: I worked with several people on the book, and particularly enjoyed working with cover designer George Foster. He does a great job.

Q: How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

A: Nine months.

Q: How long did it take from start to publication?

A: It took approximately a year and a half.

Q: Do you have any advice for new authors?

A: Write what you are passionate about. In other words, don’t force yourself to write about something just because you think you should. Follow your “bliss” and it will flow much easier, because it is what is in your heart.

Thank you, Kathy for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of you tour.

Thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure.

Kathy Balland
www.LosetheDiet.com
www.DietFreeMovie.com
www.Twitter.com/LosetheDiet

Kathy Balland’s LOSE THE DIET VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 will officially begin on July 6th and end on August 28th. You can visit Kathy’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the months of July and August to find out more about this great book and talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

The Pyewiz and The Amazing Mobile Phone – Author Interview – Herbert Howard Jones

Paperback Writer would like to introduce our author for today Herbert Howard Jones, author of The Pyewiz and the Amazing Mobile Phone. Herbert is on his first book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion and as part of his virtual book tour you have a chance to win prizes.

WIN PRIZES As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Journey to a frozen planet to find a long lost twin an amazing crystal phone with incredible powers and a cunning old pirate wizard who must be stopped.

Schoolboy Terry Mctrain thinks the new tenant in his parent’s guesthouse is strange. Stranger still is the reason why she is here. Then Terry learns about a twin brother he never knew he had, kidnapped by a pirate wizard years ago. Baffled by all this, Terry realizes there’s a mystery to be solved, and a secret to be uncovered. But when he discovers that the fate of the world is also in his hands, he wonders..

Could this turn into the adventure of a lifetime?

Perhaps, but unless Terry and his friend Will travel to the other side of the solar system to solve this puzzle there’s a danger that the world would be destroyed, and his twin brother lost forever.

Hi, Herbert Howard Jones,

Welcome to Paperback Writer

Q: Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book?
A: Thank you for asking me. But unfortunately, there was nothing profound about the stimulus for my book, which came quite unexpectedly, early one afternoon, in the form of a workman that I had employed to remove some junk. But it was his manner, the way he held himself, his appearance, his aura, which reeked of the sea and planted the thought of The Pyewiz in my head! He was the very incarnation of a fictitious character yet to be born on paper. He had two help mates with him, Terry and Will, and they too became the young protagonists in my swashbuckling adventure. I also borrowed ideas from Tolkien, but not too blatantly that you would notice. But he did invent the ultimate adventure travelogue, and I used this format in my book. I also wanted to write the book as a kind of cathartic therapy and see what I would come up with.

Q: Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?
A: I think that it is essential to have an outline, and then fill in the details as you go along. Once you know what your parameters are, you know when you are out of bounds. I believe that it keeps everything tight and under control.

Q: Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?
A: The end of the book is surely the back story, isn’t it? The book in hand is the sequel to the back story! First you work out the character’s motivations and reasons for their actions, and then you tuck this away somewhere, and start work on your novel, which deliberately leaves out these very elements. Then at the end of the book, you tack on the back story. So you really have to know the end, even before you get to work on the book itself. Well for certain types of fiction, anyway. But if you don’t keep your readers guessing, which is what this method achieves, then you may as well stick to writing letters!

Q: Do you have a process for developing your characters?
A: The J.R Rowling method is the best in my view. She kept note books, and wrote notes about them, what they looked like, what they wore, and what their general preferences were. She built up a character dossier, and got to know her characters so well that she knew how they would behave in any situation. This gave her characters consistency and believability. I use this method myself. But it also helps to draw a little picture or caricature of them too. Then there really is no going back. The character springs to life and there is nothing you can do about it, other than finish the story. Because obviously, it is the characters who are the true authors of your tale.

Q: It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?
A: Yep, I’m Terry! I felt closer to this character than any of the others. I could never be the Pyewiz. The guy’s karma would freak me out for one thing!

Q: What is your most favorite part about this book?
A: The Pyewiz conducts mock war games to keep his crew on their toes. Terry and Will find themselves getting enmeshed in this. They manage to commandeer one of the galleons and play loud rock music over the PA system! I thought this might tickle some readers.

Q: When in the process of writing your book did you begin to look for a publisher?
A: At the end of the project, which probably isn’t the wisest thing to do. But I hate the idea of writing story proposals. I don’t think I could cope with the pressure if one of them was taken up.

Q: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?
A: The usual round of rejections, bouts of self doubt, envy of those who are published, tendency to subscribe to conspiracy theories about the industry, formation of sweat beads on forehead when opening agent’s letters, nightmares, inane looping of self-talk; was it the folder? Yes it was the folder; I knew I shouldn’t have used that yellow folder with the Homer Simpson logo on it! Rollercoaster’s have an easier time! Aside from all that, there is a feeling that the industry is oversubscribed, and that it would doing agents a big favour if people stopped writing books for a while. I also don’t think it’s healthy for authors to get too wrapped up in their brainchild. I think you have to distance yourself emotionally from it, and at an appropriate time, let it go! The mental, emotional and physical struggles of an author are truly the struggles of the damned.

Q: What has been the best part about being published?
A: The reaction of people around me. I have been invited to quite a few dinner parties since getting into print. Also, I’d say handling the book for the first time in the knowledge that the British Museum has a policy of keeping a copy in their archives. Well, they used to, and it’s a damn nice thought!

Q: What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?
A: I want them to say to them, ‘I can’t wait for the movie’. No, seriously, I want them to think fondly of The Pyewiz, despite his failings as a human being. And I hope this doesn’t sound big headed, but it is surely ever writers dream to have their characters creep into twenty-first century culture as mini icons of sorts. If not, my book is big enough to be used as a door stop! Either way I can’t loose!

Q: Do you have plans to write another book?
A: Well I’ve set myself a target of writing 500 pages a year, which equates to two books year. At the present time I am writing the sequel to my first book, entitled, The Pyewiz and The Sons of Terrafirma, and I’m tapping out my first occult thriller about an unusual archaeological find which has curious implications for the heroine of the story.

Q: Would you care to share with us how the virtual book tour experience with Pump up Your Book Promotion has been for you?
A: Simply thrilling! It is also a great honour to be on the same promotional pages as Barry Eisler and Jamie Ford! These guys really are the top guns, and so with any luck some of their talent will rub off on me! And by way of a quick infomercial, let me tell all authors out there to immediately down tools and sign up with Dorothy Thompson’s agency right now! Pumpupyourbookpromotion has to be the best value for money PR outfit on the internet. I’m happy because there are already there are over 18,600 listings for the word ‘Pyewiz’ on Yahoo, and it is all down to Dorothy Thompson. I even made the Chicago Times and libreria universitaria! Thank you Dorothy and partners!! Also, it really is fun to be given carte blanche to write anything you like and have it posted on all these sympathetic blogs. I’ve really indulged myself. If Dorothy will have me again, I’ll sign up with her like a shot.

Q: Where can readers find a copy of your book?
A: From Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk also Amazon.com.jp (I do actually have a Japanese character in the story), Barnesandnoble.com, Powells.com. Whsmiths.com, to name but a few.

Q: Do you have a website for readers to go to?
A: Yes indeed, www.science-fiction-fanatsy.com and www.solarsystemtales.com

Thank you, Herbert Howard Jones for sharing your book and characters with us today. It has been a pleasure and I hope you have had a successful virtual book tour.

Thank you Rebecca for taking such a kind interest in my work.

THE PYEWIZ AND THE AMAZING MOBILE PHONE VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 will officially begin on May 4 and end on June 26. You can visit Howard’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in May and June to find out more about this talented author!

How To Win A Pitch – Author Interview – Joey Asher

Paperback Writer is please to announce our author for today, Joey Asher, author of How to Win A Pitch.

 ABOUT THE BOOK

How to Win a Pitch will help you learn how to: Develop presentations that win contracts. Create connections to secure business relationships. Identify, discuss and fulfill client needs effectively. Veteran business coach Joey Asher has helped his clients win over five billion dollars in new business contracts. He uses his former experience as an attorney and journalist to help readers and clients rise above their competition. He has authored two previous books, Selling & Communication Skills for Lawyers and Even a Geek Can Speak: Low-Tech Presentation Skills For High-Tech People.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOEY ASHER  is one of the country’s preeminent experts on selling skills and communication.  As President of Speechworks, an Atlanta-based communication and selling skills coaching firm that has been helping business people deliver presentations that win business for over 20 years, Asher combines his skills as an attorney and journalist to help sellers communicate a clear, simple message that connects with prospects and wins business.

 

 

 

Hi Joey.

 

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

 

Q: Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book? 

 

A: “How can we distinguish ourselves from the competition when what we are offering is so similar?”

 

Q: That’s the most common question my clients ask as they prepare sales presentations. My new book answers that question.

 

A: The book is “How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals that Will Distinguish You from the Competition.”  It details how to create and deliver presentations that win business.  It’s aimed at sales people. But it’s also a great book about how to persuade listeners.

 

As president of Speechworks, an Atlanta-based, nationally-known communication skills coaching firm, my colleagues and I have helped clients create and deliver presentations that have won billions of dollars in new business. We work with all industries including construction, architecture, engineering, high tech, financial services, manufacturing, real estate, accounting, law and others.

 

We have learned that the key to a great pitch is executing five fundamentals.

 

• Making the presentation solution-oriented
• Keeping it simple
• Delivering with passion
• Interacting with the prospect during the presentation
• Appearing well-rehearsed.

 

The book teaches how to execute those fundamentals. It includes recipes for success as well as success stories taken from my experiences working with clients.  The book covers everything you need to succeed including how to:

 

• Create a simple, persuasive presentation.
• Rig the pitch in your favor.
• Develop a presentation style that connects and builds relationships.
• Get lots of questions.
• Rehearse.
• Overcome stage-fright.

 

 

Q: Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

 

A: We are a communication skills coaching firm that works with sales people in helping them learn how to create and deliver great presentations.  So I always thought it would be a good idea to do a book focusing on helping sales people. I sat down to write it when I felt I had enough ideas for sales people to really help them.

 

Q: How did you come up with the title?

 

A: The title is a simple description of what you will get from the book.

 

Q: How did you find an agent and publisher?

 

A: I’ve never had an agent. I’ve always approached publishers directly with my ideas.

 

Q: Who reads your work in progress?

 

A: No one.  I finish it and send it to the editor.

 

Q: Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

 

A: In this most recent book, Amy MacGregor, who managed the publishing and editing of the book, did a nice job of suggesting ways to make the book more user friendly.

 

Q: How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

 

A: All three of my books have taken me six months to write.

 

Q: How long did it take from start to publication?

 

A: About 18 months.

 

Q: Do you have any advice for new authors?

 

A: When I’m writing a book, I write two pages every day. If I’ve done my two pages, I stop even if I’m in the middle of a sentence. That allows me to get a running start the next day. If you do that every day, you’ll have a book in about six months.

 

Thank you, Joey for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of you tour.

 

The HOW TO WIN A PITCH VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 officially begin on June 1 and will end on June 26. You can visit Joey’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of June to find out more about this great book and talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

No Teachers Left Behind – Author Interview – HBF teacher

Paperback Writer is pleased to announce our author for today, Hopeful But Frustrated Teacher (HBF Teacher), author of the realistic fiction book, No Teachers Left Behind (2nd Avenue Publishing, 2009.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

HBF Teacher has been a public school Middle grades teacher for three years. Before that, HBF substitute taught for two years. HBF has also worked as a live-in nanny and an accounts payable representative.

Today when not nurturing young minds, HBF enjoys travel, photography, culinary arts, and the cinema. The Cohen Brothers and Tyler Perry are among her favorite artistic contributors.

You can find HBF Teacher online at http://www.noteachersleftbehind.info.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Explored through a series of poems, emails, and brief conversations, NO TEACHERS LEFT BEHIND is a fictional yet realistic look at the frustrations of middle school staff.

Hi HBF Teacher,

Welcome to Paperback Writer

PBW: Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book?

HBF: My own personal frustrations and disappointments as a middle school teacher led me to write this book.

PBW: Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?

HBF: Writing a story to me is like interacting with a force in which you have only minimal control. I always try to start with a plan in mind, but then the characters just become real. When this happens, they write their own stories, and I merely become a viewer in their lives.

PBW: Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?

HBF: I rarely know the ending of the story at the beginning. The characters decide their own endings.

PBW: Do you have a process for developing your characters?

HBF: There is no real process. For some weird reason, I tend to create names first, and then the characters develop. Sometimes they are huge exaggerations of people I have met in my lifetime, but not often.

PBW: It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?

HBF: Yes I do believe that authors write themselves into their characters, and I am no exception to that. There is a part of me in most of my characters. In No Teachers Left Behind, I am definitely all of the teachers who want to make a difference yet feel that they can’t.

PBW: What is your most favorite part about this book?

HBF: I love all the humorous email conversations. Laughter is indeed the best medicine, and laughing helps me keep my job.

PBW: When in the process of writing your book did you begin to look for a publisher?

HBF: I always knew that I wanted to go with Createspace, a division of Amazon, because it was the quickest route to publication. No Teachers Left Behind is a story that I really feel people should read so I wanted to have my book published as quickly as possible.

PBW: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?

HBF: No struggles really because writing is one of my passions. The hardest parts, if any, are finding the time to write and then coming up with clever ideas to market the book. There are so many books published each day that you really have to find a way to make yours stand out, and this is necessary even before the book is actually published.

PBW: What has been the best part about being published?

HBF: The best part about being published is holding the first copy of your book in your hand. It means that you’ve completed what you’ve started, and that’s a wonderful feeling.

PBW: What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?

HBF: Remember that teachers are people too, and for the most part, we’re actually nice people who care about our students and want to see them become successful. No one has ever become a teacher because of greed and a desire to be adored by millions.

PBW: Do you have plans to write another book?

HBF: There’s always a story to tell, and I already have ideas for a sequel to No Teachers Left Behind. I also have plans to write a young adult novel.

PBW: Would you care to share with us how the virtual book tour experience with Pump Up Your Book Promotion has been for you?

HBF: I am really enjoying my experience with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. The people are wonderful to work with, and my name and my book title – well they are popping up everywhere on the web.

PBW: Where can readers find a copy of your book?

HBF: Readers can purchase a copy of my book at Amazon.com.

PBW: Do you have a website for readers to go to?

HBF: Readers can learn more about me and No Teachers Left Behind at http://www.noteachersleftbehind.info

Thank you, HBF Teacher for sharing your book and characters with us today. It has been a pleasure and I hope you have had a successful virtual book tour.

THE NO TEACHERS LEFT BEHIND VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 officially begin on May 4th and will end on May 29th. You can visit HBF Teacher’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of May to find out more about this great book and talented author!

The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World, – Author Interview – David Gruder, Ph.D., DCEP

Paperback Writer is pleased to announce our author for today, David Gruder, author of The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and our World. David’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Gruder, PhD, DCEP, is perhaps the world’s only clinical-organizational psychologist specializing in integrity development. Known as “The Integritizer,” he is the leader in transpartisan nondenominational strategies for solving the massive integrity deficits that have caused today’s vast social, economic, and political challenges. Dr. Gruder founded the “Integritize America Campaign,” an integrity stimulus plan for renewing personal, relationship and societal integrity so we can finally co-create sustainable solutions to today’s most challenging issues. His latest book, “THE NEW IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and our World,” is the world’s first step-by-step guide to attaining personal, relationship, and career fulfillment during difficult times without sacrificing ethics and integrity. It has won five book awards in the areas of “social change,” (book of the year), “current events in politics and society” (honorable mention), “health & wellness” (book of the year), “self-help” (bronze medal) and “metapsychology” (book of the year). A professional speaker and trainer for almost three decades, Dr. Gruder speaks, trains, consults worldwide on how to “Integritize” citizens, government, communities, businesses, health care, education, religion, journalism, advocacy groups, and leadership. His clients have ranged from family-owned businesses to American Express work teams, from the Sanoviv Medical Institute to the San Diego Office of Education Management Academy, and from local politicians and executives to World Trade Organization ambassadors. His main website is www.TheNewIQ.com

ABOUT THE BOOK:
From the White House, to the board room, to the privacy of our own bedrooms, and virtually everywhere in between, integrity deficits are destroying our personal lives, our businesses, our economy, our healthcare, our society, and our planet.
Creating sustainable integrity-centered solutions to today’s vast array of major challenges requires us, as individuals and as a society, to take a fresh look at what creates life fulfillment. It requires us as citizens to develop a new integrity-centered vision of what we need to require from our leaders in government, business, advocacy groups, community organizations and the media.
The New IQ is the world’s first road-tested guide to integrity-centered living, working, loving, and serving. Hailed as a “once-in-a-generation book,” it provides the first step-by-step road map for restoring the vanishing virtue of integrity… for the sake of our loved ones, our communities, our businesses, our society, and our own personal wellbeing.
Going far beyond being a self-help book, this critically acclaimed five-award-winning action plan offers a socially responsible way to attain personal, relationship, and career fulfillment during difficult times, without sacrificing ethics and integrity. Here at last is your complete guide to “personal development that serves us all.”

INTERVIEW:

Paperback Writer
www.rebecca2007.wordpress.com

Interview Questions For Non-Fiction Authors

Hi Dr. Gruder.

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book?

It’s no secret that we are suffering today from the devastating effects of massive integrity deficits at all levels of society. What is largely a secret, however, is the widely embraced faulty life fulfillment formula that is responsible for these integrity deficits. I wanted to write a book that exposed this faulty formula and that provided a practical nonpartisan interfaith road map for replacing it with a sustainable formula for individual life fulfillment and societal repair. My idea was therefore to write a book offering answers to what I believe are the five biggest questions of our time: 1) Why have we allowed severe integrity deficits to damage virtually all parts of our society? 2) How did so many of us adopt the insane belief that life fulfillment, wealth accumulation and a comfortable lifestyle require sacrificing integrity, people and social responsibility? 3) What do the few who succeed without making these sacrifices do to create happy fulfilling integrity-centered lives? 4) How can the rest of us easily learn to do on purpose what these rare folks do intuitively? 5) What profound improvements will we see in the world as more and more of us shift toward integrity-centered living, loving, working and serving?

Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

It was a combination of both. The first light bulb leading to The New IQ went off forty years ago, but it took me decades to fully decipher the lessons I learned from the experience. When I was fifteen my parents naively sent me to the infamous Woodstock music festival because the summer camp for the performing arts I attended had offered it as an optional field trip. Woodstock surprisingly opened my eyes to some of the key integrity ingredients I describe in The New IQ. The second light bulb was the profound ways in which I was impacted because of being in the New York area during and immediately following the 9/11 attacks. That experience moved me so deeply that I committed the remainder of my career to helping to restore integrity in our society and around the world. The third light bulb was my own twin towers falling six months after that, when my first wife ended a marriage that I would have sworn on a stack of bibles was a marriage for life. It woke me up to hidden aspects of self-integrity and relationship integrity that I had never before understood to be crucial integrity dimensions. I write in The New IQ about all of these stories and the lessons about integrity that they taught me.

How did you come up with the title?

Many people know that there is more to intelligence than their Intelligence Quotient (IQ). There is emotional intelligence, relationship intelligence, leadership intelligence, etc. But, of the many forms of intelligence we have (or need to upgrade), it seems to me that the most central one of all is the one in which we are collectively most lacking: Integrity Intelligence. As a clinical and organizational psychologist, I am convinced that this form of intelligence is the foundational ingredient necessary for co-creating sustainable solutions to the multitude of significant problems we face today. Hence, my book title, “The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World.”

How did you find an agent and publisher?

I did not use an agent for The New IQ. I was deeply blessed that my publisher found me.

Who reads your work in progress?

My wife Laurie (who spots where I’m unnecessarily complicated and where my heart or passion aren’t shining through), my now-84-year-old mother (a published poet and incredible proofreader), some of the men in a support group I attend (they give me valuable insights about how my material will be received by average readers), a number of professional and writing colleagues (they point out my inaccuracies, blind spots and technical writing weaknesses), and of course my publisher and editor.

Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

All of the people I listed above plus everyone else I mentioned on my acknowledgments page in The New IQ.

How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

About a year.

How long did it take from start to publication?

About 1¾ years.

Do you have any advice for new authors?

Here is what I share with the helping professionals and leaders I mentor who are thinking about writing a non-fiction book. Truth told, this is the advice I wish I had been given and mentored with when I wrote my first book. Build your platform for selling your book before you finish the book. Non-fiction books are rarely ends in themselves. Before you write your book get clear about the upscale backend you want your book to generate interest in. While you write your book develop that backend so it’s ready when your book is published, including effective strategies to convert book buyers into upscale customers. Consciously write your book so that it serves your back-end. Write at the intersection of what you are truly passionate about and what your target readers most want (your target readers are those who are most likely to want to buy your back-ends). Write your book in a marketing-friendly way, rather than writing it for the sake of the content only. Allow your passion to shine through on every page. Understand each step in the book creation, production and marketing process, from soup to nuts. Invest in experts who specialize in the parts of the process you don’t have the expertise, passion, objectivity or time to do yourself. Make peace with the fact that writing a book is about 15% of the book process – and get good with the rest, which is about securing a publisher, pre-production, printing, distribution, marketing, and maximizing your back-end sales. In particular, get really, really good at and passionate about effective book marketing – don’t expect a publisher to rescue you from this responsibility. Learn to love the entire process, no matter how much of it you decide to outsource, or don’t bother writing a book. And once you start marketing your book, be prepared to persist, persist, persist, and improve, improve, improve.

Thank you, David, for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of your tour.

The Tablet of My Heart -Author Interview – Elizabeth Walker

Paperback Writer is pleased to announce our guest author for today, author Elizabeth Walker, author of the memoir, The Tablet of My Heart, (Xulon Press). Elizabeth is on virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. Find out how she found and agent for her book and how long it took to complete the first draft.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The world turns upside down for a young girl when her father begins a fatal battle with the merciless affliction cancer. Before his illness finishes its devastating rampage through her adolescence, she is confronted by a new demon. She falls victim by the hands of a trusted adult, to sexual abuse. The devastation of these events causes her to question God’s roll in her life, and whether He ever loved her at all. The Tablet of My Heart is a collection of Poetry from the journal of that young girl. It is narrated by the author of the journal herself, who paints a portrait of words illustrating her emotional journey from hopelessness to healing. It is dedicated to victims of abuse; to bring to them the realization of hope that there is a light at the end of the silence.

 

 

Hi Elizabeth

 

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

 

Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book? 

 

Love to. I had always planned to publish, just not my own story. When my son’s and I were suddenly shaken and left in the wake of my husband’s (their father’s) secret cocaine addiction, I was longing to help them find healing and well, closure to this incredibly difficult chapter in their lives. In our lives, I decided at first just to share my childhood story with them, so that they could see where I came from, see that I healed. I hoped they could find strength and inspiration in what I shared with them. It turned slowly from sharing my diary with them, into creating a manuscript from that diary. Before I knew it I was planning to publish, and offer a portion of the proceeds to a foundation that helps abused children, in order to show my own boys that helping others heal would help us heal as well.

 

Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

 

It came about slowly. As I said before, I had never planned to publish my own story. It just took on a life of its own, and I decided to see where it would take us. I have seen many miracles happen at the root of this project and I expect to see many, many more.

 

How did you come up with the title?

 

I decided to call it the Tablet of My Heart because, that is exactly how it began. The story is based entirely on the diary that I kept as a child. I took the poems that I wrote as a young girl, inspired by the death of my father, the sexual abuse that occurred repeatedly at the hands of my step father, my mother’s decision to essentially abandon me in order to maintain a relationship with him, and I narrated each moment so that it reads like a story rather than a journal, but the poetry really punctuates the explanations of the journal entries.

 

How did you find an agent and publisher?

 

I didn’t. I self published. By the time I had decided to publish this story, I already had a very specific purpose in mind for it. I wanted to use it to make an illustration of healing for my own hurting children, by leading them to help other hurting children. That wouldn’t have worked out if I waited for an agent or a publisher to read my manuscript, think about it, deny or accept it and so on and so forth. I had no idea how long that process was going to take me since it is often a process of chance, but I did know how long it would take if I put the process in motion myself. I had left life up to chance far too many times prior to make that silly mistake again. I needed this story in the hands of the public, and the money that it generated in the hands of the people at childhelp USA – aiding in the treatment and prevention of child abuse.

 

Who reads you work in progress?  

 

Only one, very close friend, and an editor who took care of all of the spelling and punctuation mistakes for me. I didn’t share it at all until it was nearly complete. Of course, my sons knew the story and the purpose – but had not read the manuscript.

 

Who made a difference in the book’s quality?

 

The editor was quite helpful! I can write all day long, but punctuation is not my strong point. I want to get to the core of the story – often I leave a lot of punctuation out in the process, or put a little too much in :0)

( I absolutely love comma’s – It’s like I just can’t find enough uses for them)  

 

How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

 

The first draft (of course) was the longest. It took me about 9 months from the birth of the idea to a manuscript that was ready for editing and polishing.

 

How long did it take from start to publication?

 

I spent about a full year on it, to complete it, have it edited, polish it and have it ready for publication. It took only about 8 weeks from that point to have it in print.

 

Do you have any advice for new authors?

 

If it’s in your heart that it needs to be read, don’t let one single thing get in your way of putting it in front of the eyes and ears that need to receive it. Go full force, whichever route you choose, and no matter what remember; there will always be someone that doesn’t like it. Unless their opinion comes in the form of useful advice, don’t take that person too seriously.

 

Thank you, Elizabeth for stopping by Paperback Writer on your virtual book tour. I wish you continued success through the rest of your tour.  

 

I’m so glad you had me! Thank you.

 

 

THE TABLET OF MY HEART VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 will officially begin on May 4 and end on May 29. You can visit Elizabeth’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in May to find out more about this talented author!

 

Axe of Iron: The Settlers – author interview – J.A. Hunsinger

Paperback Writer welcomes author J.A. Hunsinger, author of the historical fiction novel, Axe of Iron: The Settlers (Vinland Publishing, Aug. ’08), as he chats with us today on his virtual book tour.

IT’S EASY TO BE A WINNER:

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The first novel of a continuing character-driven tale of a medieval people whose wanderlust and yearning for adventure cause them to leave the two established settlements on Greenland and sail west, to the unexplored land later referred to as Vinland.

Eirik the Red established Eiriksfjord in 986 and later Lysufjord, 400-miles to the north. Just 22-years later, new settlers from the homelands found all the best land already occupied, the fragile Arctic environment strained by too many people and animals on too little arable land.

Under the capable leadership of Halfdan Ingolfsson and his lieutenant, Gudbjartur Einarsson, 315 men, women, and children set sail from Greenland in the spring of 1008, bound for the unexplored continent across the western ocean.

Standing in their way are uncounted numbers of indigenous people, the pre-historical ancestors of the Cree (Naskapi), Ojibwa (Anishinabeg), and Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Indians. From the outset, these native people strenuously resist the incursion of these tall, pale-skinned invaders.

Two calamitous events occur that pave the way for the hostile beginnings of an assimilation process to occur between these disparate peoples. The way is rocky and fraught with danger at every turn, but the acceptance and friendship that develops between the Northmen and the Naskapi over an affair of honor, the eventual acceptance of a young boy of the Northmen by his Haudenosaunee captors, and a scenario that seems ordained by the will of the gods, makes it all begin to fall into place, as it must for the Northmen to survive.

See the saga unfold, in this first book of the Axe of Iron series, through the eyes of the characters as each day brings a continuation of the toil, love, hardship, and danger that they come to expect in this unforgiving new land.

THE INTERVIEW:

Hi J. A. (Jerry) Hunsinger,

Welcome to Paperback Writer

Thank you very much it is my pleasure.

Q: Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book?

A: Yes, I have had a lifelong infatuation with the Vikings of medieval Greenland. After reading everything available, one is left with a nagging question. What happened to them? It is difficult to study them because they wrote nothing down. Everything we know comes from archaeological research and the Norse sagas. The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga both tell stories about them, although centuries after the fact, but we know nothing about the people themselves. I decided to tell their tale using fiction because I wanted to convey to my readers what a lifetime of research has led me to believe regarding the abandonment of the two known Norse settlements on Greenland and the disappearance from history of every single settler. Nobody ever saw them again and nobody knows to this day, what happened to them. In spinning my Axe of Iron series of tales, I give my characters personalities, to make them as we are. No other author has ever told their story as I do.

Q: Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?

No, I do not outline. I write from copious notes and files and I relate the story as it occurs to me.

Q: Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?

A: Yes, I have the entire series in my mind. Each book is a continuation of the preceding, the story is contiguous, and the characters are generational, just as we are.

Q: Do you have a process for developing your characters?

A: Of course, the characters are members of disparate cultures and they become a part of the tale as the story proceeds. Their individual personalities then manifest themselves as they would if we were meeting them in contemporary life, or at least that is my intent.

Q: It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?

A: Yes, I am there, but I cannot tell you which character nor can I tell you how it happened. I do not want to have a net thrown over me.  I can tell you that it was not intentional, it just happened.

Q: What is your most favorite part about this book?

A: That is a tough one. Truthfully, I am so involved in this tale, all of it, that it has almost taken me over mentally. I would have to say that I do not have a favorite part. Rather, I love the tale, all of it.

Q: When in the process of writing your book did, you begin to look for a publisher?

A: I had a completed manuscript. It had been professionally edited, rewritten, edited, rewritten, etc, until it was as good as our collective efforts could make it. After that point, I spent a full year submitting to literary agents.

Q: What struggles have you had on the road to being published?

A:It is a long, arduous journey. I think this material from an article that I wrote might provide some of the answers: Believe it or not, writing your book is only the beginning. With a final draft of your manuscript in hand, it is time to query. Famous people query with a proposal before writing the book. I will assume that you are not yet famous. As an author, you cannot deal directly with one of the large publishing houses, so your next challenge is to interest a literary agent in your work. If you find a literary agent, your relationship will be contractual. Do nothing with anyone without a contract. Fully understand your part of the contract before signing or hire an attorney versed in literary contracts to help you understand. There are numerous listings of literary agents on the Internet. Research each agent for their submission guidelines, select those receptive to your genre, be certain that they are accepting submissions, submit only what they require, and never send an unsolicited manuscript, they will not read it. Your literary agent will handle your contractual relationship with a publisher; they are your agent acting in your behalf.
If you are fortunate enough to become a published author through the literary agent/publisher/reader sequence of progression, congratulations, you have hit the big time. Your publisher will handle all the details of composition/format, cover design, printing/binding, fulfillment/marketing, and warehouse/distribution, leaving you free to crank out books. You will have little or no input regarding any of the production aspects of your book, nor will you retain any rights other than copyright. The publisher will own the ISBN and all future negotiations for anything concerning that work will be through, or with the permission of, the publisher.
Okay, you have spent a year submitting to literary agents without results. If you have not completely lost interest in publishing your work, you are left with publishing it yourself, e.g. self-publishing or becoming an independent publisher. A self-published author has hired a publishing company to publish a book, surrendering all rights save copyright. An independent publisher has formed a small company and gone through the process from copyright to a finished book ready for the market. That author owns all rights to the book because often the author and the publishing company are one and the same. Books are produced and marketed by an independent publisher working closely with a large full service book production facility such as BookMasters, Ashland, OH, where everything is done in house.

Q: What has been the best part about being published?

A: Recognition for completion of a very difficult task would have to rank right up there. There is only one first novel for an author. After that one is published, the follow-on books should become easier as your knowledge of the business and writing skill level increases. At least that is my hope.

Q: What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?

A: I hope that they have become a part of the story, that they can live it as they read, and that they cannot wait to find out what happens to the people with whom they have bonded.

Q: Do you have plans to write another book?

A: Oh, yes. I hope to write down my whole story and live to see the Axe of Iron series readily accepted as engaging medieval historical fiction.

Q: Where can readers find a copy of your book?

A: My distributor, AtlasBooks, Amazon, 57 major outlets nationwide, and in Canada.

Q: Do you have a website for readers to go to?

A: Website: http://www.vinlandpublishing.com/. Where you can find several additional book purchase options, including print and electronic versions.
Blog: http://www.vinlandpublishing.blogspot.com

Thank you, Jerry for sharing your book and characters with us today. It has been a pleasure and I hope you have had a successful virtual book tour.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to interview with you and appear on your website.

AXE OF IRON VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ’09 officially began on March 2 and will end on April 30. You can visit J.A’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in March and April to find out more about this talented author!