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| Nothing could compare to the agony of riding bareback in skinny jeans... my buttocks were threatening to disengage themselves from my body and run to a far off corner of the wood, where they would no doubt weep at the misfortune of being mine. - Donna Hosie, Searching For Arthur. |
As many of
you know (because I’m always banging on about it), I want this blog to really
focus on writing, book promotion and experimenting with ways authors can
generate publicity and build their author platform. So it is with a stupid amount of excitement that I’m trying
something new – a blog interview. And my first guinea pig off the ranks is none
other than Donna Hosie, author of the fabulous YA fantasy "Searching for Arthur", which I reviewed here last week.
Hi Donna,
and thanks for agreeing to be my experiment! Your book has only recently hit
the e-shelves, so you’re just beginning your promotional journey. Can you share
your master plans?
-- I decided on a very strategic way of doing things. The first was to
engage a professional designer for the cover - which is gorgeous! - and then
market the book in stages. Stage one was obviously friends and family, stage
two was family and friends of family and friends, and stage three is where I am
now which is giving some free copies away to bloggers/reviewers for them to
review and hopefully recommend.
I wanted to avoid the route some debut authors go down which is to
bombard social media in that first week. You just end up spamming and annoying
everybody. I have always maintained that word of mouth and recommendations are
a writer’s best hope for success and I am prepared to be in this for the long
haul.
Wise words there, and you’re spot on
about the cover – it’s stunning. How did it come about?
-- I engaged my own designer and found it to be a wonderful collaborative
process - something traditionally published authors don't really get to
experience. With the cover for Searching for Arthur, the designer and I went
back and forth several times until the cover was a perfect match for my vision
of the story.
Did you read up on
book design or use the designer’s knowledge? What book design tips can you
share?
-- I did read up on book design but I chose
a designer who had worked with authors I knew. The important thing about the
cover is to choose images carefully because most of the time it will be a
thumbnail image people see. Keep it clean and clear, nothing fussy in your
fonts and images.
And have you had any
surprising responses for Searching for Arthur since you began to promote it?
-- I continue to be amazed when I read a tweet or review from a total
stranger who has read and loved the book. When the readers are from the general
public, then that is a wonderful feeling. Most of the comments centre around
the originality of the tale I've told which is exactly what I think the selling
point is.
Congratulations
on receiving such positive feedback! One thing I personally loved throughout
the book is that there were spectacular action scenes juxtaposed with moments
of wonderful (and hilarious) comic relief as well as with some to-die-for
romance scenes - which story arc did you enjoy writing the most?
-- There are so many
story arcs in this tale, and I loved writing every one of them, but I have two
joint favourites: the romance between Natasha and Bedivere (I think he is very
much overlooked in Arthurian legend), and then the trio of Natasha, Arthur and
Slurpy. The sibling relationship between Natasha and Arthur is very much the
heart of the trilogy, but then throw in a thoroughly nasty girlfriend and it
makes for fun writing. I love writing Slurpy’s character because she
is so nasty but I have to be careful not to make her one dimensional, so her
redeeming feature is the fact that she truly loves Arthur. The decision to link
her with Morgana came halfway through writing the novel but it fitted in
effortlessly so it was clearly meant to be.
And finally, what’s
one piece of advice everyone considering self-publishing should know?
-- Writers self-publishing need to be informed and they need to take their
time. BE PROFESSIONAL ALWAYS. I despair when I see someone announce they
finished a novel one day and have it for sale the next. This is your career and
if you want longevity - which I do - then you need to do it properly. That
means a professional cover, a good edit, and a strategy for promotion. Doing it
yourself is very empowering but it is a huge responsibility.
I’m sure it is, and I wish you the
best of luck. To all of you in this little blog community we’re building
together, I encourage you to go out and support Donna, even if it’s just by
RTing this interview or my review (tweets here & here). To one lucky tweeter we’ll award a free Kindle copy of Searching for Arthur, so come back this time next week to see if you've won)! And as this is my first interview, feel free to comment with any
questions I should have covered and I’ll chase up the answers.
Thanks!
