Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Virgin Publishing.
A: I’m still in the early phase of being a Virgin author – my One Breath at a Time won’t hit shelves until January. Before that, I have a story in Love on the Dark Side, a Virgin anthology that will be released this fall. Everyone at Virgin, the editors, the authors, the marketing department, everyone has been entirely professional and friendly. I love the fact that I was given a set schedule for every step of getting the book to print, and sure enough, it’s right on track. Virgin Publishing runs a tight ship! I already know it’s a great place to be.
Q: What have you found to be the best marketing tool to you as an author? Please feel free to elaborate.
A: There are so many good ways to market a book, but my favorite has been the close interaction with readers. They love the newsletters, the occasional contests, and the more personal blog posts. I do radio spots when a book is about to come out, and those are wildly popular – the readers love to hear the voice behind the words. Once they feel they know you a bit, what you’re about behind the pages, what your life is like from day to day, they are more likely to discuss you with their friends, and more likely to spread the word about your books.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?
A: There are more than a few! I tend to work on many projects at once, bouncing from one to another, and I’m always starting new ones. The projects on the back burner right now include Carolina Hurricane, an old-fashioned romance set in South Carolina during – you guessed it – a hurricane making landfall. I just finished The Green Room, a darker kind of novel about making a relationship work in the harsh glare of the celebrity spotlight. And I’m also working on Iowa, a series of short stories centering on a murder-suicide in small-town America.
Q: What types of research do you do for your books?
A: The research is so much fun! I make a point of exploring the setting of the book. For Carolina Hurricane, I have amassed reams of information on hurricanes, the history of the Carolinas and the coastline, the people and the social mores unique to that area. It’s important to spend time there, too – nothing makes the writing move vivid than allowing my readers to see the waves, smell the air, feel the wind on their skin.
And when it comes to characters, if I can’t relate to them, then I can’t write them. Things like The Green Room were easy to write, because I’ve been in the position of forming a very intimate, private relationship with a very public figure. But there are things I haven’t experienced – for example, the lead male character in One Breath at a Time is a former special agent with the CIA. I’ve never been in that situation, never even close, so I can’t rely on my own experiences. I had to interview a few men who had been there, and then try to incorporate their personalities into the story. I had to get to know them, come to understand them a little, and then I could write the character.
Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: It’s become much easier over the last few years, especially since my children started school! Now I can write during the day, when they are learning from their teachers, and by the time they come home I’m ready to spend that time with them. My husband has a rather flexible schedule, so we manage to have quality time with each other as well as time with the kids. The writing gets done during those early morning hours, and sometimes late at night, if I can’t sleep and the house is quiet. When it comes to book tours or traveling for research, that can sometimes mean time apart, but not always. We tend to make it all a family affair, and go to those places together.
Q: What would you do if you weren’t a writer?
A: I’ve been asked that question so many times, and I don’t know how to answer it. I’ve been a writer since I was a kid, and published since I was a teenager, so I sometimes say I don’t know how to do anything else! But if I had to choose something, I would probably move into tour management, or a position in the recording industry. I’ve been around that kind of business and lifestyle for as long as I can remember, so that kind of life is familiar enough that I think I could be happy working in it, too.
LINKS:
My website: www.gwenmasters.net
My blog: www.gwenmaters.blogspot.com
Lust Bites: www.lustbites.blogspot.com
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Virgin Publishing.
A: I sent the manuscript of CIRCUS EXCITE to Virgin in 2003. I have terrible timing – it arrived just as they started a major reshuffle and were neglecting their slush pile. So I waited two years before I heard back!
CIRCUS EXCITE was published last year, and was one of the first books to get the ‘makeover’ – I love the new covers, so I’ve been lucky that way. Since then, I’ve had several short stories in the ‘Wicked Words’ anthologies, and I’ve just submitted my second novel proposal. (That is why I have no fingernails left.)
Q: What have you found to be the best marketing tool to you as an author? Please feel free to elaborate.
A: Well, it’s hard to tell what’s translated into actual sales. Instinctively, I’d say the lustbites blog (http://lustbites.blogspot.com) has really helped publicise the names of the authors involved. Guests report that their Amazon sales rank has leapt forward on the day of their post. I think it’s also been a great way for readers to ‘meet’ a bunch of Virgin authors all in one place, and get an idea of how diverse and talented the girls are.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?
A: I’m currently working on a couple of novels that I plan to submit to Black Lace. One is the story of a punky-rocky chick and her perverse philosophy tutor from University. Another is an expanded version of ‘Housebound’ – a short story that appeared in ‘Sex in Public’.
Plus I’m working on several short stories and hoping to edit an anthology later this year. I like to pile the deadlines up until I panic – it encourages me to work like a demon.
Q: How did you get into writing?
A: Sheer stubbornness and years of accumulating rejection slips and experience. Luck always comes into it, I suppose, but I worked very hard to get published. I still do!
Q: What types of research do you do for your books?
A: Obsessive and over the top research! I can spend days lost in the subject – whether that be dance school or burlesque or 1960s geology or vanilla orchids or … you get the picture! I interview people in the field, borrow all the books I can find and do a lot of reading on the web. Chat rooms and forums are brilliant places to find specialists in just about any obscure subject.
Q: Why do you like writing romance/erotica?
A: Because I think love is the most mysterious, wonderful and powerful thing in the world. Might sound cheesy, but it’s the truth! : )
LINKS:
http://nikkimagennis.blogspot.com
CONTEST: Monday-Friday of this week– anyone who comments on ANY of the posts for Marketing with Mandy’s Virgin Publisher Spotlight (going on all week long) will be entered to win a download of their choice from Mandy’s backlist and Michelle’s backlist. (There will be two winners, each selecting one download)
To enter: Comment on the blog in a Marketing with Mandy Virgin Publisher Spotlight post this week! The more you enter, the more chances you have to win. Winners will be selected on SUNDAY and announced on the blog.
