Marketing with Mandy Author Spotlight: Lynda Aicher

Marketing with Mandy Author Spotlight: Lynda Aicher

Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Samhain Publishing.
A: It’s been great. They are a very good company to work for with experienced people and extensive knowledge of the book market. Being a new author, it’s been really nice having the support as I learn the inside ropes of publishing. I’ve also found the author network at Samhain to be incredibly friendly and helpful. Samhain has been a great fit for me.

Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: Consistency. That’s the main thing for me. Having a standard look and feel to all of the materials I produce from my website to bookmarks to postcards, etc. It goes along with branding and giving readers one identity that fits your books.

I also network and make use of my friends and their networks. Building relationships, both within the industry and out of it, is connected to building your audience. You never know where the spark is going to hit that lifts your sales. Be open, be nice, and return the favors. Simple steps that are true for life in general.

Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Being an author is very different than being a writer. It’s an important distinction that most don’t make. There are a lot of writers, I was one for fifteen years before I became an author. And being a writer doesn’t guarantee success as an author.

Being an author means you understand how to craft and tell a story that makes people want to read it. You have to understand plot lines, character arcs, turning points, pacing, and then how to weave them all together with words that are unique to you. The lucky few can do this instinctually, while most authors have to study, learn, try, fail and try again. It’s hard work, but worth it when it all comes together.

Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: Book II in my Energen Series – Stone of Ascension, will come out in September from Samhain Publishing. The second book really digs into the Energen world and the ancient battle over the world’s most valuable, but unrecognized, resource – energy.

The series is based on the concept that the world is focused the 2012 Mayan prediction of the end of the world. But, 2012 is also the Chinese Year of Dragon – the most powerful and revered sign in the Chinese Zodiac. It’s a twist on the coming Apocalypse which is not the same as Armageddon. The true definition of apocalypse is: “lifting the veil on that which is hidden.”

The stories within the series are based on interpretation of facts. Connecting bits of information from multiple sources until they all come together to create the world and battle between the Energen and Shifters races. I’ve worked hard to ensure every story has a spark of believability that can leave the reader wondering if maybe that really could happen (or maybe it actually is).
The books do build on each other, but each is its own story. The battle intensifies and more is revealed as each couple comes together to protect the sacred city from the rise of the Dragon. If the city falls, so will the humans who have been blissfully unaware of the hidden battle for two thousand years.

Energen Book I – The Dragon Stirs, can be found at all of your major ebook outlets.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?
A: I’m currently working on two different books from two different series. Book III in The Energen series, and Book II in my erotic romance series which is coming out this fall from Carina Press. It’s been a bit crazy jumping back and forth from dragons and shape-shifters to bondage and nipple clamps, but deadlines and demands mean you make it work.

The dragon series is darker, deeper, and definitely more intense to write simply because there’s such big world building and I have to carry multiple story lines, a host of characters, good guys, bad guys—oh yeah, and a love story too. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I started this series. lol!

A: Q: How did you get into writing?
A: I have a BS in Scientific and Technical Communications and spent over fifteen years in the field of technical writing as a consultant creating end-user training materials for global companies. I’ve always loved to read and writing comes easy to me, but I never really thought I’d write a book even though I’d wanted to since I was twelve years old. Writing a novel is hard!

However, one day I stopped and suddenly realized I was going to be forty soon. How did that happen? I finally decided now was the time if I was going to do it. I spent the next year writing and learning everything I could about constructing a novel and the publishing industry. I sold The Dragon Stirs one year after I started on my road to publishing on a fluke, a whim, determination, and a little bit of luck.

Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: Very carefully. I have the fortune of not having a full-time day job, so now that my two kids are both in elementary school, I get six hours of quite time five days a week to write. Actually, that’s not really true because I still volunteer in the school, and have to clean, cook, do laundry, run errands, etc. It’s very easy to put writing to the background, so I have to make it a priority. On the weekends, I get up at five AM and write before the day begins and generally sneak it in whenever there is time. Fortunately, my past job taught me how to work anywhere and around anything. Give me headphones and Pandora, and I can write anywhere.

LINKS:

HOME

Facebook

Twitter

1