Blog Archive

Friday, September 13, 2024

Be an enthusiast! Author Interview with Aaron Ryan

Many authors first novels don't get published because once we get past our egos we realize it doesn't make the grade or we can't find a reason to finish them. Your bio says that your first novel, The Omega Room, was abandoned. Do you ever think you'll go back to rewrite it? Or does it just not fit your writing style today?

It’s not outside of the realm of possibility, surely. It was a good book! Honestly, The Omega Room is something of an apparition anymore…I don’t really remember much of it except for snippets. 

It was an adventure story of four youths who get sucked into something too big for them, a renegade military operation or something of the kind, and I do seem to remember being influenced by Die Hard 2, the movie, at the time. Some rogue leader decides to abscond with technology not his own, for his own nefarious purposes, and the kids get caught in the crossfire. You would think I would remember more, as I had over 300 pages of it at one time, but I was a kid who didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, and so he foolishly deleted it and moved on. I wish I could remember more. Perhaps one day I’ll try to resurrect it.

That book was written back in the 90s but you didn't start publishing your saga until 2023. In the intervening time, you wrote nonfiction books and poetry. What made you decide to come back to writing a novel? What inspired you to write a sci-fi post-apocalyptic series?

I’m primarily motivated to be a fiction novelist, so that’s where my heart lies. I don’t think I’ll be writing any more business books, unless I’m sorely mistaken. My heart really truly lies with Dissonance, with Forecast, with other ideas that I’ve conjured up. I think my business guidance days are behind me. I’ve greatly enjoyed them, but I’m much more focused on the creative pursuits now. I have my business running exactly how I want it to and I’m able to maintain all the business that I do. Overall however, I just want to tell a good story. I’ve always been a storyteller, and I love telling good stories: mine or otherwise.

What type of research do you do for your books? Tell me about the process.
The best example I can mention here is Dissonance Volume III: Renegade. I did a tremendous amount of research for that book, because I wanted it to be militarily accurate. I talked with a Lieutenant Colonel in the USAF, retired Army chopper pilot, two senior airmen in the USAF, as well as a retired 35-year captain of an aircraft carrier. 
Aside from Google Street and Satellite views, Reddit, Quora, and other forum-based sites where military people chime in from time to time, those folks were invaluable in helping me attain verisimilitude throughout the novel. 

For the preceding ones, I talked to denizens of the areas where those books are set, both for APSU/Harvill Hall for Dissonance Volume I: Reality, and Mammoth Cave in Dissonance Volume II: Reckoning. I needed ‘boots on the ground’ intel to provide me with support in structuring a believable narrative in all cases. And as my characters thread their way throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and the North Atlantic, I assimilated so much data from Google Satellite view: it was just indispensable. In fact, I recently took a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ there to walk where my characters walked, to actually see where my stories were set. It was truly eye-opening, validating much of what I had constructed…along with helping me fix some terrain errors as well. Overall, Google has been my best friend throughout all my novels, although whoever is watching will probably assume I’m a terrorist. 😊

How much does social media play in your promotion of your books? What type of publicity do you do to promote your book? What has worked best for you in generating sales?
I do a ton. Vendor markets, craft fairs and trade shows, book signings at local bookstores, book signing/sales parties, organic social media posts, TikTok ads, Facebook ads, IG ads, and of course Amazon ads, vinyl lettering on my car, T-shirt and custom author apparel, book reviewers/influencers, appearing on podcasts and in book review articles or interview articles, promotions through Written Word Media, Fussy Librarian, CraveBooks, BookRaid, Book Barbarian, etc., YouTube videos, SoundCloud videos of my audiobooks, local networking, maintaining an active website, my blog, etc.......and the best part, just writing more books! 😊

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?
 
That self-publishing is truly the way to go. So much so that I self-published a book on…self-publishing! People tend to get scared off by the ‘specter’ of marketing and self-publishing, but it’s actually a lot easier than you think. It’s the marketing in particular that frightens people, but the best advice I can give to that end is don’t be a marketer. Be an enthusiast. It’s absolutely and fundamentally different. With marketing comes pressure to make a sale. But enthusiasm is infectious and contagious. People hop on board the enthusiasm bandwagon and support you. 

I also wish I knew more about agents and getting one. I have five voiceover agents. But getting a literary agent is definitely harder. I’m trying to get one for my new novel, ‘Forecast.’ It’s been a fruitless pursuit so far. Also, with writing, early on I fell prey to the imitation game, trying to sound and flow like Tolkien. Big mistake. There is only one Tolkien. It’s okay to tip the hat to, or pay homage to a certain author or inspiration with occasional nods, and to emulate…but not to duplicate.

What surprised you the most in a good way in writing your novels? What’s been the most frustrating?
I’m a pantster by nature: I write organically and prefer to let the story develop rather than stick completely to a bullet-point list of absolute mile markers. I like to write organically that way. And when I do that, I’m always pleasantly surprised at how well everything has worked out in the end…something I just ‘happened’ to write in the beginning without really knowing the bearing it would have on the story at a later point became indispensable and critical. The most frustrating thing is finding typos and errors committed by me, not caught by me, and not caught by my editor, at the audiobook narration phase, which is the last phase. I have to go back and fix all those, and that can be irritating. I do like to put out a good offering that is error-free.

What is the best advice you've been given about writing or that you've learned that you would like to pass along?

The marketing vs. enthusiast is the biggest one, I believe. But noy, there are so many mistakes authors make. They don’t charge enough. They give their books away for free. They try to copy. They use AI. They don’t treat authoring like a business. They don’t have a mantra. They don’t operate by goals. They get stuck in imposter syndrome. Ultimately, this is a journey that requires a huge mindset shift if you want to be successful. I’m loving every minute of it, evn whe the sales are down for whatever reason, or I’m in between book signing gigs. It’s an amazing experience, it really is. Treat it as such…always.

What other works do you have in the process?
I’m presently writing the sixth installment in the Dissonance series, entitled Dissonance Volume IV: Relentless. It follows Dissonance Volume III: Renegade. But I’m not done with Forecast yet…every time I try to dive back into it, I get bungee-sucked right back into the world of Dissonance once more. I tried after Volume III, and get sucked back into writing Revelation. Then I tried again, and got sucked back in writing Rising. Then I tried once more and now I’m writing Relentless. It’s just something about the Letter R, I guess! 😊 Seriously though, with Forecast – once I get back to it – it’s going to take some diving back in time and remembering what the world of 2001 was like prior to 9/11. So much has changed. I have to unlearn what I have learned, to quote Yoda.

Are there any other points about writing you’d like to cover?
The Dissonance series is the best thing I’ve ever written, by far. It is loaded with heart and thematic depth. Justice vs. revenge. Cynicism vs. trust. Snarkiness vs. maturity. Renegade vs. obedience. Forcing vs. allowing. And ultimately, that man is always the worst enemy of man.

When you realize that, the aliens in my stories become little more than a nuisance. We are always our own worst enemies, and it takes cooperation, surrendering of pride, and willingness to work together with each other, despite rank, background, beliefs, pride, etc., to get things done. Overall, I just really desired to tell a compelling story of adventure, terror, horror, loss, and victory. I’ve accomplished that. 😊

That's all for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Aaron's books, here are some links to get you started.
Author Website: https://authoraaronryan.com/
Dissonance books: https://dissonancetheseries.com/ or  https://getthesebooks.com/ 
Social media links: https://dot.cards/authoraaronryan
Aauthor group: authoraaronryangroup.com
Goodreads: authoraaronryanreads.com
Amazon: authoraaronryanbooks.com

If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, here are 3 eBooks that are currently F-R-E-E on Amazon. Not sure how long the sale lasts, so check them out ASAP!

Friday, September 6, 2024

Writing and Publishing Take work: Author Interview with Jessica Parker

You have now published 20 books, but what inspired you to write that first book?

Each book has their own spark of inspiration, but my first one.... that one was born as I sat on my couch. The TV had a commercial for The Bachelor playing, while I read The Hunger Games, and I wondered. What would happen if the women had to fight for a chance to marry a prince? I had to add magic because magic is awesome. I love and hate that book now. I love the idea behind it, but I hate that I was so inexperienced when I wrote it. The story is still so much grander in my head, and it didn't come out on paper the way I wanted it to.

Confession it doesn't feel like twenty books because I got the marketing wrong on a few of them. So I had to unpublish and redo the covers, titles, etc. to fit better, but they still show up online under the old covers and titles. I also explored shorter and longer stories before deciding which direction I wanted to take.

You currently have a 3 book series that is a hockey romance. What drew you to writing a series around hockey. Will there be more books in that series?
I love romance, give me a good happily ever after and I'll be happy. When I went to my first hockey game I knew as I sat in my hard plastic stadium seat that I needed at least one book with a hockey player. Then as I wrote that story, I fell in love with the other characters too. Those characters needed their stories told as well. There are still characters I want to write about in Glacier Bay. I will absolutely write more books in the Hockey Book Club series.

You also have written several reimagined fairy tales for adults. Why did you pick the stories you did?

Fairytales were my favorites as a kid. Starting with the picture books, I'd look over the pictures and then as I got older read those books over and over again. I love the fight between good and evil, the magic, the variety of people and places and things. The lessons learned and how everything comes together.

Snow White & Rose Red is not as well known but it's my favorite which is why I chose it as one of the stories I wanted to retell in my book, Rose Red. I took some liberties to make the characters older than in the original fairytale, and of course more romance. A judgemental village, magical curses, mystery, unrequited love, and a happily ever after in jeopardy.

My Sea Princesses of Eventyr fairytales were not something I planned on writing. The ocean was scary to me for a long time thanks to movies like Jaws. It took a long time getting over that. Part of that journey was learning to scuba dive and I fell in love with the water. So much so, I became a scuba instructor to better understand it. Diving in the ocean feels like being on another planet sometimes, and it keeps giving me ideas for mermaids. The Little Mermaid and her sisters needed their stories told.

Snow White's Witch is a story where I wanted to explore how villains are the "Hero of their own story". It's a quote I heard a lot at a writer's conference and what better way to challenge that than with a classic villain? So I asked myself, what if Snow White lied?

You’re an indie author, which means you’re in charge of everything from writing to publishing and marketing. Other than writing, what other parts of the process do you personally do or hire others to do?

Hire: editor and cover designer.

Me: Social media, newsletters, writing, answering emails, arranging book signings, figuring out this business thing. That's just me and I do sometimes have to pause the marketing side while I write, etc. so I can make sure I spend time with my family and get my day job stuff taken care of. As my business grows I would like to hire out some of the other things, but I'm not to that point yet.

What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing?
Every author has their own process. Figure out what works for you and your readers, and take it one page at a time.

Marketing is the biggest key to making sales. What is the best marketing source you've used that has produced more sales rather than just clicks?
I'm still figuring out marketing. I've been experimenting with posting to various social media sites and some are better than others. I like analyzing data and it's been interesting to see how some of my books do better on TikTok vs Facebook. I decided a couple of years ago that I would put more effort into getting more books out so I'd have a bigger backlist to make marketing more cost-effective. Then along the way I also decided that I'd just do one thing better than before. One more post a week, then a day, etc.

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?

There's no magic answer. Writing and publishing takes work just like any other job. However, I find this work more rewarding.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?
Keep going, and back up your files.

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
There will be a million reasons not to write, not to publish. Write because you love it. Each author I've met has had their own journey and process. There is no "one way" to do it, just your way.

What is the next book coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?
My next book is a short story, The Mistletoe Goal and it comes out November 24th.

This is a hockey romance between Dan and Alexis. They're best friends, and Dan is stuck in the friend zone even though he'd like to be much more. He convinces Alexis to spend the hockey team's Christmas Break with him in a small town. He has one goal in mind, catch her under the mistletoe, and prove they should be more than friends.


That's all for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Jessica's books, here are some links to get you started.
https://jessicaparkerstories.com/
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jessica-Parker/author/B01DQZYR4K

And here's a bonus for my readers, leave a comment on this post and we'll pick one reader who'll receive a copy of one of  Jessica's eBooks. So do that now. It can be as simple as I want to be in the giveaway. We'll chose a winner next Friday!