Next up in my author interviews in Luna Lindsey. Welcome Luna!
Briefly describe your journey in writing your first book.
Make Willing the Prey began in the summer of 1997. I’d been writing a lot of short stories and novel-starts while participating in an excellent critique group in the Tri-Cities, WA.
I got my inspiration from a music video. I was briefly unemployed, so I spent about 6 weeks writing it. At the end, the writer’s group gave me some very good advice: Keep the first third, but the rest is a downward spiral. Let something good happen to the characters now and then. Conflict means ups along with the downs.
So this summer I took their advice and spent about a month on the re-write, giving my protagonists a fighting chance to survive. I am very pleased with the results.
Did you query agents or traditional publishers before publishing on Amazon?
I’ve marketed short stories traditionally, about 13 years ago. But when I returned to writing, I learned much has changed. Ebooks sounded promising so I decided to go all-in, primarily due to my frustrations with the lengthy lead times and all the pre- and post-publication marketing that goes into publishing traditionally. I’d rather spend that time writing.
What factors influenced your decision to self-publish?
In addition to the above, I quickly realized other reasons to go indie. I especially love having creative control over my work and financial control over the proceeds of my work.
Will you try to garner a traditional publishing contract for any future books?
Possibly, but not likely. If I’m selling enough to get the attention of a major publishing house, why give up my 70-85% royalties? If given a large enough advance, I may consider “selling out”. There’s something special about the imagined thrill of seeing my books on a shelf at B&N.
Did you design your cover art? If not, would you care to share your graphic designer’s information?
I did my own layout, and wish I had the talent to do the art myself, but actually my daughter Betsy did it. She spends a lot of time sketching for DeviantArt. She did a great job capturing the concept I explained to her. She also worked with me to tweak little details as the image emerged.
What kinds of social media [twitter, facebook, webpage, blog, writing forums] are you involved with trying to garner attention for your book(s)?
I’ve been active in social media since the early 90’s when the term was “BBS” and “2400 baud modem”. So it’s perfectly natural that I have all of the above.
Facebook page:
Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
Almost! I’m setting up on Smashwords this week.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on the follow-up to Make Willing the Prey, which will likely involve some of the same characters.
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