Can you
give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
In The Back Road a
young girl is knocked over and left for dead at the side of the road. Nobody
knows what happened to her, and how she came to be where she was, but so many
people in the small community have one part of the picture. Each of them has
something to hide, and their reluctance to tell the truth results in tragic
events that could have been avoided.
The Back
Road is the second book featuring British detective Tom Douglas,
although in this book he’s taking a sabbatical. It doesn’t stop him getting
involved in a local intrigue that results in murder, though!
Have you
ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the
direction of the novel at all?
It seems to happen to me more and more as I write! I am very
fussy about creating detailed character profiles before I start writing. I know
my characters well – from what they like to drink to the style of clothes they
wear. But when I start to introduce them into the story, sometimes their
characteristics become even stronger and clearer. This happened with Leo (short
for Leonora) in The Back Road and she
now features in my third book as well.
What
factors influenced your decision to self-publish your book(s)?
When I had completed my first book, Only the Innocent, I sent it to a small number of agents, and a
couple of them were incredibly helpful. They phoned to speak to me, and said
that they enjoyed the book very much, but I needed to be aware that it would be
difficult to find a publisher, because it didn’t fit neatly into any one genre.
My books tend to be about dilemmas – “What set of circumstances would be so bad
that a woman would have no option but to murder a man” – for example. The
result is a thriller with some police involvement. But my protagonist is either
the victim or the perpetrator of the crime, and so nobody knew quite where to place
it.
I wasn’t massively confident about my writing – it was my
first book – so I thought I would just give self-publishing a go. Only the Innocent went on to reach #1 on
Amazon UK where it stayed for four weeks, and hit the number one spot on Amazon
in the US last summer, although in the US it is traditionally published.
If you
used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the
creative process for your cover?
I am very lucky indeed in this respect. I used to run an
interactive media company, developing software and websites. I employed a
bright young man just as he left university, and some eighteen years later he
now has a very senior design position. In his view, I gave him his career start
(although he would have made it anyway) and so he insists on doing my covers. I
am involved at every stage, from writing the brief to making suggestions, if
they are necessary. But he is a complete star.
Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I do quite a detailed outline. Having been involved in computer
software for most of my adult life, there’s nothing I like better than a good
flowchart! And that’s more or less what I do for each element of my story. I
work it all out, work it all out using software that allows me to develop each
story thread separately. When I start writing, I begin by roughly sticking to the
outline, but occasionally a character or an event takes over and I take a small
detour.
Did you
hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I didn’t do this for Only
the Innocent in the first instance. I published based on my own editing,
plus lots of proof reading from some excellent people with plenty of
copywriting, but not editing experience. However, once the book had been
successful and I got a wonderful agent, she suggested that we edit the book.
And what a difference it made. The book had done well without the edit, but the
difference after a professional had scribbled notes all over it - “what’s going
on in the room while this is happening?” or “this bit slowed me down” - I
really began to see the massive difference a good editor makes. And now, I
would never consider publishing a book without going through a rigorous editing
process.
What kinds
of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for
promoting your book(s)?
Although my books are self-published in the UK, they are
published by Thomas and Mercer in the US, and they tend to take responsibility
for the marketing there. But in the UK I develop a comprehensive marketing
plan, with specific targets. The tools such as Twitter, Facebook etc are
brilliant, but only as a means to an end and not an end in themselves. So for
example I may have a target in my plan that says “strengthen relationships with
existing readers”. I work out how best to use Twitter and Facebook and other
tools in this regard, rather then just post content without thinking about why
I’m doing it.
Do you
find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and
writing your next book?
That’s the tricky bit. I may have a marketing plan, but when
I’m writing or editing, I am so completely focused on my story that I really
struggle to get on with anything else at all. While my latest book If You Leave Me (to be released in 2014)
was with my editor in October, I spent some time working on a new marketing
plan. I was full of enthusiasm. And then the edits came back, and I was so totally
engrossed that I’ve barely looked at the plan since. It’s not good enough,
really, and I need to be more organized. But I love writing more than I love
marketing. That’s the problem.
Besides
writing, do you have any other passions?
I really enjoy cooking. Food crops up quite often in my
books, and I post the recipes on my website too. Before Only the Innocent was so successful, I had considered that my next
book would actually be a cookbook, and had already started writing it. But I do
prefer writing thrillers, so it’s gone on the back burner.
What’s
next for you?
My third book – If You
Leave Me – is now back with my editor, who I am sure will have a few more
notes for me, and then we’ll be ready to start the pre-marketing. I am hoping
to have a finished manuscript by January, and will push the ‘go’ button in the
UK in March, perhaps slightly later in the US.
Buy Links:
Contacts:
Website: http://www.rachel-abbott.com
Twitter: @Rachel__Abbott
@_RachelAbbott
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