Guest Blog

A Conversation With June Foster

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An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in education and a MA in counseling. Her characters find themselves in tough situations but overcome through God’s power and the Word. She writes edgy topics wrapped in a good story. To date, she’s seen fourteen contemporary romances published.

When do you find time to write?
June: Since I’m retired from 34 years of teaching elementary children and my entire house only takes 45 minutes to clean, I have lots of time to work on my work-in-progress. (My house cleaning duties are light because we live in our RV!) I’m blessed to have time day or night—any time I get inspired, which is most of the time. But I generally write my first draft early in the morning after my Bible reading when I’m feeling refreshed. The rest of the time I use for self-editing, critiquing, and other projects.

Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
June: I love to write a story centered around a boy-meets-girl theme in which the driving force of the plot is getting these two together despite high stakes—a novel in which romance is at the heart of the tale. But adding an element of suspense keeps readers turning the pages of their kindles and enriches the story. Especially romantic is when the hero can protect and defend the woman he loves, the heroine, from harm. When they can work together to solve a mystery, it only drives them closer together.

Current book: Restorations of the Heart
True beauty isn’t found at the Miss Idaho pageant but in a deserted ghost town in the mountains of Idaho. 

Connect W/June
Website: junefoster.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjunefoster
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vjifoster
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/junefoster
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5755395.June_Foster

A Conversation With H.L. Wegley

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H. L. Wegley served in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence analyst and a weather officer. In civilian life, he worked as a research scientist, then developed Boeing computing systems before retiring near Seattle with his wife of 50 years, where he has published seven novels and has more on the way.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
H.L.: My romantic suspense stories are high-stakes, high-action with near thriller-level intensity. The most difficult aspect of writing these stories is splicing in a romance that fits naturally into the thriller plot. The only way I’ve found to make this work is to integrate the romance into the thriller-level plot such that one could not exist without the other. If the romance dominates the thriller plot, or vice versa, the story can lose believability. It’s a tightrope that can only be walked by careful plot and character construction. Susan May Warren helped me do this integration for Voice in the Wilderness and I think it turned out well.

What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
H.L.: My favorite place to write, or do anything creative, is in the warm sunshine. Add some pink noise, like on an ocean beach in Maui, and my writing productivity goes up by a factor of 10. I wrote my first draft of my first novel in seven days while sitting on the shore of Lake Havasu drinking iced lattes. During the gloomy Seattle winters, I shine a grow light on my work area—just one light, don’t want any raids on my house!—and I drink a lot of coffee.

How do you pick the location/setting of your romantic suspense novels?
H.L.: For me, loving a location and knowing it well are my primary criteria for selecting a story setting. My thinking is that if an author loves a place—e.g. Crooked River Ranch in Central Oregon, a place I love—it adds more passion to the writing. Knowing the place well helps remove fear of misrepresentation, and that frees one’s creativity, enhancing the vividness of story world description. Remember, readers local to the setting don’t take kindly to writers messing up their home town and local scenery.

Something else I sometimes do when selecting the setting—for example, using the Deschutes River for a battle scene in Voice in the Wilderness—is to choose a beautiful setting to contrast with the ugly deeds done there. Bad seems even more evil when it happens in one of the most beautiful places in creation. And good seems even better in a beautiful setting.

Current book: Voice in the Wilderness
A political thriller with romance about an American president plotting tyranny and the young couple who risk their lives to stop him.

Connect W/Harry
Website: http://www.HLWegley.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLWegley/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hlwegley
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4460203.H_L_Wegley

A Conversation With Sarah Varland

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Sarah Varland lives in Alaska with her family. Her passion for books comes from her mom, and her love for suspense comes from her dad, who has spent a career in law enforcement. When she’s not writing, she’s often found reading, baking, kayaking or hiking.

Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
Sarah: I love romance but I like what suspense adds to it. I think it’s fun to confront the challenge of having people fall head over heels in love while they’re also trying to avoid being killed. My favorite part of writing romantic suspense is the way I get to have my characters, especially my heroines, confront their fears. They are always so much braver than they believe they are, and I love them coming to that realization towards the end of the book and truly being brave as they learn to trust God more. I love the lessons that teaches me and hopefully my readers as well.

What did you want to be as a child (and did that dream come true)?
Sarah: As a really young child I wanted to be a veterinarian. That was before I realized how much science was involved and that science wasn’t my strong suit. When an aptitude test in middle school reminded me of that but showed up with writing as one of my strengths, I was intrigued. I started stories for fun sometimes, just to entertain myself, but until then I’m not sure if it had ever occurred to me I could do that for a career. My mom encouraged me, and when I was in college, my dad took me to a writing conference and the dream just kept growing from there. I still can’t believe sometimes that I’m really an author, that God really did give me this dream along with all the others He has given to me, but I am extremely thankful.

What does your family think of your writing romantic suspense?
Sarah: Ha! I love that you asked this. My family is very proud of me for my writing, which I appreciate, but the idea of suspense in my stories cracks them up occasionally. I’m that person who would rather have a nightlight somewhere in the house than pitch dark, doesn’t like to go outside alone at night, hears a noise and wonders what creepy thing it could be.

I don’t have a track record of extreme bravely like my heroines do, though I aspire to be like them one day, but I guess you could say that while my family laughs a bit we all admit that my overactive imagination has finally come in handy?

Current book: Perilous Homecoming
A former police officer teams up with her high school rival to try to find the modern day pirate responsible for a murder.

Connect W/Sarah
Website: espressoinalatteworld.blogspot.com
Facebook: facebook.com/sarahvarlandauthor
Twitter: @sarahvarland

 

A Conversation With V.B. Tenery

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10038915801151CDPAward-winning author, V. B. Tenery lives in East Texas. Her passion is writing inspirational fiction with shining characters, settings, and plots so exciting readers come away feeling delighted with the experience. When not writing she enjoys reading, hiking, and tubing down rivers in the Texas Hill Country.

What’s the hardest part of writing romantic suspense?
V.B.: The most difficult part of writing romantic suspense for most authors is to keep the characters real and the story from being trite. I personally dislike mushy romantic plots. By mushy, I mean where the male/female protagonists are always thinking how sexy the other one is and how they can’t keep their hands of each other. I try to have natural interactions between the two that fits the scene. If someone is trying to kill you, I don’t think reactions would hormonal. As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and that is especially true in fiction. Finding a fresh approach to the plot is always a challenge.

How do you connect with your characters?
V.B.: That’s a good question, and I don’t always make a connection immediately. I have a romantic suspense series, and as the storyline has developed through multiple novels, I’ve gotten to know them intimately, but the connection didn’t happen right away. The deeper I went into their feeling and goals, the more I began to know them inside-out. In a couple of my standalone novels, there has been an immediate connection that I can’t explain. The young genius, Grace Sullivan, in Deathwatch, was such a connection, as was Mercy Lawrence, a kidnap victim, in Dead Ringer. When that happens, I find the writing flows easily and I finish those novels much faster. When I struggle to know who my characters really are, it slows down my muse.

Current book: Deathwatch
DEATHWATCH Front cover3 thumbnailIn Deathwatch, an MI6 agent, Scotland Yard inspector, and a young American genius search for a killer during the London Blitz.

Connect w/V.B.
Website: www.vbtenery.com
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/teneryherrin
FB Author Page:  www.facebook.com/vbtenery

 

The 3 Processes Involved in Publishing

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By Stephanie Buckwalter

There are three distinct processes involved in publishing, whether you self-publish or go with traditional publishing:

  • Writing
  • Publishing
  • Marketing

The writing process can be separate from the publishing and marketing process, but only if you never want anyone to read what you’ve written. If you want to get your words out there, you need to publish them, then market them. The Internet has made that as easy as posting your words on a blog, then telling your friends about it. Or even simpler, posting it on social media and letting those platforms tell others about it.

The same process used to publish on a blog or social media is expanded when it comes to book publishing. Below is a very high-level graphic showing the processes involved in birthing a book and the timing of marketing as it relates to the other two processes. Each of the steps listed represent a lot of details that can be handled in a variety of ways.
Writing Process: Idea->Outline/Structure->Write Draft->Rewrite->Edit->Final Copy
Publishing Process: Cover Design->Edit->Front/Back Matter->Interior Book Design->Final->Print
Marketing Process: Research Audience/Market->Build Audience->Develop Marketing Relationships->Promos and Pre-Sales using Book Cover->Launch Party & Media Blitz
Here are some thoughts on the process:

  • Any or all of these steps can be hired out or outsourced if you do not want to do them or are not skilled at them (even writing the book, believe it or not).
  • If you are using a traditional publisher, you are basically outsourcing the whole publishing process and distribution in exchange for anywhere from 85% to 94% of the net sales of the book. (Typical royalties are between 6% and 15%.)
  • If you use a vanity publisher, you are paying them to do a lot of the work for you up front, then taking your chances on making enough in sales to cover your costs and make a profit.
  • If you use a hybrid publisher, you are sharing the costs of publishing and possibly marketing in exchange for a large percentage of the profits.
  • If you self-publish, you keep 100% of the profit. You can do a lot of the work on your own, but it takes time and some money. There are two areas you should expect to hire out: editing and cover design. You also may need to hire someone to convert your book into the various publishing formats, although you can do that on your own if you are willing to learn how.

Regardless of whether you self-publish or go with a traditional publisher, you will likely need to make some kind of effort at marketing. As a general rule, publishers will want to know about the size of your audience. Audience can be measured in several ways:

  • Website traffic statistics
  • Number of people on your mailing list
  • Followers/friends on social media
  • Sales of existing books

Publishing is a business. Traditional publishers know this, and only publish what they believe they can sell. Self-publishers don’t always see it that way, and end up losing money. Having an audience for your work means having buyers.

Notice also that marketing starts very early in the process—way before the book is even written. Having an audience early can be a big advantage. You can ask them for advice on your work as you write. As they develop an interest in what you are doing, they are likely to become some of your first customers and biggest fans.

About Stephanie Buckwalter
Stephanie Buckwalter is an award-winning author. In addition to writing traditionally published and self-published books, she’s written everything from marketing and training materials to encyclopedia articles (somebody has to write them!). Join her as she launches a new website to help writers in their self-publishing journey: www.bestselfpubhub.com.

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