Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "sign-of-the-times"

I am excited to be introducing you to a great new author I recently met on Twitter. Susan Buchanan's debut novel was released this March, and she has plans to release a new book in September.

I really enjoyed her novel, Sign of the Times, it's definitely one you should all add to your to-read lists here on Goodreads.

Susan has not only agreed to answer my interview questions, but has also generously agreed to give away an ebook copy of Sign of the Times in either pdf, .epub or .prc

To enter for your chance to win, please either 'Like' this blog post or leave a comment for Susan below.







Right, here are Susan's Replies to my interview questions:


Sign of the Times is all about the lives of 12 main characters who each have different signs of the Zodiac. Take us through your thought process when you first thought of writing the book. Did you decide to write a book about 12 characters with different star signs, initially, or was that something that developed as you were writing the book?







I came up with the idea of the 12 characters based on the 12 signs first. I then started researching the traits of each of those signs and built up my characters accordingly, including their jobs, careers, quirks and personalities.


How did you make sure that each character stayed true to the typical characteristics of a particular star sign? Did you base them on people you knew who were that particular sign, or did you have another method?

I did a lot of research! And if I wasn’t sure, then I would go back and check to be sure. No-one is based on anyone I know. For me that was part of the fun, as I got to make everyone up. The only one who is slightly based, from a characteristic point of view, on someone I know, is Holly who has many of the same traits as myself, since I am Sagittarius too. But that’s about as far a parallel as I can draw and Holly herself is not based on me.

Do you read your Horoscope?

No, I used to years ago when I was at school, but haven’t since.

Have you always been interested in Star Signs and Astrology, or is it something you researched for the book?

Nope, no interest in star signs or astrology, just something I liked as an idea and then researched extensively

One of the characters, Holly, is a travel writer and in the book she goes to Italy. Have you ever travelled to the places she visits in the book?

Yes – Bibbiena is a real place and I went there, I think the summer before I started writing Sign of the Times. I rented a villa with some friends and the village completely captivated me. I’ve also been to Lucerne, which is also featured in the book, although it’s Holly’s sister who goes there. I like to write travel sections, if possible, from experience, which is easy enough as I have been lucky enough to have travelled a lot.

From our conversations on Twitter, I'm aware that you are fluent in quite a few languages. Do you have a favourite language that you speak? If so, what is it you like about it?

Yes, I speak 5 languages. Italian is my favourite, closely followed by Spanish. I am almost native speaker level in Italian and I love the fact that I get treated with respect when I go to Italy, as they are so delighted that a foreigner speaks Italian! That’s when they do realise I am not Italian! But, I simply love the sound of the language. For me, it’s the whole package that counts - the language, the culture, the people. That’s why I love Italian and Italy so much.

Given that you know quite a few languages, do you have any plans to translate your book into other languages?

No, it’s not in the pipeline. I’d still need to pay someone to translate my book(s), as although I am very fluent, the rule is you only translate from your native language into the foreign language. If any of my books ever seriously take off, then of course I will look at it again.


Although your character, Holly, is a Sagittarius, I've heard you say that she is not based on you. As a writer, I know that we put a bit of ourselves in every character we write. Which one of the characters in Sign of the Times would you say you can relate to the most and why?





Yes, as I mentioned earlier, Holly is similar to me, in that she is a typical Sagittarius. Truly none of my characters are based on me, although some scenes or anecdotes in some of each character’s chapters could be based on things that have happened to me. For example, when Jennifer is buying stuff off Ebay, some of those items were items I genuinely did sell on Ebay! A particular anecdote about Maggie’s mother is based on my mother – that kind of thing.


If you had to spend a day with one of the characters from Sign of the Times, which one would it be and why?

Mmmm…probably Ben – he is lovely. Very good looking in a rugged, sexy, mountain-rescue volunteer way, kind, hard-working and knows how to treat a girl!

At the end of your book, it states that you will be writing a sequel. I have to say, I was very happy when I read that. I think your book really lets us get to know all the main characters well, and I'd love to follow them and find out what happens to them. Do you think you'll end up writing a series of books, or are you only planning a sequel at the moment?

Thanks – I’m glad you feel that way. As you might remember, Sign of the Times was originally meant as a stand-alone novel. Only because of the overwhelming support from readers, did I decide to write a sequel. It has been pointed out to me that there is so much material in the original novel, that I could in fact write several additional books. I think I will write the sequel, for which I already have several ideas and then see how it goes. Let’s put it this way, I am not ruling out a series!

The Dating Game, your next novel, is due to be published in September. Can you tell us a little bit about that and your inspiration for the story?

Yes, hopefully I can get it out for Sep 30th. The Dating Game is about Recruitment Consultant, Gill, who joins a dating agency for professional people, as her love life is a complete disaster area. The idea comes from a friend of mine, who did just such a thing a few years ago. However, that’s where the similarity ends. Gill’s experience is much more positive, in some ways, than my friend’s was.
Here’s a little mini-blurb for The Dating Game:-

Workaholic recruitment consultant, Gill McFadden, is sick of her friends trying to match-make for her. Up until now her love life has been a disaster and she’s going through a drier spell than the Sahara desert. Seeing an ad on a bus one day, she decides to visit Happy Ever After dating agency. Before long she is experiencing laughs, lust and… could it be love? But like everything in Gill’s life, nothing is straightforward and she ends up wondering exactly who she can trust.

Are you reading a book at the moment?

I’m reading a few books at the moment . I tend to do that…
Today I have been reading on Kindle, Build A Man by Talli Roland – a fluffy, funny, chick-lit book
Am also reading the paperback of I Remember You by Harriet Evans, which is good, but I have been reading mainly on Kindle recently
And lastly I am reading from a crime/jewel heist/security breach perspective, Seumas Gallacher’s The Violin Man's Legacy

Which well-known authors do you admire and why?

Maeve Binchy, as she writes such well-rounded characters and she was a great inspiration for how I wanted my characters to come across to the readers

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, as he really takes me deep into Barcelona, which I already know well, with his Shadow in the Wind series.

Dorothy Koomson as I love her writing style and breadth of subject matter – contemporary fiction as opposed to chick-lit.

Judi Picoult, I love how she always has a moral dilemma at the root of her novel.

Do you have any advice you can give to someone who may be thinking of self-publishing a book?

Do it! But be prepared to work harder than you’ve worked before – seriously!
Check out my blog – www.susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk for past posts on being an indie writer and marketing your novel.

Work out how to balance your time. Being an indie writer is a bit like becoming a parent for the first time (for the record, I don’t have any kids, but this is the analogy I am drawing!). You thought your life was going to change maybe 50%, but your life changes 99.9%

I know that you love classical music. Do you have a favourite piece of music?

I do. My fave piece is Shostakovich’s Romance.

How important are reviews to you?

Reviews are very important in some ways. When you are an author selling a book through Amazon, sales boost your rankings, but the way Amazon’s calculations work, so do positive reviews. So, I would always say, if you enjoy a book and you’re happy to do so, please leave a review for readers and the author to enjoy. Of course, everyone gets bad reviews and I read all of my reviews good and bad. But, the bottom line is you can’t please everyone. Everyone has different tastes. Personally, when I look at buying books, I generally don’t read reviews. I read the synopsis/product description and make up my own mind.

Sign of the Times is only available as an ebook on Kindle at the moment. Do you have plans to make it available in other formats or in paperback?

I am still toying with the idea of bringing out a paperback, but it has had to take a back seat for now until I get The Dating Game out as an ebook. I did look into Createspace earlier in the year, but it was so non-user friendly for UK authors. I’ve been reliably informed this has been dramatically improved, so will be looking into it again in a few months. I was also asked today about Sign of the Times for a Sony ereader. I hadn’t really given much thought to Sony ereaders (apart from almost buying one a few years ago), nor Nook etc. As I am part of Amazon KDP Select (which ties me in exclusively to Amazon for 90 day periods), there’s not really much I can do on that for now.

You have enrolled in KDP Select on Amazon. From your experience with this, would you encourage other authors to enroll their books?

Yes, although the situation is forever changing. A good friend of mine recently had an excellent free promo which is the main carrot for using KDP Select. I also had a lot of success with the programme following my promo in May, so yes, I can say that KDP Select works. One point to note though, don’t think just by enrolling in KDP Select that your book will start figuratively flying off the shelves. It won’t. You will have to market it – heavily.

Thanks for being a great guest, Sooz!

You can keep up with Susan's news on her blog: http://www.susancbuchanan.blogspot.co...

And her Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/susan.buchana...

Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Susan_Buchanan

You can buy her book on Kindle at the following links:

http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other .com)

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Remember to 'like' this post or leave a comment below for your chance to win an ebook copy of Sign of the Times
A winner will be chosen on 16th August 2012.

Coincidences will be available free on all the worldwide Amazon sites from Sunday 23rd September - Tuesday 25th September 2012!

This will be the last chance for all you Kindle users to download the book for free. After this promo I will be taking the book out of the KDP Select Programme so I can make it more widely available e.g. for Nook, Kobo etc.

I'd be really grateful if all of you could let your friends know about the promotion. Even if you've already downloaded the book, you can still help by tweeting the links on the free days, and posting a link on your Facebook pages.

Thank you all for your continued support!

While I'm on the subject of free downloads, it just so happens that there are a couple of other great books you can download for no pennies this weekend!

From Friday 21st September - Sunday 23rd September 2012, make sure you are ready to download two of the best books I've read recently:


Sign of the Times by Susan Buchanan

and

You Wish... by Terry Tyler


Both books are fabulous and must reads.


Here are all the links you'll need:

Coincidences:



Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Coincidences-eb...

Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coincidences-...

Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Coincidences-ebo...

Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Coincidences-ebo...

Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Coincidences-ebo...

Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Coincidences-ebo...


You Wish...



Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/You-Wish-ebook/...

Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Wish-eboo...

Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/You-Wish-ebook/d...

Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/You-Wish-ebook/d...

Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/You-Wish-ebook/d...

Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/You-Wish-ebook/d...

Sign of the Times





Amazon .com http://www.amazon.com/Sign-of-the-Tim...

Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sign-of-the-T...

Amazon France http://www.amazon.fr/Sign-of-the-Time...

Amazon Germany http://www.amazon.de/Sign-of-the-Time...

Amazon Italy http://www.amazon.it/Sign-of-the-Time...

Amazon Spain http://www.amazon.es/Sign-of-the-Time...

Happy downloading!!

I've been interviewed by one of my favourite authors, Susan Buchanan. As those of you who follow my blog will know already, I really enjoyed Susan's book Sign of the Times, and am looking forward to her new release The Dating Game, coming in early November.

Susan has read two of my books; Coincidences, which I believe she enjoyed, and she was also one of my beta readers for my upcoming novel, Haunted.

After reading those, Susan had some questions for me about the books. She also likes to ask 'just for fun' questions, so she had me talking about Halloween and rock stars, too, among other things.

You can check out the interview here: http://www.susancbuchanan.blogspot.co...

Big THANKS to Susan for this promotional opportunity!

My good friend and fellow author, Susan Buchanan, is releasing her second novel, The Dating Game on Friday 2nd November. I met Susan on Twitter and was very impressed with her debut novel Sign of the Times. I am looking forward to her latest release as I am sure it will be fab!

Susan's launch party for The Dating Game will run from 2nd-10th November. You can join in the fun by joining the party here on Facebook: The Dating Game Launch Party

During the launch, you will have the chance to enter to win 1 of 50 e-books by various authors. Included is the chance to win one of my books. The winner will get to choose which one of my books he or she wants:






Or you could even choose my latest soon-to-be-released novel, "Haunted"!

To enter the contest, all you need to do is go to Susan's blog, from Friday, and follow the instructions: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/

If you buy a copy of "The Dating Game", you can win even more prizes, including Amazon vouchers!

I am pleased to welcome back to my blog, author, Susan Buchanan. I met Susan on Twitter last year and interviewed her here after I read her excellent debut novel, Sign of the Times. For those of you who missed that interview, here's a link: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...






I recently read Susan's second novel, The Dating Game, and invited her back here for a chat.

Susan has also generously agreed to give away an e-book copy of The Dating Game to one of my blog followers. To enter all you need to do is leave a comment below, or 'like' this post. Winners will be picked on 25th January 2013.



Here's the interview!

Having read both your books, Sign of the Times and The Dating Game, one thing that strikes me about your novels is that there are lots of characters involved. In Sign of the Times (SOTT) you had 12 main characters all with different star signs and then there were the friends and family and acquaintances of those characters; and in The Dating Game (TDG) you have Gill and her 3 best friends, as well as all her dates, and work colleagues, and various other characters. I think all your characters are believable and well developed. This is no mean feat. Do you plan each character in detail before you write the book? Take us through your method for making sure that you can keep up with all the different characters in your books.

Yes, there are rather a lot of characters, particularly and understandably in SOTT. I started off with SOTT, just knowing the characters and building on them, but as I went along, I didn't want to get confused, so I kept a document with info on them. When I wrote The Dating Game, I gave each character a Word doc and filled in what I knew of them at the beginning and kept updating each sheet daily, as I learned things about the characters.

That's a great idea, I may have to nick that as I am always forgetting things about my characters, and that leads to headaches when I'm editing!!

In TDG, Gill joins a professional dating agency. Have you or anyone you know ever joined one of those types of agencies? If not, how did you go about researching how they work?

I haven't personally, but the idea for The Dating Game came from a friend who had joined just such an agency in Glasgow. Although none of her experiences are those Gill had (quite frankly my friend thought it was a complete waste of time and pretty dire!) some of the anecdotal detail I took from her.

In your book, Gill is sent a profile for each potential date, and then asked whether she wants to go on a date with him. I know you are a Rupert Penry-Jones fan. If you were writing a profile for him, what would it say?



Hmm. Now this is a tough one, as obviously Rupert is married. So let's have a little bit of poetic licence and say he isn't married. Great question!

Name: Rupert Penry Jones

Age: 42

Lives: Hampshire

Occupation: Actor - best known for role of Adam Carter in Spooks. Currently filming series 4 of Whitechapel. Many know me from the courtroom drama, Silk

Qualifications: Attended Dulwich College and Bristol Old Vic

Height: 6’ 1’

Marital status: Single

Smoker: No

Interests: Swimming, dog-walking, evenings in with friends, playing pool, wine tasting, playing football.

Further information: My parents, my brother and sister-in-law are all actors. I'd like to break into films, but although I have had some excellent roles, it's more difficult than you would think and acting is bloomin' hard work.

Looking to meet:
a) An intelligent, attractive lady who likes sport and trying new activities. Would be an advantage if she enjoyed the theatre. Must love dogs.
b)*love Scottish accents and blondes, so my ideal woman would be an author who is blonde and Scottish. I realise I am not asking for much!

*well, I can dream, can't I?

LOL, that's excellent!


In your first novel, some of the scenes took place in Italy, and in The Dating Game there are scenes that take place in Barcelona. I know that you are well travelled. If money was no object and you could plan your perfect getaway, where would you go and what would you do?

Oh Lord. So many places. I would probably want to do a round the world trip, taking in New Zealand (Marlborough wine country), Bora Bora (as it has always sounded really cool to me), Malaysia (I've always wanted to go to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur), the Maldives (have always wanted to go, but we keep finding an alternate holiday destination), Reykjavik or Northern Finland for the Northern Lights, The Great Wall of China and I'd love to go to Machu Picchu in Peru, to name but a few!




Can I come? LOL

I know you're working on a sequel to Sign of the Times. I would also personally like to see a sequel to The Dating Game. Just as with SOTT, you have introduced us to so many likeable characters, I want to know what happens to them! Do you have any plans for a sequel?

At the moment, no plans for a sequel to The Dating Game, as I am already writing What If, my third novel, which I hope to finish by the end of March (the first draft). I had hoped to launch it in the Spring, but I am 6 months pregnant and expect to be MIA until about June! So likelihood is it will launch in the autumn. The sequel to Sign of the Times will follow in 2014 and quite frankly, I have another two books minimum planned after that.


Which book was harder to write, SOTT or TDG, and why?

SOTT, simply due to chronology, the amount of characters involved and the fact that it was written over such a long period of time. The book was initially a lot longer (I am often told I could have made a book about each character, so it's not really surprising!)

I think that too; you could have a novel based on each of the characters in that book!

How long did it take you to write TDG?

A lot less time than SOTT! I started writing full-time (more or less) in March 2012, after I published SOTT. Had already written three chapters of The Dating Game three years ago. All in all it took me 7 months to write, edit and launch it. But believe me, I am a glutton for punishment and I was working ridiculous hours to get it finished. I still really enjoyed it, though, plus I had learned SOOO much from writing Sign of the Times. That helped a lot.

I know that both your books are only available on Kindle at the moment. Do you have plans to make them more widely available for other e-readers, or as paperback books?

Hmm. Not really, not at the moment. My priority is currently to write and market the e-books, as I definitely see that as the future, but it's true that there is no greater lure than the thought of being able to touch your own books! I think it's not going to happen this year, though. With the baby coming and "What if" to write and publish, I think if I have bitten off enough!

Very true!


If you were single and joined a dating agency and you were sent the profiles that Gill was sent, which candidate do you think you'd get on most with?

Wow! The thing is, all of them have a little something about them...but my favourites would be Anton (am a sucker for accents and he loves classical music and he's tall!) Also Liam, he's decent, sexy, can cook and is a bit of a hero!


What are you working on at the moment?

What If, novel number three. I'd always had this idea of how my life would be if I hadn't split up with various partners over the years, hadn't chucked various jobs, met certain people and so forth. What If combines all of that, about protagonist Cameron. I'm excited about it as I get to get inside a man's head again (not sure that's wise!). I will be running parts of the story and dialogue past some male friends before I publish it, for extra realism!

Do you have any other news for your readers?

To be honest, not really, as I think I've probably given everything away above! Me and my big mouth! Rest assured plenty will be happening with the writing and on the blog between now and the end of March. In fact, I am doing a blog hop from 17th-21st January, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Maria. Always a pleasure. Sooz

Thanks for answering my questions, Sooz! I hope all goes smoothly with the new baby, and the next book. I look forward to reading more of your work!

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If you'd like the chance to win a copy of The Dating Game, don't forget to 'like' this interview, or leave a comment below. Good luck!

My latest short story, "Sign of the Times" is now available to pre-order on Kindle at Amazon worldwide.

About the story:

"Sign of the Times" is the third story from the Pieces of a Rainbow collection. Originally published in 2009 and now out of print, these stories are being given new life. You can find the first two stories, "Seeing Red" and "Fire" on Kindle. Look out for more stories soon.

Quote from "Sign of the Times":

"These sunny flowers always come to say hello when the winter is over; it’s like a message that no matter how hard life gets there will always be something beautiful to look forward to."



Buy a copy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXQPYXVS

My latest short story, "Sign of the Times" is now available on Kindle at Amazon worldwide.

About the story:

"Sign of the Times" is the third story from the Pieces of a Rainbow collection. Originally published in 2009 and now out of print, these stories are being given new life.

Quote from "Sign of the Times":

"These sunny flowers always come to say hello when the winter is over; it’s like a message that no matter how hard life gets there will always be something beautiful to look forward to."



Buy a copy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXQPYXVS


You can purchase the first two stories from the Pieces of a Rainbow collection at Amazon:

Seeing Red: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQ7F83XN

Fire: /www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSS5FYMN

My latest short story, "Envy", will be available to purchase on Kindle at Amazon on 22 May 2023. You can pre-order it now!

Envy is the fourth story from the "Pieces of the Rainbow" collection, which I am currently re-editing. The stories were originally released as a collection in 2009. That version is now out of print.

I'm hoping to release the whole collection on paperback eventually, when I have had time to re-edit all the stories. For now, I am releasing them one story at a time on Kindle.

About Envy:
Envy is Sandra and Mima's story. They first met at primary school and were best friends. This tale tells the story of how jealousy ended their friendship, and how perception and reality are often at odds.



Pre-order Envy:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Envy-Maria-Sav...
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Envy-Maria-S...

Other stories in the collection:

The fifth story from my "Pieces of a Rainbow" collection has now been released. The story FOREVER BLUE is a romantic tale that takes a look at lost love and how one moment can remain with us forever. It's probably my favourite story of the whole collection.

It's available on Kindle for just 99c/78p or the equivalent currency worldwide.

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C8F2NRCZ/r
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8F2NRCZ/r





The other four stories from the collection that have been released so far are also available on Kindle as individual stories.








My plan for the final two stories is to edit them and then release them as part of the paperback that I hope to release later this year. Also included in the paperback version will be some bonus stories, including two of the original drafts that never made it into the collection when it was first published in 2009.

I'll post some more news when I have it. I hope you are enjoying the stories so far.