The Author Interviews, Round 1: #7: Ann Marie Thomas
Interview 7 is withAnn Marie Thomas, author of Intruders [Flight of the Kestrel book 1] released in April 2016.
You are living in the world from your latest novel. Where are you? What is it like?The main setting in Intruders is a spaceship – the Kestrel. She is part of the Fast Response fleet for the Planetary Alliance for Cooperation and Trade (PACT). She has a crew of eleven. They are a sort of United Nations in space, a diplomatic and emergency service, so life is busy and varied. Stuck together on patrol, the crew don’t always get on, and you need to be adaptable.You are your most recent protagonist. Who are you? What is the first thing you do?My most recent protagonist is in the second book in the series, which I’m editing, but in Intruders the main character is Tabitha Enns, an eighteen year old trainee who gets co-opted due to a crew shortage. She is stunned to find she is the only female on board, and that two of the crew are alien species, and she’s never met an alien before!Who is your favourite author? Why?Isaac Azimov, whose stories I grew up on, and still love. He was such a good writer: plots, characters, technical details, and of course the three laws of robotics. I also love Terry Pratchett and have all the Discworld books, so clever.Where do you get your ideas?I originally made up plots for Star Trek and Babylon 5, with characters and worlds already created. I didn’t want to write fan fiction so I altered them for my own ship.Why do you write?I just can’t help it! My head has been full of stories since I was a child.How do you deal with bad reviews, rejection and criticism?I haven’t had any really bad reviews, but I belong to a writers circle who critique each others’ work and that helps me to learn to take constructive criticism. It also shows how different people can have widely different reactions to the same piece, so you’ll never please all the people all the time. I decided to self publish, so I haven’t had rejections from publishers, but I do need self belief.What do you find difficult about writing?Getting the balance right between promotion and writing. Writing sensory detail.What do you love the most about writing?The satisfaction of crafting a story to catch people’s emotions. I’m learning all the time.Do you ever outsource (editing and cover design) your work?I pay a professional editor but I try to get the manuscript as good as I can first, to keep costs down. I try to come up with my own ideas for covers and just pay someone to Photoshop it, but I did pay an artist to draw the Kestrel, because it will appear on every cover, and there’s no ship like it on the Internet.What is your opinion on the indie vs traditional publishing argument?Traditional publishing gives you validation, which is a huge thing, but if you can believe in yourself, indie publishing is the way to go. You have control, publishing is quick and easy, and the royalties are much better. Even with traditional publishers authors are expected to do a lot of their own promotion, and as an indie you have to do it all, but it’s a steep learning curve.Talk us through your creative process from start to finish.I’m a plotter. I like things planned out, but will often start writing before the plan gets too detailed. I get to know my characters as I write, and often plot twists will occur to me later on. I’ve written many first drafts through NaNoWriMo, but seldom achieve 50,000 words because I run out of plot! That’s when I sit down and do the detailed planning and then play with what I’ve written to add depth and complexity to it. I call that my first draft. Distance is essential then, so I put it down for six weeks and work on something else – I also write factual history stories. Then another edit with fresh eyes, send it to my editor and fix what she has spotted (usually a lot!). The final stage is my beta readers and looking at their comments. In between times I’m planning the book launch and the promotion, including writing the blurb and the media kit.What advice would you give to aspiring writers?Never give up.Find a few people you trust to give you feedback on the quality of your writing and then believe in yourself.Pay for an edit and a good cover, you mustn’t stint on either of those.Give us your top three book marketing/ promotion tips.Make sure you have a good editor. If readers spot spelling or grammar errors or holes in the plot they will never give you another chance and won’t recommend you to others.Don’t try to do it all at once. My social media platform is complicated now, but I started with a blog, then added Twitter and Facebook pages and built up from there.There’s lots of good advice out there, so use the internet and find some good people to follow, especially those with free stuff. Three to get you started: Live Write Thrive by C S Lakin, The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn, and Self Publishing School by Chandler Bolt. Chandler is aimed more at non-fiction, but a lot of his advice, especially about marketing, is very good.Would you agree a good book must withstand more than one read?Definitely. I only keep print books if I know I’ll read them again – frees up shelf space!What do you look for when shopping on Amazon for a Kindle book? Are any of them more important to you than others?Cover / Title / Author / Price / Description / Publisher / Sample Chapter / ReviewsRecommendations are the main way I find books, and then books by authors I’ve already read. When looking at a book I look at price first to see if I can afford it (hooray for Kindle editions which are much cheaper), description to see if I think I’ll like it, then reviews.Do you have a favourite genre?Science fiction.What would it take for you to leave a book review?I review every book I read, on Goodreads and Amazon.After downloading book one of a series for free or discounted on Amazon, do you ever go back and pay more for book two? If not, why?I have several series I’m following. If I really like book one, I will buy them all.Do you ever visit an author's website? If so, what do you look at?Not very often. Sometimes I go to authors’ websites from a Twitter or Facebook recommendation to check them out. I read the bio and book details.If an author offered you a free book, would you sign up to their mailing list?If the book attracted me. You can always unsubscribe later if you don’t like their marketing or the book.Do you ever enter giveaways and/ or order signed copies?No.Are you more likely to buy a book if there are various formats available?I am disabled and only have the use of one hand, so I mostly read on Kindle. If there’s no Kindle format I won’t buy. I do buy print books as gifts.What are the biggest giveaways that a book is self-published?Poor cover is the biggest giveaway, though I have seen some bad ones from big publishers. Once you’ve bought it you’re looking at the quality of the writing and sometimes you can see that it hasn’t had a professional edit.
About Ann:My ambition was always to write science fiction, but, fascinated by Swansea Castle and distracted by a major stroke I researched local history, which culminated in the publication of Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth. The success of Alina led to a second local history book, Broken Reed: The Lords of Gower and King John, and then to The Magna Carta Story to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.During my stroke recovery I wrote poetry, which I published as a collection called My Stroke of Inspiration. Eventually I got back to writing science fiction, a series called Flight of the Kestrel, and the first book Intruders was published in April 2016. To save confusion between two such different genres, my history books are published under Ann Marie Thomas, and my science fiction under A M Thomas.A bit about my latest book: Tabitha Enns is given work experience on board the Kestrel, on the adventure of her life, that will push her to the limit. Tabitha gets to meet her first aliens, but it doesn't go smoothly, and being out in space isn't what she expected. When a hostile alien species are discovered, the Kestrel is sent to make contact, leading the crew – and Tabitha – into danger, and the crew have problems with their friends as well as their enemies. Why did a dying man say, 'butterfly'? Who exactly is the mysterious injured woman, and what is her connection to the hostile aliens threatening not only the Kestrel's crew but the entire galaxy?Please support this author by purchasing a copy of her book as seen below:If you would like to download E. Rachael Hardcastle's free book, please click here:http://books2read.com/findingpandora
You are living in the world from your latest novel. Where are you? What is it like?The main setting in Intruders is a spaceship – the Kestrel. She is part of the Fast Response fleet for the Planetary Alliance for Cooperation and Trade (PACT). She has a crew of eleven. They are a sort of United Nations in space, a diplomatic and emergency service, so life is busy and varied. Stuck together on patrol, the crew don’t always get on, and you need to be adaptable.You are your most recent protagonist. Who are you? What is the first thing you do?My most recent protagonist is in the second book in the series, which I’m editing, but in Intruders the main character is Tabitha Enns, an eighteen year old trainee who gets co-opted due to a crew shortage. She is stunned to find she is the only female on board, and that two of the crew are alien species, and she’s never met an alien before!Who is your favourite author? Why?Isaac Azimov, whose stories I grew up on, and still love. He was such a good writer: plots, characters, technical details, and of course the three laws of robotics. I also love Terry Pratchett and have all the Discworld books, so clever.Where do you get your ideas?I originally made up plots for Star Trek and Babylon 5, with characters and worlds already created. I didn’t want to write fan fiction so I altered them for my own ship.Why do you write?I just can’t help it! My head has been full of stories since I was a child.How do you deal with bad reviews, rejection and criticism?I haven’t had any really bad reviews, but I belong to a writers circle who critique each others’ work and that helps me to learn to take constructive criticism. It also shows how different people can have widely different reactions to the same piece, so you’ll never please all the people all the time. I decided to self publish, so I haven’t had rejections from publishers, but I do need self belief.What do you find difficult about writing?Getting the balance right between promotion and writing. Writing sensory detail.What do you love the most about writing?The satisfaction of crafting a story to catch people’s emotions. I’m learning all the time.Do you ever outsource (editing and cover design) your work?I pay a professional editor but I try to get the manuscript as good as I can first, to keep costs down. I try to come up with my own ideas for covers and just pay someone to Photoshop it, but I did pay an artist to draw the Kestrel, because it will appear on every cover, and there’s no ship like it on the Internet.What is your opinion on the indie vs traditional publishing argument?Traditional publishing gives you validation, which is a huge thing, but if you can believe in yourself, indie publishing is the way to go. You have control, publishing is quick and easy, and the royalties are much better. Even with traditional publishers authors are expected to do a lot of their own promotion, and as an indie you have to do it all, but it’s a steep learning curve.Talk us through your creative process from start to finish.I’m a plotter. I like things planned out, but will often start writing before the plan gets too detailed. I get to know my characters as I write, and often plot twists will occur to me later on. I’ve written many first drafts through NaNoWriMo, but seldom achieve 50,000 words because I run out of plot! That’s when I sit down and do the detailed planning and then play with what I’ve written to add depth and complexity to it. I call that my first draft. Distance is essential then, so I put it down for six weeks and work on something else – I also write factual history stories. Then another edit with fresh eyes, send it to my editor and fix what she has spotted (usually a lot!). The final stage is my beta readers and looking at their comments. In between times I’m planning the book launch and the promotion, including writing the blurb and the media kit.What advice would you give to aspiring writers?Never give up.Find a few people you trust to give you feedback on the quality of your writing and then believe in yourself.Pay for an edit and a good cover, you mustn’t stint on either of those.Give us your top three book marketing/ promotion tips.Make sure you have a good editor. If readers spot spelling or grammar errors or holes in the plot they will never give you another chance and won’t recommend you to others.Don’t try to do it all at once. My social media platform is complicated now, but I started with a blog, then added Twitter and Facebook pages and built up from there.There’s lots of good advice out there, so use the internet and find some good people to follow, especially those with free stuff. Three to get you started: Live Write Thrive by C S Lakin, The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn, and Self Publishing School by Chandler Bolt. Chandler is aimed more at non-fiction, but a lot of his advice, especially about marketing, is very good.Would you agree a good book must withstand more than one read?Definitely. I only keep print books if I know I’ll read them again – frees up shelf space!What do you look for when shopping on Amazon for a Kindle book? Are any of them more important to you than others?Cover / Title / Author / Price / Description / Publisher / Sample Chapter / ReviewsRecommendations are the main way I find books, and then books by authors I’ve already read. When looking at a book I look at price first to see if I can afford it (hooray for Kindle editions which are much cheaper), description to see if I think I’ll like it, then reviews.Do you have a favourite genre?Science fiction.What would it take for you to leave a book review?I review every book I read, on Goodreads and Amazon.After downloading book one of a series for free or discounted on Amazon, do you ever go back and pay more for book two? If not, why?I have several series I’m following. If I really like book one, I will buy them all.Do you ever visit an author's website? If so, what do you look at?Not very often. Sometimes I go to authors’ websites from a Twitter or Facebook recommendation to check them out. I read the bio and book details.If an author offered you a free book, would you sign up to their mailing list?If the book attracted me. You can always unsubscribe later if you don’t like their marketing or the book.Do you ever enter giveaways and/ or order signed copies?No.Are you more likely to buy a book if there are various formats available?I am disabled and only have the use of one hand, so I mostly read on Kindle. If there’s no Kindle format I won’t buy. I do buy print books as gifts.What are the biggest giveaways that a book is self-published?Poor cover is the biggest giveaway, though I have seen some bad ones from big publishers. Once you’ve bought it you’re looking at the quality of the writing and sometimes you can see that it hasn’t had a professional edit.About Ann:My ambition was always to write science fiction, but, fascinated by Swansea Castle and distracted by a major stroke I researched local history, which culminated in the publication of Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth. The success of Alina led to a second local history book, Broken Reed: The Lords of Gower and King John, and then to The Magna Carta Story to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.During my stroke recovery I wrote poetry, which I published as a collection called My Stroke of Inspiration. Eventually I got back to writing science fiction, a series called Flight of the Kestrel, and the first book Intruders was published in April 2016. To save confusion between two such different genres, my history books are published under Ann Marie Thomas, and my science fiction under A M Thomas.A bit about my latest book: Tabitha Enns is given work experience on board the Kestrel, on the adventure of her life, that will push her to the limit. Tabitha gets to meet her first aliens, but it doesn't go smoothly, and being out in space isn't what she expected. When a hostile alien species are discovered, the Kestrel is sent to make contact, leading the crew – and Tabitha – into danger, and the crew have problems with their friends as well as their enemies. Why did a dying man say, 'butterfly'? Who exactly is the mysterious injured woman, and what is her connection to the hostile aliens threatening not only the Kestrel's crew but the entire galaxy?Please support this author by purchasing a copy of her book as seen below:If you would like to download E. Rachael Hardcastle's free book, please click here:http://books2read.com/findingpandora
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