My Personal Path To Publication - Lisa Kessler
Hey gang, today I have a homegirl on the blog. Please welcome a fellow San Diegan, Lisa Kessler. Lisa is the author of the recently released paranormal title, Night Walker, published by Entangled Publishing, this past August. Lisa and I are both from San Diego; she still lives there, while I am transplanted to Los Angeles. Another of my hosted authors is from San Diego as well, Scott Prussing. It's so neat to me to discover authors so close to me through the magic of facebook. It makes me think that I have the chance to meet some of these talented authors someday, perhaps at a convention or signing. With all the conversation that goes on with facebook, I just think it's nice to know some of my contacts might be friends someday. Lisa's book is available now, both in ebook and print form. Now, read about her journey and see how it came to be.
1. How long have you beenwriting? I wrote for fun every night forabout 3 years, and started publishing short stories. It took 10 years for me to get my first novelpublished.
2. Are you published and if so,how long have you been a published author? If not, what's your plan? My debut novel, Night Walker, was justreleased in August. Woot!
3. Which route did you choose forbecoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route,going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish? I self-published one of my longer shortstories just to try it out and learn about indie-publishing. It's been a great experience and also got myname out there with book bloggers before my novel was released. My novel is published by Entangled Publishingin Print and eBook.
4. Why did you choose thatparticular route? I learned from myself-published short, Across the Veil, that editing and formatting are toughand cover design is even tougher. Entangled Publishing also gives me a publicist to help me spread theword about my book.
5. How long did it take you towrite your first novel? I wrote the first draft of Night Walker in 6 months.
6. How long did it take you topublish it? 10 years.
7. How many times did it getrejected before it got published? YikesI lost count! Night Walker is acontemporary paranormal romance, but it also has history woven into thestory. Traditional publishers and agentsdid enjoy the story, but they didn't know how to market it. I got rejections for that, rejections that myhero was too dark, the list goes on and on. I was starting to lose hope in getting it published…
8. Tell us about your worst rejectionletter. I can't think of a really horrible one. It's never fun hearing them tell you theylove the book BUT we're going to have to pass… ugh!
9. What was the best news youever got in your writing life and how did it make you feel? Talking to the acquiring editor at Entangledover the phone and hearing how much she loved my book. It was the sweetest redemption to find apublisher willing to take a chance on the book and me…
10. What's the worst piece ofadvice you ever got? I had an agent oncetell me that foreign settings and heroes never sell… Huh! LOL
11. Now, tell us the best! Thebest advice came from Kelley Armstrong and Barbara Vey who both encouraged meto join RWA. Without the networking andinvolvement in RWA chapters, I might not ever have heard of EntangledPublishing and Night Walker might still be trapped in my computer instead ofout in the world… J
12. What's the one thing you wouldwant an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication? Never give up. I posted a blog about it…http://lisakessler.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/never-give-up/
13. Where can we read your blog?Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?NightWalker is available online everywhere, but here are the links for Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Night-Walker-ebook/dp/B005EYT7JW/ref=pd_sim_kinc3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 and Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-walker-lisa-kessler/1104527195Myblog is: http://LisaKessler.wordpress.com Facebookis: http://facebook.com/LisaKesslerWriter and http://facebook.com/NightSeriesTwitteris: http://twitter.com/LdyDisneyAndmy website is: http://Lisa-Kessler.com
He gave up his soul fora second chance to love her... Twoand a half centuries ago, Calisto Terana lost everything when a zealous priestmurdered the woman he loved. Now, desperate for another chance to love her, hewants redemption for the mistake that cost her life.
She's haunted by dreams of her own death...
Aftercatching her fiance with another woman, Kate Bradley returns to San Diego toclear her head. The last thing she needs is romance, but after meeting Calistoshe's drawn to him in ways she doesn't understand.
They've waited in the shadows for centuries...
Calistohas no doubt Kate is the reincarnation of his lost love, but the FraternidadDel Fuego Santo has a new watcher with dark ambitions of his own. As oldenemies reemerge and a new threat arises, the betrayal that enslaved Calisto tothe night might destroy the only woman he's ever loved again.
Okay, I'm sold!
Plus, if that's Calisto on the cover....need I say more????
And Lisa is more than just a pretty face. She is also contributing a workshop at www.savvyauthors.com along with her husband, Ken Kessler, Social Media for Writers, which begins today. Here is the link: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1049. If you are having trouble mastering the skills, get in touch with Lisa because these platforms are invaluable for the author who is marketing herself or himself. And check out Lisa's book!
1. How long have you beenwriting? I wrote for fun every night forabout 3 years, and started publishing short stories. It took 10 years for me to get my first novelpublished.
2. Are you published and if so,how long have you been a published author? If not, what's your plan? My debut novel, Night Walker, was justreleased in August. Woot!
3. Which route did you choose forbecoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route,going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish? I self-published one of my longer shortstories just to try it out and learn about indie-publishing. It's been a great experience and also got myname out there with book bloggers before my novel was released. My novel is published by Entangled Publishingin Print and eBook.
4. Why did you choose thatparticular route? I learned from myself-published short, Across the Veil, that editing and formatting are toughand cover design is even tougher. Entangled Publishing also gives me a publicist to help me spread theword about my book.
5. How long did it take you towrite your first novel? I wrote the first draft of Night Walker in 6 months.
6. How long did it take you topublish it? 10 years.
7. How many times did it getrejected before it got published? YikesI lost count! Night Walker is acontemporary paranormal romance, but it also has history woven into thestory. Traditional publishers and agentsdid enjoy the story, but they didn't know how to market it. I got rejections for that, rejections that myhero was too dark, the list goes on and on. I was starting to lose hope in getting it published…
8. Tell us about your worst rejectionletter. I can't think of a really horrible one. It's never fun hearing them tell you theylove the book BUT we're going to have to pass… ugh!
9. What was the best news youever got in your writing life and how did it make you feel? Talking to the acquiring editor at Entangledover the phone and hearing how much she loved my book. It was the sweetest redemption to find apublisher willing to take a chance on the book and me…
10. What's the worst piece ofadvice you ever got? I had an agent oncetell me that foreign settings and heroes never sell… Huh! LOL
11. Now, tell us the best! Thebest advice came from Kelley Armstrong and Barbara Vey who both encouraged meto join RWA. Without the networking andinvolvement in RWA chapters, I might not ever have heard of EntangledPublishing and Night Walker might still be trapped in my computer instead ofout in the world… J
12. What's the one thing you wouldwant an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication? Never give up. I posted a blog about it…http://lisakessler.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/never-give-up/
13. Where can we read your blog?Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?NightWalker is available online everywhere, but here are the links for Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Night-Walker-ebook/dp/B005EYT7JW/ref=pd_sim_kinc3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 and Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-walker-lisa-kessler/1104527195Myblog is: http://LisaKessler.wordpress.com Facebookis: http://facebook.com/LisaKesslerWriter and http://facebook.com/NightSeriesTwitteris: http://twitter.com/LdyDisneyAndmy website is: http://Lisa-Kessler.com
He gave up his soul fora second chance to love her... Twoand a half centuries ago, Calisto Terana lost everything when a zealous priestmurdered the woman he loved. Now, desperate for another chance to love her, hewants redemption for the mistake that cost her life. She's haunted by dreams of her own death...
Aftercatching her fiance with another woman, Kate Bradley returns to San Diego toclear her head. The last thing she needs is romance, but after meeting Calistoshe's drawn to him in ways she doesn't understand.
They've waited in the shadows for centuries...
Calistohas no doubt Kate is the reincarnation of his lost love, but the FraternidadDel Fuego Santo has a new watcher with dark ambitions of his own. As oldenemies reemerge and a new threat arises, the betrayal that enslaved Calisto tothe night might destroy the only woman he's ever loved again.
Okay, I'm sold!
Plus, if that's Calisto on the cover....need I say more????
And Lisa is more than just a pretty face. She is also contributing a workshop at www.savvyauthors.com along with her husband, Ken Kessler, Social Media for Writers, which begins today. Here is the link: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1049. If you are having trouble mastering the skills, get in touch with Lisa because these platforms are invaluable for the author who is marketing herself or himself. And check out Lisa's book!
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