Author Interview with John and Toni Rakestraw

Hello Readers, sorry it’s been a bit before a new interview came up. My whole family got sick with the flu…yuck. I’m not going to go into that right now because we have another awesome interview to get on with!

Today we have John and Toni Rakestraw who have written a book together called Titanic Deception, which launched April 15th! You can check out their book at Amazon.com.

Congrats John and Toni!

Here is the synopsis of their book…

Michael Kearney works for a large Wall Street firm. He overhears a story about why the Titanic really sunk, and decides to look into it more himself. He reads his great-grandmother’s diary, which tells her tale of surviving the wreck. He finds some corroboration of the story and creates a blog to share the findings with the world. He is contacted by Soft Kitty, an ex-CIA conspiracy theorist, who tells him he’d better stop or he’ll put himself in danger. Michael teams up with Soft Kitty, and together they take on Michael’s boss, who actually runs a company that fixes things for the rich and powerful. Afraid of being exposed, his boss, Douglas Chandler, goes after Michael in any way he can to get ahold of the diary. Michael finds his routine life completely turned on its ear as he tries to evade capture and certain death while keeping the diary safe.

The story wends its way from 1912 to present day, weaving the stories of Alice, Michael’s great-grandmother, and Michael together. Both find love, and must do what they can to protect it in the face of great odds they never imagined.

And now the interview!

Do you prefer YA or Adult?

We like to read both types. For example, we read many YA books out loud to the family; it’s fun to share a book this way, and we’ve been doing it for years. Some of our favorites have been the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan.

What is your opinion on Indie publishers versus Self publishing?

Authors have a plethora of choices now, so they can choose what fits them best. Some do best self-publishing, while others prefer small indie publishers or going for a contract with the big publishers. We don’t think the author’s choice reflects on the quality of their work… just what works best for them. We’re self-publishing; first of all because it lets us use the launch date we wanted, but mostly because it puts us in charge of all aspects of our book.

How did you get started?

This is where we say we’ve been writing ever since we could pick up a pencil, right? I think we should answer this one individually.

Toni: I started writing stories in elementary school, and I had a couple of poems accepted into anthologies, but I didn’t write a lot until a few years ago, when I took a job ghostwriting web content. I burned out on that in a few years. I started playing around with a few ideas in my head and got a short story published in an anthology at the end of 2011. Our current book started as a project for NaNoWriMo. I admit I struggled with it; thank goodness John was there to help me work through all the tangles that got in my way. This is our debut book.

John: I came to the game later in life… I had a reading problem in grade school; I have great comprehension, I just couldn’t read all the words. I would quickly look at a piece and get the idea. But, if you had me read it out loud to you… well, it wasn’t pleasant. I got help in fourth grade by a wonderful reading teacher. By sixth grade, I was reading at a high school level. At that moment, I started to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, this was my first novel. I had read comic books, short stories… but this was my first venture into the REAL book section in the library. My world was about to change. I had such vivid movies come to life in my head. People and places formed out of thin air. They became so real to me, as if they were my friends and family. I got to the end of the story and tears came to my eyes… not because how this wonderful story ended, it ended beautifully. I was sad that it was over. I would never see or hear any more about these new friends. I went back to the library, asking if there was more to this story. Was this all there was? The lady at the desk sadly looked me in the eyes and said… “No, that is all there is for that story.” She then got up and walked around that desk and turned me around, so that I could see the rest of the library. She stood behind me and said these magical words, “Right now, on all those shelves, are more worlds, friends and family, just waiting for YOU. They’ve been sitting there in anticipation… knowing one day you would come looking for them. Go, a lifetime awaits you.”

Because of my early issues and dyslexia, my writing skills sucked. I lost those years where that gets cemented into your head. Writing was a chore; I would panic at the idea of writing. Then a magical thing came into my life, computers with word processors. In 1989, I was introduced to an Apple IIe in college for the first time. You could write and save it on a floppy disk. No more crossing out stuff, no more tearing the pages out of a note book and throwing it away. You could just write, put all your thoughts down, and then go back and edit later! Over the next 20 years, Toni taught me how to believe in my writing and learn all those rules of grammar that I ran from before. Plus, I have a world class editor in the house, my wife,Toni, and her protégé, our oldest son, Callum, to keep me in line. The next step was writing a book.

Give us a sample of your work.

Sylvia was finishing her shift at the park in the food tent. She wrapped up the last of the leftovers and put them on the cart to be transported back to the storage facility. She grabbed a wet sponge and wiped down all the tables.

“Good night, Sylvia,” Marilyn called as she ducked out of the tent. Sylvia sighed. Looked like she’d be the one taking the cart back to storage. Again. She put the sponge away and washed her hands. She reached into her pocket and pulled her gloves out. The air was getting nippy; she didn’t want her fingers to get too cold. The soft wool felt good on her hands. She pulled her hat onto her head, then grabbed the cart and pushed it out of the tent.

A few people waved at her as she passed by on her way to the park entrance. She stopped for a moment to push a stray curl out of her eyes. The wind was picking up tonight. The bare branches danced above her. It was going to be a cold night. The sky was clear and a couple stars twinkled down, crystal clear in the chilly air. As she pushed the cart out of the park entrance, she found herself thinking back to the millions of stars she had enjoyed as a kid when she lived in Nebraska. These city lights just didn’t allow them to show like she remembered them. Behind her, unnoticed, Ferguson trailed in the shadows.

She turned the corner, still lost in thought. She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and the cart crashed onto its side, food spilling everywhere. Suddenly she was in the dark and she felt hands lifting her bodily up and tossing her onto a padded seat. A body slid in next to her and a car door slammed. Her heart beat wildly as she tried to make sense of the past few seconds. She heard a shout outside the car, then the sound of hands banging on the window. Was that Jim’s voice? What was he doing here? He’d left the food tent before she had. The window whirred as it lowered.

“What are you doing?” Ferguson shouted. “I wasn’t told about this! Where are you taking her?”

“Looks like you’re left out in the cold, buddy,” a voice next to her said, then she heard two shots erupt from the seat beside her. After a few moments, the window closed. Outside the car, Jim Ferguson toppled to the sidewalk. Blood pooled beneath his head as his eyes stared sightlessly at the sky. An item clattered to the ground beside him, rolling into the pool of blood.

Do you think that the future is ebook or print?

Toni: Probably ebooks, but I hope print never goes out of style.

John: Paperbacks, hardcover books and unbound tomes are flawless amusement. They are a great way to cure boredom. You have no batteries, cords, ear buds; they are easy on the eyes, you can get hours of enjoyment from them, and best of all, there are no commercials! They are some of the best movies I have watched in the theatre of my mind. I didn’t have to wait in huge lines and buy overpriced treats. I can pick up a book anytime and be transported to an alien world, or run through the streets of London with Holmes and Watson. I have had the great pleasure to be entertained beyond my wildest dreams, all from the words that have been placed on simple paper.

I can see ebooks being the new norm… but, in the last 30 years, I’ve seen the storage of electronic data go through many different media. There has been cassette tapes, 5-1/4 and 3-1/2 inch floppies, hard drives, optical drives, CDs, DVDs, memory sticks, SD cards, thumb drives and now Flash drives for netbooks.

In that same amount time, I have bought hundreds of paper books; just in the last few weeks I purchased new paper books. These same paper books have been around for hundreds of years and they need no new media reader. AlI you need to do is learn to read. They can be opened by anyone and enjoyed by all.

That is the differance of books and handwritten media. They are almost timeless. Our instant e-books and photos are limited by their technology short comings and short life span.

Have blog tours helped you reach more fans?

We haven’t done too many blogs yet, but we are happily anticipating that we may reach some new readers this way.

Do you prefer technical or free style writing?

I just like to write. I love when scenes begin to unfold beneath my fingers. Not so much when I have to pull them out, kicking and screaming. I have done lots of technical writing, and while it gets the job done, I prefer to just let it flow.

Dream place to live and why?

Toni: I would love to live in the UK someday. I love the rugged coastline and beautiful scenery. Instead, I get my dose of the UK from British television. Both John and I have ancestral roots in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

John: I thought by this time we would have flying cars and weekend golf trips to Mars… since that hasn’t happened, the UK fits wonderfully with my laidback style.

Where can we find your page/address?

Our author site is Rakestraw Reads (http://rakestrawreads.com). We also have our editorial site, Rakestraw Book Design (http://rakestrawbookdesign.com). On Facebook, we have a page dedicated to Titanic Deception: http://www.facebook.com/TitanicDeception

facebook or google+? Who wins in your book?

Toni: This is where we part company. I love Facebook, and I’m learning to appreciate Twitter. John has loved Google+ since the beginning, and he really makes it work.

John: I like Google+ and Twitter for business, and Facebook is for my friends and family.

Best books you have read.

Toni’s faves: All the Harry Potter books. They entranced me completely. Others that remain in my library for repeated reading include The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

John’s faves: Rogue’s Curse by Jason Beymer, any book by Harry Harrison, love Clive Cussler, Shakespeare, all the writers that I have interviewed and of course the list that Toni mentioned.

Who does your cover art? Do you design it yourself?

Toni: Our daughter, Morwenna Rakestraw, designed our cover art. We helped pick out the stock images, but it is her artistry that blended them all together to create the cover for Titanic Deception. She found the right font and the best way to display the title so it is easily read at any size, yet still fits the story.

We got the cover printed and framed to hang on our wall. May be a bit silly, but it’s wonderful to be able to admire her work whenever we walk by.

John: I think that the artist who did our cover is magnificent and everyone should hire her! I’m also talking as a proud father, which makes no difference when it comes to how wonderful she is as an artist.

Are you on goodreads? If so, please share your page address and has it helped you reach more fans?

Here is Toni’s Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/48...

To be honest, I’m still figuring Goodreads out. If any readers have tips to share, I’d love to hear them!

How do you feel about all the bookstores starting to close? Do you think that it is just the corporate ones in trouble? Or do you feel that the small/independent ones are in danger too?

Toni: It makes me sad that bookstores are closing; we have spent many enjoyable hours browsing through them before making our final choices. We’ve lost both small and large bookstores in our community. I think the independent bookstores that are most successful are the ones that make an effort to make a niche for themselves. Maybe they host a lot of book signings, provide entertainment and readings, or make room for local writers’ groups. I hope that independent bookstores would be open to hosting signings with more indie writers as small publishers and self-publishing becomes the norm.

John: I too hate to see any business close. Bookstores hold a special place in my life, especially indie bookstores. That is where I, as a teenager, found people who played D & D and many different boardgames, and who had the same love of books as me! These wonderful shops in the 1970′s and 1980′s were our social media hubs. It’s a shame that the geeks who started these wonderful stores gave birth to the geeks who moved their customers to the internet and closed them down. Amazon is wonderful for writers; we have gained a distribution channel for indie authors and publishers. We can start writing a book in November and publish it by April. But, at the same time we have lost our local bookstore.

The hard part is… how many of these indie bookstores really support local indie writers? Did they stock their books? Did they open their doors to the self-published authors out there? I know they only have so much space for books, and the readers want the best sellers, which sell, whereas an unknown writer is a risk. Special markets can bring you customers, but named authors sell books. Plus, when you can buy books at a great price online, the selection is huge, shelf space isn’t an issue online and you can buy 24/7 every day of the year. It is hard to compete with that. I truly hope, as Toni has written, that the indie can find their niche.