Interview with Ralph L. Angelo Jr. — The Cagliostro Chronicles
From his hidden lair somewhere on Long Island, NY the adventurer known to the world at large as Ralph L. Angelo, Jr. shares his fantastic life and adventures in thinly veiled novels that are really NOT about him, no, they���re not, really. Truthfully, not about him. Really…
Interview with Ralph L. Angelo Jr.
author of The Cagliostro Chronicles
3/28/2015
Tell us about your newest release or series, and where should a new reader of your books be best suited to begin reading their way through you back catalog?
Hi Lisa, how are you? Thanks for having me back on your blog. My newest release is will be called ‘the Cagliostro Chronicles III-Into the Heart of Evil’ and is almost finished, at least on the writing end of things. Then it will have to be edited. The cover work has already begun. It is a continuation of my sci-fi/space opera saga. This series right now is planned as open ended, but the entire first adventure will culminate in book four. After that the series will take a different turn, but we won’t be able to talk about that for a�� year�� at this point.
The book that came out previously to this one is called ‘Hyperforce’ and is a superhero novel. that came out on September 30th,2014. That is my homage to 1970’s and 80’s superhero comics. It’s full of adventure and action. This one is a roller coaster ride full of fun and excitement. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve written.
It seems writers today have to publish more often than in the past to really make a living. How do you manage your time? What length of works do you write…mostly novels, novellas, short stories, or flash?
Lisa, At this point I’m not making a living doing this, and no one I know of is actually. But I had a VERY promising August and if it had held those types of sales numbers through the rest of the year then yes, I would definitely be making a living selling books I wrote. I published three full length novels this past��year and almost finished a fourth, but I had a bit of burn out going on when fall came along. I should have finished this current book months ago, but I kind of hit a wall and I’ve slowed down quite a bit. I primarily write novels, with a few short stories thrown in during the year. I also wrote four short stories for various anthologies this year besides the three completed novels. For what was essentially my second full year writing professionally, I had a busy one. As far as managing my time, When I get into a writing groove I usually write about a thousand words��in the late afternoon and then another thousand late at night, usually after 10 or 11 PM. I seem to work best at night for some reason.I’m actually writing this at 2 AM.
Authors today seem to need a social media platform that covers everything from Q&A posts to video; what do you think the fledgling authors need to focus on to get on the right track with social media?
Social media is a cruel mistress. from what I have been told you have to be in it to sell books. I tweet a lot using hootsuite and when I get on a roll I post on about 75 Facebook groups, and sometimes I do that several times in a week. I also pay for various social media advertising platforms such as ones found on Fivverr and some of the websites that advertise books and e-books. When I have a new novel coming out I go on the attack with promotion. I don’t know if it works or not, but I have to assume it does.��The bottom line is get your name and novels name out there in social media, but I can’t help but think there is another way myself. I just��haven’t been able to discover it at this point, and believe me, I’ve tried.,
If you could go back in time to when you were just starting out, what advice would you give yourself. What pitfalls would you steer away from?
The greatest advice I could give myself or any fledgling author is to ignore the naysayers. Those that do not have constructive��criticism for your work, but just want to tear it apart. Ignore them as if they do not exist. There’s an old saying ; ‘To thine own self be true.’ That is especially true of authors and something they should all live by. Write books that you would want to read and to hell with anyone who has garbage to say about your work.
How important is it that authors do the Convention circuit? When in a career do you think con appearances become a valuable tool?
Well, I did one con last year, and while I loved the experience, it was on the whole a let down for me. I’m not even certain I’ll be going to the same one again this year. I may be looking for smaller, sci-fi and fantasy oriented cons closer to home this year. I think my name is just not known enough yet, no matter how many books I’ve sold this past year. So when is it important that you go to cons? When you are more well known. At this point I would have to think year three of your authors journey.
Do you consider yourself a indie/traditional/both?
Definitely an Indie author. Hey if some big publishing house wants to offer me a big contract�� I’ll sign on the dotted line in a flash. I’m almost surprised I haven’t been contacted by anyone yet considering how many copies of my ‘Cagliostro Chronicles’ series I’ve sold the past two years.
Getting books into audio is the latest thing that writers seem to be learning how to do. Are your books available in audio format? And if so how was the recording produced?
Not yet, but it’s something I should tackle this year, at least with the two (three counting the new one) ‘Cagliostro Chronicles’ books and ‘Hyperforce’ as well.
If you would like more information about Ralph L. Angelo Jr.��and��his books look on Amazon, Twitter,��Facebook, Pinterest, Blog, or��his website. Also you can read the first interview I had with Ralph here.
