Ann
Charles is a rising star in the publishing world. Just put her name in the Amazon search engine
and you'll see exactly what I mean. She
is also a real treat to interview. If
you want to know about her writing style, just read her answers and you'll
quickly understand why readers are flocking to her books. She has two separate series going, one takes
place in Deadwood, South Dakota, the other in my backyard, Jackrabbit Junction,
Arizona.
Ann
was very gracious enough to spend a little time to play five questions with me
and I think you'll be glad she did:
1- What’s a nice
wholesome girl like you writing about a place called Deadwood, South Dakota?
Okay,
who’s going around spreading rumors that I’m wholesome and nice? Ha!
I
spent summers growing up in and around Deadwood, South Dakota, learning about the
history of the place, daydreaming about what life used to be like in the Black
Hills during the area’s rough and rowdy past. Several years ago, when I was
back in Deadwood visiting my mom, who still lives there, a story idea hit me
about a single mom of twins trying to make it on her own in a town full of
colorful characters and a past that just won’t die. That was the birth of my
Deadwood series, and I’m loving every minute of writing one book after another
with many of the same characters and several new ones appearing along the way.
2- Your
protagonist, Violet Parker, is a single mother of twins—how is Violet different
from you?
While
I’m a mom of two kids, I’m not a single mom, nor are my kids twins (whew!). I
am lucky to get to tag-team with my husband and have down time to keep from
pulling my hair out some days. I can’t imagine how single parents handle the
constant responsibility of be “on” for their kids. I have tons of respect for
parents raising children on their own, and that was at the forefront of my mind
when I came up with Violet. I wanted a heroine whose strength is not
necessarily in her ability to shoot a gun or kick the crap out of a bad guy,
but rather more in her determination to keep standing while taking one hit
after another.
3- Tell us a little
about your career path and how did your relationship with your agent stay
afloat during your Indie phase?
My
agent grew as frustrated as I did with me making it “close” to getting a
contract time and again only to be rejected for a book that wasn’t considered
to be able to draw a big audience. Together, we decided to put it out without
going through a New York publisher and let readers to determine if it could
draw an audience or not. She’s been by my side throughout this whole venture and
is loving seeing my success.
4- Between work and
family, when do you find time to write?
I
don’t sleep much. Ha! No, seriously, I don’t sleep much. I average about five
hours a night for most of the work week, dragging my sorry hiney into work
every day and slamming the caffeine throughout the day and into the evening.
Once a week, I try to get seven or more hours of sleep to catch up a little.
Then I’m back at it. Until I can afford to quit my day job, this is the
routine. I would love to write/publish books faster, but three a year is my
absolute max because my books average 100,000 words.
5- With your
experience writing about marketing, how do you see authors like yourself
finding an audience in the future?
Using
whatever means they can get their hands on. There is no one thing that makes
you successful. Building your empire takes a lot of time and hard work. You
have to build with long-term in mind, focusing on different areas of your
platform at different times. I have done everything from blog tours to writing
articles, winning contests to buying ads. I have also given over 150,000 ebooks
away through Amazon’s Kindle Select program. Somehow, you have to get
visibility, and the competition is fierce for readers’ attention. You’re
competing with television, movies, video games, other books, and more. I joke
about all of the chickens I have sacrificed to the publishing gods to get my
name out there, but it’s tough. Patience, persistence, determination, and a lot
of stubbornness pays off.
Thank
you, Gary, for the fun interview. I appreciate you having me on your site!
