2012-11-04

Author Interview: Jennifer Dean



1) What is the name of the book you self-published, and what is it about? 

My novel is Bound.  Once finally back in her hometown of Washington, North Carolina, seventeen-year-old Emma Morgan learns the simple life she knew has changed from the moment she meets the charmingly, bright-eyed Liam Alexander. But when her brother, Sean, voices his disapproval of Liam, Emma’s loyalty stands between her new found curiosity of him. Only the more Emma tries to avoid Liam the more she finds him in her constant company. A risk that will expose his supernatural calling and both of their hearts. But what happens when Emma learns that Sean is the real one keeping secrets...

2) What was the hardest part of self-publishing Bound? 

The hardest part is trying to balance the responsibility of author and publisher. It can be quite a stressful process to manage editing, cover designs, author photos, etc.  At moments I would get lost in my own role, forgetting I was actually the writer too.

3) Why did you decide to self-publish? 

I had always gone back and forth with the idea of self-publishing but ultimately decided against it because of all of the negatives associated with the independent route. Then, finally this time after another rejection came from a publisher, I decided that I was going to go for it. The story felt right and life just seemed too short to wait around for a yes. I knew I had something even if no publisher or agent could see it yet.

4) Was there anything you found surprisingly easy about self-publishing Bound? 

I found the hands on process with my Lulu coordinator quite easy. Coming from the pressure of being my own publisher, it was nice to have someone I could voice my concern with on any issue, whether it be the final cover or manuscript.

5) If you had any advice to give to authors trying to go the self-publishing route, what would it be?

 Don’t fall into the statistics of bad self-published books because of poor pre-publishing. If you are going to take the time and energy to self-publish then really INVEST not just your money but your whole self. Yes, it will be alittle costly but it will be more costly to do the opposite. Throwing your work out to the world unpolished is like throwing a sheep to a pack of wolves.
6) Would you recommend self-publishing to a new author trying to get their book out there? Why or why not? This can be a quite complicated question for an author. I believe that is all in the agenda of the writer. What I will say is that authors should not give up on publishing just because of rejection from traditional publishers. I strongly believe from my own experience that a lot of us have just as much talent as traditionally published authors. We may just have to find another door to get into the party and self-publishing could be that option for new authors.

You can find Bound here.

---

I will be posting a review ASAP, but I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year and I've been super busy. Working on The Forsaken for y'all. In the meantime, enjoy the interviews.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me.I look forward to more interviews with you in the future! :)


    ReplyDelete
  2. No problem, thank you. And likewise :)

    ReplyDelete