Monday, April 20, 2015

RISING STARS, INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: PIPPA DACOSTA(!!!!)

Happy Monday, peeps!!!
Isn't wonderful to be back at work?


Okay, okay, don't hurt me. Jeez! I bet my Monday sucked worse than yours because *I* just got back from my recent trip to Ireland, the Isle of Man & London(more about that soon) on Saturday.

*sigh*

It was hard to come home, but great to see my kids & sleep in my own damn bed.

Getting up this morning was definitely no fun though.

But.....
            I had a leetle secret

                       to help me get through the day. :D


I'm trying something new on my blog. You wanna know what it is, do ya? Huh??

Do you?







HUH?


Okay, okay----I got the chance to interview one of my FAVORITE AUTHORS EVER!!!!! 




                     ********************************
Pippa DaCosta is the author of the AMAZING Veil Series, the best Urban Fantasy series I have ever read. The kick-ass and often times heart-breaking story of half-demon Muse, this story is can't miss for UF lovers. If you haven't checked it out yet, get on it!!! 

(Links to Pippa's page follow the interview) Without further ado, let's get to it!                     ********************


The Veil Series recently hit a major milestone, over 10,000 copies sold! For any author, that has got to feel amazing, but for an indie, it must be especially sweet. Any advice for those 

who would love to follow in your footsteps?



PIPPA: Gosh, when I started this crazy journey I was happy to sell ten. A year, and over 10,000 sales later, I’m still amazed. I think marketing and persistence are key. A lot of authors fail by uploading their book to Amazon and expecting miracles overnight. Your book can be the next big thing, a modern classic, the ending might be mindblowing, but without marketing and persistence, it’ll soon get buried by the bazillion other books on Amazon, and your masterpiece will flounder. 

Your readers need to find you. And they are out there, but you have to help them. Take off your author hat, and put on a marketing one. Research your audience, find out what they like, roll your sleeves up, and go find them. This doesn’t mean stalking them on Goodreads (DON’T DO THIS). And it doesn’t mean spamming your book on Twitter (DON’T DO THIS). You will need to pay for promotional adverts, run freebie promos, do blog tours, be professional and approachable. FIND YOUR AUDIENCE. Once you’ve found that sweet spot, your readers will spread the word, but again, don’t go expecting miracles. It takes time. Don’t give up. 

Oh, and write more books. 



You are releasing City of Fae with a major publisher, Bloomsbury. (Congrats, by the way!) 

Was that a hard decision to make, as a successful indie author?

PIPPA: Thank you! 

I see it as a natural progression. Bloomsbury Publishing has been around since the early 80’s. They’re an international company with offices all over the world. They have clout (They publish Harry Potter, I mean, c’mon!). For example, Bloomsbury has just sold the rights for City of Fae to Random House Germany, who’ll be publishing City of Fae in paperback next year. They have connections, that little ol’ me at my desktop computer just can’t make. 

But, no, it wasn’t an easy decision to make. They initially approached me for the Veil Series, and I couldn’t bring myself to let go of my baby. That was one of the most difficult decisions of my life; to say no to Bloomsbury. But, remember persistence? I knew they wanted fantasy. I had an idea brewing, and approached them with crazy pitch about the fae living under London. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 



As all readers of the Veil series are painfully aware of, you come up with some truly stunning plot twists. 
Do you outline those sucker punches well in advance of the actual writing or do they just come to you during the process?

PIPPA: I have an overall story arc when I start a project like the Veil Series, but much of the time the characters themselves surprise me. None moreso than Akil. 

That SOB talked me around in circles. Just when I thought I had a handle on him, he’d drop a bombshell and blow my plans out the water. He definitely enjoyed watching me squirm, and swear, and rewrite, to suit HIM. I’ve never loved to hate a character more. 


But, outside of Akil, I’d ask myself what readers would expect to happen, and then do the opposite. I’m evil like that. 


Yes, you ARE!! lol 

You are also a British author, but you chose to set the Veil series very vividly in Boston, Massachusetts, here in the States. Akil especially, really adores Bean Town and lots of the demons seem to agree with him. 

Why Boston in particular and do you know something we don’t?

PIPPA: I holidayed in Boston a few years ago, right after my Dad died of cancer. The city resonated with me at a time when my heart and head were healing. The juxtaposition of sparkling highrises and ramshackle river huts got under my skin. It was my first taste of America, and I fell in love with 
the friendly neighborhood feel. 

Muse does a lot of healing and self-discovery in Boston. She thinks of the city as her home, and later comes to realize how important that is to her. As for Akil, he’s as old as dirt, and yet somehow exquisitely modern; just like Boston. 



Okay, as an author myself, I know how hard it is to choose between your ‘babies’, but c’mon, you MUST have a favorite, so tell us:  Stefan or Akil?












PIPPA: Oh, geez. I always get asked this, and I really can’t answer for certain. The two guys are so very different. Stefan wants to be the good guy, he wants to be the lover, not the fighter, but as we know, events don’t quite work out for him. Akil starts out as the typical villain, and along the way, ends up walking the line between good and bad. If I had to be honest, I’d say give me Akil for a night; we’d have a wild time, but he’s not a keeper. Stefan on the other hand, he deserves a happy ending, even if half-bloods don’t get happy endings. 

Don’t tell Akil I said that.



Don't worry, we'll keep mum. :)
As much as I love, love, love the Veil series, you have a lot of other projects going on right now. City of Fae (May 7th) and Girl From Above (April 29th) are both releasing soon. Can 
you tell me a little about both? 


PIPPA: City of Fae is a new adult fantasy, which basically means the protagonist is 19, and discovering what it means to be in charge of her future. As readers of my work will know, this usually means she’s about to be put through the wringer. Throw in a sexy fae rockstar (readers have compared 
him to Anne Rice’s Lestat, which I love!), a queen right out of spider-infested nightmares and a whole heap of dark secrets, mix them up with some gritty London, and you’ve got one hell of a wild-ride.

 Girl From Above is an urban sci-fi romance
(yes, I made that up), that is to say I’m bringing some urban fantasy awesomeness to the sci-fi genre. The main character, #1001, is sent to kill a smuggler captain, Caleb. Caleb, fresh out of prison, sees her as his next meal ticket. The mayhem ensues when #1001 remembers when she was human, and what Caleb did to her. Girl From Above is darker and dirtier than my previous works, but also a lot of fun.



You and I have talked a bit about your decision to write Girl From Above, which is science fiction. City Of Fae is NA UF and the Veil series is of course, UF. It seems you are a ‘variety is the spice of life’ writer, which I adore. What are the challenges & rewards of working in different genres? 
And do you have a favorite?

PIPPA: I write what I love. I grew up watching Buffy, Farscape, and Supernatural etc. So these genres feel like old friends. After the Veil Series, I needed to clear my head. I was between projects when I decided I wanted to throw caution to the wind and write sci-fi. The challenge is keeping each ‘world’ fresh. I always said I could only work on one project at a time, but that’s obviously not true. It’s easier to work on one project at a time, but limiting too. While I have a book with an editor, I need to be working, so I’ll start on something else, or return to a previous project. 


But, hopping in an out of stories like this can often ‘bleed’ elements from one book into another. Editing usually catches these slip-ups, but it is a challenge. The main reward is reaching new readers. I might write in different genres, but my style remains the same, so I hope to bring sci-fi to urban fantasy readers, and urban fantasy readers to sci-fi. 

So I have to ask, because I know I’m hardly the only one
wondering - have we really seen the last of Muse? 
Also, in the same vein, we have the prologue in Book #4 & a small bit of Book #5 from Akil’s POV. Both were stunning, any plans to do a full-length novel from his perspective?

PIPPA: Akil’s prologue was a few hundred words, and that was difficult enough to write. His head is not a nice place to be. He’s super-complex, multi-layered, and 100% demon. I don’t think he’d let me write his story, and even if I did, I’m not sure it’s one readers would want to read. I never say never, but I don’t know if I could tell Akil’s story. 

I do have plans to explore the five years he 
spent away from Muse prior to Beyond The Veil, Book 1 in the Veil Series, but this will likely be from Nica Harper’s (Stefan’s sister) point of view. It will feature Stefan, Ryder, Sam (Muse’s ‘brief’ boyfriend), and of course, Akil. 


As to if we’ve seen the last of Muse? We’ll have to wait and see ;)

*sigh* 
Okay, one last question for fun, you’re a big Supernatural fan, so if Dean pulled up right now in the Impala and said, “Don’t ask questions, just get it the car.” Would you do it? ;)

PIPPA: Does he have pie?


Of course I’d do it. :D



Bye, Pippa!!!

***********
Find all Pippa's amazing books on her Amazon page(including the amazing Veil series:




And stay tuned for MORE indie author spotlights. 

             COMING SOON!!!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Final Countdown




Yes, it has started for real now, the countdown to Ireland! FIVE DAYS!! I am wigging out just a BIT.


Yes, Dean nailed it, as per usual.


Not just because of the trip though, SOOOOOO many things are happening in my world. I have a senior who was just accepted to the college of his choice, (WooT!) an 8th grader getting ready for high school, another son in his last year of grade school and a little princess with growing pains.

Whew!




Not to mention I am working three writing projects at the SAME TIME. I can't believe I have two series that are on their third book!!! *big, happy smile* I love writing, even though it is exhausting and drives my family (and me) a little crazy. You have to follow your dreams, right?  At least some of them....others...you don't even want to know, trust me.


I have some SUPER exciting things planned for this blog in the near future, too. (How near, you ask??) Try the end of the month.

*sqee*

Things like a special IRISH giveaway, free stuff and an

                                                         AMAZING

                                                                            interview with a rising star.



Plus, be prepared to be inundated with vacation pictures. And a slide show. It'll be awesome, what do you say?



(I AM kidding...about the slideshow.)

And hopefully my pics will not be all of fog and mist and rain, lol.


Be well. And don't burn the house down while I'm gone, alrighty then?