Author Interview: Savannah Rose

I recently interviewed Savannah Rose, a contemporary romance author from Southside, Alabama. She's written two romance novels -- And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is and Whistle Creek -- and shared some great insights about being a Southern writer.

Please tell us briefly about yourself—when you first began writing and a little bit about your novels.

I was born in Alabama and I have always lived in Alabama. I am an identical twin; my other half will tell you she is the baby. We are eleven minutes apart. I write and she draws. I’ve always been interested in writing ever since I was old enough to remember. My mother spent her hard earned money keeping me and my twinsy stocked in notebooks and pencils.

About the time I turned twenty-five or so, I discovered an author by the name of Kaye Gibbons. When I read her first book Ellen Foster, I fell in love with the way she wrote. So Southernly, so normal. I guess I can say normal because she wrote like I spoke. And that was what I wanted to do. I’d struggled to find a voice, but after reading her novel(s), I realized I had a voice. My Southern voice. And so that was how it all started. My novels are always based in the South. And you will always find a set (or two) of twins somewhere in the characters. Just a little tribute to my wonderful twinsy, Pam.

Your first novel, And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is, is available as a paperback, and your second, Whistle Creek, is available only on Kindle. Why did you decide to only use Kindle the second time around?

Well, just to be frank, I had, and continue to have, a bad experience with my publisher. I knew when I began the Whistle Creek series I didn’t want to go back to this particular publisher. In fact, I’m waiting out my contract duration to buy my rights back on And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is. Let me clarify: I believe other people may have a wonderful experience with this particular publisher; however, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.

Okay, so as I was saying, I decided when I began the Whistle Creek series that I wanted to try something different while I searched for another publisher. I researched many eBook publishers and found Kindle to be the easiest and offered a great percentage to the author/publisher. (By the way, Whistle Creek is also available on the Barnes & Nobles website for Nook users.) I will definitely use the eBook option with each book I finish because it’s easy, profitable, and it gets your name out there for others to see.

What are the advantages/disadvantages to also having print copies of your novel?

I have to say, even though I love the ease for readers when it comes to eBooks, there’s nothing like seeing your name and your words in print. I will always be a traditional book reader and writer. It just seems so difficult to get a book printed these days without the publisher demanding money for everything. Hence, the situation I’m in now with my first book.

The Advantages:  The advantages are more traditional reasons to me than anything else. Most collectors would prefer a novel, short story, documentary, or poem collection in print. That’s something to hand down to the kids and grandchildren. I have books that my Mom and my Grandmother bought for me when I was a child and I enjoyed reading with my children and now my grandchildren those same books. Those are moments that you can’t experience with an eReader, in my opinion. Another advantage would be I can donate copies to the local libraries. I haven’t quite figured out how to do this for an eBook.

The Disadvantages: The disadvantages of having print copies? Well, I personally can’t think of a reason other than it’s difficult getting books in print. With so many POD publishers out there, it’s like a shark feeding frenzy. I’m not saying they are all bad, but the ones I’ve reviewed didn’t get very high marks with other authors. And my own experience with the current publisher on And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is expects the authors to pay for EVERYTHING. And not at a very low rate, mind you. I believe an author should be paid and not expect to pay others to print their books. Again, just my opinion.

You live in Alabama and your novels are set in Alabama and Tennessee—do you consider yourself a Southern writer?

Yes, I do. I not only write in a Southern voice, but being from the South, I can honestly say I’m a “Southern Writer.” I love Southern slang. My husband, who was born in Ohio and raised by Northern parents (his father is actually from Scotland), didn’t have the privilege of learning the proper Southern slang and their meanings. I kid him because he can’t hear his father’s accent. It’s a Scottish/Northern accent with a “Y’all” at the end. Quite cute.

My Southern upbringing has a great deal of influence on my writing. I create characters based on my country grandparents and my city grandparents, my cousins, friends, siblings, and my parents. In the South we are exposed to many wonderful sights such as decked-out lawnmowers, four-wheelers, trailers (that would be mobile homes or manufactured homes to others), huge hair, and lots of camouflage (mostly on women in the off seasons). Really, I love living in the South. And even though I’ve dreamt of moving off after I retire, it will be to another Southern state such as Tennessee or Florida. I think the mountains or the beach would be a great place to draw in inspiration for my craft.

What has been the biggest challenge in becoming a professional writer?

Again, I hate to keep going back to the same answer, getting read. It’s difficult when an aspiring author pours her/his heart into their work, then studies how to write the perfect query letter only to send out the perfect query letter never to receive a reply. That’s very difficult and heartbreaking. But I won’t give up and neither should any of you out there. Keep writing, keep sending those perfect query letters, keep researching publishers, and keep publishing through eBook publishers. The bottom line is this: If don’t keep trying, I will never have a chance of succeeding.

What’s been the most rewarding part?

The most rewarding part of writing, for me, is having my friends come up to me and say they can’t wait to read my next book. Whistle Creek is the first book of the Whistle Creek series. This series will include two more books: Christmas By The Creek scheduled to be released December 2011 for Kindle and Nook and Whistle Creek Wedding scheduled to be released Spring 2012 for Kindle and Nook.

I love to hear readers’ feedback. In fact, I encourage them to contact me through email, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or just face to face. I welcome positive and negative feedback. One of my friends, a student from work, came bouncing into my office. I work at the local Community College as an Administrative Assistant for the Technical Division. Anyway, she informed me she checked my book And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is, from the local library and took it to the beach with her on an unexpected weekend getaway. She informed me she never, NEVER, reads Romance. However, she said she couldn’t put it down. She now is waiting for Whistle Creek to come out in paperback J.

What sort of publicity have you done for your novels—obviously, social networking, but any local readings? Has it been hard to do your own marketing?

Word of mouth is always a great publicity tool. Tell a friend, they tell a friend, they tell a friend and so forth. I have created business cards that have all my contact info, publishing info, and the titles of my books on them and I leave them at random places wherever I may go. I could one day be eating lunch out with the hubs and I leave a business card with the tip. That’s always a great trick.

I’ve also talked to the local library about participating in the April 2012 Local Authors Book Fair. I hope to be able to purchase enough And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is copies for that event. See, there’s a con for eBooks right there. How do you sell your eBook at a Book Fair? Well, there’s no guarantee sell, but I plan to promote Whistle Creek by handing out small postcards I created with the blurb, websites for downloading, and price per download. And another thought that crossed my mind while I was creating these postcards, if someone wants a signed copy of Whistle Creek or any of the upcoming Whistle Creek series books, I will sign the postcard. Gotta think outside the box.

The larger bookstores won’t allow me to have book signings or book readings from And That, My Dear, Is What Love Is, because the publisher is a POD and does not distribute to the larger bookstores. I’m still researching how to promote an eBook.

So far, it has been difficult to promote the books through other channels besides social networking. But I plan to be able to accomplish more sales once I have the series completed. And who knows? By then, I may even have a publisher on my side.

Who are some of your favorite Southern authors?

Kaye Gibbons, as I mentioned earlier. She writes lovely books such as Ellen Foster, A Virtuous Woman, and Charms for the Easy Life. Ms. Gibbons was born in Nash County, NC.

Another Southern author I’ve recently discovered doesn’t really write Southern novels per say. He is a Southern writer in the sense he lives in Huntsville, AL. Austin Boyd's Nobody's Child was a prize I won from a blogger bud's site. It is a Christian based novel about a topic that could be controversial to this genre. However, his writing is similar to Kaye Gibbons in the sense he writes with a Southern voice.

And I can't complete this interview without throwing out a piece of trivia. Linda Howard (Linda Howington) is from Alabama. In fact, she lives in Hokes Bluff, AL which is only a short fifteen to twenty minutes from my home. I have also had the privilege to work with her daughter-in-law, Donna Howington, at our local college. I hope to one day get the courage up to ask Donna if her mother-in-law might have the time to read one of my novels. But for now, the dream of her being from my area and breaking through the big house publishing business, keeps my dream of doing the very same thing alive.

Meet the author...

C.C. Jackson is a Louisiana writer who recently self published her young adult novel, Stay. I interviewed Jackson via email to find out more about her writing journey.

Please tell us a little about yourself and your novel.

I grew up in a small town in northern Maryland and moved to southern Louisiana after meeting my husband 15 years ago. I really enjoyed growing up in Maryland but have definitely fallen in love with the deep south.

I wrote my first book when I was in the fourth grade. It was about six orphans that became friends and traveled to Paris. In Paris they rode horses and met Michael Jackson. It was featured in an exhibit at our local mall at the time. My parents still have and cherish that little book.

When I was in the tenth grade, I won a local Sci-Fi writing contest. It was very exciting and really let me know that I could do this. I have been writing and blogging ever since. Stay just sort of came to me one day. I just sat down and started writing all of the things that popped into my head.

It is about a girl named Callie Rose. She grew up in southern Louisiana, leading the life of a normal teenage girl. One night she was stolen away from her home only to be told that she was destined to become queen of the fairies. The story is about her struggle to grow up in a harsh underground environment, putting aside everything that she thought that she wanted for her life prior to being kidnapped. She gets her first dose of love and heartbreak when she finds herself torn between two guys. She must also decide if she is willing to challenge the current queen, who is a tyrant, in order to take her rightful place on the throne.

What made you decide to self publish your novel?

My husband purchased a Nook Color to give to me as a Christmas gift. I think that it is one of the best gifts that he has ever given me. I have always been an avid reader, and I was reading at about a three-book-per-week pace.

It was during the exploration of my new toy that I first discovered Indie Writers. They were putting out all of these really great books themselves. I had written several stories over the years just for fun and thought… Hey, I can do this. That’s when I sat down and started writing Stay. Six weeks later, it was published.

I never even considered submitting to a large publishing house. As an Indie, I was in total control. I could set my own price, or even change it if I chose. I was able to price my book at a price that people could afford, especially in this economy. I didn’t have to sit and wait for years just to see someone else read my work. Self publishing has been very rewarding.

How did you juggle three children, a part-time job, and writing?

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful husband that works very hard so that I only have to work a part-time job. It started out that way when the kids were small. I was able to be at home with them through the week, and just pick up shifts on the weekend. I am also very fortunate to work somewhere that offers such a great shift. I just work two nights, twelve hours each shift. It’s great and works out perfectly for my writing.

Now that the kids are getting a little older, I have all day to write while they are in school. So, I have decided to keep my weekend shift at work and continue to concentrate my free time during the week on my writing.

Your novel is available on Kindle and Nook – could you briefly describe the process of creating an ebook?

After reading some great books by Indie Authors on my Nook, I started paying attention to who they listed as their publisher. Smashwords was the name that kept popping up over and over. When I finally went onto the Smashwords site, I found a great tutorial that talked about formatting and such so that your book could be converted into ebook format. The main things that it talked about were things like paragraph indentions and spacing. It was pretty easy really.

When my book was finally ready to be uploaded, I opted to publish to Kindle and Nook directly. Those are the main sites that your book will sell through and I felt that a one-on-one relationship with those networks was pretty important. I still use Smashwords to publish to iBooks, Kobo, Sony, and a few others.

What has been the biggest challenge in making your novel a reality?

The biggest challenge by far has been marketing. Going from a complete unknown to trying to sell your work is a daily battle. Social networking has been my biggest asset, but it can become very time consuming and leave little time for actual writing if I’m not careful.

What’s been the most rewarding part?

The most rewarding part of getting my work out there is when someone sends me a comment, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, or my website, that says I really loved your book and can’t wait for the sequel. It just gives me such a feeling of satisfaction. That’s what it is all about.

What sort of publicity have you done for your novel – obviously, social networking, but any local readings? Has it been hard to do your own marketing?

The largest part of my publicity has been through social networking. Twitter is my number one asset for getting my name out there. I have also sent copies of my book to several book bloggers for review on their websites. I am hoping that they will play a large part in helping me reach a bigger audience. All of the publicity that I have done has been through the internet in some way. With my book not being available in local book stores, it’s very hard to gain an audience for public readings or book signings.

Are you working on any other writing projects now?

I am working on two projects at the moment. I am working on the sequel to Stay, as well as another young adult paranormal romance. I hope to have them both available in the next few months.

Interview: William Conescu's Debut

Up-and-coming North Carolina author William Conescu will celebrate the release of his first book, Being Written, on September 9. He was the first graduate of N.C. State University's new creative writing M.F.A. program and has been published in several literary journals, including The Gettysburg Review, New Letters, and Green Mountains Review.

We were in some of the same writing workshops at N.C. State, and I caught up with him the other day to ask him about his new novel.

What was the process for getting your novel published?

As you know from our grad school days together, I wrote Being Written as the largest part of my creative writing thesis. Because it was on the short side, I thought I’d market it as the anchor novella in a novella/short story collection. After graduating, I set it aside for about a year and wrote a few more stories, and then I showed the whole package to an agent who specializes in literary fiction. Bill Clegg is a terrific reader and a great agent. He urged me to think of Being Written as a novel and worked with me as I revised and expanded it a bit. By March 2007, we were ready to send the novel out to publishers, and it was sold to Harper Perennial within about two weeks. [...]

In Being Written, you tell the story of a man who knows that he is a minor character in a book (sort of like the movie, Stranger than Fiction, although you had written your idea way before the movie!). How did you get the idea for your novel?

I started out wanting to write a playful work of metafiction about a guy who knows he’s in a novel, but who’s the literary equivalent of a movie extra. His greatest purpose in the universe is to fill out crowd scenes. That idea tied in nicely with another story I’d been wanting to write, one about artistically-minded people in their twenties and thirties trying to figure out how best to live their lives. So these stories collide in Being Written. Daniel, the fellow who’s only been a minor character thus far in his life, works his way into the life of a singer and her “artsy” social circle and goes to some lengths to make himself a vital part of their story. I wrote Daniel’s sections in the second person, which was a lot of fun, so Being Written alternates between third person chapters of “the book” that’s being written and second person chapters that show Daniel’s perception of being written into it.

Growing up in New Orleans and later living in NC, do you consider yourself a "Southern" writer? How do you think living in the South has influenced your writing?

I don’t think someone reading my work would necessarily identify me as a Southern writer, but as you said, I’ve spent most of my life in New Orleans and North Carolina – two places with rich literary traditions. As a writer, I’ve certainly been shaped by these communities, and I’ve benefited from exceptional teachers, first in New Orleans, and then at UNC and NC State.

What are you reading right now?

Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

What is your "guilty pleasure" reading?

I love the comedienne Chelsea Handler, and I’m about to start reading Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea.

What advice would you give to writers who’re considering whether or not to attend an M.F.A. program in creative writing?

I’m someone who really values the creative writing workshop. I value the constructive feedback, I’m motivated by the deadlines, and I think we become better critics of our own writing when we critique and discuss other writers’ works-in-progress. If you value these things, then go for it. In the meantime, you might see if your local university or community college offers a creative writing workshop for continuing education students.

What are you working on now?

I’m hard at work on another novel. I’m not ready to talk about it yet (I haven’t made it to the end yet, so I only think I know what happens!), but it’s going well. I’m excited about it.

Note: If you're interested in checking out William's book before September, you can pre-order it at various websites, such as Amazon.com, Powells.com, etc...

John Ehle

Another Southern writer who's often classified as "regional" is John Ehle, author of more than 15 fiction and nonfiction books in his 50 years of writing. Press 53 out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have republished three of his books: The Land Breakers, The Free Men, and Move Over, Mountain.

Worth checking out!

Review: Ron Rash

The World Made Straight; by Ron Rash, published 2006

Seventeen-year-old Travis Shelton thinks he's struck it rich when he discovers a hoard of marijuana hidden deep in the woods of Madison County, North Carolina. But the plants belong to Carlton Toomey, alternate farmer and community drug dealer, who gets vicious when people mess with his stash... Rejected by his strict father, Travis moves in with an ex-history professor and drug dealer, who begins teaching Travis about the history of Madison County, the Civil War, and Travis's own ancestors who were killed in the Shelton Massacre of 1863.

Ron Rash intertwines suspense, history, and poetic writing in this powerful novel. He's a master of description, and every tobacco leaf and speckled trout is as vivid as a memory. Rash refuses to sugar-coat the South, creating realistic, believable characters who you root for until the very end.

"Southern" writer Kelly Cherry

I had never heard of Kelly Cherry until I read an article about her in Nantahala, a journal I just found browsing online. (This looks like a good journal, by the way, focusing on writers/readers in the Appalachian region. The "Fiction" page wasn't working on my computer, but the other links were.)

Apparently, I should read some of Cherry's work because she sounds pretty good--is a fiction writer, poet, and essayist and has won the Pushcart Prize, the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the PEN/Syndicated Fiction Award. She was born in Louisiana and got her M.F.A. at UNC-Greensboro.

Here's an interview where she talks briefly about being a Southern writer:

http://www.southernscribe.com/zine/authors/Cherry2_Kelly.htm