Welcome, J.B. Hawker!
Today I’m talking to author J.B. Hawker. I’m right in the middle of reading A Body in the Belfry, the second book in her “First Ladies Club” series, coming December 1, 2015, and I’m loving it! Welcome, J.B.!
How long have you been writing? – I’ve been writing since I learned to hold a crayon, and I glued together my first “book” in first grade. It was about a clock. I’ve written programming materials, Sunday school curriculum and inspirational magazine articles for the past thirty years, but began my first fiction novel, Hollow, in the fall of 2005. I worked on it for six years before publishing in 2012. The feedback was encouraging, so what I thought was a one-time fling has become something of an addiction.
Do you outline? – If I didn’t, I wouldn’t know where the story was going or when I’d gotten to the end. I’m easily distracted, so I plot out a loose outline/structure plus bios for the main characters.
What is a typical day of writing like for you? – There isn’t one. I’m currently employed full-time, so I write whenever I can steal a moment during the week. On weekends, I write in the morning, take a break for a few hours and dive back in again in the evening. I keep a pad and pencil on my bedside table for jotting down midnight inspirations.
What was the hardest part about writing A BODY IN THE BELFRY? – Not rushing to the end is always the hardest part for me. Also, since this is a series about a group of pastors’ wives, I needed to keep bringing the other members of the group into the action, rather than focusing on the main character alone.
What kind of research, if any, did you do for your books? – I was a pastor’s wife for twenty-five years. That’s a lot of research, believe me! Also, I lived in or traveled to most of the featured locations. I have friends, either married to pastors or who are ordained pastors themselves, who also provide input for the series.
What do you hope your readers take away from A BODY IN THE BELFRY? – I hope they have an entertaining reading experience, of course. I also hope they come to appreciate the unique joys and challenges in the life of a pastor’s family.
What do you love about writing? – I’m a teensy-weensy bit of a control freak (according to my children), so I love being able to decide what my characters will think and do. Writing also lets me live many different lives, vicariously, through my characters. I can be young and old, sweet and crotchety, good and bad; I can have all sorts of fabulous abilities the real me could never achieve. I can even be tall, which is a real stretch for someone my size. I’m 5’2” (with eyes of blue, of course!)
What do you hate about writing? – That’s an easy one: promoting my books. I’m the worst saleslady, ever. I tried to sell Avon when I was in my twenties…it was not pretty! However, I’m getting lots of support from my fellow authors and gradually learning to compensate for my lack of natural talent in marketing.
Favorite authors? I dearly love the recently discovered Chef Maurice series by J.A. Lang. Chef Maurice is a quirkier Poirot. When I want a stress-break I like to re-read the Cotswold stories of Doris Saint’s Miss Read. I’m a huge fan of British mysteries, everything from Wilkie Collins and Dorothy Sayers to some of the modern British authors such as J.A.Lang.
What’s next on your plate? I’m retiring from my work in education to devote more time to writing. I’m hoping this will allow me to develop both my craft and my marketing strategies as I continue with the “First Ladies Club” series. I’m also planning to bring Bunny back in another book of her own. I have two children’s books, currently with an illustrator, which I’m hoping to publish next year, and a daily devotional book to complete in my non-fiction life.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication? Well, it’s sometimes a bumpy one. I outline, write, re-write, write, ad infinitum, and then send my completed manuscript to my proof-readers, editors and beta readers. While they nitpick my precious words, I work on the all-important cover. I send the final product as Advance Review Copies to my launch team for their help with promotion and early reviews. I publish though KDP and CreateSpace for Amazon and use Draft2Digital or Smashwords for the other sales sites. With the most recent books I’ve set them for pre-order months before they are finished, to see if that helps the sales. It adds a certain urgency to have that deadline out there. I have some of the books in the KDP Select program and some with other sites. So far, most of my sales are through Amazon, but I’ve seen steady increases for the other sites. With A Body in the Belfry, the second “First Ladies Club” book, coming out this December, I’m also trying to schedule some promotions to hit just before the release.
Three things you wish someone would ask you about your books. Where can I buy them? Can I buy them by the truckload for gifts? Where can I meet your fascinating characters? (A bonus dream question: Can I make it into a blockbuster movie?) Seriously, my favorite question readers do ask me is, “When is the next book coming out?” That just makes my day, every time.
Where can your fans find you? Oh my goodness, I’m all over the place.
You can follow my weekly author blog at wordpress.com
My website is com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JBHawker.author
Twitter: @HawkerJB
You can check out my book pages at https://booklaunch.io/jbhawker/
My Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/nar44wd
Email: jbhawker@jbhawker.com
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