Up Close And Personal With Conchie Fernandez.

Hello Conchie Fernandez, and welcome to Authopublisher.com. It’s nice to have you with us.

You are a self published author, tell us what your book is called and what is it about?

Ivin, thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about my novel, “Undrawn”.  My book tells the story of Kyle Reed, a painter in his 30s who’s in a self-imposed exile from his family and pretty much everyone else, because of something he did in the past which he feels is unforgivable.  We see him evolve from a teen afflicted with juvenile diabetes who learns to deal with his disease by discovering a passion and talent for art.  As he grows up, his love for his craft becomes a breaking point with his father, Brandon, who’s a Republican senator forMassachusetts, and his older brother, Stuart, who will become a lifelong antagonist.  Unfortunately for Kyle, he pretty much breaks away from everyone else in his family (his mother, his younger brother Troy, who’s very close to him, and his little niece) in order to pursue his art, and another artist he’s fallen in love with, Corinne Fletcher.  Kyle’s journey takes him away from his home inBoston to struggle with his artistic career inChicago, where Corinne’s ghosts and his own addiction to cocaine bring him to an abyss that he pretty much spends the rest of his life trying to reconcile with.

Ultimately, though, the most important part of the book is the love and the many open doors that Kyle fails to see, at first, to find self-forgiveness and another chance to fall in love.

Tell us a little bit about your writing process? What methods do you use to write and how did you make it through the grueling process of writing your book?

Characters usually come up to me and tell me their stories, and I spend a lot of time meditating and listening.  I concentrate on their appearance, their traits. Kyle, for example, was someone I could clearly see sitting at an easel, painting, a cigarette perched from his lips. I knew he had long hair – which was pretty fashionable in the late 90s when I wrote the book’s first draft.  And although that’s not as ‘cool’ anymore, when I rewrote the book last year I ‘saw’ him in my mind and realized he still had long hair.  I guess that speaks to his loyalties to his ways, and not the world’s.  (Smile).  I take notes about the characters – who they are, what they like, where they were born and where they live now, what their support systems are and ultimately, what their conflict is.  We all have to deal with conflict in our lives – whether internal or external- and I’m drawn to reading and writing about characters who know they have to deal with their demons in order to move on.

Once I know who my characters are and what the main story line is, I write the outline and concentrate on the opening and ending. Usually the story takes twists and turns along the way and sometimes it’s completely divorced from the outline, but the beginning and ending rarely change.

As far as the grueling writing process is concerned (laughs)… I try to concentrate on my full-time job during the day and go into writing mode around 8 pm almost every night.  But I only begin to write after the ‘character/plot discovery’ process is done, which can take weeks or months. From then on, I can take 9 months to a year to finish a book.

Explain to us the process you took to get your book published, from formatting your manuscript to preparing it for print all the way to getting an ISBN and the book cover design.

Once my book was edited professionally, I researched several self-publishing companies and my first natural choice was Createspace, Amazon’s self-publishing arm. I love and respect Amazon as a bookseller and company and found that Createspace’s formatting requirements and their self-help tools are fantastic.  Their services are very well-priced and their customer service is bar none.  I used them to convert the manuscript for Kindle, and I’ve had support and guidance along the way, both from Createspace’s CS team and from their amazing author community.

Did you use the services of a book coach or a self publishing company to help you though the process or did you do it yourself? Tell us about your experiences.

I fished around for a reputable book editor and after I got a slew of insanely expensive or horribly superficial offers, I found a fantastic editor called D. Michael Whelan.  He identified some character traits that he recommended I review, and suggested I add a scene to a final altercation between two of the main characters that really, really turned the book around. I will continue to work with him in my future projects – like the novel I’m working on now, “Tres”.

What would you do differently with the publishing of your next book?

I might hire a cover artist to create a more dynamic cover, but other than that, I will continue to use my editor and Createspace’s services and tools.

How did you market your book? Can you share some of your creative/non-conventional ways/secrets on how you sold your book?

• Marketing is probably tougher than writing the book itself!  I’ve done, and continue to do, a lot of things almost every day to get the word out.  One is social media. I created a fan page for myself as an author, and I post news and excerpts on it. I started tweeting lines from the book, and find that every time I quote something or direct people to my book sites, I get at least 3 new followers. I advertised on Facebook and Goodreads, which is a great reader portal.
• Goodreads offers authors free profiles where we can post book giveaways.  I got 700+ people to sign up for my US and UK giveaways, and 50+ people to mark my book as ‘to read’ on their queues. I’m not a huge blogger, but I try to reach out to people as much as possible via blogger interviews (I’ve done 4 so far) and by posting news on my website and Facebook/Goodreads sites.
• I also joined Authornation, where I posted excerpts from the book and got 43 hits in 24 hours!
•  I do promos on Smashwords and did my own book trailer, which I shared on Facebook, my Amazon author page, my website and Twitter.  It all helps.  Probably what’s helped the most is to get reader and official reviews.
• Clarion ForeWord gave me a great review, which I posted on my Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites, and I also got two important reviews from a renowned Dominican author and journalist and aU. S.novelist called R. W. Bennett, who wrote “Love.com”. Those and about a dozen other 5-star customer reviews boosted my sales like crazy.
• A local university read my posts on Facebook and offered to sponsor my official book launch at their location, which gives my novel the academic endorsement and validation that are so important for a work of literary fiction.  I don’t have thousands of dollars to invest in PR and Marketing, so I have to be careful about what I do, but placing small ads in reader portals and talking your head off about your book go a long way. (Smiles)
  

Share with us the different platforms you use to sell your book (bookstores, signing, affiliate programs, website etc.).

The book is out on every imaginable platform – eBook for eReaders and mobile, paperback, downloads.  I sell it from my own site, offering readers the chance to get dedicated and autographed books for a great, low price. Catch me before I’m on Oprah – it’s going to get really expensive afterwards!  I enrolled in Createspace’s Extended Distribution program, which offers the book to Amazon third-party vendors and to major book distributors in theUS. Next month I’m going to start to contact local independent booksellers inFlorida, where I live, but I’m being very cautious with that because of bookstore return policies.  Other than that, I’m going to the Miami Book Expo in November and to as many book shows as I possibly can. I have to be everywhere, somehow, but I’ve heard people have to hear about a book 10 times before they decide to buy it!

Do you use social media in book promotion, and if so, which platforms work best for you? Can you share some tricks you got making it work for you?

Goodreads has been the best platform. Because it’s a reader portal similar to Facebook, and readers review books and recommend them to their friends, it’s an easy way to target a large, interconnected audience.  It’s free to post giveaways on Goodreads, so like I said earlier, it’s a must-do!

Care to share some numbers? How many books have you sold to date?

Almost seventy in three months with very little advertising.

How was your book initially received? Has it been reviewed? What was your response to the reviews?

I’ve had glowing reviews so far. My lowest score was 4 out of 5 – by Clarion ForeWord. Readers and two renowned authors gave it 5 stars.  I’m very happy, but not for my own sake, or my ego’s. I’m happy that I wrote a story that might resonate with readers, and I’m glad Kyle is alive in people’s imaginations. I think he has a good message to share – which I won’t give away – and I feel like I contributed a little spark of positive vibes to the world. I’m very grateful I was able to do that.

How do you handle negative feedback from critics?

I know I did my absolute best with “Undrawn” and I’m thrilled that it’s published and out there for others to read.  That’s where I derive 98% of my satisfaction. I know some people will find things they don’t care for, and I’m OK with that.  If they point out something I can learn from, like a bad writing habit I need to work on, I appreciate it. But if people are negative for the sake of envy or negativity, I shrug.  I have too much work to do to mull over bad reviews.

Where are some of the places where you sell your book besides through book distributors, your website, book stores etc.

At my office, at book expos and the place where I do my hair – anywhere I go I give out a business card and refer people to my site, or sell them a book from the box I carry in the trunk of my car.

Do have any future projects you’d like to tell us about?

Sure. I’m working on a new novel which is tentatively titled “Tres: a Story of Love and Other Personal Disasters”.  I’ll probably post an excerpt from Chapter One on my website in a couple of weeks.

Thank you for being on Authopublisher, Conchie, and I hope to hear from you again!

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You gotta hustle if you’re to make your dream happen!

Ivin Viljoen

Ivin Viljoen wrote his first book in 3 days and publishing it in 2 weeks. He has been blogging since 2006 and launched his self publishing blog in 2010 helping a blogger to become an expert. Get your free copy of his Self Publishing Revealed ebook on his blog and sign up for his blog feed

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