I am delighted to welcome author Keren Hughes, to come along for a chat. Keren is to be published by BVS at the end of the month. Her book SAFE is currently available to pre-order now. I asked Keren Hughes a few questions about her writing. I hope you will enjoy her answers as much as I did.
What inspired you to become a writer?
In 2011, I became a blogger. I wrote reviews, mainly for Indie authors. I made a lot of author friends during the course of blogging and one, in particular, Kira, asked me if I’d ever thought of writing my own book. I said no and brushed the idea off.
When I was a teenager, I had actually written two books. I used to love reading Point Horror books and always wanted to be a Point Horror author myself. Some of my favorites were The Boyfriend, The Girlfriend and The Babysitter by RL Stine, and of course, Goosebumps.
For my books, I drew my own covers—even though I’m a terrible artist—and got my mom to read them for me to give me notes like an editor would. I had this distant dream of becoming a published author. But that’s all it was, a dream, not my reality.
Kira was relentless and kept asking me, encouraging me to write. She said I wrote great reviews. But to me, writing reviews is one thing—sure they were quite long and detailed, etc—but writing an actual book is a whole different level.
It wasn’t until 2012 that I had this idea knocking about in my head. It was for a paranormal romance. That then became my first book, Stolen. It took me over a year to write it because I didn’t find the time to write very often and I didn’t know what would happen with the finished product anyway. I never thought anyone would want to publish it and I didn’t know if I could afford to self-publish.
A few friends were published with Limitless Publishing and they were encouraging me to submit my MS. I said no and laughed it off. But in the end, I summoned the courage mid-2013. I was nearly 30 years old and thought I was too old for all this. I thought it was a younger person’s game. But 12 days before my 30th birthday, I signed my very first publishing contract. Stolen was then published in November 2013.
Side note: I only submitted to LP, but a friend who was published elsewhere had asked her editor to read it and see if they’d be interested in publishing it, without my knowledge. They also offered me a contract, the day after I had signed with LP, so I had to turn them down.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
Each book is different. My first book, Stolen, took a year. My next book took about 6 months. The one after that took about 3 months. I guess the average for the others is around 3-4 months too. But the quickest I have ever written a book is my upcoming release with Black Velvet Seductions, Safe. That only took me around 6 weeks to write. I spent a few hours most days working on it and it just came really naturally and really quickly. I’m now working on the second book to Safe and I think that may take a few months, but we’ll see.
How long have you been writing?
In a way, since I was 15. But then I stopped until I was 29. So really, if you take it from when I wrote the first one I intended to be published, I’ve been writing since 2012.
And where your ideas come from?
Inspiration comes in many forms. I like to draw from reality, things that have happened to me or people I know. I also have a great BETA team and 3 of those ladies, in particular, are like a sounding board for my ideas. Before I start writing, I ask the ladies what they think of X, Y and Z ideas and they tell me honestly what they like and dislike. Then when I am actually writing, if something comes to mind for a sub-plot, I bounce back and forth between the ladies to see if they like or dislike where I am thinking of going with it.
It’s great for me to have these ladies backing me up. I couldn’t do it without them.
What is your writing process like?
I am about 98% of a pantser writer. The other 2% plans a loose idea.
I come up with an idea, I plan out the character profiles and have a loose knowledge of where I would like to take the story. But, I am mostly a pantser writer because I write as it comes to me. I don’t like trying to plan everything down to a T because it never goes that way and actually ends up giving me writer’s block if I try too hard to plan. I have a notebook and pen beside me, my Mac in my lap, and I sit there as the words start tumbling out. If I need to make sure I remember something, I jot it down in my notebook. If I have an idea for a sub-plot, it goes down in my notebook. I also have notebooks in other rooms in the house and I make use of the Notes app on my iPhone. If inspiration strikes, I’m not too far from somewhere to jot it down.
I have actually written the prologue of a book in the Notes app, then copied and pasted it into a Word document. I’ve also written things like love letters to and from characters using Notes too.
I also have Spotify playing in the background. I make a playlist for EVERY book I write. I can’t write without music unless it is a particularly somber scene, then I prefer silence. I have an eclectic taste in music, you’d be surprised at what’s on my playlists.
What kind of books do you read?
I’ll read anything apart from autobiographies and biographies. Actually, I’ll read the occasional ones of those like I have one for Ed Sheeran (I love him) and Benedict Cumberbatch (I absolutely adore him).
I love to read contemporary romances; whether it’s MC books or MMA, college romance or something completely different. I read erotica, M/M, F/F, M/M/F (I love gay romance stories, like REALLY love them!!)
The only thing I really have a problem with reading is step-anything romances.
What is the first book that made you cry?
Oh my goodness, <scratches head> umm… quite possibly Black Beauty. I was given a green, leather-bound copy when I was a kid (which I still have at the age of 34). I loved that story.
Have you got any tips for authors who are trying to market their books?
Well, honestly, I would say that marketing is always changing. Some things work for some people but not others. If I had any advice to give, it would be to have social media platforms—I have an author Facebook page and an author account, Twitter account and I use Instagram—where you can pimp your books out. Also, make the most of all these book groups on Facebook. They are there to help you promote/allow you to use their page/group to promote. They really have quite a wide reach.
For me personally, I also have a great BETA team member who helps me pimp in book groups. I can’t always be spending all day promoting, I need to write after all. So, Kara helps me. I put a post together and she will spread the word everywhere she can. Whether it’s a cover reveal, an ARC sign-up, a sale, or just ordinary everyday posts, she helps me get them seen as far and wide as possible.
I try to tweet a few times a day, but not so much it’s like I’m spamming people. I post on IG at least once or twice a day. I also post on my author Facebook page once or twice a day. I’d say at least 30 mins a day, you should spend directing your energies towards self-promo.
If there’s one more thing to do, upload your book to Instafreebie (in ePub format). That way, you can have giveaways of Ecopies of your books. You can post the links to these in book groups, on Twitter, your Facebook page/profile, etc. I have had this boost sale because I have previously been an unknown author to people and when they see my giveaways, they tend to check my other books out.
What advice do you have for writers?
First and foremost, I would say this; if you have a dream, follow it. If writing is your passion, then write. Don’t try to write a book that will please everybody because—unfortunate as it is—we cannot please every reader. Write the story you want to write, your way.
Build a small but trustworthy BETA team who will read the book and give you honest feedback. Always watermark your Word doc and try where you can to send directly to kindles rather than ordinary emails.
I had a lady ask to join my BETA team and I sent her the first half of the MS which was all I had of it at the time. The very next day, she unfriended and blocked me. I have both personal and author Facebook profiles, so I used my author one to try and find her. When I found her, I sent her a message, worried that she was going to do something like plagiarizing the story, I was out of my mind with worry. She said she didn’t block me at all and didn’t know how that could have happened. I didn’t believe a word of what she said, but chalked it up to experience, finished writing the story and it got published. So, a word of warning, be careful who you trust. I have seen bad things happen to good people, including something where an author wrote a book, sent it to a trusted BETA who was another author. That author then read the story, changed the two characters slightly and published it herself. I was disgusted. She was meant to be the other author’s friend and she completely ripped her off. So just be CAREFUL!
But on a lighter note than that, pursue your dreams. Don’t live a life half-fulfilled. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you try. I became a published author in 2013 and now I have 6 books published (Safe comes out September 30th and is book #6). I would never have thought so much good would come from me listening to Kira and getting published. It’s the best thing I ever did.
Don’t be afraid to submit to publishers. Some of them may reject you but look at people like JK Rowling and how many publishers turned down the chance of publishing Harry Potter before it found its home and became one of the biggest franchises I know of. I’ll lay odds that the people who rejected her are kicking themselves now!
I can’t promise you’ll find rejection easy. It’s only happened to me once so far, but it really stung and I didn’t know if I could carry on. I really struggled with my self-esteem for a while there. But then I plucked up the courage to submit it to another publisher and they took it on and are publishing it (I’m talking about Safe here). So yes, you may get 5 rejections, 10, more. But it only takes ONE to say yes! Or, you choose to self-publish. Some people say there’s shame in self-publishing because it means you’ve failed to be signed up with a publisher. But that is the biggest load of… let’s politely call it BS. There is NO shame in being an Indie author and the author community is so amazing. I love Indie authors. They publish their books themselves because it’s what they want to do. I have a hell of a lot of respect for Indie authors and traditionally published authors alike. To me, someone with a book that’s been published—however that was achieved—is an author.
In summary, you only get one life; live it! Do what you want to do without fear.
Do you believe in writer’s block?
OMG yes!! I believe it because I’ve suffered from it. Every time I try and plan, I get stalled. Then I can’t go forward with the story. It’s a mental block that’s hard to get around.
My most recent case of WB is when I started to write a new WIP, Out of the Ashes. I’d planned the character profiles etc, I wrote the prologue and the first couple of chapters. But then I got asked if I was writing a second book to Safe. My automatic response to that was “No, my stories are always planned as stand-alone novels. I don’t do duets or series.” But, I found myself floundering around. This idea was in my head for Drew from Safe and it wouldn’t leave me alone. I couldn’t go forward writing Out of the Ashes because I couldn’t get this idea out of my head for making Safe a duet. This thing popped to mind “I could call it the Jagged Scars Duet.” A name popped to mind too, I could call the story Home. So, I talked it out with a couple of BETA’s/friends. They told me that if I wanted to go for it, I should. And I did. I wrote the prologue and thought “Oh my goodness, this feels so right.” So, I am now over my writer’s block and am writing Home.
What does literary success look like to you?
I’ve always said that to me, all I needed to see was one book published with my name on it. I never wrote for the money it would bring; to me, the money is an added bonus. I write to share my passion with readers. I write because I have these ideas in my head that need an outlet. Would I love to see my books turned into movies? Not particularly. People might think I’m lying when I say that, but in all honesty, too many times we see movies deviate from the original book and because I wrote the book my way, I wouldn’t want someone else messing around with it.
To me, my success can be measured by my family, friends and especially my son looking at me with pride in their eyes. My nan, aunt, and son are my 3 biggest supporters. They cheer me on so loudly. Every time my son says to his teachers or friends at school “My mom is a published author” and he talks about me like he’s so proud of me, that is a success.
My son went into school one morning and as the class was messing around on their computers, a friend asked him what my name was. He told them and they Googled me. They found my website and Facebook and all sorts of things including when I had been in several newspapers. He beamed with pride as he told me that afternoon that they had done this and I melted. His smile, his love for me, his pride in my “success” is more important to me than any money or fame could ever be.
Thank you, Keren, for chatting with us. Keren’s book SAFE is currently on offer to pre-order at Amazon now.