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I woke up one day with not one but with several books in my head: the Dream Lover Series. I went to my computer and started typing, and the birth of Dream Lover began. I made a 360-degree switch in my life from interior design (the career of a main character in the book) to writing full-time. The character becomes a clairvoyant empath, and I have had those abilities for many years and an abiding interest in the afterlife, which is a large part of my novels.
Dream Lover tells the story of three best friends trapped between the mortal realm and the supernatural. It is multi-genre, which makes it stand out from the other paranormal romances on the market.

Knowing nothing when I began my journey, I began with a vanity publisher, Fulton Books. Big huge mistake! Never give anyone a nickel to publish your book. The editing was atrocious and the personnel were mean-spirited. After getting some copies of Dream Lover, I broke my contract and began with Amazon KDP.

Now I feel free and the only problem is with feedback. KDP and Amazon Central have toll-free phones to discuss customer service issues. The community handles feedback and has no phone communication. I noticed after one week my reviews that were only stars with no verbiage were disappearing and as my sales went up my feedback went down. I filed a case with a KDP top supervisor and even he could not get the Community to respond. My feedback reads 219 as of today and only shows five sets of stars when there are many more. KDP said this is common with independent authors and felt bad for me.

Getting the Five Star Gold Medal Award from Readers View was a boost to my ego and validated my confidence in myself. I use Grammarly exclusively for editing and spell-checking. My daughter and some friends are my beta readers and my husband proofreads my chapters after I have put them through Grammarly, picking and choosing what to use. They do not take care of ‘quotes’ so I have to be extra careful.

I do my book trailers with Canva Pro and design my book covers, and I recently designed business cards for Dream Lover. I am finished writing book two in the series, Arianna’s Story, and I am so proud of it that I am bursting. My goal is for a mainstream publisher to discover me on social media or go to my website. Book two has taken me to another level in my writing and I actually miss the rewrites when I am doing other things.

Honestly, I write every day. Even when I am out, I come home and get to the computer. I work about five hours a day. When my back is extra bad, I may work only three hours and later try to do more. I am happiest when I am writing. It is nirvana.

Excellent question. I had no idea, except that I am one of the characters in Dream Lover to a certain extent, and I adore names that begin with an A-hence Alexandra (Ali) coming about. Angels or gremlins help pen each opus and come up with the names. I say the names aloud and sometimes change a name several times until it feels correct.

The most challenging part for me was creating the many storylines I needed for each new book. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of gal, and I already have one colossal mystery that will be prominent in book three. Yet, with a roster of characters, I need a lot of things going on that will hold my interest and the readers. Sometimes, I shock myself by the things I come up with. I added LBGTQ characters in Arianna’s Story, book two because the Dream Lover series represents the world.

I want my book cover and trailers to represent the characters in my book. I use images from Shutter Stock, Pinterest, Canva Pro, and other internet sources. I love my covers and put my heart and soul into them, and would not trust someone else to do my artistry.

None. Dream Lover was my first book and Arianna’s Story is my second.

Book marketing is the bane of my existence. One of the reasons I want to go to a mainstream publisher is to have some help marketing my books. I spend hours daily in many author and marketing groups on social media to sell my books. I’m planning to do book signings. I create ads with as much creativity and panache as possible. One thing that helps is my reviews. I have quite a few long ones, and they impress the readers. I have close to 2000 Facebook followers on Louise Glass Author and thousands of hits on my website blog. But where are the thousands of sales? I have to find other ways to address that problem and am always working on it.

I check my book reviews more often than I should. If I get a day without a review, it bothers me greatly. I check my sales and royalties just as much at kdp.com. Publicity gets sales and reviews. Reading and reviewing other authors’ books is another way; you have yet to learn how many terrible writers there are. I have a friend who wants to write a book. She sent me her first three chapters and asked me to edit and review them as a favor to her. I took the time to read them. The grammar and spelling could have been better, and she had run-on sentences, and many parts made no sense. Yet, because I like her, I did my best to be diplomatic and give suggestions I hope she takes.

My entire family prefers print books. I need to feel a hardcover between my hands, and the new smell of paper is an aphrodisiac to me. I do not enjoy eBooks or flimsy paperback editions. I tried listening to an audiobook and within a few minutes I forgot what was spoken.

I am eclectic in my choice of reading, and many authors are ‘one trick ponies’ who write a book I love, and then after their first best-seller, the ones that followed were lackluster. The last book I read was The Women by Kristin Hannah and it twisted my guts. The research she did for 27 years boggles my mind. But the ending lacked luster (for me). I have a favorite book that is slightly similar to my writing style. Death Angel is an older Linda Howard novel. I feel bad she retired because I broke my teeth on her books. Behind Closed Doors was another favorite by B. A. Paris, but since then, none of her books have come close to that.

Unfortunately, AI is the way of the future, which is a BAD thing. I can see having it help someone write a catchy blurb, but it’s gotten out of control. For instance, I went to Facebook today to start my publicity campaign and check my mail, and they changed their search to AI-generated! I was angry and didn’t use it. It was throwing AI all over. Social media is using AI, and I read Amazon is deluged with faux books written by artificial intelligence. If I had my way, I would get rid of all AI.

I would start with Amazon KDP this time.

If you sit in front of the computer and struggle to find the words even to begin your book, this may not be your profession. If you were meant to be a writer, the books would flow, even with writer’s blocks along the way. Keep going if you have excellent reviews and you love writing. Building a fan base and a few miracles along the way takes time. I watch artists who paint or make dolls or write a book. Intrinsic talent grows with each new endeavor. If it doesn’t, you must ask yourself: is this the right career path for me? If yes, keep pounding the keyboard and find the fulfillment you deserve.