Please welcome New York Times bestselling paranormal romance author H.P. Mallory!
What was the querying/agent search process like for you?
Well
this is a two-fold question. When I first started out which was about 6
years ago, this process was grueling. You send out tons of queries and
almost no one writes back. I was lucky enough to land an agent the first
time around but once we submitted my books to the publishers, no one
was interested. Then I ended up sitting on the first two books in both
of my series (Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble and To Kill A Warlock) for
about 5 years before self publishing them. Once I self pubbed them and
they hit numerous bestseller lists, I sent out four agent query letters
and received prompt responses from each agent, eventually signing with
one. So the first time around wasn't
fun but the second time around was much easier! LOL
Is there another genre you would like to try at some point?
I'm not
sure yet. Right now I love paranormal romance and urban fantasy and
can't really see beyond them...
Do you have a writing ritual or a certain way you like to
get ready to write?
Not really. I just aim for 2000 words per day and
take numerous breaks throughout the day to give my eyes a break!
Tell us about one of your characters you loved writing:
I'm
actually working on the first book in a new series and the angel in that
book is so much fun to write! He's not like a customary angel at
all--he's really uncouth and crass but hysterical!
Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? If so, what
changed?
Yes, after the first go around when no one was interested in my
books, I did give up. Then I read about self publishing and decided to
give that a try. Since then I haven't looked back. I ended up signing
with Random House and then, most recently, I hit the New York Times
bestseller list. Just goes to show that you should never give up on your
dreams!
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
See above. LOL
Some
of your characters have their own Facebook pages! How has social
networking helped build your fan base?
Yes, social networking is
probably one of the biggest reasons I was able to get the word out about
my books. Self pubbing is great but it's a lot of work and the author
essentially has to do all her marketing herself! For me, word of mouth
has been crucial and I'm sure it has a lot to do with how much guerrilla
marketing online I did in the early days.
What is your current obsession (absolutely anything)?
Remodeling my house. It seems like that's all I've been doing lately!
Thank you so much to H.P. for chatting with me! Be sure to check her out (links below!)
Find her books on Amazon
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