Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Val Penny and Lynsey Adams for author, book cover, and blog tour pictures. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One image directly from Pixabay. Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes.
It is with great pleasure I welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today. Val is renowned for her DI Hunter Wilson mysteries and the latest one in the series, Hunter’s Rules, is now out via her new publisher, SpellBound Books. This interview forms part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams (of Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog).
For this post, I will be putting a couple of questions to Lynsey about organising blog tours and what authors need to think about before approaching blog tour organisers.
I’ll also be discussing Val’s new book with Val. We all hope you find this interesting. There will be plenty of useful tips and advice here.
BLURB – HUNTER’S RULES
A bloody scene brings Hunter and Meera’s romantic plans to an abrupt end. A young woman attacked in a hotel lift has life changing injuries. Her wounds match those inflicted on two women who were murdered.
When Hunter is identified as a suspect in the case, he must establish his innocence to lead his team and solve this bloodcurdling crime. Is the same person responsible for all three crimes? Will the girl in the lift finally identify who is targeting these young women? Hunter will stop at nothing until he catches the unhinged killer.
The Popularity of Crime Fiction
Crime fiction is one of the most popular genres and for good reason. With most crime novels, you know some sort of justice must be done by the end. Readers expect it. Even in the cases where that doesn’t happen “obviously”, there will be some sense the murderer has not got away with it entirely – there will be some “payback”. Readers expect that too.
I do want to know “whodunnit” and they are caught/found out. There is also the “puzzle solving” element to these books. Can you guess who the murderer is? Can you spot the clues? Can you spot the red herrings (and there will be plenty of those to watch out for)?
Crime fiction covers a wide range too from the gory to the cosy so there is bound to be something to suit most people’s tastes.
For the series novels, readers also have the wonderful privilege of seeing how favourite characters develop over time. I love that aspect too. Val Penny is an expert in this and it is lovely to welcome her back to talk about the latest in her DI Hunter Wilson books, Hunter’s Rules.
1. What do you find is the easiest thing about coming back to a familiar character, such as DI Hunter Wilson? What do you find is the most difficult aspect? How long do you find it takes you to get back into your characters’ heads again? Arthur Conan Doyle famously tired of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie tired of Hercule Poirot. What would you say was the best way for series authors to avoid that issue? (Not that Conan Doyle got away with it – he had to bring Holmes back, effectively by popular demand!).
I love writing a series because I know my characters so well and how they will react. That makes creating the story immediately fun. I don’t need to worry about that side of things. I suppose the most difficult aspect is being rooted within a limited circle and setting, but I get round that by introducing new characters and I am thinking of buying Hunter a holiday home to vary the setting too!
I have been working with my main characters for over ten years now, so getting back into their heads is just what I do. I think having another series, in my case, The Jane Renwick Thrillers, and writing short stories about different characters saves me from getting bored.
2. What do you love about book blog tours? What have you found most useful as a writer to get the most out of these? What tips would you share to another writer who is thinking about having a blog tour? Is there anything people should especially look for to make the most of these?
I enjoy working with Lynsey Adams who runs my blog tours. She is very organised and helpful. The bloggers also allow me to get information about my new books out to their readers and followers, many of whom may not be familiar with my work so my novels are shared with a wide new variety of people.
I also have a healthy respect for bloggers and enjoy taking part in blog tours for other authors. I think all authors who want to have the benefits of a blog tour should be willing to take part in them for others. It’s a way of giving back.
3. Your strap line for Hunter’s Rules is Follow Hunter’s Rules and The Eyes Have It. How easy or otherwise do you find coming up with the one-liners like that? They are a crucial element for drawing people in to look at a book (along with the cover itself) after all but not necessarily the easiest things to write.
Tag lines are often quite easy for me because they reflect the essence of the story. As long as you don’t over think it or get too bogged down in detail. For Hunter’s Rules the tagline came to me quickly, readers will soon learn why.
4. What is it about crime fiction you love? What do you find are its joys and challenges as you write your stories in what is such a popular genre? I believe you have to write what you love. It helps keep you going for the longer term. Which is the first crime novel you remember reading and loving and did that make you determined to write your own?
Crime fiction is really the triumph of good over evil. The same is true of the fairy tales we hear as children and the parables of Jesus we learn early in life. I think I am an idealist at heart and like to write stories where right prevails.
The main problem of writing in a popular genre is coming up with different scenarios and plots and telling them in a new and interesting way.
The first crime novel I read was a children’s book, Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. Shortly after that I began reading Agatha Christie and I was hooked on the thrill and the mystery.
5. Crime fiction has its own festivals and events. One of the biggest is the Harrogate Crime Festival also known as the Theakston’s Old Peculier (see link for further information). Excitingly, SpellBound Books are launching your Hunter’s Rules at that festival. Firstly, congratulations on that. Secondly, what are your plans for the launch?
I am really excited about having the launch at Harrogate. I have been to the city before but never to the Harrogate Crime Festival so this will be a first for me. My publishers, SpellBound Books, have secured a room for the event and I’ll display the books and plan to read an extract. I’ll have to choose an extract that isn’t too bloody because the launch is about lunchtime.
6. Val, do you have a writing routine? I swear by one as it helps me focus. I’m always fascinated by how other writers do things – we can pick up tips here! What tips would you share to a new writer who may be thinking of establishing a routine of their own?
When I was working in the ‘real world’ I always longed for a job that would allow me to work 11am-3pm with a break for lunch. At last, I think I’ve found it!
For any writer, you do need to see this as a job. So, although I write in the early afternoon, I look after my social media in the morning and deal with email and business later in the day. With a new book being published on Amazon every minute, you cannot expect to sell any of your work if nobody knows about it.
7. One of the things I love about series novels is how characters develop from book to book. I am as fascinated by that as I am by the crimes (in your case) the characters have to solve. Does the development of a character, such as Hunter, ever surprise you? If so, how do you handle that?
When I submitted my first novel to a publisher and had it accepted, one of the first questions the director of the company asked me was: ‘What is the story arc for your protagonist for the whole series?’ I hadn’t thought about that but was instructed to do so. The result of this is that I have story arcs for all my main characters for the first ten books in both series. It won’t be long before I’ll have to extend these for the Hunter characters. It also means the character developments rarely surprise me and I find that quite comforting.
8. How easy (or otherwise) is it to create dialogue for characters which make it easy for readers to tell characters apart? (This is even more important for audio books and I believe some of your books are available in that format as well as ebook and paperback). Have you enjoyed the experience of having your work available in audio format? What would you say were the advantages of audio books? Will Hunter’s Rules eventually be available as an audio book?
Several of my characters come form different classes, some are rich, some less so, and some are better educated than others. I have also given some of the main characters catch phrases, and hopefully all of that allows me to write the dialogue in such a way that the characters can be distinguished.
9. For fun, if Hunter could be granted three wishes relating to his job, what would he ask for and why? Also for fun, if YOU could be granted three wishes relating to YOUR job, what would you ask for and why?
Gosh, that a good one!
For Hunter, he would want more resources, more police on the ground, and the gift of mind reading so he could find the culprits more quickly. All of this would allow him to protect his home city, Edinburgh.
For me, I’d wish for more people to read and enjoy my books, for my books to be televised, and to have time to write more novels. All of these would allow me to share my stories with more people.
10. Please share here any further writing news you would like to share with us, Val.
Thank you for hosting me today, Allison. Hunter’s Rules is available to pre-order now for only 99p and will be published on 19th July 2024. Your readers can get it here
My next book, A Fighting Chance, A Jane Renwick Thriller, will be published in time for Christmas.
Introduction to Lynsey Adams
Lynsey Adams is a well respected book blog tour organiser and you would have seen her name crop up in various interviews I have carried out with Val Penny and other authors for Chandler’s Ford Today. Book blog tours are a useful part of a writer’s marketing so I thought I would put a couple of questions to Lynsey about her work organising these tours. Welcome to Chandler’s Ford Today, Lynsey.
1. What led you, Lynsey, into organising book blog tours? What are the joys and challenges of this?
For years I was a Crime Book Blogger under the name There’s Been a Murder. In 2019-2020 when I was in my last year of college it was the Year of Enterprise at Fife College where I studied so there was a big push to get students to think about running their own business.
For our marketing class we had to do our own business plan on a unique business we wanted to start of our choice. I choose a Book PR Company doing blog tours, videos, banners etc. Of course a few months later we were in lockdown due to Covid 19 and there was no festivals or book signings so I did two successful online Book Festivals and I did a small book tour for a friend who is an author. I used the name and logo and all the other stuff I had used in my mock business plan.
The joys for me are seeing how happy and excited the author whose tour I am doing becomes when they get loads of bloggers who love their book and they get amazing reviews and feedback. The challenges are getting enough bloggers on to the tours as everyone is busy or to take a chance on a genre or up and coming author. Also having to deal with issues as they appear such as having a blogger pulling out at the last minute etc.
2. What three tips would you share with writers who are thinking of having a blog tour of their own?
1. I always suggest instead of just wanting reviews of your book on a Blog Tour, go for a mixture of interviews, reviews, and extracts as all of that gets your name and book out there to more people.
2. Having a Blog Tour will help get your book out there to the wider public and hopefully generate some reviews etc for Amazon. Unfortunately it won’t always help you sell loads of the book.
3. Join Social Media Groups that focus on the genre of book you have written e.g. Crime, Romance as you will meet lots of potential bloggers and readers and, again, it will help get your book out there to the wider audience.
Conclusion
Many congratulations, Val, on Hunter’s Rules coming out and good luck with both the book and all of the promotion work you will be doing.
A huge thank you too, Lynsey, for sharing some useful tips for authors considering a book blog tour.
There are so many forms of marketing for authors and no one writer can do them all. So it is a question of working out what would be best for you. You also need to be able to sustain what marketing you do, not just for this book, but for others you hope to bring out. But the appeal of the book blog tours is being able to get your name and details of your book out to different bloggers and, overall, to reach more people.
At the end of the day, that’s a good summary of what book marketing is all about.
Please see below for further details on where you can find both Val and Lynsey online.
Related Posts:-
Author Interview: Val Penny – Hunter’s Secret, Advice on Writing a Series, and Blog Tours
LYNSEY ADAMS – DETAILS
Instagram
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ReadingBetweentheLinesOnlineBookPR
VAL PENNY – DETAILS
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Val Penny has an Llb degree from the University of Edinburgh and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store.
Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories,nonfiction books, and novels. Her novels are published by SpellBound Books Ltd. Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud and lives with her husband and their cat.
WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
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