Happy Friday!
Before you kick back for the weekend, be sure to check out my recent chat with author Lauren Smith. She’s pretty much the ultimate multi-tasker: a lawyer, an author, and a Muppet enthusiast! (We have this last part in common.) This week, we are all celebrating the audiobook release of WICKED DESIGNS — her historical romance from Samhain Publishing with a sassy main character kidnapped by a handsome (yet vulnerable) rogue.
Find out about WICKED DESIGNS’ audiobook journey, how Lauren manages to juggle everything she loves, and what other new projects she has going on…
Congrats on the audio book release of Wicked Designs, Lauren! Can you tell us a little about the work that went into this release? Did you have any say in who was narrating?
Lauren: I’d like to say I did a lot of work going into the release, but actually I didn’t have to do a thing. It was really amazing. Tantor bought the rights from my publisher and produced it all on their own in about two months! I didn’t get a say in the narrator, but when I found out they chose Heather Wilds, I was thrilled. She has a beautiful voice and has read for books by some great authors like Sylvia Day and Julie Garwood!
Are you worried about your readers getting to the more… intimate scenes in a public place? Are earphones required? 😉
Lauren: Headphones are a must! Wicked Designs has not just one bad boy hero, but his four friends too and let’s just say these men are truly wicked in the best possible way. Anyone listening would definitely want some privacy, a cold glass of water and headphones.
Since you have quite a few characters in Wicked Designs (all those rogues!), does the narrator alter their voice when the characters change; are there multiple narrators? What can your readers/ listeners expect?
Lauren: Heather does a great job of giving each of the five rogues in the story their own voices. The villains and the servants even have unique voices. Even though Heather is the only one speaking, I easily get lost in the myriad of voices and fall right into the story. I think and hope readers will have the same reaction and enjoy how she reads.
Since we’ve started working together back in December, I’ve always admired your work ethic. First of all, lawyer by day, writer by night! The Shadows of Stormclyffe Hall, a modern gothic novel, is out from Entangled in September, His Wicked Seduction (League of Rogues Book 2) in November, a new three-book deal with Grand Central Publishing plus you always make time to share links and chat on social media platforms. How do you do it? What keeps you focused?
Lauren: Love. Pure and simple. I love writing, love talking about it, thinking about it, researching, doing it. I eat, sleep and breathe my author job. It’s easy to stay focused because I use my inner sense of discipline to make it all happen. Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I’m the attorney, but all hours on either side of that time frame, I’m a writer and I go at it full force. If you really love something, you tackle the obstacles and make the dream happen.
Let’s talk promotion a little bit. What’s your biggest tip for a new writer who is trying to get their book out there? What’s the trick to balancing self-promotion on the social media platforms with all the other fun things we like to share about ourselves?
Lauren: This is a double-fold answer. For writers that officially have a published book out to promote, get a Facebook fan page, blog and do research on the weekends for potential reviewers. I find reviewers through Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Don’t be afraid to contact them and ask for a review and always tell them you are flexible. If you can’t be flexible about how soon they can get to it, reviewers will turn you away. There’s a saying about more flies with honey rather than vinegar? Totally true.
If you’re a new writer that doesn’t have a book published yet, or doesn’t have an offer yet, you want to start entering contests, querying agents and querying houses like Samhain, Entangled, Kensington, Carina and other houses that take un-agented submissions. Be sure to keep up your craft, take workshops. For two straight years I took at least 1-2 workshops a month before I felt I got a good sense of what I was doing. Also — don’t edit that one book you have into the ground. Most people never sell or publish their first book. Accept that statistic and move on. Write something new, write something fun and just keep at it. My first published book was actually the sixth manuscript I’d ever written. The first five books will never see the light of day and I’m okay with that. I learned great things while writing them and can appreciate them, but I’m not clinging to any dreams of publication for them. And because of that, I’ve contracted 8 books in six months!! See what happens when you move forward and right new things?
What book (and audiobook) are you currently loving?
Lauren: I’m currently reading Six Women of Salem, a non-fiction book about the Salem witch trials. Really fascinating! Audiobook wise, I’m listening to the ever-addictive New Species series by Laurann Dohner. That series is great. I’m on book 5 which is called Brawn. I absolutely love it! It’s a third read for me. I read all the books twice via my Kindle, and the series was just released on audiobook so of course I had to get the whole series and now I’m working my way through it!
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Big thanks to Lauren for speaking with me today!
Where to find her: League of Rogues Blog | Author Website | Twitter | Facebook
Where to find Wicked Designs: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Samhain | Audible
