Interview & Giveaway with Beverley Kendall

We're so excited because today we get to interview a pretty incredible lady, Beverley Kendall.

Beverley is the owner of the e-zine and blog "The Season for Romance" as well as a published author.  Today we get to ask her some questions about publishing and her latest release, An Heir of Deception which is the third installment of her Elusive Lords series.

B♥S: Your first two books were published with Kensington and Zebra (respectively) whereas your most recent books were self-published.  Can you tell us a bit about the different processes?
Bev: LOL. The process of writing the book is pretty much the same. It’s everything that comes afterward that’s different. I got to pick and approve my own cover. As lovely as my Kensington covers were, I loved this part of doing it myself. I had full say so I knew I wasn’t going to have a cover I didn’t like. Kim Killion hit it out of the ballpark in this arena.

I had to hire my own editor. I ended up hiring two because as I found, an editor like an agent needs to be a good fit. Not every editor is for every author. Full line edits, formatting the book, these are all things the publisher would also take care of. I hired one to do the former and did the latter on my own. Let me tell you these are all jobs in and of themselves.

By far self-publishing is a much more difficult process but I have to say, it’s been totally worth it.

B♥S: How do you think conventional publishing versus self-publishing affects book sales (positively and negatively)?
Bev: I think that in traditional publishing because you have no say so in terms of pricing, cover and back cover copy, if all or one is not good, it can definitely affect an author’s book negatively. If the price of your ebook is too high in the eyes of readers, they just won’t buy your book. If the back cover copy doesn’t entice them to want to read on, you’ve lost another potential reader. If your cover is God awful, you’re sunk.

On the other hand, if they do all these things right, traditional publishing offers a wider distribution, print books stocked in physical stores. There is also the publisher’s name backing the book, which gives readers the sense that things have been done “right” and the book is “professional”. There is also the matter of being able to get an author’s book up months in advance on all the major etailers sites so readers can pre-order. This is a big deal and I wish that option was open for self-published authors.

With self-publishing if you manage to do all the items I listed above right, an author can benefit greatly because they aren’t getting only 8-17% of the books gross sales, you can receive anywhere from 35% - 70%. This is a BIG deal. This can be the difference between never being able to make a living just writing, to writing full-time without fretting over money. Let’s face it, it’s one of the MAJOR reasons writers have taken to self-publishing the way they have.

Of course if you can’t write or your storytelling ability isn’t where it should be to publish and you self-publish anyway, that reflects very poorly on self-publishing as a whole. My motto there is every author NEEDS an editor. The best have them (Nora Roberts et al) and so should you. 

B♥S: Which do you prefer?  Will you continue to self-publish in the future?
Bev: Absolutely!!! I’m hooked now. I would love to go back to NY but it would have to be a contract I could live with.

B♥S: What's the one piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring writer who wants to self-publish?  
Bev: Learn your craft well. Enter contests. Get looks and lots of feedback. If you’re not a graphic artist or your talents don’t run quite that high, hire someone to give you a professional cover. Most important, hire an editor. Every author needs one and no one is the exception.

B♥S: Can you tell us about your latest release, AN HEIR OF DECEPTION?
Bev: An Heir of Deception is my baby. I came up with the idea for An Heir when I first introduced Alex Cartwright in Sinful Surrender. Alex has this very dry sense of humour and he’s so laid back, I knew I had to shake him up a bit. And by shaking him up, I mean putting him through some intense heartbreak. LOL. I’m so funny that way. I take my most adored hero and give him the worst of the situations.

This is definitely Alex’s story. Readers get to see him in his darkest hour and truly dark and brooding. In An Heir, Alex discovers the love of his life, Charlotte, who left him on his wedding day, gave birth to his child while she was gone. His son Nicholas is four and rightfully should be his heir. This infuriates him beyond belief and he is determined to have his son.

B♥S: Your hero and heroine already have a rather sordid history. Did that make it easier or harder to write their story?
Bev: It did make it easier to write because I knew them inside and out. I’d been with them through the two prior books, so I had their personalities down. This did make it easier to write them but not the book per se. ;)

B♥S: Do you have any plans to continue with the THE ELUSIVE LORDS series?
Bev: My next series, The Temptresses, is a connecting series. The first book, TWICE THE TEMPTATION is Charlotte’s twin sister, Catherine’s book. So while the series won’t continue, all the characters will persist in this series. I find it very hard to let go of much loved characters—and that’s much-loved by me. 

B♥S:  Did any authors influence your writing style?
Bev: Yes, so many. But I have to say Sherry Thomas’s writing taught me about voice when I didn’t really know what voice was. 

B♥S:  You wear many hats: reader, writer, blogger, mom, corporate employee.  How do you manage it all?  The power is in the superhero cape, isn't it?
Bev: LOL. If you only knew what falls to the wayside while I try to do it all. My house certainly isn’t as clean as it used to be and now I only mail books out once a month when I used to do it every week. No, I can’t do it all. And God willing, one day I won’t have to. 

B♥S:  You're also a reader of romance, which book(s) have you read lately that you would highly recommend to other romance-aholics?
Bev: Yeah, I do love to read. My favourite romances of 2011 were Julie Anne Long’s What I Did For a Duke, Courtney Milan’s Unveiled, Rachel Gibson’s Any Man of Mine (really, take your pick of any of Rachel’s books and you won’t be disappointed). I actually discovered Susan Elizabeth Phillips last year and I bought a number of her books. If you’re looking for some really great medieval but aren’t really a big medieval fan, I absolutely adore Margaret Mallory. Her latest series is great. I loved The Guardian and The Sinner. I’m dying to read the next one, The Warrior, which will be out later this year.

As for books I’m greatly anticipating, those would be Sherry Thomas’s Ravishing the Heiress and Tempting the Bride. I also can’t wait to read Julie Anne Long’s A Notorious Countess Confesses.

Visit Beverley at www.BeverleyKendall.com
Follow on Twitter at @beverleykendall and @season4romance
Friend on Facebook at authorbeverleykendall

GIVEAWAY!
May 10 – May 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 winners get an e-book An Heir of Deception

Official Contest Information:

• To enter, please fill out the form below.
• Entrants must be 18 years of age or older.
• Contest open to EVERYONE with an email address.
• The winner will be announced on a blog post at the conclusion of the contest.
• The winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.  Prize will be emailed directly to winner from author.
• No comment entries will be accepted.
• You may choose to be a blog follower, but it is NOT required to enter the giveaway.

Good luck!