Erik Christian - HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Erik Christian . He writes about his troubled life and how he survived. He follows his writings with an award-winning blog and over 43K followers on twitter.

Author Genre: Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Website: Erik Christian
Author's Blog: erikchristian - Writing of that not written
Twitter: @SimplyAfterDark
E-Mail: thedrunknovel@gmail.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
LinkedIn: Check Out LinkedIn


Author Description: Erik Christian is a Pacific Northwest writer with over twenty years experience in the writing field. Erik Christian has had a varied life, from having over 80 menial jobs, to attending several community colleges, art school, the Merchant Marines, and Commercial Driving school, to being a severe Alcoholic and suffering a heart attack at 32. With years of sobriety on his belt, Christian has honed his craft as an upcoming author and holds promise to being someone to watch for in the future.

SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
The meat of your writing should be great fodder for a back story for would be writers. Do young authors seek your advice?
Occasionally, someone will ask if I can read their work. I encourage writers by telling them how easy it is to submit their work, usually via Kindle Direct Publishing. I am a big fan of KDP, and have neglected to use other outlets. I started with Smashwords a couple years ago, now I just use KDP.

Time management must be one of your reasons for success: being a writer, a blogger and having a day job. Can you tell us if you have a specific schedule?
I try to keep the same schedule daily. I begin by cleaning out my inbox and responding to the emails necessary to respond to. I then promote my book link on Twitter, and unfollow the people that have not followed back. I then follow people who have interests I think suitable with my own. I then follow the people who have requested a followback on Goodreads.

Once this is done, I will write a post on Wordpress, or write in my notebook the rough draft of the novel. I find the pace of writing in a notebook to be slower but more thorough in being a conduit to my thoughts. I then take a week’s worth of writing and transfer it into Word and cut out words as I go.

You have a large twitter audience. Is social media your primary method of marketing? What other types of marketing do you do?
Yes, I use Social Media to promote my work, mostly with Twitter, because you can get your message out fast and you don’t get nearly as penalized as you do on Facebook. I have noticed an increase in book sales, just by mentioning my book on Twitter, but I always feel that every other writer is doing the same thing, which then becomes writers selling to other writers.

We need more readers! I have a profile on Goodreads as well. It’s a place for a nice profile and to recommend books to other readers. Goodreads has just the right amount of control to prevent writers going crazy with spamming their book. I have tried disciplining myself in the act of self-promotion. There is a sense of relief when you find that you don’t have to go nuts getting the message out. You can then spend more time writing, then worrying about your sells. You just have to let go. If you’re doing it for the money Good-luck, and people can usually tell when your work doesn’t seem truly honest. It’s not worth “selling out”, even if you could.

Are you working on a new book? When will it be released?
Yes, I am working on a new book. I have shifted from non-Fiction to Suspense. I have said enough about my trials in life, and memoirs are pretty much hit or miss these days, mostly miss, unless you’re famous.

The memoir, to me, is a mark of a beginning writer. I have begun writing Fiction on a more serious note, and am surprised at the rewards of my imagination. My last book, “Dear Dad: A Lost Son, A Lost Father”, was completely creative non-Fiction. Yes, it was Autobiographical, but there were many elements that were spontaneously created from imagination. There is a raw honesty in those words I wrote, by not planning it, that has resonated with the readers. I have not asked for reviews from anyone and “Dear Dad” has received 4 and 5 stars reviews based on merit itself. I believe that if a book is truly good it will speak for itself.


Author's Book List
Dear Dad: A Lost Son, A Lost Father
Erik Christian has poured his feelings about everything out on page and has accompanied them with intense personal photos. Based on his award-winning blog, Christian starts out a young boy who witnesses life differently; from moving with his family from California to Washington; to having the traumatic encounter with the ghost of his mother's father; to his sordid affair with drugs and alcohol, and then events leading to his complete separation from family. There is a sweetness that underlies his traumatic experiences. It shows the transformation of innocence lost. . .Will it be regained? These candid stories are a snapshot into a young boy’s beginning, to a young man conflicted with alcoholism & self-doubt, and finally a middle-aged adult who tries to find a place in the world.
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Drunk: When a Cold Drink is a Mirage in your Desert of Eternal Suffering
This is a story of a young man experiencing life on life’s terms. He experiences the highs and lows of Alcoholism. What begins as all fun and games turns for the worse. Here is a man who starts out with an immortal ego of youth and promise, then begins his descent into the dark underworld, where the demented homeless are his best friends. With already having a heart attack at 32, and unable to hold a job, will he climb back up to the safety of society, or will life close the door?
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Early Morning Knife Wounds
Erik Christian is a Pacific Northwest writer who has lived through his fair share of suffering. From having a heart-attack at 32, battling Alcoholism and having sordid affairs with women, to enjoying short successes with several learning institutions, art school & the merchant marines, Christian has had enough experience to draw upon in his writing.

Christian has broken most of the rules of poetry, an unconventional style with neither rhyme, nor meter. It's raw, poetic prose that paints a hyper-reality of feelings and emotions.
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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the HBS Author's Spotlight plus the blog: eBook Author's Corner