Author Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Website: A.D. Trosper
Author's Blog: A.D. Trosper
Twitter: @adtrosper
E-Mail: a.d.trosper@gmail.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Author Description:
Born in Kansas, I spent a lot of my childhood moving around. I've lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington State (around Seattle), and southern California. I had many great adventures growing up. I'm now settled down in Kansas with my wonderful husband, three children, assorted cats and my wonderful dogs Roxie and Abby.
I've been an avid lover of fantasy since I was young child. Dragons, elves, fairies, dwarves, and other denizens of the fantasy world as well as magic have always fascinated me. As I grew up, I developed an interest in vampires, zombies and my reading branched out to take in paranormal and urban fantasy.
I don't have any special writing credits to my name other than a wildly active imagination and the ability to form that imagination into written stories.
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
Do you have another book on the horizon? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?
Yes I do. The second book in my Dragon's Call series, Tears of War, will release on August 20th 2013. I can give you the working blurb, which I'm sure will be better once my editor has had a go at it.
“Old things come again and new things surface.”
Faced with a looming war, the riders have no choice but to leave the safety of Galdrilene and reach out to the nations for help. But the Shadow Riders too are reaching out and not all nations are opposed to their rule.
New discoveries are made, old wounds are reopened and betrayal hides among welcoming smiles.
As one nation begins to unravel it’s clear that some choices, even those made with the best of intentions, can have devastating consequences.
You have a good following on twitter. How important have your social media relationships been? Do you see a carry over to your writing success?
I think my social media relationships are very important. There are many people on Facebook who have become good friends of mine and I cherish all of the followers on my Facebook author page. Twitter has taken longer for me to learn how to use. For a long time I scheduled tweets and then avoided it simply because I'm not very computer savvy and it takes a while for me to learn new sites. I am getting better at that now though. So it's only been recently that I started posting more tweets on Twitter that weren't scheduled. I am extremely thankful for all of my followers on Twitter who were patient and stayed with me while I figured things out.
Do they carry over to my writing success? Honestly, I have no idea. I just enjoy interacting with people on the internet, especially since I'm more of an introvert in person.
Do you do book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? If so, when and where is the next place your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?
At this point, most of those things are out of reach for me (and many other indie authors). So for now, I will have to be content meeting and interacting with readers via the internet, which in my opinion is a perfectly wonderful invention.
Today there is a buzz in the industry about high rankings on retailer’s lists because of the use of on-line advertising sites. Have you ever promoted your books with paid advertising? What has been your experience?
I have actually never paid for advertising. I've been tempted a few times, but for the most part I don't hear of good experiences from other authors so I've stayed away.
You have great covers. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?
I've taken a very hands-on approach with the covers for the Dragon's Call series, although I can't take complete credit. My designers at Blue Harvest Creative play the major role in the design of both my book covers and my book interiors.
When it comes to my covers, each one is inspired by a scene in the book.
At this point, I don't involve readers in the creation of my covers. Those are strictly between my designers and myself.
Have you created a book trailer for any of your books to promote them online?
I had a trailer at one point, but took it down. I haven't noticed the trailer impacted sales at all and when readers were polled, 95% of them had either never seen a book trailer or never bothered to look at them when they came across them and still preferred to use the blurb, cover and first few pages to when making book buying decision.
What writer support groups do you belong too? Do they help with the writing, marketing and the publishing process?
I belong to a couple of private groups, one of which I've been with since the beginning. Although the genres the group members write are extremely varied, those writers have been instrumental in any success I have achieved. They have helped with everything from walking me through the book uploading process in the beginning to steering me away from nefarious sites.
Between your book writing, blogging, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do your sort of play it by ear?
I play it by ear. I wish I was the kind of person that could schedule their day and have everything organized. Sadly, I'm not. Everything gets done, just not in the most organized manner.
What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?
I have done a few contest style giveaways. I haven't noticed those giving a boost in sales, which is fine, my goal was merely to put my book in front of reader’s eyes. I haven't ever put Embers at Galdrilene for free on Amazon though. I did put my little Christmas fable free for a few days on Amazon. I didn't do any advertising for that and it still grabbed quite a few downloads. No sales bump afterwards but I had no expectation of one. It is July after all.
Have you ever done a book tour? If so, did it contribute to the success of your book sales? What was your experience after the tour was over with your sales?
I've been featured on a few blogs and book bloggers have reviewed my book, but I've never done an actual blog tour.
You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and providing useful information to other writers. What is your primary goal? And where in the world do you find the time to create great novels, take care of the social media and maintain your blog?
My ultimate goal with my blog is to randomly babble about whatever wanders into my head and hope that someone out there is interested or that it at the very least helps someone in some small way.
Author's Book List
The Legend of Christmas Magic
- A Children's FableA new holiday classic is born! A delightful story for all ages, whether you are a child or a child at heart.
How did the magic of Christmas and some of its traditions begin? Deep in the forest a long, long time ago, Father Christmas helped the mythical creatures and the animals of the forest by spreading joy to them on the darkest day of the year.
Now with hard work, dedication and the advice of others, Father Christmas wants to share this same joy and happiness with people. Join him on his journey as he tries to bring his tradition of happiness and light to all of the people on Christmas Day. Will Father Christmas be able to succeed?
This delightful story is sure to become a holiday favorite!
Order the Book From: Amazon
Embers at Galdrilene
- Dragon's Call*** Finalist in the Readers Favorite Reviews and Book Award Contest***
“A ray of light, a stain of shadow, shall endure to breathe life and death into the future”
The war between the Guardians and the Shadow Riders ended in total devastation. The final battle killed all the dragons and left nothing but fields of ash. A small clutch of dragon eggs was all that remained to provide hope for the future.
Five hundred years later, the ability to use magic is a death sentence and dragons are remembered as a curse. But the unhatched dragons sing for their riders…and six lives will be changed forever.
The elements of magic are drawn together as the dragons’ call leads them on a journey where they learn everything they've been taught to believe about magic and dragons is wrong.
With the last of the dragons and the world at stake, they will risk everything to heed the call.
But an evil from the past rises again. Shadow Dragons ride the dawn once more…
Order the Book From: Amazon
- Barnes and Noble
Author Recommended by: Judy Shafer
Judy Shafer is a Book Reviewer and Voracious Reader. She is a must contact for authors seeking honest reviews. Her Five Star Ratings are a badge of honor.
She can be reached on social media on: Facebook and Twitter
I am a huge fan of Audra. Her books rock...as does she.
ReplyDeleteHugs to all writers -
Betty Dravis