Michele Drier - An Author Interview at the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Michele Drier. She is the author of The Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries and The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. Michele writes Romance and Mystery novels.

Author Genre: Romance, Mystery

Website: Michele Drier
Twitter: @MicheleDrier
E-Mail: mjdrier@gmail.com
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Amazon Author Profile



Author Description:
I was born in Santa Cruz, California to a family that migrated west to San Francisco in 1849. Unfortunately, they never found gold, nor did they buy (and hang onto) any California land. My mother named me Michael, after author and actress Blanche Oelrichs, who wrote under the name of Michael Strange. After months of saying, "Yes, she's a girl. Yes, her name is Michael," my mother finally caved and I became "Michele." I was read to as a child, and needed always to have a book with me. My maternal grandmother belonged to a writing club in San Francisco in the early part of the 20th century and wrote poems and jingles--one of which won her a travel trailer during the Depression. I've lived in San Francisco, the Bay Area, the Central Valley, the Sierra, Southern California and the North Coast.

My first career was in journalism, and I spent seven years as a staff writer with the San Jose Mercury News. After returning to Humboldt State University to complete school and work on a master's, I fell into my second career, as a non-profit administrator.I spent time as a reporter and editor for daily papers in California. I was the city, metro and executive editor for daily newspapers in California's Central Valley and managed non-profit agencies, including a legal organization serving roughly 10,000 senior citizens in Alameda County. I'm a member of the Society of California Pioneers and Sisters in Crime and live in California's Central Valley with a cat, skunks, wild turkeys and an opossum (only the cat gets to come in the house).


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Congratulations on your book: SNAP: I, Vampire. What do you have on the drawing board next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

I’m currently writing Ashes of Memory, a shift from my other series. It’s a psychological thriller about the near-future ability to implant memory chips in people’s brains. What happens when chips are recycled…without being completely wiped of previous memories? Planned publication of this is summer of 2016.

There’s also Book Ten of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, untitled yet, but continuing the story of Nik and Jazz, as well as a three-part cozy series set in a small town on the Oregon coast. The cozy protagonist is a stained glass artist who falls into investigating the murder of one of her neighbors. The first book in this series is Stains on the Soul.

Stains on the Soul is scheduled for winter of 2017 and Book Ten of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles will be spring of 2017.

You have a good following on twitter. Since you started before the social media buzz, what impact has social media relationships had on your current success? How did you build your following in your niche? How much has it changed your book launch process?

I’ve been on facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter since 2011 and I’m not as consistent as I should be on Twitter. It’s hard to judge the actual impact of social media…I think it’s certainly gotten my name out into the cloud. Most of the people who buy my books, particularly the paranormal romances, are from across the country.

I did one virtual launch party on facebook, for Book Eight, SNAP: All That Jazz, thanks to my street team. It was a lot of fun, I even invited a couple of friends to participate, but didn’t see a significant uptick in sales.

Do you do any book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? If so, when and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?

I do a fair amount of signings, appearances in the Northern California area. I’m planning to be at the Sisters in Crime booth of the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley the first week-end in June, I’m doing two presentations at the University of the Pacific’s Book Festival in Stockton June 24-26 and I’m a presenting author at the Great Valley Book Festival in Manteca October 8.

I also do a couple of library presentations in the Sacramento area each year. Friending me at my fan facebook page, www.facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrier is good, but I’m not always on top of getting my news out! The trouble is that I’m too busy writing, at least two books a year.

You have great covers. They carry a theme and your brand with them. 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?

Thank you! My cover artist, Karen Philips is wonderful! I met her when she did the cover for Edited for Death, published by Mainly Murder Press in Connecticut. When she wrote and introduced herself, we discovered we lived about 25 miles apart in the Sacramento area!

The first two Kandesky covers were done by an artist who works with my son-in-law. She was the one who developed the SNAP branding, which I love. Karen took over the SNAP covers with Book Three and has done them ever since. We usually get together for lunch about mid-way in the book, discuss the plot, I send her a draft of what I have, she sends me a few ideas. As you see, I don’t have people on my covers, I have an idea of what I’m looking for and talk to Karen about it. I usually post a couple of the suggestions on my fb pages and ask for feedback, sometimes even a vote.

You have converted SNAP: The World Unfolds into an audio book. What has been the impact on your regular sales? Has the audio books gained a new audience for you? Do you plan on converting all your novels to audio books?

Actually, I have four books out in audio format. The most sales have been for my mystery, Edited for Death, which was well-reviewed on Audiofile. I don’t seem to have a lot of audio sales and, truthfully, I don’t listen to books. I’m much more of a visual person that an audio one. I’ll probably gradually put all my books into audio, though.

I like the idea of bundling a series of novels. You have put together a set of your novels called The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. What was the impact on your other sales? What was your main objective in bundling your novels?

I like boxed sets as well! This boxed set is the first four books of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles and, hopefully, gets the reader hooked on the continuing saga. It’s a great introduction because I have five other later books in the series. I think it has a big impact on sales of the others and when I put it on sale a couple of years ago for a BookBub ad, sold about 2,000 books in a month.

And from a financial point of view, the boxed set is half the cost of the four books bought individually.

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 you sort of play it by ear?

I wish I had a schedule! I’m also heavily involved in the mystery community, as the president of the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime, the immediate past president of the international online Sisters in Crime chapter and the co-chairman for Bouchercon 2020, the world’s largest and oldest convention of mystery readers and writers. It’s going to be held in Sacramento in October 2020.

I also teach an occasional series of writing classes and do some free-lance book editing.

So much comes up during the day that I can’t stick to a rigid schedule, but I do write something every day; a blog, part of my WIP, lessons for my students. And I try to carve out two or three days a week where I don’t even get in my car. Just sit and write. On a good day, I can write between 3,000 and 4,000 words a day, although that doesn’t happen as often as it should!

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’m against it. When I first began publishing, Amazon Select was new and you could set give-aways for five days during the 90-day enrollment period. I put a couple of the SNAP books and Edited for Death into the program at varying times. During an eighteen-month period, I had 70,000 books downloaded for free. So somewhere out in the world, 70,000 people have one of my books on their Kindle. Has anyone read them? I doubt it. No increase in sales, no reviews. I did have one person, who has become a huge fan and friend, say she ran across the Kandeskys when she read The World Unfolds for free, but nada from any of the other 69,999 people.

People in other careers don’t give their work away for free, why should authors?

Do you maintain a reader list? What are the methods you use to find your readers and create the list and the relationship? Do you use social media, forums, newsletters and/or support groups to build your list?

Until I had a massive computer crash (electricity went off during a storm and my old computer died) I had one. I’m slowly compiling another one, but it’s slower going. I find readers through Goodreads, Amazon reviews, word of mouth, teaching, appearances, at conventions. I belong to a couple of mystery loops and indie romance writers loops so have big presence on email. I don’t have my own blog because it takes so long to build a readership. I do guest blogs about twice a month, use Twitter and facebook (I still haven’t figured out LinkedIn and Goodreads). I do have a group of fans and a street team, but word of mouth is the best way of finding new readers. Joan tells her friend, Jane, “Have you read the vampire romance series, SNAP? It’s wonderful! I’m in love with Jean-Louis!”

What is your method of getting reviews for your novels? Do you seek professional reviews, use social media or do you rely on your reading audience to supply them?

I send out for professional reviews or well-known review sites. I’ve received reviews from Midwest Book Review, Night Owl Reviews, Para Your Normal, the Paranormal Romance Guild, the Reading Café. I send out review requests several times a month as well as including reviews from Amazon and Goodreads followers. And do I read them? I do.



Author's Book List
SNAP: I, Vampire - The Kandesky Vampire Chronices 9
Maxie Gwenoch, LA-based media star, VP for International Planning for the multi-national gossip conglomerate, SNAP, has finally agreed to marry Jean-Louis Kandesky, a 500-year-old Hungarian vampire a leader of the family that owns SNAP.

Is marriage a big change? Not as big as the fact that Maxie is now a vampire, as well. When munitions from the Kandesky Enterprises weapons plant in Slovakia turn up at the bombing of a Royal's house in England, Jean-Louis and his "brother," Nik, are hot on the trail of shadowy terrorist groups dealing in international weapons sales. Are the Kandesky arms being sold to terrorists groups? Should Maxie use her new-found vampire strengths to ferret out the scum?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
KOBO


SNAP: All That Jazz - The Kandesky Vampire Chronices 8
Nik and Jazz, both employees of Kandesky Enterprises and passionate lovers, are having a tumultuous time. Are their differences too great? She's a contemporary, hip, young career woman working in the fast-changing world of celebrity gossip journalism in Los Angeles. He's a 500-year old vampire living in Kiev, Ukraine and running the Kandesky Munitions factories. She deals with celebs and sun, he deals with terrorists and dark.

Is their overpowering attraction enough to build a life-long future, or will their relationship fizzle out before Maxie's and Jean-Louis' wedding, dying faster than a Fourth of July sparkler?


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KOBO


SNAP: White Nights - The Kandesky Vampire Chronices 7
Nik, the third-in-command of the Hungarian Kandesky vampire family, has been handling the family's interests in Czech munition factories for upwards of four hundred years. He's been a contented bachelor, throwing himself into business until Jazz strolls into his life. Jazz is Maxie Gwenoch's successor as the managing editor for SNAP, the international celeb gossip magazine, another Kandesky company. Maxie, Nik, Jazz and Jean-Louis, the Kandesky second-in-command, are headed to Moscow to assess the business potential for a SNAP Russian bureau, until an old enemy shows up. Set against the tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the short Russian nights teach Maxie to cherish her time with Jean-Louis while Jazz faces her own questions about loving a vampire.


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KOBO


SNAP: Happily Ever After? - The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Book 6
Loving Jean-Louis for eternity doesn't mean that Maxie Gwenoch will let him turn her. Jean-Louis is a vampire, is gorgeous, is the second-in-command of the Kandesky Family of Hungarian vampires, and is her boss at SNAP, the multinational, multimedia celeb gossip empire where she is the VP for International Planning. She moves to Kiev to build a home with Jean-Louis and finds her future under a cloud from Leonid, a rival from the Huszar family, now living in a bolthole in the ruins of Chernobyl. Will Maxie find safety by giving up her days and joining Jean-Louis in the vampire nights?


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KOBO


SNAP: Love for Blood - The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Book 5
When Maxie Gwenoch snags the job as managing editor of SNAP, an international gossip conglomerate, she's looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos. What she finds is a media empire owned by Baron Kandesky and his family. A family of vampires. They're European, urbane, wealthy and mesmerizing. And when she meets Jean-Louis, vampire and co-worker, she's a goner.

Maxie believes she's found her ultimate career. She doesn't realize that she's found a family feud like none other, a centuries-old rivalry between vampire families, with her as the linchpin. Bells ring with Jean-Louis, but she doesn't realize they're alarm sirens until she learns that Jean-Louis is second in command of the Kandeskys...but by then it's too late.

In this fifth book of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, Maxie and Jean-Louis come to deeper understandings after her rescue from Leonid, a Huszar strong-man who kidnapped and brutally abused her. They reach a separate peace against the backdrop of the death penalty trial of Huszar leader Matthais, bringing an end to centuries of war between the two vampire families.


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KOBO
iTunes
Audible


DANUBE: A Tale of Murder - The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Book 4
The Kandesky management trio, Stefan, Jean-Louis and Pen, find themselves embroiled in a war with their rivals, the Huszars, which is bad for PR and bad for business, but after a judicious assassination they hammer out a pact.

This fourth book of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles tells of peace agreements with their rivals and the growth of their now-international business ventures.

It also follows Jean-Louis as he meets and falls in love with a young artist, Magda, who desires travel and adventure but never imagined the world the Kandeskys inhabit


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KOBO


Plague: A Love Story - The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Book 3
The third book of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles begins the saga of the family's start during the chaos of 14th century Hungary. When Stefan's wife and infant son die in a minor plague outbreak, he has nothing to live for, so Theron's turning him to a vampire is just a way out of his anguish.

Until he takes over the estate of a merchant, recruits Jean-Louis to teach him business and meets Lady Penelope Kandesky.

Plague returns to Budapest and this time paves the way for Stefan to become Baron Stefan Kandesky, a businessman who builds a trading empire with the help of Jean-Louis and Pen.


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KOBO
iTunes
Audible


SNAP: New Talent - The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Book 2
In the second book of the SNAP Kandesky vampire series, Maxie Gwenoch, media-savvy editor of the multinational celeb gossip magazine SNAP, is pummeled in Paris and kidnapped in Kiev as the Huszars ramp up the race to oust their centuries-old rivals, the Kandeskys.

SNAP's owners, the Kandesky family of vampires, built the world's most popular celeb coverage empire but this isn't just a business take-over. These powerful vampire families lived with an uneasy peace for four centuries until Maxie came in to boost SNAP's coverage and started making inroads into the Huszar's traditional hunting territories.

Although Jean-Louis, Maxie's lover, vampire and second-in-command of the Kandeskys, tries to keep her safe, Maxie is determined to do things her way, a way that may lose her her job, her love and her life.


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KOBO
iTunes


SNAP: The World Unfolds
SNAP, a multinational celeb TV show and magazine, is the holy grail for Maxie Gwenoch. When she snags the job as managing editor, she's looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos. What she finds is a media empire owned by Baron Kandesky and his family. A family of vampires. They're European, urbane, wealthy and mesmerizing. And when she meets Jean-Louis, vampire and co-worker, she's a goner.

The Kandesky vampire family rose in Hungary centuries ago. They gave up violence and killing to make a killing on the world's commodities markets and with that beginning they built SNAP, an international celebrity multimedia empire. Now cultured...and having found food substitutes for killing...they’ve cornered the world market for celebrity and gossip journalism.

They haven't fully left the past behind. Their Hungarian neighbors and rival vampire clan, the Huszars are starting to ramp up attacks, maybe looking to start a war to take over all the Kandeskys have built.

Maxie believes she's found her ultimate career. She doesn't realize that she's found a family feud like none other, a centuries-old rivalry between vampire families, with her as the linchpin. Bells ring with Jean-Louis, but she doesn’t realize they’re alarm sirens until she learns that Jean-Louis is second in command of the Kandeskys…but by then it's too late.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO
iTunes
Audible


Delta for Death - The Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries Book 3
California is in the middle of a catastrophic drought and water managers are scrambling to find ways to conserve the resource. The Governor has proposed a plan to dig massive tunnels under Delta, a sprawling tract of islands, sloughs, farms, marinas, resorts and historic small towns. The project will ship Sacramento River water south, to the thirsty corporate farms and cities of Central and Southern California, not a popular idea in Northern California.

When two bodies turn up at a state corporation yard in the tiny Delta hamlet of Freeland, Amy Hobbes and her police reporter, Clarice, are determined to find out if water is an issue worth killing for.


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Labeled for Death - The Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries Book 2
Vineyards around Monroe are being harvested, the ripe grape bunches sliced off the vines and trucked to wineries, where they’ll be crushed to make some of California’s finest wines. Amy Hobbes, managing editor of the Monroe Press has other stories in mind, until Clarice Stamms, her cops reporter blows in with news about another harvest, two bodies tucked up under the vines. The field workers were stabbed and their throats sliced. Are they just victims of a worker’s anger?

When the town’s most popular and well-known hooker turns up at the vineyard’s labor camp, sliced and stabbed as well, Amy and Clarice are on the hunt again, the adrenaline tingling down their nerve endings.

Who’s the killer stalking the vineyards and why?


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Edited for Death - The Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries Book 1
Amy Hobbes never expected to solve anything tougher than a crossword puzzle. When she left her job as a journalist in Southern California, she planned to give the adrenaline a rest, but her next job, managing editor of a local newspaper, delivers some surprises. After a respected Senator and World War II hero dies and two more people turn up dead, the news heats up. Both victims had ties to a hotel owned by the Senator's family. With the help of reporter pal Clarice and the new man in her life, Phil, Amy uncovers a number of shadowy figures, including a Holocaust survivor who's spent sixty years tracking down Nazi loot. It's a complex and dangerous puzzle, but Amy can't walk away until she solves it.


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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
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HBS Author's Spotlight
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Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.