D.G. Torrens - An Author Interview at the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Award-winning Author D.G. Torrens. She is the author of The Amelia Series and The Poppy Fields Trilogy. Dawn writes Biographies & Memoirs, Romance and Contemporary fiction as well as poetry and Dramas & Plays.

Author: D.G. Torrens

Author Genre: Biographies & Memoirs, Romance, Contemporary

Author's Blog: My books & I…
Twitter: @Torrenstp
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook

Amazon Author Profile



Author Description:
D.G. Torrens is the author of 13 books including, the bestselling trilogy, Amelia's Story #1 Amelia's Destiny #2 and Amelia The Mother #3 This is an emotion-charged true story that the author wrote for her daughter. D.G is a mother/writer/blogger who has a dream to inspire as many people as possible through her story. To show those with little hope that dreams can come true.

Born in England, passionate about writing, D.G. Torrens is a proud mother to one, 8-year-old daughter. Her first book, Amelia's Story, has inspired people all over the world. Amelia's Destiny, book #2 is the sequel and is followed by Amelia The Mother book #3 in this awe-inspiring trilogy. A memoir that remains with DGs readers long after they have put the book down...

D.G is a prolific writer and in 2013, her works were recognised by BBC Radio WM, where she has given several live interviews in the BBC studios in Birmingham UK. Her most recent interview was with Graham Torrington radio and T.V presenter for his BBC late night show.

A quote by D.G. Torrens: "If you close your eyes, you can be anywhere you wish to be."

D.G. Torrens lives by the motto, "The child first and foremost."


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

First things first. Congratulations on your book: Amelia The Mother. What's next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

Thank you, I am very excited about this book… Amelia The Mother, is now available worldwide. This is the third book in my Amelia Series, which brings readers completely up to date with my life story. Amelia The Mother, answers many questions by fans of the first two books. Updates fans on all of the people featured in Books #1 and #2. Thus far, Amelia The Mother has been received very well.

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?

Social media is vastly important to the success of my books. In the beginning, no one knew who D.G. Torrens was! So I had to build my brand (D.G. TORRENS) gain readers and build a loyal following. I started off with twitter and networked with other writers/authors. I asked advice along the way and took it on board. It is not easy building a following and I think the key point is to be responsive to your fans – not a robot. Tweet, retweet, share peoples pinned tweets. Interact with your followers and not take your fans for granted. For instance, I always respond to every single message I receive on my Facebook Fanpage. I engage with my fans and some of my loyal fans have become friends over the years. Followers and fans of your work want to know there is a real person behind the screen. Not just automated messages and tweets all of the time. However, automation of promo tweets is a must for authors as we simply cannot spend all day promoting. So this helps massively and frees up our time to write. Basically, dogged determination, passion and self-belief are key. In the early years it was hard launching a book. Back then I had fewer followers. However, as you gain more reader/fans and the success of your social media growth expands, it becomes far easier.

You do a lot of book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances. When and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?

My next appearance is 13th May 2017. I am an attending author at the White Rose Author Signing Event. This is taking place at the Park Inn, Radisson Hotel in York. There are over 50 authors attending this huge event. I am very excited about it. I will be signing books all day and giving away a free goodie bag with each book purchased at the event! Readers can keep up to date via the following:

Facebook fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/dgtorrens/
Website: dawnsdaily.com
Twitter @Torrenstp

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?

I have a lot of input in the creation of my book covers. I have two great cover designers that I work with. Each one of my cover designers offers something different. So depending on the type of cover I need or want depends on which cover designer I use. They are both very

They are very talented designers. I usually have an idea of what I want for my current WIP. I draft out my ideas and then email them to my chosen designer. We then work together until the perfect image is created. There are so many things to consider. I like my book covers to perfectly convey my story. A few draft covers may be designed and I sometimes get my readers involved by posting them on my Facebook fan page and asking them to choose their favourite cover out of the selection. I read their comments and ideas and take them on board. I love this process. It is an amazing feeling when you finally receive your completed book cover. Your book cover after all is the face of your story…

Several of your novels have been converted into audio books. What has been the impact on your regular sales? Has the audio books gained a new audience for you

Yes, My Amelia Series has recently been converted to Audio books via Audible.com. This has had a huge impact on newly gained audience. My Amelia Series has reached the top 100 bestsellers in memoirs on Audio sales recently in the USA. Audio sales and Kindle sales are complimenting each other hugely. There are a lot of audio lovers out there and I am just beginning to realise the impact audio sales are having on my books. All very positive right now.

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

My readers seem to love bundles. Trilogy and series. They invest time and emotion into the characters and don’t want a story to end. The Poppy Fields seem to take on a life of its own. This particular story had many depths to it, far too much going on for a stand-alone novel I soon discovered while writing it. As the characters developed and the plot weaved a web of suspense in several areas I realised early on that this would be a trilogy. It was a great decision for The Poppy Fields. The impact on my other sales was very positive. I found that when readers completed this story, they would go on to download my next book.

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

I have my own book group with around 1,500 members. I am also a member of several groups important to my books. One particular group is a Biographies and Memoirs group. It has several thousand reader members and my Amelia Series has been hugely successful in this group where I gained many new fans, who also promote and share my story. I do maintain a reader list and use various methods to find readers. I use my private groups and support groups as well as the obvious social media platforms. I am very active on my Facebook fanpage where I keep my readers up to date on all that is going on with upcoming releases, book promotions and appearances. I often discount my books and make all of my readers aware of this. I find doing giveaways on my fanpage is hugely successful and keeps your fans interested and excited. I often give away five signed books at a time and open up the giveaway worldwide and do not limit it to the UK. This can get costly though when posting books abroad. However, it is totally worth it when you get posted images from excited and happy readers on your fanpage. Sometimes you just have to go that extra mile and this is what I like to do. I also have a website that keeps my reader/fans up to date on all that I am doing.

You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and helping other writers gain exposure. 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?

Thank you … It is very hard keeping up with it all. Especially as I have an 8-year-old daughter too! However, it is my passion for what I do that drives me. I am living my dream and not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate it. My website recently hit 1.3 million hits… This was a huge surprise to me and a welcome one. I try to post often and also offer new and upcoming authors advice. I have practically taught myself the whole self-publishing industry over the last several years that I feel like I could pass a degree on the subject! I try to keep my content fresh and exciting and often give my website mini makeovers to improve it visually too. Times change fast and what looked great two years ago looks dated now. I am currently in the process of visually improving my website and it’s pages. I have introduced super slider images that automatically scroll across the screen while someone is viewing it. All the images are of my books. It is rather cool and a new feature for my website. Although it still needs tweaking and I am currently working on it! I do most of my writing while my daughter is at school between 9 am and 3pm. Then I down will tools and give my daughter all of my attention. I will then pick up my laptop again after 9pm when my daughter is in bed and often work until gone midnight.

You are published under several genres and literature formats (Novels, Memoirs, Poetry, Dramas & Plays). Does changing hats create any problems? Any tricks you can share with us? Which form do you enjoy writing the most? Does moving from one to the other give you some breathing room? Does it create a change of pace?

I find writing in several genres and literature formats helps me creatively. I have so many stories buzzing around my head continuously that my problem is often which one to write next. I love writing romantic suspense and poetry. Poetry for instance is a form of therapy for me when I am stressed. It helps to relieve my tensions and calm my mind down. This has always been the case since I was 9 years old. I think the trick is, write what feels right to you. Don’t force yourself into a niche, if your next story does not quite fit into your current genre of writing then put it into another genre rather than change it to fit your normal genre of writing. For instance, I write a lot of romance in various romance sub categories: Romantic suspense, romantic drama, contemporary romance and military romance. Sometimes my story is not simply a contemporary romance. As the plot develops it may fall into the suspense category of romance or romantic drama. It all depends on where the story leads you. I allow my stories and characters to lead me. I often start out with a concept and it can completely change as it goes along and develops. I am comfortable wearing several hats and this suits my personality and my way of writing. Although I appreciate this is not for everyone.

I like the idea of Author bundles. You are a part of a novel bundle called Love in Times of War. What was the impact on your other sales? What was the main objective of bundling your works with other romance authors? How did you put something like that together? (What a great group of authors. Featured on HBS Author’s Spotlight)

Love In Times of War Boxed Set, was a great opportunity to come together with other like-minded authors and produce something I had not done before. I was invited by the talented author, Uvi Poznasky. Uvi, is the mastermind behind this boxed set. She is an incredible woman and super organised. I have a great deal of respect for her. This has had a great effect on my other romance books and encouraged more reviews on my book included in this bundle. This boxed set is a great way for readers to get a taste of authors they may not have tried before. They get 12 new authors and twelve new romance novels to try for just 99c for the whole boxed set. This is a way for us authors to gain new readers too as well as more traction for our other novels. We all work hard together at promoting the boxed set not just on social media but by using paid promotional book platforms to elevate our boxed set stats. Thus far, it has worked very well and hit the Amazon bestsellers list several times since its release.



Author's Book List
Amelia The Mother - A Pocket Full of Innocence - Amelia Series Book 3
In Amelia's Destiny, D.G. Torrens captivated readers with her inner-strength, strong will and dogged-determination to overcome any obstacle placed in her path. Now a mother, Amelia takes her readers on an emotional journey, of what motherhood means to her and how she used her own past as an example of, 'How not to parent.'

Amelia shares her journey in her well-known, candid manner. After suffering two great losses in recent times, Amelia weaves her emotions like never before, revealing her deepest, emotion-filled feelings of grief. The loss of two great people in her life came unexpectedly close together and tested Amelia's strength once more.

Amelia The Mother, updates readers on all of the people who have passed through her life mentioned in books #1 & #2. Amelia's journey weaves a web of powerful words - words that will inspire the reader and remain with them long after they put the book down…

Quote by Amelia: Our journey through life is not a straight road, it has many junctions. Do we turn left or right? No one knows, we have to take a leap of faith…


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Audible


Amelia's Destiny : Finding my way - Amelia Series Book #2
A life of pain and abuse. Can Amelia ever escape?

In Amelia's Story, D.G. Torrens captivated readers with the heart-wrenching story of a young girl imperilled by a tragic life of abuse. Now a teenager, seemingly free of the past, Amelia struggles to find happiness in an overwhelming world. With many obstacles placed in her path, this only serves to make her journey an arduous one. Fighting for life and for love, will the courageous young girl grab hold of her dreams and discover her destiny?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Audible


Amelia's Story - A Childhood Lost - Amelia series Book #1
This is a powerful true story of one young girl's struggle to survive the state-care-system in the 70s and 80s. Amelia has just one wish, to make it through to adulthood and hold her destiny in her own hands. This is a harrowing true story, one of survival and human strength. Amelia has been tragically separated from all her siblings, never to see them again for many years.She is moved from one children's home to another until finally, it's just too much for her to bear. Amelia starts to wonder about the peace and finality of her own death.


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Audible


FORBIDDEN - A Hamilton/Sharma family novel - Book #1
The ties that bind us are the ones that can break us...

Jessica Hamilton is 25-years-old and born into a strict, white, Christian family. One that does not believe in interracial relationships under any circumstances. She meets Ajay Sharma at work, an associate director for Lansdale and Down Communications. There is only one problem – he is a Hindu. Jessica and Ajay fall irrevocably and irreparably in love with one another. A perfect love they have to conceal from all those around them for fear of reprisal from their unforgiving families, families that are imprisoned by their own cultural constraints. They are both faced with unimaginable and unforeseeable obstacles that leads Jessica to a near fatal accident, one that changes their lives forever. Jessica has no memory of the events that led to her tragic accident or why she was alone at ridge point on that fateful night. Will Ajay find justice for Jessica? Will Jessica’s memory return and reveal the truth?


Order the Book From:
Amazon


A Soldier's Fear
LOVE IS THE ENEMY...

Dominic, a soldier for the British Army. Olivia, a freelance photojournalist. Both of them meet by chance in Iraq. Their fate is forever entwined on the mountain. An all-consuming passion between them takes Olivia's heart hostage and she falls irrevocably and irreparably in love with Dominic. However, she is faced with a harsh reality one she refuses to believe. Then, a cruel twist of fate on Mount Sinjar changes the course of their lives forever…


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Amazon


In Life We Trust - THE POPPY FIELDS Trilogy BOOK #3
The hardest obstacle of all - an insufferable pain that no one should have to endure...

Once again, Emily and James are separated for a final time. James is sent on a three-month deployment to Sierra Leone on a training and advisory capacity, leaving behind Emily and his two children. While he is gone, Emily is faced with an insufferable tragedy that is set to break her completely. Unable to reach James, she is faced with an impossible decision, one that could tear her whole family apart. James's fate in Africa is about to take a wrong turn unbeknown to him, thus changing the course of their lives forever. Can they find a way through the tragedies which befall them, or will their lives be broken forever...?


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Eternity Bound - THE POPPY FIELDS Trilogy BOOK #2
A cruel twist of fate, which binds three people together for eternity...

James Hamilton and Emily Matthews have no idea the fate that will befall them both in the not too distant future. A cruel twist of fate and one that changes the course of their lives forever. A tragic event, which unknowingly binds three people together for eternity. Having already overcome many obstacles in book one, the path before them remains an extremely rocky challenge and one that threatens the very foundation of their lives as they know it. Can their love find away…


Order the Book From:
Amazon


THE POPPY FIELDS - The Poppy Fields Trilogy BOOK #1
Fate intervenes when they least expect...

Emily is still struggling to come to terms with her tragic loss two years on. Her entire being has been taken hostage by the poppy fields. The only place that reminds her she was once truly happy. James a military physiotherapist for the British Army has thrown himself into his work avoiding love at all costs. With several tours to Afghanistan under his belt he is fighting his demons daily. The loss of his unit during his last tour always at the forefront of his mind, until one day his eyes lock with the most beautiful and fragile woman he'd ever seen. From that day forth his life is changed forever.


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Amazon


Whispers from Heaven
Can love find a way?

Arianna and Tristan are both struggling to come to terms with a great loss. One that is having a detrimental effect on their future. With all the emotions that come with being a new mother followed by feelings of immense grief and mourning, Arianna is struggling each and every day. Lost in her world of grieving, she is struggling with moving forward. Tristan, her baby's uncle, is by her side, giving her his unwavering support, as promised to his brother before he passed away. His only brother, his only family; now gone forever. Tristan has fallen irrevocably and undeniably in love with Arianna, unbeknown to her. Through loyalty to his dead brother, he struggles daily to suppress his feelings, not wanting to scare Arianna away. Baby Ben is all the family he has left now and if being friends with Arianna is all there ever will be then he will suffer-in-silence.


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Amazon


Tears of Endurance
A secret can tear you apart or bind you forever...

For Arianna Ferria, a satisfying and challenging life as an art gallery owner takes an unexpected turn into burning romance when she falls for the handsome and successful Ben Fielding. Soon, their relationship blossoms into more than she could ever imagine. However, when a black secret comes crashing down around them, their love faces the ultimate test of endurance while they come to grips with a tragic fate that will bring you to tears … Tears of Endurance.


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Amazon


Broken Wings - Contemporary Romance
Two people who have both suffered tragic losses in their young life; both of them avoiding love for completely different reasons. Joshua, a soldier in the British Army, a bomb disposal expert and the very best at what he does. Angelina, an editor for a local newspaper and writer in her spare time. Both of them focused on their careers.

Brought together unexpectedly, they fall unconditionally and irrevocably in love with one another. All is perfect in their lives until Joshua is unexpectedly posted to Afghanistan for six months. Angelina's worst fears are finally realized. Joshua has to go, it's his duty as a soldier, but the pull in his heart is strong and he leaves her behind with a heavy heart.

Angelina is devastated and prays for his safe return. Until one day, a few weeks into Joshua's deployment, there is a knock on her door that changes her life forever.


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Amazon


Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
eBook Author’s Corner and HBS Mystery Reader’s Circle