Carol E. Wyer - An Author Interview at the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Carol E. Wyer. She is the award-winning author of the Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series. Carol writes Thriller, Humor and Comedy novels.

Author: Carol E. Wyer

Author Genre: Thriller, Humor and Comedy, Nonfiction

Website: Carol E. Wyer
Twitter: @carolewyer
E-Mail: contact@carolewyer.co.uk
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Amazon Author Profile



Author Description:
Carol E. Wyer is an award-winning author whose humorous books take a light-hearted look at getting older and encourage others to age disgracefully. More recently she has chosen to write for the "dark side" and embarked on a series of thrillers, starting with the gripping #2 best-seller, Little Girl Lost.

Her book Grumpy Old Menopause won The People's Book Prize Award for non-fiction 2015.

Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing 'Irritable Male Syndrome' and 'Ageing Disgracefully' and on BBC Breakfast television. She has had articles published in national magazines 'Woman's Weekly' featured in 'Take A Break', 'Choice', 'Yours' and 'Woman's Own' magazines and writes regularly for The Huffington Post.

Carol is a signed author with Bookouture and Delancey Press.


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Congratulations on your book: Little Girl Lost. What do you have on the drawing board next? Rumor has it that you have another book on the horizon called The Missing Girls. Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

I have another five books lined up in this series, featuring DI Robyn Carter and her team, and all set in Staffordshire, where I live. The Missing Girls, the third book, is due out on September 14th. It's a tense novel, filled with twists, and a surprise that should make readers gasp.

When a girl’s body is found at a Midlands storage unit, it is too decomposed for Detective Robyn Carter to read the signs left by the killer.

No one knows the woman in blue who rented the unit; her hire van can’t be traced. But as the leads run dry another body is uncovered. This time the killer’s distinctive mark is plain to see, and matching scratches on the first victim’s skeleton make Robyn suspect she’s searching for a serial-killer.

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 love social media purely because it allows me to hook up with my readers and develop relationships with new ones. I was a blogger before I became a published writer and many of my relationships grew from blogging.

You may think me naive, but I was surprised at how effective twitter, Facebook and more recently, Instagram, have been in garnering interest in my books, and in gaining readers. I treat it all like a giant online party. If you chat to people at a party, you become friends and build relationships. If you're a wallflower and don't chat to anyone, they instantly forget you.

My first ever book launch was held online at my blog. It took three months of intense preparation, but was a huge success, and I sold several hundred books on the back of it in that one day. Nowadays, all my book launches take place online. With book bloggers and reviewers participating, sharing their reviews and supporting me, it helps hugely to propel a book into the limelight and I know I would not have the success I've enjoyed without them, the support of my fellow authors at Bookouture and without the massive input from PR guru Kim Nash.

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?

You name it and I've probably done it. I spent most of 2015 at events, signings, gigs, interviews and talks. I've had to cut down my appearances and engagements this year. I have some incredibly tight deadlines to meet, so apart from a couple of events in October, I'm keeping my head down. I will get back onto the circuit sometime next year. I usually try and fit in half a dozen stand up gigs as well as book signings.

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. I absolutely love the cover for Little Girl Lost which was designed by Richard Augustus who also designed covers for Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith's books. I can't take the credit for my covers. They were all thought up and designed by the team at Bookouture. I only see them when the team are happy with them.

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?

I can't say for certain what effect it's had on regular sales, but sales in audiobooks have been excellent and have found me a whole new audience. Last week, Little Girl Lost was the 9th best-selling audiobook on Audible.com. You can imagine my delight.

You have written several novellas. Can you tell us if they had an impact on the sales of your novels? Are shorty’s one of your styles of writing or are they created to give readers a sample of your work? Do you feel short reads are a product of our email and smart phone age?

I've only produced one collection of short stories, called Love Hurts. I wrote humour before I crossed to the 'dark side' and this collection was a change of direction for me, containing some lighter stories and some very dark ones. The idea was to offer them for free on Kindle Unlimited, to give people a taster of my writing. I was invited to read them out to a live studio audience on BBC radio and they went down very well. They were the catalyst behind me changing genre and moving from comedy, where I'd had a lot of success, to thrillers.

What is your primary genre? What has been your best marketing approach to this group?

It was comedy. Now, I'm firmly rooted in crime writing and am unlikely to turn back.

It was easy for me to find my market because I wrote for over 40s, with titles such as Grumpy Old Menopause. At the time, my blogs proved to be the conduit that led people to buy my books, and I kept all my social media light-hearted. I tweeted jokes and funnies. I also performed a comedy standup routine called Smile While You Still Have Teeth throughout the Midlands and would sell my books after each event. Eventually, I struck lucky and was interviewed on BBC Breakfast television which resulted in further television appearances, interviews on BBC radio station, and requests to write articles for magazines. It became self-propelling.

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'm a very late to the reader list party. I got in a complete mess trying to make one. I've got one now, thanks to my publishers, and I will be sending out a newsletter soon. Beforehand, I used social media to stay in contact.

Living in the UK creates a unique selling and marketing situation. Where is your biggest audience? Does marketing online help in this situation?

The audience for my thrillers is wide. They appeal to all ages and groups of people from all over the country. My guess is that they mostly appeal to women, since I get a lot of emails from women saying how much they've enjoyed them. Most of my readers are from the UK but it's my belief that marketing online helps reach a wider audience and I hope I'll eventually gain more readers from other countries.

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?

Again, I'm fortunate to have a marketing team and PR team behind me. Bookouture deal with all aspects of that, arrange book tours, and request reviews. I am hugely grateful they do. I used to spend hours, and I mean hours, every day working on marketing, sending out emails to reviewers, book bloggers and online friends to help promote my work. Now, I have the luxury of actually concentrating on what I love doing - writing.



Author's Book List
The Missing Girls - Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series Book 3
One girl found dead. Another girl gone...

Long shadows danced on the tin walls. Inside the trunk lay Carrie Miller, wrapped in plastic, arms folded across her ribcage, lips sealed tight forever...

When, a girl’s body is found at a Midlands storage unit, it is too decomposed for Detective Robyn Carter to read the signs left by the killer.

No one knows the woman in blue who rented the unit; her hire van can’t be traced. But as the leads run dry another body is uncovered. This time the killer’s distinctive mark is plain to see, and matching scratches on the first victim’s skeleton make Robyn suspect she’s searching for a serial killer.

As Robyn closes in on the killer’s shocking hunting ground, another girl goes missing, and this time it’s someone close to her own heart.

Robyn can’t lose another loved one. Can she find the sickest individual she has ever faced, before it’s too late?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
iTunes Store


Secrets of the Dead - Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series Book 2
Colourful, plastic boats were scattered in puddles on the floor. In the bathtub lay Linda Upton, fully-clothed, lips a shade of blue, and bloodshot eyes wide open.

When a young mother is found drowned in the bath, clutching a receipt saying ‘all debts paid’, Detective Robyn Carter knows it’s just the beginning of a harrowing case. She recognises the signs of a serial killer, and a second victim with a receipt confirms her worst fears.

There are no witnesses. The victims had no debts. With the body count rising and the local press whipping the public into a frenzy, Robyn is under pressure to solve the crime in record time. But her team can’t find a link between the victims, and the cracks are starting to show.

Just when her leads have dried up, Robyn discovers photographs in two of the victims’ houses, which she thinks could unlock the case. But as she hones in on the killer’s shocking motive, one of her own is put in terrible danger.

Can Robyn stop the most twisted killer of her career before it’s too late?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
iTunes Store
Audible


Little Girl Lost - Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series Book 1
Her breath rose and fell in fearful gasps but it was too late. She could already see what she dreaded most. The back seat was empty.

Her little girl was gone.

Abigail lives the perfect life with her doting husband and adorable baby Izzy. But someone knows a secret about Abigail and they want the truth to be told.

When Izzy is snatched from a carpark, it becomes a case for Detective Robyn Carter. Someone has been sending threatening messages to Abigail from an anonymous number. What is Abigail hiding?

Robyn’s instincts tell her there’s a connection between Izzy’s abduction and two murders she is investigating. But the last time she acted on impulse her fiancé was killed. To break this case and earn her place back on the force, she must learn to trust herself again – and fast. Robyn is on the hunt for a ruthless serial killer. And unless she gets to the twisted individual in time a little girl will die …


Order the Book From:
Amazon
iTunes Store
Audible


Take a Chance on Me - A laugh-out-loud feel good romantic comedy
A hilarious heart-warming read about friendship, taking chances and finding love, second time round.

When Charlie’s husband leaves after ten years of marriage, her spirits hit an all-time low. She just isn’t sure how to pick herself up again. So, best friend Mercedes makes it her mission to put a spring back in Charlie’s step with the perfect bucket list.

As Charlie takes a chance and bungee jumps and belly dances her way through an array of adventures, her love life also begins to look up and she’s soon enjoying a few dates as a newly single woman. She begins to realise that finding romance, might not be so hard, especially when you’ve got someone like journalist Jake who has an adorable little boy and is very easy on the eye.

But is Jake too good to be true? As Charlie’s challenges on the bucket list get bigger, so do her questions about Jake. Should she continue to hold out for the fairy-tale? Or should she take a chance on Jake and hope for a happy ending?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
iTunes Store


Grumpies on Board
A book like no other, with humorous suggestions for extreme active ageing trips and why grumpies should not go snuffle trunting. Fancy a holiday with a difference? Then pack your bags and get ready for some extreme active ageing. Us 'older' folk are heading away from the traditional hotel holiday and at last, having fun! This humorous guide, compiled by Mr and Mrs Grumpy, offers alternatives to the usual holiday-from sensible to outrageous-to suit every grumpy guts. Learn about Arctic boot camps, ayurvedic retreats, drumming holidays, ice blokarting, motoring experiences, skijorking, tubing, Vespa excursions, voodoo trips and discover why Mr Grumpy will never go truffle hunting again. With over 300 suggestions of how to get the best out of your vacation and live life to the maximum, this book aims to inspire and entertain.


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store


Surfing in Stilettos
Amanda Wilson is all geared up for an exciting gap-year, travelling across Europe. She soon finds her plans thwarted when she is abandoned in France with only a cellarful of Chateau Plonk, a large, orange Space Hopper, and Old Ted, the dog, for company. Fate has intervened to turn Amanda's life on its head. First, Bertie, the camper van, breaks down. Then her dopey son, Tom, who is staying in their house in the UK, is wrecking it, one piece at a time. Next, the jaw-dropping video Skype calls that her irrepressible mother insists on making are, by contrast, making Amanda's humdrum trip even less palatable. Finally, she discovers that her new-found, French friend, Bibi Chevalier, had engineered a plan to ensure that her philandering husband would never stray again; unfortunately, Amanda is unwittingly drawn into the scheme, becoming a target. Meanwhile, on a beach in Sydney, a lonely Todd Bradshaw realises that his first true love, Amanda Wilson, is definitely the only woman for him. Can he get back into her good books and hopefully back into her arms with his latest plan? Or will fate intervene yet again and turn everyone's lives upside down? Surfing with Stilettos touches on some very real and harrowing life experiences. Marital infidelity, false identities and how that can be used to prey on vulnerable members of our society ... and how we in our culture identify strongly with the work we do.


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store


Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines
Amanda Wilson cannot decide between murder, insanity, or another glass of red wine. Facing fifty and all that it entails is problematic enough. Amanda knows she shouldn't have pressed that Send button. The past always catches up with you sooner or later. Still, her colourful past is a welcome relief to her monochrome present especially when it comes in the shape of provocative Todd Bradshaw, her first true love. Amanda has a difficult decision to make one that will require more than a few glasses of Chianti. This light and entertaining book is a must-read for every woman who has ever shuddered at the thought of a birthday, be it thirty, forty, fifty or beyond. Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines portrays the fruits of mature living with hilarity and empathy and reassures us that we really are as young as we feel …


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store


Grumpy Old Menopause
Have you started to write post-it notes with your kids names on them? Do you need to change your underwear after every sneeze? Guess it is time to read this book then. It will help you get through that time in your life with a spring in your step and a smile on your face. With numerous suggestions, sensible advice and amusing anecdotes, Grumpy Old Menopause will help you sail through that tricky part of a woman s life with ease and humour. It should prevent you from turning into Mrs Crabby or worse still, a demonic monster. This is a humorous guide that will entertain and advice women and men who are approaching this phase of their lives.


Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store


How Not to Murder your Grumpy
Is your Grumpy Old Man getting under your feet? Is he wrestling with retirement? Are you wondering if you should bundle him up and entrust him to basket-weaving classes? Then this book could be the answer to your prayers. This light hearted guide is packed full of lively ideas, anecdotes and quips. Not only does it set out to provide laughs, but offers over 700 ideas and ways to keep a Grumpy Old Man occupied. From collecting airline sick bags to zorbing, you will be sure to find an absorbing pastime for your beloved curmudgeon. There are examples of those who have faced extraordinary challenges in older age, fascinating facts to interest a reluctant partner and innovative ideas drizzled, of course, with a large dollop of humour. Written tongue-in-cheek, this book succeeds in proving that getting older doesn't mean the end of life or having fun. It provides amusing answers to the question, "How on Earth will my husband fill in his time in his retirement?" It offers suggestions on what might, or most certainly might not, amuse him. Ideal for trivia buffs, those approaching retirement, (or just at a loose end) and frustrated women who have an irritable male on their hands, this book will lighten any mood and may even prevent the odd murder.


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Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store


Life Swap - A funny feel good read about starting again
She wanted a new life and true love. But the grass isn’t always greener on the other side…

All Polly has to her name is a string of failed relationships and a mountain of debt. She sees herself as a hopeless case and would do anything to change her luck.

So when she’s given the opportunity to swap all she’s ever known for a life of luxury, Polly jumps at the chance. Soon, it’s all diamonds, spa days and celebrity parties. Now all that's missing from her life is a bit of romance. Will hunky Matt be the man to heal her broken heart?

But money can’t always buy you happiness. Can the life she’s always dreamed of get in the way of true love?


Order the Book From:
Amazon
iTunes Store


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