Margaret A. Daly - An Author Interview at the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Margaret A. Daly. She writes Romance and Suspense novels. Margaret is the author of The Awakening Series.

Author: Margaret A. Daly

Author Genre: Romance, Suspense, Fiction

Website: Margaret A. Daly
FACEBOOK: Margaret Daly Designs
Twitter: @mdaly_margaret
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Google+: Check Out Google+
Facebook: Check Out Facebook

Amazon Author Profile



Author Description:
Having written her first paranormal fantasy book at the age of forty-three, Margaret Daly has started a wonderful trilogy. Margaret took her life's encounters and crossed a bridge to a different world with them, a world filled with untamed power and endless possibilities. Being raised in the hills of West Sparta, New York, Margaret lost her home and everything in it to fire at a young age. She dove into the dark world as a teenager and from there on spent most of her life wrapped up in unfortunate situations from bad choices. Margaret learned some things aren't what you expect; some things end up being more.

Now, with her loving husband and four children, a family full of support and love, she has managed to overcome all the oddities thrown at her. Becoming the published author she once dreamed of being as a child but lost track of during this journey we call life.


SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Congratulations on your book: Dusgadh: Essence of Life coming in October, 2018. What do you have on the drawing board next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

Up next is my story that will be featured in another boxed set releasing in 2019. I'm not sure how much I can divulge, but I can say it has something to do with the Zodiac signs.

You have a great following on twitter. How important have your social media relationships been? How did you build your following in your niche? Do you see a carry over to your writing success?

I love social media! I've met some terrific people online over the last few years and they have all helped me in one way or another. Whether it be through writing or through my marketing or web building, I've gained almost all my followers organically. I've used some giveaways for followers but the majority are "free followers".

Selling on social media can be tough. Especially if you aren't vigilant about it. When I say vigilant, I mean every single day to multiple platforms. Facebook sells the most for me, with Linkedin and Pinterest coming in second in a tie. Twitter, not so much in sales but it is great exposure for free stuff and giveaways!

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 am not one you will find at book signings. My plate is full with what I do already. I am sure I could sell more books if I put myself out there in the public eye more, but really, I prefer what I do behind the scenes. The best place to find me is on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMargaretADaly/
https://www.facebook.com/MargaretDalyDesigns/


How does your book cover creation process work? Do you have hands-on approach and create them yourself? Do you get your readers involved in its development?

I do all of my book covers. That is part of my lively hood, both representing my books as well as my clients. Anytime I make a cover for a client, I have them propose it to their fans. Then we work through what we like and or don't like. Honestly, most times I try to get to know what the book is about and develop the cover as I see it. The cover has to tell a story too.

You have written a short story called Sapphire & Me with your daughter. What a great experience for both of you. Are shorty’s going to be one of your styles of writing? Will you continue to write in the children’s genre?

This project was a lot of fun. I involved all the kiddos as well as their cousins. I had them do the art work for it. My daughter Alex is Ten years old now, and she has already written 5 more books. They are all in the rough draft stage but we will get them edited and out to the public as soon as we can.

I also write clean romance novellas under a pen name, Sybil Shae. I have the third book in the series of Whisper Bay almost completed. It is a great series!

Can you supply us a book blurb for Monsters in my Closet? Most authors require a large time commitment just in writing and editing a new book. Was this your first book set a new book was required with a deadline? When will you publish Monsters in my Closet outside the Love Under Fire book set?

I have actually been in another book set so no, this isn't my first deadline new story. I still haven't published the story from that set yet.

The Love Under Fire Story will go up as soon as it is out of the set. It's a great story! Not that the other story form the other set(how vague can I be?) isn't a great story, but it was written under my Pen name and right now I am concentrating on writing under my real name.

Blurb:
A new place, a new start on a life, that’s all Becky wants. A place she can feel safe and free herself from her past. No one knows her secrets, not even her best friend.

She wasn’t ready for love, not just yet. At least that’s what she kept telling herself. Deep down she yearned for it, even burned for it. But every time she lets herself fall, it fails miserably. She isn’t going to let that happen, not this time. She will find herself first.

All of her plans are thrown out the window the day she runs into Stephen. His smile captures her and no matter how much she fights it, she can’t deny the pull in her heart. Can Stephen help her chase away the past? Can she keep her secrets and her monsters at bay long enough to give love a chance again?

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

My primary genre is horror, fantasy, romance.??? I write a little bit of everything into my stories.

Marketing is crazy! I cannot pick just one approach. You have to keep changing it up. What works one day, might not work the next.

With your busy schedule, how do you have time to keep up with your followers? Between your book writing, social media activity, work, 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 have a schedule, but honestly most days it gets thrown to the wind. I get one thing checked off my list and two more get added on. All I can do is my best.

I like the idea of Author bundles. You are a part of a novel collection called Love Under Fire with twenty other authors. What a great group of outstanding people. (Many have been interviewed on this blog). What was your main objective in bundling your works with other authors? What blogging, newsletter and social media promotions have you done to promote LUF?



Working with the Love Under Fire authors has been a wonderful experience. I first joined up just for that, experience. But now that I have a taste for the "letters", I'll have more of them please. Every day, I get up and once my kiddos are off to school I am off to work. The first thing I do is check the rankings on the set. Then I get to work pushing it! Either by posting, tweeting(not so much twitter these days), swapping newsletters, blogging or simply engaging with readers. Now we even have a sampler book for the stories contained in Love Under Fire. It is free to download! Here is the link to get a copy of it!



Author's Book List
Dusgadh: Essence of Life - The Awakening Series Book One
COMING IN OCTOBER

Ember Malloch has always felt like the odd one in the bunch, but there's a reason for that. You see, she can see the dead.

She's tried to live an ordinary life, to just be a teenager and have fun like every one else. But that's not in the cards for her.

Rather quickly Ember learns that her life is not what she thought it was, nor are the people in her life.

Follow Ember as she recalls who she is. Fight along side her as she battles for her life and the lives of those she loves. Experience her life first hand as she does-- learning that what she sees is her past, her present and her future.


Book Trailer: Dusgadh: Essence of Life

Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


Sapphire & Me - A Beautiful Friendship
A fun story for children. A little girl meets her new best friend, Sapphire the snake. They spend the day together, learning about each other and planning a grand adventure.


Order the Book From:
Amazon


Monsters in my Closet
Can Becky keep her secrets?

MARGARET A. DALY Excerpt for Monsters in my Closet

CHAPTER ONE

I pushed the door open with my foot and walked into the apartment, the smell of bleach still heavy in the air. The box in my arms obstructed my view so I attempted to remember the layout of the place, stumbling against the counter a moment later. My arms sighed in relief as I set the box on the counter and leaned back, stretching my back.

No doubt I would feel this tomorrow.

“Good God Becky. I believe these boxes get heavier and heavier each time.”

I smirked as I turned to see my best friend, Lilah walking through the door, balancing two boxes in her arms. “It’s because you know the faster you can get them up here, the faster you can go.”

Lilah set the boxes on the floor, brushing her hair off her forehead. “Now Becky, I love helping you move.”

I laughed. “No, you don’t.”

“You’re right,” she said, placing her hands on her hips. “I don’t. I’m logging all these moves you know, for the time that I start moving all over the place. Do you think this will be it?”

I shrugged, opening the box marked kitchen supplies. Truthfully, I had moved, a lot, over the last two years, but I kind of hoped this was my last move well. I felt like all I did was live out of a box. “Maybe I should buy a sailboat and sail around the world.”

Lilah laughed as she flopped into the chair that the movers had brought up earlier. “Yeah right. Then you would miss me, and I can’t live on a boat. I get sea sick.”

I chuckled. Lilah did get violently sea sick even on the smallest bodies of water. That and I would miss her. Lilah had been my best friend for five years, having met while I was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. We were both involved in a running group off base. Even though she wasn’t in the army like me, we clicked instantly and from there she had been my rock, the person by my side when I needed her the most.

I couldn’t imagine not having her around. “Alright, I guess I will stay on dry land then.”

“Good,” Lilah said, crossing her long legs. “Because you wouldn’t know what to do without me.”

I threw a kitchen towel at her and turned back to my box, a smile on my face. I was really excited about this apartment. The realtor had called it cozy and full of natural light, which in turn meant tiny and lots of windows. All of which were true.

But I didn’t care. With it just being me, one bedroom was fine and as long as I had a place to write, it was going to be just fine. Plus, it was near a park, where I could do my daily runs.

A new start. That’s what I needed.

“I will move you all day long if it means that you won’t ever go back to Jack. I have never been so happy in my life the day you told me you were through with him.”

Turning back to Lilah, I tucked a strand of hair behind my ears, my chest seizing as I thought about my ex, or more like my most recent ex. It seemed that my luck with guys was non-existent and I was really, really good at picking out losers. Jack in that line of losers unfortunately and while I thought he was going to turn my luck around, he hadn’t.

In fact, I had spent more time babysitting him and his friends than I had attempting to build a relationship with him. Jack had enjoyed playing video games and had been pretty upfront with me on our first date. I had just thought it was a hobby.



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