Author Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Website: Jenifer Ruff
Twitter: @Jen_Ruff
E-Mail: jeniferr@carolina.rr.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Amazon Author Profile
Author Description:
Jenifer Ruff is the author of psychological thrillers and an avid fitness enthusiast and hiker. She lives in Charlotte, NC with her family and a pack of greyhounds.
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
Congratulations on your book: The Intern. 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 have a new thriller series featuring FBI Agent Victoria Heslin. The Numbers Killer releases on May 30th and book two in the series, Pretty Little Girls, will be published in the fall of 2019. The Numbers Killer starts with a puzzling crime and one killer’s determination to avoid prison at all costs. Agent Victoria must decipher the cryptic messages the killer leaves at each murder scene. In Pretty Little Girls, the mysterious discovery of a young Jane Doe in the woods is followed by the terrifying abduction of a prep school girl. Victoria is brought in to investigate, and what she uncovers is far worse than anyone imagined. According to my ARC readers, these are “can’t-put-down” books.
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?
I have done a lot of interviews and book club appearances in the past. Those are for exposure, and I’m always so grateful to be invited. Book clubs are the best. Everyone has already read the book and they have interesting questions. I love hearing my characters discussed as if they were real people. But the vast majority of my sales are from ebooks and audio books and that’s where I focus most of my time and marketing efforts, which is nice because I can do it all without having to get dressed up. To find out about my events, new books, and exciting giveaways, readers can follow me using the links below or on my website: www.Jenruff.com
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’m thrilled that you like my covers! Professional covers are one of my biggest expenses. I really want them to do their job well by representing the tone of my work and generating sales in their genre. Last year, I took a book cover design course with Stuart Bache. The online tutorials and my weeks of practice with Photoshop proved cover design is not my strength, and it’s best for me to outsource. But the knowledge I gained from the course helped me work with my designers, from initial concepts to tweaking the final versions. When I’m still deciding, I share my preliminary covers on my FB pages for feedback. Rarely do I get a unanimous vote on one design. I think it’s because my designers create such good options. But it’s always fun to see the comments and show off my choices.
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? Do you recommend new authors going this route to get more exposure?
Audio books are a growing market and every novel should have one, provided the book has a good producer. I recommend audio books as an additional source of revenue. My narrator for the Brooke Walton series, Stephanie Dillard, is a very talented voice recording professional. She nailed every quirk and nuance for my complicated characters. The way she brought them to life amazed me. Stephanie did quite a bit of promoting for us—a wonderful surprise. I was impressed with her efforts every step of the way. I got incredibly lucky when she auditioned to narrate my series!
You have written several short stories. 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?
The horror story collections I’ve participated in sell very well at a low price point. They exist to expose new readers to our work. If someone likes one of my stories—all have a dark side—hopefully they will check out one or more of my books. But have the story collections impacted my sales? I don’t know for sure.
Besides the Charlotte Writer’s Club, what other writer support groups do you belong too? Do they help with the writing, marketing and the publishing process?
My writing club helps keep me accountable and focused on one novel at a time. Once a month, I submit 20 pages to that group and receive feedback. For most everything else, I rely on the abundance of excellent information available on the internet, and a few author friends who are also serious about the business of writing and publishing books. I’ve taken some of the Mark Dawson courses and they’ve been helpful, but most of the valuable information I’ve incorporated into my business has been available online for free for anyone willing to put in the time to do the research, listen to podcasts, and watch webinars. As you well know, the independent author community is supportive and wonderful about sharing knowledge!
What is your primary genre? What has been your best marketing approach to this group?
My primary genre is thriller—psychological and medical, and my approach has been to stay consistent with my work to establish a brand. My books deal with contemporary issues—ISIS, human trafficking, social media—and all are dark and twisty.
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 love talking marketing! It’s a bit of a strategy game and it’s always exciting when the strategy pays off. Giving books away for free has been the single best marketing strategy for me, so far. My best sales months have coincided with BookBub promotions for a free book. Each BB promotion catapulted the featured book to the top of its genre and made it universally visible, creating huge spikes in my kindle unlimited page reads and organic sales of all formats. The promo worked well for a standalone novel and even better for a series. I only wish the effects would last longer than they do. I use smaller paid promotion sites to find new readers, and I’m always grateful when friends and fellow authors help spread the word. Except for the first week of a new book launch, .99 cent promotions have not worked well for me.
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 reader’s club to build your list?
Yes. I have a group called “Ruff’s Readers.” Until recently, my email list wasn’t that big, but they were all “top-quality” fans because they signed up to be part of my group without enticement, either through my website or through the links in the back of my books. I’ve recently starting building my list through promotions like book giveaways and contests, but those readers still need to be converted into fans, since they may not have ever read my work. I did find some amazing new ARC readers from a recent bestseller promotion with AXP that was worth every penny. Those new-to-me readers gave me a chance with their valuable time and so far their feedback has been wonderful.
I like the idea of Author bundles. You are a part of a novel collection called Do No Harm: Seventeen Medical Thrillers with 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 Do No Harm?
I started noticing the author box sets last year and I was intrigued. Do No Harm is the first set to invite me to join. I received an email from one of the authors heading up the set and I said yes! Like you, I’m very impressed with the other authors in Do No Harm. The excerpts from their novels are awesome. What particularly interests me is how much they rely on their author networks and their fans for cross-promotion. They’ve really made me step up my promoting game and send more emails to my list and reach out to others to cross-promote.
Author's Book List
Do No Harm - Seventeen Medical Thrillers
DO NO HARM is an extraordinary, limited collection of medical thrillers written by USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon best-selling authors!Do you crave reading books with nail-biting suspense, twisted plots and great characters who get caught up in whirlwinds of crime, deception and lies?
Do you love sitting on the edge of your seat, wondering who will survive...and who won't?
From the mountains of West Virginia, to acute care hospitals, the battlefields of the Middle East and the hallowed halls of our educational system, join us for these incredible stories of healthcare gone wrong.
Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store
iTunes Store
The Numbers Killer - An Agent Victoria Heslin Thriller Book 1
You’ll never view odd numbers the same way again.
When a key witness in an organized crime trial turns up dead in his kitchen with liar and the number two scrawled on his forehead, the FBI assumes the murder was a hit to silence him. Then the calls start coming in—more victims with similar markings and no connection to the mob.
As agents Victoria Heslin and Dante Rivera struggle to catch a break in the case, they receive a series of cryptic, personal messages from the killer, complicating the investigation. Something disturbing and frightening is underway, and anyone might be next, including the agents, unless they uncover the common denominator.
Order the Book From:
Amazon
The Intern - Brooke Walton Book 3
Don't even think about messing with Brooke.
Two young American tourists are brutally murdered in Cancun. A private investigator in Connecticut is desperate to uncover the truth about a missing coed. At the heart of both matters is Brooke Walton, a young medical student. When her summer internship in a Medical Examiner's Office exposes a disturbing mystery and her ruthless brilliance, authorities take a closer look. Can Brooke save her own beautiful skin with someone watching her every move? Will one more murder solve her urgent problems, or dig her an even deeper grave?
Order the Book From:
Amazon
Audible
Only Wrong Once
A sinister experiment outside Aleppo.
Two mysterious deaths: one in LA, one in Boston, each with the same horrific symptoms.
In Los Angeles, FBI counterterrorism agent Quinn Traynor receives an urgent call from CDC agent, Madeline Hamilton. She's discovered the first victim of a lethal, unfamiliar virus. Their joint investigation uncovers an imminent bio-terror attack and their only hope is to identify the terrorists carrying the disease. With just two days remaining before it's too late, the FBI and the CDC race to prevent a pandemic. The ensuing nightmare will hit closer to home than they ever anticipated and one of them will pay an unimaginable price for protecting the country.
Order the Book From:
Amazon
Audible
Rothaker - Brooke Walton Series Book 2
It takes the perfect student to commit the perfect crime.
Brooke Walton is a thriving medical student at Rothaker University, until she has a serious conflict with Rachael, a rival classmate. When Rachael mysteriously disappears, detectives descend on campus and the hunt for the truth begins.
Order the Book From:
Amazon
Audible
Everett - Brooke Walton Series Book 1
At Everett College, perfection has a DARK side…
Beautiful and brilliant Brooke, a transfer student with a mysterious past, aims to graduate first in her class at Everett and attend medical school. Her classmates and professors are captivated by her achievements and appearance. Only Jessica, a wealthy socialite fueled by prescription pills and a huge case of snobbery, senses there's something not quite right about the perfect student. What happens during a historic blizzard will settle their differences once and for all.
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Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Audible
Full-Out
Lauren is an elite gymnast training full-time to qualify for the Olympic team, when an unexpected and terrifying incident changes everything in her world. Forced to abandon her identity, she has no choice but to become someone else, somewhere else, and face high school for the first time. A brand new scene of cliques, competitive cheerleading, and teenage drama would shake anyone, but that isn't the worst of Lauren's problems.
The secret she’s hiding could get her killed.
Order the Book From:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
KOBO Store
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
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