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Author Eric Haberern

Last Breath Before DeathAuthor Eric Haberern

1. You have finally become a published author; please tell us where the inspiration came from for your novel.

 

My daughters CieAnna and Jaina inspired my novel. I could remember the week before I started writing, I walked in their room and they were both so involved with this one novel about werewolves and vampires. My oldest daughter looked at me and my other daughter and said, “Dad, you could write a book like this. Have you ever thought about it?”

At that moment I said, why not?

2. Please tell us all about your novel.

 

It’s about Paxton Holt, a young man that is plucked from obscurity as the last in the line of the sacred and revered hunters. He finds himself deeply immersed in a complex world of death and destruction, his grandmother is kidnapped by the most powerful vampire of all and he is helpless to do anything until his powers have developed fully. He is guided by the Covenant of the Light. Paxton has to develop his skills and to learn who to trust. As he embarks on his journey towards immortality, he realizes suddenly that the hunter has become the hunted and if he loses the fight, evil will take over the world leading to a bloodied and frenzied attack on humanity itself. From somewhere, deep within, Paxton has to find his inner strength and his faith and to prepare for the most gruesome battle of all.

 

3. What was the most difficult aspect of novel writing for you?

 

I think the most difficult aspect of writing was to find the time to do it. As a father of 4 kids 14, 11, 3, and 6 months old, time is not always your friend. What I did to overcome this was to set deadlines for chapter completion and utilizing breaks and lunches when at work to write. Anytime I wasn’t with my wife or my kids. I spent writing.

 

4. Which part of the writing process did you enjoy the most?

I would have to say the characters. I usually write out a timeline for each chapter and usually have one character that is the focus, but this time around many characters needed to be brought in. I loved creating mini bios of all the characters that were in this first book and those that would make it to the second and the new ones that would be created to continue the series. I didn’t always know the fate of a character at first. The ending developed with the writing.

 

5. Explain how you felt the moment that your book was published

 

I felt so relieved that the process was done and that I could see all my hard work on the screen of my computer. I immediately reached out to my book editor and told her that I can’t believe we made it to this point. I was excited but still very nervous that people may not like it. When you put yourself out there you have to be ready for criticism.

 

6. You self-published on Amazon, what do you think of digital publishing?

 

I think Digital publishing on Amazon is wonderful. They offer so many options to a new author and the compensation is very fair.

 

7. Do you have future writing plans?

 

Yes, I am currently writing on the second book in the series. This one is going to have much more depth then the first one. I don’t want to give any details but if you read the first one you will love this one even more. Sorry no spoiler alerts here… J

 

8.What have you learned through the whole experience?
 I have learned more then I can every truly say. If I had to put a few things down it was structure of writing and the people that work on your book like an editor, proofreader, ghostwriters, illustrators, etc. How much work goes into that and what you learn from someone that has been in the business for a while. The most important thing I can tell you are copy/development editors can make or break your book. Find a good one and keep him or her happy. They will make your book shine.

 

9. Your novel is doing quite well on Amazon, what marketing tips can you share?

 

Well you always think once you write it and then have it published  that you are done, but that is not true. The hardest work comes from marketing it. What I found was extremely helpful to me was utilizing all your social networking sites like twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Facebook was my first great win. My wife and I created a virtual book party, in which we invited all our friends and asked our friends to invite their friends to buy my book. We set it for two weeks and I would keep everyone informed on how the book was doing. 

 It’s important to be visible. As soon as you fade in the shadows so does your book. So show everyone how excited you are about your work. Excitement is infectious.

 I also joined Twitter and with some of my friends that are well-known provided tweets about my book and links.

 Getting followers is not always easy, but if you say funny stuff on peoples Twitter accounts sometimes they take notice and start following you. Currently at this moment I have 10 people following me, but of those 10 people 8 have more then 85 thousand followers and two of them have already endorsed my book. 

I also, contacted some Starbucks about posting flyers of my book with a little description. I put on the flyers that if anyone read the book and then emailed me at [email protected] or sent me a tweet @erichaberern. I would provide them a sneak peak at the up coming sequel to the current book.

 

10. What advice would you give to other would-be authors?

If you dream to be a writer, never give up. Publishers rejected Steven King’s “Carrie” 30 times before someone gave him a chance and look where he is now. When he pushed to be published he didn’t have all the amazing things we have now like Amazon’s self-publishing. So don’t let the dream die, keep fighting and once you get over that hump you will feel how great it is regardless if you sell 2 copies or 2 thousand copies. The last thing I want to say is something a great and wonderful woman told me…. ‘Once you finish your first book never stop writing.’ I will always remember those words from her. Thank you for the opportunity to share my story.  

Interested in reading Last Breath Before Death? You can purchase it on Amazon.com

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