Interview with J. A. Redmerski

Hello and welcome to the blog! I'm Raschel and today we have a very special guest on the blog. J A Redmerski is here to talk about her Darkwoods Trilogy, recently reviewed was MAYFAIR MOON.

Raschel: Welcome JA Redmerski, so glad you could join us today!

JAR: Thanks for having me, Raschel! I'm happy to be here. :-)

Raschel: Okay so first. I HAVE to talk about those gorgeous book covers you have sported on this series. Remind me again who the artist is and how did you find her?

JAR: I'm glad you like them! I found Michelle Monique on deviantART and I'm so glad that I did. She's a wonderful photographer and graphic artist, but also a sweet person and easy to work with. And I will be totally honest in saying that if it weren't for my new covers made by Michelle, my books wouldn't have gotten so much exposure so fast. Of course, I've put in months of all of the other hard work an Indie author must put in to promote their own work, but the new cover for THE MAYFAIR MOON was what gave me that extra boost I needed to really get out there.

Raschel: We are asking the authors this month what kinds of advice they have to offer for those of us who are hoping to publish themselves one day. What would you like to offer?

JAR: My biggest piece of advice would be to work, work, work! I literally spent 8-10 hours a day for a few months contacting reviewers, placing ads, generating giveaways and doing interviews and guests posts, etc. This has been a non-stop, no-sleep, work-my-butt-off at every possible angle job. I've given away THOUSANDS of free eBooks by way of Amazon as well as to reviewers and through giveaways. This all doesn't even include the two book tours I've gone through. Unless you're an already established author, you really can't just publish on Amazon, contact a few bloggers and do a book tour and expect that to really get your name out there.

Raschel: What got you started in writing and at what point did you decide to self publish?

JAR: I've been writing since about the age of thirteen. I can't remember anything that actually triggered it, but it's kind of been a passion for as long as I can remember. I can't imagine not writing! And the reason I chose to self-publish was for the same reasons most Indie authors do: I got tired of agent rejections. I queried for over two years and between three different books, I received I know over 300 total rejections. Then when I started thinking about how long it would be to actually see myself in print once I did find an agent, I knew it was time to take the New Age route. There's nothing wrong with the old school way - I guess it's all just a matter o f taste.

Raschel: How did you come across the idea for the MAYFAIR MOON was the end result what you originally planned it to be or did it spur off a different idea?

JAR: I've been asked this question a lot so forgive me if I sound redundant, but I love reading YA books more geared toward readers 17 + and have adult crossover potential. That was the kind of werewolf novel that I desperately wanted to fall in love with, and believe me, I searched for a YA book like this and found nothing. The majority of YA ‘werewolf’ novels on the market today (and for the past several years) are the shape-shifter kind.  Nothing wrong with them, just not something I’ve ever been interested in. So, when I ultimately gave up my search, feeling like I would never find a series with beastly, dangerous werewolves like you see in the Underworld series, that was when I decided I was just going to have to write my own.

Raschel: What kinds of research did you do on wolves or anything else for that matter for this series?

JAR: I did some research on actual wolves, but I didn't use too much because, like I mentioned, the werewolves in The Darkwoods Trilogy are not your typical canine-type wolves. I did stick with a couple basics (warm body temperature and ability to be in the cold without it affecting them much and pack loyalty), but that's as far as the similarities go.

Raschel: Did you do any research with other books in your genre and what they had to offer, or even any TV Shows? If so which ones?

JAR: The only other research I did was on cities in Maine (Hallowell, Augusta, Portland) and on Serbia. I try my best to be as authentic as possible when using actual existing places, so I hope I did a good job portraying them. I know it's impossible to get everything right and I probably made a few mistakes having never actually been to any of these places, but I did try hard! :-)

Raschel: Well thank you so much! I am so glad we were able to have the chance to do this, and don't be a stranger! 

JAR: No, thank you and again, I really appreciate the opportunity to be featured on your blog. :-)
Well it has been a pleasure and I do hope to hear from all of you about this interview as well as to this glorious series. I have to say, I am on the same track as Jessica here, I don't think I really noticed it until now though. I have been seriously craving a book that portrays those beastly qualities that a werewolf has to offer and I have to say, she NAILED it on the head with this!


Thanks for listening and stopping by!
~Raschel