Author Interview: Michelle M. Pillow

The Basics
– Michelle M. Pillow
– Brand: Author of All Things Romance
– Genre(s): futuristic, paranormal, dark paranormal, fantasy, historical, contemporary romances
– Publisher(s): Virgin Books/Random House, Pocket Books, Samhain, Ellora’s Cave, NCP

To Other Authors

– What are the three MOST important pieces of advice you would give to a brand new author?

• 1. Research. Research EVERYTHING – your book, your craft, the market and industry. There is no magic pill. You just have to get out there and do it.

• 2. Market. It’s a tough business. When I started, like most newbie authors I had the impression that I wrote the book and could now sit back and let the publisher do the rest. Not so. As an author, I have to be proactive in what I do (not that I mind, a lot of it is fun now that I know how to do it). I have a radio show, I do my own website, blogs, promotions and marketing, signings, workshops, designing promo items, panels, ect. But I had to learn most of it from scratch.

• 3. Take advice with a grain of salt. Listen to what others have to say, but don’t take all the advice you get as fact. There’s a lot of misinformation, and what works for some, won’t work for all.

– What’s your favorite way to advertise?

• Internet. There are a lot of great ways to interact on the net for FREE! Everyone loves free. If you were going to invest in only one thing to advertise yourself, make it a website. Do the best one you can afford, or learn to do it yourself. Whenever you do other advertising, it can all point back to one place—your website. And keep it current with all the latest information.

– What hard-knock lesson did the publishing world teach you (can be your own experience or someone else’s that you learned from)?

• I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hard-knock lesson, but I wasn’t prepared for the amount of marketing and advertising required to make it as an author.

For the Readers

– What are you reading, if anything, at the moment?

• Edits. I have a pretty tight schedule right now, so fiction wise, it has been edits. I’m also reading a non-fiction book on Art History from the Prehistoric period to the Middle Ages.

– Do you prefer ebooks or print for your reading pleasure?

• I like curling up with a print book, but I also love the speed of ebook purchases. Really, it doesn’t matter to me how the book comes, so long as it’s good.

– Name three of your all-time-favorite, read-them-over-and-over books.

• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austin
• Mandy Roth’s Immortal Ops series
• Ah, man this is really hard…

Idle Curiosity Compels Me to Ask

– What inspired you to be a writer?

• I love being creative and telling stories, whether it’s with words or pictures. I love research, learning new things and going new places, museums, photography, history, films, books and the paranormal. Being a writer lets me feed my desire to learn. I absolutely love my job. I get paid to make up stories and create my own worlds and rules. I adore large world and character building, creating myths and legends, all of it. And I’m very honored to have readers who enjoy what I do.

– What do you do immediately after finishing a manuscript?

• This is going to sound so boring, but I generally start a new one. My writing schedule right now doesn’t leave much room for breaks. (Renee Note: I know how that is. You get a two-second breather and then have to jump into the next one.)

– Do you talk to your characters or your muse or both?

• I talk to myself, curse at my muse, and have pacing conversations in my character’s POVs when working out a scene or idea. To writers this is sane, to everyone else… lol. (Renee Note: Don’t I know it.)

Promo Section

~ Most Recent Release ~

Lilith Enraptured Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing ISBN: 9781419959493 BUY NOW Lilith Enraptured by Michelle M. Pillow Book one of the Divinity Warriors Series Sorin of Firewall lives in a land forever at war. In fact, the Starian men are so busy fighting, their marriage ceremony has been reduced to a “will of the gods” event where they simply pick a woman out of a lineup and claim her as a wife. With women becoming scarce, it’s necessary to trade with the off world Divinity Corporation for brides. Duty-bound to attend the ceremony, Sorin has no intention of picking a bride, let alone one from another dimension. That is, until he sees Lilith, the bewitching woman sent by the gods to reward—or punish?—him. Lilith, a data analyst for Divinity, is betrayed by the Corporation and wakes up in a primitive, uncharted dimension filled with warriors who know only war and duty. Her fear of becoming a sex slave to a big, beefy knight becomes all too real when a warrior of god-like proportions claims she’s his new woman. As Lilith discovers, there are worse fates than being the focus of Sorin’s skillful and earthy seduction.

~ Coming Soon ~

Prisoner of Love Anthology with Jaid Black and Tawny Taylor Publisher: Pocket Books ISBN: 978-1439131534 BUY NOW JAID BLACK Warlord When a business trip to Scotland unexpectedly takes her back in time, Janet is enslaved by a fierce Scottish warrior whose uncontrollable urge to possess her ignites a steamy passion and unveils a sweet surprise. TAWNY TAYLOR Dragons and Dungeons Kaya tries to tempt the flirtatious hunk who outbids her at an auction into selling his prize, but instead he charms her back to his palatial estate and convinces her to accept him as her master so he can satisfy all her desires. MICHELLE M. PILLOW Taming Him A hard-bodied stud kidnaps Maggie to his alien spaceship, where he showers her with enticing pleasures and unrequited passion until she’s ready to believe — and do — almost anything to be his.

Learn More
Website – www.michellepillow.com
Blog – www.michellepillow.com/blog
Twitter – http://twitter.com/michellepillow
Newsletter – http://www.michellepillow.com/newsletter/?p=subscribe
Free Story – www.ravenhappyhour.com
Myspace- http://www.myspace.com/michellepillow

Thanks, Michelle! Join me next week for Leanna Renee Heiber’s interview!!