Interview: Andi Young

Andi Young is a Christian supernatural fiction writer who is currently working on the third book in her trilogy, The Devil of Blackthorne. Find out more about her writing style and her approach to marketing her book.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

The book I’m currently working on is called Into the Light, book three of a trilogy called The Devil of Blackthorne. The first book is Called from the Darkness, and the second is Through the Abyss. The series is centered around Ray Weiss, a high school senior who would rather be anywhere but cooped up in a classroom. One day he followed his curiosity into an abandoned building with a haunted reputation, and its supernatural occupant followed him home, turning his already troubled life upside down.

I was motivated to write on the topic of spiritual warfare for two main reasons. One, society’s interest in the paranormal has been skyrocketing. Since I started the first book, we’ve gone from maybe two ghost hunting shows to dozens, and now there’s entire channels dedicated to the paranormal. People are hungry for answers. And that leads me to the second reason. For the most part, the church is not providing those answers. Well, the church isn’t providing answers to a lot of issues these days, but I won’t go into that. The average church in this day and age will almost never talk about demons. And they’re what we’re fighting against, right? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and the spiritual forces of evil in the unseen realm. Yes, we also wrestle against our sinful nature, but so many Christians are going about their lives, oblivious to the spiritual war that’s not only raging around them, unseen, but also raging against them without them being aware of it. How can we fight a war we don’t even know we’re in?

My books are fiction, and I’ve taken a lot of creative liberty and put some fun stuff in there, but I hope they get people thinking about the fact that there’s dark forces working against them. Working to sabotage their faith, to steal their hope, to entice their curiosity to lead them away from God. We have to be vigilant, know our enemy, and get familiar with their strategies.

2. How have your sales been?

I’ve sold about a hundred books, mostly of the first book.

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing.  How have you liked it so far?  Talk about some of the positives and negatives you’ve encountered.

The process of self-publishing has been great. I love the total freedom it gives me to write what I want to write, to create the cover that I envisioned, and to have total control over it. It’s been difficult to be my own promoter, but I think that even if I went the traditional route, I’d still have to promote. So, I’m not really sure if there were any negatives to self-publishing in my case.

Max B. Sternberg

Max B. Sternberg is a Christian author who learned firsthand the risks a new author must take to get his or her work out there. Read about how he used social media groups to network and market his debut novel.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

My latest book is my first book! Haha! It is called ‘The Rhise of Light’ and is the first book in the Darkness Overcome series. It is about a fantasy world that is on the brink of destruction from a plague of undead hordes. The main character, Leon, is called by a mysterious being to be a ‘Judge’ (or in non biblical terms, a hero). He, however, is going through his own personal troubles as well at the time. Along his journey he meets different people who join him, and they all learn about the being ‘Adonai’ and how that forgotten God can help each of them grow. There is action, humor, mystery and intrigue. It also deals with scriptural truth, and Old and New Testament themes that aren’t sugarcoated. It’s definitely not a hyper-grace message, more like punching evil in the face.

Which is one of the reasons I wanted to write the book series. There were lots of reasons, and first and foremost is because the more I started to write it the more I was convinced that this was the purpose God had called me to have. I wanted to challenge the secular fantasy landscape with a Christian series that was more thought provoking. You see a lot of ‘skin and sin’ series now in mainstream media and streaming which to me does nothing to add to a story. You can have great fantasy without those things! So this was my answer to combat that.

2. How have your sales been?

Being the first book I have no way to compare any prior works. However, I think it has gone exceptionally well since release on June 1, 2021. The book has 11 reviews on Amazon and 9 reviews on Goodreads. They average is 4.5 and higher. I am overwhelmed and humbled by the positive response! Hopefully the book sales spike and interest is gained as people review and talk about the book.

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing. How have you liked it so far?

It’s definitely been interesting. Starting to write a book from scratch I had to do a lot of research both on how to write a book and the topics that I wanted to tackle. It’s nice that I have retained the control without an editor who doesn’t see my vision. Or a publisher that wants to censor things that I want to talk about that may be controversial hanging over my head. I kept having thoughts of the librarian in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A big stamp of ‘rejected’!

It does however mean that I am responsible for everything getting done. The writing of course but also proofing, the editing (which my amazing wife helped with), the formatting, perusing the story looking for plot holes, making it look pretty, and a partridge in a pear tree! You work on a budget too. I can’t tell you how many times that I had to go online and search for something book related. Then catch myself and search again only with the words ‘for free’ at the end.

Ben Baker

Ben Baker is a prolific writer who has learned a few tricks throughout his career. He explains how authors can find and exploit their niche.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

My latest published book is A Dog Named Nekkid. The title comes from one of the columns in the book. Imagine naming a dog Nekkid. Think of the fun. Put the dog outside. Company comes over. You get tired of them. “I gotta go outside and get Nekkid. Y’all wanna come?” So many variations on a theme.

That also marked my debut as a freehand cartoonist. I did editorial toons in college for the university newspaper, but drew those on a Macintosh. My daughter also drew some of the toons.

I have several others in the works: a science fiction/fantasy novel, memoirs, and a how-to book on dealing with an estate when you are the executor.

2. How have your sales been?

Poor. This is my fault. While I am good at sales and marketing, I do not enjoy it. Good? Yes. I have set new positive sales records for the places I worked in sales. I just do not like it. If I invested into the marketing, my sales would be excellent. I am somewhat like Nikola Tesla in that regard: lemme work and let someone else handle the business end.

This is why I love writing for brokerage sites. They handle the maths (maths is evil; the plural is correct), the marketing and the business. I write. I did have one client steal my stuff and leave a horrible review. I reported it with evidence of the theft and got paid. The client got banned. Dunno if the review is still up, nor do I care.

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing. How have you liked it so far? Talk about some of the positives and negatives you’ve encountered.

Self-publishing is great for me. I am also a graphic artist. Each week I produce a newspaper and a few times a year I produce a slick magazine. Layout and design for books is something I can do in my sleep. I’ve done books for several other people who did not have the know-how to design and format. I’ve done so many, including ghost writing, that I wrote a contract to spell out what I will do and the prices.

Because I can do layout and design, I control every step of the process. I pick the font, size, page size, count and quality. I keep all the rights. I set the price. I keep all the profits. My only out-of-pocket expense is printing the books I buy to resell.

Self-publishing is not for everyone because so many people think they have a great book (they do not) and it will just fly off the print-on-demand press to be a bestseller (it won’t). The last report of the POD industry I read said the average POD book sells fewer than two copies.

Marketing is what sells books. If you can’t get your butt up, moving and selling books everywhere and every chance you get, including forcing some chances, you will not make money.

Robert VanDusen

Robert VanDusen enjoys writing and works hard to entertain his readers. Find out how he uses cross-promotional efforts as part of his networking strategy.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

The latest book is called Get Out Alive: Run For Your Life. It’s a sequel to my previous book, Get Out Alive. The “elevator pitch” for Run For Your Life is “Black Hawk Down meets Night of the Living Dead.” I’ve been a fan of the zombie genre since I was about ten or so and saw the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead on I believe MonsterVision on TNT. The house I grew up in was across the road from a cemetery so I was just sort of like “Ya know…if this ever actually happens…I do believe I’d be about the first to find out about it.” That was before I happened to sneak a peek into an open grave and saw that they actually bury folks in a cement vault. So…good news there, I guess.

2. How have your sales been?

I have to admit the sales could be better. I’m reasonably convinced that I’ve somehow landed on Amazon’s naughty list. I’ve been working on building more of a social media presence so I can move into crowdfunding so I don’t have to rely on them for printing and distribution anymore.

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing. How have you liked it so far? Talk about some of the positives and negatives you’ve encountered.

Self-publishing is sort of a double-edged sword in my opinion. I can write what I want without an editor or publisher signing off on it. I’ll be honest, I really don’t think that any mainstream publisher would have let me write Get Out Alive: Run For Your Life today. Thirty years ago? Sure, probably. There’s nothing in there you wouldn’t read in a Stephen King or Clive Barker book.

On the other hand I also don’t have a big publishing house backing me up willing to drop thousands of dollars on advertising campaigns and organizing press events. My books probably won’t end up on store shelves. I don’t have connections in the mainstream press writing gushing reviews. But you know what? It’s worth it in my book.

Jordan T. Maxwell

Jordan T. Maxwell has learned a few lessons from being traditionally published. Here he shares those lessons along with other tips for indie authors.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

My current project is Dandyflowers – Laura’s Voice. It is the third and final book in my Dandyflowers series. It follows Dandyflowers and Dandyflowers – Laura’s Diaries. The Dandyflowers books are the story of Laura Butler and Jerry Collins.

In Dandyflowers, Jerry’s recently engaged daughter Erin spends a long weekend with her dad where she learns about a part of his life she knew nothing about – his first love, Laura. It tells about how they met, their dating life, their married life, and ultimately why they are no longer together.

Dandyflowers – Laura’s Diaries begins four years after the end of Dandyflowers where Erin and her husband Jack take a trip to Chicago. During her self-guided sight-seeing tour of the Windy City, Erin runs into (literally) Laura’s parents. Since hearing her father’s story of his first love, Erin has been intrigued by the mysterious Laura. Her curiosity has been fueled by the box containing Laura’s diaries her father gave her at the end of the first book. Meeting Laura’s parents allow Erin to get answers to many of the questions the diaries have raised.

Dandyflowers – Laura’s Voice is still a work in progress. It begins two or three years after the end of Dandyflowers – Laura’s Diaries. In this, the final installment, the reader will meet Laney Young, an almost fifteen-year-old, angst-ridden girl who has recently moved into Jerry and Laura’s old house after her father’s job transferred them to the little town she refers to as “Podunksville.” She finds a box of twenty plus reel-to-reel tapes recorded by Laura when she lived there and a pristine tape recorder/player.

All three books begin in present-day, but they transition from present to the past and back again as the story unfolds.

2. How have your sales been?

My sales are what they are. I have not grown rich in the monetary sense from my books. If I had to live off what money I have made from the sales of my books, I would have starved to death long ago!

I never intended to actually publish Dandyflowers; I wrote it for me. But with the encouragement of several people who read and liked it, I did publish it as well as Dandyflowers – Laura’s Diaries.

My true profit so far has been the wonderful reviews and compliments I have received from my readers!

3. You’ve used both self-publishing and traditional publishing. Which do you prefer, and what are the pros and cons of each?

My publishing career, if you can call it that, began in 2006 when I signed with Tate Publishing & Enterprises in Mustang, Oklahoma. I learned a lot from my five year association with Tate, mainly that if a “publisher” wants you to put forth the money to publish your work, you should smile, say “No thank you,” and run away fast!

However, I was fortunate. Unlike many authors I had my entire “author’s fee” refunded in January 2012 when I produced an email from someone inside Tate that I should have never seen. It outlined everything they did regarding my first book which was next to nothing.

After leaving Tate no worse for the wear and quite a bit wiser, I went the self-publishing route first with Lulu. Then I switched to CreateSpace which changed to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) about a year ago, which is where I am currently.

I love the freedom I have with self-publishing! I never thought I could design a book cover, much less two and soon to be three, but here we are! The one thing I struggle with, like many authors, is marketing. I am still learning and having fun doing it!

Karin Thompson

Karin Thompson knows the importance of patience when it comes to writing and marketing a book. Learn which methods have worked best to build her audience.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

I take the reader on a journey of self-discovery. I use my own life experience of an abusive father, illustrating that no situation is beyond God’s love and His healing.
I artfully show how healing from abuse is a journey and that it takes a lifetime to perfect it. If your faith is wavering or you are having doubts, my experiences will be more than enough to put things in place for you.

The book is beautifully laid out with my personal stories, Bible verses, prayers and Q & A’s in the form of a study guide. Who do you trust when you doubt yourself? Who do you look up to when your parents do not care enough about you? How do you go through life when the odds are stacked high against you? There would be lots of places in the book that you can see yourself in the picture and relate to on a very personal level.

If you need that silver lining in that dark cloud, My words will surely provide you with more than one. If your faith is wavering or you are having doubts, my experiences will be more than enough to put things in place for you. The tools you need are here. Pick them up and let today be the day to your road of recovery. I wrote this book to help people overcome their past and live a victorious life.

2. How have your sales been?

My sales have been steady. As a new author, I must market myself to get known out there. I would like them to be better and I am working on improving that.

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing.  How have you liked it so far?  Talk about some of the positives and negatives you’ve encountered.

I have self-published my book via IngramSpark and Amazon. I have found that my book is available everywhere and on most book sellers’ websites which is a great positive. But as a negative, I must do all the work in getting it promoted. I have had to learn how to go about doing this and have watched endless YouTube videos for advice. The first book is always the hardest as you must learn as you go along. But with my second book, I am more “on the page” as to what to expect.

D.E. Funk

D.E. Funk is a new author who recently released her first novel, Silent Rage.  And full disclosure: she is my cousin!  In this interview, she explains why she chose indie publishing over traditional, and why having a professional editor makes a difference.

1. Tell me briefly about your book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

My book is called Silent Rage and is about the birth of a serial killer. It details the home life of a juvenile, Russell, who ends up discovering the power he has over others through violence. There is only one female in his life who shows any concern about him. Libby Teach is currently a middle school teacher (name makes sense as you read the book) who is at work on her graduate degree which will enable her to become a behavioral therapist who specializes in juveniles. The book is not a juvenile read. There are real crimes and serious issues tackled in the pages.

I was motivated to write for a couple of reasons. First, I love to read and thought why not? I know what I like and don’t like and could surely write one as well. Second, I believe a lot of crimes could be prevented by early intervention such as behavioral or mental health courses taught to middle school aged kids. They face a lot of tough situations and don’t have the skills to address them. Maybe I can make a difference using writing as a platform.

Marques Peterson

Marques Peterson believes that if you can’t find a story you really like in a bookstore, you should write it.  Find out more about his marketing efforts and why he believes you have to invest in your own product for it to be a success.

1. Give me the “elevator pitch” for your book in five to ten sentences.

I think the best way to tell you about my story is to tell you how I came up with this idea.  Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”  So I began to outline and I created a character that must go through hell to accomplish his goals.  So I started thinking, what if a cunning, bold, twenty-one year old sorcerer witnesses his mother’s death to save his skin?  It would make him very angry because he was too weak to save her and it would also make him vindictive because now he wants to get his brother for what he has done to her.  But, since his mother is gone now, he also has the burden to save the world because he must collect the ancient stones of immortality before his brother can.

So the sorcerer begins his adventure to pursue each stone and make a few friends along the way, but trouble arises when they arrive at Westco village.  The captain of Westco, having arsenals of deadly arrows and an army of guards, tries to stop them at any cost.  Then there are other beings like the ferocious vangal birds that try to eat them; the tyranny preventers, Ober and Nob, which will do whatever they can to stop them; and the cold-hearted aurettas whose powers seem unstoppable – will the sorcerer and his friends ever collect the stones?  This is exactly what happens in my book, Cold Spirits: Greed Vs. Passion.

2. Why did you become an indie writer?

I became an indie writer because I wanted to experience how it would be to publish my own book.

Lynette White

Lynette White avoided the vanity press route and opted for self-publishing instead.  Find out which vendor she uses for marketing and the one thing she’d do differently if she could start over.

1. Give me the “elevator pitch” for your book in five to ten sentences.  

Betrayal is tearing at the very fabric of the twin cities and they are on the verge of collapse.  The frightened citizens are turning on the garrisons, the gods, and each other.  Commander Shadoe Van Ives discovers how to save them if he can stay alive long enough to find someone he can trust.  Shadoe must outmaneuver the enemies inside and outside the walls of the twin cities before time runs out for him and for them.

2. Why did you become an indie writer?

I have wanted to publish my work for a long time but kept letting life get in the way.  It took my dying mother to make me realize I am the only one who can make my dreams come true.  Being an unknown, I was lured to a vanity press.  Fortunately for me I was pointed in the direction of indie publishing before I made a critical mistake.

3. Have you been traditionally published?  Why or why not?

Not yet.  I am still working on finding the way in.  I have the tools now to pursue that avenue and will begin the process soon.

Keri Griffiths

Keri Griffiths self-published her book Unforgivable because she liked the control she had over her writing.  Learn more about how she reaches readers and the pros and cons of self-publishing.

1. Give me the “elevator pitch” for your book in five to ten sentences.

Unforgivable: “They may be our family, our friends, and we may love them deeply, but some things are unforgivable; some things will haunt your every step, some things will get you killed, and it’s Sarah Costello’s duty to make sure every sin is paid for in blood.”

2. Why did you become an indie writer?

Short answer?  I’m a control freak.  Indie publishing gives writers complete control over the look of their books and a say in distribution.  This book is my baby, I’ve worked hard to get it to the readers.  So to have final say is a real treat.  That said, being an indie writer means that all the work, all the publicity and all the stuff I know very little about is on me.  I have to figure it out.  It’s both thrilling and challenging.

3. Have you been traditionally published? Why or why not?

I’ve published several articles, mostly on travel, on various websites and news outlets, but never for my novel.  I’ve tried that route and it’s very difficult to break into, especially with your first novel.  Indie publishing helps establish a following and prove yourself as a viable writer.  I haven’t totally turned my back on traditional publishing but I’m really enjoying this journey.