MOON PRINCESS, By Kathleen S. Allen
I’m thrilled to have author Kathleen S. Allen with us today. Kathleen is a prolific writer, with many books young adult titles to her credit, including Lore of Fei, Fitz Roi: The Boy Who Would Be Kind, Eiger, Aine, and Orpheus Ascending. She has been writing since she was eight years old, and published her first poem when she was fifteen. Since then, she’s published short stories, poems, lyric essays, and novels. Kathleen writes in different genres, but as she says, “YA is my fave.” For today only, her latest novel, Moon Princess, is free on Amazon! The link is at the bottom, but first, join me now for an in depth interview of Kathleen Allen!
Silverberry: Young Adult literature is at an all time high in popularity now. Why do you think that is?
Allen: Harry Potter started the whole thing. The recent addition of The Hunger Games has caused a resurgence in YA. I think that adults who had less than stellar teen years yearn for adventures they never got to have (Harry Potter) or to have friends like Katniss Everdeen.
Silverberry: What draws you to writing YA fiction?
Allen: The fact that my mental age is 23 (mentalage.com). LOL.
Silverberry: What will readers who love YA find in your books?
Allen: A YA character who is strong and feisty and doesn’t let anything like a few mythological creatures stand in her way.
Silverberry: What is Moon Princess about?
Allen: A sixteen year old girl finds a bow and arrow in the attic along with her dead mother’s diary. When she starts reading the diary she discovers her mother is not who she thought she was. Why would her mother have weapons?
Silverberry: What does Delia yearn for?
Allen: The truth. True love. An answer to who she is and what she’s doing here.
Silverberry: What kind of research did you do?
Allen: I read Greek mythology stories. I researched different Greek gods, goddesses and other creatures. I read about how the ancient Greeks thought about religion and some of their legends. I looked at pictures of Greece and websites about rescuing sea turtles.
Silverberry: What have you found to be the most effective ways to market your books?
Allen: Yeah, I’m still working on that one.
I do have two author websites, a Twitter account with 1,200 followers and 1,300 likes on my Facebook page. I am also on Pinterest and have an Author Central page from Amazon. I have book trailers on You Tube and I blog twice a month on a YA blog. I recently did a blog tour for my YA faerie fantasy, LORE OF FEI, published by Muse It Up Publishing, and I had fun! I’m going to do another one when my second Mel Thompson, P.I. mystery comes out in November, 2012 from Gypsy Shadow Publishing. My second Lore of Fei book, WAR OF FEI, is coming out in Feb. 2013 from Muse It Up Publishing, and I’ll do another blog tour then.
Silverberry: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Allen: Keep writing and never give up.
Get critique partners, and beta readers who will give you honest feedback about your story.
Hire a professional editor, and a professional book cover designer. I have fun designing my own covers, so I do them myself (except for AINE, LORE OF FEI, and IF IT’S MONDAY, IT MUST BE MURDER covers). I also do my own book trailers. I edit my books myself. I’m not a professional, but I read my book out loud to catch errors and go through it up to five times before I publish it. I’ve also published some books with small publishers and I appreciate the editors for those books a lot.
Thanks for having me! As a special treat for today only (Aug. 27th, 2012) Moon Princess is free on Kindle as an Ebook.
Kathleen
Silverberry: Thank you, Kathleen! Readers, you can follow Kathleen and purchase MOON PRINCESS at the links below. For today only, it’s free!
Purchase MOON PRINCESS on Amazon
Kathleen Allen’s Websites:
Follow Kathleen on Pinterest
Follow Kathleen on Twitter: @kathleea
Kathleen on Facebook: Witch Hunter
Kathleen is a guest blogger every 5th and 19th of the month at downtownya
MOON PRINCESS Book Trailer on You Tube
