Jul 21, 20208 min read

Author Interview: Deborah Garland

Have you met Deborah Garland yet!?!!?

Well, you're about to, and you are in for a really big treat!!!

This lady was a new-to-me author until I was lucky enough to get drafted into an anthology project with her. Smart, witty, full of imagination and enthusiasm, Deborah is just an all around awesome lady and I am so very grateful to have gotten to meet her and work with her.

She's another one of my awesome authors part of "Sinners & Saints - a Collection of Romantic Interludes" (you can get your copy HERE). It's coming in January 2021, so make sure to grab your copy ASAP!

But until that then, let me give you another author to enchant you with her stories of billionaire playboys and badboys and book-boy-friends that you're not gonna be able to put down!

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1. Why did you first start writing? What was the inspiration for your first book?

I had the what-if moment for my book. What if a new recording artist fell for his record label. That rock star romance has never been published. That’s about to change. Winks, in a BIG way. (winks)

2. Did you ever consider traditional/indie publishing? Was there a reason you chose the way you did to go about publishing your works? Do you have any insights for future authors trying to make the same choice?

I started with a traditional publisher for my Mallory Family series. They published my first two books and then went out of business three weeks before the release of Book 3 in that series. I was given four days notice before the first two books were pulled down. I had no choice. With promos and ads paid for, for book 3, I had to self publish Books 1 and 2. I call myself an ‘Accidental Indy”. My vampire series is traditionally published. But I realized small press publishers do nothing to get your books noticed. I was better off on my own. So my Lords of Gotham series was published by me. On purpose.

Future authors need to look at their goals and their work. If you have a timely phenomenally written book, I would suggest finding an agent. The top five publishers is now the only way a new author can find success. The independent market is now dominated by authors who have been publishing on the Amazon platform since 2011.

That doesn’t mean someone can’t have a breakout moment. It happens. But it’s as likely as winning the lottery. The rest of us publish books because we love our stories. The key now to authors who don’t have that lightning strike is to figure out how to do it with as little cost as possible. And try to coup some small profit.

Many of us are running huge losses. We are still putting out great books. I’ve won awards, came in as a finalist in other contests, get great reviews. I have quality books. But I can’t find reach a wide audience.

3. How many books do you have published now?

As of July 1st, it will be eleven books. When I started publishing in 2017, the amount of books to make a ‘profit’ was five. It’s now twenty.

4. Do you have any books in the works at the moment?

Here’s my list:

Book 4, in the Lords of Gotham series. Grayson is Missing! ~ November 2020

A short story in the Lords of Gotham world, for the Saints and Sinners Anthology ~ Jan 2021

Two Southern (1 Country Music Star and 1 Cowboy) Books for early 2021.

5. Any advice you’d offer up-and-comers looking to find their place in the literary world?

Follow my advice above. Write a phenomenal book that a mind-bending amount of readers will want 18 months from now. It’s about luck.

6. What's a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

I don’t have a set writing goal per day because I don’t write every day. I work within the schedule of book releases. Some days are just marketing. But I work about 12 hours a day. Seven days a week.

7. What is the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is editing the first draft. It often takes me about ten days to get through 1 first draft. I heard Nora Roberts say this was her favorite part of the process. She called it her fix it draft. It takes me longer to fix stuff.

8. Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?

I most definitely read my reviews. I am writing to please people. To ignore real reviews is ignore what readers want. I’m one of those rare authors who doesn’t mind bad reviews. Of course, there are bad reviews that are just mean to be hurtful. I can always spot someone who didn’t read the book. I trust readers will see hurtful rants as just that. If I come across a very popular book, I’ll read the 1 star reviews. I call them the ‘whistleblowers’. Authors who perhaps are not in ‘deep’ with authors killing it. Readers who are picky about story and characters.

I use the service called Booksprout to distribute my Advance Reader Copies (a practice used by the top publishers for decades to get early reviews ). On their platform I can respond to negative. I recently saw a 2-star review for one of my books. It was a rather mean rant. A book should never incite anger. If a reader isn’t enjoying it, stop. It’s a book. I responded and we went back and forth a few rounds. I stayed respectful, while she called me manipulative. (She didn’t like that I had an epilogue for NL subscribers). I gave her the link to download it and after she did, she changed the review from a 2 to a 4 star. Someone people play games. It happens.

When I meet with reader groups who read one of my books, the first question, I ask is did anyone hate the book. I want honesty.

9. If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

That’s easy: Miserable at Happy Hour.

10. What was the hardest novel/novella/story you’ve written so far and why?

The hardest book I had to write was my second vampire novel. The first book was written as a stand-alone. Then the publisher asked for a book about one of the secondary vampires in Book

1. I’d painted that character into such a corner, that writing him out of it, was an utter nightmare. That vampire had magical powers, the only one in my world who did. I had no intention of ever explaining where those powers came from and how he interacted with the Lords of his world. I had to face all of that in his book. It took twice as long to write than I had planned. I was so worried, I paid eight hundred dollars for a development edit before I sent it to the publisher. I was relieved to get a thumbs up.

That’s probably one of my best books to date- Guarding Bloodlines.

11. Can you tell me a bit about your series?

Bossy Billionaire is Book 3 in the Lords of Gotham billionaire series. It’s mostly centered around three brothers who inherited a five-star hotel and became billionaires overnight. They’ve gone from middle classy to filthy rich. Finding women for them is hard. They have fortuned and secrets to protect.

12. Do you have a favorite book out of this series?

For now, it’s this Book 3, Bossy Billionaire. I had Luke’s story half written before I finished Book 2. But when I finished Book 2, Alpha Billionaire about Tristan (the middle Hart brother) I put Luke in this book to juice up interest in him. When I got back to the book I’d written for him, I realized that wasn’t the same guy. I had to start over. Which was good because I was able to pull my increased experience in romance how to pace a story. I ended up LOVING this book. But I think I may end up loving Grayson’s book more. Brother 3 is a handful and I have a great story lined up for him. And a love interest who will knock him on his ass. If she doesn’t, her six Irish brothers will. (winks)

13. Where did you get the inspiration for your series?

Writing Alpha Billionaire, I made my hero an owner of a hotel. Somewhere a brother came up. Not sure where. Next I realized I had two brothers who owned a hotel. Further down, a third brother came into the story. Then I realized I had 3 billionaire brothers who own a hotel. Sometimes that’s how it happens. So no, I didn’t mean for this to be a series. Alpha Billionaire was supposed to be a standalone titled: My Fair Laney.

14. What thought process do you take when you begin writing a romance scene? How do you find the balance between passion and emotion in your writing?

It depends what kind of book I’m writing. There are many romance novels, where the main characters are having loads of sex (enjoying each other) with no goal of falling in love. Then it hits them later. So those ‘romance scenes’ are about passion and heat. Then there are stories where the MCs have to stay away from each other. They can’t give in. There’s something at stake. In Bossy Billionaire, Luke, the hotel CEO finds his recent one-night stand has been hired to be his assistant. She works for him so he has to keep his hands off her. So when they break, it’s about emotion.

15. What are your feelings on Happily Ever After endings? Happily For Now?

With some readers wanting shorter stories, but also not loving insta-love, it’s a balancing act. I try to wallop my character with feelings of love. But it’s about carefully creating characters who are lacking that one thing to make them complete. It’s not easy. I think I’ve done a good job.

16. If you could live in any time, when and where would you choose?

I always thought it would be 1800’s London with all the skirts and handsome rakes. But without indoor plumbing I thought better of it. I’d go so far back that it’s all primitive or want to live in Star Trek’s time.

17. If you could step into any one of your novels and spend a “day in the life” of one of your characters, who would it be? If you stepped into a particular scene, would you change it from what you’d written originally, or would you want to live it like your hero/heroine?

Oh, I would go into Guarding Bloodlines and hang out with Loren Tagaris. Why? You have to read the book. (winks)

18. If any one of your novels was to become a movie or a TV show and you got the chance to work with the casting director for it, do you know who you would want to play your characters or who your inspiration for those characters were when you were writing your novel?

I want all of my books made into a movie. And I want Bradley Copper to play every hero. It’s as simple as that.

19. Dragons…or wolves? One word answer is not enough! We must know! What is your favorite supernatural creature?

My writing bestie, Julie K. Cohen who writes wolves may not approve, but it would be dragons. I was literally screaming during the last two seasons of Game of Thrones with the dragon scenes.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, Deborah, and thank you, readers, for taking the time to get to know us a little better.

Make sure to check out "SINNERS & SAINTS - a Collection of Romantic Interludes" coming in January 2021 (Preorder your copy HERE) for more stories by Deborah Garland and me and 14 more amazing authors!

But until then, because I know you're gonna need more of Deborah's books, make sure to pick up "Bossy Billionaire - A Lords of Gotham" novel today!

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