Apr 20, 2018
In this episode, Mark interviews Steena Holmes.
Steena Holmes is an Award winning USA Today and Amazon
best-selling author from Calgary, Alberta who writes psychological
suspense, family drama, women’s fiction and sweet romance. She
publishes under an Amazon-owned imprint as well as her own
self-publishing imprint, is a fan of reading, of chocolate and of
traveling. Speaking of traveling, Steena, who is a wife and the
mother of three daughters, has created an authentic and dynamic
relationship with her readers, who she has been a caring and loving
tour guide through as she took them on a unique journey with her on
her path through writing. In our conversation, we talk a lot
about the importance of this relationship with her readers and in
always putting them first.
Before the interview, Mark provides a personal update on the
following items:
- His half-marathon training schedule
- His recent short fiction writing, including a zombie story to
appear in Z IS FOR ZOMBIE
- Some non-fiction writing he has been doing, both short articles
as well as the new book he is working on about writing and
publishing (which he has written 14,000 words for so far this
week)
- The status of the #FreeFridayFrights project, including some
underwhelming responses and views from his recent Friday the 13th
Facebook live and YouTube posted videos – but, (AND THIS IS
IMPORTANT), why this isn’t something to be down about
Mark then shares this week’s Terrible Tongue Twister, sponsored
by Findaway Voices.
This week’s twister (especially since you won’t be able to
understand what the poor boy is trying to say) is:
Three sweet switched Swiss witches
Watch three washed Swiss witch Swatch watch
switches.
Which sweet switched Swiss witch watches
Which washed Swish Swatch watch switch?
In their conversation, Mark and Steena talk about:
- Steena’s hot new release, The Forgotten Ones, a
psychological suspense novel that explores the deep dark secrets
that are kept hidden from family
- The inspiration behind the writing of The Forgotten
Ones, which came from a really dark time and place in Steena’s
life
- How, despite the darkness of the novel, this was the easiest
novel of the more than thirty books that Steena has written
- Steena’s first novel, Finding Emma, which was a
runaway bestseller and the differences between that novel and her
latest novel
- The journal that Steena took her readers on as she slowly
migrated across genres
- The promise that a writer makes to readers with every book that
they release and the importance of honoring that promise
- The emphasis Steena placed in focusing on the readers rather
than the sales with each book’s release
- One of Steena’s pet peeves in a “Don’t Do This” bit of advice
for authors
- How an author can create a genuinely authentic relationship
with their readers
- The tremendous response that Steena receives from readers after
she shares a personable and relatable post on her blog
- Ways that an author can be personable and relatable without
revealing personal and private details about their life or their
families lives
- How Steena writes different books in different ways and in
different locations to help create a distinction between book
projects
- The way Steena plans on dealing with a recently missed
deadline
- The juggling of writing books for a publisher and her
self-publishing imprint
- Attempts to retain the creative writing into different parts of
the day
- How in the first six months of publishing, Steena made a mere
$100; but, in the first month of Finding Emma’s release,
she sold 10,000 copies
- How the readers of Finding Emma kept wanting more and
more of the characters and their stories and the various ways
Steena fulfilled their needs (without realizing that many of those
things were things that a writer supposedly “couldn’t do”)
- The lesson Steena learned when someone called her out on
rushing a book to press by saying “You’re better than this, and
your readers deserve better than this.”
- Steena’s “Branding with Intent” series of emails for
writers
After the interview, Mark reflects about Steena's talk about
being personable and someone that readers could relate to. He also
reflects on authenticity.
Links of Interest: