Monday 27 April 2015

BOOK PROMO, MEET THE AUTHOR, AUTHOR INTERVIEW & GUEST POST - LOVE TARGET BY HEIDI LOEB HEGERICH

Title: Love Target
Author: Heidi Loeb Hegerich
Publisher: Forever Young LLC
Release Date: 3rd May 2014

BLURB supplied by the author
Teenager Ingrid Liebschreiber is devastated when her parents move the family from their native Munich to Los Angeles in the late 1950s. Homesick, she accepts a neighbor's offer to get her a job as a showgirl in Las Vegas. Intent on earning enough money to return to Germany, she must grow up quickly in the neon jungle — where she is pursued by high rollers and headliners, including a vacationing Elvis.
Life's twists and turns land Ingrid in New York in the Swinging 1960s — where she is romanced by Armand: a strong, quiet, handsome Italian-American businessman in the “construction” field. Most girls dream of Mr. Right, and Ingrid's hard-won independence is challenged when she falls in love.

Will she find true romance — a man who can love her as much as she loves him? Or is “happily ever after” just a crazy fairytale?


PURCHASE LINKS

MEET THE AUTHOR

I am I. Heidi Loeb Hegerich. I am a native of Munich, Germany. I live now in Reno, Nevada, but previously lived in New York City, Los Angeles, Squaw Valley, California, Las Vegas, and Miami Beach.

For most of my adult life, friends and family members have asked me to "write my life story." So, after one false start, I produced my debut book: the memoir novel LOVE TARGET. Yes, it is fiction, but many of the events and characters in the book are drawn from my real-life experiences. It's not an autobiography, or even a memoir, per se, but it has satisfied family and friends. What's more -- it's gaining a growing readership!

As for what my career aspirations have been: As a child, I wanted to do Catholic missionary work in China. As a teenager I wanted to return to Munich, from which my parents and I emigrated in 1958 to America; to earn the money, I ran off from their home in Los Angeles and went to Las Vegas and worked as a showgirl in floor shows and in an ice-skating show. I quit the showgirl life at age 20 and moved to New York City to try modeling. Instead, I ended up as a single mother, and found work at a Wall Street firm. After my marriage, I ran a successful retail furniture and interior-design business at Lake Tahoe. I later helped my husband in a major real-estate development in northern Nevada. Today, I am a philanthropist, a business investor, and . . . a newly published author!

LOVE TARGET is published by Forever Young, LLC, which I own. So, in essence, I am self-published. However, a German publisher is bringing out a German e-book version of LOVE TARGET.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

 What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
My name is I. Heidi Loeb Hegerich. I was born in Munich, Germany. I live in Reno, Nevada.

Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
For most of my adult life, friends and family members have asked me to "write my life story." So, after one false start, I produced my debut book: the memoir novel LOVE TARGET. Yes, it is fiction, but many of the events and characters in the book are drawn from my real-life experiences. It's not an autobiography, or even a memoir, per se, but it has satisfied family and friends. What's more -- it's gaining a growing readership!

As for what my career aspirations have been: As a child, I wanted to do Catholic missionary work in China. As a teenager I wanted to return to Munich, from which my parents and I emigrated in 1958 to America; to earn the money, I ran off from their home in Los Angeles and went to Las Vegas and worked as a showgirl in floor shows and in an ice-skating show. I quit the showgirl life at age 20 and moved to New York City to try modeling. Instead, I ended up as a single mother, and found work at a Wall Street firm. After my marriage, I ran a successful retail furniture and interior-design business at Lake Tahoe. I later helped my husband in a major real-estate development in northern Nevada.

Today, I am a philanthropist, a business investor, and . . . a newly published author!

Did it take a long time to get your first book published?
I determined when I wrote LOVE TARGET — which took me more than two years to write — that I would get it published immediately, rather than spend time, money and energy trying to attract a mainstream publisher. So I self published. However, a German publisher, Hey!, in Munich, will be bringing out a German e-book version of the novel in 2015.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarize it in less than 20 words what would you say?
LOVE TARGET tells how innocent, willful Ingrid Liebschreiber — a German immigrant in 1960s America — learns about men and real love.

What can we expect from you in the future?  ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
I already have finished the rough draft of LOVE TARGET’s sequel and am editing and polishing it.

What genre would you place your books into?
LOVE TARGET (and its coming sequel) fall into several genres: chick lit, memoir novel, historical novel, romance.

Do you have anybody read your books and give you reviews before you officially release them? ie. Your partner, children, friends, reviewers you know?
My first attempt at writing my novel resulted in my burning about 60 pages in my kitchen sink, and giving up.

I was able to complete the novel by engaging the services of an editor and two professional readers — all of whom helped me shape and, ultimately, complete the manuscript.

What was the toughest/best review you have ever had?
 The best review I’ve had to date was by Robin Leach, a columnist with the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, and previously the host of the television show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” He called LOVE TARGET “an explosive potboiler and page-turner packed with sex, violence, skullduggery, glamour and crime.”

How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book? Who designed the Cover of your books?
I went through about 60 titles before settling on LOVE TARGET. It was difficult! Brainstorming a list, paring it down, scrapping the list and starting over . . . it was several months before “LOVE TARGET” popped up. I hired a professional artist — a very gifted man named John Bardwell — to paint a watercolor image as the art for the front cover. John also drew more than 50 black-and-white illustrations, in graphic-novel style, for the interior of the book. They depict scenes.

How do you market/promote your books?
Just as I was a novice as an author, I am a novice at marketing and promotion. I am learning as I go! After being told about book bloggers/reviewers, I began submitting to the ones who seemed the most proficient, and whom I hoped would be interested in LOVE TARGET. That’s how I found you!

What do you do to unwind and relax? Do you have a hobby?
I travel frequently. I’ve vacationed in spots as different as the French Riviera, the Andes and Afghanistan. (For the latter, I had to change my hotel reservations at the last minute, since the resort I was planning to stay at was devastated by a car bomb two days before my arrival.)
My hobbies include weight training, shooting assault rifles, and racing sand rails.

What do you think about book trailers?
A good book trailer is essential for today’s promotional campaign. Don’t make it too long! I have two versions: One is about 2-and-a-half minutes, the other only 30 seconds.

Where can readers follow you?
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Target-Heidi-Loeb-Hegerich-ebook/dp/B00KCS0OCY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421681984&sr=1-1&keywords=love+target



GUEST POST

When I was a child, growing up in Munich, Germany, in the 1950s, I loved reading the stories of  Rudyard Kipling, translated into German. His tales about India and tigers and other animals captivated me.
Later, when I was in early adolescence, I read writings by Albert Schweitzer about his medical missionary work in Africa, and it inspired me to want to be a missionary myself — although my exotic land of interest was China. I retained a great love of authors who are full of compassion.
After I immigrated to the United States at age 15 and grew fluent in English, I read a steady stream of books in English. John Steinbeck became one of my favorite authors, and I loved “The Grapes of Wrath,” about poor people struggling and never letting themselves be defeated. Since I’d left home myself at age 16, to work as an underage showgirl in Las Vegas, I loved the spirit of the Joads.

When I was 20, I read J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and — like millions of other girls — fell in love with Holden Caulfield. He was so sensitive and kind, and easily hurt, and very outspoken, and full of compassion. He only cared about the truth and having people be truthful and kind, not phony. That’s something I took to heart. As a showgirl, everyone wanted something from me, especially men. That’s a theme of my own debut novel, “Love Target.”


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