Saturday 11 May 2013

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - JULIE ANNE GRASSO

What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?

Julie Anne Grasso, Born in Brisbane Queensland Australia, but now I live in Melbourne.

Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
I don’t think I realised I wanted to be a writer until I became a paediatric nurse and gained inspiration from the tiny people I cared for.

When did you first consider yourself as a "writer"?
When I self published my first book “Escape From The Forbidden Planet” for middle graders in September 2012.

Did it take a long time to get your first book published?
I did query agents but in the end I decided to self publish. I felt my little book had spunk, and I wanted to get it out there so from beginning to publication it was about 3 years.

Do you work another job as well as your writing work?
 Before I had my little Gigi I did, but now it’s just full time mum and wielder of words.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
“Return to Cardamom” is my sequel which will be available on Amazon in July 2013.  You can expect more elven adventures, nerdy technology and lots of planet hopping.

What can we expect from you in the future?  ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
My next book that I have queried with a couple of agents is sort of a tween crime scene investigation, called Franky Dupont And The Mystery At Enderby Manor. If I don’t get any agent action, I will self publish this also later this year.

Do you have anybody read your books and give you reviews before you officially release them? ie. Your partner, children, friends, reviewers you know?
I do. For my first book I approached about 40 book reviewers that take middle grade books and I have gained quite a few reviews from doing that. Now that they have read my first, I will then also offer those that reviewed an advanced reader copy. In fact just this week I am finalising the proof for formatting, so I will be sending them along soon.

Do you gift books to readers to do reviews?
Yes definitely, in either paperback or ebook, whatever they chose, but I have found that ebook seems to be much effective in getting reviews.

What was the toughest/best review you have ever had?
When a kid reviews my book and likes it. That is the best ever. That is my target audience and that is who I want to be telling others about my books.

How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book/books?Who designed the Cover of your books?
The title almost always comes first for me then I write the book. The cover designs flow from my story and by the end of a book I have a firm idea for a cover in mind. Then I have to somehow impart that to my illustrator, using the worst chook sketching, but somehow he gets my vision and produces awesome covers.

How do you market/promote your books?
I use KDP select as I am a relative unknown, so I hope to get my book in as many hands as possible to grow my readership before I try to tackle book shops.

What are you currently reading? Are you enjoying it? What format is it?(ebook, hardback or paperback)
 I am currently reading too many books, but the one on my night stand is Jasper Fforde’s One Of  Our Thursdays Is Missing.

Do you think ebooks will ever totally replace printed books?
No, but they are going to give them a real run for their money

If you could invite three favourite writers to dinner, who would you invite and enjoy chatting with? 
Anne McCaffrey, Lauren Child, Douglas Adams.

Where can readers follow you?







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