Interview with JP Ratto, authors of 'Everything to Lose'
JP Ratto is a
husband and wife collaborative writing team. EVERYTHING
TO LOSE is the first of a three-book series featuring private investigator
Lucas Holt.
Judy began
writing full time six years ago. She attended Hofstra University’s Writing
Intensive in the summer of 2010, and participated in a Hofstra-sponsored writing
and critique group from 2009 to 2012. She has written an upper middle-grade
fantasy adventure and a children’s mystery chapter book. Judy also
does free-lance editing.
Pete Ratto, a
former member of the U.S. Navy serving half his enlistment with the U.S. Marine
Corp, is a retired corporate accountant and is now writing full time.
Both are avid readers of mysteries, thrillers and suspense. Active in a
critique group made up of local authors, they enjoy discussions on all aspects
of the craft of writing. Pete enjoys photography, writing and going to the
beach. In her spare time, Judy paints watercolors and to her husband’s delight,
cooks an occasional dinner. They have a son and a daughter, both grown and
living in New York. Pete and
Judy live in southern Florida with their
cat, Gillian.
For
More Information
About the Book:
Title:
Everything To Lose
Author: JP Ratto
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Pages: 250
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Author: JP Ratto
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Pages: 250
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Private investigator Lucas Holt is on a
mission…
Lucas Holt specializes in kidnap recovery.
Ex-Delta Force and a former NYPD detective, he has spent the last fifteen years
burying himself in case files to cope with the unsolved abduction of his
daughter, Marnie.
Janet Maxwell just can’t let go…
After the death of Janet’s husband and son
in a tragic car accident, she hopes Holt’s expertise can locate the daughter
she gave up for adoption seventeen years ago. Janet knows her actions will have
explosive repercussions for the girl’s father—presidential candidate, Todd
Grayson. With no family, hope of finding her only daughter is all she has left.
Or is there a more sinister motive?
There’s no greater incentive for a father
than protecting his daughter…
On a mission to bury the constant reminder
of his failure to recover Marnie, Holt agrees to Janet’s proposal. But at what
cost? When his inquiries lead to news of the death of another woman, Holt can’t
shake the feeling something is off about the whole case. And when new evidence
surfaces about Marnie's disappearance, his drive to recover Janet’s daughter
and his own become one and the same.
Crooked candidates, hired mercenaries,
bitter lovers, and his own life on the line—will Holt find it inside him to
risk it all in the line of duty? There’s no telling how far you’re willing
to go when you have everything to lose.
- Everything To Lose is available at Amazon.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning? Where did you come up with
the idea to write your book?
It’s great to be able to share
our experience. One of the advantages of collaborative writing is expressed in
the saying, “two heads are better than one.” Both of us are avid readers of
mystery, thrillers, and suspense, and when we decided to write a novel, of
course, chose that genre. We started with the type character that appealed to
both of us and by extension would appeal to both men and women. Once we created
Lucas Holt, we gave him a life—one that included his accomplishments as well as
his tragedies. We knew where and how he lived, what kind of car he drove and
all the details down to what he likes to drink. The plot for Everything to Lose slowly evolved, as we
knew more and more about Lucas Holt.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
Once we settled on the plot, the
writing was easy. However, we planned from the start to write a series with
three books that would each have its own main plot as well as another subplot
that would run through all three books and eventually be resolved in the last
of the trilogy.
This was ambitious and
challenging. The main advice we would give to anyone who wanted to do something
similar is to plot out as much of the three books as possible in advance. This
is especially hard for those who are pantsers—in fact, one of us is a pantser
and the other an outliner—but an outline of some sort is key to making a
project like this work.
Q: Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
Our publisher is Limitless
Publishing. Knowing the difficulty of being published, we were all set to
self-publish—even had a cover artist chosen. An author friend suggested we
submit to his publisher. We did and were thrilled when Limitless accepted our
manuscript.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
Limitless Publishing is a rapidly
growing small press. We were pleasantly surprised by the quick publication
process. The timeframe from submission to publication is usually four to six
months. Compare that to large publishers who don’t publish your work for up to
two years after they accept it.
We are also surprised how
time-consuming marketing and promotion is and spend hours a day on Facebook and
Twitter, connecting with readers and other authors and posting promos for the
book. We will periodically use paid online promo companies to promote our book
as well. It would be great if we could hire a fulltime PA and spend more time
on writing!
Q: What other books (if any) are
you working on and when will they be published?
We are currently writing the
second Lucas Holt novel and hope to submit it to the publisher in a few weeks
for a spring 2016 release. Then we will begin the third novel in the series and
plan to release it this fall or winter.
Q: What’s your favorite place to
hang out online?
Right now, we spend most of our
time on Facebook. We are members of two Limitless authors group, one of which
is dedicated to promotional information. We have a website and hope to expand
it to include a blog in the future—possibly a “he said, she said” format. While
we are collaborators, we approach writing differently and often have to
compromise on the process. We would love to share that with our readers and
fellow writers.
Q: What’s your nightly ritual
before retiring for the night?
We dedicate most of the middle
hours of the day to writing and watch a few hours of television at night. It’s
hard to wind down after so much mental activity. But still, we try to read
before we go to sleep. Sometimes we can get through a whole page!
Q: Finally, what message (if any)
are you trying to get across with your book?
We wrote the book purely for
entertainment and hope we’ve achieved that. However, if you create realistic
characters and challenge them, there is an inherent message that with
perseverance and making the right choices triumph will prevail.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
Thank you!
There are millions of writers
with stories to tell and the publishing process can be overwhelming. We’ve all
heard how important it is to stand out among the rest. The best advice we can
give is to hone your craft, and learn to edit your own work. You can have a
great story, but well-crafted storytelling and compelling characters will catch
the attention of publishers and readers.
Leave a Comment