Up Close & Personal with 'How The Deer Moon Hungers' Susan Wingate @susanwingate #upcloseandpersonal

Up Close & Personal is one of The Writer’s Life newest features. Here we feature authors who don't mind spilling the beans and telling what it's really like to write, get published and sell that book. Today's guest is Susan Wingate, author of the YA / Coming of Age fiction, How The Deer Moon Hungers. You can visit Susan's website at www.susanwingate.com.

On Writing…

I wrote my first story when I was a kid, but it never got published. I basically plagiarized Ann Sewell’s classic, Black Beauty. A little girl had a horse, the horse got away, and then it returned to her (insert salty tears here). My fourth-grade teacher wrote on the final page in big red ink: TOO SCHMALTZY! I don’t think she liked me. Fast-forward thirty years later and I am writing my first novel―a noir mystery called Of the Law which later got published by a mid-sized Texas publisher as A Falling of Law. That story took ten years to write and edit to a final product. I wrote approximately 120 chapters, half of which I threw out. When the Texas publisher picked it up, they suggested I cut another 10,000 words. And that’s how first novels go. I had no business writing a novel without learning how first. But! By the end, I knew I could write another one. My second novel is Bobby’s Diner. I wrote it shortly after the first to see if I could. Bobby’s Diner received an acceptance letter six months after I began shopping it to publishers. That story won three finalist awards. Rather good methinks for not knowing how to write! Since then, I’ve written fifteen novels and I’m working on another one as we speak.

On Being Published…

The first time I got the “we want your title” letter was like eating a Kit Kat bar. One is definitely not enough. Being published―traditionally or otherwise―is great. You have something tangible in print to show that you authored an entire book. When HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS received acceptance felt just as good as when the first book got accepted. HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS is novel fifteen. I don’t think getting acceptance letters will ever get old.

On Publishing Industry…

I’m a published author both traditionally and self-published. My stories have been published by several publishers for previous novels. In 2011, I got all my rights back on all titles with other publishers. I turned those stories around myself in both eBook―which was a recent publishing platform at the time―and in paperback. Soon after, I began putting out audio books for my titles as well.

Of course, it’s thrilling to get a book contract from a traditional publisher but in this day and age, authors now have all the tools to put out a stellar book. You must have a great editor though. I have three―two humans and ProWritingAid.com.

Mistakes Along the Way…

As for mistakes. Have I made any throughout my publishing career? Oh my, yes. Mostly, the mistakes I’ve made were due to my impatience early on. Nowadays, I just sit back and let people tell me what to do. Whether those people are my publicists or my editors, I don’t push or rush nearly as much as I did when I was younger.

On Marketing…

Well, I am a true believer of getting help with book marketing. Publicists like Dorothy Thompson and PumpUpYourBook.com, make marketing your books so much easier. This year, for HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS, I also hired a publicist, David Johnson who will approach media―television, radio, and podcasts. David’s also approaching book clubs and writing feature articles for major newspapers as well as putting out a series of press releases. He will also be running my book launch Zoom party, July 15^th. I can’t imagine marketing my books without people like Dorothy and David to help. Dorothy has me on a four-week blog tour making fifteen to twenty blog stops for the month of July. I can’t wait.

On Goals and Dreams…

My biggest, most heady professional dream is to see one of my “book club” books, like HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS become a Pulitzer or Nobel prize winner. If that ever happens, I will die a happy author.

About the Book

For those who enjoy reading books like Where the Crawdads Sing and My Sister’s Keeper
MACKENZIE FRASER witnesses a drunk driver mow down her seven-year-old sister and her mother blames her. Then she ends up in juvie on a trumped-up drug charge. Now she’s in the fight of her life…on the inside! And she’s losing.
HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS is a coming of age story about loss, grief, and the power of love.