Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Interview with author Edita A. Petrick Ribbons of Death – Book 1 of the Peacetaker Series (Books 1 – 5)


Ribbons of Death – Book 1 of the Peacetaker Series (Books 1 – 5)

Edita A. Petrick has an engineering degree and spent years working in the field as a water resources engineer. She currently works for a large school board. She’s lived in the Greater Toronto Area most of her life because she just finds it a good fit for her family and her lifestyle. She’s traveled the world, and done field work on the job that took her to places that have not even heard a hunter’s footfall. By night, she writes hi-octane, adventure-driven techno-thrillers, paranormal suspense and sci-fi. Her stories blend myths and legends from ancient and modern history, with just a touch of out-of-this-world speculation. It all comes down to, “What if…?” For more information, please see: http://www.editaapetrick.com.


1. What really inspired you to write your book, to force you from taking an idea or experience  and conveying it into a book?
 Force is not the right word to use for any writer. I love writing. I love ancient history and archeology. I read magazines, journals and books on the subject – academic and fiction. The threads to follow are everywhere. Inspiration as well plays little part in writing. It’s a spark that drives the interest and determination to write the book. I picked one ancient myth and spun a story around it. Then another and another – until there were 5 volumes in the series with more still to come.

2. What is it about and whom do you believe is your targeted reader?
 My targeted audience are the readers of character-oriented, action-adventure stories, driven by suspense where ‘thriller’ aspect comes in form of global threat; not just a personal danger. It’s the genre you write that determines your targeted reader. Then again, there will always be readers willing to pick up something new….

3. What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? What should remain with them long after putting it down?
 That it was a book that entertained them and for the time it took to read it, they were interested and entertained. I don’t write to ‘preach’ at the reader or deliver a message. I write to entertain. It’s the logo/name of my business: Write2Entertain.

4. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers?
 You have to wake up with the idea that you will most likely never write a bestseller and go to bed with the idea that you already have.

5. What trends in the book world do you see and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
Genres are expanding through mix-and-match and cross-pollination. What once used to be action-adventure genre, may contain romantic elements and paranormal elements, and a touch of fantasy with just a dash of science-fiction and suspense. It’s difficult to coin a term for cross-and-mix genres but the practice (and many, many bestselling writers are doing it) has produced some very interesting and entertaining books. I see many well-established promo sites struggling with this when trying to formulate a list of genres for books to place in categories because they need to pitch them to the ‘right’ audience. I don’t think there is such a thing, but that’s just my personal belief.

I think the traditional publishing industry will have to pull back from trying to compete with behemoths like Amazon and settle into a kind of ‘advisory’ role, where they will try to suggest to readers what books to read (namely those by the authors they publish) but they will have to come up with blockbuster sales-pitch and convince the reader that this is the book he/she should pick up.

BookBub, the hugely successful promo site, is already doing that to some degree and I think the publishers, if they want to survive in the business, will have to come up with a business model that’s a mix-and-match of BookBub style, and Amazon style and even some independent authors’ style. Traditional anything alone isn’t going to work for long; in fact I think it stopped working some years ago.

6. What great challenges did you have in writing your book? 
Time. Time and not enough time to do it all, since I publish my own books. It’s always time and to some degree money because costs with publishing your own books are significant. Nothing else, really. Just finding time to do it all.

7. If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours?
It’s always ‘entertainment’ time. Books are a combination of relaxation and entertainment. I think our next generation could use more of both—relaxation and entertainment through reading. I pitch my series novels as character-driven, adventure-suspense thrillers. Many of my readers who reviewed the books commented that once they picked them up, they read it in one sitting—they were that unwilling to put it down until finished. I think that’s the greatest compliment a reader could give to a writer. If you like ancient history and mythology impacting on us in modern times, and like well-written, character-driven action series, then pick up Book 1 and start reading.  

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs

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