1. What motivated
you to write your book, to force you from taking an idea or experience and
turning it into this book? My lifelong love for reading motivated me to write the
books in the BryonySeries. I began writing my own stories at age eleven and
sharing them with friends. I always knew I’d write at least one book. But the
story had to be right. I never conceived that idea until I was twenty-five –
and I never started developing that idea in earnest until I was forty-six. At the time, I thought the story was just one
book. I didn’t realize until later that I needed multiple books to tell the
story.
2. What is it
about and who is it for? The BryonySeries has multiple subseries for the
enjoyment of different types of readers. All the books are interrelated. But they
are written as standalones, even if they appear in a trilogy.
Bertrand The Mouse: an amigurumi mouse shares his adventures to foster
the joy of reading in young children.
The Adventures of
Cornell Dyer: a supernatural
super sleuth travels around in his motor home unraveling mysteries, untangling
myths, and deciding what to have for lunch.
Girls of the
BryonySeries: each book
features an eleven-year-old girl with a problem she must solve on her own.
“Drop of blood”
trilogy: A 1970s teen
trades her blood with a Victorian vampire for a trip back into time (first
book). While grieving the abrupt end of her blood bargain with 19th century
pianist John Simons, 18-year-old Melissa flings herself into a relationship
with a college music professor, a man with a shady reputation and an uncanny
resemblance to John. (second book). A
teen music prodigy lives in a remote fishing village, works for a newspaper
delivery uncle and a funeral director stepfather, has a princess in his mirror,
and his father was staked by his best friend’s father. That's the old normal.
(third book)
Before The Blood: An incomplete historical novel of five incomplete
installments featuring four main characters that ruin their lives. Time period
is mostly mid to late nineteenth century America with a bit of 30 Years War
mixed in.
Limbo trilogy: an exploration into a fishing village where time
essentially stops. Features vampires, sorceresses, ghosts, and sirenish
characters in the background.
Lycanthropic
Summer: A teen girl
struggles to write the world's greatest werewolf love story before her
eighteenth birthday. Then she discovers a couple is keeping a savage boy locked
in their basement, and her muse goes on overtime. She should help him, but...
Snowbell: A short story about a snobbish teen who decides to
show up the locals by disproving their cherished ghost stories. However, her
calculated prank becomes a terrifying night in a dilapidated mansion and a
desperate wish that the legends were true.
Ramblings of a
Ruthless Dictator:
Two humorous books (so far) authored by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara (real
person and BryonySeries character).
The BryonySeries
also has three related cookbooks, including one that is a permanent fundraiser
for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties. These books are
Squeak! Twelve mouse-themed recipes, GRRR: Twelve pawtastic werewolf-themed
recipes, and Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from Bryony (recipes
from the nineteenth century and the nineteen seventies).
3. What takeaways
might the reader will be left with after reading it? Hopefully the desire to read another book – even if
the book isn’t part of the BryonySeries. There are few pleasures so sublime as
losing yourself between the pages of a good book.
4. How did you
decide on your book’s title and cover design? Each title reflects the story’s theme, so I decide each
title early in the story development. I collaborate with local artists for
cover design. The cover design also reflects the story’s theme as well as each
artist’s personal style and vision.
5. What advice or
words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers? Play the long game. Make and execute short and
long-term goals with one eye on the horizon. Too many writers quit too soon.
6. What trends in
the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing
industry is heading? I
see more creative control, more opportunities for publishing. But I also see
increased struggles to find invested readers and less opportunities for making
significant income from written works.
7. What challenges
did you overcome to write this book? Honestly, the question ought to be what challenges
didn’t I encounter? Since I published
the first book in 2011, I’ve moved five times and experienced homeless. I’ve
battled illness and currently have two family members in two separate nursing
homes in two separate states with dementia. I have constraints of finances, a fast-paced
career, and a very large immediate family where something challenging is always
going on. Oh, and let’s mix in a few
cats, including one with cancer that’s also beaten the odds and is enjoying
relatively good health.
8. How would you
describe your writing style? I’m a features journalist by profession, so my style
is clear and concise. But I also love classic literature and that love appears
in my varying sentence structures, richly developed characters readers might
forget aren’t real, vivid worlds, subplots and subtleties (so readers always
find something new with the re-read), and an undercurrent of the human
experience.
9. If people can
buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? Maybe it shouldn’t be mine. Readers who only like Westerns
or romances may not gravitate to any books in the BryonySeries. But for readers open to discovering a book
(or two) they never imagined existed, if they find something intriguing in a
description or book cover they wish to explore, then, yes: they should buy or
read one or more books this week or month.
Every book is not
for every reader. But I believe every book is the right book for the right
readers. For more information, visit https://www.bryonyseries.com/.
About The Author: Denise M. Baran-Unland is the author of the
phantasmic BryonySeries, co-founder of WriteOn Joliet; and features editor at
The Herald-News in Joliet, Illinois. She has six adult children, three adult
stepchildren, eighteen total grandchildren, six godchildren, and four cats. For
more information, visit https://www.bryonyseries.com/.
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning
blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available
to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He
has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in
all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!
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Brian Feinblum should be followed on
Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born
and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids,
and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured
in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.
This award-winning blog has generated over 3.2 million pageviews. With 4,400+
posts over the past decade, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs
by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and
recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing
blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For
the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the
nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses,
Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres,
right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth,
Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey
Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne,
Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA,
Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers
Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors
and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published
in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News,
Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The
Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun
Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information,
please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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