Free Author Interview: Leslie E. Stern

Author Name: Leslie E. Stern

Where can we find your book?: All the usual outlets.  Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, and if you want a signed copy you can go to my website leslieestern.com.  Let me also mention that the cheapest place to purchase the Kindle edition is to download it directly from my website.  The only place to purchase the hardbound edition is also from my website.

How much does it cost?: $14.95 for the paperback.  $24.95 for the hardbound.

Tell us a little about your book: Dr. Emma Weiss is a beautiful, intelligent, woman who moves to Savannah, Georgia and falls in love with gorgeous Jake Stanton and believes that he has fallen in love with her. Then she learns that he is actually a long-struggling drug addict. Thus, Emma inadvertently becomes entangled in a web of deceit, drugs, and the law. Can Emma cope with Jake’s addiction to drugs and more importantly, can she overcome her addiction to him?

Do you have any upcoming projects?:  My book of poetry "Images from my Soul" is available through all the usual outlets now. I have written the screenplay for "Betrayal Beneath the Spanish Moss" and it is being pitched in Hollywood as we speak.  My next project is "Living with a Legend", a non-fiction book of anecdotes about my step-father.  Iwao Takamoto designed about 85% of the characters at Hanna-Barbera, as well as worked on some Disney classics such as "Lady and the Tramp" and "Cinderella".  It's a heart-warming look at this gentle genius and is filled with drawings done by him and for him.  It's already gotten a great deal of pre-publication buzz.

What has your journey as a writer been like?: It's been a long and rocky road.  I have always written for my own enjoyment, having written my first short story when I was ten.  I spent my career in public relations, primarily writing.  I wrote "Dreams Surpassed", which is my first novel and I hope will be published after "Living with a Legend", I was young and hopeful.  When I wrote "Betrayal", it was a story that just had to come out.  I finished the first draft in three months, unlike "Dreams Surpassed" which was a five year proposition and still needs a major edit.  I was too impatient to find a publisher for "Betrayal", so I self-published.  Big mistake!  Even with years of marketing and public relations experience, it was still difficult.

Why did you choose to self-publish?: Impatience, pure and simple.

Would I do it again?:  Never!!  Too expensive, too much work, and little results.

Please share some advice to help future authors: Don't self-publish unless you can afford to hire a marketing firm to back you up and be prepared to spend a great deal of money on book tours without seeing a profit.  Go the traditional route and perfect your query letters to send to agents or publishers.  A small publishing house is still better than self-publishing.  Do an excellent proposal and get it out there.

On the writing end, start with a basic outline.  Don't just sit down and write.  You'll never get finished and you'll edit for the rest of your life.  An outline also helps writer's block.  There will always be a portion of the book you won't feel like writing.  Those are the days when you can work on a different part of the book if you have an outline.

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