Monday, January 12, 2015

Pepper Winters - An Author Interview in the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on Author Pepper Winters. She is the NYT and USA International bestselling author of Romance Novels. Pepper is the author of the Indebted and Monsters in the Dark series.



Author Genre: Romance

Website: Pepper Winters - International bestselling author
Twitter: @PepperWinters
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Author Description:
Pepper Winters is a NYT and USA Today International Bestseller. She wears many roles. Some of them include writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex... her books have sex.

She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends. She's also honoured to wear the IndieReader Badge for being a Top 10 Indie Bestsellers, best BDSM series voted by the SmutClub, and recently signed a two book deal with Grand Central. Her books are currently being translated into numerous languages and will be in bookstores in the near future.

To see the Pepper Winter's Preview, click here.



SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Congratulations on your book: First Debt. What do you have on the drawing board next? Rumor has it that you have several books on the horizon. Can you tell us the timeline for their release and give us a little tease?

Yes, I have a few on the go currently. My next release is Second Debt (Indebted #3) along with a new Contemp Romance called Forbidden Flaws. I signed a publishing deal with Hachette and the book releasing with them, Ruin and Rule will be on the shelves on 28th July 2015. It's going to be a very busy year.

You have a good following on twitter. How important have your social media relationships been? How did you build your following in your niche? Do you see a carry over to your writing success?

I think social media is incredibly important. I spend hours a day online, interacting with amazing readers, authors I've grown close with, and generally keeping visible in this digital age. Plus, it's great fun to share books and updates with like-minded people.

Do you maintain a reader list? What are the methods you use to find your readers and create the list and the relationship? Do you use social media, forums, newsletters and/or support groups to build your list?

Yes, I have a newsletter that I send out whenever I have a new release. It's a convenient way for people who enjoy my work to get an alert without having to follow too many sites.

You do a lot of book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? When and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?

I do. In fact, I have a lot of signings booked in 2015, which is going to be tricky with the amount of deadlines I have. The next signing I'll be at will be Little Rock on 11th July 2015, followed by Love n Vegas, Penned.com, New York and Montreal.

You have great covers. They carry a theme and your brand with them. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?

Thanks so much. Glad you like them. I have a very hands on approach. As I'm writing the book I'll know more and more what is needed on the front. By the time I approach an artist, I have a pretty good idea of the character and 'shade' of the book.

I like the idea of Author bundles. You are a part of a novel collection called Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart. What was the impact on your other sales? What was the main objective of bundling your works with other romance authors? How did you put something like that together?

I think author bundles did a great job for sharing readerships and alerting new books to different fans. Sales were consistent, regardless that my book was available with other content. I've also done for charity (Breast Cancer, Sexual Abuse, and Animal Cruelty.) it feels great to be able to do something worthwhile with something I created. I'm very blessed.

What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

Yes, I donate a lot of free books, both signed and ebooks. I've had nothing but good experiences and won't stop. It's great hearing from a reader that won and never heard of me to hearing that she enjoyed her gift. Makes my day :)

What is the objective for your newsletter? Do you try to build a list of readers? Do you see a carryover to the sales of your novels?

I use it purely to alert fans of new releases. That's it. I don't fill the inboxes with teasers or news. They can follow my website and get direct information from that if they wish to get a bit more involved. I don't want to bombard them with too much :)

You have a great book trailer for Tears of Tess. (See link below.) It looks very professional. Do you know how much impact it has had on your book’s success? Tell us about the process that you used to create your trailer?

Yes I have many trailers (some that I've made myself, bought, and had some incredible readers make for me.) I think it's not a sale's tool, more like an extra level of exposure. Plus, they're awesome to watch--even for me who has read the book so many times haha.

What is your method of getting reviews for your novels? Do you seek professional reviews, use social media or do you rely on your reading audience to supply them?

I'm very lucky that my readers are very vocal about liking (or disliking) my work. I do blog tours on new releases and have one title on Netgalley but that's it. I don't approach people to review unless they're on a current tour.

I like the idea of your MONSTERS IN THE DARK Merchandise. Can you share with us how well that has been received by your readers? What was your goal in establishing the store?

Yes it's done very well. It's not a money making tool, but something that I do to give back to the readers. I'm still blown away that people want my signature and enjoy having some small item that reminds them of the series.



Author's Book List
First Debt - Indebted Book 2
Nila Weaver's family is indebted. Stolen, taken, and bound not by monsters but by an agreement written over six hundred years ago, she has no way out.

She belongs to Jethro as much as she denies it.

Jethro Hawk's patience is running out. His inheritance gift tests, challenges, and surprises him--and not in good ways. He hasn't leashed her but he thinks he might've found a way to bind her forever.

Debts are mounting. Payment waiting.


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Twisted Together - Monsters in the Dark Book 3
“After battling through hell, I brought my esclave back from the brink of ruin. I sacrificed everything—my heart, my mind, my very desires to bring her back to life. And for a while, I thought it broke me, that I’d never be the same. But slowly the beast is growing bolder, and it’s finally time to show Tess how beautiful the dark can be.”

Q gave everything to bring Tess back. In return, he expects nothing less. Tess may have leashed and tamed him, but he’s still a monster inside.

**

After surviving the darkness, a new dawn has begun. Twisted Together wades through black to grey, chasing the light of true love to banish the shadows forever.

Pain is a requirement, connection a necessity. But ultimately Q and Tess must face their demons, before they can embrace their future.

**


Book Trailer: Twisted Together

Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Destroyed
She has a secret.

I’m complicated. Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated.

I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn't realized how far I could fall or what I'd have do to get free.

He has a secret.

I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.

I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.

Secrets destroy them.


Book Trailer: Destroyed

Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Quintessentially Q - Monsters in the Dark Book 2
“All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… screwed up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs do make a right."

Tess is Q’s completely. Q is Tess’s irrevocably. But now, they must learn the boundaries of their unconventional relationship, while Tess seeks vengeance on the men who sold her. Q made a blood-oath to deliver their corpses at Tess’s feet, and that’s just what he’ll do.

He may be a monster, but he’s Tess’s monster.


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Tears of Tess - Monsters in the Dark
*A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Newest addition to my 'favorites' list!!!* Swooning Over Books
*6 STARS - BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR!* Hook Me Up Book Blog
*6 out of 5 BRANDING stars!!! THE BEST BOOK OF 2013!* Prima Donna

A New Adult Dark Contemporary Romance, not suitable for people sensitive to grief, slavery, and hard to read subjects. A story about finding love in the strangest of places, a will of iron that grows from necessity, and forgiveness that may not be enough.

"My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect. Then it all changed.I was sold."

Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.

For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.

But lusty paradise is shattered.

Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror.

Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can't save her from the horror of being sold.

Can Brax find Tess before she's broken and ruined, or will Tess's new owner change her life forever?


Book Trailer: Tears of Tess

Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Debt Inheritance - Indebted Book 1
Nila Weaver's family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She has no choice in the matter. She is no longer free. Jethro Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth birthday. Her life is his until she's paid off a debt that's centuries old. He can do what he likes with her--nothing is out of bounds--she has to obey. There are no rules. Only payments.


Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - KOBO - iTunes
Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
HBS Author's Spotlight
eBook Author’s Corner
Top Shelf Author Advice
Mystery Reader’s Circle

Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.

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