Okay, I have to admit. It is starting to feel like an everyday occurrence with all of the amazing people I have met through these blog tours. I have to put Priya Kanaparti at the very top of that list. The work she has done on this blog tour is awe-inspiring, her book sounds AMAZING, and she's even willing to let someone toeing the waters of self-publishing pick her brain with borderline non-questions. I'm very happy to share her interview with you guys and encourage you to go check out her book, Dracian Legacy (you can find it at Barnes & Noble and Amazon). And now let me show you guys why you should be in awe of her too!
Priya Kanaparti: LOL. I’m a complete Panstser. Although I’m a planner in real life, for the life of me, I can’t seem to make myself plan on what I’m to write.
MV: What inspired you to write the Dracian Legacy series?
PK: I had been reading a lot of amazing books and I wanted tell the world a story of my own. Since I had been a bit fan of paranormal and supernatural kind of stuff for a long time, the ideas that weaved through my head were similar to that and the story for Dracian Legacy was born.
MV: What made you decide to go the self-publishing route rather than traditional publishing?
PK: I had sent out few queries to agents and publishing houses. I had received few rejections. After much thought and weighing in the pros and cons, I thought it best that at least the first book is self-published, instead of traditional. Oh, and I also wanted to publish within the first year, since I started to write the book.
MV: What advice can you offer to other authors hoping to self-publish?
PK: Self-publishing is a lot of work, which means, you need to have a lot of patience and persistence. But know that after all of that hard work, it would be worth it. Just hang in there and don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask for help…
MV: Your blog tour filled up with hosts very quickly! What do you think the trick is to marketing as a self-published author?
PK: Yes, it has! I think it’s about connecting with your readers, with the community. I made sure that I had responded to every email, every tweet personally. I also wrote guest posts on other blogs and promoted other authors and bloggers. I think it helped build the support that I needed… I still need.
PK: Thank you! I had inquired few awesome cover designers and found the one that I thought would best fit with my needs for my book. I had few ideas and designs that I really loved from other books. So when I talked to my designer, she had created some awesome designs and we worked to make to fit how it is today. She took in every details, from the font, to the background, the magic elements, and she just put it all together. My amazing designer is Regina Wamba from Mae I Design, if you want to know!
MV: How has your process changed from writing the first book to writing the second?
PK: *chuckles* not much. There were so many things I had learned about writing, like showing versus not telling concept or the punctuation or the kinds of words I could use. So I’m using everything I’ve learned while writing this book. So apart from that, and having one less draft to work on, everything else is pretty much the same. I’m still a panster.
MV: If you could turn your book into a movie or television series, who would you cast?
PK: Gosh, I don’t even know. But if I need to pick how they look, I would say, Ren in my mind looks like a mixture of Emma Watson and Jessica Alba. For Axel, I totally could see Jensen Ackles fitting the looks perfectly! Um, Dean is a tough one. I’m not sure who would fit the bill.
MV: How do you balance your time as a professional, a mother, and an author?
PK: One word. Negotiations! Since I can’t control my time when it comes to my daytime job, I negotiate my time available at nights and weekends with hubby. So ever Friday and Saturday nights, I work through the night, almost until 3 a.m. Then following morning, hubby takes care of my little man until I wake up. It’s kind of nice!
MV: What is ahead for your writerly future?
PK: Well I have two WIPs scheduled for this year. One is the book 2 of Dracian Legacy. Which is currently labeled as Dracian Origins. And I have a NA Contemporary Romance. At currently time, I don’t have blurbs for either of these stories. But I’ll post them on goodreads as soon as they are available.
Mara, Thank you so much for having me on your blog!
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