REVUES GALORE PRESENTS … DA REVIEWERS NEWSLETTER | Issue # 1
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Review of the Month
When did you first start writing ? I started writing when I was in middle school . I was a bit of … correction a huge nerd , so I had plenty of time on my hands and a huge imagination to go with it . Writing was my outlet .
What motivated you to become an author ? Writing has always been something that brought me peace , something that I have always been passionate about . It ’ s something that I have always loved doing . So last year when I came to a career crossroads and started asking myself what I really wanted to do in life , being an author was the thing that I knew in my heart , was meant for me to do . So … I ’ m now doing it .
What is the greatest joy of writing for you ? That I have the ability to create worlds , characters and stories out of pure imagination , and can put them to paper . The fact that I can make people see through my writing , what I see in my head when I am imagining a person or a scene .
What genres do you enjoy writing for ? I enjoy writing YA and New Adult fiction . My current series is actually New Adult Contemporary .
What are you working on next ? I ’ m in the middle of writing the first draft for book seven of my College Life Series . What ’ s next is the release of book three and the redraft of book four of the series . Of course after that , I ’ ll be working on redrafting and releasing the rest of the series .
What genres do you hope to write in ? I ’ m love writing in my current genre , but I wouldn ’ t mind giving AA fantasy and suspense / horror a try one day . I actually have a few ideas swirling around in this head of mine for a few standalones in those categories .
What inspires you to get out of bed each day ? Knowing that I have big dreams and goals that I want to achieve , gets me out of bed each day . I know where I want to go in my writing career and I can ’ t get there laying around .
When you ' re not writing , how do you spend your time ? When I ’ m not writing ( which is hardly ever ) I ’ m either at the gym keeping this figure intact , at my 9 to 5 job or hanging around my house with my family … thinking about what to write .
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote ? Yes , it was a short story about two sisters who had nothing in common . I wrote it in middle school .
What is your writing process ? I sit at my laptop , usually with some music playing ( smooth jazz on Sunday ’ s ), a cup of green tea and I just start typing . To be honest , a lot of my writing is off the top of my head . I may write down or text myself ideas for scenes when they hit me , but other than that , I don ’ t write any of the dialogue down . It just flows as I type .
How do you approach cover design ? Well , first I wanted something that went along with the theme of the series . I also wanted to be different . Nearly every cover that I see by an AA author has people on it and that was one thing that I didn ’ t want . I want people to use their imagination to picture the characters , which is what I do when I read books . I get a lot of compliments on my book covers which is awesome .
How has Da Reviewers contributed to your current marketing ? The 5-star review that they did is being posted and shared , which is bringing more eyes to the book . The book of the month newsletter that will be handed out on some college campuses will certainly help , as my target audience are college aged readers .
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you ? Right now , I ’ m mostly posting on my social media sites . My readers share the posts and prompt their friends to check out the book . I also reach out to reviewers and bloggers . I will be looking to hire an actual PR agent / firm in the future .
Where did you grow up , and how did this influence your writing ? I grew up in Philadelphia , mostly South Philly . I didn ’ t like where I lived and writing helped me escape my real life . That influenced me .
What ' s the story behind your latest book ? I was seventeen years old when the concept of this series came to me . I was sitting at my grandmothers ’ computer and as usual , I started day dreaming . I was months away from graduating high school and was set to start college soon after , and I started thinking about what my college life would be like . From there , I created character names , added a description to each one and just started typing . The rest is history .
What are your five favorite books , and why ? No Compromise , Private Passions , and the rest of the “ Hideaway ” series by Rochelle Alers . I enjoy a good series and she definitely wrote one .
Describe your desk . I have my laptop , printer , a copy of both of my published books and a lamp that reminds me of the one that my grandmother used to have when I was younger . I love it , I spend so much time here .
How many words per day / week do you write , and have you seen matching income from the time spent writing ? I try to write every day , at least two or three hours a day , it ’ s usually broken up throughout the day . I have no idea how many words I write ; I don ’ t keep track of that . And , my income from writing has been steady at this point .
How big do you expect your brand to get ? As big as it can possibly get . I have so many dreams and aspirations and if everything happens the way that I see it happening for me . My brand will be huge .
What ’ s your website and facebook Like page ? My website is www . jbvample . com and my ‘ like ” page is www . facebook . com / thecollegelifeseries
5 ٭ MUST HAVE
College Life 101 : Freshmen Orientation The cover of the book is nice . Most of the time when you choose a book , the pictures on the cover kind of give you a picture to go in your mind with the characters as you are reading . I know you described the characters very well , but the cover picture gives you a face to go along with the descriptions . So , even if it was just a bunch of teenagers with book bags , a cover picture would have been great .
The story was very well written . The plot of the story focused on the college students and it stayed there . The story flowed at a great pace . It covered all aspects of college without boring the readers . The spelling and punctuation were perfect . It contained no errors that I could catch .
The author started off with giving you a peep into the lives of the female characters . The characters were hilarious . There was a group of young ladies that graduated high school and relocated to college . There , they met a group of guys that graduated high school and moved as well . All of them possessed their own unique personalities . In the beginning of the book you would assume that they all were going to be enemies . Somehow , someway they all turned out to be the best of friends . I recommend this book to all high school and incoming college students that move away from home .
Author J . B . Vample