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