Indie Author Interview: Caroline Gerardo

Enjoy today's Interview on Indie Author News with Indie Author Caroline Gerardo, Author of the Novels Toxic Assets and The Lucky Boy.

Caroline Gerardo or C.G. as friends call her was born in Cincinnati Ohio.She was raised in a large Catholic family, by a father with the wanderlust for the next physicist project and mother who was to become the support of the family as a school psychologist. She received her Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude from Scripps College dual Major Art and Literature, and a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University.

Caroline has awards for her poetry and flash fiction.

She writes seven days a week and also enjoys photography, painting, gardening, gourmet cooking, and investing. Caroline's photographs and short films have received national attention.

Interview with Caroline Gerardo

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Caroline Gerardo: Undergraduate degree Scripps College Literature and Art Dual Major Magna Cum Laude
MFA Claremont Graduate University.
I am a performance poet. I have traditional published poetry anthologies. I have been writing all my life. I blogged on an anonymous site (Blogit) in secret while I worked in an intense business industry to provide for my family alone.

In 2009 I started writing seven days a week and working a "day job" My short stories and poetry are in the following magazines past fifteen months: Midwestern Gothic Magazine, Slate, One Stop Poetry Magazine, Sleet Magazine, Narrative, Negativesucks Magazine, and some ten others.

I self-published three short stories online with the intention of putting them into a seven story larger book. This project has been held up until a certain release of August 2012.
I self-published my first full novel, Toxic Assets in 2010. Then next, I published The Lucky Boy. I have two other novels in progress for release. (Eco-Terrorist in second revision and Pump resting for editing)

With a grant I received to make a long form poem into a short film The Last Willow Flycatcher should be completed in 2013.

Who are your favorite writers, your favorite book, and who or what are your writing influences?
Writing influences are southern women writers and southern gothic writers. I read about eleven books a month, and start another eight that I do not finish. Memorizing poetry is helpful to understand new word rhythms.

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?
I am disciplined. I write every day for seven to eight hours broken around my job and children.
My novel process is a lifestyle as follows:
I keep notebooks with me all the time with short ideas, conversations, character points, a sentence, a feeling… These handwritten notebooks have drawings as well as collage items. Next, I write a brief outline that is three pages. Then I use a white board and line up characters, photograph images and a general layout of the "graph" of the story. Three act narrative does not interest me in a graph of the story. I am experimenting with combinations of genre and pacing in new "brackets." It takes me about eight months to write the complete first draft. I completed Nanowritmo twice, but that 60000 words is only about one third of a first draft. My first drafts are 150- 160000 words to cut down to 80-90000. Editing is tedious. I will edit a few sentences a day and work on short stories and poetry related to my time or things in the news, or my life. The break from one work to another pace refreshes my writing. I never have a block or dry spell. I expect progress in my work with the ability to spend more time writing. The story in the end may not be at all what I outlined. Characters seem to take over and drive the car where they want to travel. Dreams about the stories work out subconscious problems, I wake up in the morning with scribbled notes on a pad by my bed.

"Poetry is painful to sell."

What do you find easiest about writing? What the hardest?
Easiest: caring about becoming better, being creative and open to sharing my own view of my time on this earth.
Hardest: poetry is painful to sell. An agent told me three years ago: stop writing shorts and poetry because you can NEVER live on it. I am not following his advice and he is a famous agent who has had great financial success. Poetry intimidates the general public. The abstract element of poetry can be the most moving call to action for humans. The key is to explain for those who are interested, and help them open up the wrapper. I have found an audience for poetry that surprises all my poet friends who have professor jobs at universities.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I wrote stories starting back as a child. I have been a creative person all my life.

Caroline, tell us a little about your second novel 'The Lucky Boy'.
It is a dark bildungsroman. This is a coming of age story that is not suitable for young audiences. Seth McGrath is a disturbed boy, or a boy with ADHD that is beaten and abandoned as a child. He is sent to live with his loving Grandmother. While living with Grandmother in inner city Philadelphia of the late 1960's, Seth discovers love, spirituality and his own drive. Grandmother suddenly dies and he goes back to a lonely life. Seth makes terrible choices- he keeps going the wrong way towards jail, or hell or sure death. He will steal, arrange illegal fights and harm himself. I will not spoil the next half of the story.

What inspired you to write the book?
Parts of the story are from my own experience: A boy stalked my sister when we were young. A friend died in a pool when I was away on vacation. I was a lifeguard as a teen. The Catholic upbringing in the story is like my own Grandmother's version of superstitions, potions, healing arts, and prayer. Other than that, I do not know any real boy who ever arranged illegal fights or murdered anyone.
It is a fantasy about what we do with the good and bad in our experience, genetics and in our circumstance. What we make of the odds, how we change if we choose to grow. Ultimately, it is a story about redemption.

Who do you see as your target audience and where can we buy the book?
I have received great input from: high school boys who love the action and the dark aspects of the character. I also have found it resonates with maverick entrepreneurs- stock brokers, penny brokers, young male professionals. Also Mothers who like adventure stories seem to connect with the whole. I did not write to a target audience.

How would you describe the success of your book? (Sales, Awards, Reviews)
It surprises me how random the reviews are. There are a number of good comments on Barnes and Noble. I did one reading at a B&N store and really had a crowd who seem to find it cult fiction. The build is slow and growing.
Allow me to explain performance poetry and how that relates to success of the books: I am combining live performance with film clips, actors or myself reading, my photographs, and live sound. Chapters of The Lucky Boy were performed at several Universities.

What did you do to promote yourself and your book?
I am using social networking; but that does not really drive ROI or closed sales, it has gathered a "posse." By posse, I explain, find like kind kindred friends and share. Most of my social network friends are not writers. I have not paid for ads or competitions. I am "performing" and that directs sales because it is live.

How long did it take it to write the book?
About a year.

Please, tell us where you self-published your books.
In 2009, I released three short stories on Smashwords. I sat like a doe in the headlights waiting for something to happen.

Next I published Toxic Assets in paperback on CreateSpace. I switched to Lightening Source to print The Lucky Boy because they have superior distribution. Both books are available on all eReaders.

Self-Publishing: "I learned how to do everything."

How smooth went the self-publishing process? Any issues? What are things to look for when self-publishing a book?
I learned how to do everything. Controlling every detail, I taught myself to write HTML and use my own photographs for covers. This learning curve is very slow. If you want to produce two books a year you MUST hire people to create your cover, edit, do the formatting conversions and make choices about font and overall branding.

Did you hire an editor and/or Cover Designer for your books?
I completed my own covers. The visual art aspect of the covers I enjoy. I went to bookstores and took pictures of the racks - what color covers are, what fonts they use, what is all the “language” clues from the publishing industry. The goal is to understand that random lady walking down the aisle. What makes her pick up an unknown novel and purchase the book? Picasso used everyone else's best ideas and combined to make them better.
First book and shorts I did not hire and editor and that slowed me down. My original beta readers are gone ( my Mom is too ill and ex I wouldn’t dare ask him). I know not paying for editing made for lesser quality. With Toxic Assets, I first wrote the whole book in first person then in third revision decided to take the "I" out of the whole book. It was impossible to find every moment where my eyes were observing from first person. It made the story better but ...was very difficult to correct.
With The Lucky Boy, I send it out in the third phase of my own editing for feedback, then bit the bullet and paid for professional editing.

Can you give some tips for other Indie Authors regarding the writing and self-publishing process?
Make friends ask for help offer trades be kind be happy share- There are mean people out there, just walk away from them and find the great ones.

Are you working on another book project? Can you tell us a little about it?
Four projects in motion. Next releases will be:
1. Working title: Eco-Terrorist
Natalie is retired MI5. She moves to rural Wyoming to get away from her soothsayer past.
She finds herself in the middle of an ongoing crime where a terrorist group has kidnapped the daughter of a CEO who is buying up all the water rights in America.
2. Pump A thriller about a penny stock room.
3. The Last Willow Flycatcher a short film from a long form poem that was published.
4. Cardinal Sins a series of seven stories in one anthology.

Are you planning to move forward as an Indie author or are you looking forward to have one of your next books to be traditionally published?
I had a traditional publishing offer this year but I am going to continue to build my work and self-publish.

Where do you see the book market in 5 or 10 years? Will there be only 99cent eBooks or do you see this just as a marketing phase of the book sellers to move readers into the digital book market in a fight for future market shares?
More big box bookstores will close. B&N will spin off the nook (as with Gamestop) and increase floor space to coffee-house. Indie bookstores that draw for unique experience will survive well. They need to think of crowdsourcing ways to bring in teens who have no-where to go in the evening and get them attending readings and have live music outside. Indie bookstores can sell e-books and need to build better websites with live video reviews from their real customers. Indie bookstores need to be open armed to indie authors. They can ask the indie author to provide 5 books on consignment and have a live event... I have a thousand ideas on how to make an indie bookstore make more money. I want them to survive.

Do you write full-time or do you have a day job?
I write 60 hours a week and work a job and have children all on my own.

How can readers connect with you?
Readers can reach me via my Blog or Twitter.[see links below]

Thank you so much for the Interview, Caroline. Good Luck with your future book projects.

---

About the Book 'The Lucky Boy'

Seth McGrath goes through hell to raise ten grand to find a girl. He is the son of a neurosurgeon and a pill popping debutante who send him away to be raised by his Grandmother. When Grandmother suddenly dies, Seth is sent back to a disillusioned life in Radnor, a suburb of Philadelphia.

A hypnotic story that will charm you through a dark journey. Seth will sell drugs, arrange bum fights for hire, and worse.

What does it take for a psycho to become a CEO? Find out in this chilling tale, written in contemporary literary beats. Twenty-first Century style of writing that will keep you up reading. Mature Young Adults only, as the dirty charms of this novel are literary but describes crimes, violence, and antisocial behavior.

This novel is rated R

---

Links to the Author and the Book

Link to Caroline Gerardo's Blog

Connect with Caroline Gerardo on Twitter: @cgbarbeau

Link to the Book 'The Lucky Boy' on Amazon with Excerpt

---