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Lisa Costantino
Lisa Costantino’s novel Maiden’s Veil, winner of the Chanticleer Reviews’ Best Indie Historical Fiction for 2012 award is today’s interview guest. Her book, which receives constantly rave reviews, is not only available in digital form, but also in print.
Lisa, thanks for this interview and congratulations for your award! How would you describe your book to someone who has not yet read it?
The alternating timelines of Maiden’s Veil entwine the lives of two women coping with love and risk. In 1733, tapestry weaver Clarinda Asher was the last Maiden to perform the Veil before the ancient fertility ritual was banished, and she along with it, for the ensuing cataclysm that nearly destroyed her remote English village. When present-day weaver Jess Barlow unearths evidence of the ritual during the village’s May Day celebrations, she and Owen Calder reenact the rite, resurrecting the ritual’s power. Although she too is banished and Owen ostracized, Jess is determined not to suffer the same fate as Clarinda.
Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?
If there’s any message, it’s about forgiveness. Each of the four main characters — Clarinda, Benjamin, Owen, and Jess — is tormented by the blame they have placed on themselves for disastrous events both within and outside of their control. Whether they find forgiveness determines their future.
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Chanticlee Book Reviews
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What inspired you to start writing?
I spent many months during my childhood bedridden from a number of surgeries. When you’re stuck in bed, you read. If you read enough, you want to write.
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How did you get the idea for the novel?
Originally I planned to write a guidebook to Europe’s oldest continuing celebrations and traditions. Finances put that project on hold, but I was inspired to create a fictional story around the events I did attend, ones believed to have pre-Christian origins. So I created Maidenvale’s May Day celebrations out of a conflation of these festivities, and the Maiden’s Veil from historical and anthropological sources.
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Does your book have any underlying theme, message, or moral?
If the reader has read Arthurian literature, she or he may recognize an underlying framework based on the Lady of Shalott: the lady Elaine, who is cursed to remain in her tower and weave in isolation for the crime of falling in love with Lancelot.
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Novel Maiden’s Veil
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Who is your favorite character and why?
My favorite character is the most problematic one: Owen, the male lead in the contemporary story line. He’s in love with one woman while unhappily married to another, and it’s tearing him up. To me he epitomizes the emotional struggle between duty and heart. He genuinely wants to do the right thing, but he’s also desperate for some happiness. I feel for the guy.
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Are your plots based on your real-life experiences?
Only to the extent that most writers use moments from their own lives to add authenticity to their stories; in this case, details about England’s May Day festivities gleaned from my own observations and from conversations in the local pubs.
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Give us an excerpted quote from your favorite review of this book:
“…like her main female characters, both of whom are artists of the loom, Ms. Costantino has done some expert weaving here herself. The two stories ultimately support and reinforce one another, and all the threads come together in an ending that I found very poignant yet satisfying. With lush evocative descriptions, rich textures, great character development, and some surprising twists and turns, the overall result is a piece of art rather like one of her character’s fine tapestries.”
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What would/could a reader or reviewer say about this book that shows they “get” you as an author? Another of my favorite reviews got it: “The author weaves stories that are full of tension that resist standard story lines. Rather than common characters and situations, she introduces real-life dilemmas that seem true and honest.” This was especially welcome insight after another reader had bemoaned the lack of heroes. Heroes are for romance. I don’t write romance.
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Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you have learned as a writer from then to now?
Always keep going. Don’t let any sticking points render you stuck. Put unresolved issues in the back of your mind and work on what you know. Resolutions to most of my issues arose during long walks with my dog Lucy.
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Considering a book from the first word you write to the moment you see it on a bookstore shelf, what’s your favorite part of the process? What’s your least favorite?
My favorite part is when the story is solid and I can take my time massaging the language until it flows seamlessly. Least favorite? Marketing, I’m afraid to say. I’m a very private person, not at all comfortable with blowing my own horn in the Twittersphere. But you do what you gotta do.
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What scene or bit of dialogue in the book are you most proud of, and why?
The Midsummer’s Eve bonfire scenes, because they were the hardest to write. The scenes appear twice, from Clarinda’s viewpoint in one chapter, and from Benjamin’s in another. I wanted them to echo but not reproduce the same imagery and action, nor the same responses from the two characters.
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If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything about your book?
I’d probably make Sharon Calder a bit more sympathetic. But I try not to dwell on it!
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What genre have you not yet written but really want to try?
Science fiction, for sure. I love the idea of creating an imagined future, but one within the realm of possibility. I’m fascinated by the sciences and would likely have made a career in one discipline or another, had I any aptitude for math. And I’m a Trekkie at heart.
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If your book would be made into a movie, who should play the main character?
Rachel Weisz would be great as Clarinda or Jess. Clive Owen would make an awesome Owen or Benjamin, and I can easily see Brendan Coyle as the farmer Daniel. (Who wouldn’t want a Downton Abbey tie-in?)
How did you get published? Please share your own personal journey.
Impatience, more than anything, led me to self-publish. I went through several cycles of querying agents, and each time I received compliments and positive feedback but no takers. I figured I could continue that game until someone bit, or I could just jump into the self-publishing pool and not wait for representation, a sale, and production, the sum of which would likely take several years.
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Lisa Costantino Facebook
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What general advice do you have for other writers?
Always, always, use an editor or a proofreader before submitting or self-publishing. I can’t bear to read self-pubbed authors who say they don’t care about a few typos. That’s lazy thinking, because plenty of their own readers will care. Poor grammar, incorrect punctuation, bad formatting—all this shows not only a lack of skill in your trade but a disregard for your readers.
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What do you find is the best part of being an author?
Having both the motivation and the justification to sit for hours doodling out ideas and doing research.
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What is ONE thing that you have done that brought you more readers?
Winning an award for best indie women’s fiction from Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media.
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What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you?
I’m intensely jealous of scholarly authors who can bang out cogent and insightful non-fiction on politics, the environment, and world affairs. I wish I was that smart!
Where can people learn more about your writing? On my website: www.lisacostantino.com
Read also:
From Corporate Editor to Indie-published Historical Women’s Fiction Author
http://editordevil.blogspot.ca/2013/04/from-corporate-editor-to-indie.html
Follow Lisa Costantino here too:
FB:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/LisaCostantinoAuthor
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/lisa_costantino
Google+:
http://bit.ly/11nCUk5
Pinterest:
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=44988916&trk=tab_pro
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help:
http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar
Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 770 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
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http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
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What’s Wrong With Marketing Your Book?
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Are you aware, how expensive advertisements are, even if they are online?
And that these ads are only visible for the time you ordered & paid them?
If you would have the possibility to advertise many months or even years for free, presenting your book to ten-thousands or even hundred thousand of readers and often at the same time even improve your Search Engine ranking through back links – would you take on this offer? YES? NO?
Would you take advantage of this free advertisement offer, even if you would have to upload an image of your book and a short description (such as the blurb, and the authors bio) that is already written and in your computer files. A time investment of five minutes. Still YES ??? Authors may not have the necessary skills, time or desire to take this on. We offer Book Marketing packages in order to help them to establish a platform and to cement their author brand. However what we cannot do during this marketing coaching period is to sign up for authors on forums or book websites under their email address and choosing a password.
We compiled initially “65 Top Websites to announce your book for free” and now even 95 !!! links where you can show your book for FREE, split in two blog posts
http://bit.ly/XbgqpG
and
http://bit.ly/TyboBh
For authors to take advantage of this lists and to submit your book (if not done already) – use a larger size image of the books cover than on Amazon in jpeg format, a description and an author bio (just as you did on Amazon) and upload them to these 95 websites.
This is a wonderful possibility to have your book advertised on many sites for free!
The website owners are supporting independent writers and are often book bloggers and reviewers themselves. The best way to get the word out without having to spend money! We took a lot of effort to create this list for you. Once you registered everywhere, you are done, it’s only a one-time-effort!
The first 15 websites are forums, which will take a bit longer, but all the others are sites: you just friendly ask (and thank) the website owner to add your book to their site. The site often states how exactly they want your submission.
I read on a writers blog recently: ….“when it comes to promotion we should all heed the old seemingly paradoxical advertiser’s maxim: less is more”. And someone commented this: “I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that if I have to do THAT, keeping up with all this ‘STUFF’ out there, then it ain’t worth it.” In another blog post this writer of one book complaint about slow sales… He got my free list but did not even bother to check the websites out, otherwise he would have seen that it is mostly a one-time effort and not complaint in his article, that it is just to tedious to interact with so many people in forums.
If you submit your book just to four or five websites a day, you are through the lists in a month. But I am sure you will do it even faster : ) And if you are really very busy with your next book, just ask your computer-savvy youngsters to do it for you – offering them a small bribe : )
After you have finished submitting your book to all these websites, start contacting book reviewers. Begin with your social networks at Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Wattpad etc. and then contact these 45 reviewers we listed for you on our former blog: How to Find Reviewers for Your Book.
More links to reviewers can be found in our upcoming e-book (launch in February) “111 Tips to Get Book Reviews”. We certainly provide even more help to those who sign up for our book marketing coaching.
It often takes months before your book is reviewed, in the meantime just try to find even more avid readers who are willing to take on your book. Use the search function on top of your Twitter or Google+ page and type in “review”, “book review” or “reviewer” and when the list appears, click on “people”. You will find a cornucopia of book review possibilities!
Comment on blog posts
However, there is so much more you can do: Comment on, or praise interesting and useful articles of other bloggers. Don’t just write: “Nice post “. Rather add some intelligent and interesting idea – and don’t forget to add a link to your own blog. Most bloggers allow a link in comments, especially if you left a positive message.
Show off your writings skills
and offer guest blogs. Just go to WordPress.com and type in: writing, or publishing or any other topic of your (500-word) blog post, that you have written for a guest post and contact the blog owners. Offer them also to visit your own blog and encourage to re-blog anything they like. It will link back to your web site / blog and increase your search engine ranking, but more important the amount of visitors, and potential book buyers and readers.
The amount of tasks seems to be overwhelming, but if split in hundreds of small steps, just dedicating 15 minutes every day for submitting your book or contacting book reviewers or comment on blogs it is really manageable And better for your writing career than watching stupid sitcoms or TV commercials. So: take this advice – or leave it. You decide!
Predictions are that 50% of all books soon will be e-books, purchased online from readers for themselves or as a gift for friends and family of all ages. Getting many readers and lots of reviews can only be accomplished if they know of the authors book.
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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Follow on Twitter: @111publishing
And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris
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Posted by ebooksinternational on January 7, 2013 in Book Reviews, Book Sales, Marketing, post to public, posting, Self-Publishing, Social Media Book Marketing, Social Networks, Website & SEO
Tags: 65 Top Websites, comment on blog posts, free advertisement for your book, how can I find book reviewers, show off your writing skills, split these tasks in small steps, submit your book