Annie O\u2019Connell: <\/strong>Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with me again. It is always such a pleasure catching up with you!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Let\u2019s start off by seeing how you\u2019ve been since last we spoke.\u00a0 In August, The Lunar Codex was our focus, and The Legend of the Lost Child<\/em> was on the horizon.\u00a0 Now that they\u2019re both released, how did you feel about the launch of your new book, and how did it affect your first book?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>The second book allowed me to have far more control over it, which allowed me to release it on my schedule and not guessing when it was going to happen. This helped tremendously in reducing my stress level. My goal was to hype up as much as possible through October and I hired someone to help me create some great short videos to peak interest. I was also getting my ads prepared and contacting book groups to spread the word on the release. It seemed all my hard work paid off because on release day the book sky-rocketed to #1 in Children\u2019s Paranormal, Occult and Supernatural Books where it held steady for three weeks!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> So, let\u2019s follow up on that.\u00a0 What do you think you did that caught the attention of readers?\u00a0 What marketing strategies seemed to work for you in order to drive up those numbers?\u00a0 Were the videos the driving force, or the ads, or just hitting the pavement and getting word of mouth?\u00a0 Or was it a combination of everything that needed to blend and come together as a part of your plan?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>There was so much done, but I think all of our efforts on Facebook and Instagram were the biggest drives. Between consistent posting\u2014and not all book related\u2014to keep people engaged, mixed with boosting certain posts and sharing them to my page helped tremendously to get a buzz going. During this time, I had also set up close to fifty ARC (advanced reader copies) readers through Fiverr, previous readers and other book tours. The week of the release I had a few orders out with Book Raid, Book Barbarian, Robin Reads, BookBub, Reedsy, Written Words Media, FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, and Just Kindle Books with some extending through the month of November. All the nurturing helped as my numbers grew on Goodreads and I have close to 100 books on bookshelves and to be read for each book and stayed in the top 100 for one category for close to a month on Amazon.<\/p>\n I recently started working with Story Origin and am very excited by all they offer but cannot give specific examples as I have not had a chance to really dip my toes into the water with them yet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> For writers who want to follow in your footsteps, what sort of thing would you want to prepare them for when it comes to such a massive rollout like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s no small feat to do all the work to set all that up.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also likely not cheap.\u00a0 Do you think you\u2019ve made your money back at this point?\u00a0 If not, would you still call it a success to get out in front of as many people as you have and really elevate your brand to the view of more of the public?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>The biggest thing to keep in mind is planning. Initially, I thought that I would just write a book, put it out and readers would find it and I wouldn\u2019t have to do much more than that. Book one showed me just how wrong that thinking is. There are hundreds of books being uploaded on Amazon daily and you will need to do something to stand out if you plan on being seen. As I was finishing the book and preparing to send it to be edited, and book cover design, I started creating my schedule for my book launch over the upcoming month.<\/p>\n In reference to the second part of the question, no. I have not made my money back, but I am approaching it. I have a second stream of income that allows me a bit more flexibility with my testing. With Book three, I will remove things that were not as lucrative as I would have wanted and keep what helped. You will need to set up a budget and know ahead of time what you can and cannot do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> For readers who may not have read our first interview, how would you best explain what happened in Lunar Codex, and tee up The Legend of the Lost Child to tell them what they can expect without spoiling too much?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>The Lunar Codex<\/em> was where we met our small little cast of characters, mainly focusing on my lead, Jace, and his friends, Marcus, Izzie, and Brian. It is a coming-of-age story with a fantasy twist about 14-year-old Jace who was orphaned at three years old and adopted by his aunt and uncle.<\/p>\n After frequent relocations, his most recent move to Williston leaves him hopeful that this will be his permanent home. He quickly makes friends, and he seems to be getting everything he has always wanted when a supernatural turn of events completely flips his life upside down. Jace is thrust down a new path of discovery where he needs to abandon everything he ever knew, while avoiding a danger that had been lurking in the shadows this whole time.<\/p>\n In The Legend of the Lost Child<\/em> (LOLC) we pick up pretty much where book one ended. Jace is being separated from his friends and being relocated again to help him determine who he is and how he fits into the world of the supernatural. With newfound abilities, he is hoping to make new friends, discover all he can do and bond with his new family.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, he quickly learns that he needs to be in a constant vigil against those that are looking to bring harm to him, his friends, and his family. It seems that his presence has awoken many supernatural beings\u2019 curiosity in this impossible witch-werewolf hybrid, forcing Jace to quickly learn to master his abilities so he can protect himself, his family, and his new home.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> How far in advance did you know the happenings of LOLC?\u00a0 Did you know what was going to transpire before you even turned your first page in The Lunar Codex<\/em>, or did things slowly start to fill out as you made your way through the first book?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>(Laughs) I had found a meme about plotting and it explains my writing so well. My Type A personality begs for me to be in the top box, but my characters tend to run amuck with me chasing them and trying to keep up with where the story went. Although this way can be frustrating at times, I find many of my happy epiphanies occur while doing a data dump and then polishing it later. While I drive, I also run story lines and plots through my head and keep a voice recorder with me to catch any great ideas. Many of these ideas are also run past a teacher that I had as a child and reconnected with a few years ago. She tends to be the one I allow to read first and then take her points and adjust as needed. She was my music teacher as a child and is the person I mention in my dedication page.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> What is it like sort of reconnecting with your mentor from so long ago on new projects?\u00a0 Obviously, you\u2019ve grown quite a bit, and put together a life that\u2019s very different than when you were a child.\u00a0 Do you still have a healthy appreciation and respect for their opinion?\u00a0 Or are you on equal ground now, and is there more give and take?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>I always had a strong respect for her as a teacher and loved her class (music and band). As a child I trusted her opinion as she guided me and that has held true after we reconnected. She is an amazing person and as an adult I have been given the opportunity to meet her in a completely different way and form a stronger relationship. I have learned about her childhood and her family and hope to visit her at some point at her house in Virginia. Actually, it\u2019s an amazing thing to experience. Over the years, I have run across other teachers I have had, but have never been able to reconnect on this type of level. I now count her as a very dear friend.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Were there any plans you made ahead of developing The Legend of the Lost Child<\/em>, or any kind of goals that you had set for yourself about what kind of things to nail down within the prose itself?\u00a0 It feels very much like you already had a winning formula with the first book, and you polished everything with the second book.<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>The Lunar Codex<\/em> was the first book I wrote and was a steep learning curve. I read all the reviews and one of the biggest critiques was pacing at points, so my goal was to keep the action going from start to finish. After reading many of the reviews from book two, it seems that I was successful in keeping Jace, and the reader, constantly in motion with twists and turns galore!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> When it comes to driving that pace forward, what did you find to be the most effective way of seeing it through to its end?\u00a0 Did adjusting chapter length help, or was it something along the lines of figuring out how to connect one thread of action to the next that made the most sense?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>The Lunar Codex<\/em> was the first book I had ever written, and I was feeling my way through it. Although I felt much of the beginning of the book was necessary to explain what happened later, I can see how some felt that it dragged on and didn\u2019t have as much overt magic happening in the beginning. At the completion of the series, I want to go back and beef up book one a bit. Taking into consideration that many people felt it dragged, I tried to keep every chapter packed with drama or action. I beat poor Jace up pretty bad in this one but received a lot of happy reviews because of it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> When it comes to putting your characters through the wringer, is there a certain amount of pain that you can stomach for them?\u00a0 Or are there no lengths to which you won\u2019t go to tell the story?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>My characters have shown themselves to be resilient, so I enjoy pushing the envelope on how much they must experience. It also helps to keep my creative juices going on trying to figure out how to get them out of the situations I put them in. There have been scenes that I have read back over and winced at what they were going through but kept it going because I knew it made for better story telling. If everything was easy for them, what would be the point of reading it? So, no. I don\u2019t think there is any length I would not go with them as long as it made for a good story and kept it safe within my audience group of young adults.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Your characters and your setting were among two of the things that really drew readers into your work and turned them into fans.\u00a0 In this new book, have you experienced that same feeling of excitement?\u00a0 Are there any new characters that your readers have been drawn to?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>I had so much fun with this book because it was focused on a mythical location called Emerald Creek. This allowed me complete freedom to create it however I wanted to. Along with creating this new area, I needed to fill it with new characters, of which there are plenty. It was a little daunting at times keeping track of everyone, but I\u2019m quite pleased with how things turned out. I could see the town in my head and enjoyed moving through it with the characters.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> With growing worlds, do you do anything to prepare yourself for tracking?\u00a0 Do you document things in a spreadsheet or have something like a world bible?<\/p>\n AO: <\/strong>\u00a0Yes! After awhile I realized that I was approaching over fifty characters that I needed to keep track of as well as various locations within Emerald Creek. Trying to keep track of all the minute details of each was becoming harder and harder \u2013 who had green eyes, who had gold, what power did this one have versus another, etc. Currently, I write in Dabble<\/a>. It allows me to write without being distracted by a ton of \u201cstuff\u201d around the edges and keeps track of my word count for the day and the project. I can also set goals and it helps to keep me on track with my writing. Another benefit is it being available on the cloud, so I can just log-in from any computer and continue where I left off. When I first started writing The Lunar Codex, I had used a different program, but found it was too jam-packed and I was getting overwhelmed. Plus, I could only access it on my laptop.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Legend-of-the-Lost-Child-Cover-Sized.jpg\")
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