It is my pleasure to
introduce eclectic and inspirational author Staci Stallings.
Hi Staci! Welcome to
Patti’s Porch. It’s such a pleasure to have you here!
You have a new
release entitled Coming Undone that's
Free on Kindle today and tomorrow. Tell us about it.
Coming Undone is one of those books that should come with a
box of Kleenex. I should have invested
in them before I started writing it. I'd
be rich by now. LOL. It's the story of
Ben Warren, a guy who's never really grown up because he didn't have to. His theory is the less tied down he is, the
better. So he has dates not
girlfriends. An apartment, not a house.
And a job he could take or leave. He
makes good money, has some good friends, a great car, and a lifestyle that's
free and easy. And then, the unthinkable
happens. He gets a call that his dad,
his rock, his hero in life is in the E.R. and suddenly
Ben's faced with
decisions and responsibilities he never saw coming.
On the other side of the story, we have Kathryn Walker. Kathryn is like so many women
today--independent, good at her job, a friend to everyone, but no one's someone
special. She is the social worker at the
hospice, and she's very good at what she does--which is helping families through
the dying process of their loved one.
The problem is she's not married.
She's not even engaged or thinking about being engaged or really even
going out on actual dates. Oh, she wants
to, but all the good guys are married and the others are in jail. So she's half
playing the waiting game and half playing the "it's okay, there's a lot of
good things about being single" game.
When the truth is, she's really started to think there's something
radically wrong with her.
You have authored
novels, devotionals, articles, and much more. Tell us about your writing
journey.
What a journey! I wrote my first full-length novel in
1996. I followed that one with five more
until I found out I was going broke making copies of them for my friends at
Kinkos. So I found a POD/trying to be a traditional publisher. Got an editor and a publicist, edited the
book, finally got it out, and then I realized a couple of things. The editor had edited me--my voice, my
style--right out of the book to make it "marketable." My friends were like, "Well, it's a good
story, but it sounds nothing like you.
What happened?" Around that
same time the publicist decided she now had the authority to run my life. It was a nightmare!
So I rethought my approach, spent a lot of time with God and
just writing and finally decided to open my own publishing company. Since then, I've helped two friends publish
their books, and I've put out 7 of my own in print and 14 in Kindle and
Nook. I have several blogs as well as 30
total novels, 6 Bible Studies, and 8 collections of short stories that I will
be publishing over the next several years.
What is your favorite
type of writing, fiction or non-fiction and why?
They are different and helpful in their own ways. One often feeds off the other. Like the book I'm writing now. "More
Than This" is the story of a dyslexic writer. I didn't know he was dyslexic when I started
it. In fact, I'd written about 50 pages
before I figured out why he was doing the things he was doing. During that same
time, I found out my son is dyslexic. I
was writing about our challenges on my blog with the articles and then writing
about the character going through some of the same challenges. It's not an either-or thing. All of them as well as all of my life
experiences play in together and teach me truly incredible things about life
and God.
Your website (www.stacistallings.com) carries many
uplifting and inspiring messages for writes and non-writers alike. How did you
know you had been called to this encouragement ministry?
I'm not sure I realized it until just recently
actually. I've always been a good
sideline cheerleader. In fact, when my
daughter played volleyball, other parents wanted to sit by me because if they
had a good play, I was encouraging them, and if they had a bad play, I was
encouraging them, "That's okay.
Keep your head up! You can do
it! Be ready for this one!" That's just the way I am. God has shown me over the years that I'm the
same way with authors. I've helped
several authors become published authors (even through traditional means) and
then multi-published authors and then award-winning multi-published
authors. And I take the same approach
with them. Praise for the things they
are doing well, and we can work on the weaknesses together. Interestingly, I'm the same way with my
readers as well--point out the things that work, encourage, encourage,
encourage. Show how to work on the life weaknesses. Encourage, encourage, encourage! I truly believe God sent me here to build
people up because the world was designed to knock them down and He knew they
were going to need a friend.
I read your book, Cowboy, in electronic format several
months ago. What do you feel the future holds for the ebook?
Kindle and Nook as well as Sony, Apple and all the others
are exploding right now. I read something the other day that the ebook-market
went from 15% saturation to 20% in six months.
The truth is, there are a lot of people who love to read, but carrying
around books in this increasingly fast-paced world is just not practical. But if I can read a book on my phone if I've
got ten minutes at the doctor's office, I can actually read. Versus thinking about the book that's still
on my table and wishing I had it with me.
Now, you can take your whole library with you! And I think based on the saturation-levels,
it's only going to get bigger in the coming years.
Marketing is a huge
part of a writer’s responsibility after publication. What marketing techniques
have garnered the most success for you in promoting your work?
If you're a reader and you really don't care, please feel
free to skip this question. But if
you're a writer... I am laying out marketing strategies in a course I'm
teaching for a group of writers that I founded 3 months ago (it's hard to believe
it's only been 3 months!). The course is
at: http://gnfmarketing.wordpress.com/ On there we talk about the macros of
marketing (the big concepts like push vs. pull and content vs. promos). As the course goes on, we will slowly work
our way into micro-marketing, like how to write a great tweet, how to attract
Facebook Fans, how to use Pinterest and KDP to get attention and sell
books.
I would say in direct answer to your question, however, the single
best thing I've done is join hands with other Christian authors to
cross-promote each other. The group is
called Grace & Faith Authors Connection, and right now we are 110+ members
strong. Through the group, we help and
we learn and we teach and we encourage.
That has been THE thing that was the hinge on being an author with a few
sales and being an author who knows what to do and how to do it and is now
bringing in new readers and bringing back prior readers to make them actual
fans.
What advice would you
give to writers who are striving to break into the publishing world?
Don't be afraid to try.
So much of writing is about the willingness to get in the game. Before you can write The End, you have to
write the last chapter, before the last chapter, the first. Before you write the first chapter, you have
to write a paragraph, before a paragraph, a sentence. And before you write a sentence, you have to
write that first word. You would be
surprised how many people never write the first word. Oh, they have a great story to tell, but they
are so afraid of making mistakes that to put something down in black-and-white
that might not be perfect is terrifying.
In that way, I think our educational system has failed us. We've been graded and had our mistakes
pointed out to us so often that we become afraid to even try.
So breathe! Understand that God gave you the desire. Practice will give you the talent. Find others who will encourage you and help
you grow as a writer, not just criticize you. Once you do that, the only thing
that's stopping you... is you!
Staci Stallings, the author of
this article, is a Contemporary Christian author and the founder of Grace &
Faith Author Connection. Staci has a special surprise for you today and
tomorrow only...
FREE ON KINDLE TWO DAYS ONLY!
Feb. 1& 2, 2012, Staci's novel
Coming Undone
"If you've ever searched for love, been afraid to love,
or lost someone you love, you will love Coming Undone."
The story of two people trying to live life by the world's
rules who find that loving someone only happens when you learn to love without
asking what you're going to get in return. Available as a free download from
Amazon today only!
Thanks for reading my blog!
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