Top Wire: All About Authors

Meet Anya Stassiy, a hard-working mom and published author, showing that no matter what your obstacles are, if you follow your dreams, they will come true! Thank you for interviewing with Top Wire: All About Authors. We know that your time is valuable and we appreciate you taking the time to share your journey. TW : What is your writing process? AS : It is very unstructured. I have 3 kids. I work part-time. Some of my writing is done during nap times and extracurricular activities. I also don’t like to outline my storyline. I do have have a beginning and the end in my head, but fill in the details once my fingers hit the keyboard. TW : How difficult was it to write your story? AS : I put the story aside for a year and a half. It was about halfway finished at that point. It was a slump that was difficult, that I had to overcome, but once I did, I finished it in 2 months. TW : What are your hopes for this project? AS : Of course, I want for people other than my frien...

Subscribe to receive weekly free resources! You finally reached the goal of becoming an author. You went through the writing process, the grueling, yet needed editing. You made it all the way to publishing, started marketing the best you know how to everyone you know, only to realize that your book is not selling. This has to be one of the biggest disappointments an author experiences. Doubt in yourself begins to settle in. You question your writing skills and wonder if you should give up your dream of being a published author. If you have fallen into this category, you are not alone. According to Forbes.com, authors have received a decline in earnings in recent years.  Due to fierce competition with self-publishing, it's become difficult for an author to stand out in the crowd.  Although the competition is there, this should not stop you from pursuing your dream. Here are some relevant, yet simple marketing strategies you can use to market yo...

Meet Author Aisha Toombs TW : What is your writing process? AT : Once I have an idea, I try to map out each chapter. Sometimes I know how a story ends before I have a beginning or middle, but the mapping helps me stay organized. I also do it by hand first. Something about pen and paper lets the ideas flow a bit clearer for me. TW : How difficult was it to write your story? AT : I came up with the character of Nerdi Bunny when I was 9 years old. I drew this horrible looking bunny with glasses and gave it to my mother. The idea sat on her desk until she retired. Then I read an issue of National Geographic that was all about the bees and what was happening to bee populations—and something just clicked that this is what Nerdi will tackle in her first adventure. TW : What are your hopes for this project? AT : My hope for Nerdi Bunny is that she inspires her readers to be a bit kinder to the planet and each other. TW : Do have plans for writing more books? ...

Check out our latest Author in the Spotlight and her amazing book on traveling! TW : What are your hopes for this project? Author Angie Stubbs AS : I hope to inspire, educate and entertain! I hope families and educators see the value in traveling with kids and using my book as a guide for how to do that if they can’t physically travel somewhere. I hope the kids find the stories funny. TW : What is your writing process? AS : I write when the inspiration and time to write hit me. I don’t write every day. I use educational materials as I write and Rhyme Zone is my go-to website when I’m stuck for a word. TW : How difficult was it to write your story? AS : It wasn't at all because it is our real life story. I chose the pictures we use and I do an outline of the places we’ve been. TW : Do have plans of writing more books? AS : Absolutely. I have two written and a few others are in the works. TW : What is your favorite genre of books and do you plan on ve...

Meet this mother-daughter duo who created a book about 11-year-old author Eyannie A. Gomez's true life events! TW : What is your writing process?  SB : I like to think about all the stories I can tell and the different ways I can tell it. I like to write down character names and different settings I may use.  TW : How difficult was it to write your story? SB : It was kind of difficult because I had to figure out a cool Title for my book. Most of the stories in my book are inspired by my true life events so I had to change the character names and figure out what stories from my life I wanted to use  TW : Do have plans of writing more books?  SB : Yes, I do. It's in the planning stages. TW : What is your favorite genre of books and do you plan on venturing in those areas? SB : I like fiction / non-fiction - adventure. I'm just starting so anything is possible. TW : What do you want readers to know about you? SB : I'm ...

Our next author in the spotlight is Gin Spaulding. Check out her interview below! TW : What is your writing process?   GS : My writing process is typical. Since I’m writing a series about sensory issues, I try to reflect on different happenings in our lives and which sensory issue(s) to focus on next. I often write notes or make a loose outline of details I’d like to include. I usually sit down to my computer or laptop with some music, allow my mind to remember past events, and then I type away! TW : How difficult was it to write your story? GS : So far, it hasn’t been too difficult to write my first or second books, as they were based on our lives with sensory issues.   I was able to laugh my way through the first two; however, book three will be difficult to write.   I’m planning to write it about Halloween! It will be about a HORRIBLE temper tantrum my child had at an “alternative to Halloween” party. During that time, people just stared and some ...

Our next Author in the Spotlight is Sharika K. Forde, author of The Awakening! T W : W h at  is your writing process?  SKF : I have two different styles of writing. Sometimes a title will come to me and I will write a poem from that. The other is when a couple of sentences will come to my mind then I will jot them down and continue the flow. The second style normally is the easiest one for me to write from. T W :  How difficult was it to write your story? SKF : The Awakening Book of Poems wasn’t difficult for me to write because all of my poems come from emotions or experiences I’ve gone through. The difficult part was publishing it and putting it all out there for the world to see. It took years for me to build up my confidence to share it. T W :  What are your  hopes for this project? SKF : There’s a quote from me on the back of my back, it states “Everyone has a story. Some tell theirs through songs. Others through jokes. Mine is through p...

I had the opportunity to write and publish my own book. During this process, there were some things I learned along the way. In this post, I am sharing the steps that I have taken during this process. T he time between writing a book and releasing it to the world is a rather gray area when it comes to social media. Have you found yourself asking questions like… When do I start talking about my book?  I don’t want to give away too much about my book, but what do I talk about on social media?  What do I talk about to get people excited without giving away the plot?   Questions like that pop up for every author. It feels like a fine line to walk, but I want to clear that up for you today.  First of all, I want to give you a simple visual to keep in mind when it comes to book marketing. There are essentially three phases to your book release:   Attraction Phase This is the time period before the two months leading up your book's release date ...