Author Interview with R.M. Gauthier

It's easy to look at a piece of writing and think: I could do this better. But it's rare to actually act on that claim. For R.M. Gauthier, this is where her mystery novel writing career has started. Below is my interview with Gauthier about her writing process, her motivations, and her books.

Novella: Longing

Debut novel: Control

Genre: Suspense/Mystery

How long have you been a published author? I've been a published author for 1 year.

1. What made you decide to become an indie author? What do you like to write about?

In 2009, I watched a movie. Immediately when it finished, I knew there was something missing, something I wanted to hear more about. At the time, I kept telling everyone I knew that the movie makers did it wrong.

When I found out it was a novel, I got the novel and read it. Same thing happened. Something was wrong, the author missed something when writing the story.

I began writing the story I the way I saw it, the way I thought it should be. Thus, began my quest to tell stories and have been writing ever since.

2. How did you publish your first book?

My first publication was a short novella about a minor character in my novel. This was my experiment to see how to publish. I wanted to learn everything I could before I put my novel out there.

3. Did you ever try to submit to traditional publishers? If so, what was your experience like?

I submitted to novel to about 15-20 agents. My experience was promising, which was quite a surprise to me. I had read all the horror stories of people submitting to agents and was quite nervous to put my work out there, to be judged.

I bit the bullet, sending my novel to several agents. I received emails back from more than 80% and even had two request the first three chapters. Nothing became of those requests, but I took those emails as a good sign that my writing was, at the very least, decent enough to attract attention.

4. How did you market your first book? Has your process changed with subsequent books?

I experimented a little bit over the past year with marketing. I started out with my novella being wide and free. I've tried a few promotional sites without much success. I also decided to put the novella in Kindle Unlimited for three months, just to see how it works and get a better understanding of what to do when using Unlimited.

I also entered my novel into the Kindle Scout program, which gave me a great deal of experience in target marketing. My entire Kindle Scout experience was great, and I will definitely enter another book in their program, even though, I was not selected this time.

For now, I will release my first novel with a great deal of knowledge that I would not have had a year ago. So, I'm glad I write the novel and released it first, or I probably would have been terribly disappointed.

5. How do you support other indie authors?

I tried to help other indie authors any way I can, which includes, Twitter posts, Facebook shares, Google + shares, anything that helps. I also have a review blog, which I read selected books and review them once finished. At the moment, I have 11 books that I received free from the Kindle Scout program and a ton of other novels that I have picked up along the way to read and review.

6. What responses have you received from telling people that you are a writer?

When I tell people I'm an author, most are surprised at first, but very supportive.

7. What/who has been your biggest support as an indie author?

Other authors are very supportive. Being part of writing groups is extremely encouraging. My family, although they are not huge readers, always support what I'm doing. I just wish they read more. LOL

8. Quote from a positive review of your work.

From Whispering Stories:

"She has tackled the difficult task of writing from the first person perspective; this device can be restrictive but I believe Gauthier handles it well. ‘Longing’ moves along at a fast pace with a good back-story which quickly draws the reader in."