Interview with Clarissa Lake

Author of Joven’s Bride

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

I am from Rochester, NY, and moved to the town of Castile, NY where I live now and since when I was six. Though I lived in two other states for a few years, but I have lived in Western NY for most of my life.

If you currently reside somewhere besides where you were born, what’s the story that lead from there to here?

My family moved here to be near my elderly grandparents who lived across the street.

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

I always wanted to be a published author. I wrote my first novella at fifteen. Everything I write is romance, including my first novel. But it was science fiction romance before it became an established genre. Publisher’s deemed it not commercial enough.

I am a huge Star Trek fan from the original series through all except the latest because it’s on a pay channel. There was always a little romance in most of them, but those never turned into a long-term relationship. The characters either went their separate ways, or one of them were killed, generally the guest star. Even before I started writing them I began to imagine scenarios where they got their happily ever after.

I spent about ten years sending out manuscripts to traditional publishers and accumulating polite rejection slips. I gave it up when I got divorced and had to get a regular job to support myself and my daughter. At that point, I had written six novels, two science fiction romance, and four contemporary romances.
After I got my first Kindle about five years ago, I discovered Kindle Direct Publishing. So, I pulled out that first novel and revised and edited it, then published it.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

My books are sexy science fiction/romances. One of the first things I learned in writing science fiction was world-building. Since my stories hinge on interstellar space travel, I created a universe where Earth is not the only world in the galaxy inhabited with humans. In this universe, the stories occur in contemporary times, so Earth doesn’t have interstellar space travel. Earth is within the jurisdiction of the United Galactic Alliance of Worlds.
The Alliance has had a secret base on Earth for 400 years, to protect its people from slavers. This base employed both humans and feline humanoids who were capable of producing offspring with humans. During that 400 years, felines stationed on Earth mated with humans in the vicinity of their base in the mountains of what became West Virginia. The feline humanoid race is native to a planet called Narova. It is one of many worlds seeded with the homo sapien race by an ancient super race.
Narovian felines have a unique sense to recognize their soul mates, which are called meomees. When they come in contact with them, they give off pheromones that cause the soulmate to go into a heat-like state where they have to have sex repeatedly for 7-10 days. Or they could die.
In 400 years, an accumulation of feline-sapien offspring has grown in the states surrounding the secret Alliance base. Enter the Narovian Matchmaking Service that finds soul mates for the felines through DNA. They decide to tap into Earth’s ancestor DNA analysis services to find these feline-sapien hybrids and match them to the Narovian sapiens.
Technically, they are supposed to get permission from the Earther’s before introducing them to the felines. Only, sometimes, the felines take matters. Once their soul mate subconsciously senses their feline pheromones, they no longer have a choice. That’s where the story becomes sexually explicit. The couple bonds while pheromones are driving them to have sex repeatedly.
In most of the stories so far, the meetings are random. That’s the backdrop for Joven’s Bride, the third entry of my Interstellar Matchmaking series. By this point, in the timeline, Earth has been made aware of the Alliance. It turns out; the DNA analysis works for cyborgs as well.
This time out, I wanted to do something a little different. So, I built a feline humanoid cyborg panther shifter.
I consider all three of my series erotic romances where the sexual attraction pulled them together and began the bonding process. “The sex is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development, and couldn’t be removed without damaging the storyline. Happily Ever After is a REQUIREMENT to be an erotic romance.”
They are adult fantasy romances set in science fiction.

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

The people most likely to relate to what I write are those who enjoy hot, sexy romances set in a backdrop of interstellar space-faring beings with the happy ending required. I try to write characters that people can connect emotionally within their quest. The challenge is to make them feel the love and share the vision of what I created.

It’s pure escape fiction for readers who want to fantasize about having great adventures and great sex with someone they love passionately.

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

As an Indie author, I learned that marketing a book once you have published it is an essential and time-consuming process. I learned so many things: bulk emailing, cross-promotion, newsletter swaps, getting reviews. I have found that there is a certain comradery among fellow authors, which I enjoy. The thing that didn’t surprise me is that I’m not getting rich.

If you could, what advice would you give to your past self before embarking on this journey?

I would have told my past self to learn more about the marketing, packaging, and distribution of ebooks before publishing my work.

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

Ideally, I would like to have my books reach bestseller levels. Realistically I want to bump the sales to reach several thousand people with each of my books. I see that other Indie authors have done it.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

My biggest challenge in publishing my work is the editing process. I have beta readers who read early drafts of my books who will tell me if my story is good or not. But, while It goes against all professional advice, I don’t have the cash flow to pay editors and proofreaders.
I do it for another author and have developed a process that is working reasonably well. I run three separate checks on every story, with the last one a text to speech program reading the story aloud at I proofread it.

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

My biggest strength is in writing because I have a vivid imagination and stories that start as daydreams come into my mind in pictures almost like a movie. Sometimes, I feel like I am channeling the characters, and they tell me what to write. That’s when it’s fun.
As for publishing, I spent many years as a secretary, both legal and medical. I did transcription and formatted medical research papers for publication before I started publishing my own work.
Marketing through newsletters, group promotions, and swaps seem to be my strengths in marketing.
I am always learning something new.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

Marketing as in advertising is my weakness. I have not had much success with Facebook and Amazon advertising. I’ve read books and listened to seminars, but so far, my ads convert poorly to sales.

When do you think you will write your next book?

I have started plotting my next book in the Farseek Warrior Series, and I will probably follow that with another Interstellar Matchmaking book. I’m currently writing about four books a year.

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

As I said previously, I am currently self-published. I work with a couple of other authors who are also self-published but have a little more experience than I do.