Interview with Francine Elizabeth Natal

Author of The Assortment: A Collection of Poems.

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

I was born in North America on the East Coast in the City of Philadelphia and State Pennsylvania.

I currently reside in the Eastwick section of Philadelphia

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

I currently still reside in the Eastwick section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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

I was inspired to write through a love and passion for Reading.
My Mother was a supporter of Salesian Missions, she would send money to support a needy child overseas. That was something she did religiously. In so doin, the Salesian Mission sent books of poems as a thank you gift. I remember getting the mail once it had arrived and seeing these small booklets of poems. When I saw them I was drawn to open them and read them. The poems were so inspirational and touched on life and how to be positive thinking. This encouraged me to began writing POETRY. Years later I am now a self-published author of 3-books of Poetry and I tell you no lie— those small reads of poetry booklets sent to my Mother from the Salesian Mission company are the motivation for why I am a published Poet today.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

My Poetry books each contain poems that are inspired writings. I am inspired by everything i.e. Life, Death, Winning, Losing, Loving, Hating, ART is something that greatly inspires my intellect and soul to aspire unto greatness.

The undertones of all of my published writings or Poems is an appreciation of Life.

My books are not Religious Writings but my Faith is definitely evident and manifest within some of these poetic writings.

I am inclined to know that my writings involved these three things:
1. Observing evidence, paying attention to detail as for LIFE and its Joys as well as its discontents.
2. Hearing others when they speak, sharing their falls and rises.
3. Study…learning via ‘Trial and Error’, plus research, reading and acquiring advice from Elders to avoid pitfalls.

Any first time reader of my books will come away from the experience wanting to read more books by Fran and to acquire her suggested readings list of other books because my books will boost your appetite for reading more “Good” Literature 😉

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

All ages but in particular the Artists of the world because I strongly embrace a love for the ARTS in its many or varied forms and disciplines. Also, the “struggling & starving Artist” dilemma is something I am passionate about ending in the life of every INDIE/Independent Artist; I use my weekly internet radio broadcast entitled The Exceptional Scribble Show every Tuesday night 8PM EST to do so. Interviewing Literary Artists – most published, some unpublished in the spotlight grants them opportunities of exposing their work to a general audience of Art enthusiasts. This aids them with promoting their works and getting heard or heightened visibility helps them to network better.

So, I am definitely catering the INDIE/Independent Artist Community by way of the weekly podcast that is a LIVE audio broadcast, the chatroom and online livestream can be accessed at 8pm est on Tuesdays via the following link: www.talkshoe.com. The show ID# 133193. The Call in telelphone for Tuesday night broadcasts at 8pm is 1-867-292-3066.

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

I discovered that my poetry writings are consequently ART via words.

The POEMS each speak to me…they tell me their name (Title) and began to unveil their Theme first (drafts are written, at least two before a final work is established).

Secondly, the poems inspire me illustrate their characters, I begin seeing the character’s profile and hearing their voices in my head. Next, I find myself describing in words, character descriptions and detailing their stories via the writings.

Thirdly, the outcome or end result is publishing a book yearly and publishing an article for a newspaper, journal, magazine…bi-monthly

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

Study more…research all options, being eager to become published is great but knowing what your options are pertaining to the Traditional route for becoming published versus the Self-published route are even better.

Beware of Vanity Publishing: Vanity publishing, also called subsidy publishing, differs from self-publishing in that the author assumes all the risk and pays the publisher. This is counterproductive to authors trying to make money on their books. While vanity presses do offer services like cover design and editing, there is a major catch.

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

International audiences and too many to designate a number as for population. In other words more than enough.

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

My biggest challenge and frustration during the process (writing or becoming published) is when you store information on a flashdrive and it burns out and you have no back-up in place to retrieve the data when the main storage source has failed. I recommend that a portable hard drive is purchased to store all data, this should prevent such an unfortunate event from happening.

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

My biggest strengths as for writing are: I am a Creativist and a Literary Artist, thus I have a flair for Creative Writing that comes quite natural for me.

My biggest strengths as for publishing are: I research to discover what my best options are in regards to publishing houses and or publishers, this makes the process smooth rather than bumpy or difficult.

My biggest strengths as for marketing are: I network with many people within the Literary Artist Community i.e. writers (published and non-published) this grants me privileges of knowing what resources are available to writers from first-time published book author perspective tools to advanced published author enrichment and career development options (how to make a living as a self published author).

I recommend www.thewritingking.com as a great resource to first time published authors, non-published authors and advanced writers. It is a great resource for anyone wanting to succeed at writing and having your work published with high book sale results. Richard G. Lowe Jr. is the writing king.

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

My biggest weakness when it comes to book writing: I need to know what date the book is to be finished, I don’t start the writing process having a deadline date in mind and that makes for a long period of time before a book is finished. I can be “Wordy Gurdy” and have a “Flowery” writing style which makes for good descriptions with regards to Poetic writings but not necessarily a Movel when details must be short and sweet.

My biggest weakness when it comes to book publishing: I am not as well-versed when it comes to Traditional Publishing and how it should work for the good of the author. This is largely due to the fact that I have never authored a Traditional published book so Self-Publishing is what I know and what I have studied mostly. This is not very helpful to me because Traditional Publishing should be considered by any author for it guarantees you the option of receiving your profits fully and upfront prior to book sales and does merit you earn the amount via sales per any advanced payments received.

My biggest weakness when it comes to book marketing: I am not as Tech Savvy to how the multi-media mass marketing works. Knowing that is half the battle as for being successful in book sales both on-line and off-line via brick book store sales.

When do you think you will write your next book?

I plan to publish my next book, a collection of Poetic Short Stories (my first of this kind) in 2020.

The date is TBA but expect early Spring or Early Autumn to be the time of year for this work to be released.

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

I am a self-published author of 3-books of poems.

The books are:

1. Every Rose Has a Thorn: a collection of poetry, Infinitypublishing.com, January- 2003

2. The Assortment, a collection of poems, Iuniverse.com, October- 2005

3. Passover The Brink, a book of poems, Infinitypublishing.com, October- 2006