Interview with Genie Abrams

Author of Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch

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

Newburgh, N.Y.; Newburgh, N.Y.

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

You spelled “led” wrong. It should be, “led.”

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

Readers were asking me to write a sequel to my first novel, “Louey Levy’s Greatest Catch.” For several years i told them that the first one took me 10 years to write and i didn’t think i had another novel in me. But then in 2018 when i retired, i found that i DID have one more novel in me, and it took me only one year to write “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch.”

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

It’s a hilarious story of a mad, angry and perilous time in our country’s history — the late 1960s, which saw the rise of Black Power, 2nd-wave Feminism, Civil Rights, and campus protests against the Vietnam War. Within that setting, it’s the story of one young woman’s journey through college at the very end of the era when abortion was still illegal in New York State.

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

Women of all ages, and the men who love them.

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

I learned that the best way for me to write is to write individual scenes, and to fylly flesh them out, and to worry about “stitching them together” later.

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

1. The more sets of eyes on it, the better. Even if those eyes belong to people who are not copy-editors!
2. When you’re done, stop.

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

A million.

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

In writing: Publicizing my book to the people who are most likely to buy it: Students, graduates and instructors at Syracuse University.

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

You mean what ARE my greatest strengths?
a. getting into the zeitgeist of the time in which the story is set
b. recognizing that self-publishing/publishing-on-demand is best for me
c. having a lot of contacts and friends

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

My biggest weaknesses are
a. laziness
b. not exploring all possible publishers and doing enough research on them all
c. giving up too easily

When do you think you will write your next book?

Never! But then again, I said that after my FIRST book!

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

Self-published