Interview with Rebecca Hefner

Author of The End of Hatred

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

I’m originally from Western NC, but I now live along the Hudson River, right by NYC.

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

I grew up in a really small town and always wanted to get to a bigger city. I moved to NYC the day after I graduated college, even though I’d never been there before. It definitely took some adjustment, but I love it!

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

I’ve always been a voracious reader and love fantasy and romance novels. Over a decade ago, the characters in the Etherya’s Earth series appeared in my head, and I started writing about them with no intention to publish. However, after many years, I finally got the courage to focus on writing their stories, find a great editor and publish them for all to read!

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

They’re basically a combination of Game of Thrones, Buffy and a Nora Roberts novel. I’ve always loved fantasy and romance, and really wanted to create a world where both were balanced equally. So far, the feedback has been great from both fantasy and romance readers.

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

There are some timely topics in my series. Most notably, sexism and classicism/racism. The Slayer princess Miranda has been denied her throne by her father for centuries due to age-old societal notions about what roles women should play. She has to find the courage to break through those barriers and claim her throne. And I use the two separate species, Slayers and Vampyres, to represent the classicism/racism that I see so often in our world today. Both species have devolved into hating each other and they must come together to fight a common foe. Through their alliance, they finally begin to see each other as one species of immortals, instead of two separate species. It’s such a beautiful analogy of what I wish would happen in reality–I wish that we could all see each other as “humans”, rather than separate races/genders/etc.

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

That is such a loaded question! I’m completely self-published and did that by choice. I’ve owned several businesses in my life, and had a successful stint in Corporate America, so self-publishing was something that was really exciting to me. I think there are benefits to self-publishing and traditional publishing and every author has to decide which works for them. As far as unexpected–where do I start? Although I researched self-publishing for a year before I published my first book, there were so many things I didn’t know. I don’t have time to list them all, but I would just tell other authors to be okay with making mistakes. We’re all human and it happens. Now, I feel like I’ve overcome that curve and my career is buzzing along nicely!

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

I am a member of the RWA and I wish I had joined earlier. I waited until I was published a few months to join the national chapter, as well as the NJ and NYC chapters. The connections and advice I’ve gotten from these groups is fantastic. I encourage every author to join a writer’s group like this.

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

As many as possible! Otherwise, what would be the point of publishing the book? Ha!

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

So many frustrations. Each step is a new challenge. I published first on Amazon. Then I went wide to Kobo, BN, iBooks, Google Play, etc. Then, I did audiobooks. Each new step presented me with new challenges that I didn’t foresee. I just had to roll with the punches and learn along the way.

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

Writing: I think my biggest strength here is that I love my characters. They exist in my head and are so funny and complex. Writing them is pretty easy because I love putting their stories on paper.

Publishing: I think that I’ve finally figured self-publishing out (for the most part), so I feel pretty comfortable with it. I’m always happy to help other authors who need advice, because there’s a lot that comes along with publishing your book babies to the world!

Marketing: I actually had a successful stint as a corporate sales rep for twelve years, so I’m very comfortable with sales and marketing. The most important thing is to try as many avenues as possible. Eventually, you’ll learn what avenues work best to find readers for your specific book.

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

Writing: My biggest weakness is that I see a wide swath of a story and write that quickly, and then the characters go quiet in my head for a bit. The first four books of the Etherya’s Earth series were so clear in my head. Now, I’m a bit slower writing Books 5-7. But, I know that if I just keep writing the stories will come.

Publishing: There are just so many avenues and outlets to publish your work. I’m now wide with ebooks and audio, but I still haven’t added my books to Ingram Spark yet to get the paperbacks into libraries. It’s on my list, but I also have to balance writing with these projects. There’s just SO MUCH!

Marketing: I’m still trying to find the sweet spot between free marketing that works and paid marketing where I can recoup my costs. I’m getting closer to figuring it out, but don’t feel I’m quite there yet.

When do you think you will write your next book?

I’m working on two WIPs now. Can’t wait to publish them to the world!

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

Self-published.