Tell us about On a Night Like This.

ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS is the first book my new connected family series, The Callaways. The Callaways are a big blended Irish family. The father had four sons and married a woman with two daughters, and together they had twins – a yours, mine, and ours situation! All eight siblings are now in their 20’s and 30’s and will be featured in their own books, with continuing storylines throughout the series. ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS will be available in stores December 26, 2012.

What genre is it?

It’s a contemporary romance.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

Readers who enjoy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and connected series.

You are a prolific writer. How many books have you written to date? And what would you say are the defining characteristics of a Barbara Freethy novel?

ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS will be my 34th published novel. My books are always complicated. I love big plots and deep emotional moments. I tend to write books that blend the romance genre with suspense and also with women’s fiction. I enjoy writing about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary adventures. And, I like to surprise my readers, which is always a challenge!

If there’s someone out there right now, logged into Amazon or B&N, wanting to buy their first Barbara Freethy, which book would you advise them to start with?

If they tend more toward romantic suspense, I would suggest Silent Run (the first of a connected duo) or Don’t Say A Word, one of my most popular romantic suspense titles. If the reader is more interested in emotional romance, I would suggest, When Wishes Collide (Wish Series), Daniel’s Gift, or One True Love.  If they’d like a women’s fiction novella, I’d suggest A Secret Wish (the first in my Wish Series).

Have you ever, in your career, been tempted by any passing literary fads of the day? Did you ever consider throwing a vampire into a story when the whole world was Twilight crazy? Has Fifty Shades of Grey made you consider putting in some kinky sex?

Great question! While it’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon, I believe you have to write to your strength. If your strength happens to be in an area that’s hot, you’re really lucky! Because fads are impossible to predict and often end abruptly, I don’t write to them. I have to write stories that speak to me, because I spend a long time with the characters in my book and my story line, and it has to be something I believe in. I’ve always felt that readers can tell when an author believes in the world they’ve created, and when they’re just going through the motions. However, that said, there is a business aspect to writing, and if you can write a book in a popular area of fiction, I would say go for it. But if you hate that subject, don’t think you can whip something out just to cash in. It’s really tough to do that and I think it can hurt the creative process.

You have sold millions of books. How does that feel? Does the number get so large that it becomes practically meaningless or does it get so large that you almost become obsessed by it?

The number of books is never meaningless. It’s very, very exciting! I’m closing in on 3 million ebooks sold in the last two years, which is just phenomenal for me as a writer. I’ve been writing for quite a few years, and I’ve never been able to reach that many readers in such a short period of time. The most wonderful part of the numbers is that they translate into readers and often new readers. Now that my books no longer disappear, because the physical bookstores can’t keep every print book on sale, my stories will be available forever and readers can catch up on what I’ve written previously. The development of ebooks has really changed everything for writers.

You have said that the secret to selling lots of books is writing lots of books. That goes against the usual advice that self-published authors receive, which is to spend lots of time marketing on Twitter and Facebook.

All authors feel the pressure to market, but I’ve seen too many new writers finish one book, publish it, and then spend a year trying to sell it. What they should be doing is writing the next book and the one after that. It’s much easier to sell books when you have more than one title to sell. You’re building up a fan base. You’re presenting yourself as more than a one-book wonder. You show that you’re a writer with a career, not just one book. As the retail sites become more crowded with people who only write one book, readers are going to check to see what else the writer has written. It’s important to think of your first book as just the beginning and not the end.

Marketing is important. You have to have a web site, a Facebook page and a Twitter (@BarbaraFreethy) account. I think those are the basics. You can also get involved in Pinterest, Google Plus, LinkedIn, etc. Having these accounts helps readers to find you and offers opportunities for the author to do giveaways, collect email addresses for future newsletters, etc. But for me, marketing should be no more than 25% of an author’s time.

You have been published by some of the largest publishing houses. What made you turn to self-publishing?

I originally started self publishing my backlist – those books that had gone out of print and were no longer available. I discovered that I loved the process of publishing my own books. Having written for four of the Big 6 publishers, I was used to having basically no control over my books in terms of covers, back cover copy, distribution, frequency of distribution and marketing. I had trouble getting sales numbers from those publishers, which made decisions about my professional career that much more difficult. Being able to control my own destiny was very exciting.

I enjoy the business of writing as much as I enjoy writing the books. I like being able to pick my own cover, and write my own copy, and release books every 3-4 months. I enjoy seeing my sales numbers in real-time so that I can make good decisions about whether or not I want to continue a series or start something new. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, so self publishing is a great fit for me. It is a LOT of work. I have to say I’m more tired than I’ve ever been, but the rewards have been so amazing, that I can’t see a reason why I would want to go back to traditional publishing.

A big secret in publishing is that a publisher will do all your work for you, and that’s just not true. Every author has to do 90% of the promotion themselves whether they’re Indie published or traditionally published. In fact, because the traditional publishing houses turned over promotion to authors, writers had to learn how to market their own books and that made them better prepared to publish on their own.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m married with two kids and I live in California. I’ve written since my kids were little, sometimes while holding down a day job, so I learned how to write in short bursts, and now I appreciate the luxury of more time! I love writing, and I love reading, and I feel really lucky to have the career that I have.

Have you got a website where readers can keep up with your work? What are the links to your social media presence?

My website is www.barbarafreethy.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/barbarafreethybooks

Twitter: @BarbaraFreethy.

When did you say we can buy ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS?

The book will be available at all retailers on December 26^th. In the meantime, my latest book, WHEN WISHES COLLIDE, is currently on sale at Amazon (US,UK), B&N, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords. The book is part of my new WISH SERIES, where each book stands alone but is connected by the theme of wishes. There’s also a boxed set of my Wish Series available for purchase that would make a great gift for the holidays!

What’s next?

I’ll be writing the Callaways over the next year, hopefully releasing a new book every 3-4 months!

Thanks for having me as a guest. If anyone has any questions, I’m happy to answer!