Angela Wilson Interview

Angela Wilson is a multimedia content producer, avid reader, writer and book reviewer. When she isn't writing urban fantasy or romance stories, she blogs at Market My Novel and Authors & Appetizers. She spends most of her days on social media sites and catering to her fickle felines and spoiled dog.

1. Angela, thanks so much for agreeing to interview with us. Can you start off telling us a little bit about yourself? Have you always been interesting in writing?

I was born with ink in my veins. As a kid, I penned stories and poems (and really bad songs). As an adult, I went into journalism, then PR/marketing and multimedia content production. I enjoy what I do, but social media is a beast that is not easily tamed. It is difficult to unplug, sometimes, and just enjoy life without Tweets running through my head.

I blog - a lot. A few years ago, I became a virtual book tour host. Now, I host authors at my blogs, Market My Novel - which covers DIY novel marketing - and Authors & Appetizers - where authors share recipes and myself and others review books. This year, I plan to launch a third blog, The Demented Muse, devoted to writing. I also write a ton of reviews on DVDs and books.

In fiction, I write on my iPhone, by hand and on a typewriter. Sometimes, it feels good to put pen to paper - literally - or hear the click-clack of the typewriter, instead of looking at the computer screen.

2. Can you tell us a about your books, the publishing method you use, and why you chose that route?

As a kid, I dreamed of a way to share my stories through my own radio show, and to provide copies to people without all the costs of printing. The digital age has made my dream come true, and I plan to use every digital avenue available to sell.

I've had short stories published in magazines, and articles in e-books. I'm beefing up my fiction pile, so I have plenty to put for digital sale. My goal is to have a new project for sale every six months, at a reasonable price for readers of all incomes.

3. What's next for you in the writing world?

Lately, blogging has taken over my fiction time. Finding a balance between the two has been difficult - especially since the iPhone makes social networking so easy. My goal is to find that balance. Also, I desperately need to organize my files and fiction idea notebooks, so that everything is in one handy place.

I'm also working on a Media Kit project for Market My Novel.

4. Would you be willing to tell us a little bit more about your day job? You are a multimedia Web producer and social media consultant, what does that entail and what services do you offer?

I work primarily with a nationwide broadcast company, producing multimedia content for clients. That means I blog, podcast, write news releases, act as a PR liaison with the media, create presentations and brochures, and just about anything else clients need. I also work with authors on their PR/marketing strategies and write articles.

5. On your website you gave a great description of how to create an effective media kit. How important is this tool for writers and at what stage should they start developing one or at least thinking about it?

Media kits are essential for authors at any state of their career. Period. Many authors feel like they don't have enough information to create a media kit, or that it will be too expensive. Both are complete misconceptions. Every author can create a bio, offer JPEGs of themselves and their cover art, links to their social media sites and guest blogs to start. They can easily add book trailers, podcasts and other items as they are created.

Sharing media kits is incredibly easy. All authors need to do is create a free blog using Wordpress or Blogger and use it to share media kit items.

If authors want to be taken seriously, they need a media kit to share with virtual book tour hosts and traditional media reporters. Media kits also save time: You only have to write items in a media kit one time (with occasional edits, of course). Sharing a link to a webpage is much easier than sending several email attachments, which will likely send your email into the SPAM folder.

6. You also had a wonderful article about branding. Can you briefly tell our readers what branding is and why it is so important?

Your brand is your identity. It is your reputation. It is what people immediate think of when they think of you.

Here is a great example from publishing:

Many know that popular romance/romantic suspense author Nora Roberts pens the "In Death" series with protagonist Lt. Eve Dallas. Yet, that series is branded with the J.D. Robb pen name, as well as the "In Death" label in every title.

For some authors, pen names offer different brands. Many authors use a different pen name for their genres.

Branding is incredibly important for everyone in today's virtually-connected society. A brand tells readers who you are, what you write and how you think. It helps develop readership - and, ultimately, customer loyalty.

If you don't create your own brand - your own reputation - someone else could do it for you. It could be a disgruntled former coworker, a reader who doesn't like your work, or a fellow writer with a chip on the shoulder. in the highly-competitve publishing world, do you really want someone else handling your reputation with readers?

7. Thanks again for agreeing to interview with us, and for all of your help. In closing can you tell us how we can follow you online and stay in contact with you?

Thanks for having me! I can be reached on these social media sites and blogs: