Tell us a little about your book.
Matinicus, a century-spanning double mystery steeped in Maine island lore, pits a renegade fishing community against an unhappy child-bride of the 1820s, a defiant twenty-first-century teen, and a hard-drinking botanist—Dr. Gil Hodges—who escapes to the island of Matinicus to avoid a crazed ex-lover and verify a rumored 22 species of wild orchid only to find himself hounded by the ghost of a child some two hundred years dead.
If Gil’s hoping for peace and quiet, he’s clearly come to the wrong place. Generations of infighting among loose-knit lobstering clans have left them openly hostile to outsiders. When a beautiful, bed-hopping stranger sails into the harbor, old resentments re-ignite and people begin to die—their murders linked, through centuries of violence, to a diary whose secrets threaten to tear the island apart.
What inspired you to write this book?
The island of Matinicus itself, actually, (a real island off the coast of Maine) because of the extremely unique, wild west-meets-beeper-generation mindset of its lobstering community. No police; no stores, banks, doctors or gas stations. I knew I had to write a novel about it the first time I visited the place, and the more I learned, the more fascinated I became. This was maybe ten years ago. I was sailing off the coast of Maine and pulled into the harbor on a whim. The first thing I saw when I went walking was a couple of grinning kids drag-racing along the dusty road paralleling the harbor—no doors on either car, one of the hoods tied down with a length of lobster warp. And I mean kids—no more than ten years old. I started getting glimmers of a plot almost immediately.
What are you doing to market your book?
Matinicus is the first in my three-book Island Mystery Series, a fact that plays a large part in my marketing approach. I spend about 2 hours a day on my marketing work before turning to the final editing of book two, Reese’s Leap, due out in the spring. I have an active website which I’m constantly tweaking; I post to my Facebook author page and twitter accounts almost daily, blog a few times a week and I send out several requests for reviews by bloggers each day (I’m up to about 70 at this point). I attend book festivals, marine trade shows (all sailors know the island of Matinicus!), and participate in as many book festivals and writers panels/forums as I can find.
How have sales been? Where have you had the most success?
Sales are great, actually—thanks in large part to some terrific reviews I’ve been lucky enough to receive. I would say the numbers are pretty well split between e-books and the softcover edition.
How are readers/reviewers reacting to your book?
The book’s been getting rave reviews across the board, and people tell me they’re very much looking forward to book two.
What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book and how did you overcome it?
The research I needed to do for my secondary plot line, without question. This was a fictional 1829 diary about Maine island life written by a young island woman who, at the age of 16, finds herself married to a man she doesn’t love and stepmother to several children. I wanted to be sure all the details (language and domestic details like dress and home furnishings) rang true. This entailed a tremendous amount of research. I read more than 30 books on everything from area shipwrecks and the history of lobstering, to island farming, the lives of early nineteenth century island women and the island of Matinicus itself. I also visited the Vinalhaven, ME Historical Society and received a primer on nineteenth century watercraft at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, ME.
What are the future plans for you and this book?
I’m currently booking readings and festival appearances for the fall, winter and spring, and have a number of blogger interviews and reviews coming up in the next few months.
What is your next project?
I’m chomping at the bit to be finished with the editing of book two, frankly, so I can get down to the writing of book three which takes my characters back to the island of Matinicus. The plot is pretty much finalized, but I always say that, and then things change once I begin writing and all kinds of other ideas flood in.
Have you published anything else?
My debut novel, Hunter Huntress, was published in June of 2010 by the wonderful small British press, Snowbooks, and is described as “A sensual, hypnotic and uncompromisingly complex tale of music, myth and obsession.”
Any advice for other writers/indie authors out there?
First of all, trust your gut. I had a contract with a small, traditional publisher for the publication of Matinicus which I cancelled five months before publication when they changed their publishing model and thus my contract from softcovers and e-books to just e-books. There are still a tremendous number of people out there who want to read tree-books, and it seems counterintuitive to do anything that might keep my story out of their hands. Rather than spend another five years trying to find another publisher, I decided to go the indie route. It was scary but exhilarating, and I don’t see myself ever going back.
Secondly, make sure you put out a quality product, thoroughly edited and with an eye-catching cover. You’ll you thank yourself later, especially if your book is in stores alongside other, traditionally published books.
