Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an international makeup artist, which means I work both here in the USA and around the world too. I am originally from New Zealand, I have lived in Europe and now live in the USA.
I have always loved Italy, and my blog posts about traveling there lead to me taking small groups of women to Italy on boutique, private tours. These ladies don’t want to be on a tour bus or a cruise. They want to experience a different side of Italy but find the idea of doing it alone too unnerving. So that’s where I come in!
I love swimming in the Mediterranean, Ionian and Adriatic Seas, I love exploring little quiet towns in Tuscany, I love art and history and architecture, and enjoying a glass of wine with a view of rolling hills, olive groves and vines.
Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is my first book.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is my first (and only) book.
I found that people were always asking me the same questions about traveling in Italy. There were plenty of books telling them what to look at in various cities and towns but there wasn’t anything telling them how to put a trip together. How to figure out which places to visit, where to stay, how long to stay in each place, how to get around. Do you need a car? What do you need to know about renting a car? How do you use the trains?
A photographer I work with told me the story of trying to take the train from Verona to Florence and how stressful and scary it was not knowing what to do or how to do it. She said “I wish you had been there with me!”, which got me thinking that I could write an eBook and give people a step by step guide to using trains, ordering coffee, choosing wines, and many other helpful things that they could access from their smartphones while they are in Italy.
I also have found over the years that travel books always felt very corporate and dry. They weren’t really speaking to me. I was a single mom traveling on a tight budget, so advising me to eat at Giorgio’s ($$$$) or giving lists of expensive activities that you MUST do while in town X made me feel like I wasn’t the target reader.
I wanted to write something that felt personal, not corporate. My book uses lots of fun little stories from my travels to flesh out points that I am trying to make. My goal was to show everyone that they can not only build a fabulous trip very easily, but that they can also do it without breaking the bank!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to have pretty surroundings, whether it be writing on my back patio or something as simple as having a vase of flowers on the table. Even though I have a perfectly good office in my home I didn’t write one word in there! It was all on my back patio or my dining room table.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love authors like John Sandford, Jonathan Kellerman and Michael Connelly for mysteries and thrillers. I also read books set in Italy, anything where someone has bought an old home and restored it.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a series of books about traveling in Italy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is my first book, so I will have to tell you next time around!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Being a brand new author I probably can’t give anyone advice yet! I do think that a really great editor is an essential investment in yourself and in your work though.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
What are you reading now?
I just started Donna Leon’s series about Brunetti, a police commissario in Venice. Its fantastic!
What’s next for you as a writer?
Well hopefully book number one sells! I plan on more travel and writing more books about travel.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’m a voracious reader and I read quickly, so I would probably need something sizeable – it could be a good time to reread War and Peace. I love the way authors such as Frances Mayes and Khalid Housseni use language. I can read them over and over and fall in love with their wordplay every time.
Author Websites and Profiles
Corinna Cooke Website
Corinna Cooke Amazon Profile
Corinna Cooke’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account