Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in northern New Jersey with my wife. We have two daughters and five grandchildren. All of them live in neighboring towns,
I’ve been writing fiction for over 20 years ad I’ve been self-publishing for over 10 years. I write sci-fi and fantasy fiction but only satiric or humorous stores. Nothing serious. I believe there is too much serious genre fiction being written and I’m trying to rectify that situation.
I also write non-fiction books about fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing. In addition,I lecture on those topics in schools, libraries and on webinars
Currently, I have 22 books on Amazon, both fiction and non-fiction
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title is Book Marketing Fundamentals. It was inspired by my previous book, How to Self-publish and Market a Book. What happened was this: after that book was published, I realized there are authors who have a published book, but are looking for marketing help, hence the new book.
The self-publishing book was inspired by the writing groups I belong to. In them, I noticed how inexperienced writers struggle to understand the publishing process. That inevitably leads to website searches and the internet is loaded with scam artists looking for these inexperienced authors. My books are designed to educate those writers and hopefully to alert them and protect them from the scam artists
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love mind-maps. I have a half-dozen software programs and I’ll make a new mind-map for almost every problem I come across. I also mind-map my novels before I start to write the first draft. I create three mind-maps: one for the characters and one for the plots. The third can be described as a graphical synopsis. I’ve learned that if I can make the third mind-map, I understand the story well enough to write it.
I mind-map non-fiction books also, starting with the table of contents complete with sub-headings. I manipulate these items to ensure the contents present a compelling and understandable presentation. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to move idea bubbles around than it is to manipulate the written sections and sub-sections.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My fiction has been strongly influenced by the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and by Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Happily, I’ve never recovered from the experiences of reading those two books.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m developing Book Marketing Fundamentals into a series of videos that will ultimately become a class on the Udemy site. I’m also working on developing a workshop based on How to Self-publish and Market a Book. It’s scheduled to be initially given on the Savvy Authors site in December.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think getting book reviews are the best marketing tactic I’ve come across.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
For fiction writers, my advice is to know the ending before starting to write the first draft. My reasoning is this: everything in the story must move the reader closer to the climax. Therefore, you can’t move the reader toward the climax if you don’t know where or what the climax is.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write scenes, not words. I don’t use a word goal such as wiring a thousand words a day or twenty-five hundred or whatever. When writing the first draft, my goal is to write one scene a day and I don’t care how many words it is.
What are you reading now?
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
The Undercover Goddess by my friend and fellow author Karen Cavalli
What’s next for you as a writer?
I haven’t decided whether I’ll write another non-fiction book (Mind-mapping a Book) or a sci-fi novel or a few short stories. Whatever it turns out to be, I won’t start it until sometime next year.
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?
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Catch-22, Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore and anything by Bernard Cornwell.
Author Websites and Profiles
Hank Quense Website
Hank Quense Amazon Profile
Hank Quense Author Profile on Smashwords
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