Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written and published 14 books, with another three finished but not yet published and a fourth in the process of being written. I have also written quite a few other novels over the years, but I will probably not publish any of them because they were written when I wasn’t as good a writer as I am now, although I might revisit the ideas behind those novels because some of them are still quite good.
I started out writing back in 2006, where I wrote fanfiction based off the LEGO toyline called Bionicle. But I only started publishing my work professionally in 2014, although I consider the time I spent writing fanfiction as my apprenticeship. There’s actually a lot of similiarities between posting fanfiction and publishing your books on your own, so in a way I feel that my fanfiction years helped prepare me for indie publishing my books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest novel is Desinence. It is the final book in my Two Worlds science-fantasy series, so I was not really “inspired” by anything so much as I built upon the events of the last four books and wrapped up all of the main plot threads I had created in the last four books in what I hope was a satisfying and original way.
If you mean what inspired the title, “desinence” is a word meaning “a termination or ending, as the final line of a verse” (credit to Dictionary.com for that definition). I chose the title because I wanted a word that signaled that this was the final book, but I didn’t want a generic word like “finale” or whatever. I don’t know if my readers like it, but no one has complained about the title and I like it, so I guess it works.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I can think of, no.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I think that Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Rachel Aaron, Hiromu Arakawa, Rick Riordan, and Greg Farshtey have been my major influences as an author. No book or books in particular have influenced me, though.
What are you working on now?
“Ascension of the Chosen,” the final book in my upcoming Tournament of the Gods epic fantasy/swords and sorcery series, which is scheduled to be released in April 2016. The first book in the series, “Gathering of the Chosen,” is scheduled for a January 2016 release.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Freebooksy is great for promoting free books. They got my novel, “The Mage’s Grave,” into the Top 100 Free books on Amazon back in September all by themselves, which has made them my favorite discount ebook advertiser on the web.
But don’t worry. Awesome Gang is pretty good, too ๐ .
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write quickly and write a lot, but also study the market and try to make your books marketable. You don’t need to make your books cookie cutter clones of whatever is hot at the moment, but being aware of popular tropes in your genre, cover trends, blurb styles, pricing trends, and so on will help you to make a book that will sell, perhaps even give you a bestseller.
Unfortunately I haven’t been studying the market as well as I should, but I plan to change that going into 2016.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t obsessively rewrite your work. Some editing and rewriting is necessary, but too much can slow production down to a halt and actually make your books worse, so try to keep rewriting and editing to a minimum.
What are you reading now?
“Frostborn: The Gray Knight” by Jonathan Mueller. I read the book before it and loved it and so far I am loving this one (although I am only a couple of chapters into it so far). Highly recommend it to any lover of epic fantasy or swords and sorcery.
What’s next for you as a writer?
That’s tough to say, because that would require being able to look into the future, which I, alas, cannot do.
But my plans for the next year are to write and publish my next series, work on another currently unnamed series that is also set to be published next year, launch a new pen name in a new genre, and try out Facebook ads. I’m hoping to make 2016 the year I make a full-time living as an author, but whether I will or won’t, it will probably at least be better than 2015.
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?
Oh, that’s too hard for me to answer, because there are too many books I’d like to take.
But here are a few books that come to mind off the top of my head:
“Misery” by Stephen King
“The Bourne Identity” by Robert Ludlum
“The Spirit Thief” by Rachel Aaron
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling
Author Websites and Profiles
Timothy L. Cerepaka Website
Timothy L. Cerepaka Amazon Profile
Timothy L. Cerepaka Author Profile on Smashwords
Timothy L. Cerepaka’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account