Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello! I’m Zoey, a 37 year-old Brit from just outside Oxford. I’m married to an American, and have one young son, and two cats. I’m a full-time editor for several small press publishers, and I take on indie clients as often as time allows as well.
‘Inheritance’ is my first novel, and I’m almost 1/3 way through the sequel.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘Inheritance’ is my current release. It’s inspired by, and driven by my main character, Dom, who’s basically a mix of two people I wish I knew. It’s also quite a ‘bookish’ book, with literature and fiction having its own part to play, which was a really important element for me.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a night-writer, out of necessity rather than choice, but, whatever works! I have a young son to take care of, and I work full-time editing from home, so my writing hours tend to be around 9pm-2am or thereabouts. I get through a lot of coffee.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In a way, Fifty Shades has influenced me the most. Because when I read it, I couldn’t help thinking how cool it would be if a story like that could be well-written. I wanted to write something sexy, and popular, but also something where no one would complain about the standard of writing. It also really let me see the kind of thing people want to be reading right now, which caused a huge turnaround from my usual genre and brought me into a whole new world. And when I entered this world, Andrea Andersson and her novel, ‘Unkindness’, was probably the one that persuaded me to seriously put pen to paper.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on the sequel to ‘Inheritance’. It’s called ‘Indebted’ and sees Dom and Mel both going through their honeymoon period, and facing a whole heap of new obstacles to their relationship. It’s darker than the first novel, and more intricate. It’s involved a lot more research, and I’m hoping it’s going to have a whole lot to offer readers.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m genetically awful at promotion, honestly. I’m reliably informed by my publisher that mailing lists are the way to go. My favourite medium to use is Twitter, as it’s so laid back, but I think as a forum for selling books it’s not ideal. Right now I’m working on building up my subscriber list, and I’m also trying to spend more and more time on Goodreads. GR seems to be the best place to find like-minded readers to try out your books on, but with everyone having towering TBR piles it’s always going to be a challenge to get YOUR book under someone’s nose. I’m still trying to find my way.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I don’t really feel qualified to advise! But I’d just say, keep writing! For me, time is always the biggest obstacle to writing, but it really is true that if you just hammer out words for even an hour a day, they all add up and before you know it you have an MS to work with. I’m a big believer in fast-drafting, just write…like your life depends on it…and don’t self-edit. That can all come later. Get the words on the page first.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s a variation on “turn the internet off!” – I can’t think of a single, bigger time-waster when you do finally claw some writing time than twitter, or FB etc. STAY OFF THE NET AND WRITE! Twitter et al are wonderful support networks, but if you’re not careful you find you’ve posted 10,000 Tweets, and written 37 words. You really want to keep it the other way around.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading a crime novel called “Forward Slash”. I’m on a bit of a violent crime kick.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More words!
I want to get Indebted finished, and keep working hard at promoting Inheritance. There’ll be a third, and final novel in the series, but that’s going to be well into next year.
Once the Diamond Books series is complete, I want to look at a possible spin-off centred around Mel’s former best friend, Nate. I also have a quick n’ dirty standalone brewing 🙂
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?
Could I bring my Kindle? Is that cheating? Probably…
Ok, well, I’d go for a big, beefy fantasy epic that I could lose myself in, probably a Tad Williams or maybe Patrick Rothfuss. In fact, definitely Patrick Rothfuss. I’d take King’s The Stand, because I’ve never made it to the end before and a desert island would be handy for that. And I’d take a Dickens, because I bloody love Dickens. Dombey and Son would do it 🙂
Author Websites and Profiles
Zoey DuBois Website
Zoey DuBois Amazon Profile
Zoey DuBois’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account