Tag: Farrah Rochon

Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author

by Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com

Today’s Guest: Farrah Rochon

A native of south Louisiana, Farrah Rochon’s debut novel, Deliver Me, garnered rave reviews. The second novel in her Holmes Brothers series, Release Me, was released in May 2008 by Dorchester Publishing. The third and final installment in the series, Rescue Me, will be released in June 2009. Farrah also has a Christmas novella, “A Change of Heart,” in the forthcoming holiday anthology The Holiday Inn (October 2008).

Farrah, if you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?

I’ve had quite an education in the business of publishing since the release of my debut novel last spring, and there are a number of things I wish I’d known a year and a half ago. Here’s a list of the top five pieces of advice I would give the previously unpublished Farrah Rochon:

1. Be ready to promote, promote, promote. Not every writer who publishes with a New York house will get the royal treatment, but you’ll be expected to get a respectable sell-through, no matter what. Self-promotion will be a huge key to your eventual success.

2. Don’t be surprised when not everyone is as excited about your good news as you’d hope they would be. Remember that you cannot count on others for your happiness.

3. Keep your ears open for advice from those who have gone before you. You are lucky enough to belong to an organization of writers who share their wisdom freely. Listen when they discuss how to tactfully approach your editor about disagreements with her revisions and to deal with the other issues you will eventually encounter.

4. Take a class in time management. You’ll need it.

5. Remember to take a step back and enjoy this process. After all, you will be living your dream.

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To learn more about Farrah, please visit her Website at http://www.FarrahRochon.com or her blog at http://FarrahRochon.blogspot.com.

Her books are available at brick-and-mortar bookstores as well as online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.