Author Annette Gisby Shares Their Story

Annette Gisby grew up in a small town in Northern Ireland, moving to London when she was seventeen. Being a very small town there were no bookshops and a small library. When she’d devoured every book she could get her hands on in the library, she started writing her own stories so she would always have something to read later.

When not writing she enjoys reading, cinema, theatre, walks along deserted beaches or wandering around ruined castles (great places for inspiration!) New Zealand is her favourite place and she hopes to travel back there one day. She’s a fan of Japanese Manga and Anime and one day hopes to learn Japanese.

She currently lives in Hampshire with her husband, a collection of porcelain dolls and stuffed penguins and enough books to fill a small library. It’s diminishing gradually since the discovery of ebooks but still has a long way to go.

About the Author
Annette Gisby grew up in a small town in Northern Ireland, moving to London when she was seventeen. Being a very small town there were no bookshops and a small library. When she’d devoured every book she could get her hands on in the library, she started writing her own stories so she would always have something to read later.

When not writing she enjoys reading, cinema, theatre, walks along deserted beaches or wandering around ruined castles (great places for inspiration!) New Zealand is her favourite place and she hopes to travel back there one day. She’s a fan of Japanese Manga and Anime and one day hopes to learn Japanese.

She currently lives in Hampshire with her husband, a collection of porcelain dolls and stuffed penguins and enough books to fill a small library. It’s diminishing gradually since the discovery of ebooks but still has a long way to go.

What inspires you to write romance books?
I’ve always loves stories that had a romantic element, even if they weren’t necessarily in the romance genre. Love and romance is a universal concept, nearly everyone wants to have that special someone in their life and my characters are no exception! It’s wonderful to wonder how they will meet, who they will meet and whether they will get on with the character I think is right for them. Sometimes they surpsise me and go for someone different!

My husband is the most romantic person I know and I don’t just mean he is the flowers and chocolates type. I can’t eat chocolate any more because I have migraine associated vertigo and it is one of my main triggers, but he doesn’t need to buy me chocolates to be romantic. I’m a big fan of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. For Valentine’s Day one year he booked us tickets to see the whole Lord of the Ring Trilogy back to back at an arthouse cinema. And last year for my birthday he booked us tickets to go and see the Harry Potter Studio Tour just outside London, even though he is not such a great fan himself, but he puts up with these things because I am 🙂 That’s what I call romantic.

Tell us about how you write:
I normally have a few characters running around in my head at any one time and gradually one or two of them will start coming more to the forefront and I start wondering about them and what their story is.

I don’t usally have a lot planned out in advance, I just start writing to see what happens 🙂 I love to be surprised. For my romantic suspense novel, Drowning Rapunzel, I had it all planned out, even down to ‘whodunnit’ but when it came to that chapter, it turned it not to be that character at all! Even I was surprised, so I just crumpled up the plan and kept in the surprise ending.

Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My characters talk to me all the time. It’s like I have a radio show going on in my head, LOL!

What advice would you give other writers?
Read, read, read and then read some more. Don’t write because you think there’s lots of money in it. Write because you want to share a story with the readers. I write the sort of stories that I would like to read. I can’t write in a certain genre just because the ‘market’ is looking for more vampires or werewolves, or whatever is popular at the moment. Trends come and go, so you need to believe in your story and market it no matter what the trends are.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I have some books with publishers and some I have self-published. It all depends on what I think is best for what book. My short stories tend to be self-published because some of them are too short for the publisher’s guidelines.

My M/M fantasy novel, The Chosen was originally with a publisher but when the rights reverted back to me I decided to self-publish this time as I wasn’t sure that any publisher could give me what I couldn’t do myself. I’d been doing a lot of my own marketing and promotion anyway, even when it was with a publisher. The author needs to decide what’s right for them and their books.

Some people want or need the validation that it’s been accepted by a publisher, but just be sure to read the contract carefully whichever route you decide.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think that more people will consider the self-published route than even ten years ago. It used to the the kiss of death to have self-published your work. But now with options for ebooks such as Kindle and Smashwords, authors can find readers direct and it’s the readers who decide whether books are good or not. Some self-published authors have even reached the bestseller lists. I think those are the exceptions though, your self-published book has to compete with thousands of others, but I think there is an audience for everything. You just have to find it.

What genres do you write:: Fantasy, m/f romance, m/m romance, sci-fi, mystery/suspense, erotica

What formats are your books in: Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Link To Author Page On Smashwords
Link to Author Page on other site

Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/252221.Annette_Gisby

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