Christi J. Whitney is a former high school
theatre director with a love for the arts. She lives just outside Atlanta with
her husband and two sons. When not spending time with them or taking a
ridiculous number of trips to Disney World, she can be found directing plays,
making costumes for sci-fi/fantasy conventions, obsessing over Doctor Who,
watching superhero movies, or pretending she’s just a tad bit British.
Her latest book is the young adult urban
fantasy novel, Grey
(The Romany Outcasts Series, Book 1).
For
More Information
- Visit Christi J. Whitney’s website.
- Connect with Christi on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Christi at Goodreads.
- Visit Christi’s blog.
- Contact Christi.
About the Book:
Sebastian Grey always thought he was a
fairly normal teenager – good friends, decent grades, and a pretty sweet job in
his foster brother’s tattoo shop.
But when strangers arrive in town,
Sebastian soon realizes that his world is nothing at all what it seemed.
Secretive gypsies surround him, shadowy figures stalk him, and the girl he’s
been dreaming about turns up at school.
Now Sebastian must protect this girl at
all costs, even if it means he will never be normal again.
For More Information
- Grey is available at Amazon US and Amazon UK.
- Get it for your Nook at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
- Watch the book trailer here.
- Read Chapter One here.
Thanks for letting us interrogate interview you! Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to
why you wanted to be an author?
Sure! I always enjoy a proper interrogation. The simplest
answer to your question is because I love telling stories. I’ve always been a
daydreamer, inventing fantasy worlds in my head since I was a child. Creating
stories with characters I love and then having the opportunity to bring them to
life is just unbelievably rewarding, and being an author is something I’ve
dreamed about for many years.
Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up
to be? I mean what are the perks and
what are the demands?
Well, I guess when you tell people you’re an author, it can
sound pretty cool and exciting, but it’s basically like any other job. It’s a
lot of hard work and many lonely hours in front of a computer. Tempering the
business end of things—like marking and deadlines—with the creative process of
writing can something be a daunting challenge, but I get to go to work in my
pajamas, which is a huge perk. I also get to lose myself in fantasy worlds on a
daily basis.
Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and
can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?
My YA series was picked up by HarperCollins’ global science
fiction/fantasy imprint HarperVoyager in February of 2014. I was one of a
handful of debut authors chosen as part of an open submissions call by
HarperVoyagerUK back in 2012. The timeframe from that initial submission to the
day I received the call offering to buy my series was sixteen months. It was
another fourteen months before actual publication. So I’ve been working with
them on this entire process for almost two and a half years. Before that, Grey had gone through another journey
consisting of countless rejections before coming to HarperVoyager.
What’s the snarkiest thing you can say about the publishing
industry (e.g. rejections, the long wait, etc.)
Oh, gosh, snark isn’t really my thing. I save that for my
characters. But I suppose I’d say the same thing most people do. Publishing can
be an incredibly long and often frustrating process.
Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending
so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published,
what have you?
Well, when I wrote Grey,
I was still teaching school, so I did a large amount of my writing during lunch
breaks, between classes, and late at night. Now I’m able to do most of my
writing in the mornings, which takes less time away from my family. Still,
there are long nights of editing as I push to make deadlines, and I have to put
extra hours into promoting the book. But my family has been so incredibly
supportive throughout the entire process, especially my encouraging and very
understanding husband. I’m a fortunate author.
What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you
in the book publishing process?
I once took a conference call with a few film producers
while I was riding on the monorail at Walt Disney World during a vacation. It
was crazy hectic, trying to plug my ear against the noise of a theme park while
talking to people I’d never met before discussing my book and its potential.
How about the social networks? Which ones do you believe help and which ones
do you wish you could avoid?
If it connects you with readers, then it definitely helps. I
use several different ones, most frequently Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and
Tumblr. But the social media you should avoid as a writer is any one that keeps
you from writing. It can be such a time thief.
Book sales. Don’t you
just love them (or lack of?)? How are
you making the sales happen for you?
As a debut author, the majority of marketing and promotion
is my responsibility. Trying to get the word out about your book can be
daunting and tiring, but it’s also been really cool connecting with people who
love reading YA as much as I do. Since Grey
is a digital release first, I haven’t had book signings or launch parties. Most
of my sales are coming my own marketing, from word of mouth, virtual tours,
book reviews, book bloggers, and lovely interviews like this one.
What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream
about?
Being a debut author is like being a tiny pebble dropped in
an enormous pond. You’ve worked so hard on your book, spent grueling months
editing and revising and revising again. You’ve gone through book cover samples
and copy edits, while trying to build your online platform at the same time.
You sweat blood and cry tears over your characters and your story. It’s the
hardest thing you’ve ever done. And then, it’s publication time, and the ripple
from your tiny pebble seems so small in all that water that is the book world,
and you just wish you could yell in the loudest voice possible to every single
reader on the planet . . . HERE I AM!!!!!!!
Okay, too much sugar for you today! Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come
on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in. Now…can you tell us what you love about being
a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s
all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?
Wow, that’s super nice of you! Could I have a bit of milk?
As to what I love about being a published author, well . . . I’m a published
author! I mean, what more can you say about getting to do something you’ve
dreamed about doing for years? No matter how hard and frustrating it can be, it
has actually happened! I’m so blessed, I’m determined to cherish and love every
minute of it.
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