Pump Up Your Book Chats with Joe Niehaus and Mary Sikora, authors of “Shadow in the Reflection”

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ABOUT JOE NIEHAUS

Joe Niehaus, a veteran police officer in Ohio, is the author of six books and numerous articles in police and martial arts magazines. He holds certificates in fraud examination and clinical and forensic hypnosis. A graduate of Tiffin University, he is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Ashford University and Sinclair Community College.

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ABOUT MARY SIKORA

Mary Sikora is a former daily news reporter, freelance writer, and editor. A University of Dayton graduate and Cincinnati native, she is the author of A Mississippi Family and Orphan’s Gift. Previously, she and Niehaus collaborated on Beware the Whale’s Wake and Hypnosis Unveiled.

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The Interview

Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

With a novel I tend to start with an idea – rather than a reason to write the book. Usually something just sparks my imagination and I begin to plan and plot out a story. With Shadow in the Reflection I was into the martial arts at the time and also very interested in medieval weaponry and fighting forms. The Vikings had always held an interest for me and so after I had finished my novel on the ninja of Japan, the idea for the Viking part of the story evolved.

But that wasn’t the whole story. I sent the Viking part out to several agents and publishers but at the time it had been written there was not very much interest in this kind of story. So it sat on the shelf for awhile. I then became a certified clinical and forensic hypnotist and as a result of that my co-author, Mary Sikora, came up with the idea of doing a past life regression where the characters go back to the Viking period and we combine a modern story with the medieval one.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

Oh, I guess I have always been interested in stories. Perhaps the earliest attempt though was in high school. We were given an assignment of either writing a poem or s short story for an English class. I had no interest in poetry at the time and to be truthful was terrible at it. So I decided on a short story. I was really into Sherlock Holmes at the time so I wrote a short story called The Great Brain. It was basically from the villains point of view and he matched wits with a Sherlock Holmes type of character in the story.

The teacher was very interested in it, and he even made copies and handed them out to the class and his other English classes. He really tried to support me and get me developing but at the time I was very shy and was mortified that he did this. I clammed up and did not pick up the interest again until many years later.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

I like to write fiction but sometimes the ideas are not always there so non-fiction fills in here. I have written for martial arts magazines as well as law enforcement magazines and journals. My non-fiction books have primarily been about hypnosis but I also wrote on one street survival tactics for the everyday person.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

That is funny because I don’t think of myself as someone who can offer tips. But I would say that if you have an interest in writing – keep doing it! I have heard from many authors famous and otherwise that it is not always the most talented who make it in the writing world but the most tenacious.

I also think that writing in different mediums helps your writing. My novel writing certainly helped me when writing for my master’s degree and it does help with the non-fiction pieces. The reverse is also true of the non-fiction and I find that after completing a novel it is difficult to jump into another novel right away which is why I tend to write some non-fiction articles for magazines.

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My dad was a police officer who I followed into as a profession. He was paid poorly so he had to work a second job to take care of our family and he worked as a janitor at a school. So he would work midnights, then come home and go to the school and then sleep late afternoon into the evening. So we really saw little of him because he had to work so much but with four brothers and sisters there was always someone to hang out with at the house.
Now I live just south of Dayton, Ohio and have a border collie named Becker who is always with me. We tend to take several walks a day as he needs to be active as anyone who has a border collie knows.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

I don’t have a favorite place but perhaps the most productive place I have found is sitting at the dining room table. It is actually a table that my parents had when they were first married and they passed it on to me – so I have been sitting at this same table since I was a child doing homework to writing novels!

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

First thing I did was tell my family and friends. From there I went the post card route and sent those out to as many people as I knew and the places where I thought the book would be of interest. I contacted our local independent bookstore and told them about it as well. I have tried some other avenues before Pump up your book’s campaign. We are still getting the word out and that is all I can hope is that the word gets out and people take a chance on Mary’s and my effort.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

I am not as familiar as my children let’s say that and Mary is much more savvy about that than I am. I am starting to learn about it and how people communicate through these mediums but I am slowly getting my feet wet so to speak.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

It has changed plenty. Years ago the best you could hope for was the newspapers would carry an article about you and bookstores would have you in for a book reading or signing. From there you had to spend the time calling places that you could link your book to and ask them if you could come give a talk. The post card idea was also around then but obtaining mailing lists of interested people was much more difficult.

Now, the internet has changed all of that. There are so many ways to reach readers now and you do not have to rely on the newspapers to get the word out alone. It seems like almost every day there is an new avenue opening up that people are exploring. It is an exciting time for this.

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

This is an area that has changed greatly. It used to be the only way you could get published is if you followed the traditional route – get an agent and find a publisher. You might be lucky and find a small press to pick you up but the thought of doing it yourself was unheard of or labeled vanity press and no one took you serious.

The industry changed though as the big houses bought up the smaller ones and now there is like only 6 or 7 major houses that control the market – and if you look a lot of the books they put out are geared to make money fast, written by celebrities or about celebrities etc. So the story teller has a tough time getting their novel to press because a new author requires effort to sell – to get known and that take time and money and major corporations usually don’t like spending that on an unknown – just not good business.

So the new writer finds themselves in a tough economy, with a tougher than ever business to crack into – how can they. Fortunately today there are avenues available for it. Shadow in the Reflection is perhaps a good example as it was sent out to several major houses and the responses were very nice but they said that it was difficult to get new authors started in the fantasy market. So that left us the option of forgetting it or taking the next step which is very open to authors today and now it is available to be shared.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

That is easy – any island in the Hawaiian islands! I visited there years ago and absolutely fell in love with the area – you have the best of all worlds – beach, mountains and warm climate all in one area.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview. Do you have any final words?

Of course I do – please pick up a copy of Shadow in the Reflection, give Mary and me a chance to entertain you for a bit. Thank you for the opportunity to let people know about our work.

ABOUT SHADOW IN THE REFLECTION

Can destiny be fulfilled in just one lifetime? Dr. Gregory Ambrose thinks so. Through past-life regression therapy with a young woman named Anne, he finds himself carried over the centuries to not only a different time but a different reality. Anne’s memories act like tendrils, drawing Ambrose into this most savage time with her. Frustrated and confused Dr. Ambrose reaches out to a colleague for help. During their conversations, he learns that one of this doctor’s past-life regression patients believes that he was some kind of Viking in another time-not unlike the Vikings in Anne’s memories. The coincidence is too much, and Ambrose’s imagination and ambition tempt him down a dangerous path. Determined to know the truth and understand the connection, he begins to push the limits of his ethics. What evolves is a story from another time, when wizards and warriors battle for power. The fate of two lands-one fighting for unity, the other for safety-hangs in the balance as two druids play out their own endgame strategies. At the same time, two hearts seek their destiny with true love. Fate lends a hand as all meet in a final battle. Is it truly the end or just the beginning?

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Question of the Day

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A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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