Pump Up Your Book Chats with Susan Berliner

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ABOUT SUSAN BERLINER

Susan Berliner, author of the supernatural thrillers, “DUST,” “Peachwood Lake,” and “The Disappearance,” has been a nonfiction writer for nearly her entire career. She had originally planned to be an elementary school teacher, but left after a year to become a newspaper reporter for Fairchild Publications. She covered men’s retailing for Daily New Record, a men’s wear/textile trade newspaper, which was the “brother” paper of Women’s Wear Daily.

After Susan’s children were born, she switched to freelance writing–mainly in education–publishing several book series dealing with editing skills, language arts, and standardized testing. She has also created teachers’ guides, student activity sheets, and test passages. During this time, Susan was the project editor for a national science magazine for elementary school students and edited subject-related manuscripts for children in grades 7 and 8. In addition, she freelanced as a local reporter, covering board meetings for the North County News, a weekly newspaper in Yorktown Heights, New York.

When she returned to work full-time, Susan became the promotion manager of the Yorktown PennySaver, a job she held for 20 years. She created many original weekly contests–Phony Ad, Rhyme Time, and PennySaver Prophet.

Susan lives with her husband, Larry, in Yorktown Heights, where she’s editing her fourth book (Corsonia), and writing her fifth novel (The Touchers).

To find out more, please visit her at www.susanberliner.com

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

I wrote The Disappearance because I’ve always loved reading time travel stories and I thought it would be fun to write my own. It’s such a great genre because, since time traveling doesn’t exist, I can be as creative as I want. I get to decide how my characters travel through time, how far into the past or future they can go, and what the “rules” of time travel are. What can be better than that?

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

The hardest part by far was the time travel sequences—not so much writing them, but keeping track of all the dates and times and making sure I didn’t make any errors. The Disappearance takes place in the present, but the exact year is unspecified so I worked with a recent annual calendar that matched my days, listing all the dates and times characters arrived in the past and returned to the present. The comings and goings often made my head spin!

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

One reviewer said the lesson she learned was not to move in with someone you’ve only known for a month. On a broader scale, like many novels, The Disappearance is a basically a story of good versus evil. My villain is a sociopath so the message is quite obvious: evil doesn’t pay.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

I‘ve been a writer for my entire adult life, working as a newspaper reporter, editor, educational writer, and promotion manager. However, I only became a novelist when I read a small article about a strange weather phenomenon called “dust devils,” miniature tornados strong enough to toss dust and dirt into the air. In the news clip that inspired me, a dust devil lifted the roof off an auto body shop, collapsing most of the building, and killing the owner. Since the story was so weird—and it happened in Maine—I was sure Stephen King would write a book about some kind of supernatural dust. I put the article aside and forgot about it. When I found the story a few years later, I realized Stephen King had never written a novel about weird dust. But suddenly I had an idea, which turned out to be the basis for my first novel, DUST.

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

Currently, I have an ongoing freelance job writing standardized test passages and questions for non-English speaking students in Texas.

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

Here’s the one I give to aspiring authors: Treat writing a novel as a job—something you have to do. Get into a writing routine and force yourself to work for a certain amount of time every day—even if you don’t feel like writing. And it doesn’t have to be for a long period of time. Set aside an hour or half an hour. There’s always time to write, even if it’s just a few minutes. You just have to do it!

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

I live in Yorktown Heights, NY, a northern suburb of New York City, with my husband, Larry. He’s a retired English teacher who is writing a humorous memoir. We have two children and three grandchildren. We don’t have any household pets, but we do feed lots of beautiful wild birds outside our kitchen window.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your childhood?

I was born in London, England and came to America as a little girl. I grew up in the Bronx, New York, attended James Monroe High School, and got my BA in Queens College.

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

I write in my den—close the door, remove the phone, and concentrate.

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

I’m active on Facebook with a group page and individual pages for my three novels—The Disappearance, Peachwood Lake and DUST:
https://www.facebook.com/susan.berliner.7 https://www.facebook.com/groups/96392594143/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Disappearance-by-Susan-Berliner/467514786615660 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peachwood-Lake-by-Susan-Berliner/239389866123117 https://www.facebook.com/pages/DUST-by-Susan-Berliner-A-Supernatural-Thriller/221513797862521

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

As a former promotion manager, I can see that the Internet has changed the way all products are promoted. In the past, books were publicized in newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio. Now the Internet is the primary promotion venue for all authors—best selling ones and small independents. It’s very challenging and I’m still trying to learn the basics.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

There are so many wonderful books available these days that It’s difficult for an independent author like me to get the word out about my novels. That’s why sites like this are so valuable; they make people aware of some terrific books they might want to read.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

To me, publishing a book that I have written is a tremendously rewarding experience. It’s a lot like giving birth: “Congratulations! You’ve just produced a brand new book!” Seeing my novels in print and turning the pages is totally magical.

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

It’s changed enormously in the last few years. Ebooks are now as popular as printed books, traditional publishing houses (and bookstores) are dwindling, and independent authors are on the rise. There’s a whole new publishing world and I’m thrilled to be a very small part of it.

ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE

When Jillian Keating is arrested for the murder of her missing boyfriend, Ryan Cornell, she has two immediate questions: Why did he frame her—and where is he hiding?

Using her own ingenuity, plus the help of a resourceful lady lawyer and a dashing young private investigator, Jillian discovers the surprising—and disturbing—answers. Her boyfriend is not what he appears to be. The real Ryan, consumed with hate, has devised an ingenious scheme to destroy her while he escapes into the past via a hidden time travel portal. But even knowing all this, Jillian is left with a more difficult question: How can she capture Ryan and bring him back?

Filled with memorable characters, bizarre twists, and riveting suspense, The Disappearance culminates with an elaborate sting operation as Jillian and her friends travel through time to lure Ryan into their clever trap. If they succeed, she will go free. But if they fail, Jillian will surely face murder charges for the death of Ryan Cornell.

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How do you make sales happen for you?

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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