Pump Up Your Book Chats with Barbara Kyle

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Barbara Kyle is the author of the Tudor-era “Thornleigh” series of novels, which have been published internationally: The Queen’s Captive, The Queen’s Lady, and The King’s Daughter, praised by Publishers Weekly as “a complex and fast-paced plot, mixing history with vibrant characters.” Her new novel, The Queen’s Gamble, will be released on 30 August 2011.

Barbara previously won acclaim for her contemporary novels under pen name ‘Stephen Kyle’, including Beyond Recall (a Literary Guild Selection), After Shock and The Experiment. Over 400,000 copies of her books have been sold.

Barbara has taught courses for writers at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, and is known for her dynamic workshops for many writers organizations. Her popular series of video workshops “Writing Fiction That Sells” is available through her website. Before becoming an author, Barbara enjoyed a twenty-year acting career in television, film, and stage productions in Canada and the U.S.

Visit www.BarbaraKyle.com.

On THE QUEEN’S GAMBLE

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

For readers awaiting book #4! The Queen’s Gamble is the fourth in my Tudor-era “Thornleigh” series. It follows The Queen’s Lady (set in the reign of Henry VIII), The King’s Daughter (Mary I), and The Queen’s Captive (Elizabeth I).

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

Oh, definitely the rupture in the happy marriage of my characters Isabel and Carlos. As the great poet Robert Frost said: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” I felt a few tears writing this scene, and hope that readers, too, will be moved by the sad development.

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

The price of loyalty; the need for taking responsibility. I think all my books explore this constant theme of the human condition: How much would you risk to be loyal?

On Writing

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

I’ve loved language for as long as I can remember, so maybe “the bug” hit when I was winning school speech contests at the age of 12. But I never even considered writing a book until I was 40. Guess I’m a slow learner 🙂

Q: What’s the most frustrating thing about becoming a published author and what’s the most rewarding?

Frustrating is the long lead time between my delivering the manuscript to my publisher and the up-to-a-year before the book is in the bookstores. The wait seems endless!

Most rewarding is definitely the interaction with my readers. It’s such a joy to get emails from people telling me how my books have touched them, and letting me know what they’re up to. I love it!

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

To any new or emerging writer, the most helpful tip I can offer is: take the time to write an outline. Take a long time. The outline is where the heavy lifting of creation takes place, the invention of your characters and plot. (I take four or five months to write my outlines, while concurrently doing research. John Grisham says he works for up to six months on his.) I call the outline a Storyline, because as writers we must never forget that we’re telling a story. I give workshops for writers, and I love to teach the principles of outlining. I did a video on this subject in my series of online workshops called “Writing Fiction That Sells.” Anyone interested can watch a clip on my website: www.barbarakyle.com.

On Family and Home:

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

I live in a small community an hour north of Toronto, Ontario. My husband is a communications consultant for environmental and animal welfare organizations (he’s one of the good guys!) and we both work from offices in our house. We love the location, because we’re halfway between the city (Toronto) where our daughter and her husband live, and Georgian Bay (Lake Huron), where we have our sailboat.

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

I write in a small office on the second floor of our house – always there. I cannot write “on the fly” in places like coffee shops or trains; I need a long stretch at the work, several hours, in the quiet of my office.

In this picture I’m signing pages to go into a special Signature Edition of 5,000 signed copies of THE QUEEN’S GAMBLE. After that signing marathon my signature took on a definite new flourish!

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

I exercise every day. When the sun shines, I walk. There are several lovely walking trails near my house. When it rains, I work out at the gym. To really get away, my husband and I go sailing. Our boat is a Cal-46 ketch, an old girl, and we love her.

On Childhood:

Q: Were you the kind of child who always had a book in her/his hand?

Yes. From the age of around 10, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading.

Q: Can you remember your favorite book?

That’s a hard question, because I loved so many, but certainly, when I was a young teenager, Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” and Leon Uris’s “Trinity.”

Q: Do you remember writing stories when you were a child?

Nope, never did. As I said, I’m a slow learner 🙂

On Book Promotion:

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

I went to Pump Up Your Book for a blog tour! And then I co-ordinated it with the terrific publicists at Kensington Books, my publisher.

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

Yes, I post regularly on my Facebook “Barbara Kyle Author Page”, especially when visitors there post a comment. And I tweet regularly, every few days; I adore Twitter. Other authors and book-business people tweet links to such fascinating articles and blog posts.

On Twitter, FB, and on my website I offer contests. The one running now is the “Name the Thornleighs’ House” contest. Give the characters’ grand new home a name and win a signed copy of THE QUEEN’S GAMBLE, plus I’ll use the winning name in the new “Thornleigh” book I’m writing!

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

There’s much more onus on the author to organize their own promotion. And, of course, social media has re-drawn the map on outreach to one’s readership. This situation is changing every day, and will continue to change as e-books take over in the future.

On Other Fun Stuff:

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

To see my husband and daughter happy and successful in their work.

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

Any place that’s warm in winter! I’ve lived in Canada all my life (apart from a year in England and a year in the States) and I still hate snow!

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

You mean, after I’ve picked myself up from fainting? Well, I’d start with thanking my ever-supportive husband, Stephen.

b kyle hubby

And my agent, Al Zuckerman of Writers House. He’s absolutely the best.

Al Zuckerman

And my wonderful editor at Kensington, Audrey LaFehr.

Audrey LaFehr in her Kensington office

She was the first to see the marketplace potential of my “Thornleigh” novels, and has been a tremendous champion for them.

These three folks are my A-Team!

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Lauren Carr, Best-Selling Mystery Author of Mac Faraday, and Lovers in Crime, Mysteries

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Kaylin McFarren, BURIED THREADS

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--Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

"I just wanted to let you know how wonderful I felt my book blast went for Be Careful What You Wish For in the month of August. So many emails and contacts that I would never have gotten. The publicity was just phenomenal!"
--R.K. Avery, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

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--Lila Munro, LOVE VINDICATED

"Thank you so much for all your hard work in putting together the virtual book tour for The Sixth Power. I appreciate it so much."
--Carol Nicolas, THE SIXTH POWER

"Thank you SO MUCH for such a great blog tour!"
--Sandra D. Bricker, ALWAYS THE BAKER, FINALLY THE BRIDE

"Wow - you are absolutely fantastic. Can't believe how lucky I was to find you :)"
--Jo Sparkes, THE BIRR ELIXIR

"I just wanted to let you know that tonight Steven Manchester's Twelve Months became The Story Plant's first #1 Kindle bestseller. This couldn't have happened without you. Barb's cover is an absolute showstopper, Sue's copyediting boosted the overall work, Jackie's proofreading kept all of us honest, and Tracee Gleichner's blog tour started what has become an avalanche of great reviews."
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Question of the Day

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.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach