Day After Disaster Blog Tour with Sara F. Hathaway

Today as part of her blog tour for Day after Disaster, Sara F. Hathaway is sharing her experience as an author. Check out her website and blog.

What made you decide to go Indie and self-publish?

I self published after extensive research. I learned how rare it is to be picked up by a traditional publisher without a sales record. 

What do you think is the benefit of going Indie and self-publishing your own work?

The biggest benefit I see for self publishing is retaining the rights to your own work. The work will not be altered by a publicist. If there are future earnings to be had they are all yours.

What do you think is the biggest challenge an Indie author faces?

As an indie author, there are many challenges to face. First of all, an indie author must weed through the myriad of publishers to find the one that will honor their promises and not include many hidden charges. Secondly, an indie author must understand that their book is their business and should be treated as such. This means having a business plan and a financial layout for your project before you get started. The third and most challenging aspect is marketing. This can be a rather expensive endeavor. It really pays off to research, research, research! There is so much information out there that can be found for free, as long as you are willing to find it and put it to use. An indie author faces many struggles but with a little hard work they can be tackled.

What are you working on right now?

I just launched my first novel, Day After Disaster, on June 3rd. This is book one in The Changing Earth Series. Day After Disaster is an apocalyptic, adventure in which a dynamic woman, mother and wife struggles, against all odds, to find her family, dead or alive, in a world being tormented by Mother Nature.

What advice can you share with other Indie and aspiring Indie authors?

Stay inspired, keep writing, marketing and dreaming!

Which authors inspire you?

My major inspiration is Jean M. Auel. I found her series, The Children of the Earth, absolutely enthralling. She presents survival in a prehistoric world. Her descriptions of the natural settings are vivid. She blends in historic artifacts and paintings with her fictional story. She details the use of herbal medicines, which are all accurate. Her stories really fired my decision to write my own books.

What genre are your books?

Survival, adventure, apocalyptic.

Why do you write in the genre that you do?

I write in that genre because I have always wondered what if our world collapsed. It is so fragile and we all take it for granted. How would humans adapt and survive a world wide catastrophe? These questions culminated to a story and Day After Disaster is the beginning of that story.

How much research do you do when you write?

I do a lot of research. A lot of my research centers around what I enjoy reading anyway, which is survival techniques and our natural environment. I also do character research to find new and interesting people to include in my stories.

When did you decide to become a writer?

I never decided to become a writer. I wrote for fun because I had the story in my head. It took me a long time to complete my novel because it was just a hobby while I was attending college, starting a family and then starting a career. When I became pregnant with my second son, I had lots of time on my hands so I finished my book. I never intended to publish it but my mom encouraged me to do so and here I am.

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I spend most of my days now taking care of my two kids, Fletcher and Christian, and marketing my book. I try to block out at least three to five hours a week to write in my next book.

Tell us about the cover and how it came about.

The cover for my book was designed by my publisher, Tate Publishing. I gave them an idea of what I had in my head and they gave me a couple of options to pick from. I absolutely loved both of the ideas they presented but I chose the one I did because it captured my character perfectly, it was unique and very eye catching.

How do you market your books?

I market my book extensively through social media. My novel is available in a couple of local book stores and I have appeared in a few of newspaper articles. I also get booths at local events but I really enjoy harnessing the power of the blogging world because it gives an authors so much more exposure to the people that are interested in their material.

What part of your writing time do you devote to marketing your book?

Marketing has filled up a lot of my writing time. I have been immersed in marketing research so I can find the methods that will provide the most exposure for the lease amount of funding. This may be a big downside of self-publishing, I have had to become a marketer as well as an author.

Find Day After Disaster on Amazon and Goodreads