Q&A With Andrea Buginsky
Please welcome Andrea Buginsky to our occasional Author Entrepreneur Q&A series at Writer’s Fun Zone.
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One of our focuses at Writer’s Fun Zone is to help creative writers with their author marketing and book marketing efforts and help them make these activities fun. Let’s discuss the connections between creativity and business, what’s sustainable for our creative soul, how to make marketing fun, useful, and easy. Thanks for joining the conversation!
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About Andrea Buginsky
Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer with a BA in Mass Communication-Journalism from the University of South Florida. She has always wanted to be a published writer, and decided to try to write children’s fantasy books. The Chosen is her first book, and was released on December 14, 2010, to her delight.
Andrea has written four more books since:
* My Open Heart, an autobiography of growing up with heart disease.
* Nature’s Unbalance: The Chosen, Book 2
* Destiny: New Avalon, book 1, a YA fantasy
* Fate: New Avalon, book 2, a YA fantasyShe is currently editing the third book of The Chosen series, and writing the fourth.
Andrea lives in Kansas with her family, which includes her two precious puppies.
You can visit Andrea on her website or Google+. Remember to sign up for Andrea’s newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of her exciting events.
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On to our interview!
1. Tell us who you are and how you help authors in 100 words or less.
I am a freelance writer and author. I write YA fantasy, and have five published books. I’m a member of several online communities, and have the privilege of sharing thoughts and ideas on writing with other amazing writers.
I also love mentoring writers as they begin their journey. Granted, I’m still new myself, so I don’t have as much to offer as my own mentors, but I provide as much information as I can, and point writers in the right direction when they additional help.
I’m always happy to discuss writing. It’s my passion!
2. How did you get to this place in your life? Share your story!
I’ve always loved to write, but didn’t think of it as a career until the end of my sophomore year at college. Up until that point, I wanted to go into the medical field and work with kids with heart disease. I grew up with heart disease, and felt I could be someone to help them through their tough times.
However, that was not in the cards. I had a hard time with the math and science courses required. Not knowing what to do, my sister said, “You love to write. Why not do that?” So I switched to writing.
3. What got you into this work. Tell us the story.
After graduating college, I knew I couldn’t get a “real” job because of my heart condition, so I started freelance writing. The Internet was starting to widen, and more at-home jobs were available.
About a year later, I decided I wanted to write a book. I tried my hand at an adult romance novel because I loved reading Danielle Steel novels. But it just wasn’t working.
Then I saw the movie “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” and realized that’s what I wanted to write: Fantasy. And I wanted to write for teens. The YA world was exploding at the time, so it was perfect.
I wrote my first book, The Chosen, and submitted it to publishers. It was picked up by an Indie publishing company as an eBook. Again, this was when eBooks were just starting to take off. When my contract with the publisher ended, I decided to publish my books myself. I love it!
I now have five published books, including My Open Heart, my story of growing up with heart disease. It is near and dear to my heart.
I love writing my books and publishing them. They are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
4. What are you most passionate about?
My family. I’ve always been very close to them, and feel very connected to them. I moved away a couple of years ago, but I am still very close to them. I must talk to my parents at least three times a week. Sometimes, there’s nothing to say, but I love just being on the other end of the phone with them.
5. Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process, routine, and/or rituals around your writing?
My writing process is simple: I sit at my desk, open my document, read over what I’ve written so far, and add more to the story. I don’t have a set schedule; I write when I feel up to it. When I feel the book is done, I begin editing it. When I feel it’s clean enough, I pass it on to my editor. Once we’ve worked through a few drafts, I pass it on to my beta readers. Once they give their thumbs up, I publish it on Amazon.
That’s my routine, quick and simple. I don’t have any rituals or quirks like I hear other writers have. I don’t know why, I just don’t. I would like to though, because I feel that adds more fun and mystery to the work.
The only part of my process that has changed over the past year is that I need to outline now in order to keep my storyline going. I used to write by the seat of my pants, and just add more and more as I go, but lately, I’ve found that an outline helps me keep things organized and on track.
6. What are a few challenges you faced in creating, marketing, or publishing your creative work? And your solutions to them.
I face many creative challenges, including coming up with new storylines, keeping the stories and characters fresh in my series so readers don’t become bored, and improving my writing with each book.
Marketing has always been hard for me. I’m on all the social media sites authors are supposed to be, and I post what I can when I can, but I’m still working out what to post when and where for best results.
Self-Publishing is a bit of a challenge because I have to do all of the formatting and uploading myself. You’d think it would get easier with each book, but it hasn’t so far. It’s very time-consuming and tiring, but in the end, worth all of the time and energy it took to get it published.
When I struggle, I know I can talk to my groups, ask questions, and get help. I recommend writers find as many different groups as possible to ask questions and receive help from.
7. What do you wish you had known before you started writing, and before you started your business helping authors?
How to set up my social media network so that it was already in place, with followers. Then, I could have made a huge announcement that my first book was out and already have readers waiting for it, rather than have to jump into the deep end of the pool and say, “Hi, I’m Andrea, and I have this book I just wrote. Nice to meet you.”
8. What’s next for you in your creative work and your biz?
I am currently adding finishing touches to my sixth book, and have started drafting the seventh.
I also plan to step back and take a look at my platform, clean it up if needed, and give it a shiny new coating.
9. If you haven’t already above, please share about your creative work/your books/products.
My works:
* The Chosen: The Chosen Series, Book One
* My Open Heart
* Nature’s Unbalance: The Chosen, Book 2
* Destiny: New Avalon, book 1
* Fate: New Avalon, book 2
Giveaway
Comment below to enter Andrea’s giveaway. She’ll pick a winner June 25th.
The Chosen: The Chosen Series, Book One
Halli thought she was just another dwarf, living a quiet life in Drumple, her village on Phantasma. When Queen Laurali of the elves shows up, Halli’s entire life changes. She learns the truth about herself, and must quickly adapt to being a Holy Paladin in order to join The Chosen, a group of warriors selected for a mission to save Phantasma.
Now, Halli must face her biggest fears and learn to believe in herself, as will her companions. Will The Chosen be able to come together to save their world from the evil that is set on destroying it? Only time will tell.
To connect with Andrea, check out his Author Links:
Site Link: http://www.andreabuginsky.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreabuginsky
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Andrea.Buginsky.Author
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=63750318
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/andreabuginsky/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/andreabuginsky/
