Claire Farrell Interview-Author of Verity

I recently discovered a new werewolf novel and fell in love with it from the first chapter. I bought the book at midnight (probably not the best idea) and stayed up until 4 am. I really enjoyed the story line and characters and can't wait until the sequel comes out. Here's a little information about Verity by Claire Farrell:

Verity by Claire Farrell
Published: April 24, 2011
Versions: kindle

Summary (from goodreads):
Perdita Rivers has spent her entire sheltered life being told what to do. Lately, she's felt ready for a change and the universe seems to agree. Her new best friend's brother is the boy of Perdita's dreams. Literally. Even though he plays hot and cold, she's sure there's more to it, but she's kind of distracted by the sense she's being followed-not to mention the rumors of wild animal sightings that seem to mean more to her new crush's family than they should. Perdy's on a mission to find the truth but maybe the truth is the danger she should hide from, after all.

And then here's the interview from the wonderful author, Claire Farrell:

1.) When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer.  Telling stories in one form or another has always been my idea of fun.  It’s never been a choice; the stories pester you until you set them free.  J 

 2.) What was your inspiration behind Verity?

Verity was probably the first novel I finished (years ago), and that was because I fell in love with the characters.   It’s been rewritten a few times since it began.  Werewolves are my absolute favourite paranormal creatures, and at the time I couldn’t find many y/a books in which the werewolf was one of the main characters, so I decided I had to write about them.  I didn’t want the full-moon sort, and I set out to write a specific story, but it took on a life of its own.

I quite liked the idea of a reluctant werewolf, and I had to come up with why he was a werewolf which in turn led to the sister who desperately wanted to be the thing he despised about himself.  I needed a girl to see the real him, someone who could discover herself in the process.

I did a lot of research on ancient werewolf legends because I wanted to see if any would fit in with the ideas I had.  Some were dead-on, and I managed to fit them in without changing what I already had. 

 3.) Why did you decide to self publish your books?

 I’ve always wanted to write, but the publishing industry never really interested me.  Even the books on the bestseller lists in Ireland were never the sort I liked to write.  I have never queried, and the idea of writing fiction as a job felt like an impossible dream.  I don’t have the mindset or personality to write to a specific formula, or be bound by a contract, and the idea of writing a book under a time limit freaks me out, quite frankly.  I knew that typical trade publishing wasn’t for me.

I kept writing, but not as frequently in my late teens and early twenties because of work and starting my own family.  I had already written a couple of novels, but the thought of other people actually reading them didn’t occur to me so much.

By the time I started to hear about the new interest in ebooks, I had received a Sony ereader as a gift.  I totally turned my nose up at it until I tried it, and you couldn’t pry it out of my hands.  I put serious consideration into self publishing ebooks, and when Amazon allowed international writers to publish on their platform, I decided to group up some old short stories and publish them as a collection.  I wanted to experiment, and it went so well that I realised it was absolutely for me.  I haven’t regretted it once.

 4.) What are the titles of your books that you have self published and where can you purchase them?

 Verity is my young adult paranormal romance.  Thirst and Taunt are book one and two in my urban fantasy (Ava Delaney) series.  I also have three short story collections: One Night with the Fae, Sixty Seconds, and A Little Girl in My Room & Other Stories which are probably not suitable for younger readers. My ebooks should be available on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony ebookstore, and Diesel.  I’m working on paperback versions of Verity and Taunt.

 5.) What genre do your books fall category to?

My published novels are urban fantasy and young adult paranormal romance; my published short stories are mostly horror and urban fiction.

 6.) What are the positives of self/indie publishing?

 You make all of the decisions, and sales reporting is quick and transparent.  Complete creative control is a huge deal, and it means you aren’t relying on anyone else.  For me, it’s a worthy sacrifice.  If your book isn’t doing well, it’s because of something you did/didn’t do, and that’s easy to change. Everything is immediate and relatively simple.  There’s a huge community of indie publishers willing to work together and help each other.  There are no secrets.  The best part is the feedback from readers.  There will always be people who won’t read indie books, and that’s something I completely understand, but the amount of indie fans out there is kind of astounding.  Like indie music, it is the fans who propel books to the top of the charts. 

 7.) What are the negatives of self/indie publishing?

 You make all of the decisions.  J  You generally don’t have a team behind you, no marketing help, and no real platform at first.  Any help you receive tends to come with a price.  It can be scary trying to make the best decisions when you don’t have experience in publishing and marketing.  Plus, it is a LOT of work.  It’s not the easy way out.  You're working against a bit of prejudice, and most writers don't have the full set of skills you need to publish a book, so hiring work can be expensive at first.  It's a huge learning curve, and it's hard to get noticed amongst so many great writers.

 8.) When is your next novel coming out?

I planned on releasing a new y/a book with a male protag, but as I’ve been asked when sequels are coming out, I think I should probably stick to my current series.  I’m hoping to release the sequel to Verity next, possibly before Christmas.

 Thanks again Claire for doing the interview. You can buy Verity on ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Sony Ebookstore.