Today’s Write Out Loud interview features Erika Robuck. I had the privilege of meeting Erika at the Maryland Writers’ Association Banquet in May. Erika writes historical fiction and has self-published her first novel. Born and raised in Annapolis, she spends her time in Maryland and North Carolina with her husband, three children, and miniature schnauzer. Erika is interested in the relationship of the arts, and uses music, paintings, and photography to inspire her writing. She received her undergraduate degree from Stevenson University in Liberal Arts, with a minor in Literature. She has studied writing at Algonkian and Gotham Workshops, and at St. John’s College in Annapolis, and keeps a writer’s blog called Muse.

WOL: Tell us a little bit about your novel.

ER: In Receive Me Falling, a woman from the present day inherits an abandoned plantation on the Caribbean island of Nevis, whose ghosts won’t let her rest until she uncovers their story. The novel takes place in two time periods—the present day and the early nineteenth century—and deals with the relationship of the past and the present, the burden of sin from one generation to the next, and freedom versus enslavement. It’s Possession meets Water for Elephants on a Caribbean sugar plantation.

WOL: Where did the idea for your book come from?

ER: My husband and I wanted to plan a trip for our anniversary, and I started looking up information on Nevis at a friend’s recommendation.  We never actually made it to the island, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with it.  I was fascinated by the rich past of the tiny island.  After reading many books about Nevis, and looking through hundreds of photographs, the idea for the story was born.

WOL: How long did it take you to write?

ER: The book took roughly nine months to write, but with the revision and publishing process, it’s been about five years.

WOL: You mentioned your story idea was born from your love of a location. Did the story then evolve from character or plot ideas?

ER: My story started with a character—a woman at odds with her position as a slave owner being pressured by her family and legacy on one hand, and by abolitionists and her own conscience on the other.  I dropped her in the early nineteenth century in the tropics to see how she would fare.

WOL: You decided to self-publish your book. Why did you choose to go this route rather than the traditional publishing route?

ER: I tried to seriously query agents for a year, and rejection letters kept boiling down to the fact that I was a first time, previously unpublished writer with no platform or celebrity.  They loved the book, but they just weren’t sure they could sell it to a publisher without more credentials in place.  I tried to be patient, but book clubs kept asking for the book, and I was getting great feedback by those who had read it.  One agent actually suggested that I self-publish, see how I could do on my own with sales, and then use that information to query agents.  I couldn’t be happier with my decision to self-publish.  I’ve sold about 1,000 books since March and I’ve hired a publicist to see if I can get some national interest. I’m getting very close on the agent search, so I’ll keep you posted on that.

WOL: That’s a significant number of books to have sold independently in less than a year. In what ways do you promote yourself and your novel?

ER: I just did some posts on publicity at my writer’s blog. If you’d like to direct your readers there for a bunch of tips the article is For Writers: Do It Yourself Publicity. [WOL Note: She also wrote a Part 2 on Getting Into Bookstores that is very informative.]

WOL: If a novelist were considering self-publishing, what advice would you give him or her?

ER: My advice to those considering self-publishing is to make sure you are ready to work, because it takes a lot of fairs, festivals, and signings to get good numbers. Selling books in person has been my biggest success. Also, if you want bookstores and the public to take you seriously, you must invest in a good cover.

WOL: What are you working on now?

ER: I’m working on a novel set in Depression-era Key West around the demise of Ernest Hemingway’s second marriage.  I’m heavy in the research stage, and I’m about a third of the way through a first draft of the novel.

WOL: Are you prone to working on multiple fiction projects at the same time, or do you spend all your time on one project until it’s complete and then move on? Why?

ER: I’m fairly loyal to working one piece at a time.  As an historical fiction writer, I immerse myself so fully in the research for a book, that I can’t give my attention to anything else.  I did work up an outline for a sequel to my first novel, but most of my attention is devoted to the Hemingway book at this time.

WOL: Having had such a positive experience with self-publishing thus far, would you consider self-publishing your next novel?

ER: I’d definitely consider it again. I do think, however, that it will be an easier sell to agents because it’s high interest (Hemingway), is one genre (historical fiction), and I’ve built more of a platform.

Thanks to Erika for sharing her writing life and publishing experience with us. If you want to talk with Erika more, would like her to visit your bookclub or want to learn more about Receive Me Falling and her other projects, you can find her on Twitter. You can also learn more at her website and her blog.