Best selling science fiction and paranormal romance author Veronica Scott is my guest today. Veronica has two grown daughters, a grandson and two cats (Keanu and Jake). For her day job she works at a major aerospace Lab (think Mars rovers) in the business side of the house and has been awarded a NASA Exceptional Service Medal for process improvements (but her heart lies with writing romances, not contracts!). She’s published by Carina Press and also self publishes.

What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write in both science fiction adventure/romance and paranormal romance. I have one series that I’ve been self publishing which occurs in the far future and then my paranormals are set in Ancient Egypt. I’ve always loved science fiction, which is my Dad’s influence, as he kept the book shelves full of all the newest SF. My mother was a frustrated archaeologist, I think, and had every single Time-Life book about ancient civilizations and tons of historical novels on her side of the shelves. So I basically read everything and when I ran out of books to read, I started writing my own. Another excellent piece of advice is to write the book you can’t find on the shelf. Currently I can’t find enough books set in ancient Egypt with a paranormal twist (although of course there are some) and there are just never enough SF romances! Not for a voracious reader like yours truly LOL.

What inspired your latest book?

ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE is set on a planet in my far future universe. The events are loosely inspired by the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion in India, where many British women and children were caught in the middle of a horrific war and people they expected to protect them turned out to be enemies in many cases. I’ve always wondered what I would do if I were caught in a similar situation. So as the book opens, my heroine is a guest of the planetary ruler’s family, in a very isolated locale and she knows things aren’t quite right…well, you’ll see when we get to the book’s blurb below!

How does your family feel about your writing career?

They’re extremely supportive! One of my daughters is also a published novelist and they both have worked as free lance editors so they “get it”.

How much time do you spend promoting your books? What works best for you?

I think promo can take as much of your time as you’ll let it! When I have a book just coming out, I give more time than normal to doing guest blogs, for example (and thank you again for having me here!). I’m a regular blogger and tweeter every day anyway, not just about my books, but life in general. When there’s a new release, the pace does pick up for a few weeks. I’ve bought some ads here and there, promoted a few Facebook posts…Goodreads ads and giveaways are very effective for me. I personally love having a book trailer. I don’t think they actually give the books much of a boost but they make me happy. Truly though, the best promo in the world is writing the next book and getting it out there!

How has your experience with self-publishing been?

I LOVE self publishing. I enjoy the control over all aspects of the book – the cover art, the promo, the timing of my next release, no rejection letters LOL…on the flipside, I have to be the one taking care of all the business details, which can cut into the writing time. I enjoy being part of the Carina Press family too though – highly professional and friendly editors, staff and fellow authors. I’ve learned so much from my association with Carina!

What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?

You really need to have the book professionally edited. That is a MUST, in my opinion. Pay for a professionally created cover, unless you yourself ARE a professional cover artist. Become active on whichever types of social media are comfortable for you (no need to do them all LOL). Realize self publishing is definitely a business. Join one or several of the author loops like the one Marie Force set up, where she and many other highly successful self published authors generously share tips: selfpublish@yahoogroups.com

And of course, keep writing the next book and the one after that…

What was the deciding factor in self-publishing your book(s)? Did you decide on ebook or print only or both?

Ironically, I kind of fell into self publishing in January 2012 because I realized it was the year for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking and my SF adventure novel WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM is a loose retelling of the Titanic, set in the far future on a luxury spaceliner. The manuscript was finished but I’d set it aside while working with Carina on my first book for them. There wasn’t any time to go through the process of submitting WRECK anywhere if I was going to time the release with the April 14th anniversary of the sinking. So, long story short, I had the book professionally edited, got a gorgeous cover from artist Fiona Jayde, and got the book out, all in three months. WRECK went on to win an SFR Galaxy Award and became an Amazon kindle SF Best Seller. So, my first experience with self publishing was on the encouraging side and a huge thank you to everyone who bought the book!

It’s available as an e-book, a paperback and an audiobook.

Give us an elevator pitch for your current book, ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE.

Andi Markriss hasn’t exactly enjoyed being the houseguest of the planetary high-lord, but her company sent her to represent them at a political wedding. When hotshot Sectors Special Forces Captain Tom Deverane barges in on the night of the biggest social event of the summer, Andi isn’t about to offend her high-ranking host on Deverane’s say-so—no matter how sexy he is, or how much he believes they need to leave now.

Deverane was thinking about how to spend his retirement bonus when HQ assigned him one last mission: rescue a civilian woman stranded on a planet on the verge of civil war. Someone has pulled some serious strings to get her plucked out of the hot zone. Deverane’s never met anyone so hard-headed—or so appealing. Suddenly his mission to protect this one woman has become more than just mere orders.

That mission proves more dangerous than he expected when rebel fighters attack the village and raze it to the ground. Deverane escapes with Andi, and on their hazardous journey through the wilderness, Andi finds herself fighting her uncomfortable attraction to the gallant and courageous captain. But Deverane’s not the type to settle down, and running for one’s life doesn’t leave much time to explore a romance.

Then Andi is captured by the rebel fighters, but Deverane has discovered that Zulaire’s so-called civil war is part of a terrifying alien race’s attempt to subjugate the entire Sector. If he pushes on to the capitol Andi will die. Deverane must decide whether to save the woman he loves, or sacrifice her to save Zulaire.

What’s next for you?

I have DANCER OF THE NILE coming out in mid October and MAGIC OF THE NILE in January, both self published. (The first two books in this connected series were published by Carina Press. Each book is a standalone story.) I’m working on my next SFR, which also will be self published.

Where can readers find you?

Blog Facebook Twitter Goodreads Amazon Author Page Newsletter
I also blog weekly at Word Whores and on Paranormal Romantics on the 13th of every month.

Where can readers find your books? Print/Ebook?

ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE is available on AMAZON for kindle and as POD paperback Nook Kobo All Romance eBooks and iTunes Smashwords
You can always find my books on Amazon! Several of my books are available as audiobooks also.

Excerpt from ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE.

Captain Tom Deverane has been trying to persuade Andi Markriss, the heroine, that she needs to leave her host’s isolated summer compound and leave with him now.

“I was told your boss made numerous attempts to get in touch with you, right until the moment he and the rest of the Loxton staff took a ship offworld.”

“Dave left Zulaire? They’ve all gone?” Now Andi fell back into the chair, raising a small puff of dust from the plush cushion beneath her. A wave of nausea rippling through her gut, she ran a hand through her hair, looping the tendrils behind her ear. “I don’t understand any of this. Why would my boss and my co-workers leave without me? Why wouldn’t the Tonkilns tell me? You’re still not making sense.”

Deverane came to hunker down in front of her chair, caging her with his arms, invading her personal space. Inhaling sharply, she caught a whiff of musk and forest and man, threaded with some delicious spicy note. She glanced down at his hands, strong, capable, locked on the chair close to her body. As if to calm an upset child, his voice was soothing and low. “Relax. We can get you offplanet in a military transport once you’re safely in the capital.”

She lifted her head, gazing straight into his eyes. Half-formed thoughts chased each other in her mind. The longer he talked, the more nervous she got, but it was still all too much to take in. Loxton only pulled staff offworld in the most serious situations. I haven’t heard a whiff of trouble. Dave wouldn’t have left me behind. Would he?

Deverane touched her arm lightly. “There have been incidents all summer. People disappearing, vehicles abandoned on the transportway with no sign of the occupants. There have even been some small-scale massacres in isolated villages, both Obati and Shenti. The violence keeps escalating. Command thinks a full-blown war is only a breath away, waiting for some convenient incident to touch it off. Lord Tonkiln and the others have chosen to keep things quiet, leaving their families at risk out here in order to demonstrate their belief in their own supremacy. Putting on a pretense of things going along as usual. Or else they refuse to see what’s coming. Civilians.”

He might as well have said idiots.

Deverane frowned at her, three deep wrinkles marring the strong sweep of his forehead. “Are you prepared to take the same risk?”

He’s invading my personal space, damn it. I don’t intimidate that easily, pal. She pushed at his rock-hard shoulders. Standing, he moved away a pace or two, still keeping his eyes locked on her. Licking her lips, Andi smoothed down her silky skirt. “You’re insinuating my hosts have deceived me and deliberately put me in harm’s way? I find that insulting.”

Eyes closed, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re a pawn to them.” Now he reopened his eyes and flung his arms out, hands wide open. “You mean nothing to them. If you’re going to refuse my offer of evacuation, then you’d better be ready to take care of yourself, because I guarantee you the Obati won’t.”