Connie Briscoe Presents–
Author Kimberla Lawson Roby

Bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has written 10 novels. Her latest, Sin No More, was published earlier this year and has already hit #16 on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction and #4 on the Wal*Mart bestseller list for hardcover titles.

Kimberla has been so successful that few people realize that her debut novel, Behind Closed Doors, was originally self-published. Here she shares marketing tips for authors and much more.

Connie Briscoe: You’re on book tour for your latest novel Sin No More. What do you like about touring? What could you do without?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: The best thing about touring is meeting all of my loyal and very dedicated readers, people I never would have had the amazing opportunity to meet had I not written any books. It’s wonderful because when I hear positive and enthusiastic comments about my work during discussions, it encourages me to keep doing what I do.

The one thing, however, I could sometimes do without is very early morning wake-ups! This isn’t always the case, but there are many times when I do need to take early morning flights to get to the next city.

CB: I know all about the 5 a.m. wake-ups when you’ve been up until late the night before at a book signing. A lot of people don’t realize how tough book tours can be.

Your novels always do so well, hitting the New York Times and Essence bestseller lists consistently. Do you think touring actually helps sell books?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: I really do. I always say that whenever you meet readers in person and they also enjoy your work, they are your readers for life.

CB: What else do you do to promote your novels besides touring?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: In addition to what my publisher does for each book, I also do lots of pre-publication promotion on my own. To name a few items, I send newsletters out to my mailing lists, hold contests for general readers as well as a separate contest for book clubs nationwide.

And I get a lot of traffic on my web site, which I keep updated with my current book signings, events, speaking engagements, and other information. I now also have a MySpace page, and this has proven to be a wonderful marketing tool as well.

CB: Yes, MySpace is a wonderful marketing and networking tool for authors. How do you come up with your story ideas?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: I always try to write about real-life social issues, so I am inspired by all sorts of topics. I never base my stories on any real situation, but I am inspired by much of what I see and hear.

CB: How do you come up with your characters?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: Once I know what topic I’m going to be focusing on, I spend days mentally creating my characters. I do this for weeks and eventually they become very real people for me.

CB: Do you outline or write character sketches? If so, tell us how you do it. If not, how do you organize your writing?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: Yes, I do outline each book I write. Basically, what I do is write a synopsis of each chapter, which can range anywhere from one to two pages and sometimes even three, depending on how in-depth I want it to be. Then, when I finish the outline, I write the actual chapters.

CB: Do you feel pressure to write more frequent or more detailed sex scenes in your novels these days?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: No, actually, as of Sin No More, I stopped writing detailed sex scenes of any kind. Even in my past novels, I never wrote erotica and worked hard not to write anything offensive, but I finally realized it just wasn’t necessary to include all the details unless the story is somehow centered on sex.

CB: How much do you draw from your real life for your novels?

Kimberla Lawson Roby: The only time I based a character on myself was in my fourth novel, It’s a Thin Line. I based the Sydney character on me and the Delores character on my mom, who really did have a benign brain tumor. It was very therapeutic for me, and the other reason I wrote it was because I wanted to show what it was like losing the most important person in my life, my best friend, and how it took a lot of prayer and every bit of faith I had to get through a loss of that magnitude.

Also, I wanted to show how even though my mom was the one dying, she never stopped lifting up me or the rest of our family. She kept her faith strong until the very end.

Visit the Kimberla Lawson Roby website site for more.