Meet an Author Monday...Susanne Winnacker!

"Meet an Author Monday" is my way of showcasing up-and-coming authors (published and soon-to-be) to help get their names and books out there for others to see. It's a quick little interview just so you guys can get to know someone you may not have heard of before!

This week I'm pleased to welcome the lovely Susanne Winnacker to writers write, right?. Susanne is the author of the upcoming YA dystopian The Other Life, available Spring 2012 here in the UK and Fall 2012 here in the US.

Hi Susanne, and welcome to my blog...so great of you to stop by today! I see from yourwebsite that you live in beautiful Germany, where the summers are cold and the winters are colder! I've always been curious about something...how has it been for you to market yourself across the globe? Easy? Difficult? Any tips you can give on global self-marketing?

Yes, I live in Germany and you're absolutely right, it's almost always cold here! I knew I had to focus strongly on online marketing because I didn't have the chance to attend conferences or other writer events in the US or in the UK. Even before I sold my book I was already blogging and using Twitter. It was mainly to get and stay in contact with other writers and not so much a marketing tool. Marketing yourself across the globe has actually never been easier than it is today. With Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and Goodreads you can reach people all over the world, you can build friendships.

I don't think someone should start tweeting or blogging or facebooking with the sole purpose of marketing. People will get tired of someone who does nothing but talk about their book.

That is excellent advice...a great mix of book promotion and general chatting is great! Your debut YA dystopian, The Other Life, sounds awesome and I can't wait to read it. Can you tell us a tiny bit about where you got the idea?

The Other Life starts with Sherry and her family in a bunker and that was one of the first scenes that came to mind. I didn't yet know why they were in the bunker but I figured it out very fast. Numbers and counting play a big role in my book -- Sherry counts the days, weeks or months since she's done something (seen daylight or felt wend tousle her hair). I knew immediately that I wanted the counting motif to be an important part of The Other Life; the rest of the plot took a bit longer to figure out.

That's so great...what a scene to have pop into your head! So how long after signing with the amazing Julia Churchill of Greenhouse Literary did you get the news about The Other Life selling to Marshall Cavendish? An exciting time I guess?

Julia leads the UK office of Greenhouse, so we went on submission in the UK first. I sold my book to Usborne in October and then went on submission in the US. So my sale to Marshall Cavendish followed the UK deal. I signed with Julia in August and it took two months from signing to the first book deal in the UK and four months to the US deal. It was an exciting and nerve-wrecking time!

Wow, an agent and TWO book deals in only four months...that is exciting! Well, knowing that your debut book will be on bookshelves next year is a great feeling (mine will be out then, too!). What has this huge accomplishment meant to you?

It still feels very unreal to me. I guess I'll really realize it once I actually see my book on shelves. For me, seeing my book published and working in the publishing business means that I've finally found my dream job. I've never really loved what I'd been doing (studying law) and I'd almost given up on finding something I could enjoy. Being a full-time writer is a dream come true!

It is a dream job...one that I'm sure all writers have! Congrats on being able to do what you love! Now, for my final question, I ask a simple one: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one book, which would you choose and why?

One book? That's tough. It would either be The Hunger Games or Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (my favorite HP book). I could read both books over and over again and they'd never get boring.

Thanks so much, Susanne, for stopping by for an interview! And to my lovely followers, please check out Susanne's website or follow her on Twitter. And be sure to pick up a copy of The Other Life fall 2012!