Author Interview with Robbi Sommers Bryant

Hello everyone and welcome to our interview today and I promise you its gonna be interesting. Please enjoy.

As usual we'll start with pleasantries. Please tell us your name. 

Robbi Sommers Bryant.

And do you also write with other pen names?

No.

Tell us about your childhood, what was it like? 

I grew up in a suburb outside of Cincinnati. I have an older brother and younger sister. I had a great set of parents.

Good to hear that. Lets now move on to your writing, did you always know you’d be a writer? If not when did you know that you had it in you? 

I realized my knack for writing in my early high school days when I wrote a satire for in my English class “How To Catch and Hold A Man.” The teacher asked if she could keep it to show to other teachers!

That must have been amazing for you. So from then onward how long have you been doing this – writing?

I've been writing professionally since 1986.

And in terms of books, how many books have you written so far? 

I've written 1 novella, 4 novels, 5 short story collections, and 1 book of poetry.

Wow, you're diverse which is very good actually. Now tell us about your successes as a writer. 

Well, besides the books that I have published, I've had articles in many magazines including Reader’s Digest and Redbook and stories in several anthologies. 

What about successes in terms of awards?

Oh that, I have won three awards for The Controversial, The Beautiful Evil - which was a number #1 bestseller on Amazon in suspense, and 1 award, so far, for Dream.

Good for you. Most of us aspiring writers only dream of winning such awards when we finally publish. What about now, are you working on something at the moment? 

Oh yes. A novel about a woman in love with a serial killer.

Let me take you back to something you touched on earlier.  Your work at Redbook and Readers digest, tell us about it. Well, I wrote an article and submitted it to Redbook, where it was picked up. After that, Reader’s Digest contacted me and asked if they could do a reprint. From there, I went to a talk show on TV and the article was optioned twice for a movie of the week.

That is so great which leads me to my favorite question - your work has been opted not once but twice to be a movie right? 

Right.

Please walk us through it again…as in, what inspired you to write that piece, how the movie people know about it, the name of the movie and the whole process until when your work was brought into life. 

Actually, the story was never brought to life—which is the nature of show biz.  But this' how it happened, after my article appeared in Reader’s Digest and Redbook, a production co. in LA contacted me about doing a movie of the week. It was hurry, hurry, wait. Hurry, hurry wait. By then, the option ran out, so the company re-optioned it. Same story. They never got it off the ground. I was inspired to write the piece after a rapist broke into my home and I ultimately convinced him to confess.

Let me ask you something a little bit personal. I read briefly on Amazon that sometime back you lost your son in death and this greatly affected your writing. Can you tell us when and how it did affect you? 

I lost my son in 1997 and I stopped writing for over 13 years. Finally, I had a breakthrough and completed my best-selling, award winning novel, The Beautiful Evil.

We’re so sorry to hear that but at the same time you managed to overcome your sorrow and I must point out that you’re a very strong and resilient woman Robbi to not have quit writing completely right? 

Well, I didn't write for 13 years, but finally my muse returned.

Sooo much about that, tell us about your latest book and when it was released?
My latest book, Dream, was released in Oct, 2012 and just won 2^nd place in the Los Angeles Book Festival, best in genre!

Wow good for you Robbi! And how are the sales going so far? 

Even with a traditional publisher, it’s hard for people to find somewhat unknown authors. I jump up and down screaming, “Hey! Look at my books!” Sometimes I’m heard, sometimes not.

So that also happens to you! Interesting! Now, since you’re in the book business what advice can you give to new writers coming into this industry in terms of creating book awareness, launching, marketing, and developing a loyal fan base? 

I do everything I can to build a strong social platform and hope that it translates into sales. I have followers on twitter, Facebook and Linked in, although I could be posting more. I enter contests, advertise on sites such as digitalbooktoday.com, worldliterarycafe.com, look for and listen to Kindle Books Today’s Jeff Bennington. (@TweetTheBook)

According to you what makes a writer successful, as in being a bestseller, or maybe selling his/her books movie.

A successful writer, for me, is a writer who finishes his/her work and is proud of their accomplishment.

So how do you spend your free time, what do you do for fun Robbi?

For fun, I hang out with good friends, watch movies, read and …shop.

Any favorite quote you’d like to share with us? 

My own actually: Support Imagination. Read a Book.

Where can people find you and your books online (the links) 

My books can be found on Amazon: 

Dream - http://amzn.to/13nvZgW and 

The Beautiful Evil - http://amzn.to/VMkr4a

What a pleasure it has been to have you share your story with us. We wish you all the best and hope to have you back another day. Thank you.

If you are interested in having n interview on this blog please email me at fel_tim@yahoo.com