Author Spotlight: Tanya Carroll Richardson
I haven’t done an Author Spotlight post in a few months so it’s definitely time for one! In previous spotlights, I’ve featured authors from a variety of genres, including: science fiction, children’s picture books, middle grade historical fiction, financial literacy, memoir, fiction with a mental health theme, guide books for addressing different family topics and, now, spiritual self-help.
Meet Tanya Carroll Richardson, author of the upcoming book Angel Insights and also Heaven on Earth, a guided journal published in 2015. I met Tanya once many years ago and I could tell she had a great sense of adventure and passion for life. She has directed some of that passion for life towards helping people “make sense of their past, present and future as an intuitive, and help them make contact with their spiritual support team—especially their angels.”
In this Author Spotlight, Tanya gives us the scoop on her motivation for writing in this genre, how she reaches out to readers, her experience with the publishing process and advice for others hoping to write a book. Thanks, Tanya – and look for web links in the interview if you want to learn more about Tanya and pre-order her book!
What motivated you to write in the spiritual self-help genre?
I’ve always been very spiritual, and I got into the self-help genre about 12 years ago when I became very ill. That also brought me to a new level of faith. I don’t identify with any one religion, so Llewellyn—a mind, body, spirit publisher—was a perfect fit for me.
Tell us about your new book and any previous books. Any new projects in the works?
My latest book, which is out May 8, is Angel Insights (Llewellyn Worldwide). It’s a 300-page nonfiction book about angels: who they are, how to communicate with them, how to get more help and guidance from angels. I have been interviewing people about their angel encounters for over a decade, and I am also a professional intuitive (meaning I give psychic readings) and work closely with angels in my sessions with clients. I came out with a guided journal in 2015 called Heaven on Earth (Sterling Ethos), and in November of 2016 Forever in My Heart: A Grief Journal (Ulysses Press), releases. I am also working on a series of romantic fantasy novels, but I’ve had to put those on hold temporarily while I write guest blogs to promote Angel Insights.
What has been your experience with the publishing process?
Well, I got very close to selling a novel about 15 years ago. I had agents at big houses like Little Brown pitching it at the edit meetings and whole teams of people at a house taking it home to read over the weekend. My agent felt really excited about the book and told me from the beginning it would go to auction (this is the dream: a bunch of publishing houses bidding on your book and jacking up the advance price). After about a year it all calmed down. No one made a solid offer. My agent was wonderful, and so supportive. But really it completely broke my heart. I let the experience devastate me. I got a job at a magazine where I ghostwrote nonfiction stories and found that very safe and fulfilling, and just hid out from the book world for a long time. I don’t look at it as a mistake because everything happened for a reason. I learned a lot about writing at that magazine, and I worked on my health and went deeper with my spirituality.
The genre I was originally writing in, literary fiction, is not my calling. My calling is to help people make sense of their past, present and future as an intuitive, and help them make contact with their spiritual support team—especially their angels. The books I write now are a wonderful compliment to that, where I can touch a large amount of people instead of being limited by a one-on-one session with a client (although I LOVE those one-on-one sessions). It was tough getting back into the book world though, when my nonfiction agent and I sent the proposal around for my 2015 guided journal I had a bit of PTSD, worrying that it would all come to nothing again. But I was wiser, a better writer and more determined this time. And I had the emotional maturity to realize that one “failure” isn’t even close to the end of the world. Writers really require two things: a thick skin, and the ability to pick themselves up very quickly and try again after rejection.
What methods have you used to reach out to your readers (social media? YouTube? tv/radio? book signings/discussions?)
I’m so glad you asked this question! I have a good Facebook following and a decent Twitter following. My husband helps me make my YouTube videos. I’m obviously working all of those to presell and soon sell the book. Also I have a FANTASTIC publicist at my book company, and I am doing an article for Mind Body Green (website) and a series of articles for Beliefnet (website) to promote the book. I’ve also been doing radio shows and podcasts. The great thing about PR is that it works—people seek you out and order your book if they like your podcast or article.
I was having lunch with a friend yesterday who is the senior editor at an imprint here in NYC. And we were agreeing that all anyone wants to know anymore is: “How big is the author’s platform?” It’s to the point that you get sick of hearing that word “platform.” Platform is especially important in nonfiction. The author’s platform is how many potential readers they can reach on their own, without the help of the publisher or extra promotion. When agents and editors are looking at an author’s platform, they will grade it based on how many Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest followers the author has. It’s not enough to simply have these accounts open and active. They want to see a large number of followers. Same with YouTube. How many subscribers does the author have? How many views and comments are on the videos? If you have strong ties to a print or online publication—say you are the staff editor of a magazine or have a weekly online blog on a big website—that will also reflect very favorably on your platform. And of course if you’ve published books that sold well in the past those figures are a slam dunk for your platform. Publishing is getting more and more competitive, and publishing companies are struggling more than they have in the past, so they want authors who are sure bets. Authors who are guaranteed to sell. Will they take a chance on someone with no platform and a great manuscript? Yes, they will do this for a certain number of authors every year, but I fear that number is getting smaller and smaller. This is different with fiction. In the fiction market a good, sellable manuscript is still king. Of course how well or not well your previous fiction books have sold counts enormously. It can be frustrating if you just started an FB author page and struggled to get 500 likes from friends and family. Don’t get discouraged. But do push yourself to try and increase that platform as much as you can, even if you are a fiction author. Buy some Facebook ads to attract people to your page who like the subject you write about. Pitch articles that are a tie-in to your book to big websites. Or if you are a fiction author enter contests, apply for grants and publish in literary journals.
What’s your writing process like?
I don’t really have writers’ block, which I know is very real for some people. I think that is partly from working at newspapers and magazines for so long where there were very tight deadlines. There was no time for writers block. Also, I’m a pretty outgoing person and a natural risk taker, so I’m not the type to be shy about showing my writing or afraid I will write the “wrong thing.” In the past few years since I’ve been writing books again, I find I start planning the book in my mind and take detailed notes for several months before I start writing, and before I get my agent involved and start thinking through a book proposal (if the book is nonfiction). I’m in that process now of planning and note taking for my next nonfiction book, which will be about what I’ve learned as a professional intuitive.
Do you have any words of wisdom for those hoping to write a book?
Yeah, just go for it! Think of how many times you read a book and hated it, or picked up a book at the store and thought, “This idea is so simple.” Look at the whole thing, including the publishing process, as an adventure. And remember being a writer is only one part of your life, and fame, on any scale, doesn’t always have much to do with talent or hard work, so don’t judge yourself if things don’t work out the way you hope. Have fun with it! The book inside you could inspire someone else or even change their life.
Thanks again to Tanya!
To preorder Angel Insights for yourself or anyone who is curious about angels, here’s the Amazon link:
amazon.com/Angel-Insights-Inspiring-Spiritual-Guardians/dp/0738747955
Also, if you’re interested in receiving a one-on-one intuitive reading from Tanya, check out this link to learn more:
http://tanyablessings.com/angel-readings-with-tanya/
