Author Interview with Candace Robinson

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Interview with Candace Robinson

Candace Robinson is the author of 16 books and short stories. Genres include; YA Romance and Fantasy, Horror and Music. I reached out to Candace for an interview back in September to talk about her tips on prolific writing, why she writes short fiction, and how to appeal to a young adult audience.

You can find Candace on her website, on Goodreads, and on Amazon!

Eliza: Candace, I am so excited to chat with you. You have such an extensive backlist of books! How long have you been writing?

Candace: I started seriously writing back in 2017, but I’ve always wanted to write. It just took me forever to finally just sit down and do it!

Eliza: Do you write every day? And do you set word count goals for yourself?

Candace: I try to write every day but if I’m not writing, I’m editing or reading. Pretty much definitely something with words!

Eliza: I was looking through your books and I noticed most of them are published by Midnight Tide Publishing, an Independent Publisher. I used to work at a small press, that no longer exists now. I know that is a fear that a lot of authors have about publishing with the little guys. What made you choose an indie publisher over a larger publisher or self-publishing?

Candace: So Midnight Tide is actually a co-op. I’m actually still indie published but it’s under their name. Basically you still do everything yourself but it’s a group of authors who help each other promote, etc. If anyone is curious about self publishing, Midnight Tide is an excellent place to check out!

Eliza: That is so neat! What a great idea for promotions. How long were you submitting your manuscripts before you were published?

Candace: I do have a few books with small presses which had been on sub for a few months. I actually prefer having the control of my own stuff when I self publish, though. Of course there is still the dream of having a book published with a big press one day but if it doesn’t happen then it’s okay too.

Eliza: What is a tip you could give other writers that are submitting their manuscripts to publishers?

Candace: If you want to sub to a small press, just look into their history and make sure they have good marketing and have been around for a little while. If you are querying for an agent, then definitely have some people look over your query as well as the first couple chapters of your manuscript.

Eliza: You have really great book covers. I especially like the cover for Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault. How much input do you get to have when choosing your book covers?

Candace: So Quinsey I self published and that was my designer’s idea. I pretty much just told her the basics of what the book was about and she came up with that. I’ll actually be having new covers for that duology soon, though!

I love short fiction because sometimes we just want to read something quick but that still has a good story. Our lives can just get so busy that long reads can just be so time-consuming. 

Eliza: I love to write novellas and I can see that you also write some short fiction! What do you like about writing short fiction?

Candace: I love short fiction because sometimes we just want to read something quick but that still has a good story. Our lives can just get so busy that long reads can just be so time-consuming. 

Eliza: You have co-authored a few books. What is that like? I’ve always wanted to write with another author, but I have no idea what that would look like!

Candace: It’s a lot of fun if you have the right partner! Basically one of us writes a chapter, then send to the other to edit, and then they write their chapter.

Eliza: My last question relates to writing Young Adult fiction. This is a super popular category and I know that a lot of people want to write YA but it’s hard to write content that is both old enough to be interesting but not so grown up that it reaches into more adult categories. How do you balance writing for the YA audience?

Candace: I write both YA and NA, but I think my YA can still get pretty dark. So it may actually be on the upper side. I’ve tried to write on the younger side and I just can’t do it lol. 

Eliza: Thanks so much for answering all my questions. This has been great. Do you have any upcoming or recent releases that you’d like to mention? Where can people find you?

Candace: Lyrics & Curses comes out in November and Tin (Faeries of Oz) comes out in December!