Completely Novel Interview

An innovative and exciting new web site recently contacted me regarding an interview. http://www.completelynovel.com/ is a free web application for everyone who loves books - writers, readers, publishers, agents, printers. In fact anyone in the books business. The interview is posted on the community page of the CompletelyNovel website - http://www.completelynovel.com/community. You will need to log-in to CompletelyNovel in order to see it there, but you can do so by going to http://www.completelynovel.com/ and using the following invite code: cnrowson

Here is an extract from the interview:

"Pauline Rowson's marine mystery crime novels may feature the 'flawed and rugged' DI Horton but there's nothing flawed about her company, Rowmark, which she set-up as a Marketing Agency before branching into publishing. By drawing on her marketing skills and publishing her own brand of fiction and business books, Pauline has learned a great deal about the industry. We wanted to know more…

Before becoming a writer, you did some work in marketing, has this helped you when it comes to getting your book out to the right people?

All authors need to market themselves. I use my marketing skills in my 'business' as a professional writer. It has helped me to keep my name in front of people, to network and build contacts and to spread the word about my books.

Your Marine Mystery crime novels are quite different from the business books you have also written – what made you decide to start writing that kind of genre?

I started writing fiction seriously twenty years ago. I began with historical novels but it wasn't until I wrote my first crime fiction novel that I knew I was on the right track. In between writing fiction though I was running my own Marketing and Training company and I thought some of the training material I developed would make very good practical business books. So I wrote some books on marketing, which were extremely well received by readers. I set up a publishing division in my company. I learnt a great deal about the publishing world through doing this, and earlier this year I sold all my business titles to Crimson Publishing who are relaunching them in 2009. However writing fiction, and crime and thriller fiction, is my first love.

Your novel, In Cold Daylight. was shortlisted for the World Book Day Prize in 2008. What effect has this had on sales of that book?

It boosted sales of that book and hence sales of my other books, which I am delighted with. It also raised my profile in the publishing and book selling world and introduced my work to new readers.

To begin with, you decided to start your own publishing company to publish your books. Many would consider that to be quite a brave decision. What made you decide to do things that way, and has it paid off?

I knew exactly how I wanted my business books to look and what they should contain, and because of my marketing background I wanted strong branding. Publishing them myself was by far the best option because it gave me complete control and it taught me a huge amount about how the whole publishing industry works. Therefore when my first crime novel was ready for publication I decided to launch it under a new imprint of my own company in order to develop the branding of Marine Mysteries, and to test the market place. It has paid off considerably. Because I could prove that my books were popular with readers, and I was generating sales, a publisher then approached me with a two book contract and I have sold translation rights, e book rights and audio rights. I am also now published in the USA and my novels are on sale worldwide.

From your blog it is pretty clear that you are a very busy person! Can you give us some insight into what are you doing at the moment?

I have just finished writing a murder mystery play, called Murder at the Pelican Club. I am revising three business books for publication in May 2009. I am seeing my new Marine Mystery crime novel, Dead Man's Wharf, through to publication with my editor for April 2009. I'm waiting for the Polish edition of In Cold Daylight to be published on 28 November 2008 and I'm revising the next DI Horton Marine Mystery for publication in 2010, plus I'm progressing some overseas deals, which are bubbling along in the pipeline. So quite a lot to keep me busy!"

You can see the full interview on http://www.completelynovel.com/ and if you log in using the code:cnrowson then you will, I am sure, find lots more on the web site to interest you.

Alternatively visit the blog http://blog.completelynovel.com/