Behind The Books – Follow Up Interview With Colleen Hoover Plus TWO Sets of Signed Books to Give Away!

QUICK EXCITING NEWS UPDATE!!! Colleen Hoover just left us this comment:

“Oh my gosh. Came to check out the comments, and just….wow. I don’t even know how to begin to say thank you. To you, Maryse…and to everyone who has helped get these books to where they are. I know the time has come to an end to enter, but I just can’t not give away more. Go ahead and pick ten winners, Maryse! They deserve it!”

You got it, Colleen!!! I’ve just randomly selected 10 winners and am emailing the bunch of you! Check your emails, as I will need your mailing addresses to forward to Colleen 🙂

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Today is another big day with yet another HUGE release! Many of us are already quite familiar with these two unputtdownable books and the amazing author that wrote them. Colleen Hoover rocked my world back in March of 2012, and her books Slammed and Point of Retreat will EASILY make the upper end of my Best of 2012 list!

These had EVERYTHING I want in a read. EVERYTHING! A lot of heart. Real-life heart wrenching reality. Heartwarming, and at times, heartbreaking. Plus, one of my favorite things in a book. Romantic tension that will make your heart race, skip beats, sink and soar. Book one made me gasp in shock, groan OH NOOOOOO!!!! NO! WAY! and then delight in the revelation that I didn’t even see coming. And it made me sob. Book two, well… it just completed me. It is the perfect set!

And guess what! We have TWO sets of signed books to giveaway. Colleen Hoover said so herself:

“In fact, I’m going to give you two copies each of both the new versions to give away for the blog!”

So we will get to pick TWO winners in this giveaway!!!

Are you ready to find out more about the author? She has some new tidbits for us about what’s next!

Maryse: *big squeeeezy hug* Hi Colleen! What a GREAT day this is. I’m absolutely beaming. Congratulations on your huge success!!

Wow, not even a year after the release, and your books have skyrocketed to the best sellers list and you’ve been signed by a big publisher! Did you envision this in your future?

Colleen: Absolutely, positively NOT. This whole thing was never even a dream of mine, because it felt too far out of reach. I still pinch myself on a daily basis.

Maryse: You absolutely deserve it! Your books took my breath away (many times), and I couldn’t put them down. I know many of my fellow readers had the same “butterflying” amazing experience reading them. How much has your life and (your dreams and future writing projects) changed since the release of your books?

Colleen: When I published SLAMMED, I had just received a promotion at work that I’d been busting my butt to get for two years. I envisioned that life as my future, but apparently my life had different plans. I went with it, and I’m so glad I did. I love being able to do something I love on a daily basis and be able to make a living doing it.

As far as future projects go, I’m going to be completely honest. I actually (this is the first time I’m announcing this) just finished my first draft of the third book in the SLAMMED series. However, I’m shelving it for a good while before I go in to edit it. It was a different feeling finishing this one than when I finished the first two. I was in love with my first two books, but I’m not in love with this one yet. I dont’ feel comfortable putting something out there that I’m not completely happy with, just for the sake of making money. So…I’m going to wait to go back and edit once I get more inspiration for it. I just know something is going to “click” soon and it’ll be exactly what I feel like it’s missing. I know there are a lot of readers that are waiting on this one, and believe me, I want to get it out there just as bad as they want to read it.

But for some good news…I’m completely in love with the book I’m writing right now. It’s a stand-alone that was originally titled FALL TOGETHER, but the title has since changed…several times. Based on the amount of times I change my mind, I’m not releasing the name of this book until it’s finished and ready to go. So for now, I’m just calling it book four. 😀 It’s a new adult contemporary romance that I’m hoping will deliver just as much angst and emotional drama as SLAMMED.

Maryse: I completely understand. I could tell you were 100% connected to your first books. They were just… perfect. The detail and attention you gave to the first two stories, the pacing. It felt so real. The flow of it, the course of events that took place, their personal reactions to these life changing moments… I could perfectly envision it all. In fact, more than that, I could feel each exciting and distressing emotion, as if I were them. Definitely go with your flow.

Speaking of which, knowing that you are in love with what you are writing right now… I can’t wait to read it. Plus it’s adult contemporary? YAY US!!!

So… what is it like seeing your shiny new books in major retail stores? Any fun “fan tidbits” you’d like to share? Funny moments in public?

Colleen: The books have been showing up early in a few stores and readers have been sending me their pictures. I’m loving it! I went to two local bookstores, but it was still going to be a few days before they shelved the books, so my husband and I took my mother and our boys on a two hour road trip to Barnes & Noble Saturday. Before we went into the store, I made my mother promise she wouldn’t make a scene. I just wanted to go in, find the books, buy some and leave. When I found them, we took a few pics and then I went to look around. I heard my mother on another aisle saying, “My daughter is the author and she’s on the next aisle!”

She’s a proud mom, that’s for sure.

Maryse: Awwww!!! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that. I read your blog post about your new found love of “book signings”. I’d love to hear about your first signing experience!

Colleen: Oh, yes! I went to the Decatur Book Festival in Georgia at the beginning of this month. I was so incredibly nervous that no one would show up. I had no idea what to expect, because I’d never done a signing before. It was nothing like I had imagined. I had such a blast meeting the readers and hearing what they had to say about the books. The people that showed up were incredible, and so were all of the authors. I’ve never had so much fun in 100+ degree weather in my life. I shared a booth with Abbi Glines, Rebecca Donovan, Nichole Chase, Elizabeth Reinhardt and Sarah Ross. We were supposed to have two booths, but there was a mixup when we got there and they had us all in one small tent. If you can imagine six women stuck in a ten foot space for hours on end in 100+ degree weather, you wouldn’t think we’d all come out of it with such a great experience, but we did. I can’t wait for my next signing in Chicago. Especially because it’ll be air conditioned.

Maryse: Thank you for sharing those pictures with us! Book signings are so full of exciting energy. I love going to them, and I’ve always been curious what it’s like for the author. What’s next for you? Any exciting news coming?

Colleen: I’ll be at the TFEiC event in Chicago on the 29th, then I’m doing a signing at the library in Fairfield Connecticut the first week of October. Beyond that, I’m just working hard on getting this next book finished. I’m excited and beyond ready to have something new out there. I’ve also been entertaining the idea of writing short stories and have been jotting down some ideas.

Maryse: As an indie author who has found huge success with her first books, is there any advice that you’d offer other indie writers?

Colleen: I’m still seeking advice myself! lol. I think if I had one piece of advice to give, it would be to NEVER compare yourself to other writers. Don’t compare your sales, don’t compare your reviews, don’t compare your writing styles. Write for yourself, write from the heart and the rest will fall into place.
I feel incredibly lucky to have had the success I’ve had in such a short amount of time, and have found it sometimes difficult to accept that I deserve any of it. I’ve noticed a lot of other writer’s I’ve gotten close to also suffer from their own case of self-doubt. A friend of mine posted this note on facebook recently, and I absolutely loved it and immediately printed it out and hung it up over my desk.

“If you find yourself asking, ‘Am I REALLY a writer? Am I REALLY an artist?’ Chances are, YOU ARE. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self confident. The real one is SCARED. TO. DEATH.”

Maryse: WOW!! I absolutely love that, and I really love what you said, too:

“Write for yourself, write from the heart and the rest will fall into place.”

YES!!! Thank you so much Colleen for sharing your stories with us, and for loving it enough to continue writing. We have so much to look forward to from you, and I feel like a very lucky reader to have shared (and personally experienced) those very precious moments with your characters!

Off I go to find my own shiny new copies! 🙂

Want to know more about Colleen Hoover?

• Here are a few things I’ve written about her (first interviews, book reviews, news, all that fun stuff): https://www.maryse.net/tag/colleen-hoover
• Colleen’s Facebook page
• Colleen’s blog
• Colleen’s Twitter

Now! Let’s talk about this butterflying amazing giveaway (what’s up with all the “butterflying”? Read book #2 and you’ll see….)

Who wants a signed set of these two books (just released today by Simon & Schuster)? We have TWO sets to give away.

How to enter to win a set? Just leave a comment below, and by tomorrow, Wednesday, September 19th 2012 at 10pm EST, I will randomly select TWO winners. The winners will be contacted by email, and will have 48hrs to respond with a mailing address. I need to have the winner’s information sent to the author/publisher, so if you are picked, do not delay or you will lose your chance.

And guess what!!?? Colleen Hoover just told me—> Contest open to everyone! International!! She says:

“I want everyone to have a chance, especially since they aren’t available overseas yet.”

I told y’all she totally rocks!!!