Urban-Reviews.com - Inside Out with Eddrick Dejuan

Urban Reviews: Tell us about your novel Madam Eve.
Eddrick Dejuan: Madam Eve is about a fictitious character named Evelyn who had the misfortune of being married to a cheating retired NFL player. Fed up, she divorced him and took revenge not only on her ex-but on her best friends' cheating husbands as well by starting a male-escort service. This escort service allowed her friends to cheat as well---using their husband's money. As she trains her first escort Andrew, they fall in love.

Urban Reviews: Where did you come up with the storyline for this book?
Eddrick Dejuan: I was watching the news and I saw the wives of a sports star and a politician standing by their man while they admitted to cheating on them. I simply wondered if the women ever thought about being vindictive. Don't get me wrong. I love sports and my favorite one is football. My character Evelyn is unlike her real life counterparts; she took revenge on the cheaters.

Urban Reviews: What inspired you to become a writer?
Eddrick Dejuan: While in high school, I was always active in the theatre and acted in plays. As an actor, I had to interpret the words in the script and bring life to the characters on the stage. As a writer, I have to do the reverse and interpret different human behaviors and pen life to the characters on a piece of paper. Being an actor also took having an imagination. I have a lot of stories in my head and sometimes I find myself daydreaming with my own 'movie' running through my mind so I write them down and hope that other people would enjoy them. I also write because it allows me to escape reality for a moment and create a new world. I can spend hours in Borders or Barnes and Nobles writing. They are like my second home.

Urban Reviews: What are your goals as a writer?
Eddrick Dejuan: My goals are to entertain the reader with a good storyline that has a small message sprinkled in between. I don't want to hit the reader over the head with a blatant message but rather, hint at a message. As with Madam Eve, the subtle message is about forgiving others for past wrongdoings. Another goal is to always write stories that have strong characters and a well developed storyline. Anything less will not be acceptable. With Madam Eve, it's easy to think of the book as erotica because of the description. But to me, it's actually a romance/suspense book that has a few love scenes in it. I wanted the storyline and the characters to keep the reader engaged in the story opposed to having the reader skip over the story only to get to the sex scenes (I hope the readers don't punish me for that either). But the bottom line is for me as a writer of fiction, I have to entertain the reader.

Urban Reviews: Do you have any ideas for any possible future projects?
Eddrick Dejuan: I would like to either write a political suspense/action book or write a street lit comedy, something like the movie Friday in book format. I don't want to be known as a specific genre writer so I will challenge myself to write other stories in completely different genres but following the themes of revenge vs. forgiveness. To test out how people respond to my other genres, I will write short stories and submit them to be showcased in anthologies to test the waters.

Urban Reviews: As a new writer, what are some of the things you did to prepare yourself for this new venture?
Eddrick Dejuan: I first read a book on how the publishing world worked, and I also saved money to publish the book myself. I did not choose the traditional route of getting an agent so they could shop my manuscript to the major houses because I wanted to own my own publishing company. The only reason I see with signing with a major house is to have marketing dollars and access to star editors. On the writing side, I always perform research on human behaviors and psychology so that I can write believable characters with depth.

Urban Reviews: What challenges have you faced with releasing Madam Eve?
Eddrick Dejuan: One of the top challenges was and is the fact that the African American book market is saturated. This is a good thing and a bad thing, It's good because it forces us writers to write stories with a different angle and point of view opposed to recycling different storylines and character situations. Basically we have to move the bar. The bad thing to having a saturated market is that publishers including myself will have to invest more money, time, and creativity to market the book just to get name recognition, let alone sales. As the old saying goes, "Without marketing, the only thing that will happen is...well...nothing."

Urban Reviews: What are some of your all-time favorite books or authors?
Eddrick Dejuan: I have many favorite authors and books.

Urban Reviews: What would you tell someone else who was thinking about breaking into the book business?
Eddrick Dejuan: If you want to get an agent and go the traditional route, that's fine. Make sure you pick a reputable agent who does not charge upfront fees for 'agent services' because more than likely they are scammers. To find an agent, look at Writers Digest or other writer publications for a reputable agent. And if you do get an agent, please don't have false hopes. Agents don't promote books. It's not their job, so don't expect them to do so. Their specific job is to sell your manuscript to a publisher, and that's basically it.

If you want to self publish, then truly self publish and don't go the P.O.D. publishing route. Yes, you can use a P.O.D. PRINTER but don't use a P.O.D. publisher. There is a BIG difference. Here's why: the same amount of money that you would be spending on the P.O.D. publisher, you could use to start your own publishing company and not even have to worry about waiting on small royalties from a P.O.D. publisher. A P.O.D. Printer is totally different. They don't help with anything but the actual printing of the book. That's it. They are not suppose to help or give advice on anything within the book, they simply just print it, one at a time if you choose so. To start your own publishing company, simply incorporate your business with your state and get your own ISBN and be prepared to be the chief sales person for your book and publishing company. And first and foremost, accept the fact that marketing is a campaign and not a one time event.

Urban Reviews: Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your book?
Eddrick Dejuan: Be sure to check out the book trailer for Madam Eve on my website at www.eddrickdejuan.com. And be on the look out for my short story "The Big Man's Key" featured in the anthology A Reflection of Me by AAMBC Book Club due out Dec 2008!