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Urban Reviews: Tell us about your debut novel My Man's Best Friend.
K. Elle Collier: Set in Chicago, My Man's Best Friend is a thought provoking,
intelligent, and unconventional romantic comedy that takes an
ordinary boy-meets-girl story and turns it on its ear. With an
emotionally fearless protagonist, Kai Edwards, paired up with a
manipulative, breathtaking beauty, Alana Brooks, this story will
take you on a riveting and emotional rollercoaster only to have you
gasping for air 'til the very end.
Urban Reviews: Where did you come up with the unique concept for this
book?
K. Elle Collier: You know the saying... what if? Well, that's pretty much how the
concept of my book came to be. I remember thinking how I wanted to
write a novel, but not just any novel, a different kind of a novel.
So I began to do a little bit of research on the stories that were
out there. The one thing I noticed was that all the "romance" type
novels had a very similar theme, which was a standard relationship
story (boy meets girl) with a familiar ending, nothing that really
made me race to the bookstore and buy the book. So I started
thinking "what if?" What if I took the ordinary boy meets girl story
and put a bit of a twist on it. What if the girl goes for the girl,
instead of the guy...AHHH...now that could get juicy.
Urban Reviews: How did you come to the decision to become an author?
K. Elle Collier: I've
always loved to write, and for years I had written several projects
for television and movies, I guess you could say I decided to branch
out a bit as well as challenge myself. Novels seemed a little
intimidating to write for some reason, although they're not as
structured as a screenplay or television script, them seem to
require a lot more research and brain power, not to mention they
were definitely a lot longer.
Urban Reviews: Can you describe the day you held a final copy of your book
and how you felt?
K. Elle Collier: Wow, the day I held my first printed copy in my
hand was surreal. I couldn't believe this day had come. The moment
I opened the box, pulled out my very first copy, I just stared at it
in amazement. To be quiet honest, it took a few hours for it to
sink in that this was actually my book! Then I called my mom!
Urban Reviews: Do you have any upcoming projects that you are working on?
K. Elle Collier: I am
always working on projects, I'm a big advocate of continuously
working on your craft. The more you write the better you become,
and if you're already good, then you will be brilliant :). So aside
from a few film projects, I am currently working on the sequel to My
Man's Best Friend.
Urban Reviews: What things did you do to prepare your book to be released to
the marketplace?
K. Elle Collier: Well, for starters, I did tons of research about the
market, and with the knowledge and information I gathered I knew
immediately that I wanted to self-publish. So aside from finding a
printer, distributor and fulfillment center, I hired a publicist,
who was actually a friend of mine, to start putting my book out
there. I ordered advanced copies of my book to send out, gathered
reviews for my website, set up book signings and began compiling a
mailing list as well as creating an email blast that would go out on
my release date. From my marketing background, I knew that the
success of a book come from 20% writing it and 80% promoting it!
Urban Reviews: Do you have any plans for a sequel to My Man's Best Friend or
any other works in the future?
K. Elle Collier: I am working on a sequel as we
speak. I felt after writing My Man's Best Friend, my readers are gonna have a lot of questions that need to be answered, not to
mention I left a wee bit of cliff hanger as well. So right now, I
can say the sequel is shaping up to be just as juicy as the first
one.
Urban Reviews: What are some of your all-time favorite books and authors?
K. Elle Collier: I am a big fan of E. Lynn Harris for several reasons, one, he
branched out and put something out there in the market that was
different, secondly, he is just a great writer. I tend to
follow authors who have a strong grasp on dialogue, because to me,
good dialogue cannot be taught. Other authors that I am
a fan of are Eric Jerome Dickey and Bee Bee Moore Campbell.
Urban Reviews: What is your overall impression of the African-American
Fiction market? Do you feel the love from other authors in the
business?
K. Elle Collier: I don't know a whole lot about the African-American
Fiction market, only because I am relatively new to this. But what
I have noticed is that I've gotten tons of support and help from all
the authors that I have met so far, and their advice and notes have
been invaluable. I have to give a special thanks to Kimberla Lawson
Roby, S. James Guitard and Edwardo Jackson, these authors really
helped me on my self-publishing journey.
Urban Reviews: Is there anything else you'd like to share about yourself
or your books?
K. Elle Collier: Just that I am passionate about writing
and I hope one day to be able to share my talent with other in the
form of teaching. I believe that we are all put on this earth to
help, inspire and motivate the next person, I just hope in the years
to come I will have several books under my hat and hopefully someone
somewhere will take away a small bit from my writing that will
enhance their lives in some way, or just maybe put a smile on their
face for that moment.
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