Friday, February 26, 2016

The Writer's Voice: Where Is R.C. Hancock Now?

Welcome to the very first installment of a new series I'm calling "Where Are They Now?" It's been almost four years since we launched "The Writer's Voice," so I thought it would be fun to check in on the former members of Team Krista and see what they're up to. First up is R.C. Hancock, author of AN UNCOMMON BLUE (which was the project he entered in TWV 2012). Enjoy!

KV: AN UNCOMMON BLUE has gone on quite a journey since it was featured on TWV 2012. Want to sum it up for us?

RH: I just looked over TWV 2012 on your blog and got all excited again. It was such a fun contest. Although Louise Fury didn't end up taking AN UNCOMMON BLUE, it went through two more R&Rs with two different agents. (One who inspired me to completely rewrite the first half of the book.) After what seemed like years, (okay, it was years) I found an agent and a publisher. Blue was published December 2014 by Cedar Fort. The coolest part of this extended journey was all the friends I've made along the way. Don't roll your eyes. I'm serious. The awesome people I've connected with are much more rewarding that the royalty checks. Trust me. ;)

Big thanks to you, Brenda, and Cupid for helping us reach our dreams. And it's so great to be a part of your success too! Shout out to all my fellow #TeamKrista members!


KV: And don't forget the lovely Mónica Bustamante Wagner! She's been a huge part of the contest's success, too, even if she always tries to steal my favorite entries:)

What are you working on now?

RH: Book 2 in the Colorblind series is written and waiting the publisher's approval. Currently editing my YA sci-fi GROOMED, which is basically THE HUNGER GAMES meets Bachelorette. My WIP is a YA thriller called THE TIME-TRAVELER'S SEWING KIT.

KV: I want to read your YA thriller based on its title alone.

Do you have any favorite memories from the inaugural round of the contest?

RH: Obviously the big win for Team Krista. :) We did win, right? It's been a while. Haha. 

KV: Heck yeah, we won!

RH: I was looking through the comments of my entry and was surprised to see so many of the participants now have books out with big publishers! It's such a cool thing to be friends before fame and fortune take their terrible toll, lol. I'm still waiting for that toll to hit. 

KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you'd like to share with us?

RH: Read tons of writing craft books.

Don't get stuck on early novels. If you've exhausted every avenue, shelve it. Your next one will be better.

Connect! Got to conferences. Do blog contests! Not only are they a blast, but it's so much easier to make it when you're not #2854 in the slush pile.

And finally, don't turn your nose up at self-publishing. Especially if you've already got a fan base. Amazon is the great equalizer. Just make sure to get a professional editor and cover artist. What? You don't want to have to market yourself? Newsflash: Even with a publisher you're still expected to do a crazy amount of marketing. So might as well get most of the moolah, too. If I told you how much I've made on AN UNCOMMON BLUE, you'd probably laugh. I know I do. Right after the crying. But I can't argue that it's been a blast getting there.

Thanks for dropping by and launching this new series, R.C!

5 comments:

Michelle Mason said...

Yay, Team Krista! Somehow I hadn't yet gotten around to buying my copy of AN UNCOMMON BLUE, but I have now corrected that. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Noelle Henry said...

I cannot tell you how excited I am to see Team Krista back on the blog and hear what everyone has been up to! So fun to hear the journey UNCOMMON BLUE has been on since the contest. :)

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Thanks for dropping by, ladies. I'm just as excited to hear from everyone, too!

Ryan said...

Thanks Michelle & Noelle! And thanks, Krista for bringing us together :)

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Of course!