Debut Author Interview: Kim Bartosch and Ask the Girl Giveaway and IWSG Post

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have debut author Kim Bartosch here to share about her YA ghost story/mystery Ask the Girl. She’s my wonderful critique partner, and it’s awesome to help her celebrate the release of her debut book. I know you’re going to enjoy hearing about her unique path to publication. I read an early version of Ask the Girl and loved that it was a ghost story/mystery with strong main characters that I really cared about.

Here's a blurb from Goodreads:

Nobody believes sixteen-year-old Lila Sadler, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Nobody believes that Lila’s sister Rose is possessed by the ghost of Katy Watkins. As Rose’s health worsens each day, the only way to save her is to uncover the awful truth of Katy's death so many years ago. And nobody knows what happened to Katy on October 31, 1925. Not even Katy. Unaware that she was murdered, Katy has wandered for a hundred years in complete ignorance, until the day she meets Rose and Lila. Together Lila, Rose, and Katy must confront their demons to escape this hell. But will they be able to escape? Can they forgive the unforgivable?

 

Before I get to my interview with Kim, I have my IWSG Post.

Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts this month are Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox!

Optional Question: What do you consider the best aspects of your favorite genres?

I love fantasies and mysteries. For fantasies, I love the magic, magical beings, and world-building. For mysteries, the plot has to keep me guessing till the end. For both genres, I need the plot to be fast-paced. I can’t slog through plots that drag anymore.

What do you consider the best aspects of your favorite genre?

Interview With Kim Bartosch

Hi Kim! Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing ever since I could read and write. I loved playing pretend and creating worlds and adventures for me and my friends. Soon these stories were kept secret in a locked chest when I got older. But like most dreams, I put writing on hold to do life stuff, such as get a job, get married, and having children. I always dreamed of being a writer but never actually attempted the process until my oldest was born. While on maternity leave, I got restless and began to write a YA novel. That story is in a file cabinet somewhere, and one day may come back out but it was the beginning of many more stories and my pursuit of becoming a published author.

2. Where did you get the idea for Ask the Girl?

Ask the Girl started out as a contemporary story about a girl who has a sister with bipolar disorder. It was inspired by my experience with my sister and my mother with her sister. I struggled with the story and soon got bored of it until I added my ghost, Kate Watkins. Then the story came to life and soon developed into the book today. Which I like to add, write what you know AND write what you love. I love mysteries, ghost stories, and the paranormal so I like to combine this genre with experiences I know.

Your Writing Process

3. That’s great that adding Katie made your story come to life. How long did it take you to write and edit Ask the Girl?

Oh boy, it took me five years. That’s because I was juggling a job, babies, and eventually a diagnosis with breast cancer. In between, all of these life events I squeezed in writing, and editing. Now that I’m cancer free and my kids are older I do have more time and hope my next book won’t take as long.

4. I have to juggle a lot and need to squeeze my writing in too. Were you a plotter or punster when you wrote this manuscript? Has this changed since you wrote Ask the Girl?

Ask the Girl was a panster book. I just sat down and began to write. But since then, I’ve discovered creating an outline of my story works better and saves time on the editing process. Out of the five years of writing Ask the Girl, I would say the majority of that time was spent editing. Now that I do outlines, I feel I’m better organized, the plot flows better, and I’m less likely to have writer’s block.

5. I wish I could create a complete outline, but I haven’t been able to yet. Was it hard to write from Lila’s and Rose’s points of view? What are your tips for getting multiple main characters’ voices right?

Rose was easy because that was basically me. Lila too was simple because that character was based on my sister. The difficult POV was Kate, because she was from a different time and I had to get her voice to sound different from Rose and Lila. That took a lot of research of 1920’s slang and a lot of editing. My big tip for finding your character’s voice is to do an imageboard of your character before you begin writing. Paste and tape photos of what your character may look like, the clothes they may wear, their favorite music, makeup, hobbies, food, house, bike, or any like or dislike on a poster board. Then hang it up in your office or wherever you write. When you're stuck look at your imageboard. Also, music is useful for helping me find my character’s voice. I will listen to songs my character likes.

6. What was a challenge you faced in writing Ask the Girl? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was the middle few chapters. I don’t know why but I struggled getting those middle chapters completed. At one point, I got frustrated and wrote my final three chapters hoping it would inspire me to finish. Instead, it left a gap in my book. So I forced myself to sit my butt down at one point and finish it. It was a few late nights and five or six tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream before I got it done. 

Your Road to Publication

7. Your road to publication is different from the way many authors get their first book deal. Share about how you got your book deal.

So, I won a Facebook sweepstake to a writer’s retreat called When Words Count in Vermont. It was a fabulous getaway and I met some awesome authors and writers. During this visit, I learned of a competition they have twice a year called Pitch Week. After much debate, I entered the competition and became one of the five finalists. So for this competition, I had to create a cover page, marketing plan, and presentation of the author behind the book. Long story short, I won and the prize was a publishing deal with Woodhall Press, a small independent publisher.

8. Your publisher is Woodhall Press. What was it like working with a small press? Do you have any advice that would be helpful for an author working with a smaller press?

A small press is like a small privately owned business. Everyone wears many different hats. Therefore, my editor, who helped me with Ask the Girl, also was the CEO, accountant, and more. So everyone is doing many things, often at the same time. Because of this I found that I had more control over the cover art, and layout of my book, where many authors with larger imprints don’t. But, I also found many errors within the book  and on the cover. I would highly recommend always looking over your book once you receive your final ARC with a small press. Overall, I liked working with Woodhall Press. They’re very friendly and with a small press, they celebrate with you on each accomplishment.

Marketing

9. You were assigned a publicist. How did working with a publicist help you develop your marketing plan?

I didn’t have a publicist. The first place prize included a publicist but the one the organization used resigned so I did not get any help when originally. But I did develop a marketing plan through the competition and I pretty much kept with that plan.

10. That’s too bad you didn’t get the help of a publicist like you were supposed to. Your book was released on 9/6/2022. How have you been marketing your book? Do you have any advice on promoting a book for authors planning to debut?

So, marketing is a mystery to me. I read every book and searched every site on how to develop a good marketing plan for a book. I learned a few things but most of my help came from Natalie’s suggestions, one was to use a blog tour company. The two I used were Rockstar Book Tours and Bewitching Book Tours. Both were excellent and offered some wonderful bloggers and instagrammers to promote my book. I also use Bookfunnel to promote my book with newsletter swaps, giveaways, and promos with other authors and Netgalley for reviews. I highly recommend Bookfunnel, it has great promotions, for example I found one with Bookmojo called The Sound of Stories. This audiobook promo provided so many subscribers to my website and sales of my audiobook, which was awesome!  One thing I didn’t do was a giveaway with Goodreads because it was too expensive and I didn’t see how it would help, particularly trying to compete with the big 6 publishers pushing their books on the site. Finally, SCBWI.org has helped out so much with the promotion of my book by including it on their blog and offering bookselling events at local festivals. I highly, highly recommend joining SCBWI or a writer’s organization as another source for marketing and sales.

11. Glad my advice helped. These are great tips. What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m working on a young adult fantasy romance about vikings and a psychological thriller of twin sisters. I also have a fun chapter book called Maggie Muddle, who is too honest, direct for her own good.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Kim. You can find Kim at kimbartosch.com, Facebook, or @kimbartosch on Twitter or Instagram. You can buy Ask the Girl on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org. Ask the Girl is also available on Audible and Chirp.

Giveaway Details

Kim is generously offering a signed paperback of Ask the Girl for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by October 22nd. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter or Kim on her social media sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway is U.S.

Upcoming Interviews and Guest Posts

Monday, October 16th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Sarah Stephens and a query critique giveaway

Sunday, October 16th, I’m participating in the Cheeky Pumpkin Giveaway Hop

Monday, October 17th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Eve Adler and a query critique giveaway

Monday, October 24th, I have a guest post by debut author George Jreije and a giveaway of his MG fantasy Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria 

Hope to see you on Monday!