About Sarah Kraft:
Sarah Kraft was born and raised in Oregon. By day, she designs jewelry for Portland's premiere brides. By night, she writes novels and designs for her fashion line, KoutureDeLeKraft. Follow her online for fashion tips and dog mom stories @Sbkraft.
What inspires you to write?
Writing has always been an escape for me, a place where I could build my own worlds and stories. I started writing at ten years old in the back of my parents' automotive shop, and from there I just kept going! By fifth grade, my teacher had to send a letter home to my parents asking that I please stop turning in fifteen page stories for one page creative writing assignments.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I had never been brave enough to plummet into writing a full length novel until reading Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT (I know, cliche a little bit, but true!) and after that I said, "Oh my God, this is what I am meant for! I have to write love stories with this kind of draw, detail, and depth!"
Tell us about your writing process.
I write when I am inexplicably drawn to do so, either by a story I want to tell or a character that won't get out of my head. For my novel, FIVE YEARS LATER, the book started after a family drama took place in my life and then a vivid dream about a tattooed bad boy whose name was Darcy. I woke up wanting to know more about who this character was. Was he really a bad guy? Was there more to him? I had to find out, and he fit into the contemporary love story / family drama I wanted to write perfectly.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
In my head, absolutely! The scenes between Elle and Scott in FIVE YEARS LATER played out in my mind so many times before they were written. Sometimes I end up in a situation in life and say, what would Scott Darcy tell me to do?
What advice would you give other writers?
Never give up, and do it yourself. Publishing is a brutal industry. I've done both self-publishing and traditional, and it's a shark-eat-shark world both ways. The difference with self-publishing is you control everything – the marketing, the promotion, the design, etc. Getting picked up from the slush pile is like, a 1% chance. Don't wait for someone else to give you your dream – do your research, plan a budget, and do it.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
My first novel, PREDATOR GIRL, was pick up by a small press in Salt Lake City. While the experience was life-changing, I knew by my fourth novel I wanted full control over my work, so I chose the self-publishing route. Amazon Kindle and their paperback service have been amazing to work with and I plan to expand as time goes on.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I've been in publishing and the writer's world for ten years now (wow that felt weird to say – man time flies) and I've seen massive changes since the rise of ebooks and Amazon Kindle. I watched a major publishing house collapse, publishing and author trends change, and everything is now about social media. The future for authors is now more wide open and more constricted than ever before. If you want to rise above the crowds, you have all the tools waiting for you, but it will take a lot of time, effort, and daily work – like running a business.
What genres do you write?: Young and New Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Link To Sarah Kraft Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
