Interview: Amazon Top 100 Contemporary Romance Author Pepper Winters (Tears of Tess)

Hello everyone. We're interviewing Pepper Winters, the lovely author of Tears of Tess, a dark New Adult contemporary romance that's gotten into Amazon's Top 100 in its first week. So let's congratulate her, too! :) And now, without further ado, let's get on with the interview then. 

---

Hi Pepper! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview and congratulations again on the release of Tears of Tess! It’s an amazingly enthralling read – so much so I had to write a review for it the moment I finished reading. Now, first things first – my questions from a reader’s standpoint:

Please share a photo or a link to one of someone who best looks like Q and Tess. :) I’m actually just interested in seeing Q, but for the sake of fairness, let’s have a photo of Tess as well. :P In any case, it would also be nice to know what kind of girl would attract Q. =D 

Hi! Here are some images of people who I think look like Q and Tess thanks to some bloggers who made images :)

(Interviewer's Note: Oh wow. That image with the whip…mm…I think I’ll chicken out. For now, I’d rather admire Q from a distance. :P But Tess is gorgeous in that photo! Can’t compete with that. :P )

I rarely ask questions about where writers get their ideas, but for this one I really think I have to. Where did you get the idea for Tears of Tess? I know I’m not the only one who’s most curious about how much research you did for human trafficking. It’s a very sensitive issue, too – did you struggle to make sure that the ugliness of human trafficking isn’t whitewashed, especially with the way Q is involved in all of it?

Um, the idea… I can’t really say that anything really inspired me or made me think of the idea as a whole. It sort of grew on its own with no involvement from me. Tess surprised me with how strong she became and Q, most of the book he’s an enigma to me so I never really knew him until the epilogue and then I was like—it makes so much sense. LOL. I’m a writer who loves to go along for the ride and don’t force the plot and when it called for some brutal action when Tess is taken I ran with it. I did do research on how women are taken, destroyed, and broken and it’s heartbreaking to think it goes on every day :(

Speaking of the epilogue, I have to tell you that it was exquisitely perfect. Can’t ask for a better ending, really, but then we got the sneak peek of Quintessentially Q and bam! OMG – guess their problems are far from over. Please, please, please share some more info – what can we expect from Book 2? Aside from what we can get glean from the blurb. Please, please, please spill some beans!

LOL, I can’t give too much away, but Tess and Q have a very unconventional relationship. They both need each other on a much more basic level than a true happy love story. It’s an obsession, whether it’s healthy I don’t know, but Q will try to show Tess how dark he is willing to go, while hoping not to kill her and Tess… well, her complicated life is about to get even more complicated.

Ha! Complicated is putting it mildly, but I don’t much care and most readers probably feel the same. We want more Q, period. So…will this be a trilogy? An open-ended series? Will you at least promise us a HEA with neither Tess nor Q dying at the end of the series?

LOL. If there is more story to tell at the end of Quintessentially Q then I might continue. There has to be a story to tell, but I love the characters so I’d be happy to stay in their world for a bit longer :) And yes, there will always be a HEA in my books. I may twist and hurt and maim, but ultimately the books I write are about romance and finding connection—even in the strangest of places. :)

You can’t believe how relieved I am that we’re assured of an HEA for Q and Tess. *happy dance* Last question for this part of the interview: any other future works you want readers to know more about or events that you’d like to invite them to?

Um, yes. I have another book coming out soon called Last Shadow. Here is the blurb that I’m still working on:  

I may exchange dollar signs for a life, but it doesn’t mean I’m without morals.

I may not know my true name, but I don’t need one.

I may be human, but my soul is rotten.

Kage is a perfect shadow. A highly trained killer and unforgiving mercenary, he’s been trained since birth to suffer no emotion, no remorse, no empathy, or compassion. He’s void, empty; a black unrelenting darkness.

Vivienne is sunlight and happiness. Her twin sister is her reason for living, and she believes her life will be filled with romantic movie-like-moments and golden wrapped opportunities.

But then Kage kills her sister.

By mistake.

His real target was Vivienne, and he steals her away to cover up his blunder. But nothing is secret from the Society of Shadows and Kage is ordered to deliver Vivienne to a high roller in Thailand as a gift for his screw-up.

Kage does his job, and Viv becomes the latest acquisition in a harem of women at the mercy of the highest sadistic bidder.

Life shattered for Viv, and Kage managed to tie up loose ends, but they both weren’t prepared for the unexpected, or a force greater than a human hand.

Release date to be advised, but it’s dark too.

Ha! Dark is fast becoming an understatement with your books. And if Kage is as hot as Q, I'm pretty sure readers will be quick to one-click this once it's out. :)

---

On to the second half of the interview, which is dedicated to aspiring writers who would like to learn from Pepper's experiences. :)

How long did you work on Tears of Tess and is this your first book? What is your writing routine like now? What were the hardest and easiest things to do while writing ToT? 

I wrote Tess in 7 weeks --- it was write until I could no longer sit upright and my wrists starting screaming at me. (Those were) hardcore, kill myself, never leave the laptop 14 hour work days. I slaved away until my eyes bled. But it was worth it. I set a deadline (a crazy one) and decided I would do it. 

But now my other job has kicked back into gear so I won’t be able to dedicate as much time (which sucks.) So I suppose it will be write at night and try and steal some hours in the day.

(Tears of Tess) is my first published book, but not my first manuscript. I’ve got a few books on my computer that won’t see the light of day :)

(Interviewer's Note: I know I should be sorry about that crazy deadline, but since it was the reason we got ToT earlier – mmm…please stick with that schedule for Quintessentially Q, please?)

How much time do you devote to marketing your book and what marketing strategies have you tried or you’d like to recommend to indie authors? Are you in favor of paid marketing strategies? 

The day I decided that I was going to be serious about this I opened a FB page and started reaching out to bloggers. I was lucky enough to make friends with some amazing reviewers and they in turn helped me spread the word. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. And yes, I’m all about paid. I didn’t have enough time to arrange blog tours so paid Xpresso, and CBL Tours to do that for me. I’ve also paid for a Kindle Nation Advert to go live on the 6th of September so we’ll see how that goes.

Before going indie / self-pubbing, did you try finding an agent first or made an attempt to have your book traditionally published? Is traditional publishing (still?) a goal?

With another book I did do the whole query and try and nab an agent. Didn’t work and all I got were rejections. I then turned to smaller presses and a book did get a contract but after looking at the terms I figured… I can do that myself. So I did.

Do you write full-time now? If not, do you have a timeline on when you could quit your day job and write full time? If yes, a lot of aspiring writers are worried about their expected income once they write full time – would you like to say anything about this?

I don’t write full time yet, it’s a dream—as like every writer. I would have to make a substantiable one lump sum to be brave enough to quit as I know some books are well received and others aren’t. I would freak out too much even if I had good success with one title to risk it until I’d proven myself with a few titles. :)

Lastly – any other writing advice you’d like to share with writers who look up to you? :)

Writing advice? Write. A lot. Don’t let emotions and insecurities drag you down. Just keep plowing. And if this is what you want—to be a writer, make money from it, and spend your life creating stories—don’t ever stop. Success comes to those who fight.

As a way of thanking everyone who took the time to read this interview and/or share a link to it, Pepper and I have come up with a little GIVEAWAY. To join, just use the rafflecopter below and you guys stand to win either a free eBook of Tears of Tess or a $50 Amazon gift card! The contest will run for a week. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pepper is also currently running another giveaway, and you can join that one too by clicking this link.
Hope you all enjoyed this interview and feel free to post any other questions you have for Pepper! We’ll make sure she knows! :)