Nancy Kilpatrick Writer: Get to know Writer...
SUE DENT...: Get to know Writer... SUE DENT Sue Dent NK - You have published four successful novels, the first of whic...
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Get to know Writer...
SUE DENT
SD - Not only do I live in the ‘Bible Belt,’ my
grandfather was an ordained Southern Baptist Minister who ordained my brother.
My Great Grandfather founded Wood College in Mathiston, Mississippi. A
Methodist college.
I never really saw any connection with readers of Christian fiction. It’s just that the first ‘traditional’ publisher that showed an interest in my work was a Christian publisher. I know, right? But it is the Bible Belt, after all. They called their work Christian fiction and thus, Christian readers started reading it where they might not have picked it up at all otherwise. Those readers started calling my work Christian Fiction, a label used by “evangelical publishers” to represent their extremely targeted fiction which I DO NOT write and which they WILL not publish. Several of their coveted writers such as Eric Wilson of “Fireproof” and Bryan Davis of the “Dragons in our Midst” series gave me contacts to their publishers and told me I should call them. I did. The publishers responded by saying, “Our readers won’t read your work.” It didn’t seem to matter that their readers are some of my most ardent fans.
NK - What's up next for you?
Books
SUE DENT
Sue Dent
NK - You have
published four successful novels, the first of which raced out of the gate to
great reviews, made the Bram Stoker Award preliminary ballot; two novels were
on the Pluto Awards long list, one of which make it to the short list; and one
novel was on the long list of the British Fantasy Awards. How did that feel,
being so successful so quickly?
SD - It gave me confidence and made me feel A LOT better about
hiring a professional editor to help me with my first novel.
NK - You have
a supernatural series, which includes vampires and werewolves and more. What
inspired this series?
SD - I
grew up with Dark Shadows and that was my inspiration. That show fascinated me
to no end and gave me nightmares. I know I awoke one night age 9 or 10 and
stared into the hall to see the corpse-less head of Judah Zachery in its case.
That’s how vivid my imagination is. I saw it!
NK - Your
background is in visual arts—you design the covers of your books. How did you
make the switch to writing?
SD - The writing came first. Doing my own covers came when I saw
what folks were charging to do covers and realized the process wasn’t that
complicated, at least, not for me as I have a background in computers and art.
Nicholas Grabowsky of Halloween 4 fame and Black Bed Sheet Books publisher did
some covers for me when he published me. They were awesome!
NK - Why did
you start your own publishing company?
SD - I wanted to buy a block of ISBN’s from Bowker and at the
time, you had to be a ‘publisher’ to order them in blocks. So I became one. Now,
however, you can get an ISBN from Amazon, Smashwords, etc . The first few
numbers of an ISBN point to the publishing house though. I wanted my ISBN’s to
point to my publishing house as the publisher and not to Amazon or Smashwords,
etc.
NK - You live
in what's called 'The Bible Belt' in the U.S. Your horror novels appeal to
Christian readers but they are not specifically written for that audience. Never Ceese was the Book Club Choice of the month
at the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. How do you see that
connection?
I never really saw any connection with readers of Christian fiction. It’s just that the first ‘traditional’ publisher that showed an interest in my work was a Christian publisher. I know, right? But it is the Bible Belt, after all. They called their work Christian fiction and thus, Christian readers started reading it where they might not have picked it up at all otherwise. Those readers started calling my work Christian Fiction, a label used by “evangelical publishers” to represent their extremely targeted fiction which I DO NOT write and which they WILL not publish. Several of their coveted writers such as Eric Wilson of “Fireproof” and Bryan Davis of the “Dragons in our Midst” series gave me contacts to their publishers and told me I should call them. I did. The publishers responded by saying, “Our readers won’t read your work.” It didn’t seem to matter that their readers are some of my most ardent fans.
NK - What's up next for you?
SD - Just as Dori from “Finding Nemo” (my son’s first visit to
the movies) might say if she were an author, “just keep writing, keep writing,
just keep writing . . .”
Books
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