WordCrafter Book Blog Tour for Sarah: Book 2 Women in the West Adventure Series

 Hello everyone, 

Welcome to Day Three of WordCrafter’s Book Blog Tour for Sarah: Book 2 of the Women of the West Adventure Series. I will be interviewing author Kaye Lynn Booth. She will also give a reading from Chapter 13 of Sarah.

Tour Schedule

Mon. May 6 – “The Soiled Doves of the American West” – Writing to be Read

Tues. May 7 – “Utes in Glenwood Springs & the Legend of Chapita” – Roberta Writes

Wed. May 8 – Interview & Reading – Book Places

Thurs. May 9 – “‘Modern Medicine’ in the American West” – Writing to be Read

Fri. May 10 – Interview & Review  – Patty’s Worlds

Giveaway

Don’t forget to leave a comment at each tour stop for five chances to win a free digital copy of Sarah.

    Kaye Lynne Booth

Welcome Kaye!

I’m so glad you’re here with news about your new book,  Sarah: Book 2 of the Women in the West Series. I have some questions for you so readers can get to know you. Thanks for agreeing to visit Bookplaces blog.

K. Tell us about yourself. Where do you live? Where did you grow up and attend school?

Kaye: I’m a Colorado native and I live, work and play in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I grew up in Golden, Colorado. I went to undergraduate school at Adam’s State College in the San Luis Valley and graduate school at Western State Colorado University in the heart of the Gunnison Valley.

K. Are you married or single? Any children or pets?

Kaye: I just turned sixty in March. My children are all grown and gone. I have four grandchildren, but I don’t see any of them often. I have a cat named Rowdy who hangs out with me in my office while I work and puts in a ‘meow’ or two when I’m trying to record the reading from Sarah for this stop. I recorded that reading four different times because of that darned cat.

K. Are you employed now? Retired? If so, what was your previous occupation?

Kaye: I worked as a C.N.A. and caregiver for 26 ½ years, but right now I’m struggling to build my author business into a sustaining enterprise. I’ve become the D.I. Y. author, which is also the title of my next book, which is scheduled for a Kickstarter campaign the end of this month. I do what I can with what I have and build my author business in baby steps, doing most of the work myself.

K. Are you a coffee or tea drinker or other? Do you listen to music or need silence?

Kaye: I drink tea. I have never cared for coffee. I love to listen to music, but it is too distracting when I’m writing. Before I realize it, I find myself bobbing my head and singing along instead of typing at my keyboard. Even when I was writing The Rock Star & The Outlaw, which is based on music and came with a playlist, I had to listen before I started writing, but the music went off when my fingers hit the keyboard.

K. What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies? Vacations?

Kaye: When I said I lived, worked, and played in the Colorado mountains, I meant it. I’m an outdoor girl and I enjoy gardening, bird watching, hiking, fishing, camping, riding my electric bike & my ATV, although these days some of these activities are getting harder for me. I love this time of year because the weather is getting warmer and more accommodating to all the activities I love. I am not fond of snow, which isn’t good when you live where I do.

I don’t take a lot of vacations, but I try to visit the places featured in my Women in the West adventure series. In Sarah, which is Book 2, Sarah lands in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, which was a mining town in 1887. I visited Glenwood Springs several times, researching the landscape and the history, so that Sarah would be as historically accurate as I could make it.

K. Would you consider yourself a reader? What types of books do you like to read?

Kaye: I am an avid reader. I read multiple genres. I’m very eclectic in my tastes. I review at least a book a week on my blog, Writing to be Read, sometimes more. I’m not a big science fiction fan. It is probably one of my least favorite genres.

K.  Have you ever taken any writing courses or studied writing in school?

Kaye: I have a M.F.A. in creative writing, with a duel emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. I was privileged to study under the international bestselling fantasy and science fiction author, Kevin J. Anderson, for the publishing. He began his career as a traditionally published author and writer for hire, but now runs his own independent publishing house, WordFire Press, so he knows both sides of the business. I learned a wealth of information about writing and publishing from him.

K. Tell us about your books, especially your newest one. What was your inspiration?

Kaye: Sarah is Book 2 in the Women in the West adventure series. The character of Sarah made a first appearance in Book 1, Delilah, where two men abduct her and sell her to an Indian tribe. Delilah is determined to find her friend and the men who left her for dead, and that’s where the story is for that book, so after the abduction, we don’t see too much of Sarah, until Delilah tries to gain her freedom near the end.

It seemed only natural that Book 2 would be Sarah’s story. She needed an adventure of her own. When we last saw her, she chose to remain in the Ute village, and that is where we find her two years later. She is seventeen, happily mated to the chief’s brother and acolyte to the tribe’s medicine woman until a strange brave shows up in their village and her world is once again turned upside down when he steals her away from her tribe.

What makes this series so unique is that each book features a strong female protagonist and a true historical figure as a supporting character in the story. Sarah’s story takes place in 1887, and the historical characters she crosses paths with, (actually two), are Big Nose Kate and the infamous Doc Holliday, who she meets in Glenwood Springs.

K. Is there anything you’d like to talk about your writing life? News, announcements etc.

Kaye: I’d like to mention the tour, which this interview is a part of. Thanks to Kay for having me here today and for hosting this tour stop, and creating this lovely blog post. I am happy to be her guest.

K.  What type of characters do you enjoy writing about?

Kaye: I like to write strong female protagonists, but I try to make them believable and relatable. There are no spectacular unbelievable feats of heroics. My characters are realistic in what they can and can’t do, and hopefully, they express realistic emotions and reactions which readers will relate to.

K.  Do you self-publish or are you with a traditional publishing company?

Kaye: I first published Delilah through a small independent publisher, but they only sold a few copies during my five-year contract. I felt I could do better for the book, so I didn’t renew, but instead revised the story and it became Book 1 in the series. And I was right. Delilah was re-released in March of 2023, and has already done much better, selling many more copies than were sold during that entire five-year period.

Now, I am my own small, independent publishing house, WordCrafter Press. I publish my own books and the works of others. WordCrafter publishes a poetry anthology and at least one fiction anthology each year. In 2024, there will be two: a dark fiction anthology and a themed anthology, Tales From the Hanging Tree.

K. How do you market your books?

Kaye: It depends on the book, but for fiction and poetry, I usually release through distributors using a book blog tour, like this one, for the launch. For my own books, I might also run it through a Kickstarter campaign early on, with early digital copies and signed print copies as some of the rewards. With my nonfiction, I find podcasts aimed at writing and authors work better than tours, since my nonfiction is mainly writing reference books. I have a separate marketing plan for each book.

I also post book trailers and readings on YouTube, and run various sales of my backlist throughout the year, which I promote through social media.

K. Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Kaye: I do. I have a lot of them, which you will be able to find in June, when The D.I.Y. Author is released through distributors. The Kickstarter campaign will run May 19 – June 8.

But the main thing that I think every author should know and that I try to drive home in the book is that being an author today involves a lot more than just writing a book. You have to be able to do it all. Writing the book is just the beginning. It doesn’t publish or sell itself while you go on to write the next book. I don’t think people realize that the moment they hit publish, they become a business. There’s back cover copy to write, and cover letters if submitting to editor or agent, and press releases, and review requests to send out, covers to design or purchase, promotions to set up, releases to plan and execute, etc… The list goes on.

K. What is one surprising thing you would like your readers to know about you?

Kaye: There’s a lot readers don’t know about me. I’m generally a very private person. So, they may not know a lot of the things I’ve shared here today. But, I can’t really think of anything surprising about me. How about the fact that when I was young, I played the flute? Most people don’t know that.

K. Do you have a quote that has personal meaning for you? This could be from an author, famous person, community or religious leader or someone close to you.

Kaye: The quote I like is by an anonymous author:

“It’s not how you weather the storm, but how you dance in the rain.”

Thank you, Kaye, for joining me today to talk about your new book, Sarah. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you through this interview. I’m sure your readers will like reading about you and your helpful advice for other authors. I wish you success with this blog tour and the publication of Sarah.

Kaye reads an excerpt of Chapter 13 

About the Book

Sarah is a young girl trying to make a place for herself in the world.

Sarah is not the young girl who was stolen away from Delilah anymore. Now she is Hair of Fire, mate of Three Hawks, even as she blossoms into a young woman and tries to make a place for herself among the Ute tribe.

When she is stolen away from the life she’s made with the Utes, she struggles to survive in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. A streak of stubbornness and determination take this tough, feisty heroine up against wild beasts of the forest and the rugged mountain landscape to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where she receives a less than welcoming reception by some.

Will this young woman find her way back to the Ute tribe, which she’s come to think of as family, or will she discover a place among the colorful inhabitants of the Colorado hot springs and mining town?

Follow along on her journey to learn who she truly is and where she belongs in this rough, and often hostile frontier.

If you like strong and capable female protagonists, you’ll love Sarah.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/Sarah-Women-in-the-West