Thursday, September 5, 2013

Those launching emotions

 
This past week, my sixth novel The Inheritance was officially released (see my book trailer here)—and yet again, the emotions involved have taken me a little by surprise. It was only last October that my first non-fiction book Soul Friend was released, so one would think I would remember how it all felt. Granted, launching another novel is different. The Inheritance is, after all, fiction, while releasing my memoir Soul Friend like personally serving myself up on a platter! But again, I have felt those nervous flutters inside as I have posted off those advance copies already purchased. Will this novel of mine be well received? Will those readers who have stuck by me through all seven of my books enjoy this one as much?

The Inheritance is, in essence, a story of family secrets, forgiveness and faith. It explores one man’s struggle to come to grips with the past, be reconciled with himself, his family and ultimately God, and face the future with courage and integrity. At the same time, it also explores a woman’s struggle to stay true to her faith in God and pursue God’s purposes for her life. In writing this novel, I attempted to focus equally on each main protagonist much more than I did in my earlier novels. And this brought with it new challenges such as being careful to stay in in one character’s point of view for a whole scene or chapter and balancing how often I changed from one to the other. I was very aware of the importance of point of view prior to this, but the approach I chose with this novel has meant I had to be particularly careful in this regard. The Inheritance is my first work of fiction with my new publisher, Even Before Publishing, and I am grateful for the assistance I was given to see the mistakes I was making with point of view and to learn so much more in the process.
But will my faithful readers—and hopefully some new ones—like the somewhat different style I have employed in The Inheritance? Will they relate to my initially very angry and aggressive hero Michael Trevelyan and my equally determined heroine Alexandra Hope? Will they track with these two people I have grown to love as they experience so many ups and downs in their personal lives and in their ongoing relationship? What if they feel one character is not quite believable—or, worse still, both? What if they decide Alexandra is just too ‘good’ a heroine, an opinion some expressed about my main female protagonists in my earlier novels?

Yet, while I still have doubts and questions like these, the counterbalance to it all is that I do believe it is my best novel so far! Please understand I don’t say that in any boastful way, however, but rather with thankfulness to God for enabling me to keep on writing and learning and also with gratitude to my publisher who challenged me to grow.
What about you other authors out there? How have you felt when your own new novel has been released? Is it a huge mixture of emotions such as it has been for me? For those not yet published, how do you plan to tackle this whole book launch experience?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

17 comments:

  1. Jo-Anne, congrats on your new book release! The Inheritance sounds like a fascinating story. I'm launching four books next year, and I'm interested in reading everyone's tips on book launches :)

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    1. Thanks, Narelle.I have had official launches for all but one of my published books, and each one has been different and special. Now though, I tend to use various events in different states to have 'mini-launches'. I honestly think you can overdo it with launches and have them ending up costing too much, but that's just my personal opinion.

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  2. Hi Jo-Anne,
    It sounds like a fascinating read and I'm looking forward to it. I hope your launches go really well. I think you're right, no matter how many times we do it, the introduction to the world of a new book causes heart flutters every time.

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    1. Thanks so much, Paula. I'm not a real 'party person', so I find launches a bit difficult to arrange, but I have had so lovely ones over the years. This time my own launch of the novel will be very laid back, and I'm also just using various events I'm speaking at in different states as 'mini-launches'.

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  3. Jo-Anne as you grow as a writer and find more depth with your characters, I'm sure your readers grow too. They will surely appreciate the subtle difference.
    I hope this book is in an e-book format as I'm saving up lots of books for when we're away in Thailand for a month. I can't find anything in English and it helps on the long drives to lose myself from the stress of the many services packed in to the limited time we have.

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    1. Yes, Rita, 'The Inheritance' is in e-book format for both Kindle from Amazon and any other devices too from Koorong etc. That's a lovely thought that you might be reading my book travelling along somewhere in the middle of Thailand! God bless.

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  4. Congratulations on the new release and the expanded capabilities this book created in you.

    Isn't it interesting that while we are creating our characters, they begin to re-shape us as well? Sounds like a great read.

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    1. What an interesting thought, Judith, that our characters begin to re-shape us! The more I think about it, the more I'm sure you're right. And thanks for your congrats too.

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  5. Interesting, Jo-Anne. I published THE FRANTIC MOTHER COOKBOOK, full of family vingettes, before my first novel BRANDLEY'S SEARCH came out. The book of family stories didn't bother me at all--I figured we were fairly normal and people would understand, but when my novel came out I wanted to hide under the bed because that was my inmost thoughts--now people knew what really went on in my head.

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    1. Oh, I love that, Donna--that you were worried about the fact that people would now know what really went on in your head!! That's exactly how I have felt each time a new book of mine has come out--now I know how to describe it!

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  6. Congrats Jo-Anne. looking forward to reading it. Love the cover!

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    1. Thanks, Dale. And I'm so glad you love the cover. We had a different one initially as it had to be done fairly quickly to be included in the publisher's catalogue, but this final one is entirely different from our original idea. And I love the end result too.

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  7. Well done Jo-Anne. The cover looks great. Don't worry, the story sounds intriguing, with just the right amounts of emotion and everything else.

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth. Yes, I don't know why I should worry, especially by book Number Seven. And I've found that all we can do is just put our books out there and trust God for their reception.

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  8. Really sorry to be so late commenting on this new book, Jo-Anne. I totally agree that this is your best novel yet. While you always have very interesting stories, I found myself drawn to the characters of this book in a deeper way than most of your others - although "Helena" was very special, so was Laura and...
    But then, I always enjoy your books but for me this was the best yet. I felt so sorry for the hero and enjoyed watching his character change and grow through the book as I believe you as a writer are also growing. May that be true of us all! Sincere congratulations, Jo-Anne.

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  9. Thanks so much, Mary, for these lovely comments. You are always so encouraging! God bless.

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