What is your pen name?

Faye Wilson Walton

What genre do you write in? Why do you love it?

I write contemporary Christian fiction and sweet contemporary romance. For the former, I like applying biblical principles to hard life situations, such as drug addiction, grief, chronic illness, and broken dreams. For the latter, I love seeing how I can create male and female characters to meet at an unforeseen time and place After that, they’d do everything they can to stay together.

How many books have you published?

Eight.

What inspired you to become a writer?

In 2009, I started writing a “silly story.” A year later, after I had gotten laid off and run in my first full marathon, I realized I should start writing a book. That “silly story” is now The Long Road Around the Corner of Hope

What is your indie success story?

Not giving up, period. In the decade I’ve been writing, I’ve had so many things try to derail me, such as personal and family issues, illness, and criticism about the content of my books.

What are your marketing and advertising strategies? What works for you? What doesn’t?

Word of mouth is the best way. My books are my business and my “children”. Therefore I talk about them the same way others talk about their businesses and children. This year, I’m going to work more on scheduling interviews.

What is the best piece of self-publishing advice that you’ve ever received?

I can plan what I’d like to have for my front cover. Therefore, some of my front covers are of pictures I’ve taken.

Anything else fun or notable that you would like to share about yourself?

In late 2015, I had second thoughts about publishing Wise Turned Foolish. I felt the content would step on people’s toes, especially those who are like the main character, Keith Atwood, a musician in a rock band. A year later, I published it and received great reviews and comments from those who are involved in various ways in the music business. I have also given copies of this book to several big names in rock music. To further expound on my answer to the above-mentioned question, after I convinced myself to publish this book, I was at a local concert and took some pictures. One of them is of a guitarist. That picture is now the front cover of the book. I am now on Facebook with him and some of his family. His father brags about the book a lot. A little over a year ago, I connected with a bass player on a Facebook group. I sent him a copy of Wise Turned Foolish. He ate that book up! While he was reading it and commenting to me about what he could relate to in Keith Atwood’s life, he told me about a memoir he’s working on that we wanted me to be a part of. I’m now the contributing author for it.

What are you working on right now?

I’m currently on the back end of a much-needed hiatus. When I get back into the swing of things, I will continue my work on two additional novels, The Unknown, Beautiful Missing Piece and Kill the Locust. Both will be Christian fiction books. The Unknown, Beautiful Missing Piece is about Mark Cole, a musician, and Claudia Marston, a woman who is a new author. Though they live far apart from each other, they meet at an event she’s at for her books. Mark reads Claudia’s new book and wants to collaborate with her on a project he’s working on. Claudia has to overcome fears of losing a new friend, a contract going awry, and this project falling through. In Kill the Locust, Amy Freeman is a single woman who has endometriosis. When she meets and falls in love with Jeremy Nelson and they become inseparable, they make a hard decision that will challenge them in their love for each other and their interactions with others.

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