Interview with Dakota Cassidy!

As I said in my last post, I am stoked and excited to have Dakota Cassidy on the blog today. She has generously answered a few questions, and in addition to the interview, I am giving away a copy of Dakota’s new release, The Accidental Werewolf to a randomly selected commenter. (Note: The contest will be open for the next 24 hours, so you’ll need to comment by then.)
Anyway, on with the interview!

Shannon: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview thing. It’ll be my first,
but hopefully, unlike other first times, this one won’t be
excessively painful for either of us. Here’s the first question: Has there been any kind of odd transition you’ve had to make going
from epubs to NY? (Like, do you have your own personal cabana boy and
tiara-polisher now, or does that happen after book 2?)

Dakota: I think that only happens when you’re somebody MUCH more important
than me. LOL.
it wasn’t a really hard transition so much as it was an adjustment.
I’ve spent a lot of time learning that while the e-book world is
pretty tight, it is smaller than the print audience in terms of
casting your promo net. There were lot’s of places, blogs, review
sites I’d never heard of, and there’s much more paperwork involved.
In e-books all of your edits etc are done via an e-copy of your book.
With NY it’s sending the MS back and forth via overnight mail,
sending out printed galleys and ARC’s to various places, having book
launch parties live and in person.

Shannon: What else can readers expect from you this year?
Dakota: Accidentally Dead! Nina’s story–Nina’s tough, brash, has a foul
mouth and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She’s bitten by a hunky
vampire while preparing him to have a tooth filed
(Shannon’s note: This is awesome. I adored Nina from the first book.)
Shannon: If you could shill someone else’s book to readers of this blog,
which one would it be?
Dakota: Anything by Nina Bangs! She was the first author I’d read who took
her ideas to the place I call irreverent and off the wall, and an
inspiration to me when I began writing.
Shannon: What’s a typical writing day like for you?
Dakota: Well, from anywhere between 10 and 11 I’m up, answering emails,
posting to my yahoo group–taking care of household chores–thinking
about what to make for dinner. I go over what I wrote the night
before, and sometimes try to get another five-6 pages in. After 4 in
the afternoon, my sons are home, we have dinner, watch some TV, then
at 10–I get really serious and usually write until like 4 or 5 in
the morning. In essence, I don’t sleep a lot. LOL
Shannon: Do you play any particular music while you write? If so, what was
your soundtrack for The Accidental Werewolf ?
Dakota: I do, but mostly it’s without words because I know way too many words
to too many songs and I’d end up singing instead of writing. And my
playlist goes like this– Nessun Dorma, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (all
four), Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine, Kenny G’s Somewhere in Time,
Ravel’s Bolero, and lot’s of Yanni and Zamfir–I know, shoot me, but
what can I say–it soothes me. LOLLOL

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Thanks again to Dakota for stopping by, and any of the eight of you reading this, feel free to comment for a chance to win fabulous prizes!