Given your wide range of book types, how do you go about choosing what to write at a given time?
Memoirs and novelizations come to me from publishers, so I never know exactly when someone might be contacting me and what it will be about. For example, when I was contacted about working with Saturday Night Live alum Chris Kattan, I simply had to laugh and think, I’m going to be writing a book with Mr. Peepers and Mango!
For fiction, I don’t have the luxury to simply choose what I’d like to write and then find a publisher to release it. It’s hard enough trying to sell any book, and I know writing a variety of types of books only makes it even more difficult to get my name established. You never hear taglines like “From the author of the Hallmark film Time for Me To Come Home comes an eerie tale of the near future!” Since I love thrillers and darker stuff, American Omens is the type of book I want to write.
What kind of author do you prefer to be known as?
Bestselling. Okay, that’s a joke. Then again, I do want my books to sell so the publisher is happy and wants to do more.
Personally, I want to be known as an author who constantly surprises. I feel with each novel I write, the chance to hit a homerun is always there. I want to continue to explore and to write different types of literature.
Honestly, I really do feel like I’m just getting warmed up. I have a very long list of ideas, too.
What are the best ways for readers to support their favorite authors?
Word-of-mouth is what sells books. It always has and always will.
I’ve become pretty good at selling my own stuff to strangers. I’m self-deprecating and realize a lot of people truly don’t care. That’s okay. I also don’t think I’m some Hemingway or Harper Lee. I’ve become more comfortable with who I am as a writer.
That being said, there’s nothing better for me as a writer than to hear a reader expressing their love for one of my books. People listen, and if there’s enough buzz about a particular title, then those people will go and check it out.
Encouragement is always a wonderful thing. I hear more criticisms in my profession since there are people constantly working on making a book better. So anytime a reader shares any sort of praise, I really value it.
Visit Travis Thrasher’s author page:
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/travis-thrasher
American Omens
The Coming Fight for Faith
Travis Thrasher
Multnomah
This taut thriller that imagines a near-future America following the decline of the Religious Right, where the Christ-followers who have anticipated a rising intolerance for their beliefs for decades find out they’re right after all.
In the US in 2038, a secret society is imposing its agenda on outspoken Christian leaders, killing when necessary. Corporate regulations restrict religious expressions and policies.
A recent convert, Hutchence, uses creative and guerilla-like techniques to spread the Gospel of Jesus. This enigmatic man enlists a rag-tag group of individuals to help him proclaim a warning to the rest of the country: God is sending his judgment on our nation, and his first act will be to destroy Chicago.
One recruit is a young and talented computer analyst who specializes in mastering algorithms for corporate and political use, and who is on the run from the company she works for, while trying to discover the truth about her father’s mysterious disappearance. Another is a conspiracy-theory-junkie & survivalist who has discovered proof of assault on people of the Christian faith. And a widower with three girls is recruited by this mysterious Hutchence to help lead a return to God in America.