Today's guest at Author Talks is Caridad Pineiro, author of the book, SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN.Caridad Pineiro is a multi-published and award-winning author whose love of writing began in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project – to write a novel to be placed in a class lending library. She has been hooked on writing ever since. Caridad’s seventeenth novel, SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN, is available in September 2007 from Simon & Schuster’s Downtown Press.
You can visit her website at http://www.caridad.com/!
Welcome to Author Talks, Caridad! Can you tell us how long you've been writing?
I wrote my first book in the fifth grade when a teacher assigned a project – to write a novel for a class lending library. I’ve been writing ever since, but seriously turned my attention to trying to get published in the early 1990s. In 1998, I sold my first book.
Has it been a bumpy ride to becoming a published author or has it been pretty well smooth sailing? Would you like to tell us how you became published for the first time?
It’s a bumpy ride even after selling multiple books! Publishing is a tough industry and you always have to be improving yourself and your sales in order to survive. As for getting published for the first time, I had been at the NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book Conference and sat next to Gwynne Forster. We were talking about what I was writing and she told me to send it to Kensingon (who I had on my list). Well, I sent it out and heard back shortly thereafter – the book was too long, but they had a new imprint and send the guidelines. I read the guidelines and realized I could adapt the book I was writing to meet their length criteria. I made the changes and sent them the book and within just a couple of weeks received THE CALL. Kensington bought that book and one other and eventually I signed to do eight books for them.
Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?
My current agent is Caren Johnson and I think that if you are going to submit to certain New York publishers, you need an agent because they generally will not look at unsolicited manuscripts. There are other houses, for example Harlequin, Kensington and Dorchester, where you may not need an agent to submit. However, you will definitely need someone familiar with publishing contracts for when you get THE CALL.
Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?
SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN is a follow-up to SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS. When I was writing the first Chicas book, I absolutely fell in love with Sylvia and her mother, Virginia. They were both strong, empowered women who shared a great relationship, but were pushing away the men in their lives. I wanted to find a way to resolve those commitment issues and SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN was born.
Do you plan subsequent books?
I’ve had a very positive response from the fans, who seem to connect to one of the four women over the others. Inevitably, they want to see more of the story for one of the other women. So far, I haven’t done either Juli’s or Adriana’s stories and I’m working on the idea for Adriana’s novel.
Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
I’m a morning writer. I find that’s when I’m most creative.
Any final words of wisdom for those of us who would like to be published?
Never give up. Being a writer is about dealing with rejection, but getting up and trying again. It’s about always staying creative and taking risks with your writing so that you are always improving.
Thank you for coming, Caridad! Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?
SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN is available at all major online booksellers and will be available on the shelves the second week of September. Fans can get more information and write to me by visiting http://www.caridad.com/.
Thank you for coming, Caridad! If you would like a chance to win a copy of SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN, leave a comment below. All winners will be announced at http://www.virtualbooktoursforauthors.blogspot.com/ on Sept. 30. Good luck!
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