Author Eva Brandt #interview

Please give a warm welcome to

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m 32, I’m Romanian, and as my bio says, I love tea, anime, and I’m a romance fanatic. I especially love the fantasy and paranormal genres, although I won’t say no to a sexy contemporary from time to time.

Have you always wanted to become an author?

I haven’t always wanted to become an author, no, mostly because I didn’t consider it an option. In my country, the publishing industry is very weak and it’s impossible to make a living out of writing. I’m actually a Political Science graduate, although I never did anything with my degree since I took up writing instead.

Basically, it was a lot of right circumstances that brought me to this place. I was always excellent at foreign languages and especially English and because I liked it so much, I ended up doing all my classes, even my superior education, in English and reading all my fiction in English. From there, it was only a small leap.

What was your inspiration for your current book/series?

My current series, The Academy of the Devil, is inspired a lot of my own experiences. The main character is an epileptic like me and the tribulations she suffers through are similar to what I’ve gone through in the past. Granted, I was never bullied to the point of having seizures, but I never went to a demonic school either.

The Academy of the Devil itself – as a building – is also loosely based on a Romanian castle, the Corvinesti Castle, which I like very much. For foreign readers, it’s the same place where the horror movie The Nun was filmed.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m wrapping up Academy of the Devil. After that I’ll be working on Enchanted Damnation, book 4 of my Accursed series. It’s an ambitious project because it has a historical vibe and I’m doing a lot of research into the Roman empire and stuff like that. But writing wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t interesting and always the same.

While I’m working on Accursed 4, I’m also starting work on a new sci-fi academy series. I can’t say too much about that right now, since the cover reveal will be in my group in a few days.

Do you have any quirks while writing?

While I’m writing, I like to listen to epic music or Japanese music. It’s particularly inspiring for battles, confrontations or dramatic scenes. Did I mention I love writing grand scale confrontations? Because I do.

What are your hopes for the future?

My hopes for the future are pretty simple. To be able to keep writing for the rest of my life. To continue to share my stories with my readership. If I’m healthy enough, I fully intend to do that.

Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?

Publishing is tough right now. You need to think about what your target is and if you want to turn it into a full time career, be aware that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. 99% of the time, you won’t manage to succeed outright. You’ll have to spend on covers, especially if you’re not good at Photoshop, and you’ll get frustrated when you won’t make your money back. You’ll end up spending on NL services or ads and feel frustrated when you don’t see results. Don’t give up. Adapt. Study your market. Learn from what other authors are doing. Follow the market trends. Polish your blurbs. Get social. It takes a lot of time and effort, but you’ll see improvement.

Do you have anything to say to your readers?

Thank you for picking up my books! I hope you enjoy my particular brand of insanity! I love writing crazy stuff and I’ve decided, now that I’m in my 30s, to see how crazy I can make my books 🙂 Join me in my FB group and tell what insanity you’d like to see in the future. I always love to hear from my readers.