, a world where vampires aren't for children. Comprised of a main series, a standalone prequel, and several short story collections, she has plans to continue expanding with a trilogy and standalone novels.
In her spare time, Joleene is a freelance book cover designer and for-fun photographer. She maintains several blogs, full of odd ramblings, and occasionally updates her website at JoleeneNaylor.com. In what little time is left, she watches cdramas, plays PokemonGo, and works on her crooked Victorian house in Villisca, Iowa. Her life goal is to win the lottery, and should it ever happen she may not tell anyone, but you’ll know by how quickly her Barbie collection expands.
She currently has several books available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple and Smashwords, as well as serialized versions on several platforms.
What books have you published?
You can find a complete list of
all my books and short stories in both chronological and recommended reading order.
Are your books available in paperback?
Yes!
The series is available in both standard and
collector's editions, as well as paperback versions for
the short story collections, and even
Jorick's novella. If you'd like an autographed copy, send me a message in email (Joleene at JoleeneNaylor dot com) or
on Facebook.
What's the difference between the regular edition paperback and the collector's edition?
The collector's editions feature different covers, as well as bonus features, like short stories, character galleries, character interviews, and more. Each book has something different. As to the novel itself, they're exactly the same. It's just a matter of extra content and different covers.
Why do you have collector's editions?
The books used to feature different covers. A few years ago, I released new covers, but fans still wanted the old ones so their paperback sets would match. I don't blame them. I like my sets to match, too.
Why aren't all of your free short stories free on Amazon?
Amazon doesn't like to "sell" free books - they like to make authors charge at least $.99, so it's pretty hard to get them to price match the stories. Because of that, stories that should be free on Amazon may cost $.99. You'd be better off getting the .mobi file from Smashwords and copying it to your kindle.
I looked you up on (insert site) and it says you have 70 books?
Ok, I don't, but at the same time, I do. All the short story collections were originally released as one free story at a time. After they were all done, I expanded them and bundled them into collections that, in some cases, cost money. There are
only four individual stories that aren't in a collection, so if you just read the novels and the short story collections, you'll have the best versions of everything. Of course, you can go for the individual, free versions, but I'd put them in a folder on your ereader.
You have some strange character names. How do you pronounce them?
Since books are text based rather than verbal, I'm not going to say that my way is the "right" way, but this is how *I* pronounce a few of them:
Jorick - Joor (as in door) - ick or Joor-rick. (the real pronunciation of this is Joe-rick. I know because I found a guy on myspace who had this name and asked him, but it was too late. Joor-ick was already firmly implanted in my brain.)
Katelina - Kate - lean - uh
Oren - Or-en (as in wren)
Torina - Tore -ee-nuh
Velnya - Vel-nyuh
Kai - (rhymes with eye)
Arowenia - Air-o-ween-yuh
Verchiel - Vur (as in burn) - chee (as in Chia) - el
Micha - My-kuh (as opposed to the Paranormal Activity pronunciation)
Anya - On-yuh
Senya - Sen (as in Yen) - yuh
Jorge - Hor-hay
Sadihra - Suh-deer-uh
Ume - OO-may (Or I sometimes call her OO-mee)
Samael - Sa -may-el
Eileifr - It's an authentic Norse name, and I can't pronounce this one. Can't wait to see what an Audio Book does with it!
How do you feel about Fan Fiction?
I know fan fiction is a controversial topic, but personally I have no problem with it. I've written fan fiction myself (Harry Potter and Dr. Who for instance), so if you want to write some Amaranthine fan fiction, go right ahead. And send me a link.
What about fan art?
Yes! Just like fan fiction, I think fan art is great! If you want to create some, please do, and feel free to share it with me. I love to see fans' interpretations of things. This goes for photos of people you think look like the characters.
Did you make your own book covers?
Yep. I also make book covers for other authors.
You can check out my book cover site for more info.
Can you recommend an editor?
As a matter if fact, I can!
Sharon from Devil in the Details does a GREAT job - she helps shape my insanity into a readable book, so that says something about her prowess!
What inspired you to write?
My mother was a writer and poet, so I was raised that writing is as normal as cooking or doing laundry. It's just one of those things. Because of that I can't get into a lot of the really artsy life-style ideas or the checklists of what you *have* to do in order to be a *real* writer. As long as you write something - now and then, whenever you get around to it - you're a writer. You don't need to wallpaper your house in literary journals or sell everything you own to buy how-to books.
Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?
Inspiration comes from a lot of places including anime, movies, and conversations with other people. A lot of my inspiration also comes from what I *don't* like. When I started the Amaranthine series I was tired of kick-butt females who seemed to go from plain Jane to vampire killer in a span of five pages, not to mention that there were never repercussions. No one bothered to explain how this new vampire life style affected her family, her friends, the house she left behind. And she was always so hot/sexy/gorgeous/clever/sassy that every vampire/werewolf/man that saw her instantly wanted her. Characters like that make me go "bleh", so I wrote something different.
