Straight From the Mouth of YA Author Sher J. Stultz

Sher Stultz lives with her family in the Puyallup river valley. The Timestream Travelers Chronicles is her debut series. Her inspiration for this series came from teaching middle school science and her deep curiosity with genetics and time travel. As a science teacher for seventeen years, she is always delighted to bump into former students and learn about the new adventures in their lives. In her spare time, she kayaks, dances, practices yoga, and goes camping or hiking. In the summertime Sher grows pollinator gardens for bees and hummingbirds, attends outdoor concerts, and reads in her hammock. An ardent conversationalist, Sher enjoys many genres of books and music and will happily converse with anyone on a variety of topics! Her first novel, The Rescue has been warmly received, garnering an indie B.R.A.G. Medallion, a Bookfest gold medal, and was cited as Pacific Book Awards Finalist. Book two in the Timestream series is slated for release in early 2023.

Website: https://www.timestreamtravelerchronicles.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timestreamtraveler/

 

INTERVIEW

Thanks for letting us interrogate you!  Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to

why you wanted to be an author?

Some people write with purpose and planning, and they are wonderful authors. Other people have stories that come to them wanting to be told and will go crazy if they don’t write them. I fall into the latter category.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be?  I mean what are the perks and what are the demands?

The perks are the writing. I love writing stories, birthing new characters, and finding ways to tie things in I’m passionate about. The demands are the marketing, the self-selling, and the relentless task of tracking it all. I often think it’d be easier to sell baked goods than books! Maybe I should start baking?

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?

Self-publishing is my route. I gave up on the long wait for publishers because there was no forward momentum in the process, and I was already writing the second book in my series. I think this is also the reason for the explosion of independent authors.

What’s the snarkiest thing you can say about the publishing industry?

We’re now seeing authors taking charge of producing their own works with the use of highly skilled freelancers, rather than waiting to be chosen by a publisher. Got a story? Go for it. It’s a brave new world if you have the persistence to go it alone without a big publishing house to make you feel confident in your storytelling.

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you?

No one cares what I do anymore if I pay the bills and keep the pets fed! Seriously, I dispense food and money and they leave me alone.

What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing process?

My illustrator was wonderful, but there were unique struggles creating certain images. We decided early on that Cassie, the heroine of the first story, needed to be featured on the front cover of book one. Before she was completed there were several adjustments he had to make to Cassie’s chest and hair because my illustrator is a twenty-something gay man who is bald! Working with him was my favorite part of the process because of our hilarious conversations about boobs!

How about the social networks?  Which ones do you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?

I use Instagram. Facebook is a middle-aged person’s social media platform and since my book is YA, Instagram was the best fit. Of course, I’m still learning to use it because you guessed it... I am a middle-aged person who only uses Facebook. I avoid Tik Tok because its content is often described by my students as “cringey.” I’m thinking about a YouTube channel next because I do enjoy making videos.

Book sales.  Don’t you just love them (or lack of?)?  How are you making the sales happen for you?

Right now, I am on a blog tour, hoping to generate more sales. I’ve done some advertising on Bargain Booksy, Bookbub, and Litnuts, but my next stop is advertising on Amazon itself. The bidding algorithm is tricky so I’m going to have one of the savvy math teachers from my high school explain it to me.

What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about?

I turned 51, survived teaching during a lockdown, and published the first book in my time travel series. At least that’s what all my friends say I should be making noise about when I’m whining that I’m too tired to take a vacation.

Okay, too much sugar for you today!  Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in.  Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?

I’m still a dreamer, despite having a few beat downs from life. And my goal for my books isn’t necessarily the same as other authors. I want to see these stories on the big screen. Or even a small one! Going forward, I’d love for The Timestream Travelers’ series to achieve a broader audience through film because the characters are so quirky and compelling.

 The Rescue: The Timestream Travelers Chronicles is available at: