Interview with Kiana Davenport
Interview with Kiana Davenport, Award-Winning Author of Shark Dialogues and the Spy Lover
Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started in this business?
I'm descended from a full-blooded Hawaiian mother and a Caucasian father from Alabama. Growing up in Hawaii, I started writing stories when I was ten, and never stopped. After graduation from university, I moved to New York City where the major publishers were. The connections I made with other writers eventually helped me find agents and publishers for my first three novels. But there were long years of working as salesclerk, dog-walker, waitress, bartender, field-worker and cannery-worker, while I struggled to get published.
You were recently published by Amazon's in-house publishing imprint, Thomas and Mercer. Tell us about your experience.
My current novel, THE SPY LOVER, was originally under contract to be published by Penguin Publishers. They had previously turned down a collection of my Prize-Winning Pacific Stories, feeling that short stories did not sell. I was learning about self-published electronic books and decided to publish the stories myself. When I published the first two volumes on Amazon Kindle, Penguin threatened to break my contract if I did not delete them. They saw Amazon as their major competitor. I refused. I wanted my stories available to the world. Penguin terminated my contract and demanded back their $20,000 partial advance. Several publishers stepped forth, including Amazon's Thomas & Mercer, offering to publish my book.They offered me the best terms, especially on the royalties from ebooks, so I signed with Thomas & Mercer. Their online marketing has been fantastic and kept THE SPY LOVER on the bestseller list since publication in August, 2012.
Tell us a little about the The Spy Lover.
THE SPY LOVER is based on my family history on both sides of my family. My father was from Talladega, Alabama. His ancestor Warren Davenport, was a cavalryman who rode for the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. For years my Southern cousins have been asking me to write a novel about him and his famous cavalry unit, the Prattville Dragoons, out of Prattville, Alabama. Coincidentally, my Chinese uncle, Ayau Kam, also had an ancestor, John Tommy Kam, who fought in the same Civil War. Back in the 1800s, John Tommy had emigrated from Canton, China, to Hawaii (where he worked the cane fields), then on to San Francisco. By the time the Civil War started, he had made his way to New York State where he volunteered to fight for the Union Army. In return they promised him American citizenship (which they promised all Chinese soldiers who served in that war. A promise never kept.)
So here was my novel-in-waiting - my ancestors who had fought on opposing sides of the War! Aside from Warren Davenport and John Tommy Kam, I invented a nurse named Era, who connects the two men. She is the daughter of John Tommy but they have been separated by the war. She sets out to find him, and is lured into spying for the Union Army while posing as a nurse in Confederate hospitals. What is a novel without a great romance? Inevitably, Era falls in love with the Confederate cavalry-man, Warren, while tending his wounds, and her loyalties become divided between the father she is searching for, and the man who captures her heart. The Spy Lover is a new departure for me.
I have only written novels and stories about Hawaii and the Pacific. But these soldiers were my brave ancestors and I wanted to memorialize them, and not have them fade unknown into history.
You've had some recent interviews where you talked about some bad experiences with traditional publishing. Can you shed some light on this?
Yes. Below is the link for my SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY blog about what hell Penguin put me through, if you want to check it out. It got about 200 comments.http://kianadavenportdialogues.blogspot.com/2011/08/sleeping-with-enemy-cautionary-tale.html
Do you have some advice for new authors starting out?
First of all, READ. Stimulate your mind until your writing is first-rate, and your books become products readers want to buy. Second, find a network of new authors like you. Exchange information about publishing. Be generous, pay it forward, help friends with advice and tips, and they will reciprocate. Third, choose only certain blogs and be faithful to them.This is how you build your net-work. Blog only one-two hours a day, maximum. Don't waste time cruising from one blog to the next. Spend that valuable time writing. Lastly, never never give up! Struggle is a good word! There's no success without it. Good luck! ****
How can your fans reach you?
Please join me on Facebook and my blog, Davenport Dialogues.
Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started in this business?
I'm descended from a full-blooded Hawaiian mother and a Caucasian father from Alabama. Growing up in Hawaii, I started writing stories when I was ten, and never stopped. After graduation from university, I moved to New York City where the major publishers were. The connections I made with other writers eventually helped me find agents and publishers for my first three novels. But there were long years of working as salesclerk, dog-walker, waitress, bartender, field-worker and cannery-worker, while I struggled to get published.
You were recently published by Amazon's in-house publishing imprint, Thomas and Mercer. Tell us about your experience.
My current novel, THE SPY LOVER, was originally under contract to be published by Penguin Publishers. They had previously turned down a collection of my Prize-Winning Pacific Stories, feeling that short stories did not sell. I was learning about self-published electronic books and decided to publish the stories myself. When I published the first two volumes on Amazon Kindle, Penguin threatened to break my contract if I did not delete them. They saw Amazon as their major competitor. I refused. I wanted my stories available to the world. Penguin terminated my contract and demanded back their $20,000 partial advance. Several publishers stepped forth, including Amazon's Thomas & Mercer, offering to publish my book.They offered me the best terms, especially on the royalties from ebooks, so I signed with Thomas & Mercer. Their online marketing has been fantastic and kept THE SPY LOVER on the bestseller list since publication in August, 2012.
Tell us a little about the The Spy Lover.
THE SPY LOVER is based on my family history on both sides of my family. My father was from Talladega, Alabama. His ancestor Warren Davenport, was a cavalryman who rode for the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. For years my Southern cousins have been asking me to write a novel about him and his famous cavalry unit, the Prattville Dragoons, out of Prattville, Alabama. Coincidentally, my Chinese uncle, Ayau Kam, also had an ancestor, John Tommy Kam, who fought in the same Civil War. Back in the 1800s, John Tommy had emigrated from Canton, China, to Hawaii (where he worked the cane fields), then on to San Francisco. By the time the Civil War started, he had made his way to New York State where he volunteered to fight for the Union Army. In return they promised him American citizenship (which they promised all Chinese soldiers who served in that war. A promise never kept.)
So here was my novel-in-waiting - my ancestors who had fought on opposing sides of the War! Aside from Warren Davenport and John Tommy Kam, I invented a nurse named Era, who connects the two men. She is the daughter of John Tommy but they have been separated by the war. She sets out to find him, and is lured into spying for the Union Army while posing as a nurse in Confederate hospitals. What is a novel without a great romance? Inevitably, Era falls in love with the Confederate cavalry-man, Warren, while tending his wounds, and her loyalties become divided between the father she is searching for, and the man who captures her heart. The Spy Lover is a new departure for me.
I have only written novels and stories about Hawaii and the Pacific. But these soldiers were my brave ancestors and I wanted to memorialize them, and not have them fade unknown into history.
You've had some recent interviews where you talked about some bad experiences with traditional publishing. Can you shed some light on this?
Yes. Below is the link for my SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY blog about what hell Penguin put me through, if you want to check it out. It got about 200 comments.http://kianadavenportdialogues.blogspot.com/2011/08/sleeping-with-enemy-cautionary-tale.html
Do you have some advice for new authors starting out?
First of all, READ. Stimulate your mind until your writing is first-rate, and your books become products readers want to buy. Second, find a network of new authors like you. Exchange information about publishing. Be generous, pay it forward, help friends with advice and tips, and they will reciprocate. Third, choose only certain blogs and be faithful to them.This is how you build your net-work. Blog only one-two hours a day, maximum. Don't waste time cruising from one blog to the next. Spend that valuable time writing. Lastly, never never give up! Struggle is a good word! There's no success without it. Good luck! ****
How can your fans reach you?
Please join me on Facebook and my blog, Davenport Dialogues.
