Suzette Webb released her second book, Blues to Blessings: from Fearful to Faithful, on e-book exclusively on Amazon during the 2015 Lenten Season.
As Lent is a time of reflection and preparation, this spiritual memoir arrived at the perfect time. While it chronicles Webb’s journey toward spiritual renewal, it doesn’t come without her having to confront the painful complexities of her past. Humorously honest and shockingly transparent, Blues to Blessings is an interactive spiritual odyssey for readers.
“In our lives, we all have the beautiful parts and the ugly parts. We have become a society of reality TV watchers where we like to see everyone else’s ugliness. However, there is beauty, strength and endurance in those ugly parts,” Webb says.
As a wife and mother of three, Webb has been working toward publication for the last five years while running her company Light of Mine (LOM). She founded LOM nearly 10 years ago; it designs and manufactures high-performance lighting systems for armored military vehicles.
Webb, who holds a bachelors from Loyola University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business, Northwestern University, shares why she became an author, her favorite books and gives useful information to new authors on book publishing.
What inspired you to write your first book?
My first book – Moments of Truth is book of affirmations was written nearly 18 years ago. The second affirmation in the book was titled “Blues to Blessings,” which is the title of my current book, my spiritual memoir. Its full title is Blues to Blessings: from Fearful to Faithful.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I prefer to write nonfiction material.
What books have most impacted your life (or life as an author)?
The first one would be the Bible. The others are those that I can learn from. I am always drawn to nonfiction books. Authors like Maya Angelou and Eckhart Tolle.
What books are you currently reading? Why this author?
I read the Bible and journal about my reading most mornings. Unfortunately, beyond that I am so busy with promoting my current work that I am not reading a new book at this time.
What new authors have piqued your interest?
Again, I’ve been writing my spiritual memoir, Blues to Blessings, for the last five years so I am not as familiar with new authors, although I greatly appreciated the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed that was written a few years ago.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything about your latest work?
No, I really believe the work was inspired by God and personally transformative for me in the process.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing or coming up with a concept for your book?
Recalling material from years past. However, in my writing process I was able to develop the concept for my next two to three books.
What was the hardest part of completing this project?
Making it through the multiple editing phases.
What advice would you give other writers?
Stick with it! Make your greatest investment in the editorial process – thematic, heavy editing and even copyediting.
Describe the process in getting published.
I could write a dissertation on this one, so I’ll just share a few highlights.
a. Do not invest your time to write a great book and short-circuit the publishing process. Honor your work by doing extensive research on self-publishing.
b. Join a few self-publishing groups which will lead to meeting other authors and service providers in the industry. For example, I joined the Chicago Self Publishing group and Chicago Women in Publishing. Within those groups, I found the person to design my cover, develop my website, format my e-book and typeset my print version. I also found my copy editor too.
c. I think it’s safe to publish an e-book first, and to conduct a focus group. Ask your focus group to search for additional typos, grammatical errors, and general feedback on your book. The digital version allows you to make final corrections to the manuscript as well as tighten up any character development or thematic issues, etc.
d. Go directly to Bowker to purchase your ISBN. Do not use a third party for this.
e. I would not have recommended Amazon’s KDP model for authors a few years ago, but since it made some recent changes to its offerings, I highly recommend it today. Amazon’s allows authors to pre-sell their books up to 90 days before the book launches. This is the equivalent of hanging a “Coming Soon” sign for a new business. However, I only recommend doing the program for the first 90 days.
f. Finally, use only Amazon to sell via Amazon which takes a 40 percent royalty. Use Ingram Spark to sell to bookstores and internationally. Offer standard bookseller terms which include offering a 55 percent discount with a return option.
g. The average book sells only 300 copies per year. To make it to the USA Today bestseller lists an author needs to sell an average of 2,450 books in a seven-day period (or 350 books a day). Several more thousands are required to hit the New York Times bestseller list. Thus, promotion is king unless an author has sufficient resources to purchase 2,500 copies of their own book.
What were the literary, psychological and/or logistical challenges in bringing your work to life?
First and foremost would be finding the inner peace to tell my story in such raw detail. Initially, this did not come easy. Second, was the issue of finding the time and place to write while running a business and raising a family. There were times when I had the time and space to write, but lacked the motivation to do so. Other times the words were pouring out of me to write, but I had other obligations to fulfill. The key is to hang in there. This led me to writing sometimes at 4:30 a.m. I have learned that you will make the necessary sacrifices if you genuinely want something.
Everyone’s process for writing is different. Explain yours.
The most challenging yet also rewarding times were sitting down to write when I had no motivation to do so. Surprisingly, it was these occasions when I ended up writing some of my best chapters.
What are five of your favorite books and why?
I enjoy mostly all nonfiction books that are self-help or spiritual in nature. Here are my five:
a. The Shack by William Paul Young
b. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
c. Seat of My Soul by Gary Zukav
d. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
e. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Please provide three “good to know” facts about you.
Be creative. Tell us about your first job or the inspiration behind your writing. My very first job was at Wendy’s at the age of 14, and my first job out of college was at Continental Bank. Three qualities about myself: resilient, self-motivated, and compassionate. See my book trailer about for the inspiration behind my writing.
What is the mission you set out to accomplish with your voice in this book?
To help turn millions of souls toward God.
Who are the authors you reread and why?
Those authors such as Tolle, and Covey that provide such depth in their content that you are inspired to go back and read for a second time to learn what you missed in the first reading.
A great book has what?
It inspires me to reflect and to possibly make changes in my own life.
You develop character and ideas by…
My own life experiences and revelations.
Where would you travel if you could to write your next book?
Maui.
What is the gift of reading and why does it around up a new world?
The gift of reading is the gift of learning and sharing.
Watch the Blues to Blessings book trailer for the full interview: or by visiting www.bluestoblessings.com.
