Interview & Book Giveaway with Author Caprice Hokstad

Today's guest is Splashdown Books author Caprice Hokstad. Welcome, Caprice!

Q:  Do you treat yourself to something special when a project is completed?

A:  Yes. Sleep. Seriously. I almost always have to burn a lot of midnight oil to get something completed and getting done means I can catch up on sleep.

Q:  Do you plot out your story ahead of time, or do you think it up as you go?
A:  Both. My first book was almost completely seat-of-pants, but the second one was outlined and then filled in.

Q:  There’s been a lot said about the future of publishing and the possible death of the print book. What’s your take on eBooks, self-publishing, and such?
A:  I would like to see print reserved for only the most special books, with people buying the majority of their books in electronic formats. It’s easier, more cost-effective, more convenient, and saves trees. We do need a waterproof Kindle/Nook/whatever for the beachgoers and bathtub readers, such as myself, but once they put those out, I am all for closing bookstores completely and running the entire industry on the Internet.

My only problem with self-publishing is quality control. I have self-published myself, so I have seen both sides. It’s hard for readers to wade through all the choices, but eBooks are almost always offered with free samples, so it’s less of a risk. Self-published are actually better off in the land of eBooks.

Q:  How long does it take you to complete a novel? How many drafts do you go through?
A:  It really varies. My first novel’s first draft was done in four months, but then it needed the most extensive rewrites and redrafts. I didn’t count how many. It was a LOT. I edit as I go and now I don’t really do full roughs followed by full rewrites anymore. I do usually have a few crit partners read the draft and make suggestions and then I go back and polish.

Q:  What’s the one far out sci-fi technology you’d most like to see become a household item?
A:  Rosie, the robotic maid from the Jetsons.

Rosie is quite a popular choice. Whoever comes out with a viable robot-maid is going to make a fortune! Thanks for visiting with us today, Caprice. Lots of fun :+}

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caprice Hokstad spends most of her time dreaming up other worlds to live vicariously in. Her first half-million words were spent on the fantasy setting of Byntar (where her published Ascendancy Trilogy novels are set). Her current obsession is a future Earth where the oceans are colonized (manifesting as seaQuest fanfiction). She attended Baylor University in Texas and lived in a log cabin in the mountains for ten years directly following college. She now lives--with her husband, two teens, a 7-year-old, a dog, a cat, two big rats, a tankful of guppies, and a leopard gecko--in a mobile home in southern California. She regularly stares at her simulated aquarium screensaver, singing "I Wish I Were a Fish" from "The Incredible Mr. Limpet". Her ultimate aspiration is to live in the first undersea colony, Atlantica, currently being built off the coast of Florida. She has been assured they will have electricity and internet and that there will be room for her laptop, so she can continue to write. At that point, she may change her screensaver, but no promises.

ABOUT THE BOOK - The Duke's Handmaid
Slavery. Loyalty. Torture. Passion. Betrayal. All the young outcast wanted was security in a world that destroyed her family and left her despised and rejected. Can the simple farmgirl find a new family through voluntary enslavement to the duke's household? Not if the prejudiced and conniving duchess has her way!


WIN THE BOOK
If you’d like to be entered to win the e-book, The Duke's Handmaid, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday, June 6th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) E-book in the winner’s choice of format (nook, Kindle, PDF) can be downloaded from Smashwords (with free coupon code) or emailed.