Saturday, November 12, 2016

Interview with author Philip Klaus


Blood Ties


1. What inspired you to write your book?
I had no thoughts about writing a book in the beginning.  But as my story began to unfold, friends and family were fascinated by what was happening and, with tears in their eyes,  almost universally reacted the same way.  You have to write a book, notify Hollywood, contact TV talk shows.  Your story is unbelievable.  You need to share your story with the world.  So I did.

2. What is it about?
My story is about my life-long search for my identity, my roots and especially my mother, not knowing if she was still alive or not as I got older.  I found out she had she kept me a secret for 70 years, until the day I found her in 2011.  I was almost 71 when we hugged for the first time.  She was 95.  The search for my father ended abruptly when we discovered his grave in a military cemetery located in Manilla,  Philippines, a casualty of the war in the south Pacific during WWll.

3. What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book?
My hope is that people will enjoy the unique and remarkable one- step- forward, two- steps- backward story that follows my lifelong, sometimes frustrating, sometimes discouraging,sometimes rewarding  search for my heritage , my history.  The story is not just about adoption. It's also about all the crazy, sometimes tear-jerking, gut-wrenching things I learned during the search for my new, biological family.  I also hope that my story will give others hope if they are searching for their roots and their unresolved identity.

4. What advice do you have for writers?
I'm not sure I'm the best candidate to be sharing advice about writing.  I have been a contractor and a designer all my life but discovered out of necessity that I had an intense love of writing, of being able to creatively express my thoughts in my own unique way.  The rewards are indescribable, even though, as in my case, the process was at times frustrating, discouraging, and painful.  Writers, especially new ones like me, should always stay focused on the finish line and never give in to the pain of the journey along the way, as far off as it may seem.

5. Where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
It will never die.  I discuss this often with many of my friends who are readers.  The consensus---we will never give in to electronic attempts at replacing our love of holding a book in our hands, turning pages, and marking our place with physical bookmarks.  A book is a possession that makes us feel good.  I can't say I feel the same way about a computer, a laptop, or a tablet.  They are electronic machines.  Give me a book any day.

6. What challenges did you have in writing your book?
I was challenged by being a neophyte author, never having written a book before and not knowing anything about the finer aspects of the trade.  Fortunately for me, I had a daughter who was a journalism major in college and was my loving critic, spell-checker,  editor, and word processer through all four of my rewrites.  When I got to the end of the process, I hated my book.  It was two years in the making.  In time, I realized that all the pain and suffering was worth the effort.


7. If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours?
My book is unlike any other.  It's a true story that reads like a work of fiction because all the plots and sub-plots are so emotionally absorbing, spellbinding, and often hard to believe.

For more information, please see: https://philipklaus.wordpress.com/

Please Click On The Best Out Of 2,100 Posts
11 best author, literary agent, media interviews of the year – with an opportunity for you to be interviewed

2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit

2015 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit

2014 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit

Book Marketing & Book PR Toolkit: 2013

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©.
Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.