Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Andrea Sisco




JAN: I met Andrea Sisco via email when she was co-founding her website founder of http://www.armchairinterviews.com/, a book review and author interview website. Since then its been named one of the top 101 writer's websites by Writer's Digest every year.

Andrea, a mother of six children and grandmother of 19, has an eclectic career as a probation officer, television host, flight attendant, book reviewer, and adoption activist. But now she's written her first mystery novel, A Deadly Habit, a laugh-out-loud romp just out from Five Star. Kirkus gave it a thumbs up, recommending it to Janet Evanovich fans who may have "found their fix."

Andrea, who is currently coauthoring a Young Adult Fantasy series with romantic comedy author, Kathleen Baldwin, agreed to talk about the revelations from crossing the line from reviewer to reviewed.


Andrea: As a former television host and the co-owner of Armchairinterviews.com I have interviewed authors and reviewed their books for years. It's a great job. I get free books, meet fascinating people and get to do what I love most; talk, read and write. Reviews are posted in a timely manner (I have my reputation to uphold) and the author's needs are kept in mind when scheduling an interview. But I never consider how it might impact an author if their review/interview submission was lost or wasn't picked up for assignment. If it's lost I don't know about it and if it doesn't get picked up, I send a note indicating that fact and then dip into the box of chocolates sitting on my desk and go on to the next submission. No big deal.

IT IS A BIG DEAL!

My first book, A Deadly Habit: A Penelope Santucci Mystery, will be released in July and I'm impatiently waiting for the reviews to come in. In fact, I'm bleary-eyed from watching the email inbox. My anxiety quotient is at level orange because I may not have followed the submission requirements and the reviewer hit the delete button (I'm learning to intensely dislike the delete button). I've experienced the high of sending out a requested ARC for review and then when it isn't reviewed and they don't respond to a polite email asking for a status report(sent months later) I crash (after satisfying myself that I haven't been stalking the reviewer).

Note to self: Every time an author's email hits the in basket, handle it with the care and respect it deserves. It's not that that isn't done, but now there is a greater understanding of what it means to an author to have someone care enough to read/review/post the results and notify them of the posting. A submission will NEVER, EVER be taken for granted in the future. And that's a good thing. Lesson learned. Class dismissed. Oh, and I really haven't been stalking anyone. Really.

If you want to learn more about Andrea, check out her website at http://www.andreasisco.com/

21 comments:

  1. Andrea, congratulations again on your new book. Andrea is a member of the Five Star author loop and has been so very helpful and professional to the other authors on the loop. Great post!

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  2. I think that when you respect others, you will be respected. I will check out your book!

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  3. Yes, Andrea's site has reviewed my book and they were professional and informative. It was a big help to a newbie. It prevented me from making terrible mistakes with other sites.

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  4. Thank you for your comments. I believe we have always been respectful of authors, but it was a good lesson to learn from this end. And it is a lesson I won't forget.

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  5. Wow! You have a lot of children and grandchildren. And you write and review books! How do you do all of that?

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  6. Ah, it's the result of a type A personality. However, I do have issues with balance and I'm working on that now as I write the next Pen book (A Bad Habit). With my current schedule, I write two hours every day. If I miss a day, I really try to make it up. I'd like to be less rigid, but for now I just can't.

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  7. Congratulations on the book. I'm heading over to Amazon. I need a fun read.

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  8. Congratulations on the new book. Wow! You are busy.

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  9. We have our books on order and, based on the reviews, we can hardly wait to read Andrea's book. She kept telling us she had a book "in progress." Now it's here. What an achievement. Congrats Sis - we love you.

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  10. Thanks, Chris. I love you all too!

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  11. It's an eye opener to see the other side isn't it?

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  12. Andrea, my public library is going to stock your book and I am first on their call list. Can't wait to read it.

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  13. Congrats, Andrea. I have every intention of reading your book, really looking forward to it!

    Jacqueline Seewald

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  14. I was looking at the sidebar of the books by the bloggers here on jungle red writers and I've read them all! And loved each and every one. They're varied but so well written and many we've reviewed (I think all-although some are pending).

    If you want a good read folks, picke these books up and you'll be in reading heaven.

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  15. I enjoyed your post. Thanks.

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  16. I'm looking forward to reading your book, Andrea. It is always refreshing to see things from the other perspective. Best of luck with your book (and the reviews yet to come!)

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  17. Thanks for the kind words, Andrea.
    Wishing you good fortune and only good reviews with your own book

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  19. Oh, what a lovely thing to say! Thank you so much.

    I used to do movie reviews(part of my secret past!) when I worked for a TV station in Indianapolis. It was so strange--I felt so reposnsible for making sure I was fair and right and honest and constructive and thoughtful--and of course witty and original. :-)

    It's a lot to juggle, but it actually helped to remember there were real people behind the movies.

    Andrea, how do you choose who reviews each book?

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  20. Andrea, this is so wonderful! Congrats on your own new baby! I love Armchairinterviews--you don't need to remind yourself to treat authors with respect, because you already do.

    And thank you for your kind words:). we're delighted to have you visit!

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  21. Andrea, I've been talking you up all over NorCal! Told my daughter I thought our heroines were soul sisters... :)

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