Behind the Book with Nicola Ormerod

This week I bring you the truly marvelous U.K author, Nicola Ormerod!

Liz - Tell us a little bit about your part of the world.

Nicola - I am from a little town in the high peak district called Glossop. It very picturesque and I've lived here nearly 10 years. Liz - When did you first embark on a writing career?

Nicola - I wrote my first novel aged 15 but didn’t publish anything until about 2001/2. Ive always loved to read and write, I lived in the library at school. Liz - What was the first book you published and what inspired it?

Nicola - My first book was called Red’s Robin and it was a re write of the book I wrote in my teens. It was inspired by my love of everything vampires. I was obsessed.

Liz - If you could go back and rewrite it, is there anything you would change?

Nicola - No I wouldn’t change a thing I think it shows how I have developed over the last 20 years as a writer,

Liz - What have you learned about yourself as a writer between the first book you wrote and your last release?

Nicola - I'm 42 this year and I have realised at this stage in my life I want to focus on YA, NA rather than raunchy stuff. This may change, I am not sure, who knows. I write what is in my heart. Liz - You do an immense amount of work for the writing community, namely the TBR Takeover via TikTok. What inspired you to do this?

Nicola - Just the fact that it is so hard for indies and self published authors to get any exposure without parting with money and I wanted to create an outlet for us to be able to interact with readers and other authors and create a support network. Liz - What are your plans for the TBR takeover in 2022?

Nicola - The June TBR takeover will see slightly less authors and books. We are developing a reading journal which will be free for readers to download or they can buy a pb version to record their reviews and use them to create tiktok videos.

Liz - You also founded Vamptasy Publishing which is impressive. How did this come about?

Nicola - I self published my first book in around 2002ish and unfortunately was suckered in by a vanity press who took a lot of money from me and in exchange gave me a very poor product in return and my only thought was… I can do this better. Vamptasy started with just me and my book. Friends were impressed and asked me to publish theirs and before I knew it we had fifty authors and hundreds of books. When my second child came along it became very difficult to manage and so the company changed hands to a very dear friend of mine Sarah Davis who still has Vamptasy now. I now freelance design and also all my eBooks are under Vamptasy too. Liz - What do you like best about running your own press?

Nicola - I no longer run Vamptasy but I do free lance design for them and I also help with submissions, promo and marketing if needed. The best thing about having your own press is complete control. Liz - What is it like working as a narrator for Audible? What kind of books do you read for them and do you ever change your voice? Nicola - I love narrating audio books, I have done a wide range for raunchy, horror, romance and fantasy. I change the pitch of my voice for female and male voices or young and old but I don’t do accents.

Liz - I love the cover art on Rapientium and Blood & Love! Who does your designs and how much design input do you have?

Nicola - I fully design all my own covers. I get most of my images from stock but Rapientium is probably my favorite to date. Liz - You make some funky designs on t-shirts and bags! Do you have an online store? What are your favourite things to design?

Nicola - No online store yet! Its on a long list of to dos. I love designing custom tees and bags for authors. Liz - Assuming you get any free-time with all of these ventures, what do you like to do?

Nicola - I mostly write if I get free time. I like to read and I like to game aswell. I like to cook and bake and I also run a ladies group and host workshops and trips out aswell. Liz - Tell us about your last release, Rapientium. Nicola - Rapientium is the first in a three part series following a teenager called Blaze Morgan. She has seen strange white beings all her life but no one else can see them. She learns to live with them until she witnesses a horrible car accident and discovers the origin of this creatures. She discovers she is a Watcher and the beings are called The Taken. They are made when a Rapientium or Raptor for short, eats a human soul. The taken are what is left behind. She finds out that her Grandmother was a famous Watcher and she joins the order to become one too.

Liz - What's next for you? Nicola - 2022 is a busy year! I have just finished writing Nila Believes the 4th Vampire memoir book which wraps up the series. It goes to betas on the 11th. I have finished Stones and Power this week which is the 5th and final Roxy May book. I have the second Rapientium Book scheduled for autumn release. I have a stand alone werewolf book scheduled for summer and a spin off for the June TBR. I also have plans to put all my books to audio this year. BUSY! Liz - Where can our readers follow you? Nicola - I am mainly on tiktok, Nicola_ormerod_author. You can find me also on facebook and Instagram too.