Linda DeFruscio is the
founder and president of A & A Laser, Electrolysis & Skin Care
Associates in Newtonville, MA. In addition to Cornered, her memoir
about her friendship with Richard Sharpe, she is currently writing a book on
skin care and completing a book of profiles based on interviews with
transgender people, many of whom are her clients. While Cornered is
her first book, her skin care articles have been published in magazines for
years. Connect with the author on Facebook and via her website.
About the Book
In the year 2000, Linda DeFruscio
was forced to make an unthinkable decision. Someone whose genius she admired
immensely, a business associate and dear friend, committed a terrible
crime. In response, she could cut off their friendship and avoid the risk of
losing friends, clients and her own peace of mind—or, she could trust her gut
and try to save some aspect of her friend’s humanity.
Cornered is Linda DeFruscio’s
story of her long and often complex association with Dr. Richard J. Sharpe, the
millionaire dermatologist from Gloucester, MA who was convicted of killing his
wife. Beautifully written and surprisingly tender, Corneredallows
the reader an upfront view of the fragility of genius and the decline into
madness, all while casting a second light on how one woman’s refusal to turn
her back resulted in momentous changes in her own life.
Find out more on Amazon.
Thank you for your time in
answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having
you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Author: I am an electrologist
(someone who removes unwanted hair from clients’ bodies) and an aesthetician
(someone who helps clients enhance their skin and features so that they can be
their most beautiful selves). Over the course of my 35-year career, I have
written many articles on skin care and other aesthetic matters for various
magazines. So, when I lived through a unique and challenging decade-long
experience that I knew would make for a really great book, I already had some
writing skills. And because I am detail oriented by nature, I also had lots of
notes. Getting started was not that difficult for me. I had my ducks in a row,
so to speak.
Is this your first book?
Author: Yes, but I am currently
working on two others. One will be about skin care and the other, which is
nearly done, is a compilation of profiles of transgender people. So many of my
clients are transgender people, and some of them were anxious to tell me their
stories so they could share their experience with readers. I’m very excited
about this project. It is a true labor of love, for me as well as for the people
who appear in it.
With this particular book, how
did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you
choose this method?
Author: Because I have my own
business and work long hours, I didn’t have the time or inclination to self
publish. I had one of my associates contact some publishers and three of them
responded with offers of contracts. I looked them over and decided that
Twilight Times Books was the best fit for me.
Can you tell us a little about
your publishing journey? The pros and
cons?
Author: The journey is a long
one once you decide to go with a traditional press. It took almost a year from
the time my book was accepted at Twilight Times to see it out in print (and in
online stores). But in that time it went through a couple of edits with really
good editors who gave me a lot of advice for improvements as well as line
edits, a variety of cover art options, etc., and now the publisher is sending
it out to various reviewers on my behalf. So it is time well spent.
What lessons do you feel you
learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing
industry as a whole?
Author: I learned that there
are too many people writing and not enough reading. It’s a challenge to get
published by a traditional publisher. I’m sure self publishing is easier if you
have the time to learn the ropes. But I think it’s also harder in the sense
that many readers and reviewers make assumptions about self-published books and
don’t give them the chance most of them deserve.
Would you recommend this method
of publishing to other authors?
Author: If you’re in a hurry,
self publish. If you have the time, explore other options. Writing can be a
very lonely process. When you work with a publisher you suddenly have a team of
people who care about the success of your book almost as much as you do.
What’s the best advice you can
give to aspiring authors?
Author: Don’t give up. Go after
your dream. Persevere. The rewards for me have been huge, even though the book
is barely out at this time. Not only did I accomplish what I set out to do, but
in the process I discovered answers to questions that had plagued me for
years.
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