Q&A with bestselling author Toby Neal

On testing covers, the hamster wheel of indie publishing & so much more!

I am so excited to have USA Today bestselling author Toby Neal visit Inside An Editor’s Brain. I first met Toby when she hired me to edit her very first novel Blood Orchids. I just knew I was in the presence of something very, very special. Toby is now a four time USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of over 60 books.

You are a mental health therapist. What made you decide to start writing and how has that career helped or hindered your work?

The truth is, I wanted to be a writer ALWAYS. I had a very unconventional childhood with much moving, houselessness, and spotty education--but I loved books and read at age 4. My mom wrote down my first story, which I dictated and then illustrated, at 5. But because of that unstable hippie upbringing, I very much wanted a "normal" life--so when I went to college, I studied psychology and became a therapist, both to help others in my situation, and to have a real career that paid the bills. Later, when my kids were completing high school, I began writing as a way to process the stories and trauma I experienced through my work. Blood Orchids, my first crime novel, was inspired by my role as counselor to the police department during a real tragedy that happened in our community on Maui.

I will always remember when you approached me to edit Blood Orchids. What have you learned through the process of working with editors?

Kristen, working with you was like getting an MFA in creative writing, specific to mystery and thriller! Blood Orchids had been edited before you got your hands on it (at some expense and time, mind you!) but you were the queen of the genre. Through your editing you taught me so much about pacing, keeping tension high, dropping clues and red herrings, and "rules" such as--the reader should never know more than the investigator in the story. Working with you for ten or so books, I got a thorough grounding in what it takes to write commercial mystery and crime fiction.

What is your writing process like? How do you come up with so many different and fascinating ideas?

I am a clinical social worker, and social workers are concerned with issues of justice, fairness, equality and law. I am inspired by the crimes and issues of Hawaii, specifically, and have an insider's knowledge of the islands' unique environmental, racial, structural and other challenges. Most of my plots are ripped from the local news!

I outline my books based on a fairly straightforward format that readers love in the genre: an inciting incident (the initial crime) an escalating tension and pursuit of clues and red herrings leading to a climax, followed by a twist and a denouement. I generally stop outlining at or before the climax, and let the characters and world I've set up provide action and answers that even surprise me, many times.

Once I have my outline, I use Scrivener to lay it out, then begin plugging in scenes until I get to the climax/twist. Sometimes I have to stop and let it sit there as my brain "solves" the crime and then it's a race to the end.

I love not knowing how things will resolve! That keeps the writing fresh for me, even so many books into a long-running World of interconnected characters in police procedural, thriller, and cozy mystery.

When I write memoir, it's much less defined, but I try to keep an underlying tension and uncertainty in my real life stories, then leave the reader with something potent to chew on; preferably a number of somethings, and a feeling of satisfaction at the end. I am no longer writing romance, but for a while I did that, being drawn to lighter, happier stories. Now writing cozies in my Paradise Crime World meets that need for me.

What has been the most challenging part of your writing journey?

I'd say the constant adjustment to the marketplace has been the most challenging aspect of my writing and publishing journey, which began in December of 2011. I've made a six figure income from my self-published writing since I broke out in 2012; but over time, the market has become glutted with schlock and now, AI books. Maintaining a pace of writing 3-5 top quality books a year has become difficult and has paid less and less; I'd hoped to take it easier by now, with the huge and established library I've written. But no, those of us on this path have discovered that if you don't advertise and keep publishing, you quickly disappear.

I'm still going, but now have to master skills like selling off my website and learning new platforms like Kickstarter.

The way of indie publishing may be profitable, but it requires many hats, a ton of self discipline, and ongoing skill mastery--not least of which is writing good books. It's a hamster wheel to make a living at it, for sure!

Your covers are always gorgeous. How do you come up with them and do you have any advice for authors on that process?

I believe in testing cover looks! When I start a new series I ask for designs from several artists that are recognizably genre-driven for the story I'm writing. Then I "test" the designs for clickability and appeal using Facebook ads even before a book comes out. I also use a marketing tool called PickFu , where, within minutes, you can have your designs voted on by vetted, independent marketing subjects. I've found these tools invaluable in increasing my chances of creating a winning, branded cover that readers respond to.

What can readers look forward to from you next?

After writing three long running, interconnected mystery series, six romances, and three memoirs, I'm writing a very special book on Substack that is for paid subscribers only and will be shopped by my agent.

I had a hankering to do an unusual, more literary mystery. Inspired by the lush world and unusual main character in Where the Crawdads Sing--and in part by my own life as a jungle-living, hippie kid--I wanted to write about a woman who grew up alone and separated from the world, in a wild and unique place, the Waipio Valley on the Big Island of Hawaii--where a murder occurs. I'm calling it Wild Girl. Substack seemed like the perfect venue for me to explore a new direction and it has been!

It has taken me over a year to write this special "Where the Crawdads Sing" in Hawaii book, and those who've subscribed love it, including my agent, who will soon be shopping it to traditional publishers.

Why am I trying for a traditional publishing deal at this stage in my career?

Precisely because it's not something I have done before.

My hope would be that this very special book, while unrelated to the Paradise Crime World, will point back to my other fiction and help a whole new audience discover my books. In terms of an achievement, it would be a cherry on top of my career to have a book deal--and I'm at a place where I can afford to take the time to wait for the right one.

Because I have a well established platform and loyal reader base, there is really no downside to going for a traditional deal. If my agent can't sell it, I will simply publish it myself, and my readers will love it... because they've already supported it through paid subscriptions!

In the meantime, Deadly Sacrifice, the 17th Paradise Crime Mystery starring Lei, the detective you met more than ten years ago in Blood Orchids, is available now. I'm grateful for this wonderful wild ride, fulfilling my dream to be a full time author.

Toby grew up on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, inspiring her popular memoir, FRECKLED. After a few “stretches of exile” to pursue education, the islands have been home to her and her family for three generations. Toby is a mental health therapist, a career that has informed the depth and complexity of the characters in her books. Outside of work and writing, Toby volunteers in a nonprofit for children that she co-founded, Keiki Cupboard. She enjoys travel, beach walking, scuba diving, photography, and hiking.

In addition to her writing, Toby coaches authors on a limited basis. If interested, see her Author Coaching page on her website, where you can also get a free, full length novel by signing up for her newsletter.

Toby, thanks so much for visiting us!

If you have any questions for Toby, please leave them in the comments.

Until next time,

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