Catherine McKenzie
Bestselling author of books with one word titles, Next release; SMOKE
Discussion
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
Hi Everyone! I’m a graduate of McGill University with a degree in History and Law. I’m a practicing attorney in Montreal where I was born and raised. In my free time, I’m also an author. My first three novels – Spin, Arranged and Forgotten – were all published by traditional houses and my last two – Hidden and Smoke – were published by Amazon’s Lake Union. My first four novels were international bestsellers, and have been translated into various languages, including French, German, Portuguese, Turkish, Slovakian and Czech. My latest release, Smoke, is the story of two women navigating the secrets and lies at the heart of a wildfire threatening their town over the course of just a few days.
I speak French, read a lot, watch tons of TV and like to run and ski. Yeah, yeah, I may also be a robot. Ask me anything.
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Kate
@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt
What are the TV shows that you closely follow (or binge watch)?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@katesegrin mmm, too many to name. I really love The Good Wife, Nashville (great music), The Leftovers. Shows like that. All time favorites include The Gilmore Girls, Party of Five and Felicity.
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@cemckenzie1 @katesegrin I also love Orange is the New Black, had a love/hate relationship with House of Cards and am hate watching Scandal.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@cemckenzie1 What is your method to help balance your work as an attorney and an author?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@bentossell I try to make sure that I keep time in my schedule for the writing. Law has its own demands that I can't always control.
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@cemckenzie1 @bentossell I also try to have goals when I am in writing mode: some many words a day or a week, or getting a certain number of chapters done.
Hash_tag_jeff
@jeffumbro · Book Marketing and PR - get in touch
@cemckenzie1 How important is your online tribe when it comes to marketing your book?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@jeffumbro super important. So much book marketing is done online now and more and more people are finding out about books there. I'm lucky to have some super fans who love shouting about my books from the rooftops.
Hash_tag_jeff
@jeffumbro · Book Marketing and PR - get in touch
@cemckenzie1 Can you speak a bit towards how Amazon has impacted your career as a writer? Both as an author and as a reader?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@jeffumbro As a reader I read way, way more books now because of the ease of buying them digitally. I use to be a big re-reader, but much less so now. As an author, they have been fantastic to me - they gave my last novel so much more visibility than it likely would have had anywhere else. It has been my most positive publishing experience to date.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@cemckenzie1 Hey could you tell us a bit about the whole writing process?
How do you go from idea (and where does that come from...personal experiences/etc) to starting to get it down and then bringing it all together and getting it out there?
Quite intrigued!!
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@bentossell Hi Ben, usually I have a bunch of kind of proto-ideas kicking around in my head that jell together into one: a small town threatened by a wildfire. Then I wait and see if the idea sticks - where does that go, who are the characters, what will the twist be? If I can't see the end of anything past the concept, then I let it go. Once I have thought about it for a while and know who my main character is, I usually start writing. Getting her voice right and seeing who else shows up. I fiddle with the first 50 pages for a couple of months while I work out other parts of the story, then I just go for it and write it, and rewrite it. A year late: a book!
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
I've never asked this before and I'm excited to see where it goes:
What's your biggest secret that you're willing to share with us, your dear internet friends?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@andrewmettinger I have an unhealthy love for Cheese Pringles.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@cemckenzie1 @andrewmettinger Do you wish they came in a different container? I do.
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@andrewmettinger yes, actually! Hard to reach into those cans.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@cemckenzie1 @andrewmettinger Jeff Stamp, creator of Baked Lay's, taught one of my classes and he told us he bought a factory with 1 million cans and had his students find better uses for them.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
@cemckenzie1 Thanks for being here today 🙌 During your career to date, what has been your a) most challenging moment and how did you overcome it? b) proudest moment and why? c) most surprising moment?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@ems_hodge thanks for having me! A) my most challenging moment to date was when my US publisher declined to publish my book, HIDDEN. I overcame it with a good drink and getting a new publisher, B) proudest moment was getting the first finished copy of my first novel, SPIN and c) most surprising moment was yesterday when my new book SMOKE got named as one of the 100 best books of 2015 by Amazon. Still in shock.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
What are your 3 favorite apps?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@andrewmettinger I only get to pick three? They are probably pretty boring: Facebook, Twitter and the Weather.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@cemckenzie1 @andrewmettinger Okay, fine. You can pick 3 more.
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@andrewmettinger Ha! I think Shazzam is cool and there should be one for everything. Like Shazzam for birds and Shazzam for actors faces etc... Wait, those probably already exist and I just don't know it. I like NovelRank because it lets me check my Amazon rankings every hour (bad habit) and I'm enjoying Instagram which I recently started using actively. Better?
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
Have any tech products/advancements helped in your profession?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@andrewmettinger I use a writing program, Scrivener, which is awesome.
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@cemckenzie1 @andrewmettinger when I write scripts, I also use Final Draft, also a great tool.
Kate
@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt
@cemckenzie1 @andrewmettinger how frequently do you write scripts?
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Catherine McKenzie
@cemckenzie1 · I write books.
@katesegrin @andrewmettinger I've written a TV pilot and have some half-written other scripts kicking around. It's a fun diversion.