Friday with the Fun and Fabulous Talli Roland!

Today we have bestselling author Talli Roland! Talli's book, The Hating Game, came out on December 1st and made quite a splash on the Amazon Kindle bestseller list.  It continues to rock the charts; Talli reported that it sold 1,400 copies in January alone! 

Talli lives in England (dreamy sigh - how fun would that be?). She loves coffee and wine just like me, so I knew she was a cool gal instantly!  If you don't know Talli, you definitely want to.  Go check out her awesome blog, or you can purchase the e-book version of The Hating Game on Amazon.  The print version will be available next month, for those of you (like me) that don't have an e-book reader yet.  Oh, and Talli also has an official website!

Okay, so read this yummy description of The Hating Game:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy.

After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £200,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes.

Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

What is your writing story?

I’ll sum it up in almost 140 characters, just like Twitter: Three years, five (or six?) unpublished manuscripts, lots of rejections - then acceptance! Now I've had two non-fiction books published, as well as my debut novel.

The Hating Game has a rather untraditional publishing story. Since I already knew the publisher, I just wrote up the synopsis and the first three chapters and it was accepted (yay!). I wrote the first draft in about two months, then spent another few months revising and editing.

What was the most exciting point in your writing journey?

Definitely the release day for the Kindle version of The Hating Game. I had so much support from bloggers, Tweeters and Facebookers around the world -- it was overwhelming.

How did you get The Hating Game to be in the top 25 Amazon Kindle downloads, and number 1 on the Amazon Kindle Movers and Shakers list?

It only takes a few sales over a short period of time to rise in the rankings on Amazon Kindle. So, I thought how great it would be if I could get as many people as possible to buy my book on release day, and see how far up the rankings it could climb! I started my campaign about three months before my release day, and over time more and more people signed up. The results definitely exceeded my expectations!

What was the first thing you did when you woke up on the day The Hating Game was released?

Cursed my husband’s snoring (a typical morning)! I remember waking up super early that day, because I was so excited and nervous that I’d made a big deal out of it – what if no-one bought it and the whole thing tanked? The first thing I did was fire up my trusty little laptop and check the sales rank on Amazon!

Did you have a book release party or other celebration?

Not for the Kindle release, although I did take my husband out for a no-holds-barred Chinese dinner (you don’t even want to imagine the amount we ate!). I’m debating whether to do one for the paperback launch in March.

What are you working on next?

I’m just about to start working on Watching Willow Watts, about a country girl whose life is transformed when she becomes a YouTube sensation. It’s due out for release in November – I really must get my butt in gear!


Thanks so much for stopping by, Talli! You are awesome and I can't wait to pick up a copy of The Hating Game when it comes out in print. 

Free stuff people!  Don't forget about the Amazon gift cards I'm giving away.  Leave a comment on this post to be entered.