Sunny Frazier Interview

Questions for Ex-Military Writers:
Interview with SUNNY FRAZIER 

• Tell us what branch of the military you served in, what years, and your assignments.

I served in the Navy from 1972-1976. These were the Viet Nam years and I received the GI Bill benefits for joining during a war action. Women didn't have guaranteed schools, so I was made a dental tech. I volunteered at every base to work for the newspaper or magazine.

I went to the first co-ed bootcamp in Orlando, FL. I attended dental training in San Diego and then was stationed in Newport, RI. Being a California girl, I didn't want to deal with snow and transferred to Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. I was also in the first female attachment to fly to Antigua to clean teeth on a secret Navy installation. My last duty station was again Orlando.

• You’ve experienced great success with your writing, principally in the area of mystery fiction. How does your time in the military influence/affect your mystery writing? If it doesn’t, why not?

My stint in the military allowed me a college education through the GI Bill. I received a degree in journalism and worked as a newspaper reporter. I encountered wage and sex discrimination, the paper folded, and I picked up a job with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. My military experience worked for me as law enforcement is para-military and I understood orders, discipline and the chain of command. After working 11 years with an undercover narcotics team, a mystery writer was born.

• You are well-known for your “guerrilla” approach to your writing career. Describe some of your strategies and how they paid off.

I made my name in the short story market, even though I was told it was a dead end. I was a contest junkie and very competitive. When I repeatedly won awards (including 3^rd place out of 19,000 entries in a Writers' Digest contest), I decided to analyze my work and figure out why I was winning. Then I wrote a military-style handbook to teach others how to put the odds in their favor. I teach Guerrilla writing in camouflage fatigues, but I'm very serious.

I studied the Internet and learned ways to organize participation on sites and excel in promotion. I'm on about 35 social and professional sites, which I update on Sundays. I have a group of authors that I nudge to blog and reply to blogs. I believe name recognition is key to marketing and should start even before publication.

• You have arranged for a Writing Cruise that will take place next November, leaving Los Angeles and sailing to down the Mexican Rivera. Tell us what’s planned and how we can sign up. Which authors, editors, and agents are signed up already?

MYSTERY ON THE HIGH SEAS: A CRUISE TO DIE FOR sets sail on the Carnival Splendor Nov. 14-21, 2010. We're headed for the Mexican Riviera with ports at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. There will be three days at sea for the conference. While participants must pay their berths, the conference is free. We hope some of the other 3,000 people on the cruise will attend and buy books.

Aboard are publishers Lee Emory of Treble Heart Books and Billie Johnson of my house, Oak Tree Press. Ken Sherman, a Hollywood book and screen agent is also sailing with us. They will be taking pitch sessions.

Jinx Schwartz, who writes and navigates these waters on her boat, will prep us on what to expect from our shore experiences. Austin Camacho, mystery author and author of a book on marketing, will talk about promotion along with author Marilyn Meredith. Dennis Griffin and John Miller are doing a presentation on the Vegas mob and perhaps even a reformed mobster or two will be aboard. There will also be a film crew filming the conference.

Other authors are Canadian Lou Allin, Peggy Ehrhart, M.M. Gornell, Marion Hill, children's author Virginia Pilegard, Kate Thornton and Cynthia Riggs, author of mysteries set in Martha's Vineyard. And, of course, you will be there.

Some of the topics discussed will be setting, creating ethnic characters, editing, publishing options, marketing strategies and promoting on a budget.

For more information go to http://www.2010mysterycruise.blogspot.com To make reservations, contact www.Beverly@cruisingsmart.com

• Tell us about your new post as acquisitions editor for Oak Tree Press.

Publisher Billie Johnson and I have been working together to make Oak Tree Press grow and expand. I volunteered to act as acquisitions editor to take some of the load off my publisher and have a hand in picking new authors for the house. I concentrate on marketing ability as well as commercial potential of manuscripts. Billie trusts my recommendation but she makes the final decisions.

When I suggested Oak Tree expand to include an all-genre Western line, Billie gave me the green light. The Wild Oaks imprint was announced and a flood of great manuscripts came through my e-mail. Helping authors on their career path is exciting and rewarding.

• When will your next book be out?

The next Christy Bristol Astrology Mystery will be out in January, 2011. The title is A Snitch In Time and the story is set in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. As with my previous novels, the story is loosely based on characters I worked with and criminals I wrote search warrants for while at the sheriff's department. I am going to have my shy astrologer use horoscope technology to profile a killer. I'm not sure that's even possible, so it's all very experimental and challenging. But fun. Writing should always be fun.