Jeremy Bates has spent the last ten years traveling the world, visiting more than thirty countries. He has lived in Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
Bates is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a degree in English literature and philosophy. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Inc, and Crime Writers of Canada.

His frightening debut novel, White Lies, is set in a small village in the Cascade Mountain range of eastern Washington. In the book, he succeeds in bringing world-class terror to this tranquil community.

To find out more please visit http://jeremybatesbooks.com

1.How have you been able to use social media (Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) to help market your book?

Of the mentioned sites, I find them all quite helpful. Goodreads is great, mostly for connecting with people and getting them to add your book to their “to read” list. Whether they will ever get around to it or not, that’s impossible to say. But I’ve had a number of people read WHITE LIES via this method. Also, Goodreads Giveaways are a great way to get exposure for your book. I’ve done several now, and I average about 1000 people signing up, regardless of whether I’m giving away 20 books or 1. Twitter I also find very helpful in tapping into a potential market. I often add friends who have “book lover” or something along those lines in their descriptions of themselves. Same goes for Facebook.

2.Do you have any advice for new authors looking to promote themselves on these sites?

The biggest advice I could give would be to not spam! Really, I get so many friend requests or whathaveyous, and as part of that request is a link to their site, imploring me to check out their book. This really doesn’t work because it comes off as, well, spam. The best thing to do, I believe, is simply get to know your “friends” first. Send back and forth a few messages. The person will become naturally curious about you and check out your site and vice versa.

3.What type of writing routine do you have? Any tips you can share about it?

If I had the luxury of writing full time I would probably have a regimented schedule worked out by now, but as things stand I pretty much write whenever I have the time. In coffee shops, at work, at the gym. My one golden rule is to write everyday–or at least six days a week. The creative stuff comes in the morning, usually with a few cups of coffee and loud music playing in my headphones (it helps to block out everything else around me). The afternoon or evening tends more toward the rewriting/editing part of the day, when I go over everything I had put down in the morning, sometimes with a beer or two. Regarding tips for writing, I’d say read as much as you can and write every day.

4.How has it been trying to balance your writing with your day job and/or family life? Is there anything you would change?

It’s tough sometimes. But I simply try to squeeze writing in whenever I can. I teach in an international school. I have a lot of free time during the day between lessons. This is when I get most of my writing done. It works rather well because when you know you only have one hour to write before you have to go teach or do something, it motivates you to write, and write hard. If I had the luxury of all day to get some words to the paper, I’d probably find myself procrastinating a lot more than I do!

5.Setting is an extremely important aspect in grabbing your reader’s attention. What made you choose to set your book in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State?

Yes, I’m big on settings. I think they add a ton to the atmosphere. Regarding WHITE LIES, I wanted to put my characters in a small town. A small town along the highway wasn’t very interesting. A small town tucked up in the mountains seemed a lot neater. Then when I was researching places, I came across Leavenworth, which is a real town up in the Cascade Mountains fashioned after a Bavarian village. That sounded even neater, and I went with it.

6.What types of books do you read? How do you think they have influenced your writing?


I read pretty much anything I come across in the suspense/thriller genres such as Koontz and Kellerman and Sheldon and King. They influence my writing because they inspire me to become better. Even the bad writers, or writers I personally haven’t liked, influence and inspire me, because they make me think, Yeah, this isn’t impossible, I can at least do it better than that guy.


ABOUT WHITE LIES

While driving to a charming village tucked away deep in the Cascade Mountains of eastern Washington, where she is to begin a new job teaching high school English, Katrina Burton picks up a young hitchhiker who turns out to be drunk and predatory. Fearful for her safety, she lies about her destination in order to get him out of the car. But when she later discovers that he is a teacher at the same school, she finds herself feeding that initial lie with more lies.
Then Katrina meets a mysterious man. Handsome, charismatic and strong, he is exactly what she needs to extricate her from the expanding network of lies, now spinning out of control. She falls fast and hard for him.
Her perfect solution, however, soon becomes a nightmare that lands her in the middle of a grisly murder. And Katrina’s problems don’t stop there. She must decide whether to betray her new love or to cover up the murder and hope for the best…until she discovers that the choice may not be hers to make.