Slyce: Brothers and Sistah’s, please welcome our sistah ReNita Burgess 
to “The Interrogation Room” !!! Welcome my sistah 🙂 . Are you ready?…
Slyce: What inspired you to become an Author?
RB: Oh man, as a little girl my mother would tell me made up stories and when she did, she would use such emotion. Her story telling led me to read books. I always felt like I could escape into a new world whenever I would turn the page (Remember that show, Reading A Rainbow? haha) Well, I loved looking at the pictures in the books and imagined I could jump in the story. When I was in the 3rd grade, I created a book out of cardboard and glued paper inside. I wrote my story with a crayon and drew pictures. I was so excited that I took the homemade book to school to share it with my teacher. She was so surprised that she read it to the entire class, shared it with the other teachers in the teachers lounge and told me to hold on to my dream of becomin an author. 🙂 So here I am today.
Slyce: In what genre do you write?
RB: Wow! That’s a tough question. I write a little of every genre. I have childrens, horror, fitness, interracial, multicultural, erotica, relationship advice, poetry..but I am trying to get into writing paranormal soon. 🙂 I like to write everything for all my readers.
Slyce: Have you ever penned under another name?
RB: No, I have never written under another pen name before. I like for people to know who I really am…even though I use my middle name on Facebook.
Slyce: You wrote a book titled “Stranded with a Soldier”. What was this book about?
RB: “Stranded with a Soldier” is an interracial romance about a college student traveling to Nashville, Tennessee from South Carolina. While at the airport in Charlotte, she runs into a handsome blue eyed soldier. The two of them both find themselves missing the flight from Charlotte and are stuck with each other for hours until the next flight. Somehow through all the arguing and the bickering, they start to develop something that leads a little more. What happens when it’s time for them to depart? Will their short encounter fly away with a memory? Or will they allow their hearts to travel above and beyond with the clouds?
Slyce: Where can our viewers purchase this book?
RB: It’s on amazon in ebook and paperback – https://goo.gl/WNJsEj
It’s also with Barnes and Nobles here – http://goo.gl/rbrS3m
Slyce: Is this book a e-book and/or paperback?
RB: It’s both. I love to have my books in both ebook and paperback. (two of both worlds lol I prefer paperback because I’m old school lol).
Slyce: How important are interviews?
RB: Interviews are very important to me. I have been on news and radio about my books and they have helped to build my name and get me out there. Interviews are your way into the spotlight. 🙂
Slyce: How important are reviews?
AB: Reviews are always nice to have. I feel the more you get reviews, the popular your work becomes, good reviews or bad. I try to focus on the positive ones 🙂
Slyce: What does the term “Building a Brand” mean?
RB: Hmmm to me, building a brand makes taking nothing and making it into something big. It means raising an empire 😉
Slyce: What tools have you found most useful in distributing your material?
RB: I enjoy marketing tools and being creative. I especially enjoy designing my own book covers, creating my website and of course, advertising.
Slyce: What advice would you offer to those aspiring to become a Author?
RB: The advice that I would give to aspiring authors is to keep writing and surround yourself in connections with other authors. The best thing to do is let family or someone close to you read your work and have them give you their honest critisim. I always learn from constructive critisim because it helps me to grow. Positive compliments always give me a boost of confidence to keep going further with my work. Be careful to not always share your work for free online, others may try to steal 😉 The most important advice is to hold on tight to your dream and search for a truthful publisher or agent to lead you on the path you’re aiming to go in the literary field. When I was a little girl, I would hold on to my favorite books by Ann M. Martin (the author of The Babysitter’s Club) and pretend that I would be holding my book someday. It took me until I was 22 years old to become published 🙂
Slyce: What was one of the biggest mistakes you made as a “New Author”?
RB: Hahaha I think one of my biggest mistakes as a new author was when I didn’t educate myself on copyright infringement. The copyright label and message is so important to have. I’m glad I learned about it in time. The first book I published was self published and I was very new to the game… some years later, a few other authors tried to get inspiration from my books and they couldn’t come up with their own ideas naturally. I allowed it to get under my skin and that was a mistake. I turned the situation into a positive one when I worked hard and became a two-time best selling author .something they never were 🙂 lol :p
Slyce: I’d like to thank guest Author ReNita Burgess for joining us in “The Interrogation Room”!! Thank you my Sistah 🙂 You were wonderful!!
Everyone please go purchase “Stranded with a Soldier” by ReNita Burgess. Also, please check out her page on Facebook at: 