Self-Pubbed Hub #3 - Debra Chapoton & Sheltered.

I have Spooky Special instalment of Self-Pubbed Hub to share with you today! Please welcome Debra Chapoton to the blog to talk about her novel Sheltered in which paranormal meets Psycho meets goth.

Thanks for taking part in Self-Pubbed Hub, Debra!

Sheltered by Debra Chapoton || Published: October 2012 ||

Living together unsupervised, five troubled teens confront demonic forces and are compelled to deal with their problems in distinctly different ways. Paranormal meets psycho meets Goth in this story of a supernatural haunting and budding love.

High school junior, Ben, hacks into his step-father's real estate holdings and provides rooms in an old two-story house to various outcasts: the schizophrenic kid, the angry Goth girl, and the homeless girl who worships him. When Megan needs a place to live she comes to the rooming house with a different set of problems and the ability to confuse and attract Ben.

One by one strange and mysterious occurrences stretch the teens’ beliefs in the supernatural. How they deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming consequences.

Debra Chapoton Talks Sheltered:  

Describe Sheltered in a tweet (140 characters or less):

Living together unsupervised, five teens confront demonic forces in this YA novel of supernatural haunting and budding love: SHELTERED

Can you tell me five things that inspired the characters, storylines and settings of Sheltered?

The characters each have a personality based on a former student I taught, with names changed, of course. The general setting is Rochester, Michigan, though I never name the town in the book and have melded a number of things about it with the neighboring town of Utica, MI. The large school is a fictional mixture of four schools I taught in, but mostly Utica High School. The spooky house sprang from my imagination, but is a pretty good match on the first floor to a small house I used to hang out in back in college. The storylines, in regards to the experiences with demons, all fall within the information you can find in the Bible about demon-possession (which is a lot, by the way).

Self-publishing is becoming increasingly popular and there are some great success stories out there. What made you decide to self-publish?

First, I like having the control over all the decisions. Second, it is extremely difficult to catch the attention of agents, let alone publishers, so while I wait I publish.

What has been your best self-publishing experience so far?

I self-pubbed my first YA novel, Edge of Escape, and it was discovered by a German publisher who was looking for a psychological thriller to release along with Starters and 2 other novels. They translated my book and released it in Germany this past spring.

What advice would you give to any aspiring authors out there? Do you have any top tips to share?

I tell authors to read Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer. The number one tip is to edit, edit, edit, and one of those edits better be by someone else.

Name three other books that you think readers of your book would also enjoy.

I’m stumped with this question just because readers’ tastes vary so widely. Sheltered isn’t like any other book though one reviewer compared it to Paranormal Activity. Most readers’ enjoyment comes from an interesting story and believable characters, right? So I guess readers of Sheltered would also enjoy Requiem, Paranormalcy, and the Twilight series.

Finally, what are you working on next?

I’ve got another book ready for 2013: The Guardian’s Diary. The main character is a teen who was born with a deformity that shapes his view of life and also other people’s cruel view of him. He opens his heart to two girls, but there are unexpected consequences. The story is interspersed with observations from the main character’s guardian angel. 

And currently I’m working on a young adult novel which has neither demons nor angels, though there is a strong supernatural element that is totally out of the ordinary.

 Grab a copy of Sheltered: 

 Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Sheltered-Debra-Chapoton/dp/1475249993/ref=sr

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008TQ0PB6  
Nook:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sheltered-debra-chapoton/1112412513?ean=2940014940177
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15827913-sheltered 

If you are a self-published author and would like to take part in Self-Pubbed Hub send an email to daisychainbookreviews@gmail.com and I will get back to you if your book is a good fit! Please include book cover and synopsis in your email.