B.A. Bellec interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Bryan “B.A.” Bellec’s debut novel, Someone’s Story, won the Reader Views Reviewer’s Choice Literary Award for 2021 Young Adult Book of the Year (and other honors) with its endearing, soulful take on teen mental health. Around the same time, he also was also awarded a Digital Originals grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to make music. Both Bellec’s novels feature musicians and Bellec takes it one step further by actually producing songs inspired by his books. His second novel, Pulse, was released in December 2021 and is nothing like his first novel, but it is surprising readers in different ways this time!

When did your love of books begin?

My love of stories began as a child watching movies. Then as a teenager, I started to look at what happened to make a movie. I found that tons of my favorites were based on books. Things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. From there I started reading those series to get the endings because the books were done, but the movies were still being made.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I feel into this. Originally I wanted to work in film and I went to film school. I am deeply introverted and found a film set to not be a fit for my personality. The piece that stayed with me was writing. A few years removed from film school I started journaling and that became my first novel. Then I went to some of my film school projects and started growing the ideas. Those short film scripts became my second novel.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

It is a ton of work and you won’t get paid much for your first few novels. Don’t do this expecting to make an overnight career. It takes a decade to break through and start to make profits. I learned a ton. Going into this I knew very little about marketing and social media so I spent most of my first few years growing those skills. A big piece of being an author is getting your name out there. You are making your pen name into a brand and you need to create content and marketing connections as if you are a brand.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Start marketing before you publish your first novel. Marketing is huge. Having review and promotion connections is one of the biggest struggles. Getting a book finished is a huge accomplishment, but that just makes you a writer. An author then puts on a bunch of different hats to market the novel. Book tours, advertising, author and reader reach out, awards circuit, and digital marketing. The other challenge is you are doing all this marketing while writing your next book, presumably working a day job, and having a social life/family. It’s not easy but that is why many writers don’t graduate to authors.

Tell us about your book/books:

My first novel is Someone’s Story:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086Q2Y41W

 

“B. A. Bellec has crafted a masterpiece of emotive and well-rounded young adult fiction.”

 

K.C. Finn – Multi-award-winning Author

 

In his literary debut, B.A. Bellec writes an endearing coming-of-age tale about a group of weirdos that find and save each other from the dark depths of their minds. Someone’s Story is literally Someone’s story, as in a first-person narrative of a teenager that calls himself Someone. As he struggles to find a new footing in a new space, we encounter the many ups and downs of modern teenage life, the difficulties that adjusting to adult feelings brings, and a few tear-jerking surprises along the way.

 

My second novel is Pulse:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092JSS8XW

“B.A. Bellec makes politics, climate crisis, technology, pandemics, greed, and corruption look like child’s play.”

Sheri Hoyte via Reader Views, Organizers of the Annual Reviewer’s Choice Literary Awards Contest

A plot-driven multi-POV dystopian sci-fi horror thriller set in 2040, centered around a corporation, a creature, and a music festival. Think Fyre Festival, Black Mirror, and X-Files combined. The story deals with themes of capitalism, consumerism, business, politics, pandemics, climate change, activism, and technology while bouncing between a diverse group of characters sure to entertain almost anyone. The book is already being praised for its fantastic use of horror, engaging world-building, and genre-bending approach utilizing some screenplay-like formatting. This is the first entry in a new series with the sequel well underway.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Supportive. I have met so many awesome and creative people. I wasn’t big into social media even just a few years ago. I had heard bad things. The writing and reading community has largely been the opposite of what I expected. There is rarely negativity. I spend most of my marketing time on #bookstagram and #booktube finding new authors and connecting with readers that are doing amazing things on both those platforms.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Time is valuable. Thank you so much to all the readers. I have hundreds of reviews and each of those readers probably spent at least ten hours with my projects. That is thousands of hours when you add all the reviews together. I can’t thank the readers enough for the support and the best thing I can do is rip a Pulse sequel from the ether to give all these readers an interesting follow-up.

Where can people connect with you?

I am most active on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. My YouTube channel is what makes my platform unique. I haven’t seen many authors doing what I do on YouTube. Original music with unique music videos released quarterly and all tied to the books I write. I also have been doing a monthly book review. Those book reviews are tied to my newsletter. I was looking for a way to do newsletters better and what I do is give these monthly video reviews with small updates, then I summarize them quarterly in my newsletter.

 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BABellecsProductionStudio

Twitter: https://twitter.com/b_bellec

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ba_bellec/