A Sunshine Coast Author is part of ‘Let’s Talk with the Authors’. This is a series of interviews with authors who have worked with editors4you or WriteDesign Publications. The promotional opportunity is also open to other authors (contact us for details).

A Sunshine Coast Author: Don Horsfall

Promoting Your Books

Around Christmas 2019, I offered my authors a simple way to promote their books through an author interview.

As we writers know, it’s one thing to write a book. It’s quite another to promote it. Writers tend to shy away from promotion. However, it’s vital to kick the shyness habit and get our books out there in the big wide world.

In this sixth interview in the series, the profiled author is Don Horsfall, a Sunshine Coast author. Don’s novel The Empyrean Quest takes the reader on a mystical journey in the real world, revealing hidden truths along the way.

Outside of his writing life, Don is a life coach and he runs chiropractic clinics. He has also worked in banking and human resources.

For readers outside of Australia, the Sunshine Coast is located in the state of Queensland. It is 100 kilometres north of the state capital Brisbane, on the Coral Sea coastline.

Meet Don on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/donhorsfallauthor/

Don, can you please give us a brief pitch of your book.

In a similar way to Coelho’s The Alchemist, Redfield’s Celestine Prophecy and Whitecloud’s The Magician’s Way, my novel The Empyrean Quest takes the reader on a mystical journey that reveals hidden universal truths along the way. The novel follows Beau Sterling, a bright young Sydney lawyer with a seemingly secure future ahead of him. Pressured by his domineering father to take over the family firm, Beau feels he has no control over his future. Then he experiences the double betrayal of his fiancée and his best friend. What had been a vague sense of unease escalates into a personal crisis.

He sets off on a journey to gain perspective, meeting Ellen, a fascinating woman who has travelled the world seeking the answers to ‘life’s big questions’. In his continuing quest, Beau joins Ellen as crew aboard a yacht sailing the South Pacific. In the last third of the story, they reach a mystical lost island inhabited by evolved people from a different realm. Undergoing personal challenges that unravel their deepest traumas, Beau and Ellen discover answers to some of these ‘big questions’ and achieve healing.

The Empyrean Quest also falls into the personal growth/self-help/spiritual genres. It is targeted at anyone who has ever questioned their life’s direction, pondered their purpose or repeated the same destructive patterns.

So your book at its core is about personal growth and healing? How do you see the allegory of Beau’s journey in the book helping your readers achieve growth and healing?

I would ask a reader, ‘Have you ever questioned your life’s direction, or wondered about your purpose for being here or why you have had to go through and endure what seemed to be emotional hardships? Have you ever found yourself repeating the same patterns and behaviours, stuck in a cycle, attracting the same drama in your life?’

If your answer is yes to any of these defining questions, The Empyrean Quest has come to your awareness for a reason. Threaded throughout these pages are universal laws that exist all around us and affect every aspect of our lives. The irony is that very few know these truths. This adventure story will take you on a mystical journey of self-discovery and reveal the forces that influence each of us, hidden in plain sight.  

Don, what was the inspiration for writing your novel?

I have had a lifelong fascination with people and have always been driven to understand the world in which we live. Having studied human dynamics I was able to follow my passion in my career in banking, mostly in human resources, including four years as head of employee relations. There, I gained invaluable insight into unlocking human potential. For over a decade, I helped facilitate emotional healing workshops. My background as a life coach helped thousands of people reach their potential.

I subsequently studied under teacher and mentor, Dr John De Martini. His passion for unlocking the secrets of the Universe inspired me to write and share this story. It outlines many of Dr De Martini’s unique concepts, in the hope it will light a spark of inspiration in others.

Tell us about the process of writing your book. How did that look for you personally?

As a first-time author, I took a while to settle in to a rhythm. I found I needed to be clear of any distractions in other areas of my life. So I tried to do a couple of hours in the morning each day. With the storyline broadly established in my thoughts, I laid it out on a large storyboard and compartmentalised it into obvious chapters. As I was intent on getting certain life lessons across in the storyline, it did create more complexity and challenges in conveying the message in a way that made sense to the overall plot.

Having identified my main characters, I thought of their traits and tried to align them with people I had come across in my life. In that way, in any given situation, I would have a reference point as to how they would react or respond.

Not being proficient in keyboard skills, I utilised a technology that typed as I spoke. This allowed me to get concepts down as they flowed. I found this very useful and an essential part of my writing style.

You self-published your book. Can you tell us a little about that process?

This was a scary process having not experienced it before. I did extensive research, read all of the horror stories and rip-off schemes out there before deciding on going with an independent, well credentialed editor. This was the best decision I made. I owe a debt of gratitude to you Gail for your guidance and tutoring. It gave my work a professional edge and credibility it would not otherwise have had. I learnt a great deal through the process which will make me a better writer in the years ahead.

My research also led me to an author services company for self-publishing authors that only charged for actual services delivered. They assisted with services such as typesetting, layout, registrations, book covers, eBook and printing, etc. I found them very responsive, knowledgeable and helpful in the process.

Are you currently writing another book, or do you plan to?

I have been adjusting back to my creative instincts recently. Having enjoyed the creative process of writing, I found the switch to publishing, marketing and what are essentially business-related skills required a completely different set of skills and mindset. I am looking forward to putting pen to paper on my next project in the months ahead.

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