Interview With Tammie King, Night Owl Romance

I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Tammie King, owner/operator of Night Owl Romance, www.nightowlromance.com, a great review, interview, chat, etc., site, chock full of wonderful information for readers and authors of romance fiction!

Marianne/April: What motivated you to get involved in the romance industry and start Night Owl Romance?

Tammie: What a great starter question. I started Night Owl Romance for a few different reasons.

The first reason was to learn a bit about web design. My husband got me Dream Weaver, a web page builder tool and I had to find some topics to start my playing around. Night Owl Romance was one of those themes. I love books and I wanted to tell others about them. Soon the site started to become bigger and bigger. The first year or so was just me posting new books and lists and then in January 2007 I really started to pump up the site with reviews. My husband, Andrew, helped set-up a database for reviews, authors, reviewers, etc., and the review section started expanding. Now we do upwards of 200 reviews a month and have over 35 reviewers who volunteer their time. I do the rest of the site maintenance, review coordination and email correspondence.

M/A: How long did it take to get things set-up and running?

T: It didn't take long. After I got the site started on my computer, my sister and I came up with a name. Karla thought Night Owl was a good idea as we both read well into the night...sometimes it becomes morning. Yes - we do have an addiction. I had to purchase the domain name and my hubby helped me with hosting. So, that took about a week. Since I'm a self-starter and don't have a partner, everything has been pretty easy and done by me. My hubby helps out when he can on the more complicated stuff.

M/A: Describe your perfect hero. Also, would he clean house or cook?

T: Well, my perfect hero is my husband, Andrew. He has made my dreams come true. I'm able to work on NOR and not work outside the house. The site doesn't make much money, but he doesn't complain. He just tells me he loves me every day and is glad I'm happy with what I'm doing. Hmm. Now Andrew doesn't do much housework, but he does quite a bit of the cooking. His meals are great and way better than mine. Maybe he is cooking for self-preservation. ;)

M/A: What's one important thing you've learned about your job and/or one change you've made.

T: I've started to learn that I've got to get away from email a bit. If I don't, it starts to control my life and take over. I could easily work 60 plus hours a week...and often do. Andrew tells me I've got to stop being a slave to email (lol). I agree with him and have tried to give it up a bit.

M/A: Favorite food/drink to have while reading romance books.

T: Well, I enjoy Diet Pepsi. Recently I've started enjoying Wendy's Floats. Mmm - The are nice and creamy.

M/A: Besides romance books, what else do you like to read? Any favorite non-romance book or author?

T: Almost everything I read is romance related. In the past I read fantasy, but now I like my fantasy with lots of romance.

M/A: Finish this sentence: Romance is...

T: Romance is waking up every morning and getting a hug from my hubby.

M/A: You, a handsome hunk, a bottle of champagne, and case of chocolates wash up on a deserted island. What do you do with all these?

T: Just enjoy the day together.

M/A: Do you read a romance book because a cover sparks your interest, the book blurb sounds great, you like the author, or it's a genre you truly enjoy?

T: I normally start out with genre - I really love paranormal, fantasy, historical and erotic romances. In the last few years, I've started reading more erotic romance and lots of ebooks. When I started the site, I was just a print romance reader. Soon readers and authors were introducing me to ebooks and the spicier stuff. The cover is also important and can spike my interest and, of course, if I find an author I like, I seek out her/his stuff.

M/A: Any romantic secrets you'd like to share or something about yourself inquiring minds don't know?

T: No secrets (lol). I do love to travel and have lived in London, England. I used to travel there once a year for fun, but not since I got married. Andrew and I went to Ireland and London for our honeymoon. We both hope to return to London.

M/A: Please add any additional information, including promo stuff, websites, etc., you want people to know about.

T: I hope you all will stop on over at Night Owl Romance, http://www.nightowlromance.com/. We have lots to share and author chats. I know that I and the other girls would love to meet you and provide you with book information. We also have a sister site - http://www.mybookflick.com/ where we have a whole system of romance book videos. There's no need for you to go over to You Tube and stroll through the system looking for the videos. We bring them to you! Authors can also add their first one to the system for free, and that provides lots of variety.

Thanks for having me! :)

And thank you, Tammie, for your great answers!

Be sure to check back here for more interviews!

"Strip Poker for Two", by April Ash, www.ellorascave.com, releases 20 August. Visit http://www.aprilash.net/ AND http://www.mariannestephens.net/ for lots of information on my books!