Wednesday, March 15, 2017

PUYB Virtual Book Club Chats with 'Alan 2' Bruce Forciea



Bruce Forciea is known for taking complex scientific concepts and making them easy to understand through engaging stories and simple explanations. He is an Amazon Best Selling Author and author of several books on healing and biology, along with science fiction thriller novels. His fiction writing draws on a diverse and eclectic background that includes touring and performing with a professional show, designing digital circuits, treating thousands of patients, and teaching. His stories include complex plots with unexpected twists and turns, quirky characters, and a reality very similar to our own. Dr. Forciea lives in Wisconsin and loves writing during the solitude of the long Northern winters. 

Website & Social Links:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK


About the Book:

A brilliant artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, Dr. Alan Boyd, develops a new program that integrates part of his brain with a computer’s operating system. The program, Alan 2, can anticipate a user’s needs and automatically perform many tasks. A large software company, International Microsystems
(IM) desperately wants the program and tempts Dr. Boyd with huge sums of money, but when Dr. Boyd refuses their offer, IM sabotages his job, leaving him in a difficult financial situation.

Dr. Boyd turns to Alan 2 for an answer to his financial problems, and Alan 2 develops plan Alpha, which is a cyber robin hood scheme to rob from rich corporations via a credit card scam.

Alan and his girlfriend Kaitlin travel to Mexico where they live the good life funded by plan Alpha, but the FBI cybercrime division has discovered part of Alan 2’s cyber escapades, and two agents, Rachel and Stu, trace the crime through the TOR network and Bitcoin.

Alan 2 discovers the FBI is on to them and advises Alan and Kaitlin to change locations. A dramatic chase ensues taking them to St. Thomas, a cruise ship bound for Spain, and finally to Morocco. 

Will they escape detection? They will if Alan 2's Plan Beta can be implemented in time. Or is 'Plan B' something altogether different than it appears to be, something wholly sinister that will affect the entire population of the world?
Watch the trailer at YouTube!

Purchase Information:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Publisher


Before you started writing your book, what kind of research did you do to prepare yourself?

I typically conduct research on characters and technical aspects of the story before I begin writing. I create character sheets with pictures of how I think the characters should look and include information about their personalities, likes and dislikes, and anything else I can think of.

For Alan 2, I had to do a good deal of research on cybercrime, the TOR network, artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, our nuclear defense system, as well as locations in the book (Morocco, Brooklyn, Chicago).

Did you pursue publishers or did you opt to self-pub?

Alan 2 was published by Open Books, who published my first fiction work, The X-Cure. I submitted the manuscript for The X-Cure to a number of publishers and Open Books was interested. They then accepted the manuscript for Alan 2 as well.

If published by a publisher, what was your deciding factor in going with them?

I had been with another publisher for a non-fiction book I wrote about ten years ago and then tried my hand at self-publishing some other non-fiction books. I thought Open Books had a good system for helping authors and getting the book published quickly with some marketing.

If published by a publisher, are you happy with the price they chose?

Yes, I think it is important to hold the value of your work.

Did you purposefully choose a distinct month to release your book?  Why?

The release of Alan 2 was chosen based on the timeline for editing. My publisher only has so many spots per year and each book is put into one of these.

How did you choose your cover?

Open Books chose the cover. I think it’s great!

Did you write your book, then revise or revise as you went?

After the research, I write the first draft. This is followed by a number of revisions. I will read the book for pace, then again for character development, then again for dialogue, and so on until I feel it is ready for submission.

Did you come up with special swag for your book and how are you using it to help get the word out about your book?

I had some book marks for The X-Cure, and will be getting some for Alan 2. I might get some hats or T-shirts as well. I had an Unlocking the Healing Code cap (my very first non-fiction book) and I wore that thing out.

Did you consider making or hiring someone to make a book trailer for your book?  If so, what’s the link?

I had a book trailer made for Alan 2. It turned out really, really (did I say really?) great:



What’s your opinion on giving your book away to sell other copies of your book?

I usually plan on putting some copies aside for reviews and marketing.

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do before their book is released?

Get a social media platform going. I had done this, but I’m much better than I was a year ago. 

Plan some kind of promotional strategy. This can be face-face (events, appearances) or online, or a combination of both.

Use your media platform to pre-promote your book.

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do after their book is released?

Continue promoting via social media and other channels.

Continue working your day job.

Tell everyone you know about your book.

What kind of pre-promotion did you do before the book came out?

I’ve been using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to pre-promote Alan 2. I wrote a series of short stories and made them available for free on my site. I also added the book trailer to my YouTube channel, posted pre-ordering information on my website (https://www.drbruceforciea.com) and made arrangements for a blog tour.

Do you have a long term plan with your book?

Yes, all of my books have long-term plans. I believe it takes time to develop a following and I am here to stay for the long run. In addition to the usual channels, my books are available from links on my website, Twitter posts, Facebook, and so on and will be for years to come.

What would you like to say to your readers and fans about your book?

I would like to say thank you for taking an interest in my work. I really hope you find my stories entertaining and relevant to what is going on in the world today.

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