A breast cancer survivor who battled liver disease, Sandy Powers turned to organic foods to heal her liver and fight cancer recurrence. She and her husband live in Englewood, Florida, where they enjoy chasing after their grandsons.

She is also the author of ORGANIC FOR HEALTH, which will convince you to avoid conventionally grown foods laden with the biggest offenders, and more importantly, to fill your body with the clean, potent vitamins and minerals in organic foods that truly honor your health.

You can visit her website at www.organicforhealthsite.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Sandy. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published, Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?

Hello. I’m happy to be here. I had a Cookbook published over 25 years ago, “Food for Thought. My other book, “Organic for Health,” is recently published.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

“Food for Thought” was the name of my first published book. Only a few copies were published. I wrote it for my daughters who were heading to college and wanted some “home cooking.”

For your first Published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

I published the book myself. I didn’t check any other avenues.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

I had no rejections since I didn’t go the traditional route.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you

choose them?

I published my first book myself from start to finish.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

It was my second book published that I felt a sense of accomplishment. This book took a year of extensive research and another six months to write, so when I finished the first draft, I handed it to my husband and said, “Read it and tell me what you think.” He liked it. That was all the celebration I needed,

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?

I really didn’t promote my first book, but with my second book the first marketing I undertook was talk radio. After the first few interviews, I found my “mojo” and I love it.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

I contacted traditional publishers at first, but I was not happy with the time frame. I’ve always had a sense of urgency about life, and being a breast cancer survivor, merely re-enforced that urgency, so I went to self-publishing.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

“Organic for Health” has been out for about 5 months now so I’m not working on anything else right now.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

My mistakes were in sending my manuscript over the Internet. I wrote it in the manner of the traditional publishers’ desire. Internet publishing is a whole new ball game. I didn’t follow the manuscript procedure exactly the way iUniverse wanted which caused delays.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

Marketing is the toughest part of becoming published. Even with traditional publishers, you do your own marketing, unless you’re an accomplished author. Getting a handle on marketing has been my biggest accomplishment since becoming published.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

I’ve had many professions—teacher, quilter, business owner—but writing has no equal.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I only write today. Writing is a good, dear friend.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years, I hope to be celebrating with my husband 13 years of cancer free.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Write about what you know. Anything else, the reader will see through it.