Advice from IR Approved Author Patricia Vido: “To build an audience before publication, spend $20 for a few hundred business cards printed with your photo, a description of your book, your website and social media links. Hand them out to everyone and ask them to follow you on your journey to becoming a published author.”

For Love of Billie: Received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.

Following find an interview with author Patricia Vido:

1. What is the name of the book and when was it published? For Love of Billie, Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2026.

2. What’s the book’s first line? I scooped a spoonful of cereal and studied the what’s-wrong-with-this-picture drawing on the back of the box.

3. What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”. A boy comes of age in 1980s small-town western Pennsylvania cut off from—but increasingly obsessed with—the beautiful young woman who infatuated him at 12.

4. What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event? Contemplating a workplace love affair from the point of view of the child of one of the partners.

5. What’s the main reason someone should really read this book? To relive and possibly re-examine their own experiences with the mysteries of love—first love, unrequited love, infatuation vs. true love, and the one who got away.

6. What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character?  Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of? A sensitive, introspective soul prone to magical thinking, Finn Maguire reminds me of Kevin McAllister in “Home Alone.”

7. When did you first decide to become an author? In retirement, when I felt the need to challenge myself to learn—and do—something I never thought I could.

8. Is this the first book you’ve written? Yes. It took me ten years—writing off and on—while learning how to write a novel from reading how-to books, taking courses, and seeking feedback from editors and other writers.

9. What do you do for work when you’re not writing? Retired from newsrooms and nonprofits, I go to quirky movies, play mahjong, and root for the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens.

10. What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors? To build an audience before publication, spend $20 for a few hundred business cards printed with your photo, a description of your book, your website and social media links. Hand them out to everyone and ask them to follow you on your journey to becoming a published author.

11. Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling?  If so, why? If a producer wanted movie rights, I’d seek an agent right away! But with a stellar independent small press as my champion, and positive initial reviews, I no longer feel the need for validation by a traditional publisher.

12. Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?) Delivering a good story well told.

13. Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire? Anna Quindlen—a fellow former journalist who mines the drama in everyday lives.

14. Which book do you wish you could have written? Gone With the Wind—I would have loved creating and spending time with the Rhett Butler character!