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Meet Camilla Ochlan and Bonita Gutierrez of The Werewolf Whisperer in San Fernando Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Camilla Ochlan and Bonita Gutierrez.

Camilla and Bonita, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
THE WEREWOLF WHISPERER series was initially inspired by the on-set dog trainer of Camilla’s short film, Dog Breath. Camilla wondered “what if?” there was a “werewolf apocalypse” and one woman with a special knack for training dogs also had a bizarre knack for commanding werewolves.

Originally, THE WEREWOLF WHISPERER was conceived as a web series. We even wrote the first thirteen episodes of season one. We had every intention of shooting the series, but as the Werewolf Whisperer world grew, so did the budget. As is often the case in Show Biz, our imaginations had exceeded our means. But we didn’t let that get in our way. We knew we had a great story, and we wanted to tell it. So, we got to work translating the web series into a novel series.

Two novels and three novellas later, we are still creating new tales in the Werewolf Whisperer world. The timing and our strong desire to pursue our own projects put us at the frontlines of the indie author revolution. This has led us to start developing our own business with Empyrean Press, which will feature titles beyond THE WEREWOLF WHISPERER.

THE WEREWOLF WHISPERER is an emotionally grounded, action-packed genre bender told from multiple points of view and in dual timelines. It’s about two women joining forces to help (and sometimes hunt) individuals afflicted by a mysterious werewolf virus. But all is not as it seems. Not for our reluctant heroes. Not for the Afflicted. And not for a society coming to grips with a new world order. This isn’t your grandma’s werewolf tale.

Has it been a smooth road?
We enjoy crafting the stories, creating the characters and the world they inhabit. No doubt about it, writing is challenging. But you also have to balance the creative with the business side of book publishing — that is the struggle. It can turn on a dime. Sometimes it seems that things are going really well, and then all of a sudden you are thrown curveballs that affect your business and your readership.

Take for instance the new GDPR rules for the EU. It’s wreaking havoc in the indie author world right now. We work extremely hard to build a following and stay in touch with readers through our newsletter. We’re just the little guy trying to give updates about our werewolf series, and we’re being swept up in a whole slew of rules that really don’t apply to us, but that were required to comply with. And that affects business. And that’s just a small example of the bumps in the road.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Werewolf Whisperer story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a writing team, specializing in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Our series, THE WEREWOLF WHISPERER, is two novels and three novellas strong. We’ve been writing together for six years and have recently formed our new publishing company Empyrean Press. Under this banner, we will continue to release Werewolf Whisperer stories but also produce new projects.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We predict that the publishing world will change completely. With the rise of new technology and people’s ability to create and distribute independently, authors will most likely become self-published. We’ve already started seeing this trend. Even how independents publish will be different in 5 years, 1 year, 6 months.

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Image Credit:
Guido Karp

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1 Comment

  1. Pletcha Webb

    June 5, 2018 at 17:32

    Great interview, ladies!

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