Author Lizzy Bequin #interview

Please give a warm welcome to author Lizzy Bequin

Tell us a bit about yourself…

Hi, I’m Lizzy Bequin, and I write sci-fi, reverse harem, and omegaverse romance. I’m an only child, which probably accounts for my overall weirdness. And I’m also a southern girl. I was born in Alabama, and I’ve moved all over, but now I’ve settled back in the South in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a city that I absolutely love. It’s a fairly small city, and it’s surrounded by mountains and woods which is nice for me because I enjoy having fun outside–hiking, paddle boarding, camping when the weather is nice.

Have you always wanted to become an author?

Pretty much. Even when I was little I was always making up crazy stories, and I’ve loved to read for about as long as I can remember. I’ve always loved both romance and sci-fi. My mom used to read romance paperbacks, and my dad read sci-fi, and I would steal their books and devour them. But it was only recently that I discovered sci-fi romance, and that’s when I found my calling.

What was your inspiration for your current book/series?

The book I just published is titled Alien Meat Market, which is kind of a crazy title for a romance, right? I was brainstorming titles for a separate series, and that was one of the titles I came up with. Well, it didn’t quite fit that other series, but something about the title stuck with me, so I just had to write a story to go with it. I came up with the idea of a woman who gets abducted by aliens and auctioned in a literal meat market, but luckily the highest bidder wants her for reasons other than food. And the story just kind of flowed from there.

What are you working on now?

So, I just published Alien Meat Market, which is a reverse harem alien romance, and I’m planning to follow that up with a sequel. But in between that, my current project is an enemies-to-lovers alien prison romance titled Brute Force (I like my hard-hitting titles).

Do you have any quirks while working?

I often cackle loudly whenever I’m writing a particularly twisted or dirty scene. Sometimes so loudly my poor cat bolts away into the other room in fear. Oh, also, I’m addicted to LaCroix sparkling water, and by the end of my writing day I usually have a little pyramid of empty cans on my desk. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer.

What are your hopes for the future?

Mainly just to keep doing what I’m doing, to keep growing as a writer, and hopefully to sell even more books. It’s taken me about two years, but I’ve finally been able to go into writing full time, and I feel really fortunate for that. I guess my big dream would be to hit the bestsellers lists some day. But in the meantime, if I can just bring entertainment to people, then I feel pretty good about that.

Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?

In terms of writing, I would say, just don’t give up. Writing and publishing can be really scary, but you can’t ever let your fear or self-doubt stop you. I’m a big fan of the author Dean Wesley Smith, and he has this motto: “Dare to be bad.” I really like that. Even if you do write a bad book, that’s not wasted time. It’s an opportunity to grow and improve and write a better book next time.

In terms of the business and promotion end of things, I would say, prioritize building an email mailing list. I have two short novellas which are free for my newsletter subscribers, and that has brought a ton of readers to my list. There was an investment of time in writing those stories, but it has definitely paid off in terms of helping me build my fan base and get more sales of my books whenever I have a new release or run a promotion. I also use a service called Bookfunnel to build my mailing list.

Do you have anything to say to your followers?

Thank you, thank you, a million times, thank you! My readers and followers are like my entire reason for being. If nobody was reading my books, there would be no reason for me to write them. I get emails and Facebook messages from my readers, and it’s always incredibly gratifying.

It’s so strange to think about it. I imagine these stories in my head, then I turn that into a bunch of squiggly black marks on the page, and someone I’ve never even met before can read those squiggly marks and experience the story and be entertained. It really is a kind of magic.