I’ve been writing since I was a child but did not become a published author until 2019 under a different pen name. When I am not writing I work as a Fraud Analyst in the gaming industry, which does not get incorporated into my writing. LOL
Have you always wanted to become an author?
I have always wanted to be an author and when I finally published my first book, it was one of my dreams that came true.
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
I have all kinds of inspiration whether it’s from different types of movies or music. I don’t write one type of PNR book – I want to dabble in a variety, though vampire is my favorite.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on a dark contemporary called N.S.F.W. which can mean Not Safe For Work or Not Safe From Willa. It is essentially a temp with a huge chip on her shoulder centered on men in the corporate world who have overstepped their boundaries.
Do you have any quirks while working?
Not really that I can think of.
What are your hopes for the future?
I am essentially starting over after striking my established author name. However, my hopes is to finally see that coveted orange banner on my book or books.
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
Never give up your dream. Even if things get rough and you need to make changes in your career, never stop, always keep going. There are so many days I want to quit, but then I remember the reason I write in the first place.
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
I have my Rose Buds and my followers who have been with me through everything and owe them a debt of gratitude. To my new followers, I can’t thank you enough in advance for helping me see my book dreams come true.
Eva Ashwood has been a reader her whole life and a writer for several years. She loves telling stories of alpha males and the fierce women who bring them to their knees.
She’s a sucker for reverse harem, bully romance, enemies to lovers, heroes who redeem themselves, and all the drama and passion of new adult love.
Have you always wanted to become an author?
No, but I’ve always been a huuuge reader! For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a voracious reader, and the moment I discovered romance novels, it was all over, lol. I got hooked and never looked back. The first book I ever wrote was because I was dying to read a certain trope in a book and I couldn’t find it, so I decided I would write it myself. And the rest is history!
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
My current series is called Dirty Broken Savages, and the inspiration for that one sort of hit me upside the head, lol. The blurb for the first book just popped into my head one day, and I had to scramble to find a pen to write it down as fast as I could. Then I knew I had to write the book, since the characters were screaming at me to tell their story.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on Reign of Wrath, the third book in the Dirty Broken Savages series. There will be four books total in the series, so up next will be the final book. And then I’ll be starting a brand new series! I don’t want to say too much about that one yet, but it will be a dark contemporary romance.
Do you have any quirks while working?
I often speak the dialogue out loud as I type, to make sure it sounds real and flows right, and I also make faces as I write – happy or sad or whatever the characters are feeling. So basically, I look like a crazy person, lol! My husband has learned to just ignore me while I’m in the middle of a writing session.
What are your hopes for the future?
To keep writing for as long as I can. It’s all I can imagine myself doing now, and I have sooo many more stories in my head that I want to tell. I hope to write another paranormal series at some point, but right now, my muse is pulling me strongly in the direction of contemporary romance. So that’s where I’ll be for a while!
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
Take the leap! It’s soooo scary at first, but if I can do it, you can too! Write the story that’s been in your heart and in your head, the one you’ve always wanted to read that hasn’t been written yet.
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
Thank you!!! I get insanely nervous with every book I release, and it’s honestly the messages and comments and reviews from readers that keep me going. Thank you for taking a chance on my work, and for loving the damaged, broken characters my mind comes up with!
Well, I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I have always had a great imagination, which fuels my love of writing. I am also an introvert, so I live in my head, which is also why I love writing so much. I’m a simple person and a homebody, so I just love writing and when I’m not doing that I’m watching TV, surfing the net, or researching. I grew up loving mysteries and suspense. Hitchcock and Edgar Allan Poe are my biggest creative idols. I write interracial books (black women and white men coupling) among different genres. I write romance, romantic suspense, thrillers, women’s fiction, historical, erotica, erotic romance, and paranormal (just starting with this one). I also write books of all lengths, but mainly novellas and shorts. I am a USA Today Featured Author and have been interviewed by USA Today many times as well as have had several books reviewed by them. They also made my book The Seventh District a Recommended Read. I am also the nominee of two African-American Literary Awards.
Have you always wanted to be an author?
No. I never thought about writing professionally until I was 19 and that’s when I started. I always enjoyed reading and always had a talent for writing as a child, but I never thought of it as an avenue to make money. Back then, I was just happy to write and wasn’t thinking about sharing my work. Then, when I turned 19, the dream of being an author hit me and I got into it. I started back in 1998 and back then you didn’t have the options you have now. You had to be trade published or you’d have to sell books out of the trunk of your cars. There was a huge stigma against self-publishing, so it wasn’t a valid way to be published then. Also, there wasn’t even KDP, so you didn’t have the option to publish through Amazon and ebooks hadn’t become popular yet. You had to be with a publisher and have books in stores to get anywhere. So after years of struggling to be noticed, I finally got a two-book deal from Simon and Schuster in 2007 and 2008. Unfortunately, right before the first book was released, my mother passed away. So needless to say, the experience of first being published wasn’t the happy time I thought it would be.
What was your inspiration for your current book or series?
Me. LOL! I just write the stories I want to write and whatever idea that pops into my head. I get more ideas from movies and current events than anything, but most times the idea just comes from me. I’ve always had a powerful imagination. I also get ideas while exercising and riding in a car, too.
What are you working on now?
Working on billionaire romantic thriller serial. As well as reworking some previously published standalones I’d published under a now defunct pen name.
Do you have quirks while working?
Nah. For me, I don’t mess around. I just turn the TV on mute and get to writing. I don’t do any special rituals outside of outlining my work. I just get out the laptop and get rolling and try to be as productive as possible for each session.
What are your hopes for the future?
Even though I’ve been in this game, for a long time, I just want to keep growing. Growth is constant. I also just want to be healthy and to remain in a position where I can keep writing and meeting my creative and financial needs.
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
The most important is to research. Don’t expect anyone to spoon feed you every bit of advice. You’re gonna have to take the initiative yourself. Course, it’s fine to ask for help, but you also need patience and to be realistic about expectations. This is not something to get into if you expect to be rich or leave your day job. Only a tiny percentage of authors are living off their book income. Most are not. So make sure you know what the real publishing life is like and don’t fall for the facade you see on TV. Being a writer in real life is nothing like it looks on TV. It’s hard work and I suggest not even trying unless you love writing. If you don’t love it to your core, then you won’t last.
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
Of course! Thanks so much for always buying my work and supporting. I appreciate all the love and you can be sure that I’ll never cheat you and with every book I give 100% because I know you guys deserve nothing less! I always got something new for you, so continue to keep up with me!
Please give a warm welcome to author Traci Lovelot
Tell us a bit about yourself…
Traci Lovelot is my pen name, and I’m the author of Our Fae Queen, a reverse harem series in a fantasy world that overlaps our own. I’m addicted to books without love triangles, so I write romance where our leading lady lives happily ever after with ALL the guys. 🥰 Because why choose? I prefer reading and writing paranormal romance and fantasy romance, but I wouldn’t rule out writing a scifi RH or contemporary RH someday…
Have you always wanted to become an author?
Pretty much! I wrote my first book when I was ten years old. My mother frequently took me on library trips, where I would devour books that were way too old for me. Reading was my favorite pastime, so much so that I would get in trouble for reading during classes. I dreamed of becoming an author some day, and now I’m busy making my inner child’s dreams come true.
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
With Our Fae Queen, I wanted to write about a character who didn’t just have things handed to her, but had to grow into her destiny. I also wanted to include some myths from around the world, because I find it fascinating how similar myths pop up across the world in cultures that hadn’t even discovered each other yet. Stories tap into something primal within us, and I love being a part of that shared world with my readers.
What are you working on now?
What am I NOT working on? Haha. Right now I’m busy killing off typos in Our Fae Queen Book 4 so I can send it off to my advance review team (which you can join!), I’m revising Book 5 with feedback from my editor, and I’m dreaming of a new series… PNR that’s a second-chance romance combined with enemies to lovers, and, of course, reverse harem. I’m SUPER excited about it, but I know it’ll take me some time to develop.
Do you have any quirks while working?
I prefer dead silence when writing, but if not… I listen to dub-step and electronica to get me pumped.
What are your hopes for the future?
I dream of traveling again… I gain inspiration from the world around me, and unfortunately, lately I’ve mostly confined myself at home. I hope we can all work together to put an end to this pandemic so we can all enjoy being with one another again!
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
Join 20Booksto50k and follow all the brilliant advice in the guides on their Facebook group. If you’re a romance writer, I would also recommend reading Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, as well as Romance Your Brandby Zoe York. If you read The Lost Queen, you’ll see I put a ton of resources in my Acknowledgments, those whose wisdom helped me along my path.
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
Thanks for joining me so early in my author journey! I’m looking forward to bringing you many more fun worlds to enjoy and characters to meet. All of you who have left me reviews and have believed in me so far really do keep me encouraged to continue!
Type 2 is a journey from being diagnosed to living each day with diabetes. If you feel shocked, if you feel angry or need healing for yourself (or loved one) there is a poem within these pages.
Review
“The evolution of a poet is seldom pretty. We pull from lifewhat is frightening, terrifying, painful and sad, doing our best to rewrite our tragedies so perhaps others will catch the metaphor and learn from ourmistakes, with never once breathing the words, “I told you so”, out loud.
In Type-2, poet Ben Ditmars evolves. And though the words he writes are beautiful, this is not a pretty maturing. It is gripping to watch a young man come face to face with his mortality. It is more than impactful to have his words lead you to questioning your own. I have watched family member after family member struggle with adult-onset diabetes. I’ve had friends carry snacks just in case and watched them jab at their fingers. I have never had anyone make me really think about this kind of life, let alone my chances of ending up living it, the way this collection of poems has.”
I live in wet and soggy Bristol, UK, with my husband, toddler and dog (oh and an immortal goldfish).
I have loved fantasy all my life. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Holly Black, Amy Harmon and Robert Jordan.
When I’m not off gallivanting in other worlds, you can normally find me climbing trees with my young son, working as a small animal vet for a charity that treats the pets of people who struggle to make ends meet, hanging out with my church family, or walking the best dog in the world. (And as a vet I feel qualified to say that!)
Have you always wanted to become an author?
I have written stories for as long as I can remember. My first book series was about a group of kids who ran away from home and became rulers of all the sharks in the sea. Worryingly they all got married at the age of 12-14 but that was old to my 8 year old self!
I wrote my first full length novel at 11. It was about a magician’s apprentice who was bad at magic.
Throughout my teenage years I wrote epic fantasy after epic fantasy that my poor parents had to read, even when they went over 200,000 words! As a child I was badly dyslexic and struggled with sentence structure and spelling to the extent that many of my early stories were illegible until I typed them up. It took me much longer than all the other children in my class to both write and type, but I just loved to write and have never been able to stop telling stories. Slowly, wth the support of my parents and teachers, I developed techniques to get around my dyslexia and now it never holds me back.
I now have ten published full length books and seven short stories.
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
My current series starts with Feathers of Snow and is inspired by the German fairytale, The Goose Girl. I always loved how the original tale coupled gentleness and beauty with brutality and ruthlessness. To me, it is a very powerful tale of the power of goodness and perseverance. Though my tale flips the characters on their heads!
What are you working on now?
I am currently putting the final touches on Feathers of Blood which is the sequel to Feathers of Snow. This book has a lot more action and angst and has been great fun to write!
Do you have any quirks while working?
I often feel the need to pull the expressions my characters are making as I write them to try to work out how to describe them. I must look very strange, so it’s probably a good thing I don’t write in public!
What are your hopes for the future?
I hope to keep on doing what I love, which is being a mummy, writing and saving animals as a vet! It would be my dream to be able to earn a little more through my writing so I can devote whole days to it once my son is old enough to go to school.
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
My advice to authors who want to write fantasy is to read loads in your subgenre and keep writing. Never give up! Get as many fantasy lovers to read it as you can before you try to publish. Also start simple and master basic concepts in shorter books before your epic 12 book masterpiece!
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
I love you all so much! Every time I gain a follower or reader, I do a little happy dance. I couldn’t do it without you!
Make Me Lie: A Dark Enemies to Lovers College Romance (Rich Demons of Darkwood Book 1)
The world knows me as the Demon’s Daughter.
He’s a famous serial killer. And I may have been his accomplice.
But no one knows for sure except for me.
The dangerous, cruel men of the Sphinx secret society intend to uncover my secrets…and break me.
Stellan, my childhood crush who lost his sister to the Demon.
Cain, the boy with the face of an angel to who manipulation comes as easy as breathing;
Remington, the playboy soccer star full of secrets.
Pax, the dark psycho who hides behind his fists.
I hoped for a second chance at Darkwood University, only to have my dream ripped away the first time I kissed one of the handsome bastards.
They know who I am.
And they’re determined to make me pay.
They should have thought twice about who they were playing with.
Because I am the demon’s daughter. And just because they have the power, the connections, the faces and bodies of gods… do they really think they’ll win?
I wanted a new life, not a war.
But if they insist, we’ll see who ends up playing.
Please give a warm welcome to Deena Rae Schoenfeldt from Ebook Builders
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I’m a stage 3 cancer survivor, mother of 3. I have started doing ebook adaptation for my Mom’s publishing business in 2009 then opened up to independent authors and publishing houses. I have taken over all of the book – print and ebook – design of my mother’s business.
How long have you been a book designer?
I have been doing ebook adaptation – aka ebook building – for almost 12 years and have book doing the complete book design – paperback/hardback typography/layout and ebook adaptation for 7 years with a 2 year break while I underwent cancer treatment.
Have you always wanted to be a book designer?
Heavens, no. I wanted to be a lawyer, a dictator, a serial killer….anything at all to be different than my mom. But I am good at making a book fit with the author’s vision. Plus, I have a really bad temper and if I was a lawyer I would end up punching the opposing side.
What do you do as a book designer?
I take the author’s manuscript and flow it into InDesign. If the author wants the book to be branded to the storyline, I add page graphic backgrounds, images, etc to make it stand out from the majority of other books being sold. I then export it to epub (ebook) and tweak it so that the ebook and print editions are as similar as possible.
Do you have any quirks while working?
I cannot work in silence. Usually I have Fox Business on (during stock market hours since I also swing trade the market). But I have been know to work while I stream Law & Order. I also do not read the manuscript as I am doing the design. If I did it would add hours to the time it takes me to do the layout.
What are your hopes for the future?
World domination, always. I will settle for staying busy.
For people wanting to do what most people call ‘formatting’ learn the industry specifics. Know about rules to paragraphs and headings. Nothing irritates me quite as much as seeing a book that has been ‘formatted’ by someone who is just out to make a buck. Chicago Manual of Style is your friend. Always be learning more and improving your skills so your clients are thrilled and don’t get ‘dinged’ in reviews on the finished product. My advice for authors and really everyone is to have a tribe of professionals you can go to for advice or help. I have a group of people involved in publishing – authors, cover designers, book designers, editors – that I go to when I need help, advice or to bounce ideas off of.
Are you available for new work or booked solid.
My schedule is flexible. I can usually have 10-15 book projects in the various stages of completion during a week. I can do up a draft for an author then send it to them for approval then immediately start on another while I am waiting to hear from the previous author. I usually have no problem working in a rush job.
Whether you are a bestseller or an aspiring author, this planning workbook will help you keep your characters, plot, and timeline straight.
With pages to detail your locations, characters, scenes, plot points, etc., this workbook organizes all the prewriting, writing, and post-production aspects of getting a book into print.
110 pages of plotting worksheets to help flesh out your characters, keep your timeline straight and keeps your book consistent and flowing
Please give a warm welcome to author Tirza Schaefer
Tell us a bit about yourself…
My name is Tirza Schaefer and I am a mother of three children and one cat, a romance author and a spiritual Goddess coach who also writes articles about Goddesses, Gods, Power Animals and so on. I have just finished writing my 32nd book and am very excited that it is the longest I have written so far, there are lots of interesting characters in it and that I have incorporated some archetypal themes as well.
Have you always wanted to become an author?
I’ve been telling stories to my sister at night even before I could read and write, so it’s always been part of me. However, the explicit dream of publishing a book one day came in my teenage years when I thought it would be the coolest ever when my children could one day say, our Mama wrote a book. Fast forward 35 years and here I am on book 32 and loving it!
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
I love reading contemporary biker, military and badboy romance novels and because I also love reverse harem (most of which seem to be in the fantasy realm), I decided to write a standalone novel on a biker gang falling in love with one woman. The book is called “Her Badass Bikers” and will have to go through editing still before publication. There is also a slight reverse age gap in it because I write for mature women, no cheating and happily ever after guaranteed. So listening to an audiobook of a single biker love story, I decided to write a biker reverse harem story and also because I needed a break away from the series I am working on as well, the two current ones being Seals in Spain, of which Book 1, Tank, is already published and The Milf Diaries, of which Books 1, Izzy, and 2, Ria, are already published. Book 3 will have the characters of the Seals in Spain trilogy in it for a guest appearance.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just finished writing the rough draft of “Her Badass Bikers” and it’s been a wild ride to create this book. Nothing went according to plan and character showed up all over the place, hijacking the story and extending it from a planned 45-50K to a currently 104K file. However, throughout the writing process (including going bananas at times), I have really fallen deeply for this story, the characters and the journey I have travelled on to bring this book into being. It is richer, more complex and vastly more beautiful for the characters’ meddling, so I will be eternally grateful for their continued interference, no matter how unnerving it may have been at certain stages in the writing.
Do you have any quirks while working?
My greatest joys for inspiration will always be travelling and comfortable cafés with a real character but as this is mostly not my daily routine. I sit at my desk, on the patio or even at night in bed and type. I love drinking ginger-orange tea and for nobody to disturb me. Sometimes, I like to listen to music as well, Nicky Jam or Daddy Yankee mostly but I also love 90s hiphop, but mostly I like peace and quiet. And when I need a break from being creative, I may just bingewatch a Netflix series like Vampire Diaries, Vikings, Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Big Bang or a European historical drama, whatever strikes my mood. I’m pretty open that way.
What are your hopes for the future?
I want my books to be made into movies or Netflix series, depending. Other than that, I just want to be close to my family and friends and spend quality time with the people I love when I’m not writing.
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
That is quite complex but there are a number of social media platforms you should be on and I have a list you can access for free when you sign up to my newsletter on my website tirzaschaefer.com
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
I am an approachable person and you can email me, ask about my books, tell me how you liked them and even ask my characters questions. They’ll definitely answer, too. So I’d be thrilled to hear from you. And please feel free to follow me on social media. Due to platform specific restrictions I cannot always follow back or accept friend requests because I am at maximum capacity on most but that doesn’t mean I don’t care and am not happy to hear from you. And please, that is a general request for all authors, when you’ve enjoyed a book, please leave a positive review. You may not know about the various platforms restrictions on running campaigns and even showing a book when it doesn’t have a certain number of positive (4 or 5 stars) reviews but be assured, they are very real and hard to overcome for indie authors. So the more reviews you leave, even short ones, the more you help and support and author. And for you, that’s absolutely free. For an author, it means the world. Thank you!
You can follow Tirza Schaefer on Social Media and check all her current book promotions on her Linktree
My name is Lyn Forester and I write a number of romantic genres under various pen names. Under Lyn Forester, I write New Adult/Adult sci-fi (both m/f and RH), as well as PNR (mmf and RH). Under Sophie O’Dare, I write light PNR MM romance, and under my co-author pen name, Lili Black, I write YA/NA PNR.
Have you always wanted to become an author?
Yes, for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an artist and an author. After working as a graphic designer for a number of years, I dove into my author dream and now do both full time.
What was your inspiration for your current book/series?
Hahaha, which one?
What are you working on now?
I have a number of series in progress. At this very moment, I’m working on the next Lili Black book while plotting out the fourth book in my Poison World series.
Do you have any quirks while working?
No.
What are your hopes for the future?
To keep writing. I never plan to stop.
Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?
It’s scary, and success (usually) takes time and dedication, so be brave and keep pushing.
Do you have anything to say to your followers?
I’m working on it, I promise!
Everywhere I can be found on social media can be found here:
Helle Gade 