I’m excited to share Avery Grey and her romance writing journey. “Sweet with a bit of heat” romance. We met a couple of years ago and have enjoyed geeking out about writing romance and the business of telling love stories. Avery writes stories that focus on strong women who are a reflection of the women that she knows. They’re grown. I really enjoyed this conversation and I’m sure you will too.

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Listen to the Show

Show Notes

• Why she’s decided to write romance featuring people of color.

• We talk Black Panther and representation

• The characters’ experiences and how they didn’t resonate

• What types of stories was Avery writing before launching Avery Grey
  • Urban Fantasy

• The Alpha Dog female main character.

• Why she’s launching Avery Grey and this new romance world.
  • Older FMC
  • Have seen the world, ambitious, smart and attract men who love those women.

• Avery shares a great Shonda Rhymes quote

• The older FMC is featured heavily in her work

• Why is self-publishing a part of her platform? How does self-publishing help build equity in writing?
  • Self-publishing allows authors to optimize viral moments
  • Mid-listers can make solid income
  • You don’t have to wait for a traditional publisher to validate your idea.
  • You can connect with your ideal reader “Give people what they want”

• Why Avery does market research before writing her books in order to avoid conflict in creativity and readership.

• I ask about how she manages her mindset and deals with tough feedback?

• I bring up Lovecraft Country and we’re both obsessed with the show. And I found it interesting that people aren’t sure if it was a good show.
  • Do we always have to “prove a point” in our content
  • Can we just create art
  • Mind candy is bae

• #1 Piece of advice for a would be author or for a published author that hasn’t had a knock out hit initially?

• We talk about earning outliers. You know, those people who make a ton of money with their first book.

• Why Avery decided to pivot from Urban Fantasy to this new niche?
  • Writing during COVID and dealing with being in a COVID hot spot and its impact on creativity

• “Am I doing something every day to help my writing business?”

• We discuss why are people uncomfortable asserting that they would like to make money with their work
  • The starving artist mindset
    • James Patterson
    • Clive Cussler

• “I provide popcorn not caviar” Avery Grey

Avery Grey

• averygreywrites.com

Some Final Thoughts

Shortly after this interview my characters stopped talking to me again. We were getting closer to the end of the Election Season and everything caught up to me. Avery also ended up having the release of her books delayed as well. I’m happy to report that my characters started speaking to again and Avery has a couple of novellas being edited at the time this episode is being released. It’s crazy to realize how much the world can impact your creative muse.

Buy Me a Coffee

Thank you for listening and supporting Let’s Talk Romance with Autumn Stone. I love having conversations with authors creating stories for characters of color and the people who read them. If you enjoyed this episode please “Buy Me a Coffee.” This support helps to cover the cost of running the show.