Kelly and I spoke in October during the midst of election season and slow moving coups. It’s now 6 months later and in listening to this conversation I’m struck by how much stress we were dealing with at that time. One of the most frustrating things about the past year is learning the hard way how external situations can affect our creative muse.
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Show Notes
- Kelly Violet introduces who she is and the type of romance books she focuses on.
- Radish Fiction App
- I get nosey and ask the question how did Kelly get into writing romance?
- Common theme of moms not censoring their child’s reading content. Hey Harlequin!
- Kelly was always a fan of romance.
- She moved to California and that move helped spearhead her career.
- Kelly shares why self-publishing was of interest
- The Google Doc of ideas and waiting for the right moment to write.
- Attending Cons-Conferences started to help her build confidence.
- It took 2 years to publish “Touch Me Softly” the first of a 4 book series
- The move to California represented a mindset shift that enabled her to move forward with writing.
- What has it been like writing during COVID?
- I admit that COVID killed my writing focus, Kelly shares what happened with her writing
- March-May she rocked out a lot of writing, then her motivation tanked.
- She shares how COVID affected her routine
- Great writing sprint idea
- The 20Books to 50K that I was referencing was 2020
- Which conferences does she recommend and how she stays connected with other writers.
- Literary Love Savannah-In person print book purchases
- Romantic Times
- Sponsoring a Kaoroke event at Literary Love Savannah
- This was a great way to meet other authors and readers
- Who is Kelly writing for and how characters of color play a part in her books
- She currently writes interracial romances but has other works that aren’t.
- New adult angst!
- We get deeper into why self-publishing is empowering for authors (especially authors of color)
- Please keep reviews simple and share them.
- Take a chance on those authors
- Buy a book!
- Support them on social media
- How can other authors support authors of color?
- Kelly is a member of several author focused groups
- Share on social media
- Share in author newsletters
- Connect people with opportunities
- Is romance as a business saturated? We ponder this question…
- I share how I focus on SEO as a way to find my works
- How is Kelly getting in front of readers in a crowded reading market?
- During COVID-she’s using Facebook ads and Amazon ads. But, those cost money
- Story Origin-Newsletter swaps and reader magnets
- I share how I got hit with the pre-release strategy during 2020
- The question: how do we market when we can’t move around?
- Working on the craft of writing as a daily practice.
- Publishing wide vs. on one platform
- Kelly is focusing on the long-term game
- Let’s talk more about “Touch Me Softly” and the series
- Kelly even wrote a song for this book!
- We talk about the future and what her goals are moving forward
- Radish App-understanding how it works
- Pricing your books
- The one piece of advice Kelly would give to would be romance writers
How to Connect with Kelly Violet
Here author handle is typically kellyvioletauthor or kellyviolet_author
Kelly’s Knockouts-Facebook group
Resources Mentioned
- Radish Fiction app
- Literary Love Savannah (accidentally called Love Kissed Savannah during the conversation)
- 20Books to 50K
- Romantic times
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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.
