In honor of Read-A-Romance Month and Romance Awareness Month, this August we’ll be sharing the insights of romance authors who have been navigating the world of the genre and writing all about love in their latest novels. For this month’s issue, we took a look at the entire romance bookish community and what makes it so special in this article, and interviewed internationally best-selling romance author TL Swan to learn more about her writing approach and widespread impact in this article. Here, you can read the full interview with Alexandra Hale. For her website and social media, see below!
How would you define your specific writing genre and niche? What first got you interested in this writing style and how did you decide to pursue this niche in your authorial approach?
Right now, I’m in a low angst piece of small town romance. I think that I am firmly within contemporary; a lot of authors kind of market themselves as being rom com. My books are light humored, but I don’t consider myself to be a rom com author. I have a lot of found family ties and tropes. And I just really wanted to write feel-good romance. I like to think that the romance is organic. The stories are fun. I like big family stories.
I’m from a small town. So, I love that piece of it. I’m in upstate New York, so my books are set in Tennessee. When you’re up north, you think more of like, the changing of the leaves and maple syrup. And if you’re closer to the coast, you think of lobster. You don’t think of that warm hug, Southern, like “come sit at my table” thing. Even though Mama Thayer, who is the mom in my first series, she’s based on my mom. My mom is very much like that, we have a huge kitchen table in our house and it was always like that growing up. So, I wanted to convey that, but even as a reader, when you think Southern small town, you think more of those warm vibes.
How did you first get into writing romance novels – why romance? Do you have any stories you’d like to share about your initial experiences in this particular genre and how they have influenced your journey going forward?
I’ve always written for myself, since I was small. And then more so as I got older, after college, and then when we moved in 2020/2021, I didn’t go back to working outside of the house. I have two small children, and so we made the decision that I would stay home with them. It just became, one of those, “now’s the time,” sort of times, and it was really exciting. I wanted to give it a shot, and it’s been wonderful. I love bringing my stories to life. The first book that I published was the very first book that I ever finished. And like gave an official title, and not just some working title on the Word document. But it was just a “right time” situation. So, it worked out great.
What does your writing process typically look like? Where do you gain inspiration from, especially because there is a depth and complexity to these stories that set them apart from traditional conceptions of romance novels?
I write for emotion. I’m in between a plotter and a pantser. I have a general idea of how the story is gonna go, but I don’t plot anything out. I don’t write in order, so I write scenes that come to me, for the most part, and then when I’m about 60% through that, I’ll go back to the beginning and I’ll start and I’ll fill in all the details that I haven’t done yet. But I like to focus on the pieces of the story that are the most impactful, you know, something that’s like a filler doesn’t give me enough of where I need the story to go.
So, when I’m developing characters, I want those big emotional moments or those sexier moments that have that connection, have that piece where you’re seeing more than just, they’re going to the grocery store, they’re going and doing an everyday task. They’re connecting with someone, they’re finding something out about themselves. I like to focus on those pieces. And then that helps me develop both them and the rest of the story.
I am not really a picture person, my brain doesn’t work like that. Like, I can’t tell you what the character looks like to me, or who would play them in a movie or anything. I just can’t see it. I can tell you who doesn’t work, I just can’t tell you specifically who does. Sometimes music is huge. So in Home in the Country, the hero is a golden retriever, and he’s very upbeat. He’s very big-hearted, and so a lot of the songs that you’ll see in that book are happier songs, more upbeat songs, just because that’s kind of how he always comes to me. It’s like that very jovial sort of presence. And so in that way it does, but I don’t write with music playing. I think more of a distracted factor. But I do love to incorporate music into my stories.
Do you read other authors? Can you read other authors while you’re writing? Do you draw inspiration from your contemporaries or other authors in your genre? Do you listen to audiobooks?
I don’t think it factors too much. I read for enjoyment. I don’t read for anything heavy. It really depends. Right now, life has kind of gotten in the way of me being able to read for pleasure. I do try to keep up with different things. I don’t read a lot of dark romance. I basically read what I write. I enjoy that—I like books that are mostly feel-good. If I am going to read something dark, then I have to be in the right headspace. But I love to see what everybody else has going on.
Adriana Locke is a huge inspiration for me. She’s amazing, and she does the big family thing really well. So, I try to take pieces of, you know, concepts. You don’t want to overdo a big family series, you don’t want to load your stories with too many characters or too many factors. So I draw inspiration that way—just being cognizant of things that I want to include, especially small town. Small town antics are really, really fun, but if you overdo it, it takes away from the feel of the story. You want to be quirky, but you don’t want to overdo it or be obnoxious. So, I try to make sure that I have those things in check. I like to write for balance. So, I want to make sure that the story and the characters and everything else comes together in a way that’s, you know, both appealing for me and appealing for readers.
How much of yourself – if any – do you put into your books? Have your experiences and interests as a reader influenced what or how you write?
Absolutely. I think that there’s a piece of me in each of the heroines, different points of my life. And I like to put the best pieces of myself in there. I like to write from experience, or experiences that I’ve heard and gathered and different things. I like to have that connection to the stories.
How do you come up with the names for your characters? What about the titles of your books?
Titles are awful. I could live 1,000 years and never want to title anything. They’re extremely difficult for me. And I think that, especially now with how the market is pretty saturated with up and coming authors—and it’s amazing—but with that comes a lot of need for variation in titles. It’s kind of like, if you buy a red car, and you’ve never seen one out on the road, and then you see them everywhere, as soon as you buy the car. Right now, the name “Wild” in a title is very popular. I was going to use that in Montana’s book, the very first book in my new series, and I had to step back and you know, find a different title, and it works really well. That’s kind of a fun check, too, because, you know, you think you have something that has to be one way, and then you see something and you’re like, “Okay, well, I don’t want to be in that category more, I need to change.” So it’s nice to have the ability to change it if you can.
You also have to be cognizant of what Amazon wants or what your platform wants, because you can’t have the same titles. It’s a lot of give and take. But I’m definitely happy with what I have so far, and I’m hoping to continue that. In terms of character names, I usually just hit up the baby name lists. Those are really great. And they have like a bunch of different variations and different things. Very rarely do I grab a name that I hear just in my everyday life, usually because it correlates—my kids are in school. So, I don’t want to use kid names, if I can avoid it. So it’s a little dicey. But I’m sure as I go, it’ll be harder to not do that.
How do you approach determining the nature of the plot or the trope(s) that you pursue in a given novel? Do you tend to stick with what is popular among readers or what is trending at the moment? Are there other key decisions at any point in the writing process that you tend to struggle with?
I don’t write to market. I try to be cognizant of what the market likes, but I know for myself that if I were to really veer into trying to do that, it won’t come off as authentic. And I would rather maintain my authenticity, than writing just for, you know, writing’s sake. When I write, and I start writing a series, I write pieces of each story as I go. So I have a general idea of what the characters are doing down the road. It’s how I am able to leave easter eggs, or how I’m able to set up the future books in the current book.
Some things are a surprise. Playing It Country is the fourth book in my Clementine Creek series, and I knew the least about that book going into writing it. He’s a reformed playboy, and she is a free-spirit photographer, who’s temporarily in town. Literally every time I sat down at my computer, I was surprised. I knew what the general ending of it was, but I didn’t have any real pieces that I had set out ahead of time. So, that one was definitely a different take. It was a little bit stressful because that’s not my general process. Each book is different. And it depends on the emotion that I’m trying to convey or the emotion of the characters.
Somewhere around like 40ish percent of writing, I hate everything. I don’t like the manuscript, I don’t like where it’s going, everything feels really clunky and it’s not working. And it’s just one of those things that I have to get through. It’s one of those, I don’t know, like a necessary evil to do it. It hurts. It’s exhausting. But once I get through that piece, the words come easier. And I can see that the work that I put in during that time was good work. And it helped me move everything along.
Would you consider branching out into a different niche? Do you fear pushback or the loss of an audience from doing so?
Branching out, so I did not intend to write M/M romance. And I wanted to be very cognizant, when I started seriously considering publishing my novella, how I wanted to go about that. There’s obviously a lot of crossover in the reader groups, but there’s also readers who prefer only to read M/M or readers who only prefer to read M/F. I wanted to be sensitive to that as well. I used a couple of beta readers that read a lot of M/M; I use a sensitivity reader as well, because I wanted to make sure that I had done everything I could to make the book the best that it could be, but also being sensitive to the groups that I was then going to portray and market to. So, that was something that I didn’t realize that I was gonna love so much. I love reading M/M. And I was really excited to publish that book; it still makes me so happy. That’s one of those things where I did branch out and I did that, and I will be writing other M/M in the future.
In terms of completely jumping to a different piece of romance, someday. I don’t have any plans to do it now. I do have some projects that are darker. Right now, I am happy with writing happier stories. I like to put the good in the world, I guess. I’d like to have that sort of piece. So if I am gonna write something that’s angstier, it’s going to be like a writing dump in a Word document, and I’m just gonna table it and, you know, come back if I feel like it, but it’s not something that I’m seeking out right now.
I mean, it’s absolutely a worry, you want to make sure that you are being sensitive to the audience that you’re both in front of, while you’re writing, but also, if you’re going to branch out, that you want to be sensitive to that audience as well. But I think that I did it well, I think that I tried very hard to make sure that I reached out to the right people, so that I had those bases covered because I wanted to make sure—because I loved the story. I loved the connection between Hayden and Everett. I loved their love. And I wanted to make sure that readers could love them too. And I didn’t want anything to hurt that because it’s such a sweet story. It’s such a fun story. But you know, it’s not for everyone. I had a lot of really positive feedback. I also tried to set up the story so that it was more standalone within the series. So it’s an accompanying novella rather than something that readers absolutely had to read if they weren’t comfortable. But, I had a lot of readers who had never read M/M before and said that that was their very first, and they really enjoyed it. And so that was a huge compliment, that meant a lot to me. And, I’m excited to write more going forward. And obviously, as the community changes and everything else, I will adapt to that as well.
When writing a novel, how do you decide whether or not it will become a series? Is it sometimes difficult to envision a future for a narrative or characters, or do subsequent books come naturally? Do you plan to write a series in advance/prior to starting the process, or is that a decision that comes later?
I strongly dislike world building. It’s not my jam. So if you ever see a fantasy romance from me, like, probably send help. I applaud those authors, because it is incredibly taxing for me to even think about writing, you know, 300 pages of just building something. I love small town romance, and I love the feel of it. But for me, that’s not one of the fun parts, what the town looks like, what the things look like. And I always am sending notes to my editors that say, “Hey, do you know what that looks like? Like, did I say what that looks like? Do we know who that looks like? Or what that is?” So it’s a lot.
Currently, I am incapable of writing standalone anything. I have a couple series that are in the works along the way. Everything’s kind of connected in some variety. I have a new release today, Summer With a Brother’s Best Friend. And my Feels Like Falling hero has two sisters. And you see one of the sisters in this novella, and the sister will get her story in this little spin-off thing in October. I like to have things that are connected. I think it’s fun for readers to say, ‘Oh, I remember that character’ or ‘I remember where they are.’ And then, you know, it’s really fun to like, have them come back and see all the different things. I like that as a reader as well, being able to pick up on the different pieces.
To what extent would you say that writing in this genre is a group effort? Or how does having a greater network of writers and collaborators benefit your work and help you grow as a writer?
The community is amazing. It’s like anything else: the community is also exhausting. And in both good and bad ways. I love networking, I love meeting people, I love seeing what everybody’s doing. I love to help anyone in any way that I can. I’ve met so many incredible author friends who have helped me in my journey and I try to do the same for younger authors and even, you know, I still need help doing different things. I’m not very seasoned. I’m only two years into my career. But it’s amazing. It’s incredible.
With that being said, it’s exhausting because the market is always changing. Things that are relevant now aren’t relevant in a few months. One example of that is like, with the different covers. We had a huge influx of people on different social media platforms who decided that they didn’t like people covers and they wanted an alternate or discreet cover and, you know, that has kind of transformed from not only having a discreet cover, in addition to a people cover if you’re going to do that, but now offering special editions and different things. So, it’s hard to keep up with all the trends, all the things that readers are wanting and looking for. Some readers don’t care, some readers, they only want those special editions or those extras. It’s hard to not get sucked into everything; you have to pick what elements you’re going to do. As a smaller author, I don’t have the flexibility to do all the things yet. Obviously, as I grow, and as I am able to build my foundation here, I’ll branch out and I’ll add different perks and different things. But, you know, it’s a lot, and it’s a lot to keep up with.
What is it like to write in direct collaboration with another writer as a duo? How do you synthesize each of your visions to create one final product of which you both are proud and happy with?
They’re not the same story. But Carolina Jax and I wrote this novella, Summer With a Brother’s Best Friend. And her story is Summer With a Fireman. And we wrote twins, so her hero and my heroine are twins. And we wrote the same timeline. So, it was definitely difficult and interesting and challenging to do that, because we had such a tight window of working. We tried really hard to balance our stories. We tried really hard to keep our voices authentic, while also giving the pop-ins. And again, we didn’t have the flexibility of just being a collaboration in general, because the stories were so interwoven. But, readers are really enjoying it so we’re excited for that.
We had several FaceTimes and conversations about where we wanted the stories to go. We weren’t writing the stories at the same time. So, she was working on a different project and I had jumped into the Love Beach story. I was probably about halfway through it, and I had hit a snag. And I had talked to my alpha reader, and we had brainstormed a bunch of things. But those things really focused on her hero Maddox, who’s the brother, and I needed to pause. I told her the suggestions or the different things, but I didn’t want to direct or dictate what her character was going to do. So, in that case, it was really difficult to wait and feel it out.
But we did a lot of give and take. We had beta readers for both of us, who had read for us separately. We had them read both stories together, to work on timeline, to work on voice, to make sure that everything was cohesive. Again, we wanted them to be different, but we wanted to make sure everything was consistent. I think it’s just more of like the forethought of “What are the things that we need to make happen? We have this common goal at the end. That’s the main piece of it, and how do we get there? What pieces do we need to make sure that happens?
What is your experience with newsletters and the impact of participating in newsletter swaps for increasing visibility?
I run a joint newsletter with Nicole Dixon. We send out a couple newsletters a month. We each do a joint one together, and then we have a separate one that we send out. But, the newsletter is not my favorite. It’s definitely a really great tool. It gives you a chance to connect with readers who might not be on social media, so they’ll find you in the back of the book, and they’re not on social media, but they bought a paperback and they’re really excited to know more and get updates. And that’s really a great way. I think that the newsletter, especially for people who are not on social media, is huge. And yeah, it’s a great way to meet authors, to do swaps and different things.
It just becomes challenging to follow up with everyone. There’s a bunch of different do’s and don’ts that some people say. Like anything, you hear one thing, and that’s, “Oh, you absolutely have to do this. And that one thing, absolutely don’t do that.” So one of the things is, some people say that you shouldn’t have your personal assistant, your PA, reach out to other authors, you should be reaching out to other authors. Okay, well, some people only have their PA reaching out. It’s hard to figure out what the right way is, and you just have to figure out what the right way is for you. But I do like it. It’s fun to see different people and to share people’s success. So, in that way, I love sharing and celebrating people who have releases or who do something that’s great and wonderful, or achieving anniversaries and celebrations. I love seeing people do well. And I like being able to support them in that way.
Tell me about events and conventions in the romance writer community. How have these shaped your time as a writer? What has your personal experience/take-away been from attending as an author or even as a fan/participant?
I really enjoy the smaller events. I haven’t been to any of the super big conventions. But I love the small groups, I love being able to take the time to talk to readers; the bigger the event, the harder it is to have that personal connection. Just because the line—people have a short window of time before they have to get through all the authors. And if there’s, you know, 60, 80, 100 authors, you know, it’s a short amount of time, even if you’re looking at four or five hours.
And that time, it flies by, so you’re kind of just writing names down and doing like, a quick “Hi, how are you?” The smaller events, you’re able to actually talk to people and hear what they like, and really find—not just like, “Hey, they’re picking up your first book”—but, “Hey, here’s this book, I think this one would really resonate with you, or you would really like this one.” So I love meeting people, and authors, too. The biggest thing is that authors are just people, you know, we’re just people who happen to write stories. You get to fangirl over everybody, and they get to do that too. And it’s really fun to see people that you admire, and you’re excited to meet in person, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve seen you on social media! I’m so excited to meet you in person!” So, it’s really wonderful.
Social media, particularly TikTok in recent years, has played a huge role in book promotion with the advent of “booktok” and the progression of online fandom activities that have existed for decades. How has social media provided a platform for promoting/marketing your books and creating a fandom space for your novels? Do you have any notable stories in mind about your works going viral or skyrocketing in other ways through TikTok, etc.?
I am not creative in that way. So, it’s extremely difficult for me to stay up to date with things. I have a PA who helps create some content; I create some of my own content.
I like Instagram the best. Instagram is the platform that I prefer. And that’s just my preference. It’s the one that I’ve kind of cultivated the most. I have the most organic reach on there. And it’s a lot, you know. I love seeing what everybody’s creating. I love seeing the creativity because it far surpasses my own. But, it is constantly changing. Reels have to be this length, or it has to be this length, and it’s always changing. It’s hard to keep up with that, and I’m not somebody who enjoys it. So, for me to want to learn the ins and outs, it’s really, really difficult. And it’s hard to devote that time to it when I would rather be writing.
At some point, maybe in the future, I’ll be able to enjoy it a little more, but I mean, with the way that it’s constantly changing, and the trends and different things. I’m not trendy in my personal life, I’m just me. To have to jump into that mindset and be “author me” and be this person who’s a little bit flashier—it’s tiring. Today’s release day. People have edits, and they’ve made their own graphics, and I love that. I think that’s so cool, because I struggle with it. So to see how people are seeing my books and seeing the different things, it’s really, really amazing.
Readers are more connected to authors than ever through social media and independent publishing. How do you feel about this sense of connection and attainability? How do fans and their feedback (i.e., reviews) impact your writing process, whether directly or indirectly? Describe what it’s like having an ARC team, beta team, etc. and being able to receive trusted feedback from your readers.
When I published my debut novel, I had a reader reach out who said that they had been going through a pretty dark time, and that reading my book really helped them. That was a really important moment for me. I want people to use my books as a comfort read. I like to be, you know, a palate cleanser for somebody who reads dark romance all the time and is like, “You know what, I need something lighter. I need something that’s feel-good. It’s gonna just really hit the spot.” That’s a huge compliment for me.
I have comfort reads, I have comfort read authors that I read. So I like being that person. But I like having people say that I helped them, that my book was exactly what they needed in that moment. So in that way, that’s really great. I get tons of comments from readers. The book Home in the County is about a single mom. Her divorce is finalized in the book, but it’s also a very huge piece of it. And a lot of people reached out to me to say that they really appreciated how I handled the entire scenario. That means a lot, too. I want to be authentic. I want to have those pieces that are real and everything. So it’s a lot.
I have both a beta and an ARC team. My ARC team is fabulous. They’re wonderful. I don’t use my team as much as I probably should, or as much as I could. Because again, I started ARCing before I started publishing. It’s a lot—you’re asking people to do these different things. And yes, they’re signing up, and they’re doing it, but life happens. We just started summer break here, and life happens. To say, “Hey, I have these 97 things coming up, could you read, can you post, and do all the stuff”—I try to be as flexible as I can. I try to give them the options to do certain things because I want them to enjoy my books first and foremost. I don’t want them to feel pressured, or to just read them to read them. I want them to read and enjoy. So I try to be cognizant of that as well. In terms of a beta team, I have different beta readers that I access for different reasons.
I have an alpha reader who I send chapters to as I’m writing. Like, she controls my schedule. She’s my keeper of life. She’s amazing. And I will sometimes just send her pieces of something just like, “I’m stuck here. What do you need? What do you need from this character? What do you want?” And she’s fabulous like that. She also puts up with a ton of my antics. So, that’s also really great. Because my process is so unconventional. It’s perfect for me, but she’s a very type A person. So, when I sent her just a mess of chapters or words and stuff, she’s overwhelmed, and she just rolls with it, which is great.
But beta readers, I have a bunch of different people that I access for different reasons. For the M/M, I use a different beta reader, because that person primarily reads M/M, is much more involved in the community, and I was looking for their expertise. I needed everything to work. I wrote the novella, but I also used them when I wrote one of the other books, because there was an element in there that I wanted to make sure was accurate, and sensitive, and everything else. I have one beta reader who is really good with details, and she picks up on little tiny things that I would not pick up on. So, that’s really great. And then I have another beta reader who is a little more brutal. And if I’m having trouble with a certain point in a story, I’ll send her a section of the story and say, “Hey, I need you to tell me if this is okay, if it’s working, if the elements are there, or if there’s something that’s just not hitting correctly.” So I try to have a bunch of people in that aspect I can access for specific needs.
What impact do book influencers have on your own marketing and writer experiences? Are there particular influencers whose presence is particularly notable? Is it inspiring to have mood boards and other content made about your books? What about being included in “to be read” lists or “currently reading” lists?
Some of the influencers are really, really big, but some of the influencers are small, you know, and that’s amazing, I love to see them. It doesn’t mean that somebody who has only 200 followers can’t be an influencer. And it doesn’t mean that they can’t have overnight success. I would rather cultivate creativity, and encouragement and create those connections with people who are genuinely excited. The thing that happens sometimes with some of the bigger influencers is that they have so much on their plate, or they have so many people that want their time that they’re not able to give time to everybody either that they would like, or they have to prioritize who they’re focusing on. And, I’d have no experience with that.
For me, it’s harder for me to kind of separate. I want to give so much time, and I know that as an author, I want to give so much time to certain aspects. And I know that it’s difficult to give all those things. So, for an influencer, who has 60 authors, “Hey, can you read my book?” or, “Hey, can you post?” That’s a lot, it’s a lot of pressure. It’s just a lot overall. Everybody has the same struggles just on a different platform, a different level of interaction.
Do you feel a sense of pressure having a dedicated fanbase who cares about your stories? Discuss any concerns you might have that come with this, especially since sharing your narratives with the world can be an extremely vulnerable exercise.
Always, every book, every book that comes out, you always feel that pressure. Forever in the Country is the last book in the Clementine Creek series. And there was a lot that needed to come full circle in order to make that book happen. There was a ton of pressure in that he was the hero that everybody wanted from book one. He’s the fifth book in the series, but there’s three accompanying novellas. And so you see him in all of those stories, you see him all the way through, and you have to do him right. You have to do the story right. You want to do the story right for every book that you write anyway. But for that book, you’re not only writing their story, but you’re finishing out the series. So any of the little pieces, because I write interconnected standalones, you see the other family members, you see the other couples, and so you see the little updates along the way. And you need to make sure that you’re cognizant of that, and that you’re aware of all those pieces, so you’re not leaving things open at the end.
It’s different. It’s a challenge. There’s always gonna be people who don’t like the story. Even readers who love you, there’s always gonna be some people who are disappointed or who wished that something else had happened, or, you know, different things. And it’s challenging to take that with a grain of salt, take the different things, and you have to be aware that everything is open for interpretation, everything is subjective. Some people say if something’s a slow burn, or they say the heat level in a book. Well, what are they reading? If they’re reading dark romance primarily, my books are not spicy, in terms of what a dark romance probably is. But if they read mostly small town romance, I probably rate mid to a higher level. So, it’s a weird scale; there’s different things that mean different things to different people. You’re kind of just trying to find some version of a medium that you can bounce off of.
When I started my writing journey, I wanted to be as true of myself as I possibly could. So, that means that I am willing to make changes and concessions with the market and trends and different things like that. But also, I write to make myself happy. I write to put good in the world, or to do whatever, but I don’t want to sacrifice the things that are important to me in order to be successful. I believe that I can find a way to do both of those things. And so far, I’m really enjoying myself.
Although social media has definitely helped to dismantle negative perceptions of romance novels (i.e. views that “they’re not real books”), what is your stance on these sorts of beliefs? How do you think the genre more generally, or your particular niche of romance novels, disproves popular stigmas?
I don’t see it so much in our community, in terms of having it kind of thrown around in our face that romance isn’t real. I do some local events, where it’s not just romance readers, because if you go to a convention or you go to a romance signing, people know what to expect there. But when you get to a spot where you’re in a place where there’s authors of other genres or other vendors or different things, you get a lot of people who are very uninterested in what you’re writing and very vocal about it. It’s definitely disheartening.
I think a couple weeks ago, I went to a farmers market type thing. And I am there a couple times a month. And mostly, it’s really awesome. I’ve met some incredible readers so far. I had one gentleman who bought my book for his mom for Mother’s Day, and I love that. I love people who want to do that or acknowledge that they have a friend or a spouse who would be interested. But there was an older woman who came over and she saw my books were out. And she was like, “Are these love books?” I said, “Yes, they are.” And she’s like, “I don’t read love books.” Like, okay. That’s fine. Not everything is for everyone. I think more so it’s the delivery. People are trying to be respectful. But you can tell when someone is uncomfortable by what you’re writing. I mean, I’ve had people come to my table and immediately turn around and walk away. Or if I say, “Hello,” they won’t even acknowledge me. It is what it is, I guess.
It’s disheartening, and it’s sad, but there’s so much good. There’s so many people who are wonderful and so many people who genuinely are excited, or people who come over who don’t read romance, but they love that I’m local. They want to read my books, or they bought my book, because I’m local, and they want to support me. I love that. And I would rather focus on that. I’m not gonna have my day be ruined by a woman who doesn’t want to read my books. That’s fine. I don’t have the energy to focus on that. Does it make me sad? Of course. Again, I would rather embrace people who are excited or willing to give it a try. Because those people are so much more fun. I appreciate those people.
In what ways do you think romance novels are significant for readers to engage with or have access to, whether this be in terms empowerment, gender dynamics, representation (i.e. for BIPOC or the LGBTQ+ community), exploration of sexuality, or otherwise? What power do you think these stories can have for readers and communities at large?
The power in books is what you get out of them, what you’re looking for. So, if you’re looking for a light read, and you’re looking for something that’s going to make you feel good, you can find that in a story. If you’re looking to connect with a heroine, you can do that. Isla, who is the heroine in Making it Country, the second book, she’s the powerhouse, and so many readers love her and they want to be like her. They want to be her friend and that’s really great. She’s a strong heroine. She’s a force, you know, and she doesn’t apologize for it. It’s okay to be strong. It’s okay to be outspoken.
I like to write relatable characters. I want them to be organic. I don’t want anybody to be over the top in terms of something that feels inauthentic. This is kind of like an aside of this, but I like balance. And I think that balance is really important, especially when you’re writing a character. No matter what that character is, you want them to be likable to some degree unless you’re making them intentionally unlikable, so that you can make them likable later, you know, through growth. For me, I want them to be someone that you want to sit down at a table with, and have a conversation with. So, in Home in the Country, Fallon and Tanner are divorced. And they’re co-parenting. And I wanted to make sure that they had a positive relationship. I wanted that to be on page, I wanted it to be a part of the story. I wanted Otto’s character, who is the hero, to show how he interacts with everyone, how his focus was on the child, and how he interacts with everyone and the dynamic there. I wanted it to be a positive scenario. And it was important to me that I did that.
I don’t want to force characters to do different things. I think that when we focus too much on tropes or trends, we tend to try to force a bunch of things into a story, where instead of putting 10 things in, you know, seven would do. I think it’s easy to kind of be over the top, in a lot of different aspects. But when I’m writing, I want to make sure that the emotions are there. I want to make sure that the emotions are authentic, and that they’re real and fun and vibrant. In Hayden and Everett, there’s not a lot of angst. There is no third act breakup. They are a story of falling in love, when they’ve never been able to before. Hayden loves his best friend. And he’s always believed that Everett is straight. So, when Everett tells him that he’s in love with him, and that he wants to be with him, it’s a big shock, and he says, “I’ve loved you, and I didn’t realize that this could be real.” It’s just such a sweet story and a sweet moment. I want to create good moments, rather than just focusing on something that’s trendy, or anything else.
How do you curate a cohesive aesthetic and visuals for your stories and series? What about the creation of merchandise that pairs with your stories? What sorts of artists and creatives do you normally have to consult for your vision to be realized?
I have help for social media, rebranding and focusing on a different aesthetic. I have Pinterest boards, I have different things. I have like a rustic, distressed sort of vibe, I guess.
I don’t know. I don’t see how it all translates. I get what it needs to do. But in terms of sometimes creating certain things, my brain doesn’t—you know, if you look at a picture, and it’s a picture of somebody walking, but if you crop it in a certain way, it changes the entire feel of the picture. Like, I don’t see that. I can’t look at something and say, “Oh, that makes sense to me.” But, I try to learn. I do the best I can and I learn from doing different things. Again, I’m focusing on the vibe of a story. So like, what does that vibe mean? So, in Feels Like Falling, there’s a grandfather, and he is real fun. And so, what do I think that he needs to have? He needs to be jovial, and he needs to be somebody that you want to just get a big hug from and there’s little pieces along the way that make him, you know. Having people reach out and say, “Oh my gosh, that made me miss my grandfather. I loved his character. I love that.” So, I try my best to click the little pieces of it. And I kind of just throw the aesthetic together as I go, or I try to at least.
Going off of this, explain the process of seeking out and attaining cover photos/art for your books. What is it like to choose designs and models that best fit your story? Do you find it troublesome finding real people that align with the characters in your mind? Do you pick the model(s) before or after writing the character or couple? What about illustrated/discreet covers and special edition covers?
When I started, I wasn’t going to do discreet covers, and I ended up doing them.
I will continue to do two covers going forward. But again, in terms of vision, I don’t have any. When I am able to, I will purchase photos from photographers. Right now, I’m still using stock photos, and it’s incredibly difficult to find a stock photo that matches the story, matches your characters. And it’s incredibly difficult to look at different things because you’re judging the way that they’re standing, hand placement, the way that their heads are turned. It’s incredibly difficult to find that.
The covers for Feels Like Falling were completely different, up until the 11th hour. And my cover designer sent me the discreet cover after we had said, “Let’s go ahead on the people cover.” She sent me a discreet cover. And I was like, “Where did this come from?” She said, “Just wanted to try something.” It’s like, “Okay, well, it’s a winner. So, let’s go back and change the whole thing.” But, I had a vision in my head. I told her next time, just tell me that I don’t, because we wasted a lot of time trying to make what I wanted work, and it just didn’t translate onto the cover the way that I wanted it to. It was really hard to do that. Her judgment is way better than mine. I try to surround myself with people who know better than I do.
I did know that I wanted my covers to be different. There’s a lot of new authors coming out. There’s a lot of similar cover feel and look. While you want to be in the same lane, you want to be relevant and you want people to see the cover and be like, “Oh, that’s small town romance,” and that’s great. I wanted to capture that, but I also wanted it to be different. I wanted it to stand out a little bit, or I didn’t want it to look like everybody else’s. Sometimes you can do that and sometimes you can’t. I’m extremely proud of the covers that I have and I’m really excited to keep going. I don’t like looking for stock photos; it’s hours and hours. But when you find a picture that does work, it’s amazing.
Describe what it’s like to be an independently published novelist. What obstacles have you encountered with this approach? Advantages? How do you handle the “business” aspect of being not only the author, but the publisher and promoter of your stories?
You just do it. I mean, it’s exhausting. I haven’t found a way that works incredibly well for me yet. I’ve had a ton of personal things happening since I’ve started publishing that have prevented me from dedicating as much time and energy as I would like to my business. That being said, you kind of figure out the ways that allow you to move forward. You don’t have to do everything all at once. So, you pick the things that work, pick the things that you’re capable of, that you can handle at that time, and then you try to add a little bit more as you go along.
One of the benefits of having a traditionally published deal is the backing, having a support team, having people who are running ads or doing other promotional things for you. Sometimes you lose the creativity, like your creativity is pushed a little bit further into a box. And that’s not the case for everything, but you know, it is the case for some deals and different things. They have a certain thing that they’re looking for, and you need to comply with that. And do that. So, I don’t have any of those constraints. Would it be nice to have a team of people who wanted to help me push things forward? Of course. But I also am able to do this on my own schedule. I’m able to write the stories that I want, when I want them, which is great.
I like that I’ve done this. You know, this is me. I’ve had help from other authors and everything, but in terms of the legwork, and making it happen, I’ve done this, and I’m extremely proud of that.
Do you work with a PR company? If so, how have you navigated that relationship in order to get your books promoted?
I have and I haven’t. I’ve worked with a couple PR companies, and the experience is good and bad. I’ve worked with some really incredible ones and some ones that were a little lackluster. Some of them are more focused on their more high profile authors, which is an unfortunate side effect of this business. I’ve worked with some other ones that are wonderful. I won’t use a company for every release; I didn’t use one for this last one. It’s one of those things where the market changes and they offer different things and different perks. It’s a challenge to find the one that works for you. You want the readers to be engaged and you want them to be excited.
What has your experience been as an indie author encountering pirating and copyright issues with companies like Amazon or Apple Books?
It’ll never go away. I have a company that looks for pirated copies of my book. Yesterday, they took down 58 links, or different stuff for my newest release. It’s really disheartening. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. You work really hard. There’s no way to avoid it. I don’t know what the answer is. Basically, as long as people are willing to do it, they will continue to pirate.
I was able to find that one of the books that I found on a site that was taken down, came directly from Amazon. So, somebody had borrowed the book or bought the book off of Amazon, copied it, and then uploaded it. There’s nothing I can do about that other than try to take it down, but it’s playing whack-a-mole, all over the internet. There will always be people who don’t see anything wrong with it. We just try to do our best to stay positive, and to do what we can if we have the ability; I know that sometimes some of the authors will go to the different networks or guilds to see if there’s anything that we can do, or if Amazon is looking to make changes they’ll try to voice that these are the issues that we’re facing, and is there anything that we can do. It’s a struggle. Sometimes we get the small wins, and sometimes, it’s just one of those things like we just, you know, keep trucking along.
Are you publishing your books in audiobook form? If yes, what has this process been like?
Definitely in the future. I am not in a spot right now to be able to manage it. But I would love to have my books on audio. I think that’d be absolutely fantastic. And it’s, obviously, the audio market has really exploded and it’s been really cool to watch. So, I’m excited to have that possibility in the future. It’s just not something that I can do right now.
Instagram: instagram.com/authoralexandrahale
TikTok: tiktok.com/@authoralexandrahale
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082834535212
Email: authoralexandrahale@gmail.com