THE REVIEWS
Dabney Grinnan of Chapel Hill is publisher of All About Romance, a review site at allaboutromance.com (originally created in 1996 by Laurie Gold). Since All About Romance’s creation, over 16,000 reviews have been written by countless reviewers. (I’m one of them.) Today, the site receives over 50,000 visits per month. “It is clear to me that if I lived in New York, the heart of publishing, I and AAR would be able to have closer relationships with publishers—but I’m not sure that would be a good thing,” Dabney says. “There is something uncompromised about choosing, reading and reviewing books because they sound excellent rather than because a marketing team has pitched them to you.”
THE REWARD
Any number of powerhouse romance authors, representing a wide range of genres, are dynamos and live right here in the Triangle. Sabrina writes historical romances and is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 books. Reese hosts “The Story Behind the Story,” a YouTube show during which fellow authors join her for interactive discussions with readers based on a variety of topics—from writing love scenes, to the need for more books with older characters, and writing historical fiction based on historical figures.
Samantha is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of 95 books. “The Christmas Cottage” is now a Hallmark movie. Sawyer is a USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Her 100th book was published at the end of February. Kianna is an author and national speaker with over 40 titles across romance, women’s fiction and historical genres. Kerry is a USA Today bestselling author and Amazon No. 1 bestseller in gay romance and gay fiction, and counts among her honors a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention and EPIC Awards e-book finalist.
THE DREAM
I left full-time work a dozen years ago because, at the time—and before my traumatic brain injury—I had three romances and one children’s book published. I taught creative writing classes at Wake Technical Community College. I was a freelance journalist and a book reviewer. I still do all those things, and I still tell stories for a living, and I still love what I do. But as Samantha sums it up, “writing is hard.”
Today’s authors are small business owners and experts in the industry. All six of us are hybrid authors, meaning we’re traditionally and self-published. Some of us self-published from the get-go. Some of us self-publish books that roll off contracts once the rights revert to us. Some of us are with big publishers. Some of us are with small “indie” publishers. Some of us publish in hardback. All of us publish in paperback and digitally; and all of us are experts in marketing, merchandising, editing and touring. We pay our taxes and must think about survivor rights for our works after we’re gone.
“Being an author was always my dream, but I had no idea [about] all the work that goes with it, whether you’re traditionally published or independent,” Samantha says. “So, when people hear what you do and say things like ‘Oh, maybe I should write a book,’ it leads me to believe they think this is easy. It’s rewarding and can definitely be fun, but trust me, it’s exhausting—both mentally and physically. Still, I wouldn’t trade this career for anything. I know I’m blessed to have this success, and I’m thankful for it every day.”
