Are writers supposed to have
favorite characters? Isn’t that like having a favorite child? :) Though I will
say, I’m pretty fond of Becca, our heroine in Bad Boys Don’t Make Good
Boyfriends. She’s sassy and owns her sexuality and says all the things I would
want to say when I’d want to say them.
Did you try the traditional
route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?
Not yet! I purposely started
off self-publishing, but going traditional is still on my “might do” list.
Are you currently under a
traditional publishing contract for future books or do you have manuscripts
that you will self-publish? Are you doing both?
I’m only self-published for
the moment. But I think traditional publishing can open up a whole new host of opportunities
for learning and growth, so I will probably try it at some point in the future.
Do you belong to a critique
group? Have they helped improve your writing?
Loosely, yes, a I do have a
few trusted writer friends that I confer with when I’m struggling. It’s more commiseration,
but sometimes they do inject ideas when you’ve worked yourself into a corner!
What have you’ve learned
during your self-publishing journey?
Holy moly. So, so much. On
top of learning to be a better writer, I’ve learned cover design formatting,
publishing, marketing, and everything in between. It’s exactly the kind of
well-rounded challenge that I love!
What kinds of marketing
[twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your
book(s)?
I have profiles on all the
biggies – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads, BookBub, and so on. Instagram
is my main author platform for engaging, though I try to focus on real
conversation and connection over aggressive promotion.
What advice would you give a
new author just entering into the self-publishing arena?
Eat the elephant one bite at
a time. There is SO much to learn and you’ll get overwhelmed quickly if you try
to do it all at once. Slow down. There’s time. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And
probably a whole bunch of other euphemisms for “this is hard, don’t expect too
much of yourself.”
Besides writing, do you have
any other passions?
I’m a small business builder.
I love building something from the ground up, making it profitable, then moving
on to the next thing. I know, it’s a weird hobby, and I can’t say I’ve done it
successfully all that often (though failure is a great teacher too). But
building a business takes so many different skills, which all require learning.
In the end, I guess that’s what I really love the most – learning.
Some fun facts about you,
which do you prefer – dogs or cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk
or Text? Day or Night?
Cats, hands down. Chocolate,
please! Neither (sorry!). Text (unless it’s my mom). Ummm…day? I don’t know, I’m
a mom, so I’m always ready for sleep haha.
What’s next for you?
Book three of the Life
Lessons Series, then a holiday novel, then … well, depending on how the readers
take books two and three, either more Life Lessons Novels, or possibly a
spinoff series. But definitely lots more romance on the horizon!
Bad Boys Don’t Make Good Boyfriends
Melanie A. Smith
(Life Lessons, #2)
Publication date: May 19th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
From best-selling author Melanie A. Smith comes the second book in a new series of steamy contemporary medical romance standalone novels about life lessons that break all the rules.
Even when you know better, sometimes it’s simply too tempting…
Hospital work isn’t for the faint of heart. Becca Dillon knows that firsthand, having worked as a medical assistant in the cardiac unit at Rutherford Hospital for longer than she cares to think about. What she does care to think about is having fun, gossip, and … guys. Her favorite of the three. And why stick to one, when you can sample them all?
That’s exactly her plan when a workplace crush on a mysterious bad-boy orderly unexpectedly takes a very steamy turn. But Vincent DeMarco turns out to be nothing like she expected, and before she knows it, she’s falling hard and fast. She wants him in ways she’s never wanted anyone before, but there’s something he’s keeping from her. Something that’s holding him back. And Becca is going to find out what.
Even though she knows that bad boys don’t make good boyfriends, he seems like he might be so much more. Will her quest unlock the truth behind who he really is? Or will it end their relationship for good? Either way, ready or not, Becca’s world is about to change.
Author Bio:
Melanie A. Smith is the best-selling author of The Safeguarded Heart Series and other contemporary romance fiction. Originally from upstate New York, she spent most of her childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Los Angeles for college.
After that, she spent almost fifteen years in the Seattle Area, and now lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas with her family.
A voracious reader and lifelong writer, Melanie’s writing began at a young age with short stories and poetry. Having completed a bachelor of science in electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s in business administration at the University of Washington, her writing abilities were mainly utilized for technical documents as a lead engineer for the Boeing Company, where she worked for ten years.
After shifting careers to domestic engineering and property management in 2015, she eventually found a balance where she was able to return to writing fiction.
Melanie is also a Mensan and enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and driving with the windows down and the stereo cranked up loud.
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Thanks so much for the fantastic feature, I enjoyed your questions!
ReplyDelete-Melanie A. Smith