Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing professionally since I was 26, but I’ve wanted to become an author since I was twelve after sneaking a Harlequin book out of my mom’s bedroom.
I currently have eleven books published in these romantic sub-genres: historical, time travel, romantic-suspense, contemporary western, contemporary romance, erotic romance, and New Adult. My books range between sweet (no sex, sex behind closed doors, or mild petting) to spicy (explicit scenes with dirty language).
On top of that, I have about ten more manuscripts on my computer waiting to see publication.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lyrical Embrace (book 4 in the Deerbourne Inn series) is my latest publication from The Wild Rose Press.
I love small town romances, especially ones with an edge and a little bit of danger weaved in. I’m not sure why, but right away I pictured a young woman running away from the big city to escape her abusive boyfriend. I mostly write romantic suspense, so this idea worked.
My heroine, Erica, was in a bad relationship and finally found the courage to break free. Even though she found help, a new love, and a chance for a better future, the past was still looming over her.
I think a lot of readers can sympathize with such a situation, especially those who have experienced abuse and neglect from someone claiming to love them.
I also love stories about music and rock stars, but I don’t like the cheating and drugs that go along with the lifestyle. I haven’t published a story featuring a musician yet, so I figured I should get on the ball and do it.
My hero, Dylan, has retired from the New York music scene, and he now teaches kids how to play instruments. He’s gotten his life back together after all the drama of being a semi-star, and he and Erica have an instant connection.
This story is fun, uplifting, and hot. The characters are real and flawed. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope readers will love it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I try to write a little every day, but it’s so much easier when the characters keep talking to me in my head, demanding I write. On a bad day, I either write zero words or maybe a few hundred. On an extremely excellent day, I can usually write around 8000 words. On average, however, 4000 words a day is about my norm.
To write well and to write a lot at one setting, I need a comfortable chair and a clean environment. The main thing I need is silence. If there’s music or people talking around me, I can’t concentrate and I lose my temper. Background noises like car engines, the ceiling fan, wind howling, etc, is fine for me.
What are you working on now?
“Arresting Mason,” book one in the Arresting Onyx series, came out last year, and I hope the second installment in the series will come out sometime in early 2020. “Arresting Jeremiah” follows hardnosed parole officer Jim Borden and his obsession Calista Barlow as they stick their noses where they don’t belong and fall deep into the trouble with the criminal organization known as Onyx.
This series is a set of five romantic suspense books with a standalone HEA for each rough-and-tumble hero and their spunky heroines.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social media, blogging, interviews (like this one!), magazine ads, contests/giveaways, and swag are great marketing tools. For small-press authors, marketing is left mainly to the author due to the publisher’s budget restraints. It’s also a challenge because it’s difficult to divide my time equally between promoting one book, sometimes more than one at a time, and writing another book. I have my regular life to live too. With four cats and a husband to take care (thank goodness my hubby is the cook in the household), I stay busy.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is the easy part and it’s only half of the work. Handling rejections and bad reviews with finesse is a must, taking care of marketing and publicity demands is a handful but a requirement, and writing your next book while dealing with everything else is cause to bring out the vodka. But ‘tis the life of an author. You gotta love it, and I do with all my heart.
Make friends with other authors and readers via social media. Don’t be shy. Start a blog even if you aren’t published yet, so you can join blog tours. A tour is a great way to get a free ebook as long as you write a review and post it on your blog. The author’s readers will then come to your blog to read the review. They’ll know YOUR name, and that’s what you want—to get your name out there.
Just keep trying. I know it sounds cliché, but there’s nothing else to do. If you don’t try, you won’t succeed. Period. Keep your hopes up, take rejection letters in stride, and if a publisher or editor gives you feedback on why he/she rejected your work, listen to their feedback. They know what they’re talking about.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give up even when you’re feeling bad about yourself and the quality of your work. No one is perfect. Don’t rush a project; give it the love and attention it needs to be the best it can be. Both you as the writer, the book itself, and the readers deserve it.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading a lot of paranormal romances because I’m getting ready to start editing a manuscript in my as-of-now not-published vampire series.
Author Websites and Profiles
Amber Daulton Website
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