From Keystroke to Keywords

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ebony Rose, and I am a romance author.

Some of my recent works include; ‘Stealing Sarah,’ ‘Secret Santa’s Business’ and ‘Fair Game.’

For many writers, the idea of becoming a published author is a dream come true. For others it’s a long, suffering task, that might not even eventuate.

So what constitutes becoming a published author?

Well, if you’re a writer like me, and you decide to self publish, then you are a published author, (in my opinion.) However, for my own author status, I decided to follow a more traditional path.

To tell you my story, let me take you back to the first mainstream story I ever wrote. ‘Addicted To His Touch’ was my first 50,000 word novel, and I managed to write it over 2 years.

When I wrote this book I was already working full time. I was travelling long distances, managing multiple sites, and fulfilling my role as a single parent to two wonderful children.

So the question was, how did I find the time to write my first book? Well, the truth is, I wrote ‘Addicted To His Touch’ at every opportunity that I had!

To put that into perspective, I was writing from the moment I got home, all of my weekends, and at any spare time that I could find. In fact, there didn’t seem to be a minute in my day, where I wasn't writing my book!

When I had a lunch break, I edited my book. If I had a moment before appointments, I worked on my plot development. In fact, in the two years that I wrote my novel, I barley slept.

People often asked me, where did I find the motivation to write my first book?

The truth is, writing has always been my first love💕

Whenever I sit in front of my computer, I’m transported into an imaginary world, where all of my most exciting fantasies come true! Whilst I’m writing, I’m working on my most favourite past time, which means I associate writing with plenty of fun. I crave the opportunity to work on my book, and sometimes I even feel guilty, because I love writing so much.

Of course, there were times when writing was difficult, and I often found myself having trouble with my chapters. But eventually I found a method of getting through my writing, that worked for me.

I realised that a first draft, is just a draft. It is not meant to be perfect, and does not need to be edited. A first draft is more of an information dump, rather than a perfect novel. Each chapter makes up your word count, and it is a way to help you feel out the conclusion of your story.

After the first draft is finished, then there is time for EDITING!

When I completed my first novel, I ended up editing my book 8 times! Which meant that my 50,000 word novel, soon turned into 200,000 words!

By the end of my final edit, I actually believed my hard work was finished. Nothing could have been further from the truth! As it turned out I was no where near ready. My work was completely green, and I suffered rejection after rejection, until I finally came across my first publishing opportunity.

All Covered Publishing was a small, family run business, who provided publishing services to independent authors. Jenni, the manager at All Covered, offered me an opportunity to become one of her authors, and after much consideration I agreed.

It is fair to say that once I joined All Covered Publishing, I was rather frightened! All Covered require an upfront payment for their publication, so I had to hand my savings over, without any idea of return.

But eventually my leap of faith was rewarded, and I found a good friend at All Covered Publishing. Jenni taught me everything I needed to know, and the entire team gave me support with my writing. I had so much to learn, since my knowledge of the industry had barely scratched the surface. I published three romance novels with All Covered, the first ‘Addicted To His Touch,’ then ‘Total Rush,’ and finally ‘His Darkest Obsession.’

During that time I was still an unknown author, and my book sales were hampered by the unexpected global pandemic! All Covered didn’t have a big presence on the internet, so they mostly relied on distribution to books stores for their sales.

That was when I realised that I needed a more substantial market. I decided to search for a larger publishing firm, one that was accepting submissions on the type of books that I was writing.

After reading a few articles, I found one that talked about Blushing Book Publications. Blushing Books are an industry leader and specialise in my kind of romance. I realised that they’d be perfect for me, and I resolved to send them my new novel.

When I submitted to Blushing Books, I applied to them as a published author. Since I had already published 3 novels with All Covered, I was able to provide my status as an exisiting author under their guidelines.

I sent ‘Stealing Sarah’ to Blushing Books, and was on tender hooks the entire time, waiting for their response. Even with my newfound experience, it was completely nerve racking.

Then one day, I received an email.

When I opened the message, I was prepared for the obligatory rejection. I’d suffered so many book rejections in my time, that I hadn’t really expected anything other than a ‘Dear John’ letter.

So when I read the email, I saw that it described my novel as ‘interesting,’ and I realised that I wasn’t reading a generic response.

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

That day, I experienced a dream come true! I was so excited to be joining the Blushing Books Team, that I decided to focus all of my energy on writing. Soon I resigned from my day job, and I am now writing as a full time author.

Blushing Books has provided me with extensive support, continually teaching me how to improve my writing. They offer me information to better my industry knowledge, and I am kept up to date with my fellow authors.

I absolutely love the sense of family from being part of Blushing Books, and I am always made to feel appreciated.

Being a romance author is now my favourite thing in life. My books have been released in multiple formats all over the world, and I am releasing more new novels this year. 📚

If you are an aspiring author all I can say is, don’t give up on your dream. You never know when your book will become your reality, or how well it will do on the open market.

So let me send you much luck with your writing, and please remember to always enjoy the experience!