As someone who listens to romance audiobooks for a living—best job ever!—the thought of one day writing my own romance novel has crossed my mind a time or two. I’m inspired by the independent romance authors featured here. Not only do they write, produce, and publish their own romances, they’re also casting narrators and have a hand in making the covers, too. Want to know how they manage it all, while still coming up with the swoon-worthy love stories we all adore so much? Read on and find out!
Discover more audiobooks and original stories from indie romance creators at audible.com/soundssteamy.
Alexandria House
"The most rewarding aspect of being an indie author is the ability to make a living doing what I love and the freedom that affords me. I also love that my gift gives so many readers joy."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I like for my stories to be unconventional, relatable, and to represent all facets of Black love. My favorite to listen to? Probably edgy, dark romance.
Favorite place to write: I write using the Microsoft Word app on my phone so I write any and everywhere the mood hits me.
Pantser or plotter: I am a total pantser. I think I’m allergic to outlines.
Writing rituals or superstitions: I have no rituals or superstitions. I just write!
Best advice for new indie writers: Trust your unique writing voice. Trust the story and the characters. There might be people who don’t like or understand what you’re doing, but every book has an audience out there, whether big or small.
Indie writers everyone should know about: Joan Vassar writes brilliant historical fiction. Her Black series is a must listen! Sabrina B. Scales’s books bring the humor and the heat! W. Parks Brigham writes sweet romance with a strong sense of community.
Holding
Ana Huang
"I love knowing that, at the end of the day, no matter what I put my characters through, they'll always find their happily ever after."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I love grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers, and "he hates everyone but her."
Favorite place to write: I either write at home or in a cafe, depending on my mood.
Pantser or plotter: I like to say I'm a plotser—I have an outline of the major beats (the meet-cute, the conflict, etc.) and maybe a few sentences summarizing each chapter, but that's about it. I also rarely stick to my outlines, so there's that.
Writing rituals or superstitions: I always have to write with a hot beverage and headphones, and I try to do it in the morning before I check social media. If I check TikTok first, I won't get anything done.
Best advice for new indie writers: Find the intersection of what you love and what the market wants and write that. Also, invest in a good editor and cover designer!
Indie writers everyone should know about: S.T. Abby, Pam Godwin, and Catherine Wiltcher.
King of Greed
Eva Chase
"I try to write at least 1,000 words every workday morning before I let myself do anything else. No social media browsing, no admin work, not even checking my email. It gets my day off to a productive start and makes it easier to ensure I hit my goals."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I'm a big fan of enemies to lovers and its related trope, rivals to lovers. I'm also very fond of forced-proximity romances.
Favorite place to write: I do almost all of my actual writing in my home office on my laptop in an old armchair that I use exclusively for writing.
Pantser or plotter: I used to be a devoted plotter, but I've learned to loosen up over the years.
Writing rituals or superstitions: I don't have anything I'd call a superstition, but I'm a little paranoid about losing my work. I regularly manually back up my work-in-progress to Dropbox and also have automatic backup software running on my computer at all times, so all my books are on at least three different servers.
Best advice for new indie writers: Focus on getting better at writing your kind of books your way rather than trying to force your creativity into a box that doesn't fit right.
Biggest challenge of being an indie author: I have to operate as a publishing house all on my own. It's a lot of responsibility, and it requires a lot of time and energy. But to me it's worth the effort to have the books I believe in go out into the world the way I want to see them.
Shattered Vow
Lauren Blakely
"I love the swoon! I love when my characters are falling in love and I can feel the flutters in my chest as I write. And I love hearing from readers and listeners. A reader message or email makes my day!"
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I love writing friends-to-lovers romance, and I also adore cinnamon roll heroes who think they’re incapable of love but are secretly in love with their heroines quite quickly!
Favorite place to write: I write on a yoga ball at my desk since I don’t like chairs! Sometimes I dictate on my phone when I’m walking my dogs.
Pantser or plotter: I’m a pantsing plotter. I write synopses and outlines, but then I ignore them often as the characters talk to me.
Writing rituals or superstitions: My only writing ritual is green tea. Though, I really like the company of my dogs when I write.
Best advice for new indie writers: Don’t believe your own hype. Or, put another way, stay humble and work hard.
Best advice you've ever received: Above all, be kind.
A Real Good Bad Thing
Kendall Ryan
"I enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and complete ownership on all decisions, from plot to editing to cover design to release timing to narrator selection and marketing. It's very freeing to be able to bring your vision to life in the exact way you envision it."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I enjoy sports romance and romantic comedy.
What do you enjoy most about writing romance: I LOVE love, so it's been a natural fit.
Favorite place to write: I write in my home office.
Pantser or plotter: Plotter
Best advice for new indie writers: Collaborate and build your network with author friends, editors, and bloggers. It doesn't have to be a solitary pursuit.
Indie writers everyone should know about: I absolutely LOVE Sarina Bowen's books, and I think Nikki Sloane is so immensely talented.
The Boyfriend Effect
Elsie Silver
"I didn’t really know I wanted to be a romance author until I had written an entire book. It was during the pandemic and I wrote it for fun when I felt like I needed an escape."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: My favorite are age gap, slow burn, forbidden, and single parent.
Favorite place to write: I always write at my desk.
Pantser or plotter: I’m a hybrid between plotting and pantsing. I do very in-depth plotting on characters and then just loosely plot certain scenes I want at approximate percentages.
Writing rituals or superstitions: I listen to BrainFM with my noise-canceling headphones, wear fuzzy socks, and only drink coffee and water. Strangely, I think I write better when I’m hungry!
Best advice for new indie writers: Write the draft! It’s called a rough draft for a reason. And then do it AGAIN. Your first book will never be your best book and that’s okay. It will also never feel perfect or “ready.”
Indie writers everyone should know about: Elizabeth O’Roark, Lena Hendrix, and Jessica Hawkins.
Hopeless
Kennedy Ryan
"I love creating a space for women, especially to wrestle with the hard stuff, to see themselves as powerful and capable as possible, to be loved abundantly, and to thrive—all in the safe landscape of our genre, where a happily ever after, a joyful ending is assured."
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: Second chance and fated mates, but make it contemporary, are my faves to write. I love to listen to anything that is emotionally intense. I'd much rather wipe my tears than laugh.
The most rewarding aspect of being an indie author: The confidence that comes with knowing you can build something on your own. You shape it. You're responsible for its rise and fall, not accounting for trends and factors out of your control, of course.
Favorite place to write: My favorite place to write is in bed, but it's usually not very productive. So I write in my office, often at night after my family is sleeping.
Pantser or plotter: I'm kind of a hybrid. I don't really do outlines, but I definitely don't fly by the seat of my pants. I curate a subject list, conduct interviews, and do lots of supplemental reading, as it relates to the issues I'm writing about. Once I'm done with that phase of the process, I create a loose overview of what I see for the characters and stories, and start writing!
Writing ritual or superstitions: I don't have any superstitions or rituals, but I do like to have an icy Diet Coke at hand.
Indie writers everyone should know about: J. L. Seegars, Dylan Allen, and Naima Simone.
Reel
Lucy Score
"I love righting wrongs and creating happily ever afters on the page. Sometimes real life doesn’t work out quite as neatly, so being able to create that and put it out in the world is so gratifying!"
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: Second chance, grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers with a side of forced proximity! Gimme all the conflict!
Favorite place to write: I write in my office at home with headphones, music, and a timer.
Pantser or plotter: I’m a combination plotter-pantser, outlining before I start and then being surprised by what else shows up on the page.
How do you stay motivated and focused: I terrify myself with the threat of having to get a real job if I don’t write any more books. That usually does the trick!
Best advice for new indie writers: Pick one thing to focus on every year. It keeps you moving forward without completely stressing you out about all the things you don’t know how to do yet.
Indie writers everyone should know about: A D Hunter, Bella Michaels, and Avery Maxwell.
Things We Left Behind
Louise Bay
"I walked out of a job I hated. I had all this free time on my hands and I thought, 'Why not see if you could write an entire novel?' I kept it a secret from all my friends and family until just before I published. They thought it was a big joke. I think some of them still do!"
Favorite romance tropes to write and listen to: I love writing enemies to lovers! Grumpy sunshine is another favorite. Less common, but a total new fave, is snowed in. I wanted to write one for a long time. I finally did it in Dr. Perfect. I absolutely loved writing it—all that delicious forced proximity between two almost strangers!
Plotter or planter: I am an orthodox plotter. It takes me about two weeks to plot a book.
Writing rituals or superstitions: I have a soon-to-be five-year-old, which means I have to take weekends off. Other than that, I try and write in silence and in the morning. I know that whatever I manage to write before 11, I will only manage to do half as much between 11 and the end of the day.
Best advice for indie writers: Invest your time in understanding the technical aspects of writing. I think it's relatively easy to write your first book on instinct. Maybe even your second. After that you need to understand how books are structured and how to write.
Indie writers everyone should know about: First up is Jessica Hawkins. She really pushes herself to be the best she can be. It's inspiring. Next is Sierra Simone. She's really incredible, clever, and so very talented. I'll listen to anything she writes. She's also one of the nicest, most generous people. Her New Camelot series was BEYOND. Then finally, Karen Booth. She's a hybrid author, and her stuff is fantastic.
