We recently connected with Dorothy St. James and have shared our conversation below.

Dorothy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Never give up. In my journey as a published fiction author, I have faced obstacles. I wasn’t always lucky in finding publishers or readers, but I continue to learn more about my craft and keep pushing to become better and to reach more readers.

There was one point in my career when I thought I’d never find another publisher to publish my books. I was on the verge of giving up. But in the middle of the night, I decided to give myself one more chance and sent my manuscript to Five Star, a small national publisher. And they loved my book. Because of them, doors opened to larger publishers and my career was reborn.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Some dreams are too big to pursue right away. They feel too scary. The chance of failure feels to great. For me, my dream of becoming a published author came to me when I was still a child. But I was terrified to go after that dream. While I wrote for myself and dreamed of seeing my book in a library or on a bookshelf in a bookstore, I kept the dream secret. I protected it from the harsh realities of the world. Instead of learning the craft of writing, I went into science. I love science. I love the thrill of discovery and the chance to share with others what I learned. I especially enjoyed writing papers and creating booklets describing the research I participated in.

Everything was going along well, until one day my dream of writing the stories in my head and sharing them with the world refused to be ignored.

It was time, I told myself. It was time to risk everything and take a chance on myself.

After saving up my salary for many, many months, I quit my job and took a leap of faith. It felt as if I was jumping off a cliff and hoping I knew how to fly.

I didn’t know how to fly.

I had to learn how to write compelling stories. I had to learn how to find my writing voice. This took time and effort and I often felt like a failure along the way, because the stories I wrote were rough and not ready for a reading public.

It took me close to five years to learn how to write a novel that a publisher would want to buy. But despite the doubt (and tears) I kept pushing myself. I kept learning. I kept reaching for that dream I didn’t want to let die.

Finally, after many failed manuscripts, I wrote THE MARRIAGE LIST, a sweet Regency romance, and found a publisher who wanted to buy it. I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited that I was on the cusp of realizing my dream that I didn’t sleep for three days.

This first novel came out in 2005. Buoyed by my brush with success, I kept writing. I kept reaching for more book deals. I wasn’t always successful. I’m not a household name. But I have nearly twenty books in print now, and I’m still excited about the books I’m working on now.

I write emotional romances, cozy mysteries, and thrilling suspense novels. I write under two names: Dorothy McFalls and Dorothy St. James. And whenever I think about how far I’ve come over the years, I smile.

None of this would have ever happened if I hadn’t stepped off that cliff and believed I could fly.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For the last several years, I’ve written cozy mysteries as Dorothy St. James, putting my romance career on the backburner. I did this because I enjoyed writing cozy mysteries. I was given the chance to build a world and fill it with quirky characters that I could spend time with with each new book in the series. This started with the White House Gardener mysteries, where my heroine (a Charleston gardener) takes a job at the White House and ends up digging up dirt that can get her killed. I moved on to writing the Southern Chocolate Shop mystery series, set on a fictional version of my favorite island town: Folly Beach in South Carolina. It’s a town I called home for twenty years. I then wrote another mystery series, the Beloved Bookroom mysteries, which served as my love letter to librarians and how they helped make me the brave reader I am today.

And then disaster struck. My mother suffered a stroke, and she wasn’t going to recover. I spent many long days in the hospital watching the strong woman who’d raised me decline. She fought every moment of her illness, refusing therapy, barely eating, and hating the world she’d become trapped in.

During that time, I simply didn’t have the heart to write a mystery. I couldn’t write about an untimely death. I couldn’t focus on investigating the reason why someone in the story had died.

But I still felt a need to write. As an escape from my reality, I pivoted and started to write a romantic fantasy. My heroine is fitted with a slave collar and has her choices taken away from her. With this story, I was able to put my day-to-day frustrations down on the page, while giving my heroine a piece of hope that her situation would get better in the form of dragons that were watching out for her and might one day save her. I gave Celestina the happy ending I knew I wouldn’t find in my current reality.

This story became THE LAST MOONLIGHT DRAGON, which I self-published in March 2024.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Up until this point, most of the books I’d written were published through a publishing house. My last series, the Beloved Bookroom mysteries, were published by Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

When I finished THE LAST MOONLIGHT DRAGON, it was very different from anything my agent had seen from me. She advised me that if I wanted to publish it, I should do so on my own since this wasn’t a book that she wanted to even look at.

Her disinterest in my book didn’t deter me. This was a book I’d poured my heart into during a terrible time in my life. It was a book I believed in and would fight for. So, I made the decision to self-publish it.

And, I made the decision to self-publish the book and market it as if it were being released by a major author with a major publisher.

Prior to the book’s release, I created PR boxes that contained advanced review copies of the book along with goodies, such as a fidget dragon that I printed on my 3-d printer, stickers, bookmarks, and theme necklaces. I sent these PR boxes to reviewers and influencers. I also created a marketing strategy for advertising my book to give it a boost in exposure on its release day. This was quite an investment and more than most publishers had done for me with past books. It felt good to put my faith in this book. Most readers have connected with Celestina and her frustrations with not being in control of her own life.

It warms my heart to hear from readers and to talk with them about their experiences. Writing this book was like therapy to me, taking it to market was a renewal in my belief that it’s worth my time to pursue my childhood dream of writing books.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dorothymcfalls.com www.dorothystjames.com
• Instagram: @fantasywritergirl
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dorothy.stjames/

Image Credits

Deposit Photos, Canva, Photos by Dorothy McFalls