Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nikki Rome. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nikki, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

When I started writing I soaked up as much information I could to ensure I was successful in my career. However, there was one piece of education that was missing and it had to do with writing realistic kink and BDSM in my books. I didn’t have enough experience with that community but my readers wanted more and more of it in my books. With time I met a few authors who provided guidance but the lack of education for so many romance authors was staggering.

A romance book signing here in Orlando was coming to a end and I saw the opportunity. Adult Education and Event Planning were both things I had done in the past and the idea to put all of that together and provide a safe space for romance authors to learn was born. It was the biggest risk I ever took and now with two events under our belt I can only say that we have a bright future ahead of us.

Our 2024 event sold out and the feedback has been outstanding. So much so, we are already selling tickets for 2025 and planning for 2026. This was one risk that was well worth it.

Nikki, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I consider myself a person with two jobs. The first is my publishing company where I self-publish spicy romance books. I was always an avid reader and for a time I was traveling for work. I found there were stories I wanted to read that I couldn’t find so one day I sat down and started writing them. They were only for me at the time, I had no idea how to publish but after a while and advice from a good friend I did it. Now I have published over thirty titles and have more releasing each year.

My second job is running my community. Smut Lovers: The Conference is only one part of it. We provide ongoing education and resources for both readers and authors. We also have a podcast, a online database of sensitivity readers and a huge online community who are there to support each others passion for reading each and every day. The comradery and acceptance is what I am most proud of. Many companies claim to be diverse and maybe they are but we pride ourselves on inclusivity. Being diverse isn’t enough anymore, people want to belong and the Smut Lovers Community is a place they can.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As many know the state of Florida has had some pretty serious political ups and downs over the last few years. In 2023 when we were launching our first conference we received a lot of backlash from those outside the community about running an event like ours here in Florida. It was hurtful because many of those people identified themselves as allies of the communities we supported but ridiculed us for owning a business here.

When it came down to it, I run my business in Florida because I live here. So do the communities we support and they need our help as well. We published a statement titled “Why Florida” explaining our stance and why it was so important we do what we do here. The statement included testimonies from authors, readers, educators and employees sharing their thoughts as well.

The results were amazing. Many who didn’t understand what we were trying to do began supporting us and others quieted down. We take the political climate here very seriously and we will always offer our content via a virtual ticket for those who can’t travel here but the love we received from those who were with us that first year made it all worth it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media was one of the things I struggled most with in the beginning. After trying a million different things that worked for others I realized I didn’t have it in me to be anything other than myself. We built our online community by sharing things about our conference consistently and being true to ourselves.

I don’t mange multiple platforms, we use 3. Our Facebook group is the most active and grows steadily so that’s where I spent the most time. TikTok has also been good to us but it can drain me. My advice for any knew business owner is find one place you are comfortable with and work on that. If you spread yourself too thin in the world of social media you will fall flat and you won’t be able to maintain it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smutlovers.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smutloverscommunity/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/smutloverscommunity