We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexandra St Pierre a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

Something I see a lot with indie author’s just starting out is an unwillingness to making their work available for free to ARC readers and influencers.

I often see complaints from new authors that influencers should ‘pay’ for copies sent to them, or that ARC readers shouldn’t be signing up if they don’t have a large social media following.

I personally disagree with with this point of view entirely, and I attribute a great deal of my success to my willingness to share my work with anyone who showed the slightest interest in reading -especially in the early days.

In the United States, roughly three million new books are published each year.

Some Influencers are sent more free books in a month than any one person could ever hope to actually read in a decade.

When you’re a new author starting out, no one knows you yet or what you can bring to the table. Most avid readers have never ending lists of books they’re DYING to get to. If they’ve never heard of you or your work, why should they take a risk and prioritize your book over something they’ve already been chomping at the bit to dig into?

When I first made the decision to get my books out into the world, my personal mantra was: they want a book? They get a book.

Now I understand not everyone can afford to send a physical ARC to everyone who wants one, but in the early days, I made sure to send an e-copy to anyone who wanted one.

I am a little more selective now, as I have a readership and my ARC lists fill up much faster than they did in the beginning. However, in those early days, I was more concerned with making connections and building a loyal reader base than short term revenue.

That mentality has paid off in spades! I can’t believe the following I have now and the number of readers who are waiting on the edge of their seats for the next instalments of my work.

Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. You never know who will read your book and then make it their personal mission to get it in the hands of everyone they know.

Make your work available, and the money will come! Just be patient, kind, and excited to connect with the people who are interested in meeting your characters and exploring your worlds!

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.

My name is Alexandra St Pierre and I’m an indie author.

I primarily write dark, spicy books that move you. There’s usually some element of paranormal or magic in my novels, though some more than others.

My most recent book, Deathtrap, is a dark paranormal bully romance that follows our main character, Lilith.

Everyone Lilith touches dies. She has lived her entire life running from the grim reaper, who has followed her relentlessly since birth. He watches her from the shadows, and though he seems set on stealing everyone from her life, he refuses to allow her to take her own.

When Lilith gets a job as a bartender at a Voodoo Steakhouse, her shadowy demon companion leaves her in peace for four blissful years. It isn’t until one of her colleagues passes away in a horrible accident, that she begins to fear he has returned, and this time, she may not be able to escape him.

In my works you’ll usually find some form of LGBT rep, ‘black cat’ characters, and heavy themes of death. Most of my books have trigger warning lists, so if you do choose to pick one up, please read responsibly!

Your mental health matters!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being genuine.

As mentioned, when I first made my socials with the hopes of promoting my books, I cast as wide a net as possible. When I could afford it, I messaged influencers directly asking them if they wanted a free physical copy of my book. If someone were to comment on one of my posts showing interest, I would message them and ask the same.

This is actually how I met two of my closest friends, Lauren (@promisevideo) and Diem (@diemsbookshelf).

When I first messaged Lauren on Tiktok I think she had two thousand followers. Diem had four thousand.

I sent them each a free copy of books from my dark fantasy series: the Origin’s Daughter.

They messaged me and sent me updates the whole time they were reading and we bonded. We’re now really close and these two micro influencers have grown to be heavy hitters in the bookish community.

Diem now has 64k followers, and Lauren has 34k.

I had no idea what I was doing at first and didn’t even have a street team. Really it was just me and the friends I had made online in those early days promoting my books.

I wouldn’t be anywhere nearly as successful as I am today without the people I made connections with in the beginning. Those relationships which started out professional grew into friendships that I now cherish deeply, and I thank the stars everyday that my silly little books brought us together!

This is all to say, when starting out and trying to connect with influencers, don’t treat those relationships as transactional. It would be a shame to miss out connecting beyond just the promotion of your book! We all love reading, and really the best part about my journey as an author has been making friends who love books just as much as I do!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The ‘business’ side of running a business is the worst part for me.

Sitting down each month to record my expenses for tax season, and doing all my quarterlies is a huge headache. I’m lucky enough to have a very financially savvy husband who really helps me with all these things. However, I highly recommend looking for online resources on how to set up an LLC and the best way to manage your finances for tax time if you don’t have someone in your life who’s already well versed in these things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexandrastpierre.com
• Instagram: @alexandrastpierrebooks
• Facebook: @alexandrastpierrebooks
• Other: Tiktok: @alexandrastpierrebooks