We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Juliette Cross a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Juliette, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

When I first started publishing in 2014, there were many indie authors doing well for themselves, but the social media influencers like “booktok” and “bookstagram” were not prevalent the way they are now. Taking that step from trad published author to indie was a more intimidating idea, which put me on the path to rely on several mid-sized publishers when I was just getting started. I wish that I’d taken that leap of faith in myself to go indie first rather than waited till 2020. It wasn’t until I indie published my series STAY A SPELL that I saw my readership double, triple, and continue to build with each new release in the series, finally giving me the audience and success I’d been hoping for.

Publishing has changed greatly in the past five to ten years. I believe the stigma of choosing indie publishing over trad doesn’t exist the way it once did when I first started. But more importantly, there are more resources available to help indie authors find their footing. It’s still a difficult road that requires hard work, diligence, and constant education in the field of publishing beyond honing your craft of writing, but I’m happy to see that indie authors are doing just as well as trad published authors now.

Juliette, 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 am a multi-published romance author of paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary romance of both traditionally and indie published books. I have always loved writing, having majored in Creative Writing as an undergraduate at LSU. My lifelong dream has always been to be a published author.

I fell in love with the romance genre, no pun intended, as a reader, enjoying the focus on relationships and discovering joy/love between romantic partners but also family and friends. The paranormal and fantasy genres appealed to me for the escapism and adventure, the exciting new worlds to explore. So this is where I’ve found where my muse thrives best, in the relationship-centered stories set in magical worlds.

I am most proud of my first full indie-published series STAY A SPELL about six witch sisters finding their love matches in New Orleans. This series catapulted my readership, having primarily found my audience via bookstagram, booktube, and booktok. It also led to two recent offers for contracts with large traditional publishers that I never would’ve received at the beginning of my career. STAY A SPELL has changed my life as a writer in so many ways, and the fact that it was all my own gives me a sense of achievement and pride that I never expected.

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

When I first published, it was with two small to midsized publishers for two separate series. Within a short timespan, the publisher where my first series was gaining ground and doing quite well with readers suddenly went under and closed. The second publisher didn’t resign me for the next book in line for my series. So I went from having two publishers to having none. I didn’t give up, but sought and found a new literary agent. We tried with another midsized publisher, but I had mediocre to little success there as well. I never wanted to quit, but it was daunting to see that I’d written and published over a dozen books and was still struggling to find my readership. That was when I decided to depend solely on myself as an indie author and try something new, switching from dark fantasy to paranormal romcom and choosing unconventional covers, trying different marketing techniques, etc. And it all paid off!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At this point, I’ve realized the best path for my writing career is to follow my instincts and my muse. This is why I no longer write one sub-genre of romance. I write contemporary romcom, dark fantasy, and paranormal, both light and dark. I know what my readers want now, so I’m certainly tuned in to that. But I also have several stories itching to come out of me onto the page, and at this point, I have faith that my readers will follow where my muse is taking both me and them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://juliettecross.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliettecrossauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliettecrossauthor
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliettecrossauthor Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/juliettecrossauthor/