We were lucky to catch up with Angela Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.
Angela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
It took me a few years to find what I’d call my passion, but writing is it! (My husband would call it my obsession, but never mind him.) In a way, though, you have to be a little obsessed to jump into a dream and swim upstream in a multi-billion-dollar business like romance publishing. Actually writing the books can be magical, but I’m not sure if any independent author is ever prepared for the amount of other “stuff” you have to do in order to succeed. Things like marketing, editing, formatting, choosing covers, running a newsletter, maintaining social media platforms…. It’s overwhelming at times, and there’s always more to learn.
People often ask me where I come up with the ideas for my books. The answer? Who knows? LOL Honestly, they just sort of drop in whenever they feel like it.
“Blindsided” is the first book I published. It’s a romantic suspense about a guide dog trainer and a SWAT cop. The idea for the story came to me out of the blue. I was driving my car downtown and noticed a woman walking her German shepherd on the sidewalk. For some reason, I thought, how would the woman react if she was training a guide dog and some guy knocked her over, then got mad—even though it was his fault—and asked, “What’s the matter with you? Are you blind?” And how much fun would it be if she put him in his place by answering, “Yes, I am,” just to watch him squirm? The entire story came from that one random thought.
I promise the hero in my book isn’t a jerk. He was just having a horrific day. If you read it, you’ll find out why and how he and the heroine come together in the end. Oh, and there’s a pretty amazing guide dog in it that, I swear, has amassed his own fan club amongst my readers.
After you get an idea for a book, that’s where the hard part starts. You have to research to ensure information you use is accurate. For example, I did a lot of research for “Blindsided.” I read about guide dogs and how they’re trained. I also interviewed an instructor at the Idaho Commission for the Blind. She was blind herself and had her own guide. She actually invited me to her home, let me meet her dog, showed me how to put on his harness and how to manage it. She provided me instructions on the commands they use and other insider tidbits. Her help was invaluable. I also was lucky enough to have a niece who was a puppy trainer for the guide dog school, so I was able to pick her brain, and see first-hand how the puppies were raised the first year of their lives.
Next, you have to write the book, but that’s just the beginning. After I finish, I do some self-editing, then send the manuscript to my “alpha” and “beta” readers. My alpha reader reads through it first, catching typos, things that didn’t make sense to her, anything that felt “off” or didn’t work for her. My beta reader reads it next, doing the same thing, but they often catch different things. Lastly, I send it to my ARC (advanced reader copy) readers to read before it’s published, so that when the book goes live, they can immediately leave reviews, which helps with your rankings. ARC readers are the last “eyes” that see your book before it becomes available to the public. They often find those pesky remaining typos that, amazingly, have somehow slipped past everyone else.
I also have to have the manuscript formatted, work with my cover designer, create graphics for marketing, then market the book, coordinating with my “street team” (people who share graphics and promo posts for me to help spread the word about my books). So many things I was unaware of when I decided to write my first book. It’s a constant learning process, but holding your physical book in your hands and having readers tell you they enjoyed it makes it all worthwhile.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I write steamy, frisky, fun, contemporary romance. My books are character-driven and always include heat, humor, snarky banter, spunky heroines and smokin’ hot heroes. Happily ever afters are a must!
I first started writing when I was in grade school. My friend and I would pen “episodes” of our favorite TV shows, then con our siblings into “acting them out” with us. (Bad, acting, I might add, but, hey, we were in the fourth grade!)
In junior high, my best friend and I co-wrote a fantasy book. We only got about one hundred pages written before I moved from my home state of Montana to Idaho. We never finished it, but that was really the beginning of my love of writing. However, with the move, writing and I took a little time-out. It wasn’t until I graduated college with a Fine Arts degree, that I started writing my first romance novel.
I took another break after my divorce because it was hard to write love stories for a while. Instead, I submerged myself into community theatre. I figured I could write at any age, but I had a limited amount of time to play the parts I wanted before I got too old for the characters. I also started and ran an entertainment company with two friends. We had a contract to provide all of the entertainment on the local train line, but it eventually got to be too much work and became too time consuming running a business while still working a full-time job. I ended up selling my part of the business to my partners, getting remarried, and settling into life.
Fast forward a few years … The writing bug came back to bite me, and I fell in love with spinning stories all over again. I published my first book, “Blindsided,” as an independent author in 2020 and haven’t looked back since. To date, I’ve written four books—not counting my very first one, which will not see the light of day without some major plastic surgery! I’m half-way through book number five, which I plan to publish later this year. I feel like I’ve finally found my true passion and plan to do this the rest of my life. Hopefully, I’ll get to the point where I can support myself writing full-time.
One of the things I think my readers enjoy most about my books is that they’re infused with lots of humor. (Even my romantic suspense contains funny moments.) I have a very dry sense of humor, and that comes out in my characters. My books also contain plenty of dialogue, which probably stems from my theatre background. I’ve been told my characters act and speak like real people, which is a humbling compliment. What more could a writer ask for than their readers connecting with the characters they’ve created?
“The Kiss Club” series is my first official romantic comedy endeavor. And, honestly, when I started writing it, I felt like I’d come home. Like RomCom is where I’m supposed to be. Hopefully, I’m right, because the response to this new series has been amazing! I can’t express how thankful I am for the support and love readers have given it, and me. I’m glad they’re enjoying it because I have at least two more books planned for the series after my current work in progress, “Five Alarm Kiss.” It’s book three in the series. The first two books, “The Kiss Contract” (book one) and “Late Night Kiss” (book two) have already been published and are available on Amazon. As a reader, I’m not fond of cliffhangers, which is why all of the books in my series have interconnected characters, but CAN be read as standalones.
I can’t wait to see where this author journey takes me, but I promise you … I’m going to ride it off into the sunset, stop for ice cream, and then keep on going!
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Oh my gosh, yes! I wish I’d known about the Indie community. There is an entire, wonderful community of authors who publish their books independently. I wish I had gotten involved with them on social media before I published my first book. It would have saved me a lot of headaches. Everyone is so helpful and willing to share their knowledge. There are hundreds of groups you can join, freely ask questions, and get honest answers. People share their experiences and what has and hasn’t worked for them. It’s like having your very own living instruction manual.
Can you find out everything you need to know? Probably not, but the advice and camaraderie you receive is priceless. It’s the best support system you could ask for because they know exactly what you’re going through, since they’re going through it themselves. I’ve made some of my best friends through author/writer groups … and we’ve never even met in person! (Well, some of us have met now, and it was like we’d known each other for years and had just hung out the weekend before.) It’s truly amazing how selfless and helpful everyone is, from the newbies starting out to best-selling authors. Becoming part of the Indie community is like finding a family you never knew existed, but never want to live without again.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
By far the most frustrating thing I’ve dealt with since publishing my first book, was when books by another author with my same name started showing up on my author profile. So, anyone who read my books and was looking to read another one of mine, could pick up one of the books wrongly assigned to me and think that I’d written it.
Obviously, the writing style would be different, and I didn’t know if the other books were well written, or had a million grammatical errors, etc. A zillion things could’ve potentially negatively impacted me and caused me to lose readership.
Eventually, it would get fixed and the other author’s books would be removed from my profile. I’d think I was in the clear, then it would happen again. When it happened a third time, I honestly considered quitting.
The book that was placed on my profile had a naked woman on the cover, and I was just publishing my new romantic comedy series. The cover alone may have put off my romantic comedy readers or might’ve triggered some complaints against me. Thankfully, it was removed quickly.
I was so worried about having my readers run screaming the other direction, I even considered changing my name and using a pen name. I’d have to rebrand everything, most likely lose my readership, and start from scratch. Plus, it would’ve destroyed any chance my new series had of succeeding.
In the end, I kept my real name, and the books have since been removed. Fingers crossed, the problem has been solved so it’ll never happen again. (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself!) But it put me in a dark place, and if it hadn’t been for some friends talking me off of the ledge, I might’ve closed my computer for good. I’m so thankful I didn’t! Good thing I’m stubborn and didn’t give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.angelataylorauthor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelataylorauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelataylorauthor
- Other: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/ANGELA-TAYLOR/author/B08LBTC6WL?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21667900.Angela_Taylor BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angela-taylor-2f4ac6dd-c47e-4a48-8361-6a12ac3c3c92 Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/angelataylorauthor
Image Credits
Kari March Designs Wicked Smart Designs