We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Hastings. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.
Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I was in elementary school when I decided that I no longer wished to be an archeologist, but an author! I loved to write and I was inspired by fictional characters such as Anne Shirley in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery, Jo March in LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott, and Boots and Bruno in THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL by Gordon Korman. The first two characters are pretty well known, but I think that fewer people know about Boots and Bruno books. According to the flap of my scholastic copy of the book, Gordon Korman wrote the first Boots and Bruno book when he was only in seventh grade! So, I wrote my first book in seventh grade: BEEHIVE BASKETBALL. Unlike Boots and Bruno, it wasn’t published. Which between you and me was probably a good thing. It did, however, keep me writing and practicing and it wasn’t until I was 35-years-old that I signed my first publishing contract for THE LAST WORD.
Samantha, 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 gave up on being an author several times in my twenties. The rejections would pile up and I would decide that this dream wasn’t going to work out. Then one of my author friends had a book traditionally published. We’d both been trying to get an agent and be published at the same time. The only difference was that he had continued to write and I had given up. So I started again. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.
Swoon Reads, a imprint of Macmillan, published my first three books: THE LAST WORD, THE INVENTION OF SOPHIE CARTER, and A ROYAL CHRISTMAS QUANDARY. Between the publication of my first and second books, I found an agent: Jen Nadol from the Unter Agency. Together we sold four books to Harlequin Historical: THE MARQUESS AND THE RUNAWAY LADY, DEBUTANTE WITH A DANGEROUS PAST, WEDDED TO HIS ENEMY DEBUTANTE, and ACCIDENTAL COURTSHIP OF THE EARL. Two other historical romances to Covenant publications: SECRET OF THE SONNETS and BY ANY OTHER NAME. And two cozy murder mysteries to Crooked Lane books under the pseudonym Samantha Larsen: A NOVEL DISGUISE and ONCE UPON A MURDER.
I have also pursued independent publishing and the following titles are available in Kindle Unlimited: THE CASH COUNTESS, RETURN OF THE QUEEN, THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES, CHRISTMAS IN A CASTLE, JANE AUSTEN TRIVIA, and I AM MADE UP OF WORDS.
THE DUCHESS CONTRACT is free on all platforms if you’d like to sample my writing: https://books2read.com/u/mY8AYd
In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
The best way to help authors is to buy their books or to read them on a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited.
But, there are several ways to help an author for FREE! Check out and/or request their books from your local library. Once you read a book, review it on Goodreads and Amazon. Tell your friends and family about the book. Share the cover of the book on your social media sites. Follow the author’s social media sites and if they have a newsletter, subscribe to it!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I thought I needed to wait until I had a publishing contract before I began my social media. I was wrong! If I were to do it again, I would begin my social media accounts as soon as I started writing. I would follow other authors and try to make friends in the writing community. Publishers and agents will ask what social media sites you are on and how many friends/followers you have.
Tips to starting your social media accounts:
1. Create social media accounts for your author persona. (You don’t want strangers knowing about your kids or personal life.)
2. Use the same “handle” on all accounts so that you are easy to find.
3. Always be positive and kind.
4. Stay away from politics and other polarizing topics.
5. Review other books, but only tag the author if you’ve given them 5 stars.
6. Be generous with your stars.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SamanthaHastings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthahastingsauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaHastingsAuthor
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HastingSamantha
- Other: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/samantha-hastings Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.samanthahastings.com/p/newsletter.html