We recently connected with Samantha Ryan and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful project is my debut novel, “Pride”, set for release February 4, 2025. “Pride” is a queer, modern retelling of “Pride and Prejudice”. This book is the culmination of decades of writing and rejection. I queried my first novel in college and after making every mistake possible, I gave up on writing for years. After working in the publishing industry, I remembered why I fell in love with writing in the first place and picked it back up post-pandemic. I have a deep love of rom-coms – particularly anything Jane Austen and this book is my love letter to the modern rom-com, with something that rom-coms have been missing since their inception: queer main characters.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I fell in love with language after reading “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses words on the page like the strokes of a brush on a canvas, seeing the printed form as another aspect of the art itself. After reading Faulkner, I decided to pursue Creative Writing in college. I started with short stories and eventually started writing novels. I see stories as a way to heal – both as the author and as the reader. Writing serves as a mirror to humanity to see our deepest fears and greatest potential. I hope to use my writing to tell queer stories that heal the inner child for any who suppressed themselves out of a social need for conformity. There’s so much about queer joy to celebrate and I hope to highlight that joy in my writing.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing people enjoy the words on the page. I write for myself to heal and learn, but I obviously hope that others will identify with my work and see themselves in the pages I write. I think of how many stories I’ve read that I loved and that changed me for the better and hope someday to have written someone’s favorite book.

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

Social media is a must for writers and today there are so many avenues of finding a bookish audience from Bookstagram to BookTok. Finding thriving writing communities is essential for any author, not only to build an audience but to find connection with other authors. Writing can be a very solitary activity, so it’s important to seek out support from other writers either online or even in person with a writing group. One of the most daunting pieces of social media can be just starting out when you don’t yet have a product; it can feel a little like a cart before a horse, but it’s so important for writers to start building that platform and audience before the book comes out. There are a ton of great ways to engage in the writing community, like sharing what you are reading, sharing pieces from your work-in-progress, or quotes from the book, prior to release. It’s so easy to find ways to engage and build your platform over time versus after the book has already released.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samryanreally.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samryanreally/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083696912869&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Twitter: https://x.com/samryanreally
• Other: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23776467.Samantha_Ryan

Image Credits

Headshot by Jessie Kenney Photography