Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sheena Binkley . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sheena , appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

As a reader and a writer, the most significant trend I have seen in the romance industry is that readers love romance. Readers love to be able to escape from the real world and get swept into someone else’s world of love, life, and lessons.

At the time when I started writing, there weren’t a lot of African-American romance authors on the scene; now, there are so many diverse and talented authors, creating powerful and entertaining stories for various audiences.

Although I am an author, I have always been a reader first, so it’s wonderful to see the industry evolving and that more people are taking notice of AA romance.

Sheena , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a romance author writing over 40 books in a nine-year time span, which is still hard to imagine because growing up, I didn’t imagine having a writing career.

The genres that I have written ranged from contemporary to even urban, writing in different elements that have constantly pushed me to greater lengths as a writer and as a person.

Throughout my career, I have gone through a lot of ups and downs, but those were lessons that I had to learn to appreciate the journey that I was going through. I know it’ll take a lot of hard work and dedication, but it’s worth it with the opportunities that I have endured so far as well as the accomplishments that I will gain in the future.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

With writing, it was a hobby of mine that I enjoyed doing when I needed to vent or to have a voice when needed. I remembered writing stories about myself and my friends, never considering publishing them.

I never realized I wanted to turn my hobby into a career until 2012. There was so much that was going on in my life at the time, and writing was a comfort to me when I felt I was at my lowest. The thought of publishing was on my mind, but I was a bit nervous about how my story would be perceived by an audience. I didn’t want to have regrets about not publishing, that was why I took the plunge and decided to find a publisher that I felt fit my publishing needs. My first book, In Love With My Best Friend, was released a year later, and I never looked back on the “what if” factor.

I continued to publish more books, landing #1 in several categories on Amazon. It was an amazing feeling because I never thought that people would buy my books, let alone enjoy them. So, it was wonderful to be acknowledged and embraced, not just by readers, but also by my peers. To this day, it’s still a great feeling that I don’t think I’ll ever get over.

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

The one goal I would love to pursue on my creative journey is to have one of my books go to either The New York Times or USA Today best seller list. That has always been a dream of mine to achieve that goal. It’s been a long process, but I’m still going to work hard to make that dream a reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sheenabinkley.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Chevon30
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sheenabinkleyauthor
• Twitter: www.twiter.com/chevonbink
• Youtube: Sheena Binkley
• Other: https://amzn.to/30BFIA1

Image Credits
Sheena Binkley