Contemporary romance writer

Tell us a little about yourself! What part of the world do you live in? What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?

I’ve lived in the same town in Virginia since I was six weeks old. It’s a beautiful area of the country and I’ve never wanted to leave. When I’m not writing, I love spending time with my family and our dog, Linden, who we adopted a year ago. He’s a twelve-year-old sheepadoodle, but he acts like he’s two. I also enjoy photography and hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I just came home from a bird photography camp in Maine. We got to photograph puffins. It was amazing.

I also enjoy my work with a local private foundation that awards brick and mortar grants to non-profits in our community. There are so many good people in this world who are helping those who need it most. I get to see them out in my community, making a difference. What a gift!

What’s your favorite book? Do you have a TV series you’d recommend or a podcast you can’t live without? What’s your favorite thing right now?

One favorite book? I can’t pick just one! But if I have to, the one that is coming to my mind right this second is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Ask me in a minute, and you’ll get a different answer. (Note: the marketer in me knows I know I should say my own book, but what fun would that be?)

My husband and I love film and television, and we have way too many inside jokes based on The Office. Currently, we are watching and loving Poker Face (Peacock). It’s an homage to the classic TV series, Columbo, and it has that same feel, right down to the title sequence. It’s a bit like a romance novel in that the audience already knows who did it. Charlie Cale (Natsha Lyonne) can tell when someone is lying. The fun lies in getting to she will expose criminal will be exposed. And I love seeing Natasha Lyonne getting the spotlight.

We just finished the latest season of Hacks (HBO Max). It’s one of those shows I never want to end. Everyone in it is so good. Oooh! Another book I Iove is Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. I could see Jean Smart playing Lillian. Someone needs to make this movie!

What kinds of books or shows do you enjoy? Do you have a favorite film/TV show/podcast you’d like to share?

I’m a romance writer so I read a lot of romance and rom-coms. But I also read non-fiction, biographies, and women’s fiction. I am not one of those people who is always reading because once I start a book, I cannot put it down. You will not see me until I’ve read the last page, the epilogue, the author’s note, and all of the acknowledgements. So I read in spurts, often on the weekend.

Along the lines of that favorite book question and speaking of author’s notes…This reminds me of my favorite author’s note of all time. Every romance will end in a happily ever after. The reader knows that going in. It’s a genre requirement. Katherine Center’s authors note at the end of Hello Stranger is all about why it’s okay to know the ending of a romance novel before you begin. Hint: it’s about the journey.

I was slow to explore audiobooks but since they are included with Spotify Premium, I have started listening to my book club picks. I love it because I can listen while I cook or bake. My book club reads mostly non-fiction, so this works well for me.

Remember that favorite book question? My favorite audiobook is Alexandra Vasti’s In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation. A narrator can make or break a story and narrator Mhairi Morrison is pure perfection. So much better than the voice in my head would’ve been!

I also love pop culture and how a story gets spun and manipulated. One of my favorite podcasts is You’re Wrong About. They dive deep into a past event and examine our misconceptions about what actually happened. It’s fascinating.

What inspired you to start writing fiction? And how did you end up choosing your specific genre(s)?

Lifelong insomnia. As a child, I learned that if I made up stories, I would fall asleep faster than if I thought about my own life. The stories in my head started having chapters, and sometimes I would stick to the same characters for months at a time. I always wondered if I could make one of these stories into a book. It was one of those things that I randomly thought about for most of my adult life. One day, I decided to start typing a see what happened and here we are! I always loved romance novels and women’s fiction, so picking the genre was easy.

What’s your most recently published book? What genre is it, and what’s it about? Is it part of a series?

Another Summer is a standalone, contemporary romance that takes place in and around fictional Lake Linden, Maine. On the heels of her failed engagement, Avery Easton returns to the lakeside resort where she worked in college and comes face to face with her first love, Miles Magrum, who ghosted her after breaking her heart a decade ago. As they work together to help a friend, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about him, their love, her future, and herself. It’s a summer nostalgia read, with rom-com elements, mild spice before closing the door, and a mental health rep.

 

What has been the most challenging part of being an indie (self-pubbed) author? How have you tackled that challenge?

Distribution. For indie authors, getting your book into bookstores requires contacting each individual store. It’s a daunting task. Finding your potential readers online takes marketing. Someone needs to see a product seven times before they consider buying it and sometimes it feels like you are screaming into a canyon and listening for an echo reply that never comes.

People are drawn to well-packaged products, so I started there and did my best to create an exterior in harmony with the bestsellers in my genre. Romance readers love their covers and spines, so you really need that to stand out. This means a great cover artist.

I paid very careful attention to every single aspect of the printed copy of my book. I took my printed cover samples into a Barnes and Noble and put them on a shelf so I could see which one popped. I also hired an interior designer. I kept a stack of romance novels at my desk and I studied how they were formatted down to the publisher’s watermark on the spine to make sure my cover and interior followed industry norms.

If your book looks great on the outside, readers will pick it up. From that moment on, they are interested in one thing. The story, which means your book also needs to deliver on the inside. Bookstores and readers expect professional editing. This is why I hired Two Birds. Michelle and Andrea made Another Summer flow better through line edits and proofreading. They tagged inconsistencies, found repeated words so I could edit them, and flagged typos (I have a lot of typos). In the end, I could see a tangible difference in the quality of my manuscript. There is no way I could have done that myself. I was too close to the work, and I needed your fresh eyes and language and grammar skills.

But even with all of that, it’s hard to find readers and get it in bookstores. It takes a lot of time. Marketing yourself is hard! I am fortunate to have a background in marketing for non-profits, which isn’t the same thing but helps. To be honest, I would much rather write the next book than market.

What has been the most fulfilling part of being an author?

Seeing Another Summer find its readers keeps me going. During its first month, I was floored by the reception. I had a family emergency that limited my ability to have a big splashy launch. Even so, I sold far more books than I expected. A couple of bookstagrammers reached out to me and then featured my book. Two book clubs posted that they had chosen my book. An indie bookstore messaged me and asked if they could carry it. The other day, I was looking at my Ingram Spark sales report and Another Summer was ranked number one among all of the Ingram Spark titles in the “second chance romance” category. Wow! I didn’t see that coming!

Yesterday, the bookstore post a wrapped copy of a “blind date with a romance” they were getting ready to put on their shelf. The description mentioned a Maine lake setting and dog name Casper and I knew it was Another Summer. I cried. It was like a having a dream come true. One I hadn’t even dreamed yet.

Tell us a bit about your process. Do you write every day? Do you have a specific coffee shop where you write?

I do not write every day, except when I’m drafting. Due to other commitments, I write at different times of day when I can fit it in my schedule. Most of my plotting happens in my head, often early in the morning. I lie awake in bed most mornings and let the thoughts flow. I get up and write a few quick notes. This sets up my writing day for once everyone leaves the house. I prefer to write in the morning, take a break for lunch and a dog walk and then use the afternoon to edit, Zoom with my writing lab, or focus on marketing.

What tips do you have for other authors working on their books? Things you’ve learned that you like to share with newer authors?

I am big fan of having an outline and getting beta readers. I pantsed my first draft and it was a mess. So I outlined and once I had a strong outline that made sure character arcs were in place, I rewrote it. I rewrote it again after beta reader feedback. Each step made it better.

What was it like working with Two Birds?

Great! And a bit scary. I got sample edits from a couple editing services and yours were the most thorough. Your comments dug deep into the substance. I knew I had errors in my manuscript. I work best when I know what’s working. Knowing that helps me focus on what isn’t. You job was not to tell me what I did well, so it felt like there was a lot to fix. But I could tell from my sample edit that you were not only going to make Another Summer better, you were also going to make me a better writer. And you did.

How did you end up choosing to work with us? What is the most helpful tip you can offer to authors who, like you, want to find the right editor for their books?

If you want to find the right editor, ask around and get sample edits if the service provides them. And don’t worry if the person recommending a service writes in a different genre. Line and copy editing aren’t about genre, they’re about language and grammar.

Two Birds was recommended to me by so many writer friends. First by Stefanie Medrek, author of Into the Fire, an action-packed thriller. And then, by Jennifer Lauer, who wrote the sci-fi novel The Girl in the Zoo. My developmental editor, Savannah Gilbo also recommended you.

Where can authors and readers connect with you, and find your books?

I have a website, karakentley.com that has links to order Another Summer. You can also sign up for my Substack newsletter. I’m on almost what feels like every social as @karakentley, but I post most often on Instagram.

Is there anything we haven’t asked but that you’d like to add?

I just want to thank Two Birds for your role in putting my book into the world. Writers may draft alone, but we need the perspective of others to get to the finish line. There really is no feeling like holding your book for the first time or getting a message from a bookstore saying they’ve sold out of your book and asking if you have any extra copies you can get them quickly. None of that would have happened with the help and support of many people behind the scenes, Two Birds included.