An Interview With Self-Publishing Sensation Bella Andre

It's a real treat to welcome my friend Bella Andre to the blog! Bella was one of the first romance authors to take the plunge into self-publishing in 2010 and has been a runaway success ever since. Not only is she generous with her time and advice, she also writes great contemporaries. If you haven't read her Sullivan Family Series, you are missing out on some very fun books! Here are some thoughts from Bella about self-publishing and what we can expect from her in the near future!

Marie: Congratulations on all your self-pub success! Could you tell us a bit about your publishing journey and how you ended up pursuing self-publishing?

Bella: My writing journey started with songs, actually. I was a performing singer-songwriter for ten years before I even thought about writing fiction. Of course, I've always been a ravenous romance reader - devouring a book a day when I can.

One day, two characters started to have a conversation inside my head! Instead of checking in to the nearest psych ward :-) I wrote it down. A couple of years later I sold my first novel. After writing for four major publishers, in 2010 I found myself with more stories to tell and the self-publishing revolution just beginning. I took a leap of faith and wrote the sequel to my most popular novel at the time, TAKE ME, which is about a full-figured heroine and the man she's loved forever. LOVE ME (the brother and sister's story) came out July 2010 and when readers kept writing to thank me for writing the love story they'd been waiting for, I wrote my next original self-published novel, GAME FOR LOVE, the 3^rd book in my Bad Boys of Football series. I released it Christmas 2010 and that was when everything went nuts! The awesome kind of nuts. :-) Since then, I have written and released 5 books in my Sullivan family contemporary romance series. The latest, IF YOU WERE MINE, just came out this week!

Thanks to self-publishing, when my fans ask for more books—and for them to come out quickly—I am able to give them exactly what they want!

Marie: You haven't been shy about saying that 2011 was a banner year for you. What you think the secrets to your success might've been?

Bella: Yes, 2011 and the first half of 2012 have been phenomenal! I'm thrilled to have sold 700,000 self-published ebooks so far, the majority at an average price of $4.99 per book.

Marie: You are, without a doubt, one of the hardest-working authors I know. You even do your own *gorgeous* covers. Talk about what you like best about doing it all yourself and what parts of the publishing process you are happy to offload to others.

Bella: Thank you for the compliment on my covers. I really love being able to put out a final product that is exactly what I envision for my story, and I am very involved with every step of the publishing process. Even though I work with some fantastic contractors who help me with things like creating the digital files for each retailer, I first mastered how the process works on my own first.

Of course, I have always hired copyeditors and proofreaders for my books to ensure they are as polished as possible.

Marie: Your self-published Sullivan family series has been very well received and garnered terrific reviews. I'm a huge fan, as you know! What's on tap after all the Sullivans get their happily ever after?

Bella: Thank you so much! And thank you, too, for always being one of my first readers for each book. Your insight as a fellow contemporary romance writer is invaluable.

I love my Sullivans and hope to continue writing their stories even after all eight of the original Sullivan siblings have their happily-ever-after's. There are many more Sullivan cousins in Seattle and New York, fortunately. :-) And of course, I'd very much like to go back in time to tell the mother's love story with their father at some point.

In addition, I do have another series waiting in the wings about a series of sexy (of course!), connected heroes.

Marie: Ohhh, I love the idea of Mama Sullivan's love story and maybe a second change story for her too? I digress... Of course the no. 1 question posed to successful self-published authors is what it would take for you to sign a traditional contract at this point in your career. Do you have any interest in being traditionally published again? If so, what would it take to lure you in?

Bella: My motto is never-say-never! I try to stay positive no matter what comes and always be open to new and exciting developments.

I'm thrilled that my Sullivans will be debuting in other countries! The first five books in the series will be released in Brazil soon! I have also sold my self-published books to Italy, Turkey and Japan.

Marie: Congrats on the foreign sales. That's awesome! If you had one piece of advice for authors considering the self-published path, what would it be? Feel free to add second and third pieces of advice--LOL!

Bella: Go for it! Take the time and effort to right the best book possible, but don't get too caught up in the technical details. Concentrate on your story and connecting with your readers. Many of the big retailers now have very friendly self-publishing platforms.

Marie: What do you see as the "next big thing" in books, e-books, digital publishing, etc.?

Bella: The next big thing? Why, that will be Zach Sullivan's book, IF YOU WERE MINE, won't it? :-)

Marie: But of course! Here's some more about Zach Sullivan's story:

Can two people who have both sworn off love find forever in each other's arms? Find out in IF YOU WERE MINE, the fifth book in Bella Andre's bestselling Sullivan family contemporary romance series.

The last thing Zach Sullivan wants is to take care of his brother's new puppy for two weeks. Until he meets the dog trainer, that is. Heather is bright, beautiful, and he can't stop thinking about her. Unfortunately, she just might be the only woman on earth who wants nothing to do with him.

Heather Linsey can't believe she's stuck working with one of the city's top dogs, auto-shop tycoon Zach Sullivan. Especially when his focus is clear from the start—not only to learn how to deal with his temporary puppy...but also to make her his. Having sworn off love at seventeen when she realized it was nothing more than a pack of lies, Heather has stuck to her vow never to fall for a charming man.

Get it here:

Kindle

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple: 

Paperback

Thanks so much to Bella for spending some time with us today! Here's wishing her many sales of IF YOU WERE MINE!

Everyone Loves a Hero Giveaway Winners & Other Giveaways

Congratulations to Brenda and Amy, who are the winners of the signed copies of Everyone Loves a Hero! I was really moved and appreciative of the lovely stories readers shared about their leap of faith moments. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest!

Cole and Oliva's leap of faith is one of my favorites in all my books, and I also appreciated the kind words about how much you guys enjoyed the book. It's been out a year now and I'm still hearing from readers who enjoyed it.

If you haven't yet joined the Everyone Loves a Hero Reader Group, come on over!

I'm giving away copies of Falling for Love and Fatal Flaw on Elise Rome's blog during her March Madness promotion this week. Come on by to comment to be entered to win one of the books.

I'm really excited about the upcoming visit from my friend Bella Andre, who is coming over to the Marie Force Book Talk group on Monday, March 5, to talk about her Sullivan series as well as her other books. She's bringing a bunch of giveaway copies of the Sullivans, so if you haven't yet joined the fun at MFBT, get on over there so you can chat with Bella on Monday!

Finally, I'm excited to report that I hit my 25,000-word-by-the-end-of-the-week goal in Fatal Attack today. I'm really enjoying where this book is going. The mystery is very different than anything I've ever done before, and I'm digging it! Sam is at her all-time crankiest, which gives me the giggles when I'm writing. She's so bad and sooo fun to write!

Book Club: Never Too Hot by Bella Andre

By: Mary G

I loved this book. Every. Single. Word.

Never Too Hot is the third of Bella’s Hot Shots Firefighter series. This one is less about firefighting and suspense and is more character driven. I didn’t need a bunch of firefighters to make this a sexy hot emotional book though.

Ginger finally leaves the clutches of her controlling ex & parents. She wants to go back to her love of painting. She rents a run down cabin to get away from it all. Connor is a hunky firefighter who suffered serious burns on his hands & arms. He is on his last appeal with the Forest Service to get his job back.

Connor wants to take a break from worrying about his future. He decides to fix up his childhood summer retreat for his brother’s upcoming wedding. He wants peace and quiet & to work on getting his strength back. He runs into Ginger there who unknowingly rented the cabin from his grandparents.

Ginger’s self esteem suffered from being voluptuous in a wealthy society where you can’t be too rich or too thin. She’s smart, artistic and compassionate. She’s done with men for the moment. Connor’s scars are more visible and women are the last thing on Connor’s mind. He’s definitely a wounded hero. He doesn’t believe in love and is afraid of anyone getting too close.
They agree to share the cabin and slowly get to know each other. The attraction is there from the beginning but it takes a while to go from simmer to boil. Ginger is the first one to admit that she’s in love. While she’s relieved at confessing it, Connor fights it. Page 232:

“No.” His eyes were dark. Wild. “You don’t. You can’t.”

She won’t back down though and makes him see that she’s going to stick. Eventually, he runs scared and tries to stay away from her. He thought it was the stronger path to walk away from her and deal with his issues on his own. The day Connor realizes that Ginger has staying power sets up my fave line in the book. He comes to realize that in his world, hotshots never give up, show weakness. He didn’t know if it was because they were tough or because there were nineteen other guys backing them up. They were a skilled crew of friends and family that would always be there for backup. Page 308:

A sudden thought hit him hard in the solar plexus. Ginger was his crew.

"Ginger was his crew". Four simple, seemingly innocuous words but when I read them I thought my heart was going to stop. Not only did I keep rereading them but I kept going back to read that sentence again. I don't know why it affected me like that and I don't even want to analyze it. It just worked for me. Four simple little words that just blew me away, gave me chills, made me sigh.

There is no doubt that Bella writes hot books. There is a beauty in her writing as well. Page 342:

He was kissing her like he’s been waiting his whole life to find her… Another sigh-worthy moment.

I loved this book. It had some secondary couples that really fleshed out the sense of family & community. I’ve loved every book Bella has written. I just haven’t read her new one yet – Game for Love which is the third book in the Bad Boys of Football series. Hey, is the host allowed to win? LOL – just kidding. In honor of Bella’s hot guys I chose the following recipe:

Firehouse Crockpot Chili
1 lb. ground beef or pork
1 lb. stew meat
2 cans kidney beans
1 onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
1 sm can tomato paste
1 regular can tomato sauce
1 can Ro-tel
1 can beer
5 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. crushed red peppers
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. sage
2 cups water
* to make it 3 alarm, add 3 jalapeno peppers sliced in half and seeds removed (or 1 red savina habanero) Brown hamburger or pork, drain & set aside. Brown stew meat in butter with onion and bell pepper. Place ground beef and stew meat with onion & bell pepper in crock pot, add 1 can of kidney beans, tomato paste & sauce, Ro-tel, beer, all seasonings into crock pot and mix well, add the water if you have room. Turn crock pot on high until chili gets hot, then put it on low for about 6 hours. About 1 hour before you plan on eating, add the other can of beans & start the cornbread.

Next Up on Book Club: Never Too Hot by Bella Andre

A TOUCH IGNITES. A FIRE BURNS. AND THE HEAT HAS JUST BEGUN.

Deep in the cool green mountains of the Adirondacks, wounded firefighter Connor MacKenzie has come to rebuild the 100-year-old MacKenzie family cabin—and to be alone. A horrific blaze has left him scarred inside and out and certain of two things: He’ll get back on his Hot Shot crew no matter what it takes, and any woman who ventures too close will not stay long.

Ginger Sinclair has been burned by a different kind of fire. Having just escaped from a bad marriage, she’s retreated to the safety of the lakeside vacation town in upstate New York to start a new life. She’s done with men, with relationships, with the danger of desires that can rage out of control—until she unexpectedly encounters Connor MacKenzie. As a hot summer on the lake grows ever hotter, they find themselves sharing a cabin and a romance that will swiftly engulf them both.

Read the first chapter.

Thursday, April 21, from 6 a.m. EDT. Hope to see you there!