Conversations with Sierra Simone

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sierra Simone.

Hi Sierra, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I didn’t always know I wanted to be a writer—if you’d asked me in 6th grade what I wanted to be, I would have told you that I would have liked to be a nun—but I did always love reading. I read stacks and stacks and stacks of books, and the way I dreamed about the stories after, the way they consumed my thoughts, very easily starting led to my own stories and ideas. By high school, I knew I wanted to be a writer, and after some time spent in the library and museum world, I published my first book (under another name) with a traditional New York publisher. However, I struggled to find my own voice and quickly became disillusioned with publishing.

With the encouragement of my friends, I began to write something completely different than my traditionally published books—a spicy romance under a new name. I absolutely loved it. For the first time in a long time, I felt creatively excited and found myself embarking on a journey of new and fun challenges as an indie author. Nearly eight years later, I’m still publishing independently, but I’m also now published with HarperCollins and Sourcebooks in English, as well as published internationally in eight languages. I love writing, of course, but I especially love the romance reading community. The readers, influencers, and authors are some of the best in the world!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
All publishing is difficult in its own way—it’s a real labor of love—but independently publishing was a steep learning curve. As an indie author, you are responsible for editing, packaging, marketing, and maintaining, all while you’re the sole means of producing the product you sell.

It’s a little bit like owning a cute little bakery with hand-lettered blackboards and trendy music playing and excellent customer service…while also growing the wheat and milling the flour to bake your bread. It takes a willingness to mess up and an eagerness to learn (along with lots and lots of coffee!)

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I write romance novels, particularly high-heat romance novels, and I’m usually known for my forays into the forbidden. But I feel like forbidden can be forgettable if it doesn’t pack an emotional punch, so really where I love to dig in is that space between illicit and intimate, between spicy and swoony.

What matters most to you?
Telling stories that give readers a cathartic experience—I think it’s just lovely when you set down a book and feel like it changed you a little as you read it, or that you were able to experience some powerful emotion because of it.

Related to that—and this may seem a little incongruous, given what I write—but I think all books should help us reaffirm our humanity as we read them, even if it’s in the smallest or barely perceptible ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: thesierrasimone.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesierrasimone/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSierraSimone/ 

Image Credits
Danielle Nicole Portraits