How I Became a #1 Bestselling Romance Writer

Things are about to get cray cray up in here 💃🏻

Hey, Gigglers!

I had initially planned to send this message to you back on January 26th, 2024, as a 1-year Substack anniversary special (and to celebrate my birthday). However, life got EXTREMELY CRAZY in November, and things haven’t slowed down since! It’s been an incredibly wild ride full of triumphs and tribulations back to back, but I’m tired of waiting for circumstances to be *just right* before I sit down and write for you again. (I’m also realizing that the messiness and unpredictability of life are beautiful things, and thus, I shall stop chasing perfection). I decided to move forward with an imperfect newsletter schedule (or complete lack of schedule, to be more precise) and send you updates amidst these messy moments of my life. So, without further ado (adieu?), I’d like to share with you the story of how I became a best-selling romance author. Enjoy!

*I’m leaving the story the way I had written it to be shared on my birthday, to give you context!

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Today marks 1 year since starting The Giggler. It's also my birthday! Woot, woot! 🥳

Sharing Over the Top Secret with you and writing funny stories about my real-life shenanigans has been a total blast and helped heal me after crashing and burning in a massive writer's burnout. I want to share with you the crazy story behind my burnout, which is what led me to Substack in the first place! Get ready— this is the story of my secret adventure in becoming a #1 Bestselling Romance writer.

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I wrote OTTS (Over the Top Secret) back in February 2020 and was really excited about the prospect of self-publishing it. By then, I had published two children's picture books (one for the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights!) but had yet to figure out how to make those books profitable. (As it turns out, publishing picture books is way different than publishing novels!) I'd been studying and learning how to self-publish novels and knew exactly what my game plan should be to turn OTTS into a series that could make me a full-time writer. However, I was afraid to put this story out into the world. What if I didn’t actually know anything about publishing, and my book turned out to be a total flop? What if I'm the only one who thinks T.O.P.S.E.C.R.E.T. is hilarious!?

I decided to hold off on publishing OTTS until first proving to myself that I knew how to be a self-published success. (To me, this meant making enough money to live off my writing income.) If I could prove to myself that I’m capable of making a living off the strategies and tactics I’d been learning about with a series of books I wasn’t afraid to fail with, then I could apply those same tactics and strategies to Over the Top Secret, a story whose success and reception mattered deeply to me. Right about when the Covid lockdowns started, I decided to embark on a mission and put my self-publishing knowledge to the test in the real world, not just theoretically.

I researched the best-selling genres on Amazon (figuring it'd be easier to become successful in a hot genre than an obscure one… like humorous spy adventures. lol), and of course, Romance reigned supreme. But I had not read many romances in my life, plus one of the main tactics to earn a living as an author is to make money off of your backlist titles. (Typically, when starting out, you don't make money with your new releases because you're spending money to advertise and gain new readers with each new book. The goal, once you’ve written multiple books, is to hook readers with your writing so they continue to read the rest of your available titles, and that's where you earn your money.) This meant a crucial part of my plan was to publish multiple books, but I didn't have the patience or desire to write numerous full-length romance novels (at least 70k words).

However… I discovered a subgenre of Romance that exists as short stories and novellas that live between 5k words and 35k words. The genre is "steamy" short Romance. Essentially, imagine a saccharine Hallmark movie with shockingly graphic sex scenes sprinkled throughout. Very interesting, no?!

I was shocked that this genre existed in the first place (I’d never read anything with such detailed depictions of naughty times before in my life! I’m probably just a prude, LOL), but the exciting part, in my opinion, was that some of the authors in this subgenre were USA Today bestsellers making lots of money off their work. Short stories and profit? Now that got my attention!

I started reading the bestsellers, familiarizing myself with the genre, noticing plot patterns, understanding reader expectations, and taking notes. The best-selling authors ensured their readers' expectations were clearly expressed in their marketing, blurbs, and cover designs. I soaked up a whole bunch of research regarding book formatting, metadata, keywords, and SEO until I reached a point where I felt I understood what this subgenre was all about and believed I could join in on the fun.

Holy smokes, I was about to become a steamy romance writer!

I invented a fictional universe where all my romances would take place, wrote sixteen short stories in twelve weeks (this was lockdown times— there was nothing to distract me from becoming a romance writer!), established a pen name, made my brand and marketing materials, a website, social media accounts, and an Amazon publishing account. I edited all my own stories and made all my own book covers. I wrote a short story introducing readers to my world and made it available for free, then promoted it everywhere I could think of across the internet. Once my foundation was built, it was time to really get started. I published one short story every week for sixteen weeks straight!

I was a machine, fueled by the excitement of a new adventure and the goal of doing what I'd read about in all the self-publishing success stories.

At this point, the books I was publishing were just products to me. I wasn't emotionally connected to them whatsoever (after all, none of them contained Evil Villains, a handsome self-absorbed spy, or goofy espionage-related shenanigans). I also did not consider myself a romance writer because, in my mind, these stories were essentially sexy trysts with cute plots. Is that really Romance? I wasn't convinced, but it didn’t matter since my ultimate goal was to make money. This was an experiment, and I intended to apply these publishing lessons learned to Over the Top Secret.

But then something unexpected happened. I started getting fan mail from readers asking for sequels. They loved my characters and wanted more! I was shocked because I didn't love my writing, not even close to how much my readers did. My readers' enthusiasm helped me realize that my books were not just products but stories that resonated with real people. Duh!! I felt guilty for not treating these stories with the respect and appreciation that my readers did. I realized I didn't truly take the genre seriously. Just because there was mucho sexo in these stories didn't make them any less legitimate. I was doing this all wrong!

That realization marked a change in me. I suddenly became emotionally connected to this adventure. My goal morphed from simply making money selling books to becoming a real romance author. I wanted to write satisfying Happily Ever Afters with characters that stay with readers long after they finish reading. I wanted to love my stories as much as my readers did.

So I started reading longer romance novels and romances in other subgenres, which made me realize that my short stories captured only a fraction of what romance is about. I developed a genuine appreciation for the romance genre and even fangirled over new-to-me authors! Romance finally clicked with me.

My stories naturally became longer as I started writing more complex storylines. Eventually, my stories went from an average of 7k words to 15k, then 25k, until I had difficulty keeping them short! My release schedule went from one short story a week to one longer novella every month. I fell in love with the process of writing and not just the results. I learned how to best work with my energizer bunny brain to be the efficient and productive writer I knew I could be. Writing romance turned me into a better writer all around.

I started writing bonus scenes and offering them as a gift for new email subscribers. I had thousands of sign-ups and messages from excited readers as they joined the ranks of my newsletter list. My books gained the attention of those USA Today bestselling authors I mentioned earlier, who not only told me they were fans of my work (!!!!) but invited me to write in multi-author series with them! I wrote four multi-author series in a row with best-selling authors and gained exposure to their readers, who then became my readers and catapulted me into the top-ranked authors of the genre. One of those multi-author series books earned a glorious orange Amazon #1 Best Seller tag and almost tripled my writing income overnight. I even became a member of the Romance Writers of America!

Holy smokes. I did it!!! I had legitimately become a romance writer, and was consistently earning money off my writing. I proved to myself that I do know how to be a successful self-published author and felt confident that I could replicate these strategies and tactics for OTTS.

Then came a massive hiccup in my plan. It turned out that wearing all those hats, hustling as hard as I did, and doing everything necessary to be a full-time writer had sent me careening off the pedestal of bestsellerdom and straight into the burnout pit of despair. 😅 I suddenly could no longer write anything, I had no mental or physical energy, and I reached a level of exhaustion I'd never known before. I was so burned out I couldn't even read!!! I had to back out of the next multi-author series I had been invited to participate in and was gutted to have to let down thousands of excited and loyal readers. Even more horrible than all that was feeling utterly terrified that I'd never be able to write again! It felt like a core piece of me, the storyteller in me, had just died.

It was too painful to acknowledge my new reality, so I turned to other passions as pacifiers. I started leaning into voice-over again, rekindling my love for it from when I was a kid actress. Then, I bought a Nintendo Switch and discovered The Legend of Zelda, which led to an enthusiasm for video games in general and then an interest in voice acting for video games. Before long, I was immersed in stories again, albeit from a different perspective, but I managed to keep one foot planted in the world of storytelling nonetheless. I started to feel a little like myself again, but it would still be months before I’d read another book and almost two years before I would write anything! (And at that point, it would only be revising older projects I had already written but hadn't yet finished.) All the while, OTTS was waiting for me.

I felt like a failure because I embarked on this adventure to ultimately make Over the Top Secret a best-selling series, and here I was, wondering if I'd ever write another book again!

After some time had passed, I was no longer under the influence of my nagging curiosity to see if I could accomplish such an ambitious goal. With the success of my pen name under my belt, I realized I no longer needed or even wanted to write full-time. I still wanted to write, of course! But it was clear to me then that full-time writing (at least, the way I had approached it for my pen name) was too all-consuming to be sustainable or healthy for me. Heck, I sat at the computer all day every day for a year straight, y’all! I was no longer living my life, going on real-world adventures, or consuming anything that wasn’t romance, analytics, or authorpreneur-related. I had developed a one-track mind, and my well of creativity had been depleted.

Moreover, the prospect of burning out again petrified me. I realized I’d rather spend the rest of my life writing to entertain a small group of readers than go all-in on publishing again and completely lose my ability to write altogether!

Eventually, I reached a point where I felt the itch to create something again. I was still afraid to write for fear I'd take it too far, but it had been 12 years since the characters of OTTS started taking up space in my brain and 3 years since I wrote their story. I wanted to finally share my zany spy adventure novel with other goofballs. I ignored the part of me that wished to upgrade the manuscript with all the new skills I gleaned from my experience writing romance. I was tired of waiting and of excuses. The book was already written and professionally edited, for goodness sake! At this point, just getting it out there was good enough for me. Simply uploading a book for sale on Amazon didn't feel right, though. What I wanted was a connection with readers again.

That's when my dad suggested I check out Substack. (Thanks, Dad! 💕) Discovering Substack was the perfect next step for me because it could provide a way to casually introduce OTTS to readers one chapter at a time (which would give me space to ease back into that world, re-familiarize myself with my own writing, and maybe even have a book cover made). Substack could also be a fun new way to introduce myself to readers without the headache of social media, all while slowly rekindling my writing spark. I was sold, and I knew in my gut that it was time to take a leap of faith back into the world of writing.

I'm so glad I took that chance and started publishing Over the Top Secret here on Substack one year ago! I’ve made friends with fellow writers and readers through this newsletter and through the online platform, which has been an awesome and unexpected gift. Even more unexpected was that the process of recording the audio chapters for OTTS got me back in touch with Julie’s voice (which, in this case, was also my own!). Now that the book has been serialized for my subscribers (and is also available as an ebook, audiobook, and tangible as a paperback and hardcover novel!) I feel liberated. Plus, it’s not just me that thinks T.O.P.S.E.C.R.E.T. is hilarious. This zany story is being enjoyed by all my awesome Gigglers alongside me. 🥲

I’m also relieved to find that I’m daydreaming about writing new stories again! It's only a matter of time before I'm ready to write my next story (maybe even a sequel to OTTS 👀). In the meantime, Substack has brought me back to life, introduced me to YOU, and even helped me discover my new love of drawing!

My crazy real-life adventure of becoming a romance writer was exhilarating, stressful, rewarding, difficult, encouraging, and insane. Even though it resulted in a massive burnout, I wouldn’t change anything about how things played out. I learned a lifetime of lessons and grew immeasurably as a person and a writer. Now I’m excited to pursue a new kind of writing path, one that I’m discovering as we go along! I’ve actually enjoyed not promoting the heck out of my writing and, instead, watching our group of readers grow naturally. It makes The Giggler feel like a secret club for goofballs, doesn’t it? I love that!

I’m grateful for you, my amazing readers, who have surprised me with your engagement, encouragement, inspiration, and kinship. What a blessing! (And what a wild ride, right?!)

THANK YOU for being here! It's been one year of The Giggler, and with Over the Top Secret finally published, I'm excited to see where this adventure takes us next. 💖

Until next time,
Alexa

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Thank you for reading! And for being patient since last November while I was living my crazy life. I’ll be back with more fun stories and updates soonish. Until next time!