Interview with Jess Michaels, author of A Reluctant Bride

1. How many books have you written? 

Written? Close to 90, which includes books that will never come out from under the bed and several books coming up for publication in 2020 that aren't released yet. My January book will be my 83rd published book. 

2. Can you tell us a little about your most recent book?

My next book is A Reluctant Bride, which comes out January 7. It's the first in a three book series featuring a set of triplets who find themselves in a pickle when the one who is about to be married to an earl decides to run away instead. She has her sister trade places with her and suddenly that sister has to marry him instead. So there's mistaken identity (briefly), a marriage of convenience, a serious amount of longing, a lot of sexy stuff and ultimately love. The second book follows our run away (A Reckless Runaway, out February 4) and the third is the sister who is left to clean up the mess and redeem the "villain" (A Counterfeit Courtesan, out March 3). I'm very excited, as this is a return to full-length work after a year of just novellas. 

3. What’s your writing process like?

I'm a big plotter/prewriter. So I do the Verbalize system from Damon Suede, find the verb for each character, build out their character sheet and then do "Scene sketches" which is a bit of a plotting/pre-writing hybrid. Once I have enough of them that I can't wait, I write. When I run out of scenes, I sketch some more. So I'm a plotter with room to move. I write 5 days a week, have daily page goals and write a book in about 4-5 weeks. 

4. What genres do you write?

Historical romance (though in the past I've written erotic romance and urban fantasy). I see better results by focusing on one pen name and one genre and I really enjoy historical.

5. If you could give aspiring authors a piece of advice what would it be?

Don't just do what you think everyone else is doing. Analyze it in the context of your own goals for your career. Not everything is for you and sticking to your own path will get you where you want to go faster than trying to do what everything else is finding success with. I've been writing a "dead" genre for nearly 20 years and I do pretty well. I think that comes from building an audience through consistent writing quality and production. 

But also, don't listen to me either if what I say doesn't fit. :) 

Here are some links:

site: www.authorjessmichaels.com (where you can also find my podcast for writers)

@jessmichaelsbks for all the socials

Bio: Jess Michaels is a 10-Time USA Today Bestselling author of historical romance. She also has a podcast for writers called Journeys of Romance, where she talks with other authors about their paths of publication and production. She recently moved to Dallas with her husband, where they are still trying to eat at all the restaurants people recommend to them.