Serenity King

First let me introduce myself, my name is Serenity King and I am a published author of interracial/multi-cultural erotica and contemporary romance. I have one short story Let’s Ride that released in May, 2010; two novellas, Simply Beautiful that released in June, 2010 (the first in the Cameron and Carrington series) and Diamond’s Seduction, released in August, 2010, all released through Beautiful Trouble Publishing.


I have a soon to release novella as a part of Shara Azod’s Flavor series called Peaches and Cream and another upcoming release Princess and the Professor due to release through Mocha Memoirs Press, Beauty and the Geek series.

Since I don’t have any idea of what to blog about…I thought I’d talk about what it feels like to be a newly published author so far. I have only been published since May of this year… feels like a lifetime ago. Each day I am learning something new about being an author. It’s tough. Learning what questions to ask and what not to ask has definitely been a learning experience.

As a new writer I was hungry for any information I could get on the writing community. I asked a million questions, did a lot of research, and joined many loops and social networks. I felt that if I was going to be a writer I wanted to do things the right way. Even with that I’ve still made a lot of mistakes and will probably make some more.

Asking Questions

In the beginning I asked my publisher and the awesome RaeLynn Blue many questions. Every single question I asked was answered fully. I’d asked some other authors questions and I’d either never received a reply back or was given some BS answer that I knew for myself the information couldn’t be correct. I used to read about some of the horror stories that some authors went through to get into the game and would say to myself…that couldn’t be correct. No one would treat a fellow author in that manner. Boy was I wrong. Not everyone is as willing to help and not everyone wants you to succeed. Oh you get a lot of lip service, but you can tell the people that really want to help out. Those are the people who offer to help with no strings attached. They give freely.

When my first short story Let’s Ride was published I had more than one author tell me that I wasn’t a real author because it was an e-book publication. Hurt my feelings big time. Because these were authors that I’d supported for years. I didn’t know. I’m new. I went to my publisher and asked if I was a real author? Then repeated what I’d been told. I’m not even going to repeat what J said, LOL. Then Simply Beautiful was released. When I tell J is priceless I am not lying (Lol). Thank God there are some awesome authors out there that are secure within themselves and in their abilities as an author to offer a helping hand to the new kid on the block.

I’ve had some good and bad experiences so far. All in all, I would have to say most have been very good. I’ve met some awesome authors, some I recognize from being a fan of their works for many years and some new authors. I support many romance authors…but have found that I have a special bond with interracial romance authors of all genres. Interracial relationships and books at one point was so Taboo, I feel it’s very important that IR authors stick together. Listen it’s hard being an author period, but then add interracial and let’s not even mention interracial erotica…almost like stepping into the Twilight Zone, lol. I have lost many friends since they’ve found out that I write erotica. Oh well, I’ll be here when they return. No biggie since I’ve met some awesome people.

Which reminds me, I have to thank some authors that I’ve recently come to know. These ladies I met outside of my BTP family. My BTP family totally ROCKS! These ladies from the first moment I posted a comment to one of their posts or articles embraced me. Each one of them offered invaluable writing tips, books, and advice as experienced authors (freely). Did I mention that their articles are always encouraging and very helpful? Well they are. They are: Charisma Knight, Tracy Ames, Stacy Deanne, and Raven Starr.

I would suggest every new author read Stacy’s articles. They are great!

Stressing Out

I absolutely love writing and find it very therapeutic. However, a month or so ago, I was seriously contemplating giving it up. When I tell you I was stressed…huh…that would be an understatement. I was hospitalized recently and since then I haven’t been able to fully concentrate on my writing. I was behind on more than one story, and started freaking out because I was going to miss a deadline. Couple that with trying to promote, keep up with my social networks, being a mother to two very active teenage boys, one who is about to graduate from High School this year, I was a mess. Then I stopped and began to walk and meditate daily. See the one thing that I was doing wrong as a new author…I was trying to be everything to everyone and that just isn’t possible. There is only one me. Some people are going to like me and some won’t. Some will like my work and some won’t. And it’s okay. With that being said, I began to put my priorities in order. Once I did that…I back on schedule. Besides, I believe my fans would rather have quality over quantity any day. My fans are the best and they deserve the best from me.

All in all, my writing career so far has been an enlightening experience. My focus now is on improving as a writer. I still have a lot to learn about the business and am ready and willing to learn all that I can to be the best writer that I can be. I believe I’ve done pretty well for myself so far; four stories since May of this year. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Advice to New Authors

My advice to new authors is to stay focused. If you love writing, don’t give up. There is always someone out there who will be willing to give you the proper advice. Also, don’t be afraid of research. Yeah, I know…Google. Well, in my opinion, be very careful with Wikipedia and Google. I was told by more than one professor that not all of this information is accurate.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed my ramblings. See ya soon!

If you would like to purchase any of my books they can be purchase at:

http://www.beautifultroublepublishing.com/  or go directly to my website and click on the purchase link.
E-mail: serenity.king088@gmail.com .
Website: http://www.serenityking.vpweb.com/
Group email: Serenity_King@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo Group homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Serenity_King
http://www.twitter.com/SerenitysCircle
http://www.facebook.com/serenity.king