new adult author | H.M. Ward: New York Times Bestselling NA Romance & YA Author

mecolord

1. My favorite color is purple.

2. My secret favorite color is pink.

3. I like to make sublime things, and I’m a hopeless romantic.

4. I believe in true love, and was lucky enough to find it and keep it.

5. I love somber, melancholy stories and music.

6. I play the cello, and competed when I was younger.

7. I LOVE playing in pit orchestras.

8. And I’m infatuated with the theatre. Backstage, when the lights are down, and the theatre is empty offers a ghostly hallowedness that is so alluring, I could sit there, listening to the silence forever.

9. The giggles of a child are like Pixie Stix for the soul.

10. Dogs love me, although I only admire them from a distance. It’s quite awkward, actually.

11. I have middle child syndrome. My mom told me so. A lot.

12. I have curly hair that puts Side Show Bob’s untamed mane to shame.

13. My favorite number is 3.

14. I’m a professional artist (commissioned painter).

15. I’m a full time writer. DEMON KISSED (A Paranormal Romance-Book #1 in the Demon Kissed Series) (Demon Kissed #1) was my 1st book. I shot all the covers for that series and Catalyst in my studio.

16. Although my mother thinks so, I am not the heroine in any of my books even they have unmanageable hair, middle child syndrome, an affinity for art and music, are rather clumsy, and like the #3.

17. Oh yeah, I’m clumsy.

18. My favorite book is Peter and Wendy.

19. I went to seminary. I forget exactly how that happened.

20. I’m an award winning boudoir photographer. Fo shizzle.

21. I appear to be slightly bipolar, tripolar as I’m reading this list.

22. I’m introverted. I’d be a hermit, but I don’t like caves. Okay, I’m, lying. I LOVE caves, but I hate things that live in them, like bats and other hermits.

23. I’m a native NYer, which is why most of my novels take place on Long Island. The high school in DEMON KISSED and TRYSTAN SCOTT is Deer Park High. Yes, there is a prop room in the basement. That was just an open invitation to trouble. What the hell were they thinking?

24. When I 1st moved to TX, I thought nice people were trying to steal my car. They’d say stuff like, “How are you?” and “Nice morning, isn’t it?” I managed not to punch anyone. They say I’m doing rather well now.

25. I found out I’m old last week. It didn’t go over well. I’m hoping it was a mistake.

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This year has been an amazing experience. Some of you know that I’m an indie author, which means that I’m completely self-published. Lots of people think that a writer can’t get anywhere going it alone, and I’d like to say otherwise.

Being an Indie Author rocks! Here are some of the amazing things that have happened so far this year, and the year isn’t over yet!

Currently, I’m the #1 bestselling new adult author in the world. Thank you to Bella Andre for pointing that out. I don’t stop and look at the numbers often, and since they exploded this year I’ve climbed more lists than I can count. The majority of my titles are new adult, and they took off like a rocket early this year after sleeping for months.

I’ve sold 2 million books. On my own. Without a publisher. How many? Can you even fathom that number, most of which were sold since this January? I can’t. What does that even look like? 2 freakin million books. Sold. As in people paid for them. (No, that doesn’t include free. I suck at free. While others have gotten free to work, I didn’t). It’s amazing!

My books have been in the New York Times 7 times since January, as well as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal. One of my titles also hit #1 on Digital Book World and I was the 1st strictly Indie author to do so.

I hit the #1 bestselling author on Amazon several times and have been in the top 100 since January this year. The authors surrounding me are mega blockbuster bestselling authors like Nora Roberts, Lee Child, and Dan Brown.

I’ve had multiple books hit the lists on the same week! I had 2 New York Times bestsellers at once, multiple times! Having 7 so far this year is overwhelming, but when you add that some of those books were in there twice in one week and wow. Just wow.

One of my titles was in the Amazon top 100 books for over 100 days. That was amazing!

I was in FORBES, The Washington Post, and a bunch of other cool places.

We’re well into record breaking territory for an indie author. Self publishing is a roller coaster ride and it’s been frantic since the start of this year.

Hell, publishing is a wild ride in general. It’s hard enough to write a book, but when you add in the factors it takes to get it in front of people, and all this stuff that happened is mind-blowing.

I’ve turned down multiple six-figure offers from traditional publishers this year and I am a so glad that I did. For those thinking about self publishing, take a good hard look. I’m having a fun time and currently at the top of the charts, and while my experience may not be the norm, there are many Indies earning an excellent living–some, for the first time in their lives–and they’re doing what they love.

I just wanted to share this since the connotation that self-publishing isn’t a good plan. People told me I was crazy when I turned down those offers. Trust your gut.

It turns out that self publishing is awesome.

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