Transcript
Heather Roberts: Hello, I am Heather Roberts.
Veronica Adams: I am Veronica Adams. Together we are 1852 and this is For Books Sake.
Heather Roberts: I know it's great music, right? Welcome back to For Books Sake. We are here today again on our series about authors and their journeys. And today we have the incredible and amazing Prue Warren with us.
Heather Roberts: Hello and welcome Prue. Did you like our intro music?
Pru Warren: Yes, dug it, dug it, rockin'.
Heather Roberts: that's my That's my ode to John Oliver, essentially.
Pru Warren: It's very
Heather Roberts: I needed an intro song. It's very jammy, very John Oliver-esque.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Pru Warren: good.
Veronica Adams: Quite cheeky of you, Heather.
Heather Roberts: Yes, thank you. I should be like panging on the table when it's, you know, playing.
Veronica Adams: Uh-huh.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, we're we're so happy to be back. If you are following our author series, we had Campbell Linden on previously, who was an author for a year.
Heather Roberts: And now we have Prue Warren, who you are coming up on five years, if I'm correct.
Pru Warren: Yes, I am. Yes, I am.
Heather Roberts: So yeah, congratulations on that.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: That's incredible.
Pru Warren: really like it. I really like
Veronica Adams: That's a great milestone accomplishment. A lot of authors who set out to write the first book don't make it five years into the career. so
Heather Roberts: That's true.
Pru Warren: it. Most authors, I don't think are entertaining themselves as much as I'm entertaining myself. I mean, my abiding philosophy is, is it funny?
Pru Warren: Am I laughing? Am I enjoying it? If not, I'm done.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. And how many books have you written in these five years?
Pru Warren: uh uh i've just published my 24th the 25th will be out in november and 26 will be out in january
Heather Roberts: Oh my God.
Heather Roberts: Oh my God, woman.
Veronica Adams: Incredible.
Heather Roberts: That is truly incredible.
Pru Warren: can i love it i love it i mean it is so much fun ah telling stories is more fun than and and i can you know if i'm mad at somebody i make them evil person in my book and then smack them down
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yes. yes
Heather Roberts: you've You've truly come so, so far. So Prue and I worked together for when she was debut, right? Like very first book coming out of the gate.
Pru Warren: That's right. The very first book, that's right.
Veronica Adams: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You guys just blew my, seriously?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: has has it been that long? but Prue have, oh my God, where has time gone?
Heather Roberts: I know.
Veronica Adams: i'm i'm buffering now. My brain is catching up with the reality of the fact that it's been five years since y'all first worked together and that Prue has written literally 20 plus more books since then.
Heather Roberts: It's insane.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: That is amazing.
Pru Warren: Well...
Heather Roberts: It's insane.
Pru Warren: I'm just amusing myself.
Veronica Adams: you're doing it very well.
Pru Warren: So.
Heather Roberts: But yet you, you were such a, you were such a baby author when we first met.
Pru Warren: Well.
Heather Roberts: i mean, Oh, well we do love hearing that, but i mean, not, I mean, for me, not for you,
Pru Warren: I've never had a launch as good as the launch you gave me. So thank you.
Pru Warren: if
Heather Roberts: you know what I meant.
Pru Warren: I do know.
Heather Roberts: But no, I mean, it's so amazing to see how far you've come. I mean, you've really entered this industry. You've embraced it. You have done what so many authors should be doing is getting out and networking, right?
Heather Roberts: And now you are you lead up.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: um What is your position with the romance?
Pru Warren: i am the president elect of the Washington Romance Writers, which is the local Washington, D.C. chapter of Romance Writers of America. So I'll be in charge next year.
Heather Roberts: It's amazing.
Pru Warren: And I think they're all shaking in their shoes because. i I literally I'm not kidding. I just do things that amuse me. So we have we have we have board meetings, right? I'm the like the vice president going to be the president.
Pru Warren: We have board meetings and they follow Robert's rules of order, right? Like, can I get a nomination?
Heather Roberts: as yes
Pru Warren: Can I get a second? Let's all vote. and like and I'm just laughing.
Veronica Adams: oh
Pru Warren: Like, get you, yeah i mean, you know, that's just not what it's going to be like next year. I don't care. Does anybody have a problem?
Veronica Adams: sir I'm having I'm having sorority formal business meeting flashbacks now like the you know
Pru Warren: Okay, we're doing it. So
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: I respect it. I do respect it. I understand why people have meetings that way.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Pru Warren: but I don't know that we can do it.
Heather Roberts: Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Yeah. I have to admit that, you know, I don't hate that my last name is Roberts for such times. Like my nerd heart loves that. um Yeah.
Pru Warren: I'm going to tell everybody on my board next year that I'm using Heather Roberts rules of order.
Veronica Adams: yes yes yes the new and improved robert's rules of order the modern the the modern woman's guides
Heather Roberts: Yes, please do. Please do.
Pru Warren: Perfect.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. I can jazz them up for you.
Pru Warren: Now i am not worried at all about my term next year.
Heather Roberts: No, you're going have much fun.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I will tell the listeners and Veronica that...
Veronica Adams: okay
Heather Roberts: So I went to a marketing ah retreat or workshop convention, as it were, um that was run by Pru back in, what was it?
Heather Roberts: March, April of this year?
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: so end of March.
Pru Warren: yeah
Heather Roberts: And it was truly the best, most well-run conference I have been to in a minute. for It was just for authors. There was no signing involved or anything. But it was so well run. You had everything down to the, ah you had everything done. Like it was fantastic.
Heather Roberts: the session
Pru Warren: You're awesome. Your check is in the mail. I just have to pay you.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Thank you. That's a nice thing.
Heather Roberts: But really, i mean, you were detail oriented. You had fun with it Everybody there was saying how much fun they were having, how much they were learning. it' was very good.
Pru Warren: Good, good. The plan was to do a conference for authors entirely on marketing, no craft, none of this 12 stages of intimacy or how to make your protagonists more lovable.
Pru Warren: This was just how do I sell more damn books? Because the world, how do you, how do you, because even, and I I'm pretty open about saying I inherited money from my mother.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, secure the bag and make the money. Yes, yes.
Pru Warren: i don't need, they're not paying the rent off my book income, which is lucky because my book income wouldn't wouldn't cover it. but But there are so many authors, so many authors, you guys know this, who are writing spectacular books, really good books, and they're getting no traction.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Pru Warren: Cream doesn't rise to the top, right?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: I mean, there's crap that's making the bestseller list that, you know, a million of us are writing better books than that. how do you How do you do that? How do you get up here? So i took over the Washington romance writer said, we need a conference. Anybody want to help? And I'm like, yep, I'm in.
Pru Warren: And then I kind of, I body checked everybody away. I ran that conference by myself. Nobody else got to come in and play.
Heather Roberts: his Yeah.
Pru Warren: It was all mine. And I got to have an it all marketing conference, which didn't help me break through, but did help me sort of focus my, focus my goals for the coming year.
Pru Warren: So that's why.
Heather Roberts: Well, you did a great job and I'm sure that there were some tips and tricks that if you implement, you could help you. well I gave her a hard time. Obviously we've known each other a long time.
Pru Warren: Obviously.
Heather Roberts: Um,
Pru Warren: Obviously. Smack.
Heather Roberts: But yeah, no, it was really well run. It was amazing. I met some amazing people there who I now, I'm now Kate Hall's agent. I don't know if you knew that.
Pru Warren: Oh, that's awesome!
Heather Roberts: Yes. And I met Kate Hall at your marketing conference. So love her.
Pru Warren: Good. Good. That's really good. She's way bright.
Heather Roberts: She's incredibly bright.
Pru Warren: Wow, that was fun to talk to her.
Heather Roberts: Yes. Very bright.
Pru Warren: Excellent.
Heather Roberts: ah Kate Hall, if you've not know who that is, we have another, we've she's been on this podcast before.
Veronica Adams: Yes, she has.
Heather Roberts: So go back. A couple episodes, she is a whiz at TikTok. So she's she's wonderful and a very...
Pru Warren: That's why she came to the conference. She spoke to us about doing TikTok.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Pru Warren: And I didn't actually, I was wandering around dealing with caterers, but as people came out of that room, eyes were wide. People were like making notes. This is what I can, I can do that. I can do that. It was very um motivating. and It's really motivating.
Heather Roberts: It was. And I will say, so your conference talking with Kate and some others there, Lisa Vino was there, inspired me to finally make the course website.
Pru Warren: Yes.
Heather Roberts: So that was the inspiration to get me off my butt to actually make my course website.
Veronica Adams: look at this not just a marketing conference for writers but a marketing conference for writers marketers oh my gosh
Heather Roberts: so
Heather Roberts: Yes, I'm telling you, it it was truly an inspirational weekend. yeah.
Pru Warren: When I get to the pearly gates and St. Peter says, what good did you do? I'm going to say, please check the podcast. I want to hear from Heather Roberts Rules of Order.
Veronica Adams: yes proof proof flowers are in the podcast
Heather Roberts: yeah Yes.
Heather Roberts: But so, yeah, know so Prue is not only great at putting people together, but you also can write an amazing book.
Pru Warren: Oh, you're very kind.
Heather Roberts: what is your What is your most recent release and what are you currently writing?
Pru Warren: Uh, I actually, my laugh, oh God. And that deals with marketing. I took, I signed up for Mark Dawson's, uh, ads for authors.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Pru Warren: And he, I didn't, I really didn't get very far in it. You're like, why don't you apply some of the things you've learned prudence? And I'm like, okay, all right. I didn't get very far. But one of the things he said was that he bundles together three free books for his three series and gives away the free books.
Heather Roberts: Right. Yeah.
Pru Warren: but he doesn't make a penny of profit until the sixth book, the sixth book. And I was buffering, right? Just just like Veronica's just buffering, that blew my mind because romance novels are either standalones or they come in thirds.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Pru Warren: Nobody gets to number six, you don't.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: I mean, Bridgerton, yes. So could I create a romance series that would actually get me to profitability? Could I write six books in a series?
Pru Warren: So I decided to write what I'm calling the bad attitude billionaires.
Heather Roberts: Oh,
Pru Warren: I write rom-coms. So I wrote the bad attitude billionaires on the wall of my son's room. My son's gone off to law school. So his room is empty now, sucker. He left. And instead of doing like a poster board of what I was going to do, I have now covered one wall of his room with a 10 book series that I'm going to write of the Babcock family.
Heather Roberts: I love it.
Pru Warren: They're the bad attitude billionaires and they're called the Babcocks because bad attitude billionaire, I was abbreviating to BAB. And then what's a great wrong word? Cock, right?
Pru Warren: So the family is the Babcocks.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: And there are 10 of them, cousins, sisters, brothers, whoever. And I've got full 10 book series planned out. I just published the third of them and the fourth will come out in January.
Heather Roberts: Love it.
Pru Warren: So I've got i've got i got six more to go. So that's what I'm working on.
Heather Roberts: and So they're all standalone, interconnected novels.
Pru Warren: All standalone interconnected. You can read them alone, but by the time you get to book three, you will have met some of the people in book one and book two.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: So it's just a little easier to read them in order.
Veronica Adams: Get the full Babcock if you go all in on the series.
Heather Roberts: I love that.
Pru Warren: guys If you get the whole thing.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: And i'll maybe I'll make a profit at book six.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yes. No, you you will you will though. The longer series do help. I mean, but then you can have too long of a series too. I've seen some authors do that where they just like stay in one series forever.
Pru Warren: I know.
Pru Warren: keep going.
Heather Roberts: and then it's very hard to find new readers because, you know, who's coming in at book 17 of a series, right?
Pru Warren: Well, that's a really good, it's a really good point.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Do you find, I'm sorry, want to be, I'm going to come on and pick your brain. I said, if you pick my brain, dude do you, do you find that
Heather Roberts: Yeah, you're here.
Pru Warren: People get authors can write a long series, but break it up with standalones in between. if my theory was I'll write all 10 of them and get them done, but maybe what I should do is four and then something else and then three and then something else.
Heather Roberts: Mm-hmm.
Pru Warren: And right. Do you, what's, what's important.
Heather Roberts: i'll tell you my I'll tell you my opinion. and then Veronica, you can say what you like to to do as well.
Pru Warren: Okay.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: So you can do it in a variety of different ways. This is why I'm saying there's no one right answer. What I think works best is when you're writing a series that you write two series at once.
Heather Roberts: And so you have, and then you alternate releases because you can do the momentum thing.
Pru Warren: just
Heather Roberts: You don't want to lose momentum in either series. But you want to be able to feed your readers into another series while you're going. And because you might attract different people, right?
Heather Roberts: And then so if you attract different people for the other series, then they might say, oh, well, I'm waiting for it. She has a new release. I'll try the other series while I'm waiting.
Heather Roberts: And now you have two feeders into you of potentially different sets of readers that can cross and overlap.
Pru Warren: Okay, that's brilliant.
Heather Roberts: So it's like the zipper. I'll call it the zipper theory.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. I like that.
Heather Roberts: That's my.
Veronica Adams: that's ah That's a really good description of it.
Pru Warren: This is a permerge.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: what
Heather Roberts: Do you have have a different way to do it, Veronica?
Pru Warren: Okay.
Veronica Adams: No, i that that is exactly what I was going to say is probably the method I would recommend for almost everyone. I think the only thing I would i would potentially differentiate is, you know are you publishing wide or are you publishing direct to KDP Select and NKU?
Pru Warren: Yeah, K.U.
Veronica Adams: You might do two or three of one series first on the KU side of things.
Heather Roberts: and
Pru Warren: How appropriate. How wonderful of you to say.
Veronica Adams: Uh-huh.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, that's not a bad idea.
Veronica Adams: Yes, that's the only differentiation I would i would add.
Pru Warren: Thank you. like you
Veronica Adams: Otherwise, I think Heather's spot on here.
Heather Roberts: And have them up for pre-order for the love of God.
Veronica Adams: Always. Even if they're out to the furthest date and you're going to live launch them way earlier than the pre-order date says that they're up for, yeah, get them up there. start Start selling them now.
Heather Roberts: yeah get the conversion.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: because there is that one person who's going to say oh my god i'm obsessed with this series i want to preorder the entire series now if you don't give them that opportunity to do it you've lost that sale they might not remember
Veronica Adams: i
Pru Warren: Shoot, so that's fascinating.
Heather Roberts: him and old fish
Veronica Adams: i I am currently running a pre-order ad campaign for an author who this brand new series, book one, is the pre-order book. Book two is also up for pre-order and the pre-order ad is converting at like 30%.
Veronica Adams: So every third every third person who pre-orders book one is also pre-ordering book two.
Pru Warren: No kidding.
Pru Warren: One moment, please. I need to make a note.
Veronica Adams: It's possible.
Heather Roberts: we're having We're having a marketing sesh. I love it I love it
Pru Warren: Everything is a marketing session. I mean, my God.
Heather Roberts: I know. Well, this goes to this goes to the point of the episode, though, is that just because you're five years into this, and I'm i'm doing this because authors need to understand that you don't ever stop learning.
Pru Warren: Oh my God.
Heather Roberts: I mean, you never stop learning. And as we talk to authors who've been doing this for a decade, or you know, like they will, we will have the same or similar conversations because there's always something new.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: There's always ah a different strategy to try and you're, you're literally never stopped learning.
Pru Warren: Plus, ah here's here's my thought for anybody listening. Because indie publishing is 10 years old, 12 years old, we're in the wild, wild west.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: What worked last year no longer works.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Pru Warren: People used to say that a BookBub feature deal was the end of time.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: If you could get that, you're set for life. And now we're hearing much less interesting results from it. That was last year. i mean, the things that I thought I could count on
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: That ain't working anymore. So it's not it's not a matter of wisdom and experience.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: All
Pru Warren: It's a matter of holding onto the wave, surf the wave you're on right now, because this this is the wet the wild west.
Heather Roberts: right.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: There are no rules.
Veronica Adams: Commitment is so important, but adaptability is just as important as commitment.
Pru Warren: It's weird.
Heather Roberts: yeah and Yeah, you have to be willing to pivot.
Veronica Adams: Yes, absolutely. Uh-huh.
Heather Roberts: You have to be unemotional and treat this as a business if you want this to be your career. And, you know, once you put those book babies out into the world, they're products now. They're not yours anymore.
Heather Roberts: And getting through that thick skin, you know, getting that thick skin is is important. And that sort of separation, right, from your books.
Pru Warren: I
Pru Warren: yeah i think that's right. I think that's right.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Exactly right. When I, when I first began with you, Heather, you said, why aren't you on book talk and it was five years ago and I went, what talk? I don't know what that is. um But do you feel now?
Pru Warren: I never did. Right. yeah I'm 65 for God's sake. I'm an old lady. Don't let me on to TikTok. ah But now do you think it's still possible to gain traction on book talk? Because what I'm getting now is that if you weren't there five years ago, 10 years ago, whenever, it's very hard now to gain any traction.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Heather Roberts: No, not necessarily. i would say newer accounts get the most traction. So when you start an account on BookTok, you are, or or TikTok, just generally speaking, right?
Heather Roberts: You need to pick a lane, pick your lane and start posting content for that lane. So If you are going to be face forward and you're going to talk about books and be you know the author, then you need to start doing that and start dumping content in there.
Heather Roberts: Don't just post once and then like go away. You need to dump content ah into there. Be sort you know strategic and consistent about it. Like I'm talking three posts a day.
Heather Roberts: You can post them back to back to back. They don't care. Right there. You're going to get traction on videos. I still get likes from videos that I posted like, I don't know, three years ago.
Heather Roberts: Um, TikTok doesn't care when you post the video. So it's not like some of these other platforms where it's like, oh, well you should post because your followers are going to see this between like, you know, four and 8 PM and you know all that.
Heather Roberts: No, just post the content on TikTok. It rewards posting content. It also were rewards entertaining, you know, content. You need to be able to hook the person in the first, you know, two seconds of the video.
Heather Roberts: Um, What other tips would I give for for TikTok? I think it's absolutely legitimate way to gain traction. a lot of book talk, it does require a commitment.
Pru Warren: And it does require a commitment.
Heather Roberts: um The rewards though can be great. so yeah there's that, right? um It can be incredibly frustrating as well. Don't get me wrong. i have I have my personal account on TikTok, right? Where I'm just posting whatever I want. It's more of like a video vlog for me.
Heather Roberts: i
Veronica Adams: She dances with the goats to entertain my son ultimately is what it comes down to.
Pru Warren: Okay.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. I post political stuff. I post goat stuff. I post Vermont stuff. I just, and I don't post on a schedule. I post whenever I want to post.
Heather Roberts: And you'll see that, you know, I've gained like, I have like 5,700 followers there, which is actually not terrible. um But I could have a lot more if I was actually consistent about it and consistent about the type of content that I post it.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: um And I was either informative, educational, or entertaining in my posts. So those are the three things that you want to think about when you're you're posting on TikTok.
Pru Warren: I'm writing it down. Informative, educational, entertaining.
Heather Roberts: And have a hook at the beginning. People like to, you know... people People like to be entertained. They like to learn things.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: A good friend of mine who i actually met on TikTok and then I met her in real life here in Vermont. ah Now we're friends. She just had a video go viral. It has over 4 million views on it.
Pru Warren: and
Heather Roberts: It's insane. And it's literally her husband is a welder and he was starching a shirt, like a sweatshirt that he can then take in to work with him. And he was going through the process of it.
Heather Roberts: and that is what you know took off, but it's informative, and she was they were entertaining while they were doing it.
Pru Warren: and
Pru Warren: Why would a welder starch a sweatshirt?
Heather Roberts: So when you're welding, things I learned from the video. ah When you're welding, you don't want to wear just like a regular fiber sweatshirt because the if a spark gets on it, you become very flammable, right?
Heather Roberts: But if you...
Pru Warren: starch is flammable
Heather Roberts: if you It was some mixture with starch.
Pru Warren: oh okay okay he was fireproofing himself
Heather Roberts: i don't I didn't watch it that early.
Veronica Adams: A welding safe charge, if you will.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, he was essentially fireproofing himself. It comes out very stiff, right? So she was making a lot of jokes, as it were.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: um And he was not getting any of the jokes. They were not coming across to him at all. So it was very funny to watch. um And yeah, so he was going through that whole process. And yeah, it was a fun process to watch.
Pru Warren: That's wild.
Heather Roberts: And yeah, what, 4 million views. And she was not expecting that at all. She thought that her normal, like she has decent following, but she thought her normal people would watch it. No, it was informative and it was funny. And it, you know, it went viral.
Pru Warren: Wow. That's wild. but
Heather Roberts: Now you can on BookTok, I'm going on a rant here, but now there's a lot of people who always say like, oh, well, carousels or I call them page swipes, but you know carousels where you put up the individual images and then people swipe through them, right?
Pru Warren: That's wild.
Pru Warren: Right.
Pru Warren: Yep.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, those absolutely can still go viral. The problem is you have to have a separate account for that. You you can't do a face account and do that kind of account.
Pru Warren: No, I didn't know that.
Heather Roberts: I mean, you can, but TikTok's gonna get confused as to what you're doing. So your views are gonna fluctuate.
Veronica Adams: And that's still a completely viable way to like uplift your backlist too. I actually was just chatting with someone, ah mid list author like yourself, who is using TikTok to replace her Facebook ad campaign strategy right now because her swipe videos are selling her backlist enough that she's actually making more money just posting to TikTok twice a day than she was then she was running Facebook ads.
Pru Warren: That's wild. That's wild.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Wild.
Heather Roberts: Totally possible to do.
Veronica Adams: Yep.
Heather Roberts: Does take a little bit of a commitment, but there are ways to do it.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Kate Hall has amazing ah strategy in her course and she teaches you how to batch them if you take her course for that.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, she does.
Heather Roberts: So yeah, super great.
Pru Warren: All right.
Heather Roberts: Kate will be pleased I'm plugging her stuff. I just...
Pru Warren: All right.
Heather Roberts: Um, but no, I mean, she, she breaks it all down into how to like the actual step-by-step of how to batch to do those, uh, carousels and those slides, which yeah, she explains it better than I could in this particular podcast.
Pru Warren: Okay. That's excellent.
Pru Warren: Okay.
Heather Roberts: Um, but yeah, if you don't want to do that, you know, yeah, you just create the, create the slides and then you can reuse them. And there's nothing to say that you have to, it's a one and done type situation.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: You repost them seven or eight times to different sounds or yeah.
Pru Warren: Oh, no kidding.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. yeah
Pru Warren: So that's interesting. All right. I want to go back to the concept of writing two series at a time.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Pru Warren: And I chose billionaires for my series because theyre but everybody wants more news about billionaires, right?
Heather Roberts: Ooh.
Pru Warren: that's a hot That's a hot, especially in times of economic uncertainty, nothing's more attractive than you know a Busby Berkeley musical, right? I mean, everybody wants to know, right? ah What else?
Pru Warren: You know it's true. Dancing girls, right? Fans, others, right?
Veronica Adams: Yes, yes, absolutely.
Pru Warren: What else is hot at the moment in the rom-com world?
Heather Roberts: oh
Pru Warren: What's another genre? Do I have to turn to motorcycle gangs?
Heather Roberts: Oh, i would I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do Billionaires and Motorcycle Gangs.
Veronica Adams: be a little darker with the motorcycle gangs, I think.
Pru Warren: Okay, fair enough.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: You don't think comedic motorcycle gangs would be a hit?
Veronica Adams: I don't know. yeah it would be it would be a gamble it would be a gamble in this market, okay?
Pru Warren: Hey, Bucky. Right, right.
Veronica Adams: Because i think i think it's the I think it's the girls who like the masked men and the serial killers who would be going for the biker gangs, you know?
Pru Warren: Why are you dressed up as a bunny rabbit?
Pru Warren: Love it. Yep.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: That's a hoot.
Veronica Adams: ah Yeah, for sure.
Pru Warren: All right, rom-com world does have to be nannies.
Heather Roberts: No, doesn't have to be.
Pru Warren: Hockey players.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, sports still really big.
Pru Warren: or
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, still really big with hockey. And not just any sports hockey.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Small town.
Heather Roberts: Small town. any Any sort of fish out of water situation. 100%.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Pru Warren: Oh, I love fish out order. Small town can still be dirty though, can it? I can still write smooth.
Veronica Adams: Absolutely.
Heather Roberts: oh and That's my favorite kind of small town. Yeah.
Pru Warren: Okay.
Veronica Adams: it's ah she's She's an auto buy for a dirty small town book.
Heather Roberts: what
Veronica Adams: If there's BDSM in it, sold.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, even more.
Veronica Adams: Over. Yeah.
Pru Warren: that's but bdsm with comedy very strange very odd very very niche very niche very niche market
Heather Roberts: Thank you.
Veronica Adams: Can be and be done though.
Heather Roberts: Thank you, hon.
Veronica Adams: Can be done though.
Heather Roberts: Very niche. Well, think rom-com, I think doing some time of small town hockey or hockey would be fine.
Pru Warren: hockey or hockey is that what you said
Heather Roberts: Or hockey. You still have the people who are are wealthy.
Veronica Adams: football f1 i mean you're not gonna get f1 in a small town obviously but like it's like a friday night lights rom-com right the football but football player football coach
Pru Warren: Okay.
Heather Roberts: Now
Heather Roberts: that's true. You could do that too.
Pru Warren: All right.
Veronica Adams: Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, English teacher, football coach, gym teacher kind of thing.
Pru Warren: right I'm going to think about this.
Veronica Adams: I don't know.
Pru Warren: Oh, so you're getting a little YA there.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, maybe.
Pru Warren: I always get a little nervous about really overt smut in the YA field for fear that somebody who's going to pick it up, who's not ready for open door.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Right, right.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: It's interesting. Okay. It's very interesting. I have to think about it because I thought I was being ultra ambitious, planning out 10 books, but now what I need to do
Heather Roberts: I mean, it is ambitious planning out some books.
Veronica Adams: No, that that is a big bite at the apple, so to speak.
Pru Warren: But I'm hoping that the fact that I write fast will, will mean it can be nibbled, right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: That, that I can sustain interest in it.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Absolutely. And here's the thing. Think about it this way. If you're doing the zipper theory, that series is now going to get pushed out with release dates a little bit further.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: So now you you have a longer stretch of the series where you're promoting the entire series for a longer period of time.
Veronica Adams: Yep.
Heather Roberts: when it's still new.
Pru Warren: Oh, it's curious. It's curious. And you ah do you believe that ah rom-coms in particular, but all romances, how many books in a series in order to make them viable?
Pru Warren: Do I have to do another 10 book series?
Veronica Adams: and
Heather Roberts: No, I think so five to six is a good number. 10 is lovely, but I think five to six is a good number.
Pru Warren: Five to six.
Heather Roberts: Veronica,
Pru Warren: Okay.
Heather Roberts: your thoughts, any?
Veronica Adams: Oh, I was going to say you could do as few as three probably and have a viable trilogy.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Veronica Adams: he
Pru Warren: ah Because I love a trilogy. I mean, that's that's pretty easy.
Veronica Adams: Even if they're interconnected standalones and it's not actually one cliffhanger, one cliffhanger and the conclusion, you know, three, just three interconnected volumes.
Pru Warren: ah
Pru Warren: Right. Right. I'm ah i' i'm an anti-cliffhanger person.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: I don't like it. But interconnected volumes, um yeah, double plus good. But... but
Heather Roberts: I like the five to six though, because it's, it does give you more meat on the bone for, yeah.
Veronica Adams: Absolutely.
Pru Warren: Do you believe that when authors write trilogies of interconnected books, then the reader is more likely to explore the backlist, or are they just going to sit around and wait for the next one?
Heather Roberts: Mm, that's a hard one.
Pru Warren: I got a big backlist now.
Veronica Adams: depends on Depends on where the reader comes from, I think. If you are getting KU readers, I think they're just going to ah
Pru Warren: Go someplace else.
Veronica Adams: move on. there's There's a high consumption rate there.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: I think you get people who wait wide.
Pru Warren: I don't want to be wide. I just feel complicated.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, I know.
Veronica Adams: yeah Yes,
Heather Roberts: i think I think, I mean, if they really like your books and they've just found you, they're going to go and try to find everything else that you've written and read it all.
Veronica Adams: Absolutely.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Especially in KU.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, especially if they can consume as much of your work as possible for their monthly subscription fee, whether it's KU or Kobo Plus. Yeah, absolutely.
Pru Warren: and all right. All right. All right. I'm liking the concept of small town. And i I could probably dredge up
Heather Roberts: I love it.
Veronica Adams: Ooh, we're percolating a future Prue Warren series as we record the podcast.
Heather Roberts: I know.
Pru Warren: Oh, let's go.
Heather Roberts: you love it.
Pru Warren: They're going to be named Heather, Veronica, and don't know who. Somebody else.
Veronica Adams: You're going to need another classic 80s girl name.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Sarah, Michelle, Jennifer, Jessica, Stephanie.
Heather Roberts: Jennifer.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Steph, I'm writing it down.
Heather Roberts: All the girls that we went to school with.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: Oh my
Pru Warren: Okay.
Veronica Adams: Yep.
Heather Roberts: God.
Pru Warren: Yeah, that's good. Steph, Heather, Veronica. Yeah, that's good.
Veronica Adams: Love it.
Pru Warren: Okay. Okay.
Heather Roberts: This is so fun. Do you have anything exciting coming up? Like any book signings or more conventions that you're planning or going to?
Pru Warren: Uh, I have done two book signings in my life and nobody knew who I was. Right. So, uh, book science, no, none, not a single stinking one, uh, conventions.
Heather Roberts: Sure.
Pru Warren: We were just talking about the, um, Washington romance writers, uh, equivalent to my marketing convention. They didn't want to do marketing every year. They want to do marketing one year and craft the second year, but we just had to kind of pull the plug on it because we're in the DC area where,
Pru Warren: Every third person has just been laid off, right?
Heather Roberts: Right.
Pru Warren: government shutdown has laid off a lot of, and and a lot of people have lost their jobs anyway.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: So we actually decided we did not want to make people want to spend four or $500 on a ticket to a great conference. So we just pulled the plug on it entirely. like
Heather Roberts: Oh, what a bummer.
Pru Warren: We're going to do something. We're going probably a one day. um Yeah, but it is it is a bummer that the political situation is beginning to invade my writer life, and I'd like to object.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Pru Warren: I'd like to register a complaint on that score.
Heather Roberts: I'd like to register complaint on all of it, but yes, that too.
Pru Warren: Yep. Yep.
Heather Roberts: That too. Oh, that's really frustrating.
Pru Warren: So that's too bad. my my My big excitement is that I'm going with my sisters on a cruise through the Panama Canal in December.
Heather Roberts: Oh, that's amazing.
Pru Warren: And what I like about that, this is ridiculous and horrible to admit out loud, but every single trip I go on is fodder for the next book, right?
Veronica Adams: Love that.
Heather Roberts: It's market research.
Pru Warren: So sisters, right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Sisters. ah How about a three book series of sisters in a small town?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: each sister gets a happily ever after in some sort of ridiculously comedic way.
Pru Warren: Absolutely. yeah Exactly right. Exactly right.
Veronica Adams: Oh my gosh, yes.
Heather Roberts: Even your titles are hilarious, by the way. Like, I love your titles. They're so funny.
Pru Warren: Thank you. You're very kind. The Bad Attitude Billionaires titles are just the names. Quinn, Regina, Susanna.
Heather Roberts: the name actually have, I have your Heiress series on my shelf back here.
Pru Warren: They're not at all witty. They're not clever. The best
Pru Warren: Thank you.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Thank you. Those are the best titles. that That book series was written because a friend of mine, Meredith Bond, said that she wrote a trilogy where the same scene appears in all three books. It's at the beginning of the first book, in the middle of the second book, at the end of the third book.
Pru Warren: And you see the same scene, but from dip different people's point of view. And I was like, oh, that's really cool. So I wrote the Aeros series, which is as three people who don't know each other, all of whom actually went to the same college. And the kind of autistic librarian has decided that they are all worthy and they all inherit bizarre properties from her. So they have to go find out Why these this wreck is valuable or why this palace, whatever.
Pru Warren: um And in in each of those books, there I think there are four or five different Zoom conversations that they all three of them have together. And in the first book, you don't know what the other two are talking about. But in the second book, you know what the second one's talking about. In the third book, it was so much fun to write.
Pru Warren: was so much fun.
Heather Roberts: Love that.
Pru Warren: And I said to my brother-in-law, a great guy named Scott, I need titles with the word Eris in it. And he went, okay, well, Breath of Fresh Eris.
Pru Warren: was like, oh, yeah, that's brilliant. Breath of Fresh Eris, keep going. And he said, okay, how about Full of Hot Eris? Yes, that's really good too. What do you got for the third one? He said, well, I don't Does she have a weight issue? I said, her mother was really on her about her weight and she's trying to to get a healthy attitude. He said, okay, vanished into thin airs.
Pru Warren: And was oh my God, it works out so perfectly. So those are the titles. Those are good titles, aren't they?
Heather Roberts: Aren't they so cute? Like, truly.
Pru Warren: They're so cute. They're so cute.
Heather Roberts: So creative.
Veronica Adams: And thank goodness for Scott.
Pru Warren: good for Scott. mean, he walked around my backyard thinking really hard. It was really cute. My sister and I were sitting around yapping.
Veronica Adams: Just steam coming out of his ears.
Pru Warren: Yes. Yes. Vanished into Thineris. Eureka! was very entertaining.
Heather Roberts: I love it. I love it.
Pru Warren: Very entertaining. Yep. So I kind of fell down on the current series on cute titles, but that's
Heather Roberts: What?
Heather Roberts: Well, that's all right. You you have to run out. you need You need a refresh. You need a palate cleanser.
Pru Warren: And actually, I'm going on the trip to Panama with my sisters and Scott.
Heather Roberts: Oh, there you go. So maybe you'll come out and these titles be totally different.
Pru Warren: So.
Pru Warren: No, no, for the for the for the small town sister series, I'm going to make him come up with some titles.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: All right.
Veronica Adams: Go back to wordplay. Yes. Well, yeah.
Pru Warren: Go back to wordplay. We find inspiration everywhere we go.
Heather Roberts: my gosh.
Veronica Adams: I love that.
Heather Roberts: my gosh
Pru Warren: ye
Heather Roberts: What is the one piece of advice that you would give a new author going who's writing right now?
Pru Warren: Oh my God, I'm like there's tidal waves washing back and forth. ah Okay, my single word of advice is if it feels like work, maybe you're doing it wrong.
Heather Roberts: hmm.
Pru Warren: Enjoy yourself. For God's sakes, this is supposed to be the alternative to the grim nine to five. Enjoy yourself.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Pru Warren: Make sure it's fun. Make sure you're fulfilled by it. ah And that's not to say you have to be laughing the whole time. i have friends who take two years to write a book and that's, they're still having a good time.
Pru Warren: It's still fill something in them to create a story and to know that someone else is going to read your story, which is so addictive, such an addictive concept.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: I think there has to be joy. There has to be joy. You can't think of it as ah miserable, oh my God, I've got to get this done by a deadline. It should be, it should make you happy.
Pru Warren: It should make you happy.
Veronica Adams: I think that's such a great advice, though, because it you can get so busy from the very beginning chasing the numbers, right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Because you do want to make money. You do want this to be a profitable enterprise. And if you are business hat on all the time, it down to the, oh, my God, which tropes should I include in this next manuscript, right?
Pru Warren: Right. Well, I do it too.
Veronica Adams: Like, what what's exactly yeah I need to write to market?
Pru Warren: What's hot right now? Small town.
Veronica Adams: What's selling?
Pru Warren: Right. Right.
Veronica Adams: ah Is that going to be selling in three months or six months or a year when I can get this book to market?
Heather Roberts: yeah
Veronica Adams: Or are the trends going to change? Is this the right cover design or do I need to look at other concepts? and And it can really, weighing the balance of all those things can really suck the fun out of the creative process.
Pru Warren: I think that's right. I think you're right.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: That is such great advice for a new writer, Perot.
Pru Warren: think you're right.
Veronica Adams: It's amazing.
Pru Warren: there are so There are six million definitions of success.
Heather Roberts: Oh yeah.
Pru Warren: And the easiest one to measure is how much money you make, but that's not necessarily the best measure.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah.
Pru Warren: I mean, i all my life I've struggled with my weight. So for me, the easiest measure of health was the fucking scale, which I really have a hard time with. But that's not the best measure of health.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Pru Warren: It's just the easiest measure. how much you make off of it or how many books you sell is one measure of success, but maybe it's not the best measure for you.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: So don't forget, this is supposed to be fun.
Heather Roberts: It is. It is. And you're right. This is not supposed to be the nine to five grind. Honestly, it's more of a 24 seven grind.
Pru Warren: Yes, it is. So you better love it.
Heather Roberts: But so you have to love it. You have to love what you do.
Veronica Adams: me We're going to spill all the secrets in this one, ladies.
Pru Warren: Every single one. You know, it's what you say about that, Heather, is true because marketing is marketing is not why most people get into writing romance.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: no. now
Pru Warren: But if you have to do it anyway, see if you can make up your mind that you do love it. Just force yourself into believing that you love it because you've got to do it anyway.
Heather Roberts: Right. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Or, or if you don't want to do marketing, be okay with the fact that you've written books that no one's going to read, but, but they're there and you can feel satisfaction to see them on your shelf. There are many definitions of success.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: Yeah, I heard someone also said the other day, they were giving out some advice and they were saying something to the effect of, you know, you don't have to convince yourself to do the thing that you don't want to do. You can do it knowing that you're not going to enjoy it and that's okay.
Heather Roberts: So like if there's a piece of the business that you don't like, stop like, you know, trying to work yourself up into this frenzy of like, I'm going to convince myself to do it, right?
Heather Roberts: Just go into it knowing I'm not going to like doing this. And it actually makes your brain like easy. It makes it easier to get into because you've accepted the fact that you're not going to enjoy this piece of whatever it is.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: I think that's interesting.
Heather Roberts: And so your brain's not no no longer fighting, one you know, doing it.
Pru Warren: I think that's fascinating.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Yeah. You.
Pru Warren: I'm going to piggyback on that. I was talking to this wonderful therapist about, I'm stuck on a weight plot. I'm sorry if this is so health focused, but i'm i was I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and got rid of it.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Ha!
Heather Roberts: you
Pru Warren: paying attention. I know. Isn't that awesome? No longer have chronic kidney disease. you know and But it has required a huge amount of energy on my part. And I was stuck on a weight plateau and nothing was happening. And I was talking to my glorious therapist about how much I hated going out for a walk every day. Oh my God, I just hated it.
Pru Warren: And really it turned out it was because I was listening to a book on Audible, but I just hated and I should have just switched books. It would have made me feel so much better. But yeah,
Pru Warren: But she gave me a nugget. She said, first of all, that you cannot be reactive at the same time that you are analytical. You can't.
Pru Warren: And if you can reach analytical, if you can reach a sense of awareness, you can temporarily shut down that reactivity.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: So she the phrase I wrote down and taped to the mirror where I brush my teeth is the function of awareness is to interrupt the self- reinforcing negative feedback loop.
Pru Warren: So if you get caught in how much you hate marketing, if you get caught in, oh my God, please don't make me talk about my books or please don't make me run ads or do any of that. If you get caught in that and say to yourself, oh, wait a minute, here's what I'm doing. I'm feeling this way because I feel out of control.
Pru Warren: You've lifted yourself out of reactivity and now you're in awareness and you can break the cycle of, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.
Heather Roberts: right.
Pru Warren: And you can break the cycle and become more conscious of it and realize that all you need to do is change the book you're listening to, right? There are small changes you can make that will help you turn this around.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: So awareness as the opposite of negative feedback. I'll do one of those.
Heather Roberts: That's really good.
Pru Warren: I think so
Heather Roberts: i think it's also true because, yeah, because you can also then try to maybe find joy in a piece of it too, right?
Veronica Adams: Super, super powerful.
Heather Roberts: Like when you're aware of it, you're like, oh, well, well maybe this hook would be more fun if I did it like this.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And so then, i be yeah, you can infuse a little bit of that joy that you were talking about.
Veronica Adams: just that natural acceptance that this part's going to suck but also I really look forward to this component that this thing that I get to experience despite the fact that you know the journey or the destination is not one of my favorites yeah
Pru Warren: Yes. Nice.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Yeah. Yeah. And maybe the reinforcement and if it's marketing that people hate, which most, most others hate.
Heather Roberts: And listen, you're
Pru Warren: me
Veronica Adams: yes yes yes
Pru Warren: now Maybe the reinforcement is the sales that you make. Maybe, maybe more people are reading your book.
Heather Roberts: still
Pru Warren: Maybe you are making enough money to pay the electric bill, if not the rent. Right. I mean, there are good things to to focus on.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: going to have bad days. Veronica and I, though, joke, you know, bad day doing this is still better than loitering every day.
Pru Warren: but
Veronica Adams: Preach. Preach.
Pru Warren: Absolutely right.
Heather Roberts: Still better than lawyering.
Pru Warren: and
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: So, you know, we are.
Veronica Adams: tell that Tell that to your son in law school, by the way.
Pru Warren: Nope.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
Pru Warren: Nope.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: That's my son. He's staying there. The kid was born to argue. I'm not letting him out. That's what he was born to do. well
Heather Roberts: No, he'll do great. I mean, and you can do so many things with a law degree. It really helps your brain think differently.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And really, it's very useful.
Pru Warren: He's going to end up writing books.
Heather Roberts: is.
Pru Warren: I can tell he's a storyteller. Woo. I'm proud of him.
Heather Roberts: almost like you you know it's in the blood or something yeah
Pru Warren: Love that too. wouldn't it be nice if I could take credit? I take credit for all of it.
Heather Roberts: my son has zero percent of my blood and I still take credit for all of this you know yeah yeah ah yeah yes the presence of goats yes
Pru Warren: yeah
Pru Warren: Very wise.
Veronica Adams: heavy Heavy on the nurture over the nature here.
Pru Warren: Very wise.
Pru Warren: Very important. And the presence of goats, of course.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: They are, oh my gosh, they're loving this weather, by the way. They're just obsessed.
Pru Warren: me too i took such a long walk yesterday i was so proud of myself and listened to a really good book on tape this is this is how you know how old i am did you hear i said a book on tape that's how old i am look on tape
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I have a feeling it's slightly warmer where you are, but yes.
Veronica Adams: Book on tape, yep.
Heather Roberts: A book on tape.
Veronica Adams: What do you, do you listen to things for inspiration or do you listen to like, ah do you listen to anything but romance? What do you consume?
Pru Warren: I like, oh, well, you know, um i actually was listening to Slow Horses, which was really, really good.
Veronica Adams: Wow.
Pru Warren: I've already downloaded book two of that. So much better.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: the ah The books I was reading that were weighing me down, like, oh, my God, I wanted to... do the equivalent of washing my hair, right? I mean, I'm just being weighed down, um were books that my son found and he and I were having a moment of reading the same series.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: Right. Yeah.
Pru Warren: And it was, ah you know, battles and wars and raw bodies and no good.
Heather Roberts: oh yeah
Pru Warren: um I read a lot of romance because I feel like I need to keep my finger on the pulse.
Veronica Adams: Yes, yes. Yeah.
Pru Warren: And I also think that it is really critical for especially new authors to
Veronica Adams: yes
Pru Warren: Get a KU subscription, subscribe to Kindle and read a hundred romances and pay attention to them in terms of, okay, how did they, how did they do the first kiss?
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: All right.
Pru Warren: How did they do the black moment? How did they do the meet cute? Pay attention to it and put yourself through an apprenticeship of reading because I read romances all my life and had never paid attention to the things that you need to pay attention to in order to tell a good story.
Pru Warren: So once you know how to tell a story, then read a hundred romances and,
Veronica Adams: Ooh.
Pru Warren: figure out what it is everyone else is doing so that at least you know what the theoretical rules are before you break them because you can break them, but you should know what they are before you start. um I read a lot of romances and I picked up slow horses because it was thrillery and exciting. And at the moment I'm binging um young adult apocalyptic fiction.
Heather Roberts: Oh, yeah.
Veronica Adams: oh
Pru Warren: it's It's a complete, it's a complete palate cleanser.
Veronica Adams: yeah i
Pru Warren: Right.
Veronica Adams: I do that too. I'm not a writer, of course, but like we we romance is our business, right?
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: right
Veronica Adams: I love a hard science fiction. Please send me to another galaxy. you know like Put me put me in cryostasis and wake me up in 2000 years where I can fight spiders and like fall fall in love with someone from a completely different life system.
Pru Warren: Love it.
Pru Warren: Love it.
Veronica Adams: like Yeah.
Pru Warren: Love it. Love it.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Absolutely love it. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I like vampires, so, you know.
Pru Warren: So who doesn't, but those do tend, those go sexy.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. yeah
Pru Warren: So yeah, of course.
Veronica Adams: They usually are very.
Heather Roberts: Oh, well, yeah. Yeah. That's why I like them.
Pru Warren: and
Heather Roberts: Although I did read one that I just read one. Very good series. ah Tethered is the series. don't know if you've seen that.
Pru Warren: That sounds really familiar. Who wrote it?
Heather Roberts: Um, Elena starts with a G. Hold, please.
Pru Warren: Maybe I haven't read it.
Heather Roberts: Um...
Pru Warren: Sounds so familiar. Is it dark?
Heather Roberts: they listen no it's not bdsm they call it dark romance or dark it is not dark the only dark there's there's blood and vampires so you know um alana r gallia gallia don't know i've said gallia gallia
Pru Warren: BDSM?
Veronica Adams: it
Pru Warren: Yeah, that's not a dark piece.
Veronica Adams: Oh. Galea? Galea?
Heather Roberts: It's ah tethered, I think, tormented and some, I don't know. there's It's a trilogy. And very good. Sort of a slow burn. Honestly, a little um not, it wasn't super sexy.
Heather Roberts: There wasn't a ton of, it was, there wasn't
Veronica Adams: Vampires are always sexy.
Heather Roberts: I know.
Pru Warren: I know.
Heather Roberts: There was a lot of heat, right? There lot of buildup. There lot of yearning. There was lot of, you know, emotions and sparks flying on the page.
Veronica Adams: el
Heather Roberts: But there is no, like, even the sex scenes that are in the book are not very explicit. I'll put it that way.
Veronica Adams: Very, very little open door.
Pru Warren: But they still satisfied you.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, i thought it was a great book.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And the story was fantastic.
Pru Warren: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Truly, fantastic.
Pru Warren: See, that's awesome. That's awesome.
Heather Roberts: And I kind of like my books a little on the spicier side and I still enjoyed this very much.
Pru Warren: I mean,
Pru Warren: I do too. I do too. And I write spicy, but a good story, I don't care. Spicy, closed door, pure, Amish, I don't care. Is it a good story? that's
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: That's all that matters.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. This one got me in. And I mean, vampires, you had me at vampire, but you know,
Veronica Adams: gonna need that on a t-shirt in the shop now kiddo you had me at vampire
Heather Roberts: I know.
Pru Warren: and
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: You're happy be at vampires. Okay.
Heather Roberts: I have a sticker on my Cricut. I probably should sell them. It says support your local vampire.
Veronica Adams: ha ha
Pru Warren: You know, to this day, like, I when i know friends are coming. I'll say the the door's unlocked. Just come in. People will knock on the door and I'll say, come in, unless you're a vampire.
Heather Roberts: right.
Pru Warren: Right? Just fear that, right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: Vampire can't come in if you don't invite them. I'm holding to them.
Veronica Adams: that's right and she's observing all of the rules here
Heather Roberts: That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
Pru Warren: one am my One of my friends opened the door and I said, unless you're vampire. She just backed away and closed it.
Veronica Adams: ah
Pru Warren: That was very funny.
Veronica Adams: ah we love we love a friend who's into the bit yes yeah
Pru Warren: Very funny. Very funny.
Heather Roberts: My husband likes to tell me that he's a vampire um and he like, he'll he'll go on with it for a while.
Pru Warren: Thank
Heather Roberts: So I was explaining that the, like there were in Vermont, there's actually the first vampire that was buried in Vermont and there's a whole like memorial for her and whatnot.
Heather Roberts: And he was like, well, what's the story? And the story is that she, I'm pretty sure she died of consumption. You can fact check me on this. I don't remember all the details. But she died of consumption and then the husband got remarried and that wife then died as well.
Heather Roberts: And so the husband was convinced that the first wife yeah came back and killed the the second wife, that she was a vampire.
Pru Warren: first wife came back.
Heather Roberts: So he exhumed her body and had her burned um because you know he was convinced she was a vampire. Um, so now there's like of a whole memorial for her and a whole, like the legend of the the vampire of Vermont, um, down in antivirus.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And so I was telling him that like, I want to go and and visit and whatever. and I was like, what did he say? He said something. And I was like, well, you know, it's not like true. Like there aren't like, I mean, there's it's not like there's vampires. And he looked me and he's like, how can you say that about my kind? You know, like he just went on this whole thing. was really funny.
Heather Roberts: So, yeah, he's committed to this as well.
Pru Warren: My son is a night owl and he says he's got vampire in him. And whenever whenever he's in the daylight, he goes, it burns, it burns.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: This is the skin of a killer, Bella.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Pru Warren: He wants it.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, we we love a vampire book over here. But yeah, I can see the, you know, science fiction, just really anything that pulls you out of reality these days.
Veronica Adams: We have a special guest.
Pru Warren: Agreed. Yes, that's my cat.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Pru Warren: She's going to show you her tail and she'll probably whack it in my face, but I'm going to pretend she's not really here.
Veronica Adams: I wish any of mine would come hang out when we were recording the podcast. They're all jerks who want nothing to do with my workspace.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Pru Warren: Mine talks a lot, so if I suddenly hit mute, that's why.
Heather Roberts: You're all good.
Pru Warren: but
Heather Roberts: man. Any big plans for this weekend? and We record on Fridays for those listening.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Pru Warren: My plans for this weekend are, I really think I'm going to get back to Timothy. I'm going to get back to book four.
Veronica Adams: Nice.
Pru Warren: um I've got a good, I got a good buy. always like, um all my people are billionaires, obviously, so they've got way too much money. So my quest is to find out how I can sort of, you know, put them through the wringer. How can, how, how, what situations occur where money is not the solution?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Pru Warren: And i'm I'm having him, he's kind of a larcenous guy. So I'm having him vaguely break the law. And eventually toward the end, he's going to have to realize the error of his ways. Thanks the love of a good woman, obviously.
Heather Roberts: Of course.
Pru Warren: oh He's a DC lobbyist and I'm throwing him out West.
Veronica Adams: no
Pru Warren: He's going to have to take camping trips with a, and sort literally, literally, or something.
Veronica Adams: Oh, horse out of water or fish out of water, horse off the trail.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. There's that water.
Veronica Adams: Horse out of water.
Heather Roberts: There's that water.
Pru Warren: Horse out a tree. That's right. um He thinks he's going to be fine because he has strings of polo ponies. He's very wealthy. So he thinks he's going to be fine.
Veronica Adams: big cowboys.
Pru Warren: He's not. So i think i'm gonna I think I'm going to play with that. I think this this weekend might be immersed in the land of Timothy, which entertains me.
Veronica Adams: How fun.
Pru Warren: My books are, although it's not a big deal, i the first book I wrote, the one that you helped me to launch, Heather, was Sin and the Peanut Butter Cup, Sin short for Cynthia, beginning with C.
Pru Warren: The second one in that series was Dash and the Moonglow Mystic. And when I realized that I'd written in alphabetical order, C and D, and I could not only put them on my shelf in regular order, but also in alphabetical order, ah then the next one was Alan and the fourth one was Farah.
Heather Roberts: Oh
Pru Warren: So without making a big deal out of it, I've continued it through most of the books. The heiresses were Grace, Hannah and Ivy. um
Heather Roberts: my God.
Pru Warren: Cupid's Quest series was Joss and what i I don't remember. Anyway, it's alphabetical. So now I'm up to um the first book in the bad attitude billionaires is Quinn, followed by Regina, followed by Suzanne. And now I'm up to Timothy, followed by Ursula, and it will go all the way down to Zachary.
Pru Warren: So Timothy
Heather Roberts: Are you then gonna circle back for and
Pru Warren: I've never had an A and B, so I think I'm going to have to. But the question is, I'm going to do a Steph, a Heather, and a Veronica in the next series, so how's this going to fit?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, thank you.
Heather Roberts: I love it, i love it.
Pru Warren: Me too.
Heather Roberts: Well, you you are the absolute best, Prue. I am so grateful paul that you came on here and chatted with us for a while.
Veronica Adams: yeah thank you
Pru Warren: Just a lot of gab, and I'm just amusing myself.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, we do the same thing, so that's all said, but.
Pru Warren: That's my goal. Good. Good. Good.
Heather Roberts: Well, I thank you again. and for those who want to find Prue, you can do so on Amazon. She is in Kindle Unlimited.
Pru Warren: i am
Heather Roberts: And, you know, shoot her a message. As you can tell, she's hilarious and she loves joy.
Veronica Adams: She is.
Pru Warren: Love to chat.
Heather Roberts: So, yes.
Pru Warren: Prue at pruwarrant.com. Yap, yap, yap. And I'll answer questions. I'll make things up. Go ahead. what do you want to know?
Heather Roberts: Exactly. So go check out her books and thank you all for listening.
