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Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Write Now or Never: Publishing Through Pandemic & Perseverance with Selina Violet
Selena Violet shares the journey of her romance trilogy "What We Can't Have," which started as a poem she wrote for her middle school students and evolved into a three-book series about characters connected by one life-changing song.
• Story revolves around college students Sidney and Austin who reluctantly partner on a music project
• The trilogy follows their "When Harry Met Sally" dynamic with a guaranteed HEA at the end
• Features a plus-size protagonist who faces self-image challenges without focusing on dieting
• First book in the series ends on a cliffhanger, with the full arc resolving in book three
• Began writing seriously during COVID lockdown after years of focusing on other priorities
What We Can’t Have – Hollywood Hot Shots
The right song can touch your soul…
Becoming a songwriter was never on Sydney Campbell’s radar. No; she chose a music major to one day inspire children as an educator. But all that changed when she met him…
Paired together on an important assignment, Austin Mitchell—the country star wannabe—quickly becomes the bane of her existence. Majoring in partying, his carefree attitude causes the duo to clash at every turn.
Despite the tension, they make beautiful music together, creating a song powerful enough to change the trajectory of their lives…
Forced together, the two battle to cope with their budding attraction as they struggle to navigate the pitfalls of the Los Angeles music industry.
Hollywood Hot Shots is the first instalment in the What We Can’t Have Trilogy. This story is a spicy, contemporary, opposites-attract novel featuring a curvy heroine and tortured hero that you can’t help but fall for. If you like compelling characters, light drama, and spicy scenes, then you’ll adore Selina Violet’s coming-of-age adventure.
About the Author
Selina Violet is a writer, entrepreneur, and author. She is passionate about sharing her stories with others. She has lived in several metropolitan areas: Pittsburgh, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington D.C. Her favorite things include: 80s music and movies, concert tickets, and Hershey Kisses. Selina lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her children and a spoiled rescue dog and cat.
website: https://selinaviolet.com
Instagram: @selinavioletauthor
Tik Tok: @selinavioletauthor
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Editing doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth—it's the magic that transforms your story from “meh” to masterpiece!
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE Manuscript Prep Workbook: Take the stress out of editing with simple steps to organize your revisions.
Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support Writer's Haven: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial
Oh hey, it's Victoria from Victoria Jane Editorial and your host of Bookshop Chats. This podcast is all about authors, writing and the magic that goes into storytelling. We cover all of the things that go into writing a book, from the creative process, from taking your idea to a first draft, creating and cultivating community within the author space, marketing all of the fun things. If you are a reader, a wannabe writer or an author, you will find tips and tricks that suit whatever level you are at. So I hope that you enjoy and you are, unfortunately, or fortunately, going to find many more books to add to your TBR, so I will invite you to sit back and listen to the episode. Welcome back to Bookshop Chats.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I am chatting with Selena Violet. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here today. I'm excited. So you have a trilogy that is almost complete. By the time this airs, it will be out. They will all be out in the world. So I would love to hear all about these books and just, yeah, like really, let's, let's hear, let's hear about them.
Speaker 2:So my series is called what we Can't have, and then each individual part of the trilogy has its own subtitle. So we start out with Hollywood Hotshot and if you like when Harry Met Sally, you'll probably really like Austin and Sidney. They sort of remind me a lot of that dynamic.
Speaker 2:They're not enemies, but they just don't care for each other at first and they get partnered in class to work on a project together and she's not real happy because he's, like you know, one of those popular guys but isn't real studious or serious and she wants to do well and she swears that, oh, he's gonna make her do all the work and take all the credit, kind of thing. So so they sort of get off to a rocky start. But, um, they actually the. Their assignment is to create an original song for their music composition class and they do and they perform it and they end up winning their showcase at college with the song. And then some really amazing things happen from that point and their song sort of takes them on this journey that they never imagined, because of the power of a song and we all know that I mean Whitney Houston.
Speaker 2:I Will Always Love you. We all have one of those songs that just when you hear it, it just instantly like you have this movie in your mind of all these memories and stuff. You know whether it was your high school dance or your wedding or whatever. And so I sort of took that idea that one song can change your life, and so that's that's what happens with these two, and so over the course of the trilogy they sort of like when Harry met Sally.
Speaker 2:They're not always together but they're sort of connected through the whole epic adventure, if you will that they go on and we meet some other characters along the way that sort of enhance their overall experience and how this song just continues to tie them together over the course of time. So I, the next I know this is gonna sound crazy, maybe not, maybe not crazy, but I actually built this whole trilogy around a poem that I wrote a long time ago. Trilogy around a poem that I wrote a long time ago. I used to teach middle school and I gave my kids an assignment to take one of their songs that they really liked and had special meaning for them and to write like a response to that. And so I did the same thing to show them an example at the beginning of the lesson, and I didn't think much about it at the time, but my kids really had a strong reaction to what I had written, and so I sort of kept it on the back burner for a while.
Speaker 2:And then these two characters just kept kind of speaking to me and and I haven't always been a writer, I just turned 50 in September but when COVID hit and we all had to sit around and do nothing, I didn't have the excuse anymore of I don't have time to write, and so I sat down and the first thing I wrote was actually a dating memoir from my online dating experiences, and so I put that out into the world. And then I kept writing because it really is sort of and I think a lot of authors will say this it's sort of a cathartic thing. You have to do it, it's not an option. And when I sat down and started writing, I couldn't stop, and so I built this whole world around Sydney and Austin and I love them so much and I hope that people who read it will resonate with them. Sydney's a plus-size gal. She's not a skinny thing, and so she has some challenges with her self-image. Now she doesn't focus on dieting or things like that. I know there are a lot of books that do that.
Speaker 2:And I didn't want to put her into that sort of pigeonhole. She's very I like her a lot and Austin's got some challenges of his own along the way. He runs into some women, troubles and things like that, but I just love them. I'm honestly pretty sad that I've just finished the whole arc and completed the trilogy, because they're characters that I for me personally anyway, they'll stay with me.
Speaker 1:I feel that it's it's. It is I often the authors that I've chatted with, the typically the reason they're writing a trilogy is because they're not ready to let go of their characters, and I fully understand that. I'm like, I feel that because they just become so, yeah, connected to you, they're a part of you, and it is hard to say goodbye to them because they just become so, yeah, connected to you, they're a part of you, and it is hard to say goodbye to them because they especially for I feel like the first book too, like the first, like real, like you know, your first book that's out in the world these first characters that you really like let shine. Um, there's something really special about that. So I wholly agree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you know and this is not. You know I think you might get a little deceived is not the right word, but my cover is very based on like the popular style right now where you have the cartoonish animated characters on the front. But I don't want people to mistake this for a rom-com. It is not a rom-com, it is a love story and, like I said I when harry met sally's, the closest thing I can come to, if you like this, you'll like say, if you like this book, you might like that book. That's about the closest I can get.
Speaker 2:And I've had other people ask me well, who do you write like? Well, I don't really write like anybody else. I write like me and I write like me because of how the authors I've read the authors I've been influenced by, the stories I've been influenced by over the years. So you can kind of get a feel for what people think about the book. I know I have a few. Check out my profile on Instagram. I've posted anytime someone's reviewed my book or had things to say about it, so you can sort of check me out that way. 100.
Speaker 1:I think that's cool and I feel like, yeah, harry, harry Met Sally is a classic right like for a reason, um, and it's really that sort of like not like fully enemies to lovers, but there is that element of like dislike, you know, kind of like they're not really fans of each other and I think it's really cool to have that um, yeah, just be a love story. And I don't often see um like like love story romance novels kind of like be trilogies. Typically the the ones are like it's like fantasy or or other, like horror, like things like that. So it's cool to have it kind of like spread out over three books, um, and I feel like that's such a cool way of just like diving deeper into that sort of journey. I think, um, with um your characters, because I always get sad when, when the love story ends, I'm like, but but I want more like, please like why, why did we end here? Like I need to see, like after what happened that's funny.
Speaker 2:You say that because something I've been seeing on threads recently is how people are like begging for an epilogue. Yes, like you hit the end, but we want to know what happened after that. And you know that they want to know well, what happened in three years, like at the end of Legally Blonde. How they say um, you know, that boyfriend or whatever didn't graduate with honors, didn't get a job, didn't do you know? But that Elle and Vivian are friends now and everything's fun, and um, emmett, I think, is going to propose to her that night.
Speaker 2:But they give you those little snippets even after the end. So you have a little bit more satisfaction and, over the course of it, sidney and Austin do get a happily ever after at the end, because you do need that when you're writing a love story, a romance, romance like that. You need that at the end. So just to ease anyone's mind because I do, and the first one ends on a big cliffhanger and then the second one is sort of open-ended, and so I do want to assure readers that you will get there at the, at the very, very end right, yeah, it's, I feel it.
Speaker 1:It's just like the tv show with your favorite characters and it's like three seasons later and then they finally like it's all it. They get together and you're like, seriously, finally. But I mean the slow burn, the lead up, all of that stuff is like important parts of the journey, even though you sometimes get annoyed. You're like, oh, please, just get together, but that's part of the fun, I feel like. When it comes to reading romance, I feel like that's what I love the angst and the well they won't lay all of that sort of energy. It's always a fun, fun, fun, fun ride for sure. I would love to hear a little bit about. Obviously, you tapped a little bit on like your writing journey, starting like, I guess, five-ish years ago now. But I'd love to hear like was writing a part of your life before that, or was it something that you just finally decided that you're like I'm going to do this?
Speaker 2:When I was in high school and college, I was very much focused on my writing.
Speaker 2:Most of the writing I did, though, was poetry in sort of that creative space which is a lot different of a format than a 90,000 word novel. But I had very encouraging creative writing teachers and when I was in high school as a senior I did write a story that ended up winning first. It was either first or second place. There was some debacle that went on about who should have won. Imagine drama in high school, you know. But uh, my English teacher at the time had said that he had really sort of um behind the scenes at the voting, sort of pushed for mine because he thought it was way better than the other one. So I, you know it's been what over 30 years since I was in high school. So I remember getting up and getting a little piece of paper other than that, but I did really enjoy the process.
Speaker 2:But then, you know, sometimes life gets in the way and I just went in another direction and I did teach middle school for several years and so I sort of was still writing, but not in any kind of serious capacity, when I got married and had kids and you know and. But then when we were all home and we couldn't do anything, I was like you, you really don't. This is like the time to do this, if you're gonna do it ever. You know and and with that whole pandemic situation, you're kind of like, well, are we gonna make it to tomorrow? We didn't know. It was very scary and so I thought, well, it's now or never.
Speaker 2:And, ironically enough, I wrote this whole memoir and it was scheduled to come out in February, and right after Christmas I got COVID and ended up in a coma and so my book came out while I was sleeping, which is, which is a different movie altogether, but came out while I was sleeping because I had all these plans to like market it and and be on podcasts and stuff like that, and then just nothing. So it was, it was wild, but, um, yeah, I've had a lot of health challenges, but that my writing is what's been keeping me going. Um, I've had. I don't even want to, you know, get into it, but I just I've had a lot of issues with my health and to me the writing is what has kept me going, and these characters and watching them grow and change.
Speaker 2:And you know, I find I think it's funny, but it's true that sometimes they do stuff that I didn't plan up here in my head and I'm typing and I'm going wait a second. No, this wasn't supposed to happen that way, but it happens. And I used to think like, oh, that can't be, but it really does happen that way. Sometimes they just go off the rails and I used to think like, oh, that can't be, but it really does happen that way sometimes they just go off the rails and I follow.
Speaker 1:So true, I feel like that's so true. They really are. These like people really, you know, are invisible friends, if you will right, like, but they that sometimes you're like, okay, this is happening, um, and most of the time it does make the story better and you're like, wow, okay, I see why we did this now. Okay, I, I recognize it, even though I was not quite sure in the beginning, but thankfully, uh, it definitely it does help, um, but yeah, it's such a wild thing, uh, that I also felt like I just you don't know it until you start writing and start to like really kind of get to know the characters and realize that they, they, you have to listen to them because they, they ask you to do certain things and stuff like that. That really, like makes the story stronger in the end.
Speaker 1:But it is, it's such a wild process. I love it, I love it. So now, obviously, your books are out in the world. So how has marketing been this time that you actually were able to like dive in and market your books? I feel like, yeah, it's such a. I mean, it's great that you're well and that you, but then you missed it and you didn't get to like, celebrate it and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2:But then you missed it and you didn't get to like, celebrate it and all that sort of stuff. Well, marketing, I think, is the hardest part, and a lot of and most authors recognize that a lot of us are introverts that really would prefer not to talk about anything that brings, you know, light to us. But the thing that I've discovered, and I'm sure a lot of other authors have, is that it's like it's a necessary part. If you want people to read your books, you have to tell them that you wrote books. And most of what I've been doing is just on threads. When somebody says, hey is just on threads. When somebody says, hey, I'm looking for book recommendations, a lot of people and influencers are kind enough to say, hey, show us your covers or give a debut coming out, you know, list it here or whatever, and sort of just on the grassroots level.
Speaker 2:I have done formal marketing campaigns with PR companies and influencers and I think there's value in that to some extent. But honestly, the thing that worked the best for me was participating in one of those stuff.
Speaker 2:your Kindle days, where I go in on my my books are on kdp, I'm sure a lot of authors can say that, and so you have up to five days in a quarter they don't have to be all at once where you can put your book for free on amazon. And so I participated in one of the stuff your kindle days through indie author central, and I had over a thousand downloads of my book, which is better, result wise, than I've seen with any other marketing thing I've done, and it doesn't cost me anything. Um, I true it's not putting any money in my bank, but the goal is so if I put my first book out for free then and you like it, then you might read the next ones, and I think a lot of authors do that. When they write a series, they use the first one as sort of a loss leader, if you will.
Speaker 2:You know you're not going to make any money on the first one, but if people like the first one, then they might pay for the additional books in the series.
Speaker 2:So you know and I think a lot of authors and I made this mistake myself you know you can throw a lot of money away giving things away for free and you know, trying to find people that will help you market your book, and but I honestly think that just doing something as simple as that or using Book Funnel or BookBub they always have 99 cent books hanging around where people are trying to promote their, their works that way too, and I think that's that's the main thing I'm going to do. Um, the other thing that I read about I don't quite have the back catalog for this, but I read an article about a man who has several different series of sci-fi books and he goes to comic cons and festivals and stuff and sells his books and he does really well, and so I've started going to art festivals and craft fairs and just getting my book out visually in front of people also has made a difference in, you know, being seen 100%.
Speaker 1:That's such a great reminder. I feel like doing those, yeah, in-person events and I feel like, even at the end of the day, if you're not like selling a ton of books, but you're still networking and connecting with people, and I feel like there is something like more intimate about like talking to somebody about your book versus showing it on social media, and I think there's something really kind of neat to be like oh my gosh, you're the author. This is really cool to like see you put this together and all of that sort of stuff. So I think that's such a great thing Because it is it's hard, because it is I mean, it's loud on social media, because self-publishing is a lot more accessible now, which means amazing books are getting put out, but there's a lot of them.
Speaker 1:So it's learning how to find your the things that work for you that feel really that don't feel super overwhelming, and I think it is like you're playing the long game too. It's it's. It's hard when you're like just the new author and you only have a few books out in the world where, um, you don't have a lot to like share yet. But it takes that time to, like you said, build up that back catalog and really kind of find that, find your people. I think it's that slow and steady. That's what I'm always writing myself.
Speaker 2:It's a slow process. I mean being an author and getting a book out seems like a sloth pace at times where it does take, because it's not just you it depends on.
Speaker 2:I mean, I have my covers professionally done by someone because I could not do that kind of graphic work. I don't. None of us have the ability to be an expert at everything, no matter how we try. So you know, I do some things on my own, but I do have a professional editor review. I do our copies and beta readers to get feedback prior to publishing, you know. And just going back to the marketing thing, there are a lot of things that you can do that don't cost a lot of money and if you can get support from your local library, that's also a great resource.
Speaker 2:I did do a reading from my first book at the local library, but I've since moved to a different location. But I've since moved to different location and unfortunately, the library here said that they don't really get much response when they have author events, so they really don't do that much anymore, and I respect that. Then you're not wasting my time and I'm not wasting yours. When you know that two people are going to show up, you know, and two people's better than none. But you know that two people are going to show up, you know, and two people's better than none.
Speaker 2:But you know to put all that out and you know then they have to advertise for things too and stuff when they have events, so you know. So I respect that, wasn't happy about it, but um, you know, and talk to other authors. I think that's one of the big things when I sort of feel sometimes that you know writing is like in a vacuum and you're by yourself publishing and I subscribe to other authors newsletters to see just you know what everybody else is doing and just to don't isolate yourself. Keep yourself open to those things. And I've made some really nice author friends along the way and it's it's nice to have a sort of we're all doing the same thing, but it's not a competition.
Speaker 1:Everybody's writing different things and to be able to support other authors in their journey is also important for me yeah, I feel like that's such an important thing of just having that community um and just people that kind of you know, know uh, what it uh, and also maybe there are a few steps ahead of where you are, so you can ask like questions and be like how help, help, help me, how do I do this? So that's like really important. And to have like feedback and stuff um from people that kind of just have an eye for, for that kind of um work is is always helpful Um, because, like you said, it does, it does sometimes feel like you're in a vacuum, but you become a better writer by getting out of that vacuum and like connecting and and, um, yeah, just like hyping I love hyping up other authors and and hearing about their wins and stuff uh, because it's really like they're doing it so I can do it too.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I love it. Yeah, it's. It's such a. It's such a fun, such a fun journey. Sometimes, though, you're like I really want to like my story on fire because it feels like it's it's garbage, but that's, I feel like that's just part of the writing journey, so I would love to hear what would be one piece of advice that you would have for someone who is just starting out their writing journey.
Speaker 2:Wow, be kind to yourself. It's a lot more to learn than anybody thinks. I think, oh, I'll just sit down at the laptop and write a story and that's like only a very small part of the iceberg. So it's sometimes, it's hard. I don't have patience with myself because I want to get it all out now. You know we're in all this instant gratification.
Speaker 2:We want to get it all done and get it done now, but writing is such it's signing up for a marathon.
Speaker 2:When you think you're going to do a sprint, it really is, and I have four books out and I still feel like I'm learning every day.
Speaker 2:You know, and I think that what you said, too, is important, and having that connection with other authors, being able to ask questions along the way, I cannot credit women in publishing enough. Alexa Big Wharf I have done so many little like 90 minute seminars and things along the way and learned so much and in fact, it just it just happened the Women in Publishing Conference like four days of all these different seminars and she's very cognizant of baby authors and then people who are also further along in their journey, and there's something for everybody on her website. If you, if you're aspiring writer, get on their newsletter that comes out, because every month she has some of them are free and some of them are like 15 or 20 dollars, depending on what the course is about but, so, so worth it to have resources and encouragement, and they have a gigantic back catalog of the podcasts that she's had on her publishing podcast and just articles from their blog too.
Speaker 2:It's such a great resource and I've I don't know what I where I would be, honestly, without all the work that she and her team have put into making this resource available to everyone.
Speaker 1:That's such yeah, such a great reminder of just yeah there's a lot that goes into storytelling and it's wild that like once you sit down and then you then you write the draft and then you go back and then start to learn about, like the craft and how you know how to structure things and what does it mean to like show versus tell, or like how to get the dialogue to sound like organic and not like clunky and awkward and all that like stuff, right, like it's all really fascinating to me of how that just all comes together and that sounds like an amazing resource and I think that's a great reminder of just keep learning, right Like you don't know what you don't know. And the more you write, the better writer you become, and the more open you are to like continuing to learn and grow, the better your stories are going to become. So that's, that's great, and I feel like that's always the goal as an author.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Well, I would love for you to share how people can get in touch with you, follow along your journey and grab your books.
Speaker 2:All of my books are available on Amazon. I know that a lot of people have a conflicting feelings about them right now, but they, honestly, are still the best choice for people who are self publishing.
Speaker 2:Yeah at this point. I would like to go elsewhere eventually, but they're the best for the moment. Anyway. All my books are available on Amazon. I didn't mention that. I actually have a coloring book to go along with my trilogy. It has all of the illustrations that are in the books and more, and so I like to color, so I figured that might be something that some other people would like to do. So all of my books on the coloring book will be available on April 1st, and you can reach me on Instagram and I'm on threads. It's Selena violet. Author threads. It's selena violet author. Yes, I just I'm like trying to make sure my head because I just click on the link on my computer and it opens my page.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's selena violet author, and I also have a website. It's selenavioletcom. Um, I'm not as great about updating my website, but I do have a newsletter I put out once a month. It's not spammy. I just tell you what I'm working on. I usually do a book review of something I've read recently that I liked and anything else upcoming. I'm going to be doing some craft fairs in May and April, and so I'll probably put a list on my newsletter if you'd like to come and see me in person.
Speaker 1:I love it amazing. Well, everything will be linked in the show notes, so it will be super easy for people to just click and have the link take them to where they need to go. Um, but yes, it was lovely chatting with you and I loved hearing all about your, your book and your writing journey. I always find that fascinating to, yeah, just hear about other authors and how they went from an idea to an actual book. So, thank you. Thank you, victoria.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I would love if you would leave a review and also, if you love the author that we chatted with, go find them on social media and hype them up, comment on their stuff, share their work, even if you can't buy the book. These kinds of things are great ways of supporting indie authors and getting their book in front of new readers. And if you are a writer or author in need of a developmental editor, please reach out. I would love to chat. Everything is linked in the show notes and it would be an absolute honor to be able to get eyes on your novel. So thanks again and listen to the next episode.
