September 30, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode, we're joined by USA-Today Bestselling author Melanie Harlow. We had so much fun talking about her sweet, sexy, feel good, small town romances. After fan-girling over her Bellamy Creek series, we discuss the differences in traditional versus indie publishing.
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(00:00):
Hello and welcome to the author spotlight with Monie Boyce and Kenya Gorey -Bell.
And today we have with us author Melanie Harlow.
Woohoo, welcome.
Welcome.
USA Today best selling author Melanie Harlow.
Very prolific, multi -series best selling author Melanie Harlow with us today.
(00:25):
We're so happy to have you.
Thank you so much for inviting me.
Will you tell us a little bit about your journey into writing and how it's been for you?
Yeah, sure.
So I thought I was going to go the traditional route.
I tried to get an agent.
At the time, I was writing like more historical.
And, you know, it was just a lot of rejection and I was getting tired of it.
(00:50):
And I had friends who were self publishing romance at the time.
And I thought, you know, I have nothing to lose.
This is about 2012, 2013.
So I self published that historical.
I say it's historical, it was set in the 20s, so it was not like a typical historicalromance that would sell, which is probably why the agents were like, we can't sell this.
(01:16):
It was romantic, but the 1920s aren't like, you know, the happening romance.
Like I probably should have gone like Regency or, you know, but I just really loved thattime period.
So I was like, I'm gonna write a book about, you know, that time.
So anyway, I wrote two books, like that one and then a follow -up and I could see that myfriends writing Contemporary Romance were having a lot more success.
(01:44):
So I was like, it's time for a switch.
So I switched over into Contemporary Romance in 2014 and I've been there ever since.
That's amazing.
Yeah, how many books have you published?
You know, it's somewhere like around 35.
Thank you.
(02:05):
You know, I write, I publish about three times a year.
This year I'm only doing two.
And I love it so much that I might never go back to three as long as the income dropdoesn't send me off a cliff.
It's just like, I have more breathing space.
I'm enjoying the writing more.
(02:25):
I was able to use the time to get ahead a little bit.
And also the timing of it, it kind of was necessary.
I ended up selling my current series, Just the Print Writes to Entangled Publishing.
So that has been kind of a new experience for me.
(02:46):
And so they are going to start publishing the series.
So there are four books in the series already.
And book one, they're gonna start publishing.
you know, the new paperback in July.
And then I will release book five, like the ebook audio and all of that in October, andthey'll release the paperback version of it at the same time.
(03:06):
So normally I can finish a book and a month later I can publish it, you know, as soon asit's edited, recorded and all that.
But this one, you know, they need more lead time when you're working with a traditionalpublisher.
So I had to push it, push it back, but it's going to be.
Good for me because I will have audio, ebook, and paperback all at the same time, which islike a miracle.
(03:29):
I don't think I've ever had that because I'm always behind.
are they doing all of the ebook and the print, just the print?
the print, right?
the print.
Yes.
I was unwilling to part with digital or audio.
Right.
Yeah.
So I just sold them the print rights.
(03:52):
That's been a really interesting development in the industry that authors are now able tosell only print rights.
I mean, when I got into this back in 2014, 2015, like that, it was unheard of.
Mm -hmm.
gonna say, I was like, you're one of the first people I've heard mention that they soldjust print rights to their book.
(04:12):
I think that's amazing.
Yeah, I think, I mean, there are people who blew up on TikTok and the TikTok audiencereally loves a paperback.
It's like a different audience than the Kindle Revolution audience.
So with the rise of paperback sales, I think publishing companies realized there is anopportunity here, there is a market for it.
(04:43):
Yeah.
you know, have been more willing to purchase print rights on their own.
Yeah.
with them doing print rights for you, will they change your cover from what you have onyour e -book?
So, oh gosh, the cover thing, you guys.
I...
Because I know that's always kind of a bone of contention when you get in traditional isthat, you know, they're gonna you sometimes have limited, you know, feedback or input into
(05:13):
what happens with the cover.
Exactly, exactly.
I mean, I was struggling with covers even before I sold print rights because with this newaudience that purchased paperbacks, they don't necessarily like human beings on covers.
(05:33):
And I've always had, yes, I've always had the shirtless man on my cover.
Yeah.
So, but.
that was, you know, suddenly like not the thing.
So then you have, okay, so now I've got the ebook cover has one cover and then thepaperback has two covers, one with a boot on it and one that's just either like font
(06:01):
focused or illustrated or something like that.
It's cool, but to me, I'm someone who likes tight branding.
No, I 100 % agree with that.
is, I worry that it's confusing.
You don't know what, you know, that people, you know, people need to see something seventimes or whatever before they, I'm worried that they're going to see all these different
(06:25):
things.
They're not going to know what it is.
So I would much prefer just to have the one cover.
But I tried that.
I tried to switch everything over to the non -human.
And I had a lot of readers because I've built a following over the last 10 years.
like, where's the dude?
Like the world was going to end.
(06:48):
Melanie Harlow does not have a dude on her cover.
So I switched it back again, but moving forward, I don't really know what I'm going to do,but the traditional publisher that I'm working with liked the covers that my designer had
done without the people on it.
So I think that the only tweak that they had to make was like the colors to make sure thattheir printer,
(07:14):
that it was gonna look right.
So they used the design and they worked with my cover designer so it will look similar towhat is already out there, which I liked because I was like, okay, that's nice, tight
branding.
Other authors were like, well, yeah, but now if someone bought the paper back before,they're not gonna buy it again.
(07:36):
And I'm like, I don't need to charge people twice for the same.
gonna say, I think they will because it's a different cover.
Like, some people, like you said, this audience isn't a paperback or, like, you know,books, then they're gonna buy just so they have both covers.
Some people are just rabid, like, I must have every version of a book that's out there.
I was, you know, I'm on TikTok a lot, cause that's where like it's been such a blessing inbuilding my community there.
(08:02):
And one girl was like, I have your ebook.
I have the paperback.
When are you gonna do the discrete hardbacks for my book?
She said, and I'm not gonna read that book.
I'm just gonna put it on my shelf for the aesthetics.
And she was like, this is the space for your books right now.
(08:23):
And I was like, oh my god.
Isn't that interesting to me?
Like the book, book collecting is a thing.
It wasn't, you know, seven years ago.
taking the, I have to show y 'all my cruel prince collection right here.
And I have drunk the Kool -Aid and I love them so much.
(08:47):
And then the Bellums.
And when I take, like I'm getting chills just talking about them.
So excited.
I love them.
And I will get all of yours because especially if you go back and do the Bellamy Creekones.
And my God, because Naima, because let me just tell you, one day I was like, Naima, I needsomething that's, I don't know what kind of phase I was in.
(09:16):
I was like, I need something a little bit more spicy than what's out here.
What's going on?
Girl, you need to read Melanie Harlow.
And I just made you.
She's like, she's so good, she's so good.
And so Naima Simone is who got me onto your books.
And then I read, Make Me Yours.
And I was like, oh my God.
(09:38):
And I was like, then you go, but like Melanie has the right amount of spice and angst andstory and just beautiful romanticism in her work.
And for those of you who are listening and want to give her books a try.
It's just like, it was just so beautiful.
It was one of those things that was exactly what you needed in that moment.
(10:03):
And then that's why.
Yeah, yeah, right.
And I just think that I love that Entangle is doing that because they were digital first,because I remember Naima used to write for them and so did Telsa and Katie.
They all started, like not started, they were that.
(10:24):
But before they got like the big publishing deals, they were like in entangle was therethat that next step up from where they were before.
And that's such a great opportunity.
I'm going to go find them.
You've been really wonderful to work with.
I mean, traditional publishing is also like compared to indie pacing, it's very slow.
(10:48):
But they are really like what they call crashing this first book that's going to come outin July.
So I've been really happy with it and and like curious to learn about the process and how,you know, a target shopper, let's say,
wandering the book aisles, what makes that shopper different than a person who readsebooks scrolling on their Kindle in the Kindle store, like looking for their next read.
(11:17):
So it's been interesting to learn from the marketing standpoint, like, you know, how toappeal to different audiences and stuff.
Mm -hmm.
And I think a lot of it is because people want to be able to see their, like, theaesthetics is, it's all about aesthetics on the hardback and the paperback for now.
(11:40):
And they want to have their books out and be like, so people can see them reading, Iguess.
It's not like a man on the cover, like as if that's something wrong with that.
But, you know, that's this new generation, like.
Old school people like me, we didn't care because I used to have my books everywhere.
You know, the clinch covers the Julie, Julie Garwood, the Clint, Joanna, my favorite.
(12:06):
Because I started out with historical too, and it was.
when I started reading when I started reading romance was historical.
Virginia Henley, I was in love with her.
I remember writing to her.
I would think I was like 16, 17 years old, you guys, and she actually wrote me back.
I was so stoked.
I was like, my God.
(12:26):
Yeah, I had my favorite, it was and still is Laverle Spencer.
And she was writing in like the 80s and 90s.
And I would take my mom's paperbacks and stuff.
And I wish I would have written her and then she like retired.
Like after like 10 books or something, she was like, well, I've done enough of that.
(12:48):
And I'm like, what?
like, no, you're not finished.
No, and like, I, we have this really great old bookstore in Detroit called King, but likeJohn King Bookstores or something.
So whenever I go there, I like look for these old liberal Spencer's.
I love it!
I'm sorry.
(13:08):
I, or like the old, I'm trying to think if I have one here, but the old step back coverswhere it was like discreet on the outside, but you.
You can clutch your pearls at the clinch.
Yes.
I know I was trying to think, I was like, I think I might have one of those I'm trying tothink that has like the discrete, let me see.
(13:29):
reread those all the time too.
I'm totally.
at who will write you back.
And that's why I always make sure that I write my readers and stuff back.
My husband was in, we were in Colorado, and Catherine Sutcliffe was one of my favoriteauthors.
(13:58):
And I wrote her, and I think my husband probably was deployed and I was sad.
And she wrote me like a three page letter.
It was encouraging.
I don't know what I wrote this woman, y 'all.
Anyways, she wrote me like, it was an email.
And I printed it out and everything.
(14:19):
It was just so beautiful.
And she retired too.
And she started making stained glass.
Literally what what liberal Spencer like started doing was like conducting choirs orsomething.
I'm like, what are you?
I guess she's like, well, I fulfilled that, you know, creativity in myself in terms of thewriting.
(14:41):
Now I'm moving on to something different.
I kind of love that.
I love it!
like come back like oh
the last person I wrote was Meredith Duran.
I don't know if y 'all heard of her.
She has a book called The Princess.
It was like she came along, it was mid -2000s or whatever.
(15:09):
She wrote these beautiful stories and then she just quit to be an archaeologist.
Oh wow!
Yeah, and she was amazing, but she's like, you know, whatever.
(15:29):
So, but because we know how brutal this business is.
And so Melanie, we talked a little bit before we came on about your group, your Facebookgroup, which has blossomed into a lot of people because I'm in the group.
Why did you start?
the Harlot Authors Group, what inspired you to do that?
(15:53):
So I was getting a lot of questions like emails, and they were the same questions over andover again.
And a lot of them, they were from readers who wanted to write their first book, and howdid I start?
What was my process?
And I thought, OK, there needs to be a better way than me responding to every single emailevery time, answering the same five to 10 questions.
(16:20):
So I started the group.
just to have a place to like house my answers to all the same questions.
So I just started making posts in the group.
And originally I was like the requirements to be in the group, it's still hidden to thisday.
Like if you go search Harlot authors, you won't find it.
So if anybody's listening to this and is interested in joining the author group, you willhave to message me on Facebook.
(16:47):
You had to be in my reader group and I think,
think that was it.
Like you just, you had to be in my reader group and you had to be like an aspiring authoror an author already with a couple of books out.
Like it was not, it's not a reader facing group.
So, um, and then, you know, people would be like, can I just invite my friend?
(17:08):
Can I just invite my friend?
And I would be like, Oh, okay, fine.
Like I really, I can't think hardly of anyone that I've turned away, even though I feelvery precious about.
Like who I let in, like I always say, okay, you guys, I'm pulling up the drawbridge.
No more members.
The interesting thing was is that those group members are protective of it too.
(17:30):
Like, I don't think, like they just get protective of it and they, I don't have tons ofnew members all of the time.
It's like one here and there gets invited.
And I think that's because of the group itself.
They just feel.
you know, like it's a special place for them.
(17:51):
And that made me happy.
But at this point, it's grown to like, there are way bigger names than me in there.
And I'm like, what are you doing?
But I'm glad because sometimes I'm like, you know what, if I can't answer this or Ihaven't had experience with this, somebody can chime in.
And then also, you know, if somebody wants to disagree with me, I guess they can disagreewith me.
(18:13):
It might be.
well I need an invite to this group because I do not think I'm currently a member and Iwould like to be.
We'll get you in there.
We'll get you in there.
been such a blessing because when I have a question about anything, you go to the search,of course, and it's just so many things that you can find out craft -wise, just how to
(18:39):
conduct yourself online.
Because you wrote this post, I didn't say anything because I was in...
salty that day and then I felt bad about it.
bit, cause I was, I have been on the opposite side of what you said where you postedabout, you know, don't just come in on everything.
You don't have to be a soldier.
Basically, you don't have to fight every battle.
(19:05):
And you know what?
I read that.
Um, and I sat with that and I was like, you know what?
This is pushing me into a level of maturity.
that, and we're probably the same age, okay, but I'm just very immature as a person, but Iwas like, this is pushing me into a level of maturity as a writer that I need to step
(19:28):
into, right?
And I said, so if I, and then I was about to post something like a week or so ago and Iwas like, oh, what if Melanie sees this?
She's gonna be, she's gonna be so disappointed.
And so I was.
It's people you look up to, right?
Because she's the maven of this group and she knows all of this stuff.
(19:52):
And I was like, well, I'm just going to stick.
I'm just going to leave this in drafts for a day and think about it.
just never see it end well.
When you're fired up in the moment and the like compulsion to insert yourself into theconversation because you have valid points is really strong.
(20:15):
But I just like and it depends on what it is.
I mean, obviously there are there are problems in the industry with publishing withanything that that you need to be addressed and some in those conversations are worth
having.
But a lot of
the times it's something that will blow over is dramatic or you know and those are thethings where I'm like you don't need to you don't need to.
(20:40):
Right.
You're like, your time is better spent what?
Writing.
Right, right, because sometimes you just gotta be like, okay, I gotta take the emotion outof it, take out the emotion and just think as a like a professional about, you know, how I
need to conduct myself.
(21:00):
Now, if you think about that and you still say, I gotta get this out, get it out, get itout.
But if you pause and think like professionally, is this what I want to?
put out there right now and think like, oh, I could stop it.
because this day and age when people forgive us you can't take it back like social mediais almost forever Even if you delete it, somebody's probably screenshotted it Yeah, so
(21:27):
it's just not so I definitely agree it's like take a beat don't just react like Is thisworth, you know, it's like do I want to die on this hill?
Is this worth the fight like?
And then you have to just be like, OK, I'll just put it in.
I hope everybody has their little tribe and their little text group or whatever in thegroup chat.
(21:53):
Put it in the group chat.
Hehehehehe
few friends where I jump on there and I'm like, I got to say something dark right now.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, you need your safe place, people, and then you have to, and then just go out andthen make the...
(22:18):
because part of it is just the getting it out, like instead of holding whatever that isinside, especially if it does make you emotional or you feel a certain way about it.
I think it's important to be able to have an outlet to talk about it at the very least orminimum.
So yeah.
Yes, just maybe not a public forum.
public forum.
what would Melanie now with 35 books and a nice deal with Entangled and that author say tobaby Melanie author from 10 years ago?
(22:54):
What would be the one piece of advice you'll be like this is what I'm telling you to do?
I would tell myself that I need to think about the marketing of the book even before Iwrite it.
When you grow up as a reader, you're really like, the words on the page are the thing, andyou just love it so much, and you just can't wait to write a story.
(23:25):
But writing a story and then having to sell that,
as a product are just two different things.
And I think I was very caught up in like, I just need to write the most beautiful, themost romantic, the most compelling, the most, you know, unique story or whatever it was
(23:45):
out there.
And then I would go to like, well, okay, how am I gonna market this?
What kind of book is this?
And I didn't know.
I...
I thought tropes should be avoided because they were too cliche.
Like basically I was reading a lot of very elitist advice on writing books.
(24:08):
And I'm glad that I did.
I love craft books.
I'll read any craft book you give me.
But I think I'm better now at like sifting through sorting and discarding what doesn'twork for me and knowing what is going to be.
useful when back then I just was like, no, a perfect sentence is all that matters.
(24:32):
And turns out, no, you do have to like also study what is it that makes a reader pick up abook?
What do they, how do they want to feel?
How can I signal with the cover and the back cover blurb?
Like this is gonna, this is the book for you.
So I've learned a lot.
But you know what?
I could tell baby Melanie that.
(24:54):
And she might be like, hmm.
gonna go to bed.
Some things you just have to go through and learn over time, but I do think I could havebeen more intentional about thinking about that.
Well, I think it's good that you say that, especially for any upcoming or, you know,people that want to be writers, because I do think that a lot of people get caught up in
(25:21):
the story and they don't think about, well, okay, if I'm looking for this to be myprofession or, you know, to, you know, those are things that matter.
I have to understand marketing.
I have to understand the business side of this and not just the writing part.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I mean, and if you are not in it for like the income, like if you just love to write andyou just want to put the books out there, you can ignore that advice and just write your
(25:46):
story and put it out there and love that it's out there.
Give it to your friends, you know, who...
But if you are looking to...
you know, make a living at this or supplement your day job or whatever with some extraincome, you do have to think about the market.
Yeah.
(26:07):
But you've been so successful that you have been able to transition.
And I don't know if you started out always as a full -time author, but you're in aposition now where this is your business.
This is your own business.
And like even your husband works with you now, right?
(26:29):
You know, and y 'all have this whole, you know, wonderful enterprise.
So.
How was that transition going from, you know, in the 10 years, you know, this is hashtaggoals for a lot of authors to be able to make a living, a substantial living off of their
(26:50):
writing.
So I think a couple of things.
I was a teacher before I had kids.
My kids are 15 and 18 now.
But so I had, I taught high school and then I was kind of off on like my maternity.
bless you for that.
I was a substitute teacher so I can't be - oof.
(27:14):
This is so not.
say it so small because I'm like, I can't believe people let me do that, but go ahead.
I wasn't working full time when I started.
I was like, I'm just going to try this and see how it goes.
And, you know, at the time when I started back in 2013, 2014, I feel lucky that I startedthen in a way because it wasn't quite as crowded.
(27:39):
I think you could build in a way that is harder to do now.
However, there are a lot more
options that are like free for marketing now like social media was not I'm trying to thinkof like I don't even remember like when Instagram like was invented or whatever but
after, because Twitter was first.
(28:00):
Twitter was out, like, because I was a huge Twitter person, so I know the timeline ofthat.
Twitter was, like, one of the only things, I think, in 2012, around the time you weretalking about, that was, like, a thing that you could use.
Yeah.
And then, I mean, and then look at TikTok.
Nothing has been so influential and powerful in the book space as TikTok and it's free.
(28:24):
And, you know, so there are benefits to starting out now.
And, and you also have 10 years worth of people who have been doing it that can help youout.
You know, when I started, there were a handful of people.
I'll never forget.
There was a book called the Naked Truth About Self Publishing by like six differentromance authors.
cool.
was that was out and I read it like cover to cover like 50 million times and I was like,okay now half that stuff's probably outdated but But it was the one it was like the manual
(28:54):
that you used So, um, so I do think that there is something to well, it wasn't quite ascrowded So it was I was able to build and then I also the timing Kinzel unlimited was
brand new and I think Amazon really pushed
people to try Kindle Unlimited.
(29:14):
And I jumped into it pretty quickly.
And so, you know, my books were there.
It wasn't as crowded and people found them.
But the one thing that I will say that I think more than anything else has allowed me tobuild the readership that I have is that I stayed in my lane.
(29:35):
I only write in one genre.
I write, you know, and I've even narrowed it as...
I've gone on in my career, like I just started kind of with like, oh, contemporaryromance.
But now I've almost narrowed it down to like, it's contemporary small town romance, andit's usually based on like a family or a group of friends.
(29:56):
I stayed very consistent with my heat level.
I stayed consistent with like the balance of sweet to spicy.
I've stayed consistent with the kinds of tropes that I use, the kind of heroes that Ihave.
And so I think that if you like one of my books, I have 30 more for you.
(30:17):
And that's it.
like I'm getting kind of like a master class like right now.
not easy.
like, I call you the queen of single dad romance, right?
Single dad, small town romance.
Because I'm like, if you like the single dad, whether he's a widower, was done wrong,Melanie got a book for you, whether he's your brother's best friend, the age gap, you
(30:44):
have, what's the age gap one?
an H -Gap.
I love an H -Gap.
Yours is the age gap.
That, okay.
Cause that, okay, cause yeah, cause that's what, but they were neighbors and he has thebeer.
I have that whole beer scene though.
(31:05):
Cause like Moni knows I will be like, I'm a scene driven.
Every time an author comes in here, I have to tell them about that one scene they wrotethat just like, like plays freely in my head when he has the beer.
to talk about it.
And so, because I'm a reader first, you know, and so, and I love that because I love thatstory.
(31:31):
That's, that's my, I think of all of, that's my favorite and I'm excited about this newseries that the new book that's coming out with Entangle.
But I feel like, yes, you, you have, you are the queen of the single dad.
romances, small towns.
And then where do you, do you like focus group these titles like the Cherry Creek Harbor,you know, Cherry Tree Harbor in the Bellamy books?
(32:05):
Like how do you get those?
Cause they just sound so perfect.
It sounds like a place where you can go visit and find these hot dads.
like what's in the water in these places?
It's ridiculous.
The titles usually like I will think of the first one and then I kind of trap myselfbecause then I have to like stick to the formula.
(32:28):
Like with Bellamy Creek they were all three words.
Like the first one was drive me wild and I'm like it's so cute because it's for amechanic.
Mm -hmm.
then I'm stuck.
I didn't really think ahead.
But then what are some other three word phrases that would go in the same, that would becohesive, compliment, drive me wild.
(32:53):
So that's where I started there.
And then with like with Cherry Tree Harbor, I loved the title Runaway Love because it wasa runaway bride and a single dad.
Mm -hmm.
was like, great, that's what I'm gonna call it, runaway love.
And then I went to book two and I'm like, well, now what am I gonna do?
Like, is it just two words or whatever?
And it was a bodyguard and a country music singer and they were stranded together in thislike cabin.
(33:20):
And I was like, I think an assistant of mine was like hideaway heart.
I'm like, boom, that's perfect.
And then I got to book three.
I'm like, now what am I gonna do?
I don't have any more like away words.
So it...
It is challenging.
It is challenging.
I really try to, I tried with Cherry Tree Harbor, the current series, to really get thetrope in the title.
(33:42):
Like you had runaway love, that was the runaway bride, hideaway, that was the stranded.
Book three was make believe match, that was a fake relationship.
Book four was small town swoon, it was a small town girl and a Hollywood celebrity.
And then,
Book five has the most ridiculous title like you can possibly imagine.
(34:05):
It's so, it's called Slapshot Surprise because it's a hockey player, an accidentalpregnancy.
Like.
That's so cute!
But I love it!
I love the title!
I typed it kind of like as a joke.
I was like, can I really call a book this?
It's so, so silly.
(34:27):
You know, my books are not.
he's a hockey player.
Is Slapshot for the hockey?
Okay, go ahead.
Yeah, I love it.
yeah.
You know, and these books are like light and, and I mean, there's some emotional weight tothem, but I mostly write fairly like lighthearted romance.
I have heard my books referred to as palette cleansers.
(34:50):
So if you're reading a lot of like dark romance or you know, heavy angsty stuff, like oneof mine will be like, huh, and then you can go back to.
was just asking me that because, you know, I switched though.
I did the pivot, not as soon as you did, but I did the pivot.
And once I went into dark romance and now, and then have like more success writing darkthan I did contemporary or anything else.
(35:18):
And so people always ask me like, I need a palate cleaner.
So now I would just say, go to get a Melanie Harlow book and then come on back.
a single dad.
It'll be fine.
ahead and get that back because they was like I need after after this book I just need alike because you will go into a reading slump after you read something kind of like, you
(35:41):
know 500 pages of terror terror terror Terrorized by that, you know, whatever and then butthey are good.
They look they villains, but it's fine.
They they love them
I mean, dark romance is so popular and you can, there are things that you can get awaywith and do in dark romance that create some great conflict intention, both like inner
(36:09):
conflict and external conflict that I can't touch in small town lighthearted romance.
Like there's no forced marriages.
sorry.
That's my favorite.
It's, oh gosh, come on, like it's, there's such good tension there.
And, or like a mafia romance.
Like I always threatened to write a small town mafia, like rom -com or something likethat.
(36:33):
But it's, it's, you know, I just can't, I can't really touch those, those things, butit's, it's, it's good.
It's good.
No, like it's like you can is a very intricate kind of you got to be careful because thereare some people who are full face forward doing all the things and I just I don't do all
(36:56):
the things because I have to be very careful because you know, I just feel like you know,I have a responsibility about the situations I put women in and I just and I can't.
And so there's no like abuse.
The hero is never going to do anything abusive to her.
(37:17):
And then you got some books.
Well, they kidnap them.
OK, they do those things.
Physical, you know, like, you know.
does what he wants her.
He doesn't be the last guy he loved like they do it because they love them now.
They're obsessively, you know, it's been, you know, it's something they're unhinged, butit's fine.
(37:43):
Have you heard, oh my gosh, I think it was on, it was on NS's podcast, Ink and Magic,maybe, do you guys know NS?
She interviewed Skye Warren about dark romance, and this interview is so fantastic.
Check it out, and Skye Warren was talking about how the traditional, like, historicals hada lot of dark taboo things.
(38:11):
Yes.
you know, very unapologetic about it.
I mean, this Duke was just a mean...
call them bodice rippers for nothing.
Right, and now, like, it's a little bit different because a modern reader is coming to itin a different context.
(38:33):
And so it's a really fantastic interview.
I highly recommend anybody who is interested.
I think it's ink and magic.
I think it's in...
love Sky Warren.
She has a great, she's another person who has, I call what you guys do, paying it forwardand in her newsletter and all of that she does.
(38:59):
Yeah.
And I think, and I think like, no matter what you write, it's just the way that you, firstof all, you have, I think you, you pivoted, but then you loved what you were writing.
And you can tell when a person really has joy for their work because the decision for meto go dark was I felt like as I was writing contemporary, that something needed more edge
(39:30):
to it.
And I was already leaning that way in some of my characters.
But once I settled into it, I was like, yes, this is yummy.
This is so good.
And you can tell when you write your stories like this is and you build these communitiesand these people in the families And friendships that you have interwoven in your in your
(39:54):
different series that is yummy writing for you So how do you go about finding joy whenyou've written 35 books?
It is, I'm not gonna lie, and that's one of the things I was gonna say earlier too, likewriting 35 books in one lane, it does, it is challenging.
(40:15):
And I completely understand when authors are like, I've gotta write something else or I'mgonna lose my mind.
I'm gonna lose my creative spark.
And those are the times when I say, cause people always come to me and be like, can Iplease pivot and write something else?
And I'm like, you have my pivot.
But like I completely am in awe of you guys being able to do that and I wish so much.
(40:38):
So I have a film background so for me like everything I've always just like I love this, Ilove that, I want to make this, I want to make that.
So when it comes to writing I'm always just like the story but when I like thinking nowsitting here listening to you guys I'm like yeah my books are all over the place.
Because there's no...
can make that work, but you just have to maintain your pace for two different audiences.
(41:06):
And that just sounds like a lot of work to me.
And so I made up my mind that I was just gonna work with one particular audience.
And I'm not an idea factory.
I only have one idea at a time.
huh.
see, I wish I'm like the kid with the shiny new toy.
(41:27):
Like, I feel like I have stuff that would take me into like 2026, but I'm like, I'm tryingto shut off my brain.
I'm insanely envious of that.
I just, I really, I really, it takes me a long time.
I have to think and think and think to come up with the idea.
And then I'm, I can loosely plot.
(41:48):
I decide on my tropes and my character arc and all that, but I can't outline.
I have to just get in and like start listening for them to talk to me, noodle.
So, yeah, I mean, I really, as far as like where the ideas come from, I really start withthe tropes.
And I know that my readers, like you said, have certain favorite ones, like the singledads.
(42:11):
I mean, when I look at the numbers, something like, it used to be three of my top five all-time bestsellers were single dads.
So there is something that my readers really like about that.
So I try to give them what they want.
Yeah.
So then I have to think, okay, how can I make this single dad feel new, feel fresh?
(42:36):
It's not easy all the time.
Yes!
Like I believe if you could do it, you could do like you could do it and it would be andyou could sell you just gotta really like work work working into the town.
Are they in witness protection?
What's going on Melanie?
I feel in my, like, I have this little, like, fluttery thing.
(42:59):
This is like my one idea that I have that won't leave.
That it's, there's a mistake made somewhere.
And like my heroine somehow gets caught up with these people that she wasn't supposed tobe there.
They thought she was someone else and now they've kidnapped her and they're stuck with herand she's annoying.
(43:20):
Or she thinks she's like, it's like a romance novel and it's...
Look, I don't know.
that!
my god!
I would totally read that!
Like what if these mafiosos have like a vacation enclave, right?
And she goes in as like a nanny for her friend who was supposed to go, but she steps in tohelp.
(43:44):
And then you got this guy who is, he's a widower.
Yeah.
know, he a single guy, he's a widower, a little age gap there.
And she keeps fumbling and bumbling around and finding out like, if this a -
Yeah, yeah
You see, I feel like that'll work.
Like we have to really, we gotta workshop this.
(44:07):
This is good.
Listen, let me tell y 'all something.
Y 'all think I'm kidding.
I, now Ima will tell you, I had a dream and I wrote her in the middle of the night.
And I was like, listen, I got this idea.
Is Disney Princesses meets dark romance slaps versus the mob.
(44:29):
And she was like, OK, you got to help me.
Next thing you know, she got a deal.
So I'm telling you, this thing works.
I have a wealth of crazy ideas that work.
coming to you every time I like an idea.
stuck.
If you get stuck, I'll be like, okay, well.
Is it?
(44:51):
like because what happens to me is I get stuck and I'm like no that idea is dumb and soI'm like no I'm not gonna write that.
Like I said I can I can talk myself out of anything.
I'm like, let's stick a pin in this.
And cause I had an idea, this is what the next series I'm writing is like the seven deadlysins and each one of them, and I've seen this in books before, but in they meet their
(45:19):
opposite.
And so you got the girls, you know, I love, I love a virgin.
And the, all of the seven deadly sins.
And I'm like, what are we going to do for slaw?
What are we going to do?
Like in my mind.
And so I just go through this like crazy, what's the guy, the, where you just do the, theone where he just hit a beautiful mind type of situation and start stuff out.
(45:48):
And then I, and then that's the, it looks crazy to everybody else.
And then you pull it together.
So yeah, do that mop, do that little enclave.
out into the medicaid somewhere, somewhere really cute.
I'm going to be looking for this book in the next two years.
And she just, and like, it's a group of friends.
(46:10):
And then after she finds hers, her friend comes and then she comes up in there and waslike, oh, I'm sorry.
I got you mixed up in my cousin, my second cousin's thing.
And then she falls in love with like another cat foe.
And then you got like, that's like, where you keep this going?
And people would love it because it's your spin on like, but it's not dark, but it's justlike, you know.
(46:36):
it be it would have to be I'd have to make it funny, but um,
be because the hijinks is that the mix up, you know, the mix up, she never knows like,like what's going on?
Like, okay, and the kids are cute.
Whatever.
I'm good.
Look, I love it.
I feel like it's a winner.
I feel like it's a -
(46:58):
Like movies have made the funny mobster work, like Mickey Blue Eyes, Analyze That, like...
look, we're either going to blow you up or ruin your career.
Yeah, she'll be like, thanks Kenya and Moni
Trust me, they'll love it.
(47:20):
They'll love, look, put a hot guy on the cover.
Just like, he's in so much confusion.
Like, where did this girl come from?
She's just, she's so crazy.
Anyway, I just, cause that's like, I'm a person who stumbles into stuff a lot of times.
So that's, that is definitely plausible for my life.
(47:40):
So I believe.
But, so,
notes.
What is the Melanie Harlow guarantee, of course, is you're going to get a filthy sweet,that's what I'd like to call them, romance story.
(48:05):
And what else is your promise to the reader?
I've often, like, other than being like a palate cleanser, I've been told that my booksfeel like a hug.
There's something cozy about them.
So I think that the promise is like, this will make you feel cozy.
(48:26):
It will make you feel sweet.
It will, you know, it's not clean or anything in terms of like level.
but I am not going to like rip your heart out and stomp on it.
you're like, there are no trigger warnings needed here.
I had someone told me one of my assistants because people are more trigger warnings andcontent warnings and things are more popular now than they ever have been before.
(48:56):
And I did have my hero and heroine kind of playing a little like game with non -consent.
Now, to me, it was very clear that they were teasing each other.
But my one assistant was like.
I think you need to mention that there is a scene that, you know, and the reason it'sthere, first of all, because it's hot, but also because it was, it was establishing trust
(49:22):
between them.
Just put a little note, like in the beginning, like, you know, establishing the trustbetween these characters is very important to me.
That said, there's a scene that might not be for everyone.
Please go to my website for a complete list of trigger warnings.
And that's the only one there.
I'm like.
going to go to bed.
But it's good because it's better to be careful now because so many people, like mytrigger warning list is like two pages long.
(49:53):
And I tell them in the beginning, your mental health matters.
And I try to think of everything that I have put in this book, honey, because it is a lot.
It's, you know, so.
That's very important to me.
I'm glad you did it because no matter how benign you think it is, somebody is going tosay, you know, that you always want the reader to feel like they can trust you in the
(50:19):
story.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
Trust is so important.
That is what is going to keep them with you.
Get them on your mailing list.
Get them to pick up the next book.
You break that trust.
Like if all of a sudden Melanie Harlow has a book full of, you know, real dark things.
(50:40):
And I mean, first of all, even if I warned them, I don't think that would break the trust.
You would have to do that.
So would you ever do like say, OK, I need to break from these lighter books and then do apen like a secret pen name and do some dark stuff?
(51:03):
know if I could write dark.
I just don't know if I could do it.
We were just having this conversation on the last one with Alexandra Warren, I believe,and we were, we had both said that we don't believe that we could write dark either.
I just, it's so, it's cause it's, it's hard to go to that place, like outside of my headand be like, I'm going to, like, I love reading it, but creating it from my own, like mind
(51:34):
is difficult.
Yeah, I don't read a lot of it and I you know, I feel very fortunate.
I've never experienced any kind of you know abuse or anything.
So I just don't know that it would uh, I don't know if I would I just don't know that Iwould be the right person for it.
(51:54):
I have
like fantasy or like cozy mystery or anything else?
cozy mystery or something would be fun.
I really like, I've been really into Lisa Jewel.
She writes like kind of thrillers, like almost domestic thrillers.
Something like that I think would be really fun.
(52:16):
I also am a huge Leanne Moriarty fan.
So something like a more, like a women's fiction that is less.
I always like something romantic, but that is less, you know, the traditional formula andmore of like a women's fiction.
(52:37):
I've thought about that too.
But you know, it's hard to get off this train.
I'm on it.
I wanna keep, you know, I wanna keep things going.
So I think if I ever, oh, I also would love to write YA.
At some point my daughter and I have talked about it because she is a really good writerand she's funny and we're like, I think I would like it more than she would, but.
(53:12):
Uh...
like, because my little daughter, she's just nine now and she writes her little heart out.
But she says she wants to be a director.
She just doesn't want to be like just a regular writer or author.
But I just like, I know on the inside you're like, yay.
yes.
(53:33):
I think, I mean, just teaching them that any creative endeavor is worth your time and yourenergy and your, yeah, everything that it takes, I think it's important.
And then they get to see you like, I don't know if this was your original dream to alwaysbe an author, but you know, for them to see you living and prospering from your endeavors
(54:00):
like this is beautiful.
Yeah, I mean, I always knew I would write a book someday.
I didn't know if I could make a career out of it, but I always that was that was like agoal of mine.
I always really did want to be a writer.
And and I also, you know, I did teach high school English for several years.
I have also been a dance teacher all my life and my girls like grew up going to the dancestudio.
(54:23):
So, you know, creative artsy things, they've been surrounded by it.
And in fact, my my 18 year old graduated from high school last year.
And she decided she did not want to go to college.
And my husband and I were like, what?
What?
We're offering you like, it's going to be paid for.
Are you crazy?
But she was like, I want to move to New York City and pursue dance.
(54:46):
We had to really wrap our brains around, OK, well, this is what she wants to go continueher training and not go this other way.
So but then we're like, you know, we've
raised her to believe that this is a worthy goal to pursue this artistic career, eventhough, you know, dance is hard.
(55:12):
But yeah, so she did it and she's loving it and it's been, you know, and I think, okay,she did grow up seeing that you can make a living from creative things.
No, trust me, I mean, even when I can remember, and I went to college for my creativeendeavor, but I remember a lot of my teachers being like, don't you want to be a doctor or
(55:36):
something that's going to like pay the bills?
And I'm just like, no, I want to work in film.
I mean, my parents were super supportive.
Thank God.
But I mean, you know, and I did, I made a good living while I worked in the film industry.
So it's like it can.
you know, you can be a creative and not like just a starving artist, but somebody whomakes money at it.
(55:56):
She makes no money right now, that's for sure.
young!
But my, I have a friend, because I had children late, so all of my friends' kids are youngadults now.
And my one friend, her son wanted to be a musician.
(56:17):
And I was like, let him do it because he can always go back to school.
School is very much more accessible now.
and then let him have his little five years of self -exploration.
And then like this about how long, you know, it takes you to make it at something.
(56:40):
Park Kenya's girl math or author math or whatever.
And we already know that's terrible, but he did and he's, he's, he's doing a littlesomething.
And I thought that was like the best thing.
And I was like, now he's like, he.
He wanted to be a music producer and now he's in a studio producing music and making alittle money from it.
(57:05):
And I think it's like the most darling thing.
And I was like, I said, when he get famous now, tell him, don't forget.
gonna go.
I teach him when he go to the grandmys because out of the way, convince your mom to letyou do this.
Because she was like, you know, education is so important.
(57:26):
But, you know, I have one child who cares nothing for school and he is a very talentedartist.
And so we're letting him pursue that.
He's still got to go to school.
But like college, I don't even think that's like something like he would not.
like he also is not going to do that, you know.
(57:49):
So I'm like, well, you in two years, you got to start exhibiting this art that you don'twant to show anybody.
long as there is a path forward where there is some kind of learning, educationalexperience, or they're moving toward something, I think that this generation is just
(58:10):
different.
It's just different than it was when we were younger and going to college was just kind ofwhat you did.
That was what you did.
And this generation doesn't feel...
that way necessarily and I think it's great.
Yeah, I love that.
I love that for the kids.
(58:32):
I think this generation, like, I didn't know what to do on TikTok.
And I reached out to some of the creators and they set me down, little old me, and showedme what to do.
You know, it was the Gen X people.
And I was like, my God, these kids are so great and generous with their time.
(58:54):
must be talking about Gen Z because I was like, Gen X is me.
Yeah, it's like we're Gen X.
Z, yeah.
Yeah, Gen X.
I get them confused.
Whatever.
New people, new people.
So, but yeah, and I just love that.
I love that for them.
And so.
making their own way.
(59:15):
Yeah.
So what events and do you have coming up and where can people find you?
So if anyone is in the UK, I will be at Four Brits in July.
And then that's really my only big event, this reader event this year.
(59:38):
I may do some smaller ones in the fall when Slapshot Surprise comes out.
Maybe like some bookstore events.
And then I will be at.
I'm a speaker there this year.
It's a conference, author conference in October.
That's Sky Warrens that she puts on.
(01:00:00):
And then next year, right now, I am planning to be at Wild and Windy in Chicago.
I am at Beach Fest.
I can't think of the full name of it, but it is, it's something Beach Fest and it's in Mayin Florida somewhere.
And then I am in Canada.
(01:00:24):
I can't even think of it.
It's like romance in the Rockies or something like that.
Later, later, like in the fall or in the winter.
You can see I don't know my own schedule.
But if anyone really wants to find me, my...
I'm in my Facebook reader group, Harlow's Harlots, every day.
(01:00:44):
If you are an author and you want to join the author group, just message me on Facebookand I can scoop you in there.
And then I have a website, melanieharlow .com.
and sign up for her newsletter.
Yes.
you'll hear from me like every other Wednesday about twice a month.
(01:01:06):
Yeah, I do love my newsletter.
That is something that I enjoy writing to my readers.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much for making time to be here on the podcast.
We truly appreciate it.
It's been such a joy talking to you.
My pleasure, thank you so much for having me.
you.
But.
Hello and welcome to the author spotlight with Monie Boyce and Kenya Gorey -Bell.
And today we have with us author Melanie Harlow.
Woohoo, welcome.
Welcome.
USA Today best selling author Melanie Harlow.
Very prolific, multi -series best selling author Melanie Harlow with us today.
(00:25):
We're so happy to have you.
Thank you so much for inviting me.
Will you tell us a little bit about your journey into writing and how it's been for you?
Yeah, sure.
So I thought I was going to go the traditional route.
I tried to get an agent.
At the time, I was writing like more historical.
And, you know, it was just a lot of rejection and I was getting tired of it.
(00:50):
And I had friends who were self publishing romance at the time.
And I thought, you know, I have nothing to lose.
This is about 2012, 2013.
So I self published that historical.
I say it's historical, it was set in the 20s, so it was not like a typical historicalromance that would sell, which is probably why the agents were like, we can't sell this.
(01:16):
It was romantic, but the 1920s aren't like, you know, the happening romance.
Like I probably should have gone like Regency or, you know, but I just really loved thattime period.
So I was like, I'm gonna write a book about, you know, that time.
So anyway, I wrote two books, like that one and then a follow -up and I could see that myfriends writing Contemporary Romance were having a lot more success.
(01:44):
So I was like, it's time for a switch.
So I switched over into Contemporary Romance in 2014 and I've been there ever since.
That's amazing.
Yeah, how many books have you published?
You know, it's somewhere like around 35.
Thank you.
(02:05):
You know, I write, I publish about three times a year.
This year I'm only doing two.
And I love it so much that I might never go back to three as long as the income dropdoesn't send me off a cliff.
It's just like, I have more breathing space.
I'm enjoying the writing more.
(02:25):
I was able to use the time to get ahead a little bit.
And also the timing of it, it kind of was necessary.
I ended up selling my current series, Just the Print Writes to Entangled Publishing.
So that has been kind of a new experience for me.
(02:46):
And so they are going to start publishing the series.
So there are four books in the series already.
And book one, they're gonna start publishing.
you know, the new paperback in July.
And then I will release book five, like the ebook audio and all of that in October, andthey'll release the paperback version of it at the same time.
(03:06):
So normally I can finish a book and a month later I can publish it, you know, as soon asit's edited, recorded and all that.
But this one, you know, they need more lead time when you're working with a traditionalpublisher.
So I had to push it, push it back, but it's going to be.
Good for me because I will have audio, ebook, and paperback all at the same time, which islike a miracle.
(03:29):
I don't think I've ever had that because I'm always behind.
are they doing all of the ebook and the print, just the print?
the print, right?
the print.
Yes.
I was unwilling to part with digital or audio.
Right.
Yeah.
So I just sold them the print rights.
(03:52):
That's been a really interesting development in the industry that authors are now able tosell only print rights.
I mean, when I got into this back in 2014, 2015, like that, it was unheard of.
Mm -hmm.
gonna say, I was like, you're one of the first people I've heard mention that they soldjust print rights to their book.
(04:12):
I think that's amazing.
Yeah, I think, I mean, there are people who blew up on TikTok and the TikTok audiencereally loves a paperback.
It's like a different audience than the Kindle Revolution audience.
So with the rise of paperback sales, I think publishing companies realized there is anopportunity here, there is a market for it.
(04:43):
Yeah.
you know, have been more willing to purchase print rights on their own.
Yeah.
with them doing print rights for you, will they change your cover from what you have onyour e -book?
So, oh gosh, the cover thing, you guys.
I...
Because I know that's always kind of a bone of contention when you get in traditional isthat, you know, they're gonna you sometimes have limited, you know, feedback or input into
(05:13):
what happens with the cover.
Exactly, exactly.
I mean, I was struggling with covers even before I sold print rights because with this newaudience that purchased paperbacks, they don't necessarily like human beings on covers.
(05:33):
And I've always had, yes, I've always had the shirtless man on my cover.
Yeah.
So, but.
that was, you know, suddenly like not the thing.
So then you have, okay, so now I've got the ebook cover has one cover and then thepaperback has two covers, one with a boot on it and one that's just either like font
(06:01):
focused or illustrated or something like that.
It's cool, but to me, I'm someone who likes tight branding.
No, I 100 % agree with that.
is, I worry that it's confusing.
You don't know what, you know, that people, you know, people need to see something seventimes or whatever before they, I'm worried that they're going to see all these different
(06:25):
things.
They're not going to know what it is.
So I would much prefer just to have the one cover.
But I tried that.
I tried to switch everything over to the non -human.
And I had a lot of readers because I've built a following over the last 10 years.
like, where's the dude?
Like the world was going to end.
(06:48):
Melanie Harlow does not have a dude on her cover.
So I switched it back again, but moving forward, I don't really know what I'm going to do,but the traditional publisher that I'm working with liked the covers that my designer had
done without the people on it.
So I think that the only tweak that they had to make was like the colors to make sure thattheir printer,
(07:14):
that it was gonna look right.
So they used the design and they worked with my cover designer so it will look similar towhat is already out there, which I liked because I was like, okay, that's nice, tight
branding.
Other authors were like, well, yeah, but now if someone bought the paper back before,they're not gonna buy it again.
(07:36):
And I'm like, I don't need to charge people twice for the same.
gonna say, I think they will because it's a different cover.
Like, some people, like you said, this audience isn't a paperback or, like, you know,books, then they're gonna buy just so they have both covers.
Some people are just rabid, like, I must have every version of a book that's out there.
I was, you know, I'm on TikTok a lot, cause that's where like it's been such a blessing inbuilding my community there.
(08:02):
And one girl was like, I have your ebook.
I have the paperback.
When are you gonna do the discrete hardbacks for my book?
She said, and I'm not gonna read that book.
I'm just gonna put it on my shelf for the aesthetics.
And she was like, this is the space for your books right now.
(08:23):
And I was like, oh my god.
Isn't that interesting to me?
Like the book, book collecting is a thing.
It wasn't, you know, seven years ago.
taking the, I have to show y 'all my cruel prince collection right here.
And I have drunk the Kool -Aid and I love them so much.
(08:47):
And then the Bellums.
And when I take, like I'm getting chills just talking about them.
So excited.
I love them.
And I will get all of yours because especially if you go back and do the Bellamy Creekones.
And my God, because Naima, because let me just tell you, one day I was like, Naima, I needsomething that's, I don't know what kind of phase I was in.
(09:16):
I was like, I need something a little bit more spicy than what's out here.
What's going on?
Girl, you need to read Melanie Harlow.
And I just made you.
She's like, she's so good, she's so good.
And so Naima Simone is who got me onto your books.
And then I read, Make Me Yours.
And I was like, oh my God.
(09:38):
And I was like, then you go, but like Melanie has the right amount of spice and angst andstory and just beautiful romanticism in her work.
And for those of you who are listening and want to give her books a try.
It's just like, it was just so beautiful.
It was one of those things that was exactly what you needed in that moment.
(10:03):
And then that's why.
Yeah, yeah, right.
And I just think that I love that Entangle is doing that because they were digital first,because I remember Naima used to write for them and so did Telsa and Katie.
They all started, like not started, they were that.
(10:24):
But before they got like the big publishing deals, they were like in entangle was therethat that next step up from where they were before.
And that's such a great opportunity.
I'm going to go find them.
You've been really wonderful to work with.
I mean, traditional publishing is also like compared to indie pacing, it's very slow.
(10:48):
But they are really like what they call crashing this first book that's going to come outin July.
So I've been really happy with it and and like curious to learn about the process and how,you know, a target shopper, let's say,
wandering the book aisles, what makes that shopper different than a person who readsebooks scrolling on their Kindle in the Kindle store, like looking for their next read.
(11:17):
So it's been interesting to learn from the marketing standpoint, like, you know, how toappeal to different audiences and stuff.
Mm -hmm.
And I think a lot of it is because people want to be able to see their, like, theaesthetics is, it's all about aesthetics on the hardback and the paperback for now.
(11:40):
And they want to have their books out and be like, so people can see them reading, Iguess.
It's not like a man on the cover, like as if that's something wrong with that.
But, you know, that's this new generation, like.
Old school people like me, we didn't care because I used to have my books everywhere.
You know, the clinch covers the Julie, Julie Garwood, the Clint, Joanna, my favorite.
(12:06):
Because I started out with historical too, and it was.
when I started reading when I started reading romance was historical.
Virginia Henley, I was in love with her.
I remember writing to her.
I would think I was like 16, 17 years old, you guys, and she actually wrote me back.
I was so stoked.
I was like, my God.
(12:26):
Yeah, I had my favorite, it was and still is Laverle Spencer.
And she was writing in like the 80s and 90s.
And I would take my mom's paperbacks and stuff.
And I wish I would have written her and then she like retired.
Like after like 10 books or something, she was like, well, I've done enough of that.
(12:48):
And I'm like, what?
like, no, you're not finished.
No, and like, I, we have this really great old bookstore in Detroit called King, but likeJohn King Bookstores or something.
So whenever I go there, I like look for these old liberal Spencer's.
I love it!
I'm sorry.
(13:08):
I, or like the old, I'm trying to think if I have one here, but the old step back coverswhere it was like discreet on the outside, but you.
You can clutch your pearls at the clinch.
Yes.
I know I was trying to think, I was like, I think I might have one of those I'm trying tothink that has like the discrete, let me see.
(13:29):
reread those all the time too.
I'm totally.
at who will write you back.
And that's why I always make sure that I write my readers and stuff back.
My husband was in, we were in Colorado, and Catherine Sutcliffe was one of my favoriteauthors.
(13:58):
And I wrote her, and I think my husband probably was deployed and I was sad.
And she wrote me like a three page letter.
It was encouraging.
I don't know what I wrote this woman, y 'all.
Anyways, she wrote me like, it was an email.
And I printed it out and everything.
(14:19):
It was just so beautiful.
And she retired too.
And she started making stained glass.
Literally what what liberal Spencer like started doing was like conducting choirs orsomething.
I'm like, what are you?
I guess she's like, well, I fulfilled that, you know, creativity in myself in terms of thewriting.
(14:41):
Now I'm moving on to something different.
I kind of love that.
I love it!
like come back like oh
the last person I wrote was Meredith Duran.
I don't know if y 'all heard of her.
She has a book called The Princess.
It was like she came along, it was mid -2000s or whatever.
(15:09):
She wrote these beautiful stories and then she just quit to be an archaeologist.
Oh wow!
Yeah, and she was amazing, but she's like, you know, whatever.
(15:29):
So, but because we know how brutal this business is.
And so Melanie, we talked a little bit before we came on about your group, your Facebookgroup, which has blossomed into a lot of people because I'm in the group.
Why did you start?
the Harlot Authors Group, what inspired you to do that?
(15:53):
So I was getting a lot of questions like emails, and they were the same questions over andover again.
And a lot of them, they were from readers who wanted to write their first book, and howdid I start?
What was my process?
And I thought, OK, there needs to be a better way than me responding to every single emailevery time, answering the same five to 10 questions.
(16:20):
So I started the group.
just to have a place to like house my answers to all the same questions.
So I just started making posts in the group.
And originally I was like the requirements to be in the group, it's still hidden to thisday.
Like if you go search Harlot authors, you won't find it.
So if anybody's listening to this and is interested in joining the author group, you willhave to message me on Facebook.
(16:47):
You had to be in my reader group and I think,
think that was it.
Like you just, you had to be in my reader group and you had to be like an aspiring authoror an author already with a couple of books out.
Like it was not, it's not a reader facing group.
So, um, and then, you know, people would be like, can I just invite my friend?
(17:08):
Can I just invite my friend?
And I would be like, Oh, okay, fine.
Like I really, I can't think hardly of anyone that I've turned away, even though I feelvery precious about.
Like who I let in, like I always say, okay, you guys, I'm pulling up the drawbridge.
No more members.
The interesting thing was is that those group members are protective of it too.
(17:30):
Like, I don't think, like they just get protective of it and they, I don't have tons ofnew members all of the time.
It's like one here and there gets invited.
And I think that's because of the group itself.
They just feel.
you know, like it's a special place for them.
(17:51):
And that made me happy.
But at this point, it's grown to like, there are way bigger names than me in there.
And I'm like, what are you doing?
But I'm glad because sometimes I'm like, you know what, if I can't answer this or Ihaven't had experience with this, somebody can chime in.
And then also, you know, if somebody wants to disagree with me, I guess they can disagreewith me.
(18:13):
It might be.
well I need an invite to this group because I do not think I'm currently a member and Iwould like to be.
We'll get you in there.
We'll get you in there.
been such a blessing because when I have a question about anything, you go to the search,of course, and it's just so many things that you can find out craft -wise, just how to
(18:39):
conduct yourself online.
Because you wrote this post, I didn't say anything because I was in...
salty that day and then I felt bad about it.
bit, cause I was, I have been on the opposite side of what you said where you postedabout, you know, don't just come in on everything.
You don't have to be a soldier.
Basically, you don't have to fight every battle.
(19:05):
And you know what?
I read that.
Um, and I sat with that and I was like, you know what?
This is pushing me into a level of maturity.
that, and we're probably the same age, okay, but I'm just very immature as a person, but Iwas like, this is pushing me into a level of maturity as a writer that I need to step
(19:28):
into, right?
And I said, so if I, and then I was about to post something like a week or so ago and Iwas like, oh, what if Melanie sees this?
She's gonna be, she's gonna be so disappointed.
And so I was.
It's people you look up to, right?
Because she's the maven of this group and she knows all of this stuff.
(19:52):
And I was like, well, I'm just going to stick.
I'm just going to leave this in drafts for a day and think about it.
just never see it end well.
When you're fired up in the moment and the like compulsion to insert yourself into theconversation because you have valid points is really strong.
(20:15):
But I just like and it depends on what it is.
I mean, obviously there are there are problems in the industry with publishing withanything that that you need to be addressed and some in those conversations are worth
having.
But a lot of
the times it's something that will blow over is dramatic or you know and those are thethings where I'm like you don't need to you don't need to.
(20:40):
Right.
You're like, your time is better spent what?
Writing.
Right, right, because sometimes you just gotta be like, okay, I gotta take the emotion outof it, take out the emotion and just think as a like a professional about, you know, how I
need to conduct myself.
(21:00):
Now, if you think about that and you still say, I gotta get this out, get it out, get itout.
But if you pause and think like professionally, is this what I want to?
put out there right now and think like, oh, I could stop it.
because this day and age when people forgive us you can't take it back like social mediais almost forever Even if you delete it, somebody's probably screenshotted it Yeah, so
(21:27):
it's just not so I definitely agree it's like take a beat don't just react like Is thisworth, you know, it's like do I want to die on this hill?
Is this worth the fight like?
And then you have to just be like, OK, I'll just put it in.
I hope everybody has their little tribe and their little text group or whatever in thegroup chat.
(21:53):
Put it in the group chat.
Hehehehehe
few friends where I jump on there and I'm like, I got to say something dark right now.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, you need your safe place, people, and then you have to, and then just go out andthen make the...
(22:18):
because part of it is just the getting it out, like instead of holding whatever that isinside, especially if it does make you emotional or you feel a certain way about it.
I think it's important to be able to have an outlet to talk about it at the very least orminimum.
So yeah.
Yes, just maybe not a public forum.
public forum.
what would Melanie now with 35 books and a nice deal with Entangled and that author say tobaby Melanie author from 10 years ago?
(22:54):
What would be the one piece of advice you'll be like this is what I'm telling you to do?
I would tell myself that I need to think about the marketing of the book even before Iwrite it.
When you grow up as a reader, you're really like, the words on the page are the thing, andyou just love it so much, and you just can't wait to write a story.
(23:25):
But writing a story and then having to sell that,
as a product are just two different things.
And I think I was very caught up in like, I just need to write the most beautiful, themost romantic, the most compelling, the most, you know, unique story or whatever it was
(23:45):
out there.
And then I would go to like, well, okay, how am I gonna market this?
What kind of book is this?
And I didn't know.
I...
I thought tropes should be avoided because they were too cliche.
Like basically I was reading a lot of very elitist advice on writing books.
(24:08):
And I'm glad that I did.
I love craft books.
I'll read any craft book you give me.
But I think I'm better now at like sifting through sorting and discarding what doesn'twork for me and knowing what is going to be.
useful when back then I just was like, no, a perfect sentence is all that matters.
(24:32):
And turns out, no, you do have to like also study what is it that makes a reader pick up abook?
What do they, how do they want to feel?
How can I signal with the cover and the back cover blurb?
Like this is gonna, this is the book for you.
So I've learned a lot.
But you know what?
I could tell baby Melanie that.
(24:54):
And she might be like, hmm.
gonna go to bed.
Some things you just have to go through and learn over time, but I do think I could havebeen more intentional about thinking about that.
Well, I think it's good that you say that, especially for any upcoming or, you know,people that want to be writers, because I do think that a lot of people get caught up in
(25:21):
the story and they don't think about, well, okay, if I'm looking for this to be myprofession or, you know, to, you know, those are things that matter.
I have to understand marketing.
I have to understand the business side of this and not just the writing part.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I mean, and if you are not in it for like the income, like if you just love to write andyou just want to put the books out there, you can ignore that advice and just write your
(25:46):
story and put it out there and love that it's out there.
Give it to your friends, you know, who...
But if you are looking to...
you know, make a living at this or supplement your day job or whatever with some extraincome, you do have to think about the market.
Yeah.
(26:07):
But you've been so successful that you have been able to transition.
And I don't know if you started out always as a full -time author, but you're in aposition now where this is your business.
This is your own business.
And like even your husband works with you now, right?
(26:29):
You know, and y 'all have this whole, you know, wonderful enterprise.
So.
How was that transition going from, you know, in the 10 years, you know, this is hashtaggoals for a lot of authors to be able to make a living, a substantial living off of their
(26:50):
writing.
So I think a couple of things.
I was a teacher before I had kids.
My kids are 15 and 18 now.
But so I had, I taught high school and then I was kind of off on like my maternity.
bless you for that.
I was a substitute teacher so I can't be - oof.
(27:14):
This is so not.
say it so small because I'm like, I can't believe people let me do that, but go ahead.
I wasn't working full time when I started.
I was like, I'm just going to try this and see how it goes.
And, you know, at the time when I started back in 2013, 2014, I feel lucky that I startedthen in a way because it wasn't quite as crowded.
(27:39):
I think you could build in a way that is harder to do now.
However, there are a lot more
options that are like free for marketing now like social media was not I'm trying to thinkof like I don't even remember like when Instagram like was invented or whatever but
after, because Twitter was first.
(28:00):
Twitter was out, like, because I was a huge Twitter person, so I know the timeline ofthat.
Twitter was, like, one of the only things, I think, in 2012, around the time you weretalking about, that was, like, a thing that you could use.
Yeah.
And then, I mean, and then look at TikTok.
Nothing has been so influential and powerful in the book space as TikTok and it's free.
(28:24):
And, you know, so there are benefits to starting out now.
And, and you also have 10 years worth of people who have been doing it that can help youout.
You know, when I started, there were a handful of people.
I'll never forget.
There was a book called the Naked Truth About Self Publishing by like six differentromance authors.
cool.
was that was out and I read it like cover to cover like 50 million times and I was like,okay now half that stuff's probably outdated but But it was the one it was like the manual
(28:54):
that you used So, um, so I do think that there is something to well, it wasn't quite ascrowded So it was I was able to build and then I also the timing Kinzel unlimited was
brand new and I think Amazon really pushed
people to try Kindle Unlimited.
(29:14):
And I jumped into it pretty quickly.
And so, you know, my books were there.
It wasn't as crowded and people found them.
But the one thing that I will say that I think more than anything else has allowed me tobuild the readership that I have is that I stayed in my lane.
(29:35):
I only write in one genre.
I write, you know, and I've even narrowed it as...
I've gone on in my career, like I just started kind of with like, oh, contemporaryromance.
But now I've almost narrowed it down to like, it's contemporary small town romance, andit's usually based on like a family or a group of friends.
(29:56):
I stayed very consistent with my heat level.
I stayed consistent with like the balance of sweet to spicy.
I've stayed consistent with the kinds of tropes that I use, the kind of heroes that Ihave.
And so I think that if you like one of my books, I have 30 more for you.
(30:17):
And that's it.
like I'm getting kind of like a master class like right now.
not easy.
like, I call you the queen of single dad romance, right?
Single dad, small town romance.
Because I'm like, if you like the single dad, whether he's a widower, was done wrong,Melanie got a book for you, whether he's your brother's best friend, the age gap, you
(30:44):
have, what's the age gap one?
an H -Gap.
I love an H -Gap.
Yours is the age gap.
That, okay.
Cause that, okay, cause yeah, cause that's what, but they were neighbors and he has thebeer.
I have that whole beer scene though.
(31:05):
Cause like Moni knows I will be like, I'm a scene driven.
Every time an author comes in here, I have to tell them about that one scene they wrotethat just like, like plays freely in my head when he has the beer.
to talk about it.
And so, because I'm a reader first, you know, and so, and I love that because I love thatstory.
(31:31):
That's, that's my, I think of all of, that's my favorite and I'm excited about this newseries that the new book that's coming out with Entangle.
But I feel like, yes, you, you have, you are the queen of the single dad.
romances, small towns.
And then where do you, do you like focus group these titles like the Cherry Creek Harbor,you know, Cherry Tree Harbor in the Bellamy books?
(32:05):
Like how do you get those?
Cause they just sound so perfect.
It sounds like a place where you can go visit and find these hot dads.
like what's in the water in these places?
It's ridiculous.
The titles usually like I will think of the first one and then I kind of trap myselfbecause then I have to like stick to the formula.
(32:28):
Like with Bellamy Creek they were all three words.
Like the first one was drive me wild and I'm like it's so cute because it's for amechanic.
Mm -hmm.
then I'm stuck.
I didn't really think ahead.
But then what are some other three word phrases that would go in the same, that would becohesive, compliment, drive me wild.
(32:53):
So that's where I started there.
And then with like with Cherry Tree Harbor, I loved the title Runaway Love because it wasa runaway bride and a single dad.
Mm -hmm.
was like, great, that's what I'm gonna call it, runaway love.
And then I went to book two and I'm like, well, now what am I gonna do?
Like, is it just two words or whatever?
And it was a bodyguard and a country music singer and they were stranded together in thislike cabin.
(33:20):
And I was like, I think an assistant of mine was like hideaway heart.
I'm like, boom, that's perfect.
And then I got to book three.
I'm like, now what am I gonna do?
I don't have any more like away words.
So it...
It is challenging.
It is challenging.
I really try to, I tried with Cherry Tree Harbor, the current series, to really get thetrope in the title.
(33:42):
Like you had runaway love, that was the runaway bride, hideaway, that was the stranded.
Book three was make believe match, that was a fake relationship.
Book four was small town swoon, it was a small town girl and a Hollywood celebrity.
And then,
Book five has the most ridiculous title like you can possibly imagine.
(34:05):
It's so, it's called Slapshot Surprise because it's a hockey player, an accidentalpregnancy.
Like.
That's so cute!
But I love it!
I love the title!
I typed it kind of like as a joke.
I was like, can I really call a book this?
It's so, so silly.
(34:27):
You know, my books are not.
he's a hockey player.
Is Slapshot for the hockey?
Okay, go ahead.
Yeah, I love it.
yeah.
You know, and these books are like light and, and I mean, there's some emotional weight tothem, but I mostly write fairly like lighthearted romance.
I have heard my books referred to as palette cleansers.
(34:50):
So if you're reading a lot of like dark romance or you know, heavy angsty stuff, like oneof mine will be like, huh, and then you can go back to.
was just asking me that because, you know, I switched though.
I did the pivot, not as soon as you did, but I did the pivot.
And once I went into dark romance and now, and then have like more success writing darkthan I did contemporary or anything else.
(35:18):
And so people always ask me like, I need a palate cleaner.
So now I would just say, go to get a Melanie Harlow book and then come on back.
a single dad.
It'll be fine.
ahead and get that back because they was like I need after after this book I just need alike because you will go into a reading slump after you read something kind of like, you
(35:41):
know 500 pages of terror terror terror Terrorized by that, you know, whatever and then butthey are good.
They look they villains, but it's fine.
They they love them
I mean, dark romance is so popular and you can, there are things that you can get awaywith and do in dark romance that create some great conflict intention, both like inner
(36:09):
conflict and external conflict that I can't touch in small town lighthearted romance.
Like there's no forced marriages.
sorry.
That's my favorite.
It's, oh gosh, come on, like it's, there's such good tension there.
And, or like a mafia romance.
Like I always threatened to write a small town mafia, like rom -com or something likethat.
(36:33):
But it's, it's, you know, I just can't, I can't really touch those, those things, butit's, it's, it's good.
It's good.
No, like it's like you can is a very intricate kind of you got to be careful because thereare some people who are full face forward doing all the things and I just I don't do all
(36:56):
the things because I have to be very careful because you know, I just feel like you know,I have a responsibility about the situations I put women in and I just and I can't.
And so there's no like abuse.
The hero is never going to do anything abusive to her.
(37:17):
And then you got some books.
Well, they kidnap them.
OK, they do those things.
Physical, you know, like, you know.
does what he wants her.
He doesn't be the last guy he loved like they do it because they love them now.
They're obsessively, you know, it's been, you know, it's something they're unhinged, butit's fine.
(37:43):
Have you heard, oh my gosh, I think it was on, it was on NS's podcast, Ink and Magic,maybe, do you guys know NS?
She interviewed Skye Warren about dark romance, and this interview is so fantastic.
Check it out, and Skye Warren was talking about how the traditional, like, historicals hada lot of dark taboo things.
(38:11):
Yes.
you know, very unapologetic about it.
I mean, this Duke was just a mean...
call them bodice rippers for nothing.
Right, and now, like, it's a little bit different because a modern reader is coming to itin a different context.
(38:33):
And so it's a really fantastic interview.
I highly recommend anybody who is interested.
I think it's ink and magic.
I think it's in...
love Sky Warren.
She has a great, she's another person who has, I call what you guys do, paying it forwardand in her newsletter and all of that she does.
(38:59):
Yeah.
And I think, and I think like, no matter what you write, it's just the way that you, firstof all, you have, I think you, you pivoted, but then you loved what you were writing.
And you can tell when a person really has joy for their work because the decision for meto go dark was I felt like as I was writing contemporary, that something needed more edge
(39:30):
to it.
And I was already leaning that way in some of my characters.
But once I settled into it, I was like, yes, this is yummy.
This is so good.
And you can tell when you write your stories like this is and you build these communitiesand these people in the families And friendships that you have interwoven in your in your
(39:54):
different series that is yummy writing for you So how do you go about finding joy whenyou've written 35 books?
It is, I'm not gonna lie, and that's one of the things I was gonna say earlier too, likewriting 35 books in one lane, it does, it is challenging.
(40:15):
And I completely understand when authors are like, I've gotta write something else or I'mgonna lose my mind.
I'm gonna lose my creative spark.
And those are the times when I say, cause people always come to me and be like, can Iplease pivot and write something else?
And I'm like, you have my pivot.
But like I completely am in awe of you guys being able to do that and I wish so much.
(40:38):
So I have a film background so for me like everything I've always just like I love this, Ilove that, I want to make this, I want to make that.
So when it comes to writing I'm always just like the story but when I like thinking nowsitting here listening to you guys I'm like yeah my books are all over the place.
Because there's no...
can make that work, but you just have to maintain your pace for two different audiences.
(41:06):
And that just sounds like a lot of work to me.
And so I made up my mind that I was just gonna work with one particular audience.
And I'm not an idea factory.
I only have one idea at a time.
huh.
see, I wish I'm like the kid with the shiny new toy.
(41:27):
Like, I feel like I have stuff that would take me into like 2026, but I'm like, I'm tryingto shut off my brain.
I'm insanely envious of that.
I just, I really, I really, it takes me a long time.
I have to think and think and think to come up with the idea.
And then I'm, I can loosely plot.
(41:48):
I decide on my tropes and my character arc and all that, but I can't outline.
I have to just get in and like start listening for them to talk to me, noodle.
So, yeah, I mean, I really, as far as like where the ideas come from, I really start withthe tropes.
And I know that my readers, like you said, have certain favorite ones, like the singledads.
(42:11):
I mean, when I look at the numbers, something like, it used to be three of my top five all-time bestsellers were single dads.
So there is something that my readers really like about that.
So I try to give them what they want.
Yeah.
So then I have to think, okay, how can I make this single dad feel new, feel fresh?
(42:36):
It's not easy all the time.
Yes!
Like I believe if you could do it, you could do like you could do it and it would be andyou could sell you just gotta really like work work working into the town.
Are they in witness protection?
What's going on Melanie?
I feel in my, like, I have this little, like, fluttery thing.
(42:59):
This is like my one idea that I have that won't leave.
That it's, there's a mistake made somewhere.
And like my heroine somehow gets caught up with these people that she wasn't supposed tobe there.
They thought she was someone else and now they've kidnapped her and they're stuck with herand she's annoying.
(43:20):
Or she thinks she's like, it's like a romance novel and it's...
Look, I don't know.
that!
my god!
I would totally read that!
Like what if these mafiosos have like a vacation enclave, right?
And she goes in as like a nanny for her friend who was supposed to go, but she steps in tohelp.
(43:44):
And then you got this guy who is, he's a widower.
Yeah.
know, he a single guy, he's a widower, a little age gap there.
And she keeps fumbling and bumbling around and finding out like, if this a -
Yeah, yeah
You see, I feel like that'll work.
Like we have to really, we gotta workshop this.
(44:07):
This is good.
Listen, let me tell y 'all something.
Y 'all think I'm kidding.
I, now Ima will tell you, I had a dream and I wrote her in the middle of the night.
And I was like, listen, I got this idea.
Is Disney Princesses meets dark romance slaps versus the mob.
(44:29):
And she was like, OK, you got to help me.
Next thing you know, she got a deal.
So I'm telling you, this thing works.
I have a wealth of crazy ideas that work.
coming to you every time I like an idea.
stuck.
If you get stuck, I'll be like, okay, well.
Is it?
(44:51):
like because what happens to me is I get stuck and I'm like no that idea is dumb and soI'm like no I'm not gonna write that.
Like I said I can I can talk myself out of anything.
I'm like, let's stick a pin in this.
And cause I had an idea, this is what the next series I'm writing is like the seven deadlysins and each one of them, and I've seen this in books before, but in they meet their
(45:19):
opposite.
And so you got the girls, you know, I love, I love a virgin.
And the, all of the seven deadly sins.
And I'm like, what are we going to do for slaw?
What are we going to do?
Like in my mind.
And so I just go through this like crazy, what's the guy, the, where you just do the, theone where he just hit a beautiful mind type of situation and start stuff out.
(45:48):
And then I, and then that's the, it looks crazy to everybody else.
And then you pull it together.
So yeah, do that mop, do that little enclave.
out into the medicaid somewhere, somewhere really cute.
I'm going to be looking for this book in the next two years.
And she just, and like, it's a group of friends.
(46:10):
And then after she finds hers, her friend comes and then she comes up in there and waslike, oh, I'm sorry.
I got you mixed up in my cousin, my second cousin's thing.
And then she falls in love with like another cat foe.
And then you got like, that's like, where you keep this going?
And people would love it because it's your spin on like, but it's not dark, but it's justlike, you know.
(46:36):
it be it would have to be I'd have to make it funny, but um,
be because the hijinks is that the mix up, you know, the mix up, she never knows like,like what's going on?
Like, okay, and the kids are cute.
Whatever.
I'm good.
Look, I love it.
I feel like it's a winner.
I feel like it's a -
(46:58):
Like movies have made the funny mobster work, like Mickey Blue Eyes, Analyze That, like...
look, we're either going to blow you up or ruin your career.
Yeah, she'll be like, thanks Kenya and Moni
Trust me, they'll love it.
(47:20):
They'll love, look, put a hot guy on the cover.
Just like, he's in so much confusion.
Like, where did this girl come from?
She's just, she's so crazy.
Anyway, I just, cause that's like, I'm a person who stumbles into stuff a lot of times.
So that's, that is definitely plausible for my life.
(47:40):
So I believe.
But, so,
notes.
What is the Melanie Harlow guarantee, of course, is you're going to get a filthy sweet,that's what I'd like to call them, romance story.
(48:05):
And what else is your promise to the reader?
I've often, like, other than being like a palate cleanser, I've been told that my booksfeel like a hug.
There's something cozy about them.
So I think that the promise is like, this will make you feel cozy.
(48:26):
It will make you feel sweet.
It will, you know, it's not clean or anything in terms of like level.
but I am not going to like rip your heart out and stomp on it.
you're like, there are no trigger warnings needed here.
I had someone told me one of my assistants because people are more trigger warnings andcontent warnings and things are more popular now than they ever have been before.
(48:56):
And I did have my hero and heroine kind of playing a little like game with non -consent.
Now, to me, it was very clear that they were teasing each other.
But my one assistant was like.
I think you need to mention that there is a scene that, you know, and the reason it'sthere, first of all, because it's hot, but also because it was, it was establishing trust
(49:22):
between them.
Just put a little note, like in the beginning, like, you know, establishing the trustbetween these characters is very important to me.
That said, there's a scene that might not be for everyone.
Please go to my website for a complete list of trigger warnings.
And that's the only one there.
I'm like.
going to go to bed.
But it's good because it's better to be careful now because so many people, like mytrigger warning list is like two pages long.
(49:53):
And I tell them in the beginning, your mental health matters.
And I try to think of everything that I have put in this book, honey, because it is a lot.
It's, you know, so.
That's very important to me.
I'm glad you did it because no matter how benign you think it is, somebody is going tosay, you know, that you always want the reader to feel like they can trust you in the
(50:19):
story.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
Trust is so important.
That is what is going to keep them with you.
Get them on your mailing list.
Get them to pick up the next book.
You break that trust.
Like if all of a sudden Melanie Harlow has a book full of, you know, real dark things.
(50:40):
And I mean, first of all, even if I warned them, I don't think that would break the trust.
You would have to do that.
So would you ever do like say, OK, I need to break from these lighter books and then do apen like a secret pen name and do some dark stuff?
(51:03):
know if I could write dark.
I just don't know if I could do it.
We were just having this conversation on the last one with Alexandra Warren, I believe,and we were, we had both said that we don't believe that we could write dark either.
I just, it's so, it's cause it's, it's hard to go to that place, like outside of my headand be like, I'm going to, like, I love reading it, but creating it from my own, like mind
(51:34):
is difficult.
Yeah, I don't read a lot of it and I you know, I feel very fortunate.
I've never experienced any kind of you know abuse or anything.
So I just don't know that it would uh, I don't know if I would I just don't know that Iwould be the right person for it.
(51:54):
I have
like fantasy or like cozy mystery or anything else?
cozy mystery or something would be fun.
I really like, I've been really into Lisa Jewel.
She writes like kind of thrillers, like almost domestic thrillers.
Something like that I think would be really fun.
(52:16):
I also am a huge Leanne Moriarty fan.
So something like a more, like a women's fiction that is less.
I always like something romantic, but that is less, you know, the traditional formula andmore of like a women's fiction.
(52:37):
I've thought about that too.
But you know, it's hard to get off this train.
I'm on it.
I wanna keep, you know, I wanna keep things going.
So I think if I ever, oh, I also would love to write YA.
At some point my daughter and I have talked about it because she is a really good writerand she's funny and we're like, I think I would like it more than she would, but.
(53:12):
Uh...
like, because my little daughter, she's just nine now and she writes her little heart out.
But she says she wants to be a director.
She just doesn't want to be like just a regular writer or author.
But I just like, I know on the inside you're like, yay.
yes.
(53:33):
I think, I mean, just teaching them that any creative endeavor is worth your time and yourenergy and your, yeah, everything that it takes, I think it's important.
And then they get to see you like, I don't know if this was your original dream to alwaysbe an author, but you know, for them to see you living and prospering from your endeavors
(54:00):
like this is beautiful.
Yeah, I mean, I always knew I would write a book someday.
I didn't know if I could make a career out of it, but I always that was that was like agoal of mine.
I always really did want to be a writer.
And and I also, you know, I did teach high school English for several years.
I have also been a dance teacher all my life and my girls like grew up going to the dancestudio.
(54:23):
So, you know, creative artsy things, they've been surrounded by it.
And in fact, my my 18 year old graduated from high school last year.
And she decided she did not want to go to college.
And my husband and I were like, what?
What?
We're offering you like, it's going to be paid for.
Are you crazy?
But she was like, I want to move to New York City and pursue dance.
(54:46):
We had to really wrap our brains around, OK, well, this is what she wants to go continueher training and not go this other way.
So but then we're like, you know, we've
raised her to believe that this is a worthy goal to pursue this artistic career, eventhough, you know, dance is hard.
(55:12):
But yeah, so she did it and she's loving it and it's been, you know, and I think, okay,she did grow up seeing that you can make a living from creative things.
No, trust me, I mean, even when I can remember, and I went to college for my creativeendeavor, but I remember a lot of my teachers being like, don't you want to be a doctor or
(55:36):
something that's going to like pay the bills?
And I'm just like, no, I want to work in film.
I mean, my parents were super supportive.
Thank God.
But I mean, you know, and I did, I made a good living while I worked in the film industry.
So it's like it can.
you know, you can be a creative and not like just a starving artist, but somebody whomakes money at it.
(55:56):
She makes no money right now, that's for sure.
young!
But my, I have a friend, because I had children late, so all of my friends' kids are youngadults now.
And my one friend, her son wanted to be a musician.
(56:17):
And I was like, let him do it because he can always go back to school.
School is very much more accessible now.
and then let him have his little five years of self -exploration.
And then like this about how long, you know, it takes you to make it at something.
(56:40):
Park Kenya's girl math or author math or whatever.
And we already know that's terrible, but he did and he's, he's, he's doing a littlesomething.
And I thought that was like the best thing.
And I was like, now he's like, he.
He wanted to be a music producer and now he's in a studio producing music and making alittle money from it.
(57:05):
And I think it's like the most darling thing.
And I was like, I said, when he get famous now, tell him, don't forget.
gonna go.
I teach him when he go to the grandmys because out of the way, convince your mom to letyou do this.
Because she was like, you know, education is so important.
(57:26):
But, you know, I have one child who cares nothing for school and he is a very talentedartist.
And so we're letting him pursue that.
He's still got to go to school.
But like college, I don't even think that's like something like he would not.
like he also is not going to do that, you know.
(57:49):
So I'm like, well, you in two years, you got to start exhibiting this art that you don'twant to show anybody.
long as there is a path forward where there is some kind of learning, educationalexperience, or they're moving toward something, I think that this generation is just
(58:10):
different.
It's just different than it was when we were younger and going to college was just kind ofwhat you did.
That was what you did.
And this generation doesn't feel...
that way necessarily and I think it's great.
Yeah, I love that.
I love that for the kids.
(58:32):
I think this generation, like, I didn't know what to do on TikTok.
And I reached out to some of the creators and they set me down, little old me, and showedme what to do.
You know, it was the Gen X people.
And I was like, my God, these kids are so great and generous with their time.
(58:54):
must be talking about Gen Z because I was like, Gen X is me.
Yeah, it's like we're Gen X.
Z, yeah.
Yeah, Gen X.
I get them confused.
Whatever.
New people, new people.
So, but yeah, and I just love that.
I love that for them.
And so.
making their own way.
(59:15):
Yeah.
So what events and do you have coming up and where can people find you?
So if anyone is in the UK, I will be at Four Brits in July.
And then that's really my only big event, this reader event this year.
(59:38):
I may do some smaller ones in the fall when Slapshot Surprise comes out.
Maybe like some bookstore events.
And then I will be at.
I'm a speaker there this year.
It's a conference, author conference in October.
That's Sky Warrens that she puts on.
(01:00:00):
And then next year, right now, I am planning to be at Wild and Windy in Chicago.
I am at Beach Fest.
I can't think of the full name of it, but it is, it's something Beach Fest and it's in Mayin Florida somewhere.
And then I am in Canada.
(01:00:24):
I can't even think of it.
It's like romance in the Rockies or something like that.
Later, later, like in the fall or in the winter.
You can see I don't know my own schedule.
But if anyone really wants to find me, my...
I'm in my Facebook reader group, Harlow's Harlots, every day.
(01:00:44):
If you are an author and you want to join the author group, just message me on Facebookand I can scoop you in there.
And then I have a website, melanieharlow .com.
and sign up for her newsletter.
Yes.
you'll hear from me like every other Wednesday about twice a month.
(01:01:06):
Yeah, I do love my newsletter.
That is something that I enjoy writing to my readers.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much for making time to be here on the podcast.
We truly appreciate it.
It's been such a joy talking to you.
My pleasure, thank you so much for having me.
you.
But.
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