Women and Adversity, a blog for writers: Kimberla Lawson Roby

My fiction concerns women overcoming obstacles, so I decided I would start a new blog: Women and Adversity, a blog for writers. I have contacted women authors, agents and editors to learn what they had to overcome to be successful in this competitive publishing world. I believe their words will be inspirational for those aiming to get their stories and books in print.

I discovered New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby when she was the featured interview in the September 2013 issue of “Writer’s Digest.” I started reading her Rev. Curtis Black series and became a fan, wondering how the wayward cleric was going to repent once again.

Kimberla has 19 novels published with the 20th, “The Prodigal Son,” to be released May 13. A host of impressive writing awards are part of her resume as well.

I asked Kimberla: What was the biggest obstacle you had to face when you decided to become a writer?

She said:  The biggest obstacle I faced in the beginning was receiving lots of rejection letters from both literary agents and editors at publishing houses. Thank God my mom kept insisting that I shouldn’t give up, and my husband encouraged me to start my own business to self-publish my first book.

I’d never once entertained the idea of publishing my own work, but I listened to my husband and moved forward with it. He then borrowed money from his 401K account, we used money from personal savings, and took out a small business loan, and once my first 3,000 copies were printed and delivered I began the marketing, promoting and selling process.

As it turned out, I ended up selling just over 10,000 copies within the first six months of publication, and within the first two months, I signed with a literary agent who sold my second book to a major publisher in New York.

My second question was: What obstacle/s do you face now as a writer?
She said: The primary obstacle I face now is that I’m always wondering if my story will be good enough. With every book I write, my hope is that every one of my readers will enjoy it. Of course, I do know that it’s not possible for every person to like every single book they read, but again, this is what I hope for and what I struggle with year after year.

Check out her Web site at www.kimroby.com. Her books are available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.booksamillion.com and www.goodreads.com.