Michelle: Unlike most of these interviews, you were not a Sanctuary Editorial client—we met in a more unique way. Can you tell the readers how you found me, and what our first contact was like?
Kris: Three years ago, I was really struggling and decided to write to twelve different romance writers who had “made it”, requesting advice for a newbie romance writer trying to launch.
Of the twelve authors I contacted, you were the only one to respond, and your note was so appreciated. Your advice: work the romance newsletter promotion sites.
Michelle: And how has your writing career been going in the three years since?
Kris: I don’t feel like I’ve arrived yet, but I do feel like I’ve launched. And that feels good.
I’m not Michelle Hazen, but I am Kris Kassady, and I’m fine with that.
I currently have 40 live titles on Amazon: 27 novellas; four novella collections; The Summer Series and The Joey Series.
I had 233,618 Kindle Unlimited page reads in 2024.
I had 47,566 downloads in 2024. Most of those were freebies.
In 2022, in response to reader comments, I undertook a revision project on my earliest novellas to improve the writing and create more satisfying endings. That was tough to stop new projects to do that. But the project was hugely beneficial. I’m proud now of everything I’ve written, and my reviews dramatically improved.
My portfolio wide ratings on Amazon and Goodreads are averaging around 4.3.
I now have a fantastic team. Each runs a home-based business offering reasonable hourly rates. And I love working with all of them.
Katie Sadler is my marketing consultant.
Emma Setterfield is my Virtual Assistant.
Deborah Bradseth does my covers.
Ariel Anderson and Pam Greer are my editors.
Most importantly, I love writing. I’ve never had writer’s block. Ideas are constantly exploding out of my head.
My main obsession is figuring out the next step and how to implement it.
Michelle: What do you think has been the most crucial element of your success as an author?
Kris: Getting readers.
Once you told me to focus on the romance newsletter promotion sites (like Fussy Librarian, Robin Reads, and Hello Books), we’ve been all over all of them, running ads every week in as many as we can afford.
We figured out that we could run a romance newsletter offering a novella for $.99 and get 25 takers.
We could run the same newsletter offering the same novella for free and get 3,000 takers.
In every case, we opt for the strategy that will get us more readers.
As Amazon learned after losing money for 15 consecutive years, the money comes later.
Although my royalties have increased by a factor of five since I first emailed you, my expenses have also gone up, so I’m still fighting that battle. I keep reminding myself that the goal is to build readership. The money will come later.
Michelle: Can you share the broad strokes of your marketing strategy?
Kris: We issue a Kris Kassady Newsletter every Monday to our reading list offering a book at discount and/or a freebie novella.
We run weekly ads in Price Promotion Newsletters and have identified those that perform best for my books.
We have an ARC Street Team of 40 that advance read new releases and post positive reviews at publication.
We give away Freebies, mostly novellas, but also full length works.
We use Novellas as inexpensive reader magnets for building the mailing list, reaching out to new readers, and for use as freebies.
We are desperate for more Bookbub promotions. We’ve had two International Bookbub features, and they powered our best months.
We haven’t tried TikTok yet.
We’re very active on Facebook Ads.
We’re less active on Amazon Ads. We’re finding them more temperamental.
Michelle: If a newbie romance writer would email YOU asking for advice, what is the one piece of advice you would give them?
Kris: Ted Turner’s advice is simple: early to bed, early to rise, work like Hell, and advertise. And that’s pretty good advice to anyone launching a business.
I would also say: believe in yourself. You’re on a long journey. For most of us, it’s not going to come fast or easy. It’s a process. You must give your readers a quality product. You must find a way to get it in their hands.
And you must be patient.
Good luck, everyone.
And thank you, Michelle, for this opportunity.
Kris Kassady novellas celebrate hard-working American women. Her romances focus on the romance and have a guaranteed HEA, while her erotic romance takes readers on a sexual adventure that is both classy and tasteful.
To get a free copy of Joey’s First Greek Adventure, a fun and sexy novella, sign up for Kris’s weekly emails here: https://www.kriskassady.com/newsletter-sign-up.
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