Conversations with Bethany Rosa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bethany Rosa.

Hi Bethany, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Skipping the traditional path of higher education, I started as a receptionist with a lending company straight out of high school. With determination and ambition, I ascended the ranks of the financial sector. At 22, married, and settled in Bozeman, MT, I seized the opportunity to purchase a struggling mortgage company, a bold move that propelled my career. With relentless drive, I transformed it into the largest mortgage brokerage in town within two years, a testament to my commitment to success. As I grew professionally, I also grew my family, giving life to four beautiful girls. However, in 2007, with our fourth daughter’s arrival, I decided to prioritize my role as a mother, redirecting my energies toward raising our children.

Over the next decade, I explored various avenues in search of fulfillment, yet the yearning for something more never left. In 2017 decided 2017, I decided to join my husband’s career, becoming a real estate agent representing our development company. While this venture provided an outlet, I still needed to satisfy my passion. In early 2022, with three children leaving the nest and my youngest nearing independence, I began questioning my purpose. It wasn’t long before the answer appeared. With a lifelong love of reading and over 200 romance novels the prior year, I struggled to find a book that kept me engaged. The desire to become an author was something I never imagined happening, but it seemed fate had other ideas. Inspired one morning by a vivid dream, I wrote it down, and the idea to write my own novel was formed. Once the decision was made, I committed wholeheartedly to this new pursuit.

With unwavering resolve, I withdrew from my real estate endeavors. I relocated to Scottsdale with my husband and daughter, carving out a space of solitude to focus on writing my debut romance novel. In a five-month whirlwind journey, I breathed life into the dream, finishing my first draft. Over the next several months, I spent countless hours polishing, perfecting, designing, and collaborating to self-publish my debut novel, Pursuit of Innocence. Less than a year later, on February 29th, 2023, Pursuit of Innocence soared to success, earning the title of number one best seller in the Love Triangle Romance Category on Amazon within the first day of publication. Through perseverance, passion, and a willingness to embrace change, I have embarked on a transformative journey, proving that with unwavering determination, dreams can indeed become reality.

It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Deciding to write and publish a book and then doing it within a year is a big endeavor. For me, the writing process was the easy part. I can’t say that I’m great with discipline, but that first book flowed through me. My goal was to write the book in 30 days. It took a little over four months. I’m an excellent procrastinator. The real struggle came after the book was finished. It was a huge learning curve with many research hours on where to go from there. From editing to cover design and interior formatting, the choices were endless. The process for all three of those necessary items was lengthy as well. It was different from what I expected and not easy for an impatient person like myself. My current challenge is finding or simply scheduling time to finish book number two. It’s not easy to prioritize writing while going through the publishing process for the first manuscript. It’s crucial, however, because readers lose interest if too much time elapses before your following publication. So now, my goal is to finish this next book by the end of April, and so far, it’s been a struggle. An author friend just told me that book number two is said to be the hardest to finish with everything you’re working on for book one, and boy, is she right! I’m still learning, and my writing technique is a process.

As you know, we’re big fans of your work. What can you tell our readers who might not be as familiar with it?
It was never a question of genre when I decided to write a book. I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a bored pre-teenager who moved around a lot and never had many friends. I went through a murder mystery phase but realized it made me too paranoid and antsy. I discovered happily ever afters with spice along the way were my thing, resulting in my book being precisely that. I’ve been told the spicier scenes in my book stand out. I agree since that is one of the reasons I wanted to write my own: to make those scenes worth not skipping over. Romance is the biggest-selling genre out there. This can be a good and bad thing. Good, because people eat up these books and are constantly searching for more, but bad because you are in one of largest bodies of water and it’s easy to get lost at sea.

What sets me apart in this vast industry is not the story itself but my drive to succeed. It’s not enough for me to write a book, become an author, and call it good. I’m an all-or-nothing kind of girl, so my first priority was to do it right when I set out to do this. I paid for various beta readers to critique my work, multiple rounds of editing, and a professional cover artist. Once I had a top-notch product, the next phase was sales and marketing, which is right up my alley. Utilizing my daughter’s social media skills and my research capabilities, we put together an intense marketing plan to promote the book and get it in front of readers. I also hired a self-publishing consultant to walk me through some of the nuances of publishing and promoting the book. With the help of all these people, I could publish the book on my timeline, on my terms, holding only me responsible for my success.

Who else deserves credit for your story?
The first helpful thing I did was send my book out to two professional romance beta readers. It was critical feedback. While they gave me a lot of positive encouragement, they both had valuable criticism and comments that I considered. It opened my eyes to different perspectives and made me think of ways to not only write for one specific audience. I was lucky to have a circle of friends who read the book as I wrote and encouraged me along the way. It proved that I wasn’t just imagining myself as a writer but that I could do it and do it well. My daughter Cassie is a big reason this first book is successful. Her determination to push my marketing and self-promotion is critical. The things we have planned over the next year and for the next book are daunting, and she’s doing a great job keeping me on track. The publishing consultant I hired to mentor me on certain aspects of the process and talk about marketing was invaluable. The research time it cut out from just receiving the information was hands down worth every penny. The insight into what you need to do to succeed after you upload your book to Amazon and hit publish was priceless.

Pricing:

• Paperback 16.99
• Ebook on Amazon 4.99

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bethanyrosa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethanyrosa.author/#
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethany.rosa/
• Yelp: Amazon purchase link: https://a.co/d/ebPprix
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbethanyrosa