Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Rex.
Hi Emily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always been a writer, ever since I was a kid. My first book was a short chapter book about guinea pigs saving the world that I wrote around age 12. In high school, I wrote poetry in iambic pentameter for fun! In college I got a bachelor’s degree in English, then took a break from writing while finishing my masters in library and information science. My first book took me three years from start to publication in November last year. I wrote most of it while working full time at Amazon. After two years at Amazon, my contract ended and with the massive layoffs in tech, I was having a hard time finding a new job. I took on contracts that I hated for a while, until my husband told me to finish my book and get it published. And that was that. I’ve been working full time on my books ever since.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’m not sure how familiar you are with the publishing world, but there are basically two ways to publish a book. The first is traditional, in which a publisher pays you for your book and they give you an editor and a cover and you do it that way. The second is self publishing, which is what I did. You are basically an author and a small business at the same time. I’m the writer, but I’m also the front desk, the marketer, the accountant…everything! I did try and get an agent for Red Zone Realizations, but I quickly realized that I wanted this book published and traditional publishing is a low and slow type of heat. I wouldn’t say I would never traditionally publish something, but I will finish the Houston Hurricanes series myself. The average self published novel sells something like 100 copies in its lifetime. There are tons of self published books out there, the algorithms change daily making it hard to get eyes on your books, so it’s a constant battle to get readers. I’m very lucky to have sold 700+ copies of Red Zone Realizations over the last six months and I appreciate every reader!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in sports romance novels. I’m know for my Houston Hurricanes series, which are (currently) two interconnected stand alone books set in Houston. All of the male main characters play for the same fictional Houston NFL team. I love Houston, and being from here, I thought I could bring a unique outlook of the city to people. Why can’t it be the setting of a romance novel like New York or Toronto? We are big, diverse, and the food is delicious! My tagline is “romance with a feminist twist”, because I’m such a feminist myself it was impossible for me to write a romance novel without some take on feminism. In Red Zone Realizations, the female main character is childfree and she stands up for herself and her ideal life throughout the novel. Feminism at its core is all about choice. Romance novels have to have a happily ever after for the main couple as a genre requirement, but I thought to myself ‘why do these happily ever after’s all have to include having children’? There’s a large and fast growing group of childfree women out there who deserve to see characters like themselves get their HEA (Happily Ever After).
What makes you happy?
Books! The answer is always books. I love to read. Before I was writing full time I used to read 100 books a year! I’m much slower now that I’m more busy, but books have always been my sanctuary. There’s nothing better than staying up all night to finish a really good book.
Also, family. Even though I’m childfree, like the female main character in Red Zone Realizations, my husband and I decided when we got married that our families were the most important thing to us. We live literally six minutes from my parents and it’s amazing! For me, friends that become family also fall into this category. I love hard and am extremely loyal so this is everything to me.
Pricing:
- Paperback – $16.99
- E-book – $5.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.authoremilyrex.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authoremilyrex/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590572912837
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@authoremilyrex
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@authoremilyrex?_r=1&_t=ZT-96Ag4eg7dOv
