Marie Force and her 6.5 million book sales

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance, including the indie-published Gansett Island Series and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books.All together, her books have sold 6.5 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list many times.

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Transcript:

Sarah Williams:             She’s a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award for Romance Fiction. It’s the very talented Marie Force.

Marie Force:                 Hi there. Thanks for having me Sarah.

Sarah Williams:             It’s an absolute privilege to speak to you today. I know we’ve got lots to cover, so we’ll just jump into it. Can you tell us about yourself and your amazing journey?

Marie Force:                 I started writing fiction in 2003, 2004 and the very first book I wrote was this one which is Treading Water, and actually this didn’t get actually published until the end of 2011, but that was the first book I ever wrote and I finished it in 2005, tried to sell it, tried to get an agent, tried to do all the things that we do and didn’t really have much luck.

I finally ended up selling the seventh book I wrote, which was Line of Scrimmage and that came out in September of 2008. As of September of this year, I’ll be published 10 years. I have gone over seven million books sold since you got your stats. I guess I need to update my website. And 70 books written and I’ve got samples of all my series here.

This is Fatal Affair, which is the first book in the fatal series with Harlequin and that came out in 2010. Then, All You Need is Love, is the first book in my Green Mountain series which was with Berkley and now I’m self-publishing the end of that series. This one came out in 2014, and then this is Virtuous, which is book one in my quantum series which is erotic romance. Then this is Made for Love, which is book one in my marquee series, which is Gansett Island. That’s the one that sold more than three million books on its own and it’s just been my number one best selling series is Gansett Island and I’m working on next book 20 in that series, with no end in sight.

It’s been kind of a crazy ride. I started indie publishing in 2010. I’ve been traditionally published all along from 2008 straight through to today. I’ve been under contract to one publisher or another and right now I’m under contract to Harlequin for the fatal series and to Kensington for my new historical gilded series, which I’ve got the cover of book one right here, actually. Let me grab that for you. This is Duchess by Deception, which is the first historical I’ve ever written.

Sarah Williams:             Yes! Oh, that is beautiful. Yeah, I love it. Looks gorgeous.

Marie Force:                 Neat cover, isn’t it? I love it.

Sarah Williams:             It is, and as you were showing all your covers, I was going, absolutely spot on. That’s perfect for contemporary, that’s perfect for erotica. Everything. That’s good.

Marie Force:                 [crosstalk 00:02:46] cover. Big fan of … I love making all those decisions myself and I like working with the publishers too on that.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, absolutely.

Marie Force:                 Actually, Kensington recently released the first three Gansett Island books. So you saw book one, that’s Made for Love, and then these are new in mass market paper in the U.S. This is Fool for Love, and then Ready for Love … Whoops, wrong side. Ready for Love. Those come out this summer in the U.S. in mass market paper for the first time, so that was very exciting.

Sarah Williams:             Oh, wow! That is very cool. So apart from, obviously, your historical which is coming out, the other ones are all contemporary and set in America, in the U.S.?

Marie Force:                 Yeah. Well, they’re all contemporary in the sense that they’re all set in modern times, but they’re straight contemporary romances are Gansett Island and Green Mountain and Butler, Vermont series, and then also Treading Water is straight contemporary, Treading Water series, and then fatal is romantic suspense and then quantum is erotic romance. So, it’s a combination of a lot of different genres within contemporary romance. So it’s all contemporary except for the historical.

Sarah Williams:             Brilliant.

Marie Force:                 [inaudible 00:04:07] is funny, because I started writing that in 2010 and then I finished it … I sold it in 2017, finished it in 2018 and it’ll come out in 2019, and so that’s the longest trajectory of a book that I’ve ever had. And then the second one, I have to write in two and a half months. So, kind of a little scared about writing the followup in two months.

Sarah Williams:             Oh my gosh.

Marie Force:                 The first one took me eight years.

Sarah Williams:             Oh, gosh! So your historical is going to be a series as well?

Marie Force:                 It’s gonna be a series of at least three books. I don’t know if I’m gonna take on another big, long series. I’m finishing quantum in 2019 and then I’m finishing Treading Water in 2019. So I’m gonna be down two, which is good. I’m hoping to probably write three books in the Gilded series total. So we’ll see.

Sarah Williams:             Excellent. Well, let’s have a quick talk about your historical. So, is it historical, is it regency era or what kind of age?

Marie Force:                 It’s Edwardian, turn of the century, set in 1902, which is actually a really fun time to write, because there was so much innovation going on and so many new inventions and it was a really progressive time. People were … Can you see my dog freaking out behind me?

Sarah Williams:             No!

Marie Force:                 I hope not. One of my three dogs is freaking out behind me, playing with a toy, and I’m like, “Oh my god.” So, it was a really impressive time in the sense that people were starting to get indoor plumbing and they were starting to get electric lights in their homes and things like that. I write about a very forward looking duke who invested in all these inventions and he’s supporting the Wright Brothers in the United States who are trying to bring man to flight to reality and so it was really fun to write about the innovations and inventions of things that were going on in that time, and then to try to bring the romance into it, too.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah. So is it set over in the UK or America?

Marie Force:                 It’s set in the UK. The first book is set in the UK and then the second book is actually going to be set in Newport, Rhode Island, because the duke that is featured in Duchess by Deception has a good friend who’s an American and he invites the whole gang to Newport, Rhode Island for the summer. I live in Newport, Rhode Island and it’s … If you look up the mansions and The Preservation Society of Newport, Rhode Island, you can see all the Vanderbilt’s and the Astor’s and the Robber barons, as they were called at the turn of the century, industrialists, had massive homes in Newport, Rhode Island, which have been preserved and they’re a huge tourist attraction here.

More than a million people a year go through those mansions and it’s right down the street from where I live, really. So, I’m looking forward to bringing my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island into the series. So I think it’s gonna be really fun when the action switches to Newport for one book.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah! Oh, that’ll be fantastic! All right. So let’s take it in completely the different direction. Your quantum series, I’m really interested to talk to you about this one. Yay! Hot guys, we love it.

Marie Force:                 Let me show you this one, too. This book’s out next week.

Sarah Williams:             Oh!

Marie Force:                 Can you see that?

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, outrageous. That is gorgeous.

Marie Force:                 [inaudible 00:07:14].

Sarah Williams:             Love the frame.

Marie Force:                 Without the glow.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, that is gorgeous.

Marie Force:                 [inaudible 00:07:21] and let me just say that Outrageous is the funniest book I’ve ever written. Hands down, no questions asked, funniest book I’ve ever written.

Sarah Williams:             Oh, fantastic. So, the quantum series, tell us about the series and about some of the characters.

Marie Force:                 So, it’s basically it’s a group of Hollywood heavy hitters, so with movie star, director, cinematographer, producer, a female movie star and they’re partners in a production company and they’re all sexual dominants, and they’re very free and open with everything and one by one, they start to fall in love and so Virtuous, which is this right here, is book one of a trilogy that features the same couple in all three books, and then it moves into other couples in the subsequent books.

So, this is Outrageous, this is book seven, will be out next week, and then I’m going to do one more after that, and then that series is going to come to a close.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah. So how is it writing about BDSM and dominance?

Marie Force:                 I really have enjoyed it, because one of the things that I really love about it is the communication element of it. So, in a typical, what they call a vanilla relationship, there’s not a whole lot of discussion ahead of an encounter of what’s gonna happen and how it’s gonna happen and what to expect and all that. In the BDSM lifestyle, it’s all about communication, it’s about talking it out ahead of time. It’s about everybody being on the same page and no surprises.

The part that I most enjoyed writing is the communication element of it. I found that to be very interesting. Like I said, people don’t sit down, like in a business meeting, before they get busy. Like, “This is what’s gonna happen and this is how it’s gonna happen and this is what I expect from you and this is what I don’t …” I mean, who does that? So, the fact that … That’s a big part of the lifestyle and it’s the part I most enjoyed writing.

Sarah Williams:             Do you ever get asked the silly questions like, you write about BDSM, do you practice it in real life?

Marie Force:                 And I don’t. Yeah, and I think it’s probably obvious to people who do that I don’t, and I’m not trying to be … I’m not trying to be anyone that I’m not. I never am trying to be anything that I’m not, but I don’t solve murders either, but yet, my character of Sam Holland in the fatal series is a D.C. homicide detective. I’ve never solved a murder, but yet I can write about people who do. So, it’s kind of …

I love when Stephen King says that, because people always ask those questions. Like, “Oh, do you do everything that your characters do?” Stephen King’s like, “Well, I’ve never committed a murder.” So, it’s so silly that people say that stuff. I just had a lady tonight say to me, and she was totally sweet and funny and it was no big deal, but she was … ‘Cause my husband is sitting right next to her and she’s an older woman and she’s kind of, “So he must really like …” and I’m like, “No, not so much.” Regular schlepp-y old married couple at this point.

She thinks, “Oh, you must get a lot of practice in.” I’m like, “No, not really.”

Sarah Williams:             Too busy writing, sorry.

Marie Force:                 We have three dogs sleeping between us, what do you think goes on? No, but it’s just everybody’s got the nudge, nudge, wink, wink, is what my husband calls it, and it’s silly to us. I don’t know. Whenever somebody says something dumb to me about it, I’ll just be like, “You, too, are the result of a sex act.” And that kind of tends to shut down the conversation, because nobody wants to think about their parents that way.

Sarah Williams:             That’s true. I’m using that, that’s awesome.

Marie Force:                 Filthy. Every single human being, everybody does it, yet we all have to be … about it, especially in the U.S. I find that to be true, ’cause I’ve traveled a lot outside of the U.S. and it’s not like that everywhere else. We’re very puritanical in our views in the U.S. about these things, and we become … romance writers become cocktail chatter to our friends and stuff.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah.

Marie Force:                 [inaudible 00:11:36], I tell you.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, that’s it. So you’ve cut a deal with Harlequin at the moment. Do you enjoy working with publishers and having the hybrid in being in indie as well? You’re publishing both ways continuously.

Marie Force:                 I am, but I always have been, actually. I’ve actually been with Harlequin for eight years as of June of this year, it’s been eight full years of the fatal series with Harlequin, and so that’s not new. I guess I have a name in the indie community, which is obviously because of the Gansett Island series has done really well in indie, the quantum series, Treading Water. I’ve had more than 40 indie books and they’ve done really well, but I’ve also always been traditionally published too.

So there’s never been a time when I wasn’t. I really like so many elements of that. There is a lot of things that they do for me that I couldn’t do for myself, in getting paperback books into stores and things like that, and they pay me upfront, which is also really nice. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m just saying, so … I have a really nice relationship with Harlequin. As you know, my father just passed away in July, somewhat suddenly, and I have a book due at the end of July and my Harlequin team was just like, “Do what you gotta do. There’s no pressure or …”

And Kensington, I’m also published with them with the gilded series, the new historicals, and they also brought out my Gansett Island paperbacks this summer and I really like working with them and at this point in my career, it’s about, is it fun? Is it beneficial? Is it profitable? If there’s yes to all those questions, then okay. And I really do very much enjoy working with my team at Harlequin and at Kensington. For me right now, it’s definitely a good place to be.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, and you literally have the best of both worlds. You’re very successful indie and then you’re very successful traditionally published. I mean, probably just looking at it from an indie in Australia, they probably are helping each other to promote your books and those sorts of things. People get hooked on your traditional, they might buy your indies.

Marie Force:                 Well, I like to think that all boats rise together. My experience has been if somebody finds one of my books and they both like them, they tend to go through and read everything. Obviously, now that I have 70 books, it’s not like they go through and they read everything right now. It’s like back when there was 20, they could rip through them in two weeks, and now it’s more of a commitment, but I tend to find … If I find an author that I really connect with, I want to read everything that they have.

It really just sometimes takes, I call it the gateway drug, the one book that gets them in and then hopefully you get to keep them. I often find that people will find one book from one series and that’s all it takes. And so, that’s why I always tell other authors too, “Don’t put out anything that’s not as good as it could be, because that could be your only shot with that reader. And so if it’s not the best thing that you could possibly make it, then it’s probably not a good idea to put it out, because that reader will not give you another chance.”

There’s so many other authors to choose from. You don’t want to ever squander that opportunity. I try to [inaudible 00:15:00] really seriously that the readers are also … A lot of my readers don’t have tons of disposable income, so they don’t get to go to movies or out to dinner, but they get their books, and so they’re … I try to make sure that I give them a good time, you know?

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, absolutely! So, which books did you get your nominations for, your RITA nominations?

Marie Force:                 Fatal Frenzy, which was book nine in the fatal series, in which one of my detectives … one of her members of her squad is killed in the line of duty, and that was a very powerful book and I was glad to see that one be nominated, and I’m trying to think of what the other one was. Oh, it was Ravenous, which was book five in the quantum series, which had a British hero, which I think he probably took me right over the top. Yeah.

Sarah Williams:             Awesome. You’ve got books on audio and print-

Marie Force:                 All of them are on audio. All of them are in audio. Yeah, and I’ve got my … I have a wonderful team working with me and so all my indie books are coming out on audio on the same day as everything else, so we really got it down to a science. And then I’ve got this book coming out in October called Five Years Gone, which is a big contemporary about … It’s about a woman whose boyfriend deploys after a terrorist attack and basically never comes back. She gives it five years, and then she’s like, “Okay, I can’t do this anymore. It’s time to get back to my life,” and she kind of has to pick up the pieces of her life, kind of accepting that he’s not coming back.

That one is out October 9th, but I wrote it at the end of last year, so it’s coming out. Get this, you’re gonna love this. Okay, it’s coming out in eBook, audio with Andi Arndt and Joe Arden, which who are two of the biggest names in audio right now, so I’m really psyched hat they’re gonna be on this project. It’s also going to be out on October 9th in German and French translation on the same day, and it’s gonna be in stores thanks to Kensington. I feel like it’s kind of the holy grail arrival moment as an indie author to have a book out in three languages on the same day, and then in audio, in high level audio, print. I’m really excited, and eBook, of course. So very excited about my little trifecta, as I call it.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, that is really fantastic, and I’ve actually spoken to Andi Arndt on the show. So, she is fantastic.

Marie Force:                 Oh, yeah. No, she did a beautiful job on Five Years Gone. I’m really excited about it, and looking forward to getting that book out in October.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’ll write that one down. I love my audio.

Marie Force:                 Basically sat on it for almost a year after I wrote it so that I could do all these things with it. It’s fun.

Sarah Williams:             Oh, that’s fantastic. That’ll be absolute brilliant. Can’t wait! So, you also do some presenting of workshops and … Yeah, online and virtual as well. Tell us about doing that.

Marie Force:                 Yeah. So, that’s been really fun. I really do like to teach. I’m finding, I never thought I could ever really do it, and then I started to really start to enjoy it, and so that’s … The number one reason why I like to do the workshops is it just … It connects me with other authors and it is really fun to do. I do marketing 101, self pub 101. We do audio book workshop. A lot of them are on demand on my website. You can take them anytime you want. I’ve got a marketing one coming up that I’m gonna do in September.

So, sometimes I do them live, meeting in a given week, I’m there with the participants all week long. Other times, they’re just available on demand, so if you just want the info, you can get it at any time. They’re all at MarieForce.com/authors. So you can see … I also have a publishing and print Jack’s House publishing, in which I publish other authors and we have 14 books coming from Jack’s House this fall, which we’re really excited about.

Yeah, so that’s been really fun working with other authors and helping them to build series and things like that. Yeah, I’ve been having fun with that.

Sarah Williams:             Yeah. Wow, you just must be so busy.

Marie Force:                 [inaudible 00:19:17], but it’s all fun. It’s all stuff I like doing and if I didn’t like doing it, at this point, I wouldn’t be doing it, and I really do like … The Jack’s House stuff, like I said, I have a great team that supports me and so they’re doing all the Jack’s House stuff too and so that, it keeps everybody busy and employed-

Sarah Williams:             That’s it.

Marie Force:                 Yeah. We’re having fun.

Sarah Williams:             Fantastic! So you’ve already mentioned that you’ve got a couple of books coming out before the end of the year, which is phenomenal. My gosh, how long does it actually take you to write a book?

Marie Force:                 I give myself three months on the fatal books, which are the romantic suspense, because the murder mystery element of it is a little bit more taxing, a little bit more involved than the straight up contemporaries. The straight contemporaries I can do in two months. I have this really awesome run right now where I’ve got a bunch of stuff scheduled between myself and publishers, where I’ve got something coming in October.

Well, August is Outrageous and then October is Five Years Gone, and then November is Fatal Invasion, and then January is Duchess by Deception, and then March is Fatal Reckoning, which is the book they gave me the extension on that I’m finishing now, which involves a character that I’ve been writing for 11 years. Her father dies in the book-

Sarah Williams:             Wow.

Marie Force:                 … so I started writing that May 1st when my father was fine and this whole thing with my family has happened while I was writing about my character losing her father. So it’s this convergence of … I don’t know, a lot of my readers are saying it’s not a coincidence, but to me, it’s kind of crazy. I had already written her father dying somewhat suddenly, the funeral, all that, and then literally, my life followed that path that I had already written and it was just so crazy when I was like, “This cannot be happening,” but now it’s been a little bit … My father died three weeks ago today, and so it’s been a little bit difficult trying to get back into the swing of writing a book about my character’s father died.

This close to finishing it, but I just have to do it. So, I’ve got until the 15th of August now. I gave myself a little extension. But I’ve never missed a deadline, so I figure if you’re gonna miss a deadline, this is probably a good reason to.

Sarah Williams:             Absolutely.

Marie Force:                 It’s so crazy the way that’s all happened, and then so after March, I’ve got books scheduled out now until March. Exciting that I can kind of take a little breather on the indie stuff for a little bit and kind of stockpile some books while all that’s coming out. That’s kind of my plan right now.

Sarah Williams:             Well, that’s fantastic! Where can we follow you online and make sure we don’t miss a new release?

Marie Force:                 Just go to MarieForce.com, and then on the upper corner, you can see my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, BookBub, Book and Main. If you’re not on Book and Main, you should be on Book and Main. It’s a really fun, new site, a great place to discover new books and new authors. So yeah. All the social media icons are on the upper right-hand corner of my website.

Sarah Williams:             That’s awesome.

Marie Force:                 [crosstalk 00:22:20].

Sarah Williams:             Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for that, Marie. That was fantastic.

Marie Force:                 Thanks for having me.