I was lucky enough to meet Megan Hart at the Reader-Author get-together in Cincinnati this past June. She was sitting at a table with Anya Bast, Lauren Dane, their mutual agent Laura Bradford, and Cindy Hwang of Berkley, and between Megan and Lauren, I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to hurt something!
Megan writes for Harlequin Spice, Black Lace, Berkley Sensation, Avon Red and Amber Quill Press. Published in almost every romantic sub-genre imaginable, she writes hot, witty love stories guaranteed to please her readers, and I am delighted to have her as our featured author this month.
Chat with Megan!! Megan Hart will be joining us on Monday, Sept. 8th from 11 am-2 pm eastern for a special guest author chat at the Sierra club!
Sierra Dafoe: Sierra Dafoe: Megan, first, congratulations on the release of Tempted, your -- what? third novel with Harlequin Spice? I don't know if you know this, but it's currently listed on the Harlequin site as sold out! (Never fear, folks -- it's still available at Amazon, though) How does it feel to have so many readers passionate about your books?
Megan Hart: Hi, Sierra and thanks so much for having me! I have to say that hearing about readers who've enjoyed my work is extremely satisfying and makes everything I do worth it. I could write a thousand books but with nobody to read them, what's the point?
Sierra: Oh boy, do I ever have to agree with that!
Speaking of books that have been greatly enjoyed... Tempted has been described as "extraordinary" and "not your ordinary run-of-the-mill erotic romance. It's incredibly deeper than that..." which is a comment I hear a lot about your writing! What do you feel you bring to a story that makes it uniquely "yours"?
Megan: To be honest, I don't know. I can't say I've ever set out to do anything but write the sort of book I'd like to read. Fortunately for me, I guess, the stories I like to read (and write) are also what others like to read! I guess I bring to each story a piece of myself or my experiences, which would obviously be uniquely mine, but I'd say every writer does that.
Sierra: Tell us a little bit about Tempted -- how did the story develop? Do you remember what inspired the idea for the book?
Megan: I had a flash, or a vision, one day in my office, about a woman whose husband's best friend was in love with him -- but she was in love with the friend. It was just the briefest flash of an idea, a threesome in which the two men had a "thing" as well as the woman with the men. I described it to my husband who made an "ick" face, and that's when I knew I was on to something. The idea rapidly fleshed itself out after that, and I was on a tight deadline so didn't have time to tinker. I sat down day after day and wrote and wrote and out came Tempted!
Sierra: You've also written a number of Spice Briefs for Harlequin as well. What do you find different -- and appealing -- about writing in a shorter format?
Megan: I love writing short stories. I always have. I like writing something that can be finished in a few days rather than a few months, and I really enjoy getting inside a piece of a character's life for just one "moment" rather than an entire time period. Some people really find short stories challenging, but I like them for that very reason. Fitting everything in to a short format without sacrificing characterization or plot – love it!
Sierra: Many of your earlier e-published works were novellas, too.What was it like, making the jump from e-publishing to writing for the larger print houses? At what point did you finally say to yourself, "It's time to go after this"?
Megan: When I first decided to become a writer, there was no choice. E-publishing didn't exist. Fortunately for me, e-publishers did start acquiring work and I was able to start selling to the small press/e-pub market, but there was never any question in my mind that I was going to write for the more traditional houses some day.
I'm not quite as "old school" as some writers out there but I definitely have seen a great number of changes in the publishing industry since I began focusing seriously on getting published, and I have to laugh a little (and with fondness) at new writers who come along with no idea of what a great gift they have in swift turnaround times on queries and faster publication times because of e-publishing. When I started I had to look everything up IN BOOKS! Books, people. Not on the 'Net. I had to WRITE LETTERS and USE STAMPS! I actually had to wait MONTHS AND MONTHS to hear back from editors! Making the jump to e-publishing was one more step in the journey, but both e-publishing and traditional publishing have their good and bad points. I've learned a lot from and enjoyed being published in both realms equally.
Sierra: LOL! And just because it's such a fun thing to ask about, tell us about "the call" -- either when you first signed with Bradford Literary Agency, or when you got your first "big" contract!
Megan: When I got my first "big" contract, I wasn't exactly surprised. There comes a point when your agent is saying "the editor wants to know your previous sales numbers" and stuff like that, and you just know an offer has to be coming.
I'd written Dirty specifically for Spice, which at the time wasn't even releasing books. None had come out, but based on the guidelines, I just had a gut feeling Dirty was going to be "the one." It wasn't solely romance, which meant it wasn't going to be a good fit for the more traditional romance lines, and Spice seemed to be looking for just that sort of book. So when my agent (not LB at the time) called and said "They want Dirty" I sort of sighed and smiled.
I was at my son's gymnastic practice at the time and the cell reception was really bad. So when she said "...and they want two more books," my jaw literally dropped. I'd been working on a second book, which became Broken, and I thought they might offer a two-book contract or at least ask to see it, but to sell three books the first time stepping up into a big house was startling and frightening and deliriously exciting, to say the least.
Sierra: I can imagine! You have an upcoming release from Black Lace, Taking Care of Business, co-authored with Lauren Dane along with a new joint website at www.Dane-Hart.com. It was obvious you two get along famously when I met you, but what is it like collaborating with another author?
Megan: Working with LD is fabulous, not only because she's my BFF (according to some sources 'round the internet, not sure why anyone would accuse us of such a thing, but there you have it) but because she's a great writer, too. Writing Taking Care of Business was a blast and I'm very excited to be working on the sequel with her, too.
Sierra: You've also got a bevy of upcoming releases from Spice, Berkley Sensation, and Avon Red -- congratulations! It must be a very exciting time for you -- and busy! Tell us about your upcoming books.
Megan: Taking Care of Business is released from Black Lace in the UK in October and March here in the U.S. and is the story of two friends, Leah and Kate, and the men they encounter during a week-long conference. Leah, my heroine, manages to discover that Brandon, the conference services manager, is the sort of guy who will do anything necessary to make her happy, and that's just what she's been looking for.
In January my next Spice book, Stranger, comes out. In that one Grace Frawley is a funeral director who's decided that paying for escorts is easier than trying to date or getting entangled in a love affair. When she meets sexy Sam, though, she finds herself thinking that sometimes you really do get what you pay for, and you can't really put a price on loooooove!
After that comes my novella in the Avon Red anthology A Red Hot Valentine's Day and in the summer of 2009 is Deeper from Spice. Deeper is a contemporary paranormal novel about Bess and Nick, who had an affair 20 years ago that ended badly. Now she's back in the town they met, and Nick's back, too...but things are different with him and her second chance doesn't turn out quite the way she expects.
And finally, in the fall of 2009 I'll have two spec fic romances from Berkley Sensation, Pleasure and Purpose and No Greater Pleasure. I love both those books, which focus on the world of the Order of Solace and the Handmaidens whose purpose is to provide peace to their patrons. That was a lot of "p's!"
Sierra: Finally, welcome back from your road trip! How was it and where did you go?
Megan: Thanks! We went to Yellowstone National Park but a lot of other places as well. We covered eleven states in two weeks and on the way home crossed five states and two time zones in less than 24 hours. I crossed the Continental Divide four times and saw a lot of the "largest: things in the U.S. if not the world – biggest bull's head, largest underground aquarium, world's only corn palace, that sort of thing.
Sierra: It sounds like a great time. Megan, thanks so much for joining us. I'm looking forward to chatting with you at the Sierra club!
Megan: Thank YOU for having me! Can't wait to chat with you!
Visit Megan's recently-redone website, MeganHart.com for more information on Megan and her books -- it's absolutely beautiful! She also maintains a blog at readinbed.net which includes a video diary, and a website with Lauren Dane at www.Dane-Hart.com.
I was lucky enough to meet Megan Hart at the Reader-Author get-together in Cincinnati this past June. She was sitting at a table with Anya Bast, Lauren Dane, their mutual agent Laura Bradford, and Cindy Hwang of Berkley, and between Megan and Lauren, I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to hurt something!
Speaking of books that have been greatly enjoyed... Tempted has been described as "extraordinary" and "not your ordinary run-of-the-mill erotic romance. It's incredibly deeper than that..." which is a comment I hear a lot about your writing! What do you feel you bring to a story that makes it uniquely "yours"?
I'd written Dirty specifically for Spice, which at the time wasn't even releasing books. None had come out, but based on the guidelines, I just had a gut feeling Dirty was going to be "the one." It wasn't solely romance, which meant it wasn't going to be a good fit for the more traditional romance lines, and Spice seemed to be looking for just that sort of book. So when my agent (not LB at the time) called and said "They want Dirty" I sort of sighed and smiled.
In January my next Spice book, Stranger, comes out. In that one Grace Frawley is a funeral director who's decided that paying for escorts is easier than trying to date or getting entangled in a love affair. When she meets sexy Sam, though, she finds herself thinking that sometimes you really do get what you pay for, and you can't really put a price on loooooove! 
