PEOPLE OF INTEREST
Name: S.E. Smith
Age 52
Family: Husband Steve and four
children, three boys and one girl
What/who inspires me? Actually
everything around me is an
People
inspiration. When I hear music,
read an article, see a painting or
someone, even hear a name, it can
be an inspiration for a new story.
As far as who inspired me to
write it would be a combination of my sister, Linda, and my
husband, Steve. Both of them have been incredibly supportive
in me discovering who I was and what What are my hobbies? Writing was until career, but I would still consider it a hobby People
I am capable of.
it became my
as well. I love to
read, travel, go to the movies, and camp, as well.
What no one knows about me: That my class rebuilt more
than 100 computers and donated them to needy families.
“I have always had a fascination
with the stars and the universe
since I was a child. I would lay
out at night on the driveway
and imagine what was up there.
It only seemed natural that I
would gravitate to writing about
what I love.” — S.E. Smith
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remarkable is that Smith didn’t learn to read until she was 11
years old. “I didn’t learn how to read until the sixth grade. I
always had difficulty with it. But once I found a book I loved,
it was as if a light switch clicked on and I couldn’t get enough
of it,” she says humbly.
Today, she has become so popular that a major New York
publishing house has approached her to sign on with it. She
turned it down. “They would want me to do things their
way,” she says.
Clearly, she made the right decision because she netted
a little more than $1 million since debuting her initial four
books, with Amazon’s 30 percent share. Not Surprisingly, she
retired from her school district position this past June.
So just how has she been so incredibly successful, particularly
in a field that is not known for its moneymaking
potential? And, with so many sci-fi books out there, just what
makes her books so appealing?
“I think it’s the relationships I create with the characters
because they are telling me the story. I just listen to them. I
never know what’s going to happen next. When I’m stuck, I
ask the characters what to write, and they always ‘answer,’
me” she says. “I find myself laughing out loud, or crying, because
I am feeling what the characters feel and when I finish
the story I feel good. Then I know my readers will relate.”
And they do. She receives fan mail from all over the world,
and when she went to an Indie Romance Convention this
past summer in Denver, readers from all over flew to meet
with her. Their goal was to have a few words with the woman
they so admired, the woman who dreamed up these amazing
worlds of faraway warring galaxies filled with Martians, catlike
creatures who seem more human than feline, and many
otherworldly characters who interact with strong yet vulnerable
human women who inevitably fall in love with men or
men-like creatures, while overcoming great odds.
And they do get steamy, which Smith admits is another
draw to her books, although she is careful to point out that
they are not listed under Amazon’s erotica section. Possibly
because the couples are always monogamous and endearing,
and true love is celebrated.
To date Smith has published 31 books, which would be impossible
for many fiction writers, but she finds writing easy
and enjoyable. She says that constantly publishing new books
People
is one of the reasons for her outstanding success. “The key is
continuing to release stories on a regular basis and developing
a good relationship with the readers.”
Another key to her success she says is utilizing social
media. She has a professional assistant who helps with this, a
fan who contacted her and offered her extensive social media
skills for free. At the time, Smith was already using social
media, but says her assistant, whom she insisted on paying,
has brought it to a whole other level on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Pinterest and other sites.
And now she is venturing into audio books, which Amazon
asked if it could set up. “They see me as financially viable
and said they would pay to have my books produced on
audio,” she says.
Her family is helping out too, with her daughter designing
jewelry with pendants of the books’ main characters, while her
husband offers his unconditional support, although he has never
read one of her books, which does not bother Smith in the least.
“Unless it is an instruction manual or some other educational
medium, Steve doesn’t read it. He says there is too much in this
world to learn. We love going to the movies, so that is where he
gets his relaxation. Perhaps when one of my books comes out as
a movie I’ll be able to get him to go!” she says with a smile.
The protagonists of Smith’s stories are always strong women.