New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Laura Kaye swept the 2012 GraveTells readers’ choice awards by winning a total of nine of eleven awards for which she was nominated out of fifteen total categories. The annual awards celebrate readers’ favorite books and authors in paranormal romance and this year garnered 18,000 votes from 1,200 fans.
West of Want, the second in Laura’s Hearts of the Anemoi series, took home three of those awards:
Favorite Heroine of 2012
Most Memorable Sidekick of 2012
Best Cover Artwork of 2012
Kaye also won the coveted award for Favorite Author of 2012.
Best of 2012 Nods!
As if the GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards weren’t awesome enough, Laura’s Entangled books have been picked as Favorite Reads of 2012 by the following blogs:
One Night with a Hero:
Best Adult Romance of 2012 at A Good Addiction
Her Forbidden Hero:
Read-Love-Blog
Hesperia Loves Books
Books to Brighten Your Mood
GraveTells
Nominated for Sizzling Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Book Reviews
West of Want:
For the Love of Reading
A chat with Award Winning Author Laura Kaye:
What does winning these awards mean to you?
My success in the GraveTells Readers Choice Awards means so much to me because it was entirely readers who made it possible. It’s always just humbling and thrilling when readers love your stories enough to come out and support you in something like this! And the awards also mean a lot because there were so many excellent books and authors nominated—it was a huge honor just to be listed among them!
Why do you think your book, ONE NIGHT WITH A HERO has resonated so much with readers?
I think one of the reasons One Night with a Hero has resonated with so many readers is because the characters are flawed, they make mistakes, they don’t always say or do the right thing, and that makes them relatable. Even when you want to shake them, you understand why they’ve done what they done. I also think Brady and Joss are very well matched—he might be the quintessential strong, alpha hero, but Joss stands up to him and is his match in every way. In addition to being super sexy, it’s probably also one of my funniest books yet!
Your characters are so real … and fans seem to love them. How do you find your characters?
I don’t. They find me. It really feels that way … that my characters come to me, slowly tell me who they are and what their story is, and then I can write. My stories always start with my characters, and they’re very real to me as I write them.
This past year has brought a lot of changes to your life. Tell us about how being a full-time author has changed your life?
Well, I’m two weeks into being a full-time writer and I love it! LOL Over the past year, my writing career became a full-time job, so I was essentially working two with my teaching career at the U.S. Naval Academy, not to mention my husband and kids and house, etc. I am beyond thrilled to have the chance to explore writing full-time and really throw myself into the crazy demanding writing schedule—involving four series *gulp*—I have in 2013!
When you create your stories, how do you begin? Give us some of the steps.
Step 1 is always characters. I can’t write a story until I know them. They even tell me what the genre is, what their conflicts are, etc. Step 2 is setting—putting the characters somewhere where they’ll feel real to readers. This is part of the reason I usually choose settings I know well. Step 3 is fleshing out the conflicts and what’s at stake, and that forms the basis of the plot. This all sounds way more organized than it really feels in my head, though!
How long does it take you to write a book’s first draft?
It depends. In general, though, I try to write 2,000 – 3,000 words a day. If I can write at that pace, I know I will accomplish 10,000 – 15,000 words in a week. That tells me how long a draft should take. 2-3 weeks for a 30,000-word novella, or 4-5 weeks for a 55,000-word short novel, or 8-12 weeks for a full-length novel. This is all assuming, of course, that the story and the characters and life in general cooperate!
What’s next on the horizon for Laura Kaye? Tells us what projects are next.
Oh, so much! 2013 is going to be the most amazing year yet! I find myself in the midst of writing four series:
Hearts of the Anemoi series: Greek-mythology-inspired fantasy romance with two books to release in 2013 (South of Surrender is next!)
Heroes series: sexy contemporary category romance with 1-2 books to release in 2013
Vampire Warrior Kings series: dark, erotic paranormal romance novellas with two books to release in 2013
Hard Ink series: single title contemporary romance with the first book to release in November
Keep up with all Laura and her books all around the web:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter SignUp
Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.
About Author
Well-deserved congratulations on the awards, Laura! It’s always fun to host the annual Readers Choice awards and get to honor so many amazing authors!
I CAN NOT WAIT for the Hard Ink series and the next books in the VWK and HotA series. Keep up the amazing work!
<3
DVK