Author Interview: Samantha Bryant

If you’re looking for Samantha Bryant, check the woods first. She likes to get lost there in order to find herself, and she’s probably near the water. She’s a fan of the small beauties of life, especially the ones Mother Nature made and enjoys taking macro photographs of the things she finds on her walks. Her rescue dogs think this is a great idea because it means they get lots of time to romp in the sunshine. 

In her writing life, Samantha mostly writes superhero and horror stories, which one depends on whether she wants to save the world today, or burn it down. She also likes to play in other genres from time to time, including science fiction, literary fiction, and poetry. Her influences have been mostly complex, complicated, and problematic women, full of passion and willing to make trouble to make a difference. 

Check out her full catalog on her website or find her wasting time on several social media platforms as @samanthabwriter.

Q: What made you decide to write this book?

A: In summer 2025, I finished my Menopausal Superheroes series, the work of the past ten years, the last book of which took me three years to complete. When the fog cleared, I lifted my head, looked around, and went, “Well, what now?”

I have several half-formed projects on my back-burners, but I found that I really wanted that new project energy. I also was finally at a place in my life where I felt like I had the time, knowledge, and money to try independent publishing. (All my previous work has been published with small presses).

Through the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, a wonderful educational professional organization I’ve been a member of for more than a decade, I met Stella Fosse, a strong advocate for a powerful third act in a woman’s life. We connected because her vampire book, Vampires of a Certain Age also explores themes of Menopause and aging. I beta-read her wonderful writing advice book, Write and Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance, all about how to write and publish a romance featuring mature characters, and was inspired to give a new-to-me genre a try: romance.

And that’s why we now have the GenX Romances! (That, and because, I’m absolute sap at heart, a complete sucker for sweet banter and happy endings).

Q: What particular challenges did you face in your writing? Do you have any tips for other writers who might face similar challenges?

A: Writing in a new genre, form, or style is always challenging. I’d been writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror mostly, which sometimes had romantic elements, but which were not really romances.

One of the things I struggled with was keeping an appropriate level of tension—not too high drama, but not without obstacles to overcome. My heroes and heroines in these romances are in their 50s, so this isn’t their first rodeo. That meant some of the plot elements that are common in romances with younger characters just were not going to fly.

Luckily, I’ve got some fantastic critique partners in my life and I know quite a few romance writers who were willing to talk things through with me (like preferred terminology for certain parts of the anatomy and what heat level made sense given the tone of the non-sexy parts of the books). A few even beta-read for me, which is SO GENEROUS, given that they’ve all got their own projects going on, too.

I definitely advocate for reading broadly and deeply in your intended genre, with a student’s eye for understanding how the author achieved the effects you want to achieve in your own work. And build a network of support! Join professional organizations, attend workshops, and find critique partners to help you hone your work at each stage of the journey.

Q: Can you talk a little about your editing experience for new writers? 

A: So, since these were my first indie projects, I started with my regular critique partners, running the books through them and revising based on their feedback. Then, I sent them broader to beta-readers who hadn’t seen the earlier drafts, so that they’d be approaching with fresh eyes. Finally, I hired a professional editor (Lucy Blue—she’s FANTASTIC, and steeped in the genre in a very helpful way).

So all in all, I probably revised each book five or six times. Because I’m not new to this, I didn’t find it all that painful, but I do remember the first time I faced a professional editor, back in 2014 when we were working to bring out the first of the Menopausal Superheroes novels, Going Through the Change. It takes a little time to thicken your skin and to develop the distance you need to hear the feedback without it feeling like a personal attack.

My best advice in that regard is to ease into sharing your work and taking feedback. Start with a single critique partner, trading work with another writer. Then consider finding a larger group to participate with. Not all feedback is equally valuable, and in the end you have to weigh what each reader says and decide if the input is valid and how you’re going to incorporate that feedback in the best way to serve your story. It’s okay to ignore bad advice, but you won’t help yourself by refusing to listen to other opinions.

Q: Are you a self or traditionally published author? Why did you decide this was the publishing path for you? 

A: Now I’m both! Which makes me what they call “hybrid.”

In 2014, when I started down this road, I was a mom of two small children who taught middle school for a living. It was a miracle I was finding time to write and I didn’t see how it would be possible to manage a full business where I was also my own publisher, arranging for covers, edits, book layout, distribution, and marketing.

So, after quickly becoming frustrated with the glacial pace of submission to big traditional publishers, I went for small publishers.

The process is similar to what it is for the Big 5 New York publishers, but tends to go a little faster and you can get in without an agent.

You research a publisher to make sure your work is a good fit for what they do. You read their submission guidelines and follow them, sending whatever they request. Often that’s the first few chapters and a summary of the rest of the book. Usually, you’ll get a “no” pretty quickly if that’s going to be the answer, and it’s more likely that your refusal will come with some advice or feedback with a small publisher than with a big one. If the answer is “maybe,” they’ll be some more back and forth where you send the entire manuscript for further consideration. If the answer is “yes,” then it’s time to carefully read the contract.

In fact, I think it’s worth getting a professional to look it over if you can. You don’t know what you don’t know that first time. Watch for things like exit clauses—how can you break the contract and get your right back if that becomes necessary? What are you committing to do besides let them publish your book? Look for details of time table and percentages for any advance (often there isn’t one with small publishers) and royalty share.

It's been good for me as a path, but now it’s eleven years later, and my kids are grown, I have a less demanding day job, I have a little bit of a footprint and a following out there, and I’ve learned a lot about how “how the sausage is made” in the intervening years. So I decided this was my time to go indie and be my own publisher.

I’ll have to get further into the process before I can tell you if I regret the decision to do this myself, but so far I LOVE it.

Being in charge of the pace is exciting. Choosing every element can be daunting, but also amazing. I chose my editor. I chose my cover artist. I taught myself to use Vellum to do my book layout myself and I chose everything about the look of the text on the page. I decided what the release date would be and what distribution model I would use. I’m deciding on the type of marketing that will happen.

Even though I’ve had a great experience working with small publishers, no one knows and loves your work like you do!

Q: Can you describe your publishing experience for writers who hope to publish one day? 

A: My journey had some bends in the road, but it’s overall had forward momentum.

First, I committed to a daily writing habit, which helped me start finishing projects and getting them publication ready. I know every day isn’t for everyone, but it works for me. I think it’s important to at least be regular in your writing practice, and not let too much time elapse between work sessions.

Then, I found and signed with a small press in 2014. That first small press fell apart in 2018, but it was really good at first. Sadly, this is a risk with small presses—they don’t have that institutional mass and something like a life crisis for the wrong person can break a small press apart. I say this calmly now, but it was very stressful in the moment, fighting to get my last payments and to get my rights back so I could re-release my books.

I considered going indie at that point, but a realistic assessment of my life and my caregiving responsibilities showed me that this wasn’t a good moment for that. I could barely spare the amount of time I was already giving my writing life. There’s was little chance I could find more time.

So, I signed with another small publisher after that. Some people thought I was crazy for doing it, after that first bad experience, but It’s worked out well and I’m still happily working with that publisher now. I knew a lot more about what to look for in the contract by then and my new publisher was a person I knew and trusted after orbiting in each other’s circles for years at conventions and author events. They saw me through rebranding and rereleasing the first three books in the Menopausal Superhero series, and writing the other two novels, two novellas, and a set of shorts all under that new contract.

And now, I’m serving as my own publisher for these romances and we’ll see where that takes me.

Q: What is one piece of advice that someone gave you that you'd like to pass on to other authors?

A: One of the biggest things I struggled with early on was focus—keeping my attention on ONE project long enough to see it to fruition without getting distracted by the new shiny idea that was trying to tempt me away. So James Maxey, a very successful writer from the same town as me that I met through a workshop he held at my library, told me that he tries to stop before he’s done each writing session. So that when he comes back to the work in the next writing session, he has a starting point in finishing the scene he was working on last time.

I’ve adopted that in my own practice, leaving myself a little note in all caps about where I thought the work was going, but stopping before I’ve run all the way to the end of that session’s inspiration. It’s really helped my productivity because I don’t have to spend a lot of time getting back in mentally and emotionally.

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Not Too Late

Amanda Deaton left her hometown right after high school, looking for adventure. But now, thirty-five years later, her mom needs her, and this GenX nomad has come home. Bellevue, Kentucky has changed--they even have a Thai restaurant! And here where Amanda least expected it, a new kind of adventure might be looking for her.

Her yoga instructor, Chris, is hot. Like, making her stammer over her words, making her stare at him across a crowded sub shop hot. And wonder of wonders, he seems to be staring and stammering at her, too. But how does he know her high school nickname? Any guy that good-looking she would surely have remembered. 

But just like Bellevue, Chris has changed a lot. Turbo, the skinny freshman trackstar, sweet but entirely unmemorable, has grown into a gorgeous, caring, confident man with a thriving career and a grown-up daughter. What hasn't changed is the torch he still carries for his high school crush. 

Chris has dreamed of a life with Amanda since he was fourteen years old. At age 54, Amanda has never really given away her whole heart. Could their timing finally be right? 

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