From School Teacher to
New York Times Best Seller
By Jeff Rivera
While her children ran around her, Ruth Cardello wrote in the
basement of her tiny house in spare moments, worked on improving her
craft, and juggled her day job as a kindergarten teacher.
Then,
when the economic slowdown began, and her teaching career became less
stable, she took a leap of faith. Her brother had suggested she
self-publish. With her husband's support, she turned her attention to
learning the business side of publishing. The rest, as they say, is
history.
Her first indie published book
Maid for the Billionaire
skyrocketed up the charts. Over 200,000 people downloaded it almost
instantly. That set her on a path to creating a series that would launch
her career as an author and have her turning down a 7-figure deal from a
Big 5 publisher.
I had the opportunity to ask Ruth about her path to success and her newest book deal with Montlake Books.
How did you get started as a writer?
I've
always been a writer, but I finished my first full-length book in 2004.
That would eventually be purchased by Montlake Romance and become
Taken, Not Spurred.
The first draft of that book was awful. I didn't write it thinking that
it would ever be published. I wrote it because I love reading romance
novels and I wanted to create a world of my own.
Back then, I
didn't know any of the rules of writing a novel. I was in and out of
everyone's point of view often in the same scene. Also, I hadn't yet met
my husband, so the horse in the story had more of a point of view than
the hero. At that time, I was riding my own horse six nights a week. The
book was full of horse terminology, horse anecdotes, and a few spicy
scenes between the heroine and hero. Fortunately, none with the horse.
But how did you go from tinkering with a novel to becoming a bestselling author?
What
do you do when you finish a book? How do you know it's any good? My
friends said they loved it, but I had to know for sure. I shared the
book with an online critique group. There may be many wonderful groups
out there, but my experience wasn't the best. My favorite line from one
of my critique partners was that my writing was so awful that it made
her want to bash your head on the wall until she bled. Needless to say, I
was more than a little discouraged.
But I didn't give up.
I
found a local chapter of Romance Writers of America because I've always
considered failure a challenge and they tout themselves as a place
where authors grow. Now, as the youngest of 11 children, and one with
eight protective brothers, I didn't go to my first meeting alone. My
brother, Gerry, said he was coming with me and told me that he was
pulling me out of there if anyone started tearing my writing to shreds.
RIRW of Rhode Island was such a warm and wonderful group of women that
my brother joined the group with me and started to write just because of
the creative energy there.
It was at one of the meetings that I
met Annette Blair. She was traditionally published but had gotten there
the hard way. She'd written a lot of books, entered them into many
contests, received some cutting reviews, and refused to give up. She
spoke about the time she put into learning the craft. She thanked all of
the people who were patient with her and supportive of her while she
was learning. She spoke with eloquence and warmth that I decided right
then and there that I wanted to be her when I grew up.
I started
entering contests for my writing. I went to workshops on how to improve
my craft. I worked with critique partners. I read as much as I could on
the rules of my genre. This was the painful adolescent period of my
writing career. I was awkward. I was insecure. But I was also
determined.
Many beginning writers reading this are struggling with their craft. How did you learn the ropes? How did you hone your skills?
Want to read the rest of the interview? Click here
Additional thoughts by me:
My Journey Expands
How my writing became a family affair
Two years ago, my niece sent me the most incredible
story she had written and asked me if I would help her self-publish it. I
gave her a list of about sixty things she would need to do first. She
called me back the next day and said, “I’m done. What else should I do?”
After that, Danielle Stewart had her auntie’s full
support. She has fourteen books and novellas up now and I couldn’t be
prouder. The first book in each of her series is FREE.
Last
year my sister, Jeannette Winters, who has a full-time job as an
analyst, told me she dreamed of making enough money from her stories to
pay for the new roof her home needs. I gave her the same list and told
her to bring me a completed
romance. If she did that, I promised to get her the best editors I could
afford, help her choose covers that would fit her books and teach her
the business side of self-publishing. She joined the same author group
my brother and I did and finished not only one, but two billionaire
romances. And they’re good. They’re so good I could cry.
Her first book is FREE
http://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Secret-Betting-You-Book-ebook/dp/B00TOOJW2U
