Anyone ever wish that every time they had a decision to make, they could just shake a Magic Eight Ball and honestly get the right answer? Something like…hey, I see where you’re coming from but what about X, Y, and Z? Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and in our lives, relationships and careers all we can do is try and make the best decision possible and hope it’ll all work out.
Where is this coming from, you might ask? I’ll get there, I promise, but I’m going to start at the beginning.
I’ve always loved writing. I always knew that was what I wanted to do. After years of putting my dreams aside, finally I decided to give it a shot. I played around in a few genres before I started writing Young Adult fiction. I fell in love. I got an agent, and both sold books traditionally and self-published them. From there I wrote a couple of New Adult books, and did the same. I loved writing YA, and the plans I had for future books were geared for teen readers…but then eventually, I had this other story idea come to mind. It wouldn’t leave me alone. I thought about it day and night. It was very different than what I had already published. It was an adult book…a very adult book with explicit content, much different than my YA and NA books. Even though my NA is intended for readers who are slightly older, they’re still fairly tame compared to a lot of books out there.
I put a lot of thought into what to do. I loved this story. I was passionate about it, and passionate about the genre. But then if I published it, what happened if one of my thirteen or fourteen-year-old readers looked me up and clicked on that book instead of one of my titles that was more appropriate for them? I didn’t think it was a good idea to mix teen and explicit romance content on the same site. The answer to me was a pen name. But then, I worried that if I connected those names, could the same possible situation occur?
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably thinking, get on with it already! So, I will. I currently write under two names. I started out writing YA and NA (both male/female and male/male) as Nyrae Dawn, and I also write adult male/male sexy romance as Riley Hart.
Whew, that feels good to write!
When that first Riley Hart book (COLLIDE) popped into my head, I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to move forward, yes; but I also never expected it to really go very far. I was a “new” author. I didn’t use any of my Nyrae resources as Riley. I thought I would be lucky to get a few people to read Noah and Cooper’s story. Somehow, I ended up amazingly lucky, though. I have the most incredible, loyal, passionate readers, and I feel so blessed to have them. I’ve met some incredible authors. I’ve met some wonderful friends—both author and reader. As time continued to pass, the more worried I became that my readers on either side could be upset with me that I didn’t share this sooner. With each book it’s become harder and harder, and the more the two “worlds” are overlapping in ways I never anticipated. I want to be able to do book signings as Riley. I want to support and give back to my readers the same way they’ve supported me, and the only way to do that is to connect the two names in some ways.
This was about book content, and that’s all. I want to make that perfectly clear. At the time, I made what felt like the best decision that I could. I want to put it out there that my Nyrae titles and my Riley titles are very different. Please don’t go into one expecting it to be like the other. Some of my Riley books also contain some darker themes than my Nyrae books do. I can’t stress that enough.
Even though I’m making this announcement, I don’t plan to “officially” link the names. I won’t add a link to my Riley site on my Nyrae site or to my Nyrae site on my Riley site. I still want to keep them separate to an extent, because I do think that’s smarter because Riley is so much more adult than Nyrae.
I hope you all understand where I’m coming from. Thank you so much for your support over the years.
