South Dakota author lands publishing deal with HarperCollins
As originally published in the USA Today.
Ah, finally.
The weather is chilly. It’s dark before dinner, the fire is crackling and it’s about time to settle into a long winter’s nap with your lover.
Or, better yet, let’s settle in with a steamy book about lovers. And just grab an entire series of romance novels while you’re out holiday shopping this year.
Sioux Falls author Amy Daws has written – and self-published – more than 20 books in 10 years’ time, all adult contemporary romance. Or, let’s just call it what Daws does: “smut” writing. It’s the type of meet-cute tropes that never tire, that leave readers swooning, and that they read with gluttony. When will they kiss already?
Daws said she has mastered the “dangling of the carrot” for her readers, but now she’s caught the attention of an international publisher as well. After a decade of marketing all her work on her own, she has signed a contract with HarperCollins, a publishing company well known among writers and readers as one of the “Big 5.” (Others being Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and MacMillan.)
You sign with a Big 5, you are on your way.
“We love all of her work so much,” said John Jacobson, her editor with Canary Street Press, which is an imprint under HarperCollins.
The company will be releasing her newest book in her latest series next year, while also re-releasing a few of her existing books with new covers, in paperback, e-book and audio.
“There is something special about seeing your books in retail stores like Target and Barnes & Noble, and we’re so excited to bring that to Amy,” Jacobson said. “There will be readers discovering her work for the first time.”
'The master of girl talk'
But Daws is not new to this.
Before she found an agent, and before a publisher found her, she was single-handedly managing a seven-figure career and charming video reels for more than 110,000 followers on Instagram and more than 150,000 followers on TikTok.
She’s produced all her own audiobooks, became a No. 1 best-selling author on Amazon, sold nearly 350,000 copies of one book alone. She's even had a movie spun out of another, all from her kitchen.
“I’m not just a writer,” said Daws, 41 and living in South Dakota’s largest city with her husband and 12-year-old daughter. “I’m an entrepreneur. With success comes more responsibility, so I’ve been doing the marketing, advertising, writing, cover work and creative control. You want to stay relevant as an indie (independent) author. It definitely feels competitive out there, so I need to have a hand in everything.”
That includes relationship building with her readers. Like a suitor in her books, she’s unabashedly loyal to them.
“Readers will line up all day long to wait for a picture with her and to have her sign their books,” said Tricia Derbyshire, a reader from Chicago who met Daws at a book convention in 2022 and has read her entire backlist since. “They’ll even bring her gifts. If there’s anything Amy does especially well, it’s drawing in new readers with her personality and humor.”
I met Daws for the first time last month, during an author fair at Siouxland Library’s downtown location, and Derbyshire is right. Like you do when you’re enchanted by someone new, many in the room were clamoring to be near her.
Jill Degen, a reader who recently attended a book club in town with Daws, said Daws’ book characters feel like best friends.
“The quick-wit humor and romance in her books make them so addicting,” Degen said. “She’s the master of girl talk.”
Daws’ editor, Jacobson, said they had been following her for quite some time and were immediately drawn to her humor as well.
“It’s difficult to make somebody laugh out loud, and Amy can do that really well,” Jacobson said.
But Daws also shares a depth to her characters that is just as enticing.
“Amy is incredibly complex underneath all the fun, often addressing personal, challenging topics,” said Jacobson, who impulsively emailed Daws earlier this year to see if she had signed with a publisher yet.
Jacobson was courting her more than she was courting the publisher.
“You always want that palpable connection between two characters – that excitement you seek – and Amy has it,” Jacobson said. “I think readers will find themselves moved by Amy no matter what.”
In good company among spicy romance authors
She’ll fit right in when her books pile up for national retailers.
Markell Boysen, manager at Barnes & Noble in Sioux Falls, said spicy romance fiction has “taken off” in their store and that some of their top-selling, national authors are fellow contemporary romance writers.
Boysen listed writers like Penelope Douglas, Lauren Asher and Elle Kennedy – a fellow best-selling author who also writes under an imprint of HarperCollins – sell equally steamy books with an equally voracious readership, never writing fast enough to keep them satiated for more.
“I have to read Amy’s books as soon as they come out,” said Tiara Cobillas, a prolific reader from Kansas City who has traveled to book conventions just to meet Daws. “She’s an easy author to pick up and read, and I can’t get enough. Her humor is so unique and relatable.”
Even though Daws said she has fellow authors who “publish five books in a year,” she needn’t rush. With a publisher to support her now and a readership that adores her, she has more grace to give herself as she commences the next chapter of her career.
“It’s been such a big journey,” Daws said.
Ironically, her first-ever published book was an emotional memoir about enduring recurrent pregnancy loss before her daughter was born.
“It’s exciting that I keep going up, but I’m also content being where I am," Daws said. "It’s been a dream job to help me enjoy the one thing I’ve wanted most in my life, which is to be a mom.”
Many of Daws’ books take place in London, “one of my favorite places,” she said, but Sioux Falls is home.
“We’re happy here, our family is here,” she said with the forethought that an even bigger readership is on the way.
Boysen said Daws’ latest book will hit their shelves in March.
“For a long time, the Midwest has been considered fly-over and that talent had to leave to find success,” said Sioux Falls reader Degen, who calls Daws’ work “a literary treat.” “Amy has helped to break that narrative with her success. Talent lives here, and her success is inspiring to me as a reader but also for other writers striving for similar success.”
