Luke Young is the Kindle-bestselling author of the Friends With…Benefits series as well as the novel Shrinkage.
Young’s Friends With…Benefits novels are filled with passion, longing, comedy, and, yes, sex. His relationship comedies feature strong, sexy female characters — women who seize every opportunity for fun and don’t let a little thing like age stand in the way of love or desire. In each book Young sets different wheels in motion, applying his comedic touch and pitch-perfect ear for playful couples’ banter. The result is warm, funny, sexy storytelling at its best.
Young also writes “spicier” books under the pen name Ian Dalton. If you like your sexy comedy heavy on the sexy, be sure to check out Dalton’s Victoria Wilde series. For more information on how Ian Dalton’s Victoria Wilde series relates to the Friends With…Benefits series please see the “Who Is Ian Dalton” area of his website. http://lukeyoungbooks.com/who-is-ian-dalton/
Welcome Luke!!
Thanks for stopping in. The first question I would like to ask is how did you get into writing?
I was one of those slightly delusional people who would watch a movie and think, I could write a better film than that. About six years ago I sat down and cranked out a movie script in about a month. It was ok and went on to do fairly well in a few screenplay contests. From there I wrote another screenplay and then realized how difficult it was to get anyone in Hollywood to actually read it much less to invest fifteen million dollars in making it. When I read about Amazon’s self-publishing program in 2010, I decided to adapt my second screenplay into a novel. Once I did, I was hooked and since then I’ve released five novels, one novella and one short story.
What are the challenges, if there are any, of being a male writer in the romance genre?
Well, there aren’t a lot of men writing in this genre, and with so many choices available now, I think that fact makes it more difficult for readers to give my work a chance. I realize that it’s tough for any new author to get attention, but when I read reviews of my work which start out by explaining: “I usually don’t read books in this genre written by a man…” it’s pretty easy to think I’ve got a little more to overcome than just being unfamiliar to the reader. I have these male parts to contend with and sometimes it’s hard for people to see past them, not literally, but you know what I mean…
Convincing book bloggers to check out my work has been a challenge as well, but lately I’m having a bit more luck. In the last few weeks, popular book bloggers, Scandalicious Book Reviews, THESUBCLUBbooks and Ana’s Attic Book Blog have reviewed and liked my books. But all you need to do is read these quotes from two of the reviews to get an understanding of my dilemma:
“Ok, I think this might be a first for me. The author, Luke Young…well, he’s a guy…” Scandal
“…but I’ll admit it, the fact that it is written by a guy had me a little concerned…” Ana’s Attic
I’ve provided links to the review below:
http://www.scandaliciousbookreviews.com/?s=luke+young
http://thesubclubbooks.com/?p=4903
http://anas-attic.com/anas_diary/inappropriate-thoughts-victoria-wilde-1-by-ian-dalton-review/
Who are your favorite writers?
I enjoy Dean Koontz and I’ve just been introduced to the work of Jonathan Tropper and he’s great. But John Grisham has to be my all-time favorite. I could not put down his book, The Firm, and went on to read almost everything else he’s written.
What are you working on next?
I’m just starting to work on the fifth book in my Friends series. I thought I wanted to take more of a break from these characters, but I’m really missing them and I’m anxious to get back to them.
Thanks for answering my questions Luke!! Please check out the following links to find out more about Luke and his great books!!
Links:
Friends Series Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/FriendsWithPartialBenefits
Website: http://www.lukeyoungbooks.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Luke-Young/e/B004FW07CU/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/luke.young.3551
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3470494.Luke_Young