Summary:

Queer romance author Kent Holland goes Backstage with the Book Babes for an insightful conversation about queer joy, making connections in the romance community, and the different subgenres he writes in.

Turns out the book babes have a lot in common with Kent Holland. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Alby lives and he shares a birthday with Nikki. Just goes to show you how connected we all are.

He starts off telling us about his books which include the Marquis Men theatre romance series, the Wanderlust travel romance series, and his Frostbitten hockey romance series. He even has a Western romance in the mix. And his next release, Hothead, is the first book in a new firefighter romance series.

Kent’s journey to authorhood was well planned and intentional. He studied English and entrepreneurship at school with a particular focus on online sales. This helped him grasp both the creative and the business side of being an independent author. His advice for aspiring authors is that writing is an art, but publishing is a business.

He shared how important making connections with readers is and how his personal measure of success is when readers reach out to say they felt seen. Kent is also very focused on ensuring he’s navigating his career in the most mindful and ethical way possible.

We talked about the impact of Heated Rivalry on queer romance including how it has brought many new readers into the community especially queer males who weren’t reading queer romance before.

Kent’s question for readers is a two parter. The first part is for LGBTQ2SL+ readers. What aspects of your experience have you seen in literature that you’re excited about or what aspects haven’t you seen that you’d love to see? And part two is for everyone. What drew you to the romance genre as readers or writers and what was it that brought you to this wonderful space? Please answer in the YouTube comments or follow the book babes on social media to answer there.

We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us.

Music by Christopher Tallon

If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee. 

Help Support the podcast:

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

Buy Alby a tea: https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake

About Kent Holland:

I am joyfully and proudly queer, which informs everything that I write. I live in a beautiful Southern town with my partner and our adorable cat, Poppyseed, who spends most of her free-time trying to step on my keyboard when I'm writing. I hope you find just as much queer joy in my stories as I do <3 

Here’s where you can find Kent and his books:

All Links:

Website: https://kentholland.myshopify.com/

Instagram: @kenthollandwrites link

Threads: @kenthollanwrites link

Substack: @kentholland link

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: [email protected]

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com

Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks

Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake

Website: www.lovelunapress.com