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New York Times best selling author, Kimberla Lawson Roby, almost gave up on writing before her career ever started. It was 1996 and Roby had finished writing her first book “Behind Closed Doors.” She couldn’t find a literary agent nor a publishing company that would publish the book she had worked on so diligently.

“I had made the decision that it was a nice idea and I wanted to do it, but it wasn’t working,” Roby recalls.

But her mom convinced her to keep trying. “ ‘I just don’t think you should give up,’ ” she said to me. She told me that so many women had read the manuscript and couldn’t put it down.”

Roby’s husband also cheered her on. He encouraged her to use her business background to start her own publishing company and self-publish her book. That was 17 titles and millions of books sold ago.

Roby describes her success as “unimaginable” because writing was never a first career choice for the Illinois native. It wasn’t until she was 30 years old that she began to write her first book. Prior to beginning a career in writing, Roby worked in the corporate world as a financial analyst.

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“Writing wasn’t a life long dream of mine’s, but I always felt like something was missing. I started thinking back to as early as elementary school, junior and high school and even some of my professors in college had always encouraged me to write; to really focus on writing more and to even try and consider a career in it. I just never paid a lot of attention to it. I never aspired to be a writer and I certainly never imagined that today I would have 17 titles in print. It just never would have occurred to me.”

Almost one year to the date of finishing her first novel, Roby took a big step by abandoning her comfort zone and venturing out into the unknown world of self-employment as a full-time author.

“I started my publishing company in June of 1996, a few months after I had gotten the last of the rejections. The first 3,000 copies came back in September, we had a huge reception at my home and I left my job the first week of November. I’ve been writing full-time every since. It was scary for the very reasons of the fear of the unknown. My husband was the one who said ‘I don’t think this is going to work if you don’t give it 100 percent of your time and if it doesn’t work then you just go back and get another job. You don’t want to go 10 years down the road wondering if you could have been successful. I don’t think you could live with that.’ You make that sacrifice for your dream. ”

One of Roby’s biggest writing successes have been the Reverend Curtis Black series, whose storyline evolves around scandals, corruption and adultery within the church.  On May 1^st, “The Reverend’s Wife”, the ninth installment for the series, was released.

In “The Reverend’s Wife,” Black learns that his second wife, Charlotte, has had an affair with two different men.  After their son graduates from high school, Black has made it clear that he will be divorcing Charlotte. While Charlotte’s intent is to save her marriage, Black is ready to move on and is being propositioned by a woman who desperately wants to be the next Mrs. Curtis Black.

“I’ve already been working on the next one,” Roby excitingly shares. “We have a jacket design concept that the publisher and I have been working on. I finished a stand-alone title that comes out in January, but the tenth installment for the Rev. Black series will pick up exactly where this one leaves off.”

In many cases, art imitates life for Roby. In “It’s A Thin Line” two of the characters were based on Roby and her mother who had a benign brain tumor. Because she grew up in the church, Roby relied on those experiences to help her develop the Reverend Black series.

“As I was doing the synopsis for my third book I told my publisher that I wanted it to be something relatable to readers, but this time I wanted it to be something that everyone would know about, even if they had not experienced it, they would have heard about it. So he said to me ‘what about a lot of the issues that go on in churches?’ That’s what really got me to thinking… I took his advice. While I have to do lots of research for my stand-alone titles, I don’t have to do much research for the Curtis Black series, because I’ve been in church my entire life. I’ve certainly seen a lot and heard a lot. It’s unfortunate that some things haven’t been nice situations.”

After Roby released “Casting the First Stone,” the first book in the 10 book series, she had no plans of turning the book into a series.

“I wrote two other books that had nothing to do with the Curtis Black storyline, but readers kept asking for him year after year,” Roby shared. “My agent told me that when you have a loyal readership, you have an obligation to give them what they are asking for and that’s how I moved on to the next book.”

Although one would think that writing about something as sacred as the church would result in instant damnation or criticism from parishioners, pastors and pastor wives, Roby hasn’t experienced such backlash. In fact, the church has been very accepting to the Reverend Black series and is often included in her tours.

[quote]“They’ve been very accepting and I did not expect that. I think I expected that someone would ask why I was writing it or would have a problem with it, but that just has not been the case. As the years have continued, I do more and more church events. Many times, pastors’ wives thank me for writing their stories. They say I’m saying what they really want to say, but can’t say.”[/quote]

Roby described her relationship with her fans as a “family affair” and says that promoting is not enough; it’s about building relationships with fans. She said that the readers are the true determinants in whether or not an author will have a successful writing career.

“I’ve always been the person that communicates back and forth with my readers by e-mail and now on Facebook and Twitter. When you see a response it’s definitely from me, not my assistant or anyone with the publishing company. They encourage me and motivate me to go on and do the next book. If they didn’t do that, as much as I like writing, I don’t think I would do it on a regular basis.”

The Reverend Black series has the components for big screen success. In 2010 “Casting the First Stone” was optioned for film and Roby hopes to make an announcement soon. Her stand-alone title “One In A Million’s” script has been written, the director selected, and “now we are looking for a lead actress,” Roby professed.

Written by Shameka L. Reed