My ALLi author guest this episode is Biba Pearce, an award-winning author with more than fifty novels across crime, romance, and cozy mystery. She’s built a six-figure career as an author and now mentors writers who want to build sustainable careers of their own.
Listen to the Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Biba Pearce
About the Host
Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan.
About the Guest
Biba Pearce is an award-winning, internationally bestselling crime author known for her gripping, atmospheric thrillers. She writes across multiple genres and pen names, including gritty crime as Biba Pearce and romance as Gemma Ford. A hybrid author published by Joffe Books and Liquid Mind Media, as well as independently through her imprint Mortlake Press, she has built a global readership across more than fifty novels. She is also a mentor, publisher, and founding executive committee member of Sisters in Crime UK/EU Chapter. You can find her on her website, Substack, Instagram, and Facebook.
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Read the Transcript
Biba Pearce: Hi, my name is Biba Pearce. I'm the author of the DCI Rob Miller series, the Shrapnel series, and the Kenzie Gilmore series, among others. I write across various different genres, including romance and cozy crime, all under different pen names.
Howard Lovy: Sounds like you have a lot of personalities and genres to juggle. We'll get into that a little later. But first, let's take it back to the beginning. Tell me where you grew up and whether reading and writing were always a part of your life.
Growing Up in Cape Town
Biba Pearce: I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, to an English mom and a South African dad. I started out as an avid reader — basically reading everything I could get my hands on. Like so many people, I started with the Famous Five and the Hardy Boys, but quickly graduated to basically anything on my parents' bookshelf. Early influences were the great crime novelists like Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer, and Robert Ludlum, and later Stieg Larsson and the brilliant Millennium trilogy. I also really enjoyed romance as a kind of palate cleanser to all the crime I was reading. I devoured all the Johanna Lindsey and Kathleen Woodiwiss — the classic great romance novelists from that era. Together, those shaped my writing journey, because when I started writing, those were the people who had influenced me over the years.
Howard Lovy: What was it about crime writing that appealed to you as a kid?
Biba Pearce: Crime writing actually wasn't the first thing I started writing. I started off with romance, because I was in a very boring data entry job in London and I was browsing Barnes and Noble. I saw they had a Barnes and Noble University section with a course called How to Write a Romance Novel, and I thought, that looks interesting. So I sat down and did it — partly while I was supposed to be at work, because I had quite a bit of free time, and in the evenings putting chapters together. By the end of the course I actually had my first romance novel.
At that time it was just before 2000, and Amazon Kindle hadn't really launched yet. So I sat with that novel for a couple of years. It was only when KDP launched their platform that I thought about self-publishing it. In those very early days it was actually quite strange — you had to know HTML to create a product landing page on Amazon KDP. I could do that because of various web design jobs I'd had. So I set up the page, self-published it, and that was the very beginning of the journey.
From Data Entry to Self-Publishing
Howard Lovy: Let's go back a little and talk about your career before you started writing. You had a data entry job that wasn't very interesting. How did you get into that line of work?
Biba Pearce: I studied social sciences at university with a major in marketing management. When I came to London, I went into accounts temp work, which was mostly glorified data entry. I jumped from job to job and traveled in between. It was uninspiring and it wasn't really what I wanted to do — though I didn't know what that was at the time.
Howard Lovy: Why did you decide to go the self-publishing route rather than seek a traditional publisher first?
Biba Pearce: At that point I was back in South Africa and we didn't really have access to the publishing networks available here. Especially for that kind of genre. I thought the best way to get it into the market was to do it myself. It wasn't a runaway success, but it was successful enough to give me hope that I could replicate the process. As new Kindle models came out and KDP became more and more viable for independent authors, it was quite an exciting time to be self-published.
Howard Lovy: Especially romance — from what I understand, when the Kindle first came out, people were just devouring romance.
Biba Pearce: They were — and I was one of those people, so that was naturally where I tended to go. It was only much later that a friend of mine said, why are you always writing romance when all you ever do is read crime novels? And I thought, actually, that's a really good point. For the last ten years or so I'd been reading almost nothing but crime, because writing romance meant I wanted to go home and read something different. So then I decided to try my hand at crime.
Moving to Crime Fiction: The DCI Rob Miller Series
Howard Lovy: Tell me about the process of writing your first crime novel.
Biba Pearce: I thought to myself: I haven't got any qualification in creative writing. If I want to be taken seriously as a writer, I need to learn more about the craft. So I signed up for another writing course — a more serious, paid one this time, a Jericho Writers course. And in it I wrote a crime novel that actually turned out to be the tenth DCI Rob Miller novel — which is as yet unpublished. I wrote the last one first.
When the course finished, I realized that in order to build a mailing list and reach my market, I needed a reader magnet. I thought: I've got this book about a jaded detective, very cynical and coming to the end of his career, juxtaposed with a young, bright-eyed up-and-coming detective. The dynamic between them is that she learns from him and discovers some life lessons, while he gets a little of his mojo back. For the reader magnet, I thought: let me take him right back to the beginning of his career, twenty years earlier, when he's joining the London Met on his very first case as a detective.
That reader magnet book became the first full-length book in the DCI Rob Miller series — and it eventually got signed by Joffe Books. The prequel became the starting point. Now we're nine books in and I still haven't reached that tenth book I wrote first.
Howard Lovy: So at first you found a traditional publisher for your crime writing.
Biba Pearce: Yes. I was originally going to self-publish it. I had learned from my earlier mistakes, so I wrote three books before publishing the first — that way I had some momentum and could release them within six months of each other to start driving read-through. But I sent the third book to Joffe Books on a whim, just to see what might happen. They loved it and wanted the back catalog. I told them I didn't actually have a full-length first book — only a reader magnet. They read it and said: this needs to be the first book. And that's how the Rob Miller series got started. Since then I've self-published other series and published with other indie publishers as well.
Choosing Between Traditional and Self-Publishing
Howard Lovy: What goes into the decision as to whether to self-publish or go traditional?
Biba Pearce: At that point, I needed exposure because nobody knew me as a crime writer — and my pen name for romance was different. I thought being traditionally published might give me the reach to build a readership, and then in future I could self-publish my own series and hopefully bring those readers across. It had always been my intention to build an indie publishing career I could sustain myself, but that seemed like a good way to start. And it worked exactly like that. It brought a lot of readers into the series and a lot of them have crossed over to my other series as well.
Howard Lovy: So readers know, despite your pen names, that you're the same author?
Biba Pearce: Not from crime to romance — but because I have different crime series, they've crossed over between those. I was a little worried at first because the Rob Miller series is the only one set in the UK. The Kenzie Gilmore series is set in the States, and the other series I co-author with L.T. Ryan and others are also set in the States. I wasn't sure if my UK readers would cross over — but for the most part they have. They've followed me across the ocean to the other series.
Howard Lovy: This might seem like a technical question, but as an editor I lose sleep over things like this — do you use British spellings for your UK audience and American spellings for your American audience?
Biba Pearce: Yes, exactly that. The English series is all UK English and the American series is American English.
Building a Six-Figure Career over Twenty Years
Howard Lovy: You've written more than 50 novels and built a sustainable six-figure career. Many of our listeners will want to know how you did that. What were the key turning points?
Biba Pearce: One mustn't forget it's been over a span of about 20 years, so it's not all recent. At least 15 of those are romance novels. When I made the switch to crime, I published my 30th crime novel this year. My current production rate is about six books a year, so I'm taking almost two months per manuscript — but I outline very thoroughly first. When I sit down to write, I don't need to wonder what comes next unless I've missed something in the outline. I tend to write for two weeks straight, because I need to hold everything together in my head. If I try to do it at a slower pace, I lose my way. So I sit down and write for two weeks to get a rough draft out. The second pass takes maybe another week, so that's already three weeks and I'm pretty much ready to send it off for the first round of edits.
Howard Lovy: I'm assuming you're not distracted by a day job these days — this is what you do full-time.
Biba Pearce: Exactly. I couldn't do this when I still had a day job, but now I'm in a position where I don't need to work in my day job anymore. My time is 100% dedicated to writing. My child has grown up and left home, so I don't have that distraction either. But it wasn't always like this — this is just the last few years, and my output has quadrupled. At the same time, I don't want to burn out. I'm very conscious of not overdoing it because I love writing and I want to keep loving writing. I need to do it at my own pace. I like to switch genres, mix things up, keep it interesting.
Founding Mortlake Press
Howard Lovy: One way you've mixed things up is that you've founded your own press — Mortlake Press. Can you tell me about that?
Biba Pearce: That came about because I was publishing my own work. All of my romances are self-published — the ones that had been with publishers, I got the rights back. There were so many of them that it eventually made more financial sense to do it through a company. And the crime series that I now have under my own label are also published by Mortlake Press. It was really just convenience and financial reasons that I ended up creating my own company to do that.
Howard Lovy: Does the press publish only you, or other people as well?
Biba Pearce: It's been going for three years now and I'm starting to publish other people, but only a very select few. I'm a one-woman show, so I don't want to take on too much. Like a lot of indie authors, the vehicle is really to publish my own work and have my own brand. Now it's at the point where some people have approached me, or I've asked if certain writers would like to be published and I can help them. So it is starting to expand, but very slowly and very cautiously.
Managing Multiple Pen Names and Genres
Howard Lovy: When you say your own brand, you actually have many different brands because you write across so many different genres. Do you ever wish you could just do it all under your own name?
Biba Pearce: I would love to do it all under my own name — it would certainly make life a lot simpler — but unfortunately the markets are very different and mixing them up doesn't really work. My crime readers won't read the romance novels I write, but the romance readers will read the crime. I know this because I have two different mailing lists. At one point I experimented and advertised the crime novels to the romance readers — just a casual aside, did you know I write this as well? — and the uptake was quite good. When I did it in reverse, it was like tumbleweeds. So I realized quite early on that crime readers don't want romance in their reading life, but romance readers are sometimes open to crossing over.
That's when I decided that Biba Pearce needs to be just crime, and the romance pen name needs to be specific to that. Consequently, I have two different websites, two different mailing lists, two different ad campaigns — everything has to be doubled.
Howard Lovy: I suffer from the same multiple-genre syndrome. I write fiction but I've spent most of my life writing nonfiction on a completely different topic. When I cross-promote, I'm never quite sure who's interested in what.
Biba Pearce: Some readers will cross over if it interests them, but the majority won't. As indie authors we have to be so aware of who our readers are and what their expectations are. If we want them to stick with us and read through our series, we have to give them those emotionally satisfying beats they expect from that kind of book. Switching genres complicates that, which is why it's much simpler to keep everything separate.
Tropes, Suspense, and Drawing on Real Experience
Howard Lovy: Do you take advantage of the freedom of being indie and switch up your tropes a little, or do you stick strictly with genre conventions?
Biba Pearce: I do tend to put quite a lot of suspense in my romance novels. I started off writing military romance because I was more interested in the world's trouble spots and exotic locations than setting everything in one place — a team of soldiers, private security contractors, that kind of thing. I branched out with what I hoped were exciting, gripping plotlines within the romance framework. You could probably call it more romantic suspense. When trends changed over the years, I began focusing more on darker romance, but the darkness often comes from criminal families, mob bosses, double-crossing, or betrayal — there's always that hint of suspense. I wouldn't call it classic romance by any means.
Howard Lovy: Your books are set all over the world because you yourself have traveled widely. Do you often use real life experiences in your books?
Biba Pearce: I think I do, and I think it comes across. I've traveled to the States and to Europe, and I come from South Africa. In that respect I've been to a lot of different continents and experienced a lot of different cultures. Some of my books are set in the Middle East, some in tropical areas. Even though I haven't been to South America, I grew up on the wild, tropical east coast of South Africa, so I have that same kind of experience. When I write about jungles and humidity, I've actually felt that, and I can feel it as I'm writing it. Friends who know me smile when they read those books because they were there with me at that particular time, or they've had the same experience and can see it drawn in accurately.
Mentoring Other Writers
Howard Lovy: You also mentor other writers. What made you decide to take that step?
Biba Pearce: That's a new initiative — I've started doing it recently. I'm on the committee for the Sisters in Crime UK/EU chapter, and there are quite a few aspiring writers there, as well as some established ones. It's really good to try and help those who are still at the beginning of their journey. I thought: I have a fair bit of knowledge now, and it would be nice to help people move forward with their careers, whether indie or traditional. So I reached out to a couple of people and took them on. I'm working with two main mentees this year. I don't think realistically more than that per year makes sense, because I wouldn't be able to dedicate enough time to each person.
Howard Lovy: Is that pro bono work or part of your business?
Biba Pearce: It's part of my business. It won't be pro bono going forward, but these particular people are almost like my guinea pigs. They're both very talented writers and I have high hopes for them. I'm hoping to get them to where they want to be a lot quicker than they would have if they'd been struggling through it alone.
Howard Lovy: Do you mentor on the writing side or the business side, or both?
Biba Pearce: Both. Currently with both mentees it's more on the writing side, but once their manuscripts are finished we'll be switching over to the self-publishing side and what comes next.
Balancing Growth, Creativity, and Avoiding Burnout
Howard Lovy: You've been doing this for about twenty years and you've seen a lot of changes in the self-publishing world. You've written that persistence pays off, but you've also talked about the risks of taking on too much. How do you balance growth and creativity and running a business without burning out?
Biba Pearce: I do take on too much and I do have to rein myself in, because I get so excited about ideas — I want to start the series set here, the series set there — and then I have to take a step back and say: finish the ones you're working on and make those as good as you can possibly get them before taking on anything new. When I do start new things like the publishing company or the mentoring, it's very cautiously and very mindfully, with only a select number of people, taking our time and doing it properly.
Six books a year is a lot of books to write, and sometimes if I schedule incorrectly, deadlines start colliding and I begin to feel frazzled. When I feel frazzled, I don't have the clarity of thought I need to actually finish a book and make it the best it can possibly be for my readers. I don't want to shortchange them. I don't want to write something that feels rushed. In terms of writing integrity, you have to just make sure you're only taking on what you can manage.
Advice for Indie Authors Who Want to Write Full Time
Howard Lovy: What advice do you have for other indie authors who want to do what you're doing — quit their day job, write full time, and make six figures?
Biba Pearce: Know what kind of book or series you want to write. I didn't do that when I started out and I regret it now, because looking back I can see I was writing standalone novels without really knowing the genres well or what my readers wanted to read. When I went back a second time and did it properly, I did a lot more research into the market. If you want a successful indie career, it's important to know what your readers expect and to be able to give them what they want, because then they're going to stick with you and read through everything you write. They'll trust you and know you'll give them the kind of satisfying read they're looking for.
Everything else — the marketing, the advertising, all of that — can be learned. But at the core of it, you have to write a good book. A book that your readers want to read. Everything grows from that.
Howard Lovy: A good book and a relationship with your readers.
Biba Pearce: Exactly.
Howard Lovy: Wonderful. Thank you, Biba. I appreciate you telling us how you got where you are and teaching us about the value of persistence.
Biba Pearce: I hope it was helpful.
Howard Lovy: Thank you for appearing on the show.
Biba Pearce: Thank you for having me. Bye.
Howard Lovy: Bye.
