This article is part of “Romancing the Smithie,” a series of interviews with Smith alums writing in the romance genre conducted by Sophian Features writers. To explore more articles in this series, click on the author’s names: Sylvie Fox, Sarah Maclean, Shannon O’Brien, Karelia Stetz-Waters.
Meredith Wild ‘04 is a tech entrepreneur-turned-romance-author who is also the CEO of her own imprint, Waterhouse Press. At Smith, she majored in English Language and Literature, and is anticipating the release of her newest book, “Blood of Zeus,” (co-written with Angel Payne) in August 2020. She has been on multiple bestsellers lists, including USA Today and the New York Times. Though self-published, she used her experience in the tech industry to get her books stocked in traditional brick and mortar stores. Her works include the “Misadventures” series, the “Bridge” series, the “Hacker” series and the “Red Ledger” series.
Serena Keenan: On your website, it says that you were a tech entrepreneur for 10 years before publishing your first novel. What was your path from Smith to the tech industry like? What did that entail?
Meredith Wild: I had taken some graphic design and art classes while at Smith, so I continued to dabble in graphic and web design after I graduated. My first job out of college was writing for a local leisure magazine in Destin, Florida, and interviewing so many entrepreneurs in the area inspired me to start my own web design company. The company grew with the social network craze. There was a demand for custom MySpace pages (this is aging me, I think) that we specialized in, and then we started talking to clients who were looking for custom development of niche social networks, which is how we ended up in web-based software development. Basically we kept up with the trends until I decided to switch gears to writing after about ten years in tech.
SK: How did Smith influence your writing and how you approach your career? Are there any aspects of your experience here that exist in your writing?
MW: Writing had always been a strength for me prior to Smith, so I gravitated toward English as a major eventually. While most of my courses were literature-focused, I was able to take a creative writing course with a visiting professor, Myriam J.A. Chancy, my senior year which was really inspiring for me. She is also a published fiction author, and she mentored me for several years after college while I toyed with the idea of authoring my own books, though I didn’t end up circling back to that dream for several years (and after three kids).
SK: Your most recent series “The Blood of Zeus” seems to also have strong fantasy elements in it in addition to the romantic aspect. Is fantasy another interest of yours? Do you have any favorite fantasy books?
MW: I’m actually not much of a fantasy reader, though my co-author, Angel Payne, is well-versed in the genre. “Blood of Zeus” is my first foray into paranormal of any kind, but I’m really enjoying it. I have always written contemporary romance and romantic suspense, so it’s been fun to not have the limitations of reality as we craft the story.
SK: When you decided to publish your first novel Hardwired in 2013, how did you make the jump between the tech industry and the publishing industry?
MW: I started writing in the evenings after work, more as stress relief than anything. I was pretty unhappy in my company at the time and on a whim decided to see if I could possibly write a romance novel. I’d been reading a lot of them at the time too—also for stress relief. I published three books before I told anyone about my little side hobby. The only people who knew for a long time were my husband and my editor. I really loved the process, though, and pretty quickly realized that I was ready to make a change. As soon as I replaced my income from the tech company, I sold it so I could write full-time.
SK: Beyond your experience in tech, what was your journey into writing and romance like throughout your life? Have you always been interested in writing stories?
MW: I wrote a lot as a kid—plenty of stories and poetry. And through college, I always held onto this romantic idea of writing a novel one day, but I really had no idea how to go about doing it. I didn’t feel like I had enough life experience, and I didn’t know much about the craft of writing fiction either. I think I came back to that dream when it was the right time for me. I needed the creative outlet and another professional direction to move in.
SK: Although you were self-published, you were able to get your books stocked in many well-known bookstores. Was this a difficult feat? How did you go about making it happen?
MW: I started self-publishing at a time when lots of authors were realizing this was a great way to put their work out there without needing a big publisher to make it happen, but the infrastructure for expanded distribution didn’t really exist. Past that, being self-published had some stigma attached to it and a lot of vendors weren’t interested in putting books that didn’t come out of a publishing house on the shelves. Thankfully I had such strong sales numbers that I was able to demand some extra consideration. By demand, I mean knocking on doors until they opened. I would track down email addresses and LinkedIn profiles until I finally got someone on the phone who would give me answers. I did this pretty solidly for a few months and was ultimately able to get Barnes & Noble to fully stock my books. I was able to secure relationships with reps at all of the major e-retailers during this time too, which opened the door for other successful self-published authors to receive support the way only the big publishers could once upon a time.
SK: In addition to being a romance author, you are also the CEO of your own imprint, Waterhouse Press. When was the moment where you decided that this was what you wanted to do? What has the process been like since then, with all of the logistical parts of making it a reality? What are some of your goals for Waterhouse Press going forward?
MW: We had such success with bringing my books to market that it made sense to see if we could recreate the magic with other authors. While I’d gotten into writing to do something outside my tech company, pretty early on in my publishing journey, I had the entrepreneurial urge to expand the concept and publish others. Since then, we’ve published seventeen authors, made two other authors #1 New York Times bestsellers, and hit some really incredible milestones for being such a small press. Now I spend the majority of my time running the company and a much smaller sliver of time writing, but it’s a balance that I’m working to improve as time goes on. In terms of goals, we’re currently translating several of our works in the French language and broadening into more sub-genres.
SK: Waterhouse Press has also released several books that have hit bestsellers lists, and on its website says that it “focuses on creating powerful, lasting brands for each of its authors.” How do you think your experience as a self-published author has helped you create such a successful imprint? Does that same experience have an impact on the dedication to creating a brand for the authors?
MW: My graphic design experience lent itself well to creating a professional author brand for myself which I believe helped me both with sales and also being taken seriously by others in the industry. Most of our authors come from self-published backgrounds and branding can be an area that needs improvement. A strong author brand sells all the author’s books, not just her latest release.
SK: What do you think is the number one thing that you learned while in college–whether that’s something about yourself, about life, or just a really fun specific fact?
MW: I grew up in a really small town in the Midwest. My graduating class had about eighty students. I didn’t know a lot about the world when I came to Smith, and I was only able to attend thanks to some very generous need-based grants. After four years, I left with a five-star education, a mountain of confidence, and I truly felt like anything was possible, no matter where I’d come from.
SK: What house did you live in? Is this where you spent most of your time, or did you hang out or study at other places?
MW: I lived in Tyler House. I spent most of my study time there, but I also had a lot of friends in Scales, which is where I spent most of my fun time.
SK: As you write romance, I must ask your professional opinion: what do you think is the most romantic place at Smith?
MW: As a Tylerite, I’d have to say the grassy spots by the river. I may have had a romantic moment or two down there!
