Meet the Romance Author: A.C. Wonderland

A hockey crush in 8th grade and a lifelong love of the game set A.C. Wonderland on an unexpected path: slow-burn romances that feel as tense and electric as a tied third period. We pull up a chair with A.C. to talk about her books One Shot and Summer Shot, why golden retriever male leads deserve their flowers, and how to write intimacy that actually moves the story forward. If your heart wants authentic hockey details with just-right spice, you’re in the right locker room.

A.C. opens up about the spark behind her characters, the personal Easter eggs she hides in names and moments, and the art of pacing tension so readers keep whispering one more page. We trade recs across romance and fantasy, dig into the joy of traveling book clubs with annotated copies, and explore how mental health themes in popular titles shaped her approach to empathy on the page. She also explains why she mostly avoids reading hockey romance while drafting — protecting voice and honoring accuracy — without losing the delight of a great love story.

The road to indie publishing gets real here. A.C. breaks down building a trusted team, working with editors and cover artists found online, navigating PR, and partnering with indie bookstores. We get practical about writing routines: outlines as guardrails, chapter-based goals over rigid word counts, non-linear drafting when a scene stalls, and the surprising effectiveness of moving tough chapters to a brewery. Through it all runs a steady message to aspiring authors: keep going, find your people and let the work change you first.

One Shot is now available on Kindle Unlimited, while paperbacks and special editions live on her site and at major retailers. If you love hockey romance with heartfelt stakes, character-driven spice and the promise of a true HEA, queue this one up. Subscribe, share with a romance-loving friend, and leave a quick review — your support helps more readers find the stories they’ll cheer for.

Featured Cocktail for the Episode: The Hat Trick

Transcript

Meet A.C. Wonderland And Drinks

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hello, I'm Nicole Danielle, and I'm Megan Lee. And this is Romance on the Rocks, where two bookish biddies imbibe. Although today we are three bookish biddies.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

On this episode, we are featuring romance writer AC Wonderland, who is the author of One Shot, a Hockey Romance, and now Summer Shot, another hockey romance. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, first things first, what are you drinking this evening, AC? I am drinking a mocktail, unfortunately. I have a work to do after this, but after that work, I will be switching to wine. Um, my go-to is right now, for some reason, is Diet Cherry 7 Up. I never really drink it unless I was sick, but for some reason it's just been like my go-to when I need some type of fake sugar without caffeine. So highly recommend. It is delicious.

unknown 1:02

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

And of course, it's in it has to be in a cup with ice. Like I need, I need it to feel like a cocktail.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Yes. It looks beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Thank you. I actually was doing a health and wellness challenge for several months during our recordings and was doing a whole lot of versions of mocktails. So much respect. I get it. But tonight I'm doing uh in my my giant drink and mug, some sort of vodka special, which also actually has a little bit of cherry in it. So I feel like we're we're kind of doing a little bit of a theme there.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

I went on theme. I am drinking a Canadian hat trick, total hockey reference. It has Canadian whiskey, maple syrup, cause you gotta a little bit of lemon juice, and some Angostura bitters tossed in for a little extra kick. So I went for the full hockey theme.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I have never had one of those, and I don't know why, because I love like bourbon and whiskey, and I'm gonna have to try it. It sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yeah. Uh we always usually post the recipes for the drinks too, so I'll put a link on when we post the episode.

Falling For Hockey And Writing

SPEAKER_02 2:09

So I'm a huge hockey fan. I am a Hartford Whalers fan back when they were still in Connecticut. Now they are in North Carolina and are reiterated as the Carolina Hurricanes. And I'm still here for the team, but I still have a special place in my heart for the Hartford Whalers. AC, how did you become a hockey fan and start writing about hockey romances?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yeah. My eighth-grade boyfriend. So when I was 12 years old, I was dating someone who played hockey and he just got me so into it. And I grew up in Chicago and the Blackhawks had started to be kind of good a little bit around that time. And then I kept growing up and they kept getting better. So I just hopped on that bandwagon and I've been a fan ever since. So I always like to say, without him, without Carl Varzino, I would not love hockey and I would not have written a hockey romance. He's the first person in my acknowledgments. And we're still friends, so I love to share that with him because he was like, You wrote a whole book because of me. And I'm like, uh, that's a little much so much, but without you, I would not have written it. So shout out to to Kyle Varzino. Um and I just love, I just love hockey to be able to combine hockey and romance and writing all into one was just a perfect opportunity for me. I was looking for an outlet because my day job at the time wasn't super fulfilling and I needed to find something that was. And I just started writing a hockey romance, and I had like two other outlines of books I was interested in writing, but the hockey one kind of just took over and uh took my life by storm. And here we are with uh the two books in the series. So it's been great.

unknown 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Tell us a little bit about what readers can expect from your hockey romances.

What Her Hockey Romances Deliver

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Are they slow burns? Are they rom-coms?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

That's a great question. Um, I would say definitely slow burns because I am such a slow burn addict. I love a good slow burn book. I love the angst and the like, oh, what are you doing? Why are you saying that? Why are you not getting together? That is like I love shouting at my books. So that's kind of how I I write also. Um so definitely slow burn. I would say it depends who you ask, but I would say two to three max on the spice scale out of five. So pretty mild compared to most hockey romances. It's definitely not closed door, but there are maybe two to three uh spicy scenes within the book that um, depending on your interest, could be right up your alley. Um, so a little different than a typical hockey romance. Definitely a lot of hockey. There um, you don't have to love hockey to read the books, but there is an element, obviously, of hockey in there. And I think um that was really important to me because I personally love hockey and I've bonded with people over it, and the two main characters really bond over their shared love for hockey and a retriever MMC, which I was shocked I wrote because I am such a morally gray girl, um, not personally, but like of the of the characters I like. I love more of the gray males. Um, and it kind of just happened, and now I'm like, oh my gosh, why do I not read more books with Golden Retriever MMCs? So um, that is something that's definitely prevalent throughout the the first two, also the third book as well. Um, Lucas Dinato, the um mailman character is definitely the uh epitome of a golden retriever MMC.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

I think you're speaking my language when it comes to the spice level and the kinds of books that I enjoy. That's that's my kind of thing. So thank you for writing those. I'm not I like it spicy right off the bat, but I like a good mix.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

You know, sometimes like one thing that I wanted to do with these books specifically was have the spice help drive the plot, but sometimes I'm like, I don't want plot, you know, like there are books that I really just I want to get right into it. But that um, you know, for me, I'm like, I need a good mix of of both. So one shot is not that, but I might have a few um things up my sleeve that might might hit on that later in my career.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

That's exciting.

Pets, Inspiration, And HEAs

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I do need to interrupt though. Who just entered the room and then left? Who was the little man back there? His name is Guinness.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Okay, thank you. He is a Yorkie poo. He hopefully stays quiet because he can be very vocal. Okay. But he likes to just make appearances. I joke that his office is my guest bedroom, which is right next to my office. He likes to lounge in there when he gets sick of hearing my voice all day. I'm actually really excited because I'm I'm writing him into a book, which I never thought I would do when I got a dog, but now I'm like, oh, I love you so much. I have to write you into a book.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Oh well, thank you for helping me with my curiosity there. But when a pet enters the picture, I have to know. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

AC, what inspires you to write besides hockey and adorable pets?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I love love, which is so cheesy to say. I grew up with parents that were just the like epitome of a perfect relationship. And I am lucky enough to have witnessed that like unconditional, true, pure love my entire life. And um, that's kind of what made me interested in romance books because my they don't know this, but SummerShot, um, they will know this by the time that is released, probably. Summershot is actually dedicated to them because they are for me, the original love story in my life was was my parents. So that's kind of what's got me started, um, you know, interested in that. And I've just always loved reading and writing. And I think the first romance book I have read was probably Romeo and Julia for school. And I was obsessed with, I was always mad when someone else was called on to be Julia and it wasn't me. I was like, I want to be here. I know she dies, but I want to be here anyway. And that kind of was what did it for me. I just became obsessed with it. And I think the beauty of writing romance is that I get to help people witness that feeling and like maybe they had a really hard day or maybe they had a great day, whatever it is, like they still get to escape into that world and see that glimpse of love and a love story unfolding. We don't always want it to have a third act breakup. Sometimes it does, but I always want to give people a happily ever after because life is hard and there's not always happily ever afters in life. And I think that you should get that in your books.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

What were some of the first romance novels that you started reading?

Reading Tastes And Influences

SPEAKER_00 8:31

I started reading again as an adult in probably 2020. So I think everyone who has gone through a similar phase as me is like in college, I didn't read because I had to read. And then um 2020 happened, and I was, you know, at home and needing something to do, trying to learn how to play guitar and very terrible at it. So I turned to books instead. Um, but some of my favorites, you can see right there, that one is my absolute favorite book. Um, A Court of Mist and Fury. Um, I'm big into fantasy as well, which is one huge Easter egg of why the team is called The Wyvern's. Um, I wanted to tie fantasy into it is something that I'll do later on. But I would say some of the, I never mentioned Roman Juliet, but that's the one that really sticks out to me as like younger me reading. And then I started reading a lot of Colleen Hoomer books, which are really mixed with it's like romance and a lot, a lot of trauma. So those were kind of the first books that got me hooked, and that's something that I loved about her books was like the mental health representation within them. I think that's something that like at the time when I was reading those, it wasn't very prevalent. Like now it's a lot more prevalent. So I would say those got me really into reading. Now I I love everything and anything. Emily Henry is one of my favorites. I would also say Christina Lauren, I love them. Their books are so wonderful. Tessa Bailey is also another, another favorite of mine. Um, I love SJM, obviously. Who doesn't? If you don't, then I will have to have a conversation with you later. But I would say, yeah, those are just some of my favorites that I've um been reading recently.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

It sounds like you have a very eclectic taste. Yeah, yeah. I I'm a little all over the board. I love fantasy. Um I don't love fantasy with audiobooks. I do a lot of audiobooks. I am such a visual person, such a visual learner that I am like, squirrel, what what happened? I missed something important. And I can't, I can't do it. Um, but I do love from dark romance to like very cheesy rom-coms. I love it all. Um the whole spectrum of of romance novels.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

What book is currently on your nightstand or what book are you currently reading?

Traveling Book Clubs And Craft Notes

SPEAKER_00 10:41

I just finished um last night, actually, the seven year slip. Um it was, I don't know if either of you have read it, but highly recommend it. I'm doing um, I don't know if either of you have done this, but I am like recommending this to everybody. We're I'm part of two traveling book clubs where we have one book and it goes to multiple people and you annotate it and then get to read other people's like comments and things like that. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Oh, I'm so sorry. I gotta interrupt. Uh Nicole and I have this conversation all the time. I highlight the heck out of all my books and I always feel so guilty about it. Like I wouldn't want to hand that to somebody else and be like, here's all the weird stuff I highlighted. So, like knowing that there's multiple people doing it to one book, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

It is wonderful. And I I think at first I got a little distracted by everyone's comments. So it's like, yes, I agree. I am it it's the premise is like he's a chef. And so I'm like, I am always hungry reading this because they're always talking about him cooking and different recipes. Um, but it's cool to just see what other people think is important because I also think as a writer, I now read differently than I used to. So sometimes I'm just like, oh, that was really visually appealing. Like I really liked how they talked about his hair. Where people like normal people probably don't think about that. But I highly recommend doing one. Um, it's been really fun. And I heard a lot of great things about this book, and I couldn't get into it until like two-thirds of the way. But once I was into it, I did not leave my couch. So it just hit me in the feels. I was bawling, it was great. I need a book that destroys me a little bit on different occasions. It was yesterday I really needed that. So I definitely recommend. Um, the name of the author is escaping me, but it is a really, really cute book. Yellow cover is called The Seven Years Lip.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

I think Megan, we may have to start having a traveling book. That sounds only. I love that. So, Ace, what was your journey like as a romance

The Indie Publishing Path

SPEAKER_02 12:40

writer? How did you get your first book published? How did that go for you?

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah. Um, it was really interesting because I knew absolutely nothing about anything book publishing related. I, when I first started writing, didn't really plan to publish. And then I was like, well, why not? I um did a lot of research on if I wanted to try to query and go the traditional route. And I actually decided on doing indie publishing. So I am self-published on my own publisher, which is nice because I'm on my own timelines, which is beautiful. But it also means I get to do everything I want. I think some people are a little afraid of that because you have to wear a lot of different hats and be willing to do the marketing, be willing to build your own team, be willing to reach out to bookstores, reach out to editors, find your cover artists, find beta readers, find other like PR partnerships and things like that. But I love that aspect of it. I like being able to build a team of people that is just as passionate about books, especially romance books, as I am. And not to say if if I went the traditional route that I wouldn't have that, but I just it feels like a closer knit family because I've kind of like hand-selected some of these people. So I did a lot of research to try to decide which one I wanted to do, met a lot of wonderful author friends that kind of really encouraged me to go the indie route just based on their own experiences. Um, and then just did an F ton of research to figure out what to what to do and what that's like. Funny thing is, um, I most of the people I met that I now work with, um, like my editor, my cover artists, um the PR agencies I work with, um I met everyone online, which I always joke, I'm like, mom, remember when you told me when I was younger, don't make friends online. Well, that's what I do every day. And it's great. It's wonderful. Um so without, you know, the Bookstagram or Book Talk community, I wouldn't have met these people that have really helped me along this journey and helped me find out um the different steps to take. Um, it's been great so far.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

The the whole meeting people online thing, it's crazy how things have changed, isn't it? I used to have to tell my grandmother that I I met my husband in a coffee shop because I could not tell her that I met him online. That would have just been way too much. Which grandma? Mert? Yeah. Yeah.

Challenges, Grit, And Community

SPEAKER_02 15:05

AC, have you had any challenges as a writer, as an indie author? Oh yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

A lot, a lot. It's hard. It's really hard. I used to know the stat like off the top of my head, but it's something crazy. Like three percent of people who start writing a book actually finish it. And of that 3%, less than 1% actually publish. So it's a lot of a lot of people falling off. Um, I think the most difficult part is just making sure that you stick through it. Like there's always gonna be difficult times where like you don't want to write or you're not feeling inspired, or you're feeling like why does this matter to to people? Like I'm I'm just an I'm just a normal person who decided I wanted to, I was gonna say, pick up a pen, but that's I did not type out a keyboard and you know, write a story that was in my my head and my heart. And I am lucky enough that people have encouraged me along the way. So whenever I feel that way, um, I have a wonderful author friend named Kara Zone. I I talk to her a lot to get a lot of advice. I have some great beta readers and then a wonderful assistant who also like helped me kind of get through that. But I would say that is the biggest challenge is just keep to can to keep going um and actually get to the point where you are publishing a book because the steps to get there are there's a lot, a lot of them. Like I couldn't, I couldn't, if you asked me to like lay them out, I don't think I could even do it. I would probably miss something. Um, but I I would say that's the most challenging, but also um the most rewarding because then you get encouragement from people too, and um to be able to have people message you and and say how much they loved your book or how they felt understood or heard from different things that you wrote, like that's something I never imagined. So getting through all of the process to get to that point is a hundred percent worth it.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

That's very cool. I'm always intrigued how do you, as an author, in your situation particularly, go about choosing names for your characters?

Naming Characters And Series Teases

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah. I, for one shot, was pretty intentional. Um, I have no idea what his last name is, but his first name is Lucas. I met him when I was five years old. He was the first boy I ever had a crush on. And that is why the main character's name is Lucas. Because I was like, you know what? Like, I want to tie it to things that matter to me or things that other people in my life might know. Um, like my mom knows that. She's like, oh, like I wonder if I can find his mom. I'm like, no, no, we don't need to find his mom. She doesn't need to know. It's just, it's okay. Um, because they were friends when I was growing up. But that's how I picked Lucas as a main character. Um, I try to tie it to something that is meaningful, but sometimes I'm just like, that is a really cool name, and I want to use it. I have a massive list. I really like nicknames, and for the female main character, I wanted her to have a nickname, and I wanted her to have a nickname that her brother specifically gave her to show their relationship. Um, but that one kind of came about because my my favorite country artist's wife's name is Lauren. And I was just like, you know what? I listen to his music probably every day. It would be cool. Not that he's ever gonna know or she's ever gonna know, but it'd be cool to put that in there. And a lot of my friends know that, you know, I'm Thomas Rhett, I'm a huge Thomas Rett fan. Um, so a lot of my friends are like, oh, is that why Ryan's like, yes, that is why, you know. Um, so it's kind of nice to like hide some little Easter eggs in there with the names. Um, but not all of them. Sometimes I'm just like, okay, I'll pick a letter and here's the names I'm thinking of, and then it just really depends.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Do you have a favorite character or a couple from your novels that you particularly relate to?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

I would say Lucas and Lore. I am like both of them a lot. There's pieces of me in both of them, but neither of them are my favorite character. My favorite character, I have not told anyone yet because the first three books in the Wyvern's hockey series are Lucas and Lauren, which I think is a little different than most sports romance books. But they just had so much story to tell. Um, the fourth book is a different couple and is my favorite character in that book. I won't say who, but um I'm like just so excited to write that one. I've I've already started, even though like the third book is partially done, but I've already started writing book four just because of how excited I am about it.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I love that. Where do you like to write? Do you have a certain room or a certain setup or a situation or things that you need around you or to have beforehand before

Writing Habits, Research, And Process

SPEAKER_02 19:48

you write?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Yeah, I used to write on my couch a lot, but now I love to write in my office with my bookshelf behind me. Like my bookshelf is only a couple months old, so I'm very obsessed with it. Like finally, I have a cool TikTok background. But I feel like I have two screens, so that's nice to be able to go back and forth between like notes or research and writing. I do actually a lot of research to make sure like what I'm writing in terms of college hockey is accurate or any other subgenre of romance that I'm writing is accurate. So I do really like it. But sometimes I just need to get out of my house and I'll go write at a brewery. If there's a a chapter that's difficult for me to write, that's when I want to go out of my house. So I'm like, okay, like I'm in one of my favorite spots. I have a good drink and now I can get into it. So it really just depends on my mood. I guess I'm kind of a mood writer, um, which I didn't know was a thing before, but it's definitely um, definitely how I write.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

And then do you set like word count goals or page goal goals for yourself for writing for the week or the day?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, I focus more on like I here's when I want to start, here's when I want to finish. I give myself like a week buffer because I know things happen. Um, so I'll have like extra writing days and I more plot out like the chapters of like how many chapters I want to write, what day. Um, I do have a day job, so I pretty much work from seven to seven with writing, um, which is a long, long day. And my dog does not love that most days, so I definitely have to take breaks, but I focus less on the word count and more on like the content that I'm getting out. Because there also are days where I'm like, I am not in a good mood and I cannot write this cheesy, wonderful romance chapter right now. I am Krabby, so I'm actually gonna go five chapters ahead when she gets mad at him and write that instead. So I've more focused on like trying to just make sure I'm writing than how much I'm writing, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

So would you say you're a linear writer or do you like no, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Cause you just said you jumped ahead. Yeah. Yeah. I try to be sometimes like there are times where I literally, my editor makes fun of me because I'll put like insert spicy scene here and then I'll keep going. I didn't even know that people didn't write in order until I I did it. And then I was asking other author friends of mine, they're like, oh yeah, I never, you know, I never. And I'm like, oh, I like now when I read a book, I'm like, oh, I'm so curious. Do they write this in order? Because I do plot it out, I do outline it. So that definitely helps. But sometimes I'm just like, mm, I'm not feeling writing this, or like I'm not feeling inspired by this particular part that I need to write. So I'm just gonna skip ahead. Or sometimes I decide just to skip into a different book and start writing something completely new, which has happens way more often than I would like to admit.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

So at least you've got your flow going still. You're not just at a standstill. That's probably important in the overall process.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yeah, for me it's l it's less like what I write and more like I'm actually writing. It's really hard when I take like a long break between one shot and summer shot. I kind of took a little bit of a break, and then I feel like when I take a break, that's when I get writer's block. Instead of like, okay, maybe I have writer's block for this scene or even this book. But if I pivot and start writing something else, because all authors have a million works in progress going on while they're writing and trying to focus on one book, sometimes it turns into an entirely new book that you didn't even think you were gonna write. So I just try to focus

Juggling Projects And Momentum

SPEAKER_00 23:20

on making sure that I am writing when I have the motivation to and less on like what I'm writing.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Can can I quick ask a question then? When you say multiple books in progress, how many are you juggling at one time?

SPEAKER_00 23:34

It's amazing. Um I I try to limit myself. I'm very type A. So I have like an Excel sheet and like a calendar, and this is what I'm doing when. So I'm like, once I I start having an idea for one thing, I'm like, okay, I'll write it down, I'll outline it, but I cannot come back to it because I need to focus on this project. But I actually just finished writing a book yesterday that has nothing to do with hockey whatsoever, which felt very weird to me at first. But I'm also working on books three and four of the Wyvern's hockey series and um another side project. So right now I'm working on four, but I also kind of bounce back and forth and one always takes over the other. Um, it always happens. Um, like you kind of just get really excited and passionate about one thing, and then I'm like, okay, I gotta stick to this now. I'm halfway through, I can't pivot, can't pivot to a new one. Um, but just something I never even imagined, like working on more than one book at a time. But it's it's pretty common now, which is cool. It's hard to keep from having those those thoughts. I'm like, okay, if I put it, write it down, sometimes it won't take over and I'll come back to it. But recently it's been taking over.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I feel though, like if you had a really good idea that didn't seem to fit the characters in one particular book, it might be easier than to uh understand that it's more a character in a different book that would have that kind of situation. So I can see that that would actually be really helpful for keeping those creative juices flowing.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Yeah, yeah, definitely. That is how the the book I just finished yesterday kind of came came about because I was like, oh, I want to add this. And I'm like, that is that makes no sense in this book. That would never happen, and that person would never be there. So but it makes sense for something else. So yes, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Outreach, Fun Facts, And Accuracy

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Yeah, keep going. It is hard, but it's worth it. There are so many times when I wanted to give up. There are so many times when I was like, I am not a good writer, I don't know what I'm doing, I've never done this before. But it is 100% worth it to have one person read your book. And that one person could be you, but I promise there will be more than one person who reads it. And it's it's just so worth it. Working through all that clutter and the imposter syndrome and the characters taking over your books because it happens a lot, and having mind of their own and or minds of their own and having other books come up and things like that. There's there's so much that happens when you're trying to focus on one thing. And maybe this is just a me thing. I do have bad ADD. Um, but it's so worth it to to work through all of that and get to the end. Even if you think that it's not worth it, like writing it for me, I was like, you know what, I just want to change one person's life by writing this book. And the one person for me was myself because I gave myself that outlet to find something that was really fulfilling. And like that to me is more more than enough by having that impact on yourself. So that is my advice is don't be discouraged. You can just keep going, find other authors to talk to. Um, I think that's been the most helpful is having people that understand because it's so hard to explain the challenges that come up um to non-writers. So that's always been really helpful to have that connection in that um community, which again is something I never even thought about. But thanks to social media, it's um something that's so prevalent in my life, and I'm really thankful for it.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

How do you go about connecting with other authors as a writer yourself?

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Um I just slide into their DMs. I'm gonna

Where To Buy And Support Indie

SPEAKER_00 27:24

be completely honest. There are some author groups I've found through Instagram, Facebook, Discord. Um, I'm sure there's some on TikTok, but I don't I don't use it as much. But I just have, you know, met one person and one person met someone else, and someone else met someone else, and then just made a group. So honestly, just reaching out to people, and it doesn't have to be like, oh my gosh, I'm obsessed with your work, like you're my favorite author. It can be like, hey, I have seen your book around. I am also an indie author. Like I'm interested to just like chat with you. More people are willing to talk to you than you realize. You just have to be the one to make, you know, the effort to do it. Um so yeah, just slide, slide into someone's DMs is the way to go.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

I love that. What's a fun fact your readers might not know about you?

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Apparently, I I like to say slide into DMs. Um I do I do that for authors, though. I would say one thing is probably that I don't really read hockey romance, um, which I think is very surprising. I genuinely just love hockey. And when I first started writing, I was like, well, now I can't read it because I don't want people to be like, well, you got this idea from so-and-so. And for me, it was more of like, I want to be true to myself and make sure I'm not getting, and I mean, people get ideas from every every So I don't, I'm not really a big hockey romance reader, I think, because I'm such a big hockey fan in real life, and most hockey books aren't usually the most accurate because we want to make sure we can have the spice moments and the connection between characters and things like that. Um, so yeah, I have I have a lot of friends who are hockey romance authors, and I have a lot of hockey romance books. I just don't read a ton of that. That actually makes a lot of sense though. I want to tell people that I it's one of two ways. Yeah, it's either like, oh my gosh,

Socials, Newsletter, And KU Update

SPEAKER_00 29:14

what's wrong with you, or like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

No, I get it. Keep keep your ideas unadulterated by by outside forces. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Where where can people buy your book? A lot of different places. If you want Sprite Edge editions, and they are only on my website, which is acwonderlandrights.com. Um, I also have books available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, a lot of local indie bookstores as well. It's something I'm really focused on is trying to work more with indie bookstores. If you go to an indie bookstore that has my book and they don't have signed book plates, tell them I will I will send them to them. And that's something I'm trying to do more of is work with bookstores to make sure they have signed book plates because I want to, I'm indie, I want to support indie as much as I can. So those would be the four main places, but the sprayed edges aren't. Only available on my website. Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

And I do want to thank you because for our fun adventures in Milwaukee at the beginning of September, you gave us a couple copies of your book and fun swag with stickers and whatnot related to the book. And we actually gave the books away for this mass blind date with a book swap.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

I love it. I love Milwaukee. I am I went to Marquette, so I lived there for about five years.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Oh, very cool. Yeah. I love that. All right. What are your socials? How can people find you, learn more about you, follow you?

SPEAKER_00 30:35

AC Wonderland writes as my Instagram, my TikTok, not gonna lie, I'm not that good at TikTok. I'm trying. I also just don't want to go down all of the wormholes I know I'll go down on TikTok. I already do that on Instagram enough, so I can't do both. But I do you I'm so Instagram, TikTok, I do Instagram a lot more. If you're trying to like contact me through message and you send it on TikTok, I won't see it because I don't check it as often. But Instagram, definitely, I'm such a millennial by saying that. You can tell it's okay. I'm fine with it. Also my website, acwonderlandrights.com. I have any newsletter as well. Um, if you go to acwonderlandrights.com slash contact, you can sign up there. Um, I promise I will not spam your inbox. I barely send one a

Closing Gratitude And Listener Ask

SPEAKER_00 31:21

month. This month I've maybe sent two just because I have a book releasing, but I don't don't send a lot, but I do have exclusive content in your newsletters like St. Pixelbooks, contests that are only for people who subscribe. So definitely, definitely worth checking out.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Awesome. I fully admit, we just parade into TikTok as well, and I'm struggling with it. I'm trying. I'm trying to be hip and jiggy with it.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

I'm not trying to.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

It's it's hard. Just the fact that you said hip and jiggy with it is just showing how badly this is going for us on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Hey, I finally figured out how to post the videos ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

So that is the one thing I will say like TikTok over Instagram. You can schedule out a lot more in advance, which is so nice. As someone who's such a planner and very Tai, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Absolutely. Is there anything else that you would like our listeners to know about you or your books, AC?

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Um, that is a great question. Yes, there is one thing. One shot, which is the first book in the Why My Talkie series, is actually now available on Kindle Unlimited. So check it out. The second book is not on there yet, but it uh it's not it's releasing on 9 30. So really, really soon. It might be on there in the future, but you can at least check out the first book, see if you like it, um, clicking in.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

That's awesome. Well, we thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Thank you for you know giving us some pieces of wisdom and and swag and books. Yes, all the things. Remember to check out all of her socials and buy some books, you guys, from some indie bookstores. We know we love supporting our local folk. Thank you for joining us today for Romance on the Rocks. Please like, subscribe, follow. And if you are a hopelessly romantic, bookish bitty like us, think about giving us a review on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you catch your podcasts. And until next time, know that your support really means the world to us. Stay safe and know that you are loved.