COURTESY PHOTO
Beverly Vercher is pictured with her 2005 novel “Good Hearts are the Easiest Broken.”
BY MATT DEMIRS
The Lynn native will launch the “Cupcakes, Conversations, & Book Signing Tour” next week in Spartanburg, S.C., for her latest novel, Shattered but not Broken.
The romance novel is a sequel to “Good Hearts are the Easiest Broken” and focuses on themes of romance, domestic violence, mental illness, prayer, and God.
Many of the subjects in her novels reflect her life and those who are closest to her, she said.
“When I was growing up, I was involved in a domestic violence relationship, I have struggled with being abused, battled mental illnesses, and was molested as a child,” she said.
Vercher expressed her excitement for the book tour and her desire to connect with readers.
“It is special to be able to connect with your readers and meet new people,” she said. “As a reader, I love getting to know the person who wrote the book because it allows the person to connect with the author and who she is.”
The self-published author began writing seriously about 10 years ago. Right about that time, she published her first novel, “Back at One: The Novel.”
Vercher, who holds a certificate in medical coding, never attended formal studies for publishing but found her way around the unfamiliar terrain by doing her research and seeking advice from experienced authors.
One of the authors who’s had a large impact on Vercher as a writer is Terry McMillan, who also began publishing her work herself when she started her career. Now, she is a New York Times bestseller.
Vercher had the opportunity earlier in her career to talk with McMillan, who helped Vercher decide to pursue the route of self-publishing.
“Self-publishing is more accepted than it was before,” she said.
Vercher had the chance to work with a publisher for her first literary work after sending out hundreds of manuscripts, awaiting a reply.
When one publisher offered to work with her, Vercher found that the changes the publisher wanted to make changed her work in a way she didn’t feel like it was hers anymore, she said.
Now, Vercher writes full-time and doubles as a motivational speaker.
One of the lessons the 44-year-old author speaks on is finding what makes you happy and going for it.
“That’s what I did when I decided to take up writing for real. I made up my mind that writing is what I wanted to do because it’s what I loved,” she said. “I try to encourage people to also pursue what they love.”
Vercher has been featured by a number of outlets, such as the Billionaire Girlz Club Blog, FUSE Magazine, TMZ Live Television in Hollywood, and Incline Magazine in Houston, Texas.
The tour, which she planned herself, begins next week and will continue until December. More cities will be added as requests are made.
“People have told me I was reading their minds when they began reading my book, but I was really just telling my story in a creative way,” she said. “My work tells a creative story others can relate to.”
Matt Demirs can be reached at [email protected].