Barbara Freethy (born in California) is a #1 New York Times bestselling American author of
women's fiction
Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women-centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels or women's rights books. It is distinct from Women's writing in English, wo ...
,
contemporary romance
Contemporary romance is a subgenre of Contemporary literature, contemporary and romance novels. This era of romance novels that were published after 1945 and the World War II, Second World War. Contemporary romance is generally Setting (narrative) ...
and
romantic suspense. She is a two-time winner of
Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by inc ...
's
RITA Award
The RITA Award, presented by the Romance Writers of America (RWA) from 1990 to 2019, was the most prominent award for English-language romance fiction. It was named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. After not being awarded in 202 ...
for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance for ''Daniel's Gift'' in 1997, and for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance for ''The Way Back Home'' in 2013. She has sold over 5 million books, with 18 books making the New York Times bestseller list.
In 2014, she was named the Amazon KDP Bestselling Author of All Time.
Biography
Freethy is a native of California and earned a degree in Communications from
UC Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...
. She worked for a while in public relations before launching her writing career with novels published by Silhouette Romance, Harper Collins, Penguin and Simon and Schuster. In 2011, she started self-publishing by releasing backlist titles, and then new works. In 2012, she hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List with ''Summer Secrets''.
She attributes her success to building a consistent brand, as well as releasing multiple books—backlist and new—a year.
In an article in
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
, a columnist visited a booth of eight self-published authors which included Freethy and
Bella Andre
Bella Andre (born in New York) is an American author of more than 40 contemporary romance novels. As of 2019, Andre is the ''New York Times'', ''USA Today'', and ''Wall Street Journal'' bestselling author of ''The Sullivans™'' series and her bo ...
and reported that traditional publishers were skeptical of their claim that between them they'd sold 16 million books. Freethy was quoted as saying, "No one is counting our books in any survey that comes out in the media."
In 2014, Amazon's
Kindle Worlds added Freethy's "The Callaway" series as one of four new offerings.
Bibliography
Angel's Bay
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Bachelors & Bridesmaids
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The Callaways
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Deception
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Sanders Brothers
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Wish
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Stand-alone novels
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Awards and reception
* 1996 - Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for Best Contemporary for ''Ryan's Return''
* 1997 - Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Contemporary Single Title for ''Daniel's Gift''
* 2013 - Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Contemporary Romance for ''The Way Back Home''
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Freethy, Barbara
Living people
21st-century American novelists
American women novelists
American romantic fiction writers
RITA Award winners
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women writers
American women romantic fiction writers
University of California, Santa Barbara alumni