Meet Nellie Neeman | Thriller Author

Hi Nellie, we’d love to hear how you thought about starting your own business?
It was the summer of 2015. My son was about to fly the coop for a gap year of study overseas. I, on the other hand, was heading in the opposite compass direction, to the Midwest with my new-ish husband.

I was facing the proverbial empty nest and the prospect of new neighbors who, from what I’d heard, would short-circuit my New York sensibilities by making full-on eye contact.

While I’m hesitant to refer to that time as mad upheaval, it came with a great deal of adjustment. For better or worse, at that point in my life I had already completed a crash course in change. Despite its challenges, I learned that change heralds new opportunities. Leaving behind my twenty-year career as a speech pathologist meant I could finally pursue my long-held passion. The chance to write full-time was being handed to me on a silver platter. I was not going to squander it.

Initially, building a business from my writing was the farthest thing from my mind. I simply wanted to write out of my sheer love of captivating prose. Looking back, I’m not certain what triggered it, but I became enamored with the idea of creating stories for public consumption. I jumped into the deep end of the business pool, learning all I could about establishing an author brand. I studied marketing techniques and industry trends. It’s fair to say I became obsessed with my entrepreneurial journey, determined to both entertain readers and turn a profit. When I wasn’t fixated on the business side, I was crafting stories with intricate plot twists. Work-life balance was a constant challenge.

By the time I completed Spree, the first book in my action thriller series, I had an Amazon business account, author website, a presence on social media, and a growing mailing list of thriller lovers. The dream was gradually—and painstakingly—becoming a wonderful reality!

Let’s talk shop! Tell us more about your career. What can you share with our community?

I have always been fascinated by the beauty and power of words, how the combination of letters can convey so much, opening new worlds, sparking the imagination in the most magical of ways.

I grew up devouring books by Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett. I loved the fast-paced stories set in exotic locales with well-drawn, deeply flawed characters. When I closed the book on one adventure, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next. In time, the desire to craft my own stories blossomed. Yet, it never crossed my mind to pursue writing as a career. Instead, it remained a beloved hobby, my work never seeing the light of day.

Fast forward to 2015. Just shy of my 50th birthday, I was an unemployed newlywed, starting over in an unfamiliar city. I chose to view my new circumstances as an adventure, a way to reinvent myself. With my husband’s encouragement, I began to write in earnest. Before long, the floodgates sprung open, a deluge of stories pouring from my fingertips and onto the computer screen.

This second-act career is a labor of love but it did not come easily. It did, however, come with a steep learning curve, forcing me to step far beyond my comfort zone. Turns out, building an author brand requires donning many hats—writer, accountant, designer, marketer, and so on. Like many authors, I am an introvert. Networking and ‘peddling my wares’ were activities more likely to make me break out in hives than result in new business contacts.

So, I pushed myself. Hard.

These days, I speak at conferences, podcasts and interviews. I created Nellie’s Notes, a blog designed to encourage aspiring writers, reminding them that it’s never too late to pursue one’s passion.

This year, I published the fourth book in the Jon Steadman International Thriller Series, featuring a troubled protagonist whose investigations take him—and the reader—across the globe. As an avid traveler, I enjoy using my favorite destinations as backdrops for my stories—including the magnificent Colorado Rockies. Each story in the series explores what can happen when morality and technology part ways. The consequences are dire. No different than reality.

My next thriller is scheduled for publication in 2023.

I am also expanding my business, publishing sweet, contemporary romances and romantic comedies under a pen name, and working hard to build a new brand. I’m loving every second of it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary. Where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc. 

Some of my fondest memories were made in Colorado—Steamboat Springs, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Colorado Springs. If my best friends planned a visit, I’d start the day by taking them to one of my favorite coffee haunts, maybe Cool River Coffee House or Mountain View Coffee Bar on Main Street in Breckenridge. Then, we’d spend the afternoon biking the scenic path along the shores of Lake Dillon, taking a break in Frisco to peruse the shelves in Next Page, a charming mom-and-pop bookstore. Finally, we’d hike Jodi’s Loop reveling in the breathtaking views before heading back home for a soak and sangria in the hot tub.