ABOUT
Whether writing flirty contemporary romance or gritty romantic suspense, Maddie James writes to silence the people in her head.
In 2022, Maddie celebrated her 25th year of publishing romance fiction under multiple pen names. Her collective body of fiction work includes over 70 published titles. Maddie loves writing small town contemporary romance and cowboy worlds. As M.L. Jameson, she pens paranormal and romantic suspense.
Maddie is a foodie, a struggling gardener, an amateur photographer, a sometimes artist, a by-the-seat-of-her-pants writer, and a closet hermit. She writes daily in her studio looking out over rolling farmland in the Heartland, and wouldn't have it any other way. She has been known to rescue stray fur-babies and wayward plants and an occasional roadside antique wicker table but has ceased rescuing two-legged strays (her mother is happy about that). All these quirky topics, and more, make their way into her books.
Her first book, THE WILD WEST, a Kensington Precious Gems romance, received a Calico Trails Cameo Award. RED: A SEDUCTION TALE, claimed first place as the Romance Book Scene's favorite novella of the year. A four-time nominee for a CAPA/Psyche Award from The Romance Studio, she has received numerous Top Pick, 5 Star, and Best Read reviews from various reviewers. Her books have landed on Amazon Top 100 Paid Bestseller lists, including BROKEN, a #1 bestseller in western romance. Maddie has been listed as a Top 100 Contemporary Romance author at Amazon and a Rising Star in western romance at Apple Books.
Affair de Coeur said Maddie, “shows a special talent for traditional romance,” and RT Book Reviews claimed, “James deftly combines romance and suspense, so hope on for an exhilarating ride.”
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| With author Wilhemia Stolen at Kentuckiana Author Book Blitz, 2015 |
Originally traditionally published, Maddie James wrote for over ten years honing her fiction craft (that's the way we did it back then, and with typewriters!) before selling her first novel in 1996, while also publishing short fiction and non-fiction articles and news pieces. In 2010, she published her first independently published novel, launching her own publishing house, Turquoise Morning, LLC, now DBA as Jacobs Ink, LLC, where she eventually published nearly eighty authors, and over 500 books through early 2016. When the publishing industry shifted, she closed the house to authors, but continued to publish her own works under the imprint.
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"Working with authors was a highlight of my career," Maddie said. "Together, we learned how to create, publish, distribute, and promote so many beautiful books and fascinating stories."
While publishing fiction full time was always a goal for Maddie, her day-to-day reality was teaching. While spending forty years working in education systems—twenty years in public school and twenty years non-profit work—she continued to write. In academia (penned under her legal name) she has published dozens of non-fiction works, from white papers to journal articles, from book chapters to books, and curricula. Happily retired now from her work in education, Maddie writes full time.
Maddie's thirty-plus-years of writing and publishing experiences, in the traditional, academic, and independent publishing industries, have positioned her well to work with and support new authors by sharing content, conducting workshops and courses, and designing cover art.
While writing has long been her passion, Maddie considers raising her two awesome, beautiful, and wonderfully independent children as her greatest accomplishments.
You can contact her at maddie@maddiejames.net.
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| At the 6th Annual Author Fair, Madison, IN, 2016 |
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Lori Foster's RAGT with authors Ruth J. Hartman, Patrica Anne Warren, and Margaret Ethridge/Maggie Wells, 2012
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| With author Jennifer Johnson at The Imaginarium 2014 |
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| 2008 - KYRW-RWA Booksigning in Radcliff, KY |