Colleen Hoover is an American author who writes novels in the romance and young adult fiction genres. She is best known for her 2016 romance novel, It Ends with Us. She self-published many of her works before she was picked up by a publishing house. Colleen Hoover has written 25 books in her 12-year career as an author. She is the founder of Book Bonanza with 2,700 readers, authors, and volunteers. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.

Early and Personal Life

Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas. She grew up in Saltillo, Texas, and she graduated from Saltillo High School in 1998. She married Heath Hoover in 2000 and they have three sons. Hoover graduated from Texas A&M-Commerce with a degree in social work. She worked various social work and teaching jobs before starting her career as an author.

Colleen Hoover

Career

In November 2011, Hoover began writing her debut novel, Slammed, with no intention of getting published. She was inspired by a lyric, “decide what to be and go be it,” from an Avett Brothers song, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” and she incorporated Avett Brothers lyrics throughout the story. Hoover self-published Slammed in January 2012. Hoover states that she published the novel so her mother, who had just gotten an Amazon Kindle, could read it.

A sequel, Point of Retreat, was published in February 2012. After a few months, Slammed was reviewed and given five stars by book blogger Maryse Black, and afterward, sales rocketed for Hoover’s first two books. Slammed and Point of Retreat reached #8 and #18, respectively, on the New York Times Best Seller list in August of that year. Atria Books picked up the novels and republished them on August 10, 2012. A third book in the series, This Girl, was published in April 2013. After the success of Slammed, Hoover quit her job in the social work field to become a full-time writer.

Hoover’s novel, Hopeless, was self-published in December 2012. The plot line, which is that of a girl who was home-schooled throughout her elementary education, before going to a public high school, reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list on January 20. It was the first self-published novel to ever top the list. A companion novel, Losing Hope, was published that July.

Finding Cinderella is a free novella that Hoover published in 2014. It features several of the characters from her novels, Hopeless and Losing Hope. A paperback was released with several bonus features, such as a new epilogue and Hoover’s own “Cinderella story.” Maybe Someday, published in March 2014, was the first novel in a small series about a boy and a girl who write music together and fall in love. Musician Griffin Peterson created a soundtrack to accompany the novel. Links in the e-book or a scannable QR code in the paperback led to a website, where readers could listen to the music.

Never Never, a 2015 collaboration with Tarryn Fisher, was originally split into three parts and sold as three separate books. The work was later republished as one complete book.

Hoover’s novel, It Ends with Us, was published in 2016. Hoover described it as “the hardest book I’ve ever written.” The novel concerns domestic violence, and, according to Hoover, it was written with the intention of advocating for domestic violence victims. The story was inspired by Hoover’s personal experience as a child growing up in a household with domestic violence, which carried through her adult life. The book’s main character, Lily, experiences domestic violence at a young age, witnessing her father’s abuse towards her mother, on top of experiencing it firsthand. Then, she ends up in a violent relationship, as an adult. In 2021, Hoover experienced a surge in popularity, due to attention from the #BookTok community on TikTok. As a result, in January 2022, It Ends with Us was #1 on The New York Times best sellers list. As of 2019, the novel had sold over a million copies worldwide, and it has been translated into over twenty languages. Filming of a movie adaption of It Ends with Us began in May 2023.

A sequel to It Ends with Us, titled, It Starts with Us, was published by Atria Books on October 18, 2022. Simon and Schuster released the details of the extensive marketing campaign for the novel, which became the publisher’s most pre-ordered book of all time.

In October 2022, Simon and Schuster UK acquired two standalone novels by Hoover, which are to be published in 2024 and 2026.

Alexandra Alter of The New York Times wrote, “To say she’s currently the best-selling novelist in the United States, to even compare her to other successful authors who have landed several books on the best seller lists, fails to capture the size and loyalty of her audience.”

Writing Style

“I can’t work on more than one thing.”

“Once I start and I get really into it, that’s my hyper-focus. And that’s all I do – just write 18 hours a day and sleep.”

Ms. Hoover’s success gives hope to all aspiring authors. Just because the big publishing houses ignore you doesn’t mean you can’t strike it rich by self-publishing your book.

Sources:

“From Bookstore to bestseller,” Dallas Morning News, June 24, 2023, pp 1B & 2B.

“Colleen Hoover,” Colleen Hoover – Wikipedia, retrieved June 26, 2023.