Indie Support Sunday: Alyssa Milani

Dec 21, 2025
5 min read

As an author of over 30 books, I think almost everyone knows who Alyssa Milani is. Even if you haven’t read her books, you’ve certainly seen them around. The best part? Not only has Alyssa written that many books, she’s done the covers for all of them herself. Being indie allows her the freedom and control to write the stories she wants, and design the covers her way and that is so cool!

While she started out writing thrillers and horrors, romance has now become her focus. But you’ll definitely find elements of suspense and thrills in her current stories, so if that’s up your street, look no further! She’s also got a stalker romance that she’s been working on for a few years that I’m super excited to hear more about.

In the meantime, all of Alyssa’s books are available in Kindle Unlimited!

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

I’ve always had a wild imagination and telling stories has been my favorite since I was a kid. When I'd go to a bookstore, I'd tell myself that one day, that will be my story on that shelf. Lo and behold, I was able to accomplish that dream in high school when I wrote my first book!

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

The best is the control we have of our stories and covers. The worst is the marketing that takes 10x as much work as it does to write the damn book.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

Honestly, the control of it all. I love creating my own covers and formatting the novels the way I want them done. I did have an agent once upon a time, but that didn’t work out in my favor. So I moved on and am happy I stuck with the indie route.

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

Reading or listening to music. Although, I try not to read books that are in the genre I’m writing. It happened once before that something I read years back ended up becoming something similar to what I was writing. And I won’t let that happened again 😅

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

My books? I’d say my favorite one I wrote is Meeting You. Other authors would be Hot Work by Kate Cole. She is fantastic!

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

Write. Write. Write.
Reach out to other authors in your genre, we’d love to help!
Try to get into a writing group. There are so many of them with authors that will give amazing advice.
Find yourself a reliable editor who knows what they’re doing and won’t rob you blind. It took me a while to find her, but once I did, I instantly felt a connection and loved how much she cared about my stories.
Read. read. read.

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

Romance actually wasn’t my first genre. Thriller was, which is why in a lot of my novels there’s a twist or thrilling aspect to the story. But I chose to stick with romance because I'm a hopeless romantic and sucker for meet-cutes.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

It would be fun to go back to my thriller/horror roots. Exploring the unknown like I used to.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

Boyfriend’s dad is my top ick. Favorite is enemies to lovers.

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

An age gap. I have a short story in an anthology where the woman is older, so to be able to explore that some more would be interesting. Especially if she’s 15+ years older or has kids.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

Ooh, this is a good one. It would be nice to read a romance novel where neither of them has money. It seems like everyone is always rich in some way. To read about a humble couple who are working day by day trying to make ends meet would be interesting. (If there are books like this, send them my way!)

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

I love pushing boundaries, writing feelings and sensations so that the reader can truly be into the story and feel their love in a more intimate manner.

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

Most of the time, it would be something so simple as a song or even an advert. I’ll hear a lyric and then this entire being is created, then a plot is woven, a story, a town, a life.

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

I have many, so I’ll pick my top three:

As Far As We Knew is a hockey romance with a twist. She’s a medical student who doesn’t believe in love, he’s a pro hockey player who is dead set on proving her wrong.

Meeting You is when the bartender in a small town falls for the sober girl coming “home” to meet her birth father.

The Stowaway Series is a biker series with so much darkness, thrilling events, twists and turns. It’s the first dark romance I wrote and it’s my top series of all time!

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

Riggs Donnelly from The Stowaway Series.