Israeli author Sapir Englard is currently studying Electronic Production & Sound Design at Berklee College of Music and is due to graduate in the Spring of 2022. As a music student, and one of Inkitt’s most successful authors, she’s able to pursue both of her artistic passions while she helps define a new era in storytelling. Her best-selling fantasy romance, The Millennium Wolves, is a GALATEA blockbuster. Thus far, it has been the platform’s most-read story. I’m pleased to feature Sapir on today’s Inkitt Author Spotlight!
Welcome Sapir! First off, congratulations on being one of Inkitt’s blockbuster author’s. At times, you’ve made upwards of 15k a month in royalties! Did your publishing success take you by surprise?
Never in my life did I think my books would be so successful, let alone attract such a vast variety of readers from all over the world. For a no-name author like me to gain so much, it seemed, and still does seem, surreal.
You actually penned The Millennial Wolves while serving in the Israeli army. Can you tell us more about your writing journey, and about that particular time in your life?
It feels as if I’ve always been writing. It started when I had to write essays in elementary school, and then it progressed to writing Harry Potter fanfiction, which in the end led me to write my own original stories. The driving force behind my need to write was that I wanted to read something that simply didn’t exist, so it was up to me to make it.
While serving as a guard in the military when I was 19, I had night shifts. Since nothing really happened in the area I was responsible for, I wrote during those shifts. My army service wasn’t mentally easy, and writing proved to be an escape when I was having difficult times. Writing about a headstrong, stubborn, infuriating redhead, and the possessive yet kind alpha who swipes her off her feet was the perfect way to escape my reality into fantasy-land!
Once you got out of the army and pursued your music studies, you’d already written several stories, including The Millennial Wolves. Tell us a little about your publishing journey, and specifically, how you found Inkitt.
At first, I uploaded all my books onto Wattpad, but when I was about 22, I started looking for another platform. A Google search of ‘free writing platforms’ listed Inkitt. I saw that they had a monthly novel writing contest, so I uploaded all of my books to the Inkitt platform and entered them all in the contest. The Millennium Wolves performed far better than expected, and that’s when Inkitt contacted me about the publishing deal.
Okay, let’s talk about The Millennium Wolves – the title that launched your writing career. Give us a quick and dirty summary…
Sienna is a nineteen-year-old werewolf with a secret: she’s a virgin. The only virgin in the pack. She’s dead set on making it through this year’s Mating Season without giving into the Haze, her primal urges – but when she meets Aiden, the alpha, she forgets all about her self-control.
It sounds exciting and pretty steamy! Where did the idea for The Millennial Wolves come from?
The idea came to me back in high school. I used to read on Wattpad a lot, and the werewolf genre was only just beginning back then. I remember, though, that every werewolf book I read was missing something, something I couldn’t put my finger on, and so I wanted to try writing a werewolf story myself.
At first, I had this idea of an alpha and his mate moving in together after finding one another, and then having to figure out how to be mates and live their life together, and I tried writing the idea a few times. It was only when I was in the army that the full idea finally formed in my head and I began to take writing this book seriously.
Sometimes writers know exactly how they want to end their story. Other times, it comes as a surprise. Did you know how you were going to end this one?
It was always a no-brainer that the couple would end up together. This was supposed to be a fun, fluffy story – having the two main characters not end up together would’ve defeated the purpose!
Are there any authors who have personally influenced you?
There are many, from Rick Riordan, to J. K. Rowling, and so many more! But, the one whom I still consider my biggest influence is Nalini Singh. I’ve been reading her books for 10 years now, and they were the main influence on all of my works, especially The Millennium Wolves. I’m currently waiting for the next book in her Psy/Changeling series to come out!
I like to ask experienced authors if they’ve ever hit a writer’s block. I think it helps newcomers realize that storytelling isn’t always easy, and they aren’t alone if they get stuck. So, if you’ve hit the dreaded block, how do you move past it?
I’ve experienced far too many writer’s blocks to count – and they’re always such a pain to work through. In my case, I force myself to write something every day. It doesn’t have to be a part of a book, or a short story, or anything, really – I just need to write one passage, or even one sentence per day, until the block disappears. It can take weeks, sometimes even months, but the key here is to persist and not stop writing. I’m also an avid believer that if a book I’m working on caused this writer’s block, then something about the book is the problem. I need to figure out what that is and change it.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Good luck with school and with your writing.
Check out Sapir’s Inkitt profile with links to her stories!
