Catherine Bybee is a New York Times, USA Today, #1 Wall Street Journal, and #1 Amazon Bestselling author of romance novels. She writes in the romance subgenres of contemporary, historical, paranormal, and at one time erotica. She currently writes for Montlake Romance, an Amazon Publishing Imprint, and self-publishes some works. After graduating high school, Bybee moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming an actress. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. After a job related injury she began writing full-time. Bybee lives with her two teenage sons in Southern California.
Early Life
Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, and is the survivor of child abuse and a teen who "graduated high school by the skin of my teeth." Romance novels became a way to escape reality, "Romance novels saved my life more than once, and I don't mean that figuratively." Bybee moved to California in hopes of becoming an actress, but she eventually landed in nursing school and began working in urban emergency rooms. However, Bybee's nursing career was cut short when a fall, while helping a patient transfer from wheelchair to gurney, injured her back resulting in multiple surgeries over the course of seven years. It was during her recovery that she decided to start writing, "I didn't take a bunch of classes in writing. I couldn't spell my way out of a paper bag. But I had to learn." Strong reader support has changed Catherine's life. She didn't grow up with money, and she says what she appreciates most is how success as an author has allowed her to improve other people's lives. She hired a full time assistant. "It's fabulous to actually employ people, for crying out loud. I hope that everyone can experience that."
Career
Bybee published nine books through small press, but it was her tenth book, Wife by Wednesday, that became her breakout novel. On December 15, 2011, Wife by Wednesday entered the USA Today Bestsellers list at #35, staying on for seven weeks. On February 12, 2012, it entered the New York Times Bestsellers list at #18 for ebook fiction, and on February 26, 2012 was #13 for combined print and ebook. Wife by Wednesday was also the #1 best-selling Kindle Direct Publishing book, and #5 overall best-selling Kindle book, in December 2011. It went on to become the #11 overall best-selling Kindle book for 2012. Originally written for Harlequin, but rejected, Wife by Wednesday sold 300,000 copies by the time Amazon Publishing offered her a book deal. The bestselling Weekday Brides series, developed from Wife by Wednesday, was bought by Montlake Romance in September 2012. In April 2012, Montlake also bought Bybee's second contemporary series, The Not Quite Series. Bybee has since sold over 5 million copies of her work and have been translated into twelve languages. She hit the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller spot with her novel, Making It Right, and continues to hit the "Amazon Top 100" and the "Wall Street Journal" with her contemporary releases. Bybee is represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret LLC.
