A few years ago, Scarlett St. Clair was working as a librarian in Oklahoma, self-publishing romance novels on the side, when one of her books went viral on TikTok.

It was a dream come true — and also kind of a nightmare.

Sales of her Greek mythology-inspired fantasy romance novel, “A Touch of Darkness,” and later its sequel, shot up. Bookstores and readers ordered thousands of print-on-demand copies. As an independent author with a day job, St. Clair struggled to keep up.

“I was like, I’m not a warehouse,” St. Clair said.

She tried to find a publisher to take over print distribution, but everyone turned her down, saying they didn’t take on self-published writers. An agent told her that no publisher would match what she was making on her own at the time, more than $10,000 a month.

Then, in the summer of 2021, she got an email from a new romance publisher, Bloom Books. Bloom only had one writer on their roster, but it was an impressive name: E L James, the author of the blockbuster erotica series “Fifty Shades of Grey,” who had recently left her prestigious publisher, Vintage, to help launch the fledgling imprint.

During St. Clair’s first meeting with Bloom, its editorial director wooed her with an elaborate, data heavy presentation. The slide deck included maps of the retail locations where they planned to sell her books: in Barnes & Noble outlets and independent bookstores, but also in Walmart, Target and Costco stores and in airports. They wanted to republish not only her latest hit but her entire backlist and her next novels, and offered her total control over the publication schedule, cover designs and marketing plans.

“Bloom respects the fact that self-published authors are entrepreneurial,” she said.

St. Clair sold Bloom her five self-published novels, becoming the second author on their list. She’s released 12 novels with the publisher, including her seven-book “Hades x Persephone” series, which has sold more than 2.6 million print copies globally.