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Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Coffee-Fueled Confessions of romance author Rebecca Wrights
Romance author Rebecca Wrights shares her journey from accidental writer to successful indie publisher, discussing how her viral marketing strategy led to rapid growth and meaningful reader connections. She writes "real and raw" romance novels featuring flawed characters dealing with authentic issues while maintaining a refreshing approach to self-publishing that prioritizes joy over pressure.
BIO:
Rebecca Wrights is a Charleston-based romance author writing stories about swoon-worthy men and the people they fall in love with. She writes with the soft-hearted readers in mind who crave to feel seen, heard, and supported in the stories they enjoy.
The stories she writes are ones that are meant to stick with you well after you’ve read ‘The End’. Each of her books is written with you in mind and mirrors real-life possibilities while also giving you hope for your own happily ever after.
Read her best-selling novel and the first book of the Nat. 20 Series, Mending Me!
🪖 Mexican-American MMC
🤍 meet cute
💪🏼 he pretends to be her boyfriend
🪖 they help each other heal
🤍 he speaks Spanish to her while they ❤️🔥
💪🏼 she says “who did this to you?”
🪖 found family
🤍 he drives a motorcycle
SOCIAL HANDLES (PLEASE PUT @ + LINK TO IT DIRECTLY):
Book Blurb:
When Hank Martínez landed back in Charleston after being gone for eleven years, there were only two things he wanted: to find a gym he could easily get to from his apartment and to hang out with his three best friends as much as possible. He hadn’t seen them since he enlisted in the Army at just eighteen to escape the hand of an abusive father and they were more of a family to him than his dad ever was.
That was until he saw the blonde girl at the gym every morning, reading between her sets. Who reads at the gym? When she called out to him one morning, pretending he was her boyfriend to rescue her from some creep who couldn’t take a hint, it was game over.
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together.
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE 7 day Writing Reset: Daily support in your inbox for 7 days.
Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial
Welcome to Bookshop Chats, where we cozy up with books, creativity and embrace the magical, messy process of writing a book. I'm Victoria Jane, a writer, developmental editor and coach for sensitive, busy writers, and I love to support you on your journey of bringing your story to life. So, whether you're here for inspiration, behind the scenes peeks of what it means to actually write a book, or just some bookish conversations, you are definitely in the right place. And if you're looking for more personalized support, I also offer one-to-one writing support sessions to help bring your story to life, because sometimes you need a little bit of support digging through the noise that is your brain, because same and if you've got a finished draft, I would love to chat to you about developmental editing. It is my favorite thing. I love supporting authors and bringing their story to life.
Speaker 1:You can find all of the details in the show notes. So grab a coffee, grab a tea, plug in your headphones, go on a little walk and let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to Bookshop Chats. In today's episode, I am chatting with Rebecca Reitz. Welcome to the podcast, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Me too. I am pumped, I am like the coffee is coffee-ing, and I love that.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh my gosh, I could. I need to go make myself another cup of coffee. I probably don't need that, my anxiety doesn't need that, but my soul needs that. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Right, I feel you on that. I should really dial it down, but it's just. It tastes so good and it's hard, it's hard.
Speaker 2:Yes, a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:I get it Amazing. Well, I would love to dive right in and let you have the floor and share all about your books. You have a few out in the world and one that will be out by the time this episode goes live. Um, so, yes, I am very, very excited.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah. So hi, my name is Rebecca Wright.
Speaker 2:Um, I am a self-published indie author, um, and I write open door smutty, spicy romance books that are real and raw and relatable and have flawed characters who grow and learn, but are also so authentically unabashedly themselves, and I just love all of it.
Speaker 2:So right now I have three books out. I have my first debut novel, feels Like Coming Home, which is a standalone for now. I say standalone for now because I have another book coming that a lot of people have been asking for since it released early 2024. But down the line, so don't hold your breath for the second book in that series. It's coming in a little bit. And then I have the Nat 20 series, which, by the time this podcast is out, I will have three books of the four completed and published.
Speaker 2:Mending Me is the first one, which is by far my most popular book. People fall hand over foot for this book and I love that it features a shy veteran biker boy. I did not write the book to like tap into the whole biker boy book talk trend. It just kind of that characteristic that that piece of him just came so naturally. Um, as I was writing that book, but I'm not going to lie it did work out in my favor. Um. So mending me follows Hank and Bailey. Um. And then divine sense is the second book in this series, um, follows Colby and Magnolia.
Speaker 2:And then my most recent book in this series, desperate Haste, follows Malcolm and Ophelia. Who are these players who, again, just love the fact that they love to love other people, if you know what I'm saying? And they're not ashamed about that. But when they get together it's one of those things where they just can't resist and I love to kind of describe it as like a reformed playboy where he falls first and she's still not super sure about it, like she. Obviously it's a love story, right, but she's she's very much like I don't. Like there's a. There's a conversation towards the end of the book and this isn't a spoiler or anything, especially since the book will be out by now but he, his friends, ask like so are you guys dating now? And Malcolm's like I don't know, are we? And he kind of looks at her and she's like man, we're still figuring that out. Like, even at the end of the book she's still very much like I don't really know how I feel about you and that's just her.
Speaker 2:Um, but yeah, I, I write stories for my little hook, right, that many authors have is writing real and relatable romance for soft-hearted readers and a lot of people are like what's a soft-hearted reader? And I'm like. A soft-hearted reader, especially romance reader, in my opinion, is someone who just wants to like cozy up with their Kindle and their puppy and their coffee or their hot chocolate on a rainy day and just feel like the books that they are reading are giving them a hug. Right, I am very much like. I read whatever you want. I love it for you. You will never, ever find me reading a dark romance book. I can't do it.
Speaker 2:Right, because I'm the kind of person who watches criminal minds and then will convince herself that, like she's going to find herself in an episode of criminal Minds. So there's no way that I'd be able to read like a dark romance or a mafia romance or anything like that, just because I would become super paranoid. So I write books for the type of reader who loves to feel seen in their stories. So I write a lot of, like I said, real characters. Ophelia, a really great example, is the female main lead in Desperate Haste. She is childless by choice. She does not want to get married, um, and she's very open about those things and she's not ashamed of having those opinions. Um, and and and Bailey, my um, you know, lead in in mending me. Um is a sexual assault survivor and that is something that she heals from deeply.
Speaker 2:And so my characters I write them with the hope that, and same with the overall story, that people feel seen in them, right, they feel very real and I say a lot in my posts and in my emails and when I'm talking to people that I want my characters to feel like your friends, right, I want you to leave the book and feel like you just had a really great conversation with a really close friend and so I write my books in that right. They handle a lot of big topics. Feels like coming home handles the topic and subject of grief and sudden spousal loss. Mending Me deals with parental abuse and sexual assault. Desperate Haste deals with grief and recovery from addiction. And so all of these books feel very real and I write them with that intention to, hopefully, with the purest of hopes that someone picks up that book and says that someone picks up that book and says, wow, she really just wrote that for me, she saw me, I don't know how, but she did.
Speaker 2:And I've gotten those messages from people where they're like, wow, I really resonate with Bailey's story or with Magnolia and how her relationship is with her parents. Or I love the fact that Ophelia is childless by choice and she doesn't want to have kids because me neither. And I feel like we don't see that enough, people don't talk about that enough. So that's kind of the rundown of my books. I like to say that my books are, you know, quick, easy reads, right, they're. You get in, they get out. They're not like I'm a. I'm a, I'll say it myself, I am not this like prolific writer, right, Like I'm not writing the next great American novel.
Speaker 2:That's not what I'm setting out to do. I'm setting out to give you a story that you fall in love with and you have a good time reading and you feel that warm and cozy feeling by the end of it, where you're just like I just love that book, let me go talk to my best friend about it because it's, and then that's it right and you and you maybe reread it later down the road. But I'm not here to be this profound person and that's okay. I think that there's a time, time and place for that.
Speaker 1:But those are kind of my books I love it. I yes, I'm here for that vibe. I think that's such a great. Yeah, it's just like every. I'm definitely a mood reader, so I love especially as we go into the, the summers like the sun, we want those like fun beachy like life rates, like simple um so I'm totally down for that and I I love that so many of the books now are featuring characters that are so like, relatable and yes and such.
Speaker 1:I think that's a huge thing. That was something that really drove me to write my my book, that I'm still writing of just having like a main character who lives with anxiety, and that was something that's not really seen.
Speaker 1:I mean, even now it's still like every experience is so unique to an individual, so I think it's really cool to bring that to the forefront, of just showing, yeah, the subtle ways that these experiences influence us, yeah, and then also making it a like romance and like having all of the fun juicy things that go along with that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah I hear a lot from readers, especially with with Mending Me that the word that gets used a lot. With mending, two things One, the word refreshing comes up a lot because Hank is this walking screaming giant billboard of a green flag guy, right, shy, latino, handsome, just literally a smitten by her. From first glance he's just so down bad. And so I hear the word refreshing like what a refreshing read. And the other thing I hear a lot with people who read my books is they're like this is just such a good palate cleanser, right, like I've been in my mafia romance or I've been in my accidental pregnancy or I've been in my single dad, and like those aren't really the tropes that I personally write. I love to read them from time to time, but I think people sometimes come to my books when they're looking for a breather from sort of the and this is like not to be taken as any kind of slight but from those tropes that we see a lot repeated in the romance niche, right. And so I hear that a lot refreshing and a palate cleanser and just an easy read. And I think sometimes authors take that compliment it's an easy read or it's a simple book to be a bad thing.
Speaker 2:I love it Literally. I self-identify simple, easy reads. That's me. Come in read in a couple of hours, get out, have a great day. Love you so much. Thank you for reading my book.
Speaker 1:Yes, I totally, totally understand that and I feel like there's two like. There are the books that require you to like, think and and and that ask you to like. You have to really pay attention, yeah, to things, and I think those are great, yeah, as well, but also having that opportunity of just having something. It's it's why mean Hallmark movies are like we are predictable, we know what is happening. There are four various plots that could happen, but we know and I think that's something that, especially if you like, struggle with, like anxiety or even just like the chaos that is the world we like the comfort of visibility.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent, a hundred percent. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1:Amazing, awesome, awesome. Well, I would love to hear a little bit more about how you got started.
Speaker 2:in writing yes, okay, I laugh, I awkwardly laugh because I fell into this. Okay, um, like many things in my life, um, I did not ever think I would be an author. I really didn't. And I think that we hear a lot from authors where they're like, I grew up always wanting to be a writer. I always had no idea. I literally had no idea.
Speaker 2:Okay, I remember I did a creative writing project in like fourth grade and I completely ripped off the idea of Halloween town. But I had a great time writing the book for my fourth grade, you know, language arts lesson or whatever, but like, that was the only time that like writing was really something that interested me. But the thing that kind of made me fall into this was writing my debut novel and I it's one of those stories that I say this a lot it was inspired by the Taylor Swift song. It was inspired by the Taylor Swift song Foolish One, um, where you know the girl is waiting around for the guy to realize that like he actually loves her and she's holding out hope for all of these things and you know, maybe one day he'll pick her, and and so the whole story of Ham, of Cam and Haley um came to me and I'm not going to lie, a lot of that book is actually inspired by real life.
Speaker 2:I was definitely a foolish one in high school. There was this boy that I was in love with for forever and ever. I knew it, he knew it, his mom knew it, my mom knew it. They talk about it at the grocery store, right, everyone knew, um, but we could just never get on the same page. And this story of foolish one finally kind of getting the guy would not leave me alone. Okay, like they were talking to me while I was driving down the road, while I was taking a shower. Like they were like you need to. Here's this whole story.
Speaker 2:And so one Tuesday night I pulled out my laptop and I was like let's just see what happens. Okay, like, let's just what's the worst. This is not the craziest thing I've done in my life. Right, this is not the strangest thing I've ever done. And I literally wrote the first 10 chapters in two or three days, and I wrote the entire manuscript, mind you, which is 110,000 words. It is a whole novel in 53 days.
Speaker 2:Like, the entire book was done and I didn't tell anybody. I told one person who is my PA, so personal assistant slash best friend, slash, voice of reason, jessie Her handle is at book club with a Kindle. I love her so much. But I texted her that first night and I said, hey, so I'm doing this thing. And she's like what are you doing? And I was like I think I'm writing a book question mark. And she's like, okay. And I told her because I she was really into the whole book talk space, like I knew nothing. Okay, I couldn't even tell you at the time how to publish a book. I was like I'm just going to sit down and do-do-do-do-do on my laptop. See what comes out of it.
Speaker 2:A whole book came out of it, and this love of crafting these stories and falling in and falling in love with these make believe people. I like to joke that the girls who grew up playing Sims for hours and hours and hours as like teenagers are now the ones writing all of the romance books that we're all reading. Cause I was definitely a Sims kid. Like that's what I did. Um, and here I am writing these books. It's kind of the same thing. In my opinion it's very similar, but yeah, it just.
Speaker 2:I just in the, the story of the Nat 20 series came to me, um, while I was writing, feels like coming home, so I was like all right, well, I guess I have another series, I'll just keep going. Um, and I, I, uh, I know we're going to talk about marketing so we can touch back on this, but I posted, I knew that this could be like a legit thing and I do not write full time, mind you Um, but I, I posted about mending me as like a teaser. Um, just like he, he, ha ha, like my debut is about to come out. Like, let me just like make people aware that, like, I have more, like I'm not just a one and done person. Um, and it went viral. And it didn't just go viral, it went mega viral.
Speaker 2:Like the, the original initial posting for mending me exploded and I had no idea, um, that that was going to happen.
Speaker 2:I had no expectation and that's I still don't have any expectations, right, like I'm just, I do this cause I love it. Um, I do this because it fuels a part of my soul I didn't realize needed fed. And I do it because I know that so many people out there love to read my books, which is still crazy to me, but me becoming a writer, an author a year and a half is still very strange to me. I have a couple of like large conventions I'm signing at, I'll be at romantically yours and Orlando and romance con and Milwaukee, and I'm just like people want to come see me, Like I literally I'm just a girl who has to clean up after her dogs when they poop in the living room, like I am just a girl. But me becoming an author was a complete fluke, honest to God, and I just kind of fell into it and never left where I landed, and I'm okay with that because I love it here. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, that's freaking amazing, and I think that's such a great reminder of just listening when those ideas come right, like that's such a huge thing Cause. I think that's such a great reminder of just listening. Yes, when those ideas come, oh my gosh, right, like that's such a huge thing, cause I think so many people believe that they just can't write a book. That's often what I have heard from people when I'm like when I say, oh, I'm writing a book.
Speaker 1:They're like oh, I wish I could do that. I'm not creative enough. I'm like I call bullshit. I'm like I call bullshit.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure you could if you wanted to.
Speaker 1:So like reminding, like it's honestly, I think even that very first draft is proving to yourself that you can write a book and just showing yourself that. And then who cares if nobody sees it? Obviously, in your case, people did see it, but I think that's such a fun way of approaching it and I think it can be so easy to have so much pressure on yourself now as a creative, especially when you are like there is a, you're commodifying your creativity right, so it becomes a business you're trying to validate it, right yeah, and I think having that vibe of like you know I'm just gonna do it because I love it and obviously you want to get paid, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, that's how the world works yeah, but I think just take that pressure off of yourself, because that's often something that I hear with a lot of authors and yeah, in the uh publishing space is just this overwhelm and feeling like their work's not good enough or like they are never going to be seen, or like yeah whatever, and it's just it sucks because it just that just kills your creativity.
Speaker 1:It does. And I think it's just honestly like if you're not having fun, then what's the point? Yeah, and I think the other thing honestly like if you're not having fun, then what's the point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think the other thing to add to that is this especially in the indie author space, especially especially in the this unseen, unheard, unspoken pressure to keep up right, yes, yes To to, to produce, produce, produce, put out a book, put out a book, put out a book, put out a book, and it's. And I follow authors who, consistently, are putting out a book every three months and I am like how in the world do you do that? And you're talking, mind you, desperate Haste is done. I finished writing Desperate Haste last August, august of 24. The book after that, which will be published in the fall of 25, has been written and I finished that in November of 24. My book after that is also fully written and completely done. So I'm three books ahead of schedule and I'm still not releasing a book every three months.
Speaker 2:And everyone is different and I just to this. It all kind of lines up with needing to validate your work, but also we get so caught up in comparing what we're doing and our current situation, season, chapter, era of life, to what other people are doing, and that's true for any facet of life that you are in. But it's especially, especially a prevalent thing that a lot of indie authors feel is to produce, produce, produce, because the situation of needing to make money from this. It is extremely expensive to publish a book On average. Speaking personally, my most expensive book to produce cost me almost $4,500, from cover to editing, to graphics, to all of the stuff, and if you don't make that money back, you can't produce, pay to produce another one, and the easiest way to be able to continue to produce a new book is to write another one and to do that quickly, and it's very easy. I have friends who started writing at the same time as me and they've only written one book, or they've written two books, and here I am I've written six. But the thing about that is is we have very different lives, right? We're not all on the same schedule, um, and so I think that that's another really big thing that a lot of Indies deal with is this pressure to produce, produce, produce.
Speaker 2:I saw an author who I very much respect and love and hear nothing but amazing things about her. She posted at the at the beginning of 2025, I want to release eight books this year, eight books this year. And I saw that and I was like, wow, wow, I'm so impressed by you. I could not do that. But then she also said this is what I do for a living and I write part-time like that's my job. And so many of us aren't there, especially when we are either trying to get into the publishing space or we've just put our foot in the door right, we're not at that point yet, and so I think it's important that's a an important reminder for everyone in this space to just stay in your own zone and take a deep breath.
Speaker 2:Uh, I say this a lot. There are no rules in the indie publishing space, which I love. I'm not a rule follower. Never have been, never will be. I work for myself on purpose. I never bought the same clothes as the kids I went to school with. In high school and middle school. I always intentionally went to different camps and did different programs than the people I grew up with, because I didn't want to do what everyone else is doing. Which I think is such a lovely thing about the indie world is you can do really whatever you want, which is so fun to me, right.
Speaker 1:You, yeah, you totally bring up some really great points. I mean, even in my experience, I started writing my first uh, like my debut years ago, currently decided to rewrite it. And then we're still here and I mean I've got a business, I've got three kids, I've got like a shit ton of life. And it's like why stress myself out trying to get like a book done in three months? I mean, obviously sometimes ADHD is like we're going to we're going to fixation baby?
Speaker 2:Yes, we are going to.
Speaker 1:We are going to work for something helpful instead of like an insanely unhelpful rabbit hole that is not going to get us anywhere. But yeah, it's definitely one of those things where I'm like why? Like, I'm not going to put pressure on myself.
Speaker 2:It's going to get done.
Speaker 1:And I trust that I am here for the long game. So, like yes, just focus on that, I think is a really like that's. I'm constantly reminding myself of that and like other authors of like yeah long game here, guys Like it's okay If you only write one book a year, it's okay. If you only write like one book every two years, like whatever like you have to do what works for you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's so key.
Speaker 1:I love that A hundred percent, amazing, amazing. Well, let's talk marketing, because I feel like you? Yes, I'd love to hear your take on that. That's definitely something that is also often the author's bane of their existence. But I mean, I've done like I work for myself, so it's like I just I'm used to it. I don't really care too much about analytics or like oh, I'm like I'm going to do what I like. So I'd love to hear your take on how you make marketing fun. Yeah, not overwhelming.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I love all things social media. Um, the only thing I'm not on anymore is threads, but that's just for my own mental sanity is is not being on threads anymore. Um, I love marketing. I think it is so fun. Um, I actually have a couple of author friends who will come to me and they're like this is my video, like what should my caption be? And so I think, if you are someone who struggles first and foremost with being consistent, is to be really honest with yourself and think, okay, with my schedule, with my family, with my current mental load, right, because we all carry a different mental load that I think we fail to take into consideration when we plan for things what can I manage, right? What can I reasonably do, right? So I would self-identify myself as a high volume content creator when it comes to Instagram and TikTok, for context, and I do not want anyone to hear this and be like, oh my gosh, I have to do what we're back.
Speaker 2:No, you do not, no, you do not this is what I'm doing, okay, mind you, I work from home, full time and for myself. I have no kids, okay, none, it's just my dogs, me and my husband. Okay, so I have so much time to produce this type of volume of content, right? So if you don't have that, don't go burning yourself out to try to reproduce what I do. But I, since starting my Instagram page, have posted twice a day, every day, for over a year and a half, and it is always a static piece of content, so a graphic or an image, which I make all of my stuff in Canva.
Speaker 2:Um, if you do not pay for Canva pro, I entire. I could not encourage you enough to purchase Canva pro. It is a business write-off, okay. Um, you can write it off your taxes. Save yourself some money.
Speaker 2:I make all of my graphics in Canva all by myself. I do not pay someone to make my graphics for me and a reel every day. And, like I mentioned with Mending Me, sometimes reels go viral and they just explode and there's no rhyme nor reason just explode and there's no rhyme nor reason. When I posted the reel, that I did, I had so many comments and so many new follows and that can become really overwhelming.
Speaker 2:But, without going off on a tangent, if you're wanting to post more consistently, ask yourself what you can manage on your own right, and I don't care how busy you are. I say this with so much love. You have 15 minutes to post to your Instagram every day. You do? Okay, stop scrolling and post instead. Okay, you're going to go to the bathroom? Okay, and you're going to take your phone in there with you. You might as well be productive and post while you're doing your business right, we all do it, okay, we don't have to be ashamed about it and so you have that space and you have that time. So that's my biggest tip with consistency. My next thing, when it kind of comes to growing on Instagram specifically, instagram is definitely my ballpark. Right, I play baseball, I do not play hockey. Okay, I'm trying to figure out Tik TOK. I don't understand.
Speaker 1:I just not even on it. I don't I know that's I, but yeah, it's right, it's a whole thing right.
Speaker 2:So I a lot of what I'm going to say is specific to Instagram. When you find what works, you need to wash, rinse, repeat that same thing over and over and over. And this is something I learned by observing and quite genuinely studying other indie authors who blew up on Instagram. I went to their pages and I thought what are they doing that is allowing them to have an extra thousand followers, or 3000 followers, or 5,000 followers, every single time I come to their page they are growing exponentially. Why? And what they're doing, and what I have done as well, is they are finding what resonates online and they're reposting the same exact thing, with a different audio right, speaking specifically to reels and a different photo. Okay, and it's really that simple.
Speaker 2:And so, with mending me, when I found out what resonated with people, I just duplicated that same piece of content and I just swapped out the video or the photo and I swapped out the audio. The caption was the same, the content on the screen was the same. Content on the screen was the same. None of it changed. And it took me no kidding, from probably 2,200 followers so 2,200 followers to over 14,000 followers in under six months because I continued to duplicate and replicate what works, and sometimes the Instagram algorithm just sucks all the way around and sometimes the Instagram algorithm just sucks all the way around.
Speaker 2:The first quarter of 2025 has been obscene when it comes to engagement and reach and people seeing people's content. It's just been horrendous, no matter what size of an account you have. So you have to kind of play that mind game where you try not to let it get to you. You just keep trying and you just keep posting but find what works and when you find that thing, just post it again Like no one's going to notice, right, and you're going to bring in new people hopefully follow you and then hopefully read your books, right, and so that's kind of step one, step two, step three how to? So Instagram can be so tough because it feels like you're talking to dead space, like you're talking to no one. You get two posts on a like that you spent like two hours designing in Canva. Those two likes are people who are potentially going to go read your book, right, you have to take it out of the mindset of my content and my and indirectly my book is only is not good because only three people saw it right. Only three people liked my photo right. Two those are potentially three new readers who will read every single thing that I put out and so you're not showing up for the people that you're trying to find. You need to start showing up for the people you've already found.
Speaker 2:We go into Instagram and, you know, gain all of these followers and we forget to turn around and realize we have this entire audience of people already interested in what we have to say. Let me focus there instead of looking for more people to pay attention to me, because it's not always about having a million people. You could have a million people who follow your page and no one reads your books, okay. Or you could have a hundred people who follow you, right, who read everything you put out on Kindle Unlimited, and then they go out and they buy the ebook. And then they go out and they buy the paperbacks and, and then they go out and they buy the paperbacks. And then you put out merch and they buy your merch right, You're making more money with a hundred followers than you are with a million. Right? And take it from someone. Take it from me I, at this current time of recording okay, I have 14.2 thousand followers on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Okay, my current page is read is nowhere near what you think. It is based off of seeing that number. Okay, last month, march, was my best month in 2024 because I had a TikTok go viral, right, and it was the best month I've had in months. But I can tell you, in February I made about $400 on Kindle Unlimited with 14,000 followers. Okay, so just keep in mind that I'm not people who have large accounts authors who have large accounts are not raking in all of this money. They're really not. $400 might be more than other people, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying $400 is not a lot of money, because it is right, better than nothing, but we're not making, you know, thousands and thousands of life-changing dollars every single month because of our following. That's just not how it works.
Speaker 2:And so to make Instagram and TikTok and marketing fun is to first focus on the people that are already there, because they're interested, they want to see from you, they want to hear from you. Two post what makes you happy. I got a comment one time on my TikToks because if you go to my page and you watch my TikToks, my face is always the same. I'm always laughing and people are like why are you always laughing? And I'm like because this is silly to me, like this is so funny and silly to me, like it's not that deep, like it's really. It's just silly to me and I and I have fun. I have fun making those videos and you see that in the way that I act in the videos, and so you need to make your marketing something that you actually enjoy doing or you're not going to enjoy do it.
Speaker 2:And then the third thing with marketing that I will just say is, if you are someone who has the budget to hire marketing out, just hire it out. You don't have to run your social media Like you can and, again, that's a very privileged thing to be able to do, especially as a newer author. But if you have the budget for it and that's something that you really truly hate doing, I promise you there are people out there who will run your marketing for you, right? But if you don't have that budget, focus on everything else I just said and just try your best, right. There's no rules. There's there's no reason you have to do anything and you don't have to do what everyone else is doing A lot of times. A couple of weeks ago, there was the um trend where it was like your characters, as like Barbies or something I don't know if anyone remembers that I never do those things.
Speaker 2:I don't do that why? Because I don't have the attention span to do the the um, the vibes I bring to the party trend with, like the beautiful collo I I never did that. I don't have, I don't have the patience to sit down and source all of those individual elements and photos. I don't have time for that. I'd rather write my book instead. And so just you don't have to do what everyone else is doing, um, to still be successful online and to still cultivate an audience that, like, is genuinely excited to hear from you and read your books. That's kind of my two cents.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I am so here for that. I think there's so much, so much wisdom in that and it's really it's such a reframe that I mean. Mean. One thing that helped me when I'm looking at like numbers, likes on your poster or followers, is is remembering, like if there were that many people in the room with me, like how would that feel? Right, like, because we, we totally distort this idea of like a hundred people like my post, that's so sad. Or a hundred people saw my reel.
Speaker 1:Like, like if you had a hundred people in front of you like looking at you, you'd probably be shitting yourself right. Like this is not like something that like we. Just it's interesting to see the obsession with virality when it comes to to post, and you do make such a great point of like it is. It's better to have a smaller number of followers that are engaged.
Speaker 2:Yes, and dedicated yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, Then having that like 10,000 or 20,000 followers or whatever that are just like whatever they're following for, like they don't see your stuff, they don't engage, they're not like I'd much rather build a community that way.
Speaker 2:And I think that's.
Speaker 1:You do bring up some great reminders of like looking at other people, that you admire and follow, even if it's not even in the same industry.
Speaker 1:I think that's something that I love to do as well of like oh, this person that has a fitness app that I really love, I'm like what is she doing? How she like? So just looking for the inspiration in other places and then also put your spin on it and try it and have fun. And like, yeah, I've tried some of those funky graphics, whatever is trending now with the cells and it takes so much time and I'm like I I don't have the time for this so it's like how can I create this in a way that works?
Speaker 1:that also is getting me to do the other things that I need to do, so I think doing like content days is a really good way.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was just about to say that that's such a great thing, or having those templates that you cycle through and then it creates that cohesion with your brand.
Speaker 1:That is like it makes it so easy, it's really simple right. So, that stuff. It doesn't have to be complicated.
Speaker 2:No, and I think the I'm glad that you brought up content days, because something that helps me to to produce as much as I do is I take, I, I, I cut out about two hours of my Friday um to make my content for the next week. So if there's like a trendy trend that's going viral on like a random Tuesday, I am not going to get to it for like another week, because my content is made for the current week that we're in and I'm not going to drop everything to like jump on this trend because I have to proof a book or I have to finish writing a book or I have to edit a book or whatever it might be. Like I don't have time to to fit my schedule to every viral trend that's happening right now on social media. And the other thing, just to add like a little quick tip, is, if you are doing reels, right, film a bunch of videos at once they don't take that long and just draft them and post them later.
Speaker 2:Like today, I like actually did my hair and like actually kind of made myself look kind of cute, and so I filmed over lunch in like 10 minutes, like five or six different TikToks. I did not edit them. I did not write the captions, but I just drafted them and now they're just there. So if I am having a day where I don't feel well or last week I was traveling I can just go into my drafts and post that TikTok that I filmed when I was back at home in my kitchen in front of my windows, where the lighting is really good and not have to worry about like producing on the spot. Working ahead helps a lot when it comes to actually consistently posting and batching your content you hear people talking a lot about because it really does work.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, definitely Like it's hard because there is that impulsivity that I love, and then some of the trends are hilarious and I'm like, okay, I kind of need to do this, but I'm usually always late to the party which is just, yeah, it's just, it's just how I roll.
Speaker 1:So I think that's a great thing, is just like do what works for you and make it, yeah, engaging and connecting, and I think a lot of what I'm seeing now is people want to see the authentic you. That's why they follow you on social media. So just be yourself. I know that sounds so cliche of like how do you be yourself, but I think that's what people crave. It's just that like raw, real, like not super filtered, like hot mess express. I'm like this is me, like I got time for any like fancy, like we're not doing makeup.
Speaker 1:We're just gonna show up like I just don't care, because otherwise I won't do it so, so, it's like what? Can you do to limit the barriers If that's something that is really a struggle bus for you. But yeah, it's. It's a wild time. Social media is like a wild, crazy animal that. I don't quite understand half the time.
Speaker 2:And if you are someone who's like I'm not interesting enough or I'm not whatever, please just remember that the Kardashians are worth like a billion and five dollars and have been on TV for like 15 years and all they do is sit around and yell at each other Like please just remember that the Kardashians make billions of dollars a year by just literally sitting in their kitchens yelling at each other Like you have something you can say that someone's going to be interested in If Kim can go on TV and cry and make a million dollars. Let's just be so real.
Speaker 1:Right, a hundred percent. I love that. It's so true, right, like, and I think that's that's what is cool, especially when you are connecting with creatives and like I love to hear, like how their stories come to be and how they, you know, just live their lives and stuff. Like that I am, I like that, I think it's cool and it provides that connection, whether you are like self-published or traditionally published, like that's all part of like marketing. Now, is just having that connection with people and I think it's really fun, yeah, um and yeah, that's because it's not worth your mental health to stress out about it.
Speaker 1:It is what it is and, like nobody understands the algorithm, the guy who even runs Instagram, doesn't even understand it yeah, so it is what it is right like it's. It's just one of those things and it's part of the yeah, it's just part of being a creative now, and I think finding things outside of Instagram is also great. Obviously, you chatted about um the like going to author events, so I'd love to hear a little bit about like that Um, and how, yeah, how, that works for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is actually so. I started publishing in 2024. So 2024 was my first I kind of say like my first year of being an author, um, and 2025 is my first year of being a known author, which is very strange to say, um. So this is actually my first year going to like larger author conventions, and I am always surprised and a little confused when people, when I apply to these things because what maybe a lot of people don't know is that to go to it's very from my understanding, it's not often that people are just invited immediately to these signings, unless there's someone huge like Rebecca Yaros, right, like I'm sure she gets invited to all of these things. Or Emily Henry is another good one, right? Yeah, um, but for a lot of indie authors, you have to apply to go and then the organizers, you know, look at your application and decide to invite you based on I don't know what cause. I'm not in charge of these things, um, but every time I get invited to these, I'm like you want me to come, are you sure? But I'm always very grateful as well, um, so, yeah, this is a newer venture for me, but I did do a local um, uh, it was like a Valentine's day book fest. Um, I live in Charleston, south Carolina, and there was this like local book festival, um, and a town just North of me, and it was so fun. Uh, it was so I I wasn't sure what to expect, um, but it. It. Books are so trendy right now, right, and they're so exciting and it's a growing market and all of these things.
Speaker 2:But when it comes to these author signings, again, I've never been to like a large, traditionally like larger, known one, right, like I think of, like Romance at West or a Polycon or Big Ones, right. It is this opportunity to connect with readers and I was actually traveling. Last week I went to Orlando. I actually met up with a couple of readers, just like at a coffee shop, and one girl. She was so sweet, she's like I love you so much and I was like me, like I never like.
Speaker 2:It never fails to fry my brain when people are like I love you so much and I'm like I, why Like you do? And she's like I love this book and I love this book and I love how you did this and this character. Can you like imagine them doing this? And it's it's this wonderful opportunity to just connect with people who have read your book and fell in love with it Kind of goes back to what we were saying about that validation of your work and that's the whole point, right, I think that's why so many authors go to conventions and these signings and they have signings is to connect with readers and I've been very lucky, I have such an incredible community. I don't like calling them fans. I like calling them like friends or community members, because fans just feels really weird.
Speaker 2:I was having a conversation with an author friend and she's like she's also a debut from 2024, but she's like you know that we have fans for now, right? And I was like no, I do not have a fan. What are you talking about? Fans Like what, I'm not Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift has fans.
Speaker 2:I have people who somehow managed to stumble on my page and decide to like, give me a chance, and I very much appreciate that. So you know, you go to these things to connect and to talk about your books with other people who have read them, because, at least in my personal life, my husband's never read my books. My friends haven't read my books, my mom refuses to read my books, no matter how often I try to get her to read them, and my general family actually doesn't know that I write. That's like a big secret. I don't tell anyone, which is neither here nor there. But you get this chance to like talk to these people who love your characters as much, if not more, than you do, which, when you're an author, you're like you can't love my children more than I do, can you? And you're like, oh wait, you do love my kids more than I do. Wow, I understand how parents feel now, like you, love my kids so much, and that's so crazy to me, um, but yeah, I'm excited, I'm super excited.
Speaker 2:I, um am also doing a local signing at a DC bookstore, which will be my first bookstore signing. So it's a lot of firsts for these signings this year. And again, I'm I'm never lacking in gratitude, um, for the people who who decide that they want me to come to these things, um, so, yeah, I'm just it's, it's so crazy. But no matter what the size is, if you are an author and there's a chance to go to a book fest or a book fair or a book go, just go. You never know who's going to come. You can meet brand new readers and and you know, I did my signing in February I had so many people who had no idea who I was, but they saw me and I said hello to them and they read the backs of my books and they bought my books and they walked away and they read my books and it's, it's so crazy to me the the power of that in-person connection, and I think that that's why people go to these conventions, because, whether you realize it or not, you have people out there who love your books.
Speaker 2:Right, they love your book and they love what you created and they're so grateful that you were brave enough to publish and they want to say thank you for that. Um, but if you stay holed up in your room, you're never going to be able to give those people a hug and meet them face to face and hear them say those words to you, which is the craziest, most validating, most amazing thing to ever happen.
Speaker 1:Right, that's wild, like I feel like such a mind blowing thing and I think that's so cool, like that face to face connection is so key and I know a lot of the authors obviously like it's common that we're like introverts.
Speaker 1:It's not everybody, but like that's kind of a theme. So there's that like little barrier and people, I mean in general, can sometimes be a lot, but I think that there's something to be said about being in an environment with fellow creatives. Even last year I went to a convention with my husband for his work and just like it was like graphic design. So it's still like creatives and it's just the vibe, the energy and the connections and the people that you're meeting there, that you never know who could like be great to have in your network yeah it's now or in five years, or whatever and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So I think that that's something to really like keep in mind of, just like building that connection and that community with fellow, authors. Yes, and all of that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1:Like that stuff is I feel like that's the point of being human, like that's why we write stories, that's why we thrive in community, is we? Yeah, it's just having that face-to-face connection and being able to just I don't know. I thrive off of that. I thrive off of the creativity I get so high love it, just like chatting with people in person and it's. It's so fun, even if you're awkward, like just like that's something I mean. Whatever I will ramble, I will say weird things, but I just am, like it is who I am. So just take it or leave it, guys.
Speaker 2:I say all the time to people that I'm like please, please, stick me on a stage with 500 people watching me, cause I I feed off of it. Right Like I went to this coffee shop with these two readers and they're like thank you so much for me and I was like why would I not meet you? Like please, come here so I can give you a hug, like I want to, like I want to just like snuggle you right now, like I love you. It's, it's, it's so crazy, it's a very crazy thing that I hope I never, ever get used to. Like I always want it to be crazy, I always want to. I always want to walk away and be. Like people read my that's so crazy to me. I'm like that's so crazy. Wow, I can't believe this is my life.
Speaker 1:I love that. That is totally the vibe I'm here for. Well, this has been such a lovely chat and I would love for you to share how people can get in touch with you and follow along on your, your writing journey, and obviously they need your books Now. I need your books. This is this is like the worst part of this podcast is that I have so many books I need to read now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, so you can find me in all of the spaces. My handle is at Rebecca writes with an S. There is a rights. It is plural on the end there. A lot of people forget the S. Um. The S is there, uh. At. Rebecca writes author. Um. On Instagram and Tik TOK. And then over on Instagram you can actually sign up for my email list and I'll send you the first chapter of whatever book is to come um for free so you can read it. You can kind of try before you buy. Um. All of my books are on Kindle, unlimited. But if you are a physical book kind of human, I do sell paperbacks on my website. Rebecca writes authorcom Um, I'll sign them. I send stickers and character art with them. I personalize them for you.
Speaker 1:All of those things, uh, and you can find all of that info at Rebecca writes authorcom. Well, that is amazing. Everything will be linked in the show notes, so super easy for people to click through and not worry about spelling, because sometimes that is hard. Yes, right yeah. Yes, right yeah. I feel that. Well, it was lovely chatting with you, I feel like you dropped so much amazing wisdom and I loved hearing about your books. I'm here for the vibes.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I'm so grateful that you gave me the time and space to share.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening to today's episode and if you really loved this author, I highly encourage you to go check out their links and comment and share their work because, let's be real, as an indie author, all that stuff makes such a difference. And if you're feeling a little stuck on your draft and just want some gentle accountability, check out my one-to-one offers that are linked in the show notes as well. I'd love to support you with your writing or editing journey and if that's not quite where you're at, I've also put together a really amazing free resource to help with taking your writing to the next level, because there are so many amazing resources available without needing to spend a ton of money or get that MFA or all of the things that you may think that you need in order to write a book. Until next time, keep writing your way and trust yourself enough to tell your story, because, I promise, if it's coming to you, there's a reason and someone needs to hear it.
