Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Beth A. Freely. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Beth A., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I’ve been writing most of my life, but never in the capacity that I write now. I won a “book writing” contest in third grade which saw my little kid’s book, “Topaz and His Adventure,” bound and placed in my elementary school library. I caught the attention of my teacher, Miss Higgs, when I lived in England after writing a short story about a popular television character. But beyond that, I didn’t really consider writing and publishing.
And then the Internet became a thing. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I started writing fanfiction based on television shows that I enjoyed. I also started creating websites where I posted my stories. These were the days of GeoCities and Yahoo when they had their own website functions. It was a big deal. I started growing a small following of fans and one of them introduced me to a television show called “Farscape.” That was when things started to change.
It was 2002. I watched an episode of “Farscape” that sparked my imagination and I wrote a short story based on that episode. I was part of a few fan forum boards at the time and for fun, I shared my story with them. I was encouraged to enter the story into the Farscape Fanfiction awards where I won and Honorable Mention for my story. People liked my writing so much that they asked for more and so the “Crais / Langree Chronicles” was born. By the time I left those forum boards, I had won other awards and finished my first manuscript.
Now, these were small risks, in my opinion. But the one that changed everything was when I entered my novel “Behind The Eyes Of Dorian Gray” into the Archebooks Publishing Novel Writing Contest in 2005. The contest had three categories you could enter your book into and the grand prize was a bona fide publishing contract. Before I could even determine if I had anything usable in all the bits and pieces of stories on my hard drive, my best friend (and now co-author) Mariam, entered me in the contest. I was committed.
I was working as the supervisor of a corporate library at the time so I asked our Intellectual Property guru if Dorian Gray was public domain. The little fanfiction I wrote for myself was perfect for the contest. Sure enough, he was and I embarked on the sixth-month journey of taking my 88-page handwritten story and turning it into a 200-page novel. The night before the deadline, I took another risk: I changed the category I was entering the story in from Horror/Thriller to Women’s Fiction. This was at 3 a.m. sitting at my best friend’s computer while her family and mine slept.
We drove to Vegas the next day. I don’t remember much of the drive.
A few months later, the results were announced. They did it in three stages. In the first stage, the top ten in each category were announced. I made it. One down, two to go.
Stage two, which was the top three, I also made it. My nerves are now fired up.
The final stage, like the first two, was announced a day early. It was a Sunday and I had no Internet at my house that weekend. Mariam called me and while we were talking, she asked if I wanted her to look and see if the results were announced. I said sure. I did not expect to win.
But I did. First place in Women’s Fiction for the 2005 contest.
That risk, entering that contest and sharing a piece of me with other people, changed everything. I went on to get my Masters in English and Creative Writing. I became a full-time copywriter and now work as a full-time web developer. I started my business, The Muses Funhouse, in 2006 and actually licensed it in 2019. It’s morphed over the year from copywriting services to web development and editing services for other creatives.
That risk showed me that I had a lot of stories to share with people and a lot of myself to give to other authors and creative individuals who are trying to take that step into creative freedom.
Beth A., love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My business is called The Muses Funhouse. The name came out of my love of writing and has been used in various incarnations for years by my best friend and me. I am a writer and web developer by trade. I write both fiction romance novels and web content for a variety of clients. I also develop websites for other creative individuals, such as authors, bands, artists, and more. My business also now offers creative individuals branding and graphic help thanks to a collaboration with some friends whose expertise went well with mine. All of this stemmed from my love of writing and creating visually appealing websites.
Over the last two years, The Muses Funhouse has morphed from offering marketing content (which we still do but on a smaller scale) to focusing on professional editing for authors as well as website development and design for creative individuals. After talking with other authors, I noticed that there was a niche out there for websites designed with them in mind to market and sell their books as well as provide them with a platform to showcase reviews, book trailers, and more. After I was approached by an author who is also a musician interested in having a website built for his band, I decided to open up the business to other creative people beyond authors.
As an editor, I pride myself on offering other authors support and encouragement when it comes to critiquing and editing their work. I had an editor who wanted me to change the core of my story to fit her idea of a romance novel and it was very hard to work with her. It made me determined to give my clientele something better than telling them to just change it. I offer the whole package, from proofreading to developmental editing (macro and micro editing), brainstorming sessions, grammar checks…the works. When I am done working with my clients on a novel, they will be proud of what they wrote.
As a website developer, I offer my clients websites that meet their needs that are also visually appealing and functional. I’ve learned over the years that sometimes less is more, especially with websites. The Muses Funhouse also offers branding and graphics if you’re still building your creative brand as well as social media management. As an author and creative individual, I understand what you need and how to provide it.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Word of mouth and networking. Most of my clients are fellow authors and when I first started offering editing services, I didn’t have anyone knocking down my door. My best friend Mariam came to me about editing a book for a young lady she was acquainted with. I mentored her, edited her novel for her, and worked with her on plot development…all the way up to the final publishing of her book. When I posted what she had to say about the service I provided, I was approached by another author about editing.
At author events, I speak with my fellow authors about their books and the services The Muses Funhouse provides and I have built up a regular clientele from networking and word of mouth. I’ve networked on websites like Quora as well as other social media sites to build my business. So far, it is working well.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Breaking into the publishing world is not for the faint of heart. When I first pitched my very first finished manuscript, I received nothing but rejections. That didn’t stop me. I kept going until I won the Archebooks writing contest. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Yes, my first book was published and they took on my second book, co-authored with Mariam.
The problem was our editor. “The Legend of Captain St. Pierre” is a story about twin sisters who are forced to pirate in their father’s name and how they finally get out from under their guardian’s thumb. It is a historical romance. Now, according to our editor, you couldn’t have two romances in one romance novel. It just wasn’t done. And…she wanted us to lessen the role of one of the twin sisters almost to the point of removing her from the story all together. Mariam and I explained to her that if we did that, the story wouldn’t work. But she insisted we try.
We dug in our heels for nine years. We felt that strongly about our story and we did not to be pigeonholed into some cookie-cutter format. I kept writing, starting various novels that I will finish, and continued to grow my business while we decided what to do with our book. We were on the verge of pulling it from my publisher when the president of the company asked to read the book the way we wrote it instead of pulling it. We send it to him and he agreed with us and published it the way we wanted it.
This story is why I became an editor. A lot of authors would’ve given up or given in to what their editor wanted instead of fighting for their story. An editor should offer advice and brainstorm with their author, not force their will on them. Because of my perseverance and resilience in this situation, I try to offer my author’s things and solutions that were not offered to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://themusesfunhouse.com/ and https://bethannefreely.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bafreely/
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/bafreely and https://www.facebook.com/themusesfunhouse
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beth-a-freely-author/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BAFreely
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXd_R18tC-MJukFHYYtcKXw
- Other: https://www.quora.com/profile/Beth-Freely