We recently connected with Christopher Maselli and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

We started off as a freelance writing business, offering ghostwriting services, book writing, direct mail writing, SEO writing, editing, and more. As we grew, we started meeting other talented writers that wanted to publish their own books or start a freelance writing career–but were making the same rookie mistakes we made when we began. We decided to form an offshoot of our freelance business geared at training up-and-coming writers and authors on how to write, publish, and market their books–without having to start from scratch. That’s when we become Writing Momentum, helping put writers on the fast-track to success.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Writing Momentum is owned by Christopher and Gena Maselli. We’re a husband and wife team who are both full-time, at-home, freelance writers and editors, and award-winning authors. Chris began writing more than 30 years ago for non-profits and ministries, ghostwriting books, direct mail letters, magazine articles, and more. He also wrote several dozen children’s books and a children’s magazine. He’s served as an on-staff writer and editor, as well as led a digital marketing department at a global non-profit, where he became a Certified Digital Marketing Professional.

Gena was a marketing administrator and TV buyer when she decided to come home and assist Chris in freelance writing. Before long, she was gaining book contracts of her own and has since been a ghostwriter, author, marketing writer, and editor. She’s also an award-winning author.

Together, we’ve founded Writing Momentum, a freelance business helping non-profits and small businesses with ghostwriting and marketing–and also providing online training for up-and-coming writers and authors. On our website, WritingMomentum.com, we have hundreds of training videos, weekly co-writing sessions, roundtables, critique sessions and more for writers–all for only $25/month. Our goal is to help writers have their own online community to receive encouragement and training, so they can write, publish, and sell their books.

We LOVE helping writers as writing is our passion and we believe there’s space in the market for ALL of us.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we started writing 30 years ago, traditional publishing was the only sensible way to get published. You’d write your book, often according to what a publisher was looking for, then hand it over to them to “take it from there.” In exchange, they’d give you a small advance and a 15% royalty on your work, that you’d hope to one day receive.

But times have changed.

We’ve had to learn to change with the market. Today, traditional publishing is only a good option under specific circumstances. With ebooks and the closure of physical bookstores, more authors than ever are forging their own destiny by writing their books and self-publishing. But this also means we’ve got to be marketers. That scares a lot of writers, but it’s not as bad as you might think. The truth is, today even traditionally published authors end up having to fully market their work themselves…so why not self-publish and increase your profit while you’re at it?

There’s more opportunity than ever for us as writers to publish that dream novel or non-fiction book, and to sell it through making connections through podcasts and other grassroots means–directly to our ideal reader.

It’s not anything like it used to be…but for those who are willing to learn, it can be so much better.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

When we first started our writing membership site at WritingMomentum.com, helping writers write, publish, and sell their books, we thought the hours of video training we provided would be the killer feature.

Turns out we were wrong.

What our members quickly showed us was that community is what made all the difference. The truth is, times have changed, and the day of the author who sits alone in her office cranking out the Great American Novel are gone. I like to say it this way: Writing is not a solitary venture. It has become something we do together. Because the world is now filled with overwhelming distractions and information, the best way to keep your eye on the prize and get your book done is to keep yourself accountable to others. To solve this, we started having co-writing sessions, group Q&As with seasoned authors, and roundtable discussions. Our members tell us these sessions have become their weekly anchor to getting things done. Because their writing is an appointment on their calendar that they don’t want to miss–because that’s when they meet with their online friends–pages are getting written! Essentially, we work on our individual projects together. It reminds me of going to a study group at college; we might all be working on something different, but because we’ve committed to the time and place for working, we’re accomplishing our life dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.writingmomentum.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/writingmomentum
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writingmomentum
• Twitter: https://x.com/writingmomentum
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@writingmomentum
• Other: https://www.writingmomentum.com/membership