We recently connected with Laura Elizabeth and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Almost two decades ago, my family and I traveled to a tiny island off the coast of Hilton Head, SC. We later described this as our YOLO trip as we were supposed to be traveling someplace else, across the country and some unexpected challenges made us reroute our plans. We knew very little about this place, weren’t really sure that we could even pronounce the island’s name correctly but we were excited to roll the dice, bring our children and dogs on an adventure. It turned out to be one of the most impactful decisions we have made as a family, We found a place that would shape our family in ways we could not anticipate. We ended up buying property on this island and created so many incredible family memories here as we spent many weeks as a family vacationing together every year.

The island and the former resort have gone through many economic challenges and in 2020, I started a pro-bono project to seek investors who would consider rebuilding parts of this community. I did this work quietly and ended up speaking to many people who were curious about this island. Although the project did not work out as I planned, I reconnected with someone who introduced me to a publisher. This publisher challenged me to tell the story of Daufuskie Island and why it matters so much to me and my family. I accepted this challenge and end up writing mysteries set on the island., which was something I never imagined doing.

As part of my marketing plan, I offer island tours with me to show readers the places where I find inspiration and to explain what I mean by “island magic”. If I had not taken the leap into starting my project, it is very likely I would have never written these books.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I write cozy mysteries, where an amateur sleuth solves the crime. Because community is a very important aspect of my stories, I have developed characters who are growing together and who lean into their relationships – which is an important part of living on a bridgeless island!

One of the things that has been tremendously rewarding is seeing my books turned into Murder Mystery productions. The books have been brought to life by a professional theater company, acting out the scripts I have written based on both books. I also have an interactive Murder Mystery event package that I bring to different venues. The audience becomes the characters using the material I provide. It is incredible to hear and see people “becoming” my characters.

An important part of my stories is messaging how important it is to be part of a community, sharing your skills and talents and showing up for each other. This has been our experience on the island and I love writing about it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting this journey, I did not fully understand the economics of publishing and how difficult it is for new authors to make money. Fees for services are high and often the publishing house protects itself by stating that books are non-refundable. This means that if a story purchases your books but wants to return them to the printer, they are not accepted. Many stores are unwilling to take that risk and accordingly will not stock books that are “non-refundable”.

I did not know or understand how limiting this would be from a distribution perspective.

I also did not understand that bookstores and retail outlets take nearly half of your sales to cover their expense. So by the time everyone in the chain gets paid, it is not uncommon for an author to earn only a few dollars per copy of sold books.

To change the economics, authors need to be creative in finding alternate distribution sources to reach more readers and to recoup the author’s investment into the publishing expenses.

It is easy to get discouraged but I embraced this challenge because I believe in the message of my stories.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I believe in providing consistent messaging and have analyzed which posts are the most engaging for followers and non-followers.

Accordingly it is important to me that people see and hear messaging that is consistent with my stories and their location.

I have found that people are invested in learning more or seeing what is coming next – it has been a fun experience.

I don’t take social media too seriously. I understand it is important but I want to show up authentically and to offer posts that support my work. Trends on social media come and go, so I feel it is important to know what is happening currently but I don’t bend to “the latest” fad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theislandmysteries.com
• Instagram: @theislandmysteries
• Facebook: Laura Elizabeth – The Island Mysteries
• Other: email – theislandmysteries@gmail.com

Image Credits

these are my own pictures