We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laurie Larsen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Laurie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us 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 write novels. Conventional wisdom has always been, in order to build and grow your audience, keep writing the same types of books so the reader knows what to expect from you. Each book should be the same, but different. Different characters and plots, but the same type of reading experience to make your readers comfortable. After spending ten years writing contemporary romance, I felt a call from God to switch to Christian romance. The two genres are similar with a compelling romance, a conflict that the two people work through, a “dark moment” in their relationship where it looks like an insurmountable problem, and then a satisfying resolution leading to a Happily Ever After. The differences were: 1) no sexy scenes in Christian fiction — just clean and wholesome and 2) a faith journey for at least one of the characters in addition to the romantic journey.

I made the switch and immediately saw that Christian fiction matched my talents and values more than secular romance. As a mother of two boys and a professional career woman in a male-dominated field (in my day job), I no longer felt uncomfortable when someone in my life said, “I read your book.” No more blushes and wondering what they thought of that one intimate scene.

My career as a Christian romance writer blossomed with twenty-some books, multiple awards, way more sales and reviews, higher royalty checks, lots of chances to mentor others, and present information at writers’ groups. I knew I was in the right place. Until … after twenty-six books in the genre, I just didn’t have any more ideas for a new novel or series of novels. But I did have a new idea for a book.

I had embarked on a challenge to read the Bible cover to cover in a year. While I read, I jotted down notes with questions about the Bible, things I didn’t understand or wanted to research further. By the time I finished the reading, I had over fifty topics I wanted to explore. As I started researching, I decided to write a short blog about each topic and post it to my website and promote it on social media. Soon I was doing a weekly blog and inviting subscribers to be notified of each new one. Then I thought, would I reach more people in video format? So each time I posted a blog I videoed myself reading it, and posted that to my YouTube channel, and invited subscribers there.

When I finished forty blogs I combined them all into a book — a combination Bible study/devotional and published it in all formats of e-book, paperback and hardcover, and the audiobook is on its way to publication. Last, I plan to set up a podcast interviewing guests about those same topics using the videos of me reading the blogs and then have a conversation about them.

It’s important to me to get God’s word about the Bible out to those who might want or need to hear it! (It is the point of The Great Commission” that Jesus instructed his disciples when he was getting ready to leave them!) But why is this a risk?

Because my community of readers know me as a writer of heartwarming, beachy, inspirational love stories. NOT as a Bible scholar. I worked hard to build a consistent brand, and with this project, I was basically throwing it out the window. Every romance book I’ve given them has the same look and feel. This book is completely different! Also, I haven’t released a new fictional book in almost two years, other than a few short story anthologies I contributed to. Romance readers are accustomed to receiving a new book from their favorite authors once or twice a year. As I was busy following God’s message to learn and share His Word, I probably lost a big bulk of my readers. I’m still sending newsletters to the same people who subscribed to hear about my fiction, but I notice the engagement rates are WAY DOWN.

Despite the risk, I know it’s the right direction for me. Fictionally, my well had run dry. But my enthusiasm and excitement over this new nonfiction project has kept me going creatively for well over two years now. Some of my fiction readers will stay with me. Some will say, “No thanks,” but that’s okay. I wish them well. But hopefully I will reach a whole new group of readers/listeners/viewers who will join on for “The Year I Read the Bible by Laurie Larsen.”

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 back background and context?

Beachy, heartwarming and inspirational, Laurie Larsen’s love stories contain a message of faith in addition to the Happily Ever After. Her beloved Pawleys Island Paradise series gained fans, not only because of the stories and unforgettable characters, but the “arrogantly shabby” real-life island setting.

A multi-award winning author, she’s won the EPIC Award for Best Spiritual Romance, the Illumination Book Award for Inspirational Romance Fiction and the eLit Award for Religious Fiction.

Her latest project is “The Year I Read the Bible,” a nonfiction journey through God’s Word with essays on forty topics that intrigued her as she read and built her Bible knowledge. Well-researched and insightful, these short essays will give the reader new information on that ancient book that is so often misunderstood or set aside.

Laurie began her writing career back when she was juggling a challenging day job in Information Technology Management. Bewildered as to how an English major who loved to read discovered herself in a highly technical career path, writing became her creative release. Because “all good things come to those that wait,” her reward finally arrived: retiring from the day job, moving to the beautiful South Carolina Lowcountry and writing novels full-time; at least, in between lathering on the sunscreen, walking the beach, and entertaining her feisty rescue pup, Weezer.

A member of Romance Writers of America for fifteen years, now, she’s the President of an American Christian Fiction Writers chapter. She’s lived her own Happily Ever After for over thirty years.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I started my author career in the year 2000. My first five books were published by small publishing companies. Although I continually strived to draw the interest of the major publishers, I didn’t succeed. But after five books published by three different small presses, I just wasn’t satisfied with the experience. Everything took so LONG! A year after submission until I got the contract, another year of production before release. I often wasn’t happy with the cover designs, but I wasn’t given input into that part of it. And above all, sales were dismal. This was before the ebook craze and the only product available was a paperback book sold on the publishing company’s website.

Enter the independent publishing craze of approximately 2008! Several of my friends had tried it and were doing well. I decided to give it a try because what did I have to lose? I still had an agent trying to get me a big contract, but I was done with small press. I was lucky enough to partner with some amazing, knowledgeable author friends who taught me everything I needed to know to put out a well-written, edited book and a professional-looking cover on Amazon. As I continued to write and publish, I grew my publishing imprint brand and reputation. I found that I loved the business aspects of the publishing process, and I could do it WAY FASTER than the small presses I’d contracted with!

In 2015, my indie pub business was humming along! I had a series called Pawleys Island Paradise that had sold tens of thousands of ebook copies, and had racked up thousands of 4 and 5-star reviews. Following conventional wisdom, I combined the first three books of the series into a “Boxset” download and priced it cheaper than buying all three separately. Interest took off, and the boxset was doing pretty well.

I applied to the reader newsletter Bookbub for a Featured Deal — a fairly expensive investment but one well known at the time for resulting in enough sales to pay off the investment and generate a profit. As required, I slashed the price of the boxset download to 99 cents the day Bookbub featured it. And all day I watched my retailer portals for sales. Almost immediately the Kindle version hit #1 Bestseller in all three of its categories! Barnes and Noble and Kobo soon followed. I had a major bestseller on my hands!

For three days I watched large numbers of sales come in. That’s when it dawned on me that for the first time in my entire career, I could qualify as a USA Today Bestseller! The newspaper had certain requirements as to how many venues the book sold in, and how many total sales it racked up for that week. It was so exciting, and my friends and I would take a moment every hour or so to watch the sales numbers go up and up! I was so close to that USA Today honor, I could taste it!

Unfortunately, I came up just short. Our best guess by looking at the sales of the bottom of the bestseller list (slot number 150) was that, if I had sold 40 more copies I may have just slipped in!

But regardless, it was the most exciting and fun marketing week of my entire writing career being an “Almost But Not Quite” USA Today Bestselling author!!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am a professional writer and independent publisher. I am also a Christian and I know God is using my skills to spread the word about his message. Sometimes I feel that these two realities are at odds with each other.

I strive to put out high quality material that reaches lots and lots of readers. I want to win contests and get my name known. I want to sell lots of books and earn lots of royalties. All of that is true because of my business as an independently published author. But the motivation is different than many other authors.

The more books I sell, the more people will be exposed to the messages of God’s love inside their pages. Maybe my writing will speak to a particular reader; help her deal with a problem she’s facing in her own faith journey; answer a prayer that she’s lifted to God for help. They’re books that are enjoyable but also pack a punch when it comes to God’s love for his people.

I want to succeed in the publishing world, but the motivation behind the success is in advancing God’s message more than my own edification. I pray to God that I always remember the difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.authorlaurielarsen.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurielarsen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-larsen-5232044/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@laurielarsen9626

Image Credits

Original book cover design by Steven Novak of Novak Illustrations
Author photography by Tanya Ackerman and Elizabeth Ann Wallace