We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Magan Vernon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Magan below.

Alright, Magan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

I started writing while I was supposed to be studying for insurance exams while I was working in insurance. I actually got the idea for my first full book written (not published) during that time and was furiously taking down notes.
In my head, the book was always supposed to be a series, but every piece of advice told me online that if you were looking to get published, you should work on the next thing, not the series.
This of course was before indie publishing was as huge as it was now.
So if someone tells you to work on something else instead of the series, don’t listen to them.
The biggest piece of advice I can say is write the dang book, then write the next one. You don’t even have to think about publishing until you have a series ready to go. Then less stress about the writing later.

Magan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started writing in 2008 and my husband said if I was serious about it, to do some research. I found we had a local RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter when I was living in Illinois and that was one of the best things I ever did. Meeting other local writers/authors/etc and sharing craft and other things was some of the best things of my early career.
I did actually start out writing young adult books then evolved into writing college aged romance then romantic comedy.
I have over forty plus books published in the romance realm. Some with big publishers, some independently published. Some in foreign editions and some in audio. All of the different ways that I didn’t know this career would take me.

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

This is probably the craziest marketing story I’ve ever had that was a pie in the sky, once in a lifetime thing. I wrote a small town romance featuring an Olympic swimmer hero.
I’ve always had this “crush” that all my readers can tell you on Ryan Lochte and even dedicated my book, Edge of Glory, to him (There is also a story on that in the back of the book that may require tissues if you want to delve deeper).
Well the book came out in July 2016 and I decided to focus some ads aimed at Ryan Lochte and the Olympics.
Infamously Ryan Lochte got in some big trouble in the games in Rio, so all of those ads and targets and searches about him pointed RIGHT to my book.

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

I used to stress a lot about sales or money, which I think we all do, then I was listening to a podcast one day and realize something… I was missing the joy of writing.
And I could tell from the books published where I wasn’t enjoying them, that they didn’t do as well. That I wasn’t promoting them as much.
Once I found the joy in research and writing then it was MUCH easier to promote and sell the book.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maganvernon.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/maganvee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormaganvernon

Image Credits
Author photo by Marisa Rose at Cover Me Darling