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

Marika, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Ask any author and they’ll tell you the aspect of creating a story is their favorite part of the job. We all have ideas and we love to share them or think about them! The hard part is the weeks and months after that brilliant idea hits where you have to actually sit down and write the whole book.

The idea for my first book came to me while I was telling my young daughter a story at bedtime to get her to fall asleep. Creating the characters and coming up with the action was the fun part. Everything is fresh and new and possible in this stage. It was the next part, where I had to try to convey that same story but in actual words on paper with proper grammar and believable dialog, that got harder. A few weeks in and it was no longer new and exciting. In fact, I’d written myself into a corner!

This is where getting good at execution comes in. Having the discipline to sit down every day and write is like a muscle. The more you flex it, the easier it gets. So I created a spreadsheet where I logged how many words I wrote each day. I still use that spreadsheet today, 7 years later. Something about seeing actual linear progress made it much easier to get through the days where it felt like the book would never be finished.

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

I actually owned a separate business at the time I came up with a book idea. My daughter dared me to write the book and I can’t back down from a challenge! I had just heard about indie publishing, meaning I could publish my book on Amazon without having to shop it around to an agent or publishing house, which sounded perfect for me! After all, this was just a one-off book I was writing for the fun of it!

Somehow, that one book became a series of seven books. And I was hooked.

It took me a full year to realize I was a romantic comedy writer. No matter what I tried to write, I kept injecting zany humor, so I gave in and embraced my natural voice. One of the things I love most about being an indie author is the challenge. I’m constantly trying to get better at my craft, while also learning new ways to market my books. Being an indie means I write the books, get them edited, make Facebook ads, post on all the social media sites, format the books, upload them, write ad copy, etc. There are so many ways to improve with each release and it keeps me challenged and interested.

Seven years later, I have over thirty books published, several series sold to foreign publishers, audiobooks, and paperbacks. A simple dare became my full time job.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Being an author can be a lonely job. We toil away at our computers day after day, no face to face interaction with customers or coworkers. However, I’ve made some author friends over the years thanks to conferences. In fact, last year, I was messaging one author friend, both of us lamenting the issues that come with perimenopause. We were shocked to discover we were going through all the same things. Of course, then we decided that we needed to write about it.

This friend and I co-wrote a whole series of books with middle-aged characters, specifically heroines who are dealing with perimenopausal symptoms. The first book’s title, Hot Flashes and Hockey Slashes, makes it pretty clear what age these characters are and that it’s a hockey romance. The reader feedback has been incredible! So many readers have reached out about similar symptoms and how refreshing it was to read a romance with middle-aged characters!

Of course, the series didn’t come without some growing pains. We had to learn how to create, brainstorm, write, and market these books together. Thankfully, where I lack, my co-author shines, and vice versa. It’s been a great experience, both of us learning from the other, which will ultimately make us both better writers. I know some co-authoring experiences don’t go as well, so I highly suggest talking through some of these issues before you start writing together. We had a contract and discussed how we wanted to handle things ahead of time which I think helped us be on the same page about things.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

One of the best ways I keep in contact with readers is through my newsletter list. I put the link to sign up in the back of every book I write. I’ve written several novellas and given them away for free in exchange for the reader joining my newsletter list. To me, this is like the free sample at Costco. Readers need to see if my books are something they like before they lay down their hard-earned money.

I’ve taken a lot of time to not only cultivate the list, but to keep that reader on my list after they’ve signed up. I have a welcoming sequence set up, introducing myself and my books over five different emails. This helps the reader get to know me and to see if my books are a good fit for them.

I send out my newsletter every week, making sure I start with something personal from my life. I’m not just a company trying to sell, sell, sell. I’m a human who wants to connect with her readers. I try to do giveaways or ask questions in each newsletter to give the reader a reason to hit reply.

If a reader emails me, I always respond! It may be short and it may not be quick, but I always respond. I never want to feel like my newsletter is talking AT readers. I truly want it to feel like a two way conversation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marikaray.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormarikaray
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormarikaray/
• Other: Newsletter: http://bit.ly/MarikaRayNews
  Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/marikaray