Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Sena. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

It’s weird to say this as an author, but I’ve never been a writer.
The most common questions I get asked these days is “how long have you been writing”, and “have you always wanted to be a writer”. The answers are usually surprising to people. I’ve only been writing for about a year now, since summer of 2023. And no, I haven’t always wanted to be a writer. It’s something that fell into my lap.
I’ve written two novels, and I’m working on a third. How I started materialized as a side project, something just to fill the time. In June of 2023, my mother passed unexpectedly. And me, with my full-time job requiring me to be on the road and staying in hotel rooms a lot, had many evenings where there were hours to fill that used to be filled with talking to mom on the phone. I decided a side project, something just for fun, was what I needed to fill those seemingly quiet times. I started putting together some characters, story lines, and creating a plot. I scrapped a lot of ideas, but over the course of about a week, a storyline materialized that I was intrigued by.
I ended up throwing myself into the project, at first only doing it for fun, like I originally intended. But over the course of a 5-week period, I had an 80,000-word manuscript, and I wondered if I should do something with it. I sent it off to two of my best friends, Christine and Missy, and had them read it to get their thoughts. Missy had it read within a day, and it was her excitement over it that pushed me to continue the project, polish it, and see if I could turn it into an actual book that others could someday read.
I have to say, writing was the easy part, which still surprises me, even now. It was finding a company to publish and help me market the final product that has been the big learning curve for me. Luckily, I found a team that walked me through the process, and in the end, I did get the hang of it.
Three short months after my first book, American Obsession, was published, I released its sequel, Still Obsessed. I’m still surprised that I can go online and find two books that I myself wrote. They are now active on almost 40,000 websites, and in select stores and libraries.
I am working on a third, standalone, book, that will land more in the murder-mystery genre. This is the one I’m the most excited for thus far, and I’m proud of myself that I could turn my side project into something that I love to do. It’s a journey I never expected to go on, but I’m excited to see where it takes me.

Megan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m still new in the world as an author, I feel I’m still creating my brand. One of the hardest things for me has been reaching readers through social media. The vast number of options out there for connecting with consumers is staggering, and it’s something that I have to work on every single day in order to be seen.
I’ll mention it a thousand times, but writing the book is the easy part. The marketing and time that it takes to connect with readers is sometimes overwhelming, but at the same time, it’s very exciting. To have book signings and see people bring my book in with a smile on their face has been very rewarding.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I have tackled this in two pieces. First, in person events such as book signings and getting out to meet readers face-to-face has helped me reach a lot of people.
On the other side of it, there are a lot of readers that I can’t physically meet with, so working with my publisher to do campaigns in places such as Amazon has really helped readers get to know me, as well as my novels.

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

It feels awfully unattainable, but someday, as I focus on my writing style and skillset, it would be my goal to have a book on the bestseller list. I keep telling myself that nothing is impossible. I’ve already stepped over some of the biggest hurdles I will face in the last year.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://megansenabooks.com
• Instagram: author.megansena
• Facebook: Author Megan Sena
• Other: https://mnwritersdirectory.org/sena-megan/

  TikTok: @authormegansena