We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Metra Farrari. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Metra below.
Metra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I have always been an avid reader. In fact, in middle school, I’d call my best friend and ask her if she wanted to come over and read. During high school, my parents went through a very tumultuous divorce. Luckily, I was able to escape into JK Rowling’s world of Hogwarts. Reading saved me; it made me feel safe and was a wonderful escape from a grim reality. I was indebted to authors that let me escape into their heads and imaginations. When I became an adult, I wanted to pay it forward and create a moment of respite, a place of peace, a world that someone needed to escape something heavy. Luckily, I got a degree in Journalism and was very adept at daydreaming, so writing and using my imagination was two my biggest strengths toward starting to write my novel.
Metra, 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?
Along with being a stay-at-home mom to three (needy) kids and one (needy) cat, my side hustle as a naptime novelist eventually led me to publishing my debut novel, All the Blues Come Through, in June 2021. Before long, it won several awards, earned a bestselling ranking, and collected overwhelmingly positive reader reviews.
Because I was published through a boutique publisher, there was no budget allocated towards marketing; it was grassroots and all my responsibility. I have some media and public relations experience in my background (fun fact: I worked for the last three seasons of The Oprah Winfrey Show!), and my target audience were millennial readers like myself. Online advertising through Facebook and IG, as well as outreach to traditional media for interviews and spots has been successful, but I’ve recognized that my most powerful tool is meeting readers in-person.
This revelation was important but no necessarily easily executable during a time that was still very wary of getting large groups of people together. There would be no book tours and in-person book store events and conferences were sparse or altogether canceled. Without a budget and without a traditional PR plan to market my book, I had to think outside the box.
The answer? Utilize outdoor events that were still occurring and approach them in an unconventional way. For instance, farmer’s markets were happening all over my community. After reaching out to several admins, they were delighted to showcase a local author, so I toured different farmer’s markets around my community. I also set up my own vendor booth at all the major art fairs in my state. Festival-goers were delighted to see books being sold, as there is such a big intersection between those who enjoy art, those who love to read and those who love supporting local businesses at outdoor fairs/festivals.
I also recognized that a lot of my readership were in book clubs, so I offered to come to book clubs free (virtually and in-person). I have a presentation that goes through my writing process and launches into a wonderful book club discussion. This has been a wonderful way to receive reader reviews, spread the word about my book and to get sales. Plus, I’ve made a lot of new friends (and received countless reading recommendations–always a joy!).
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I set out to write a book, what success looked like to me was unreasonable, and I had restructure the way I looked at (and celebrated) accomplishments. I was constantly disappointed in myself, not hitting these grandiose unrealistic ideas of success while ignoring the smaller yet equally significant accomplishments.
During the journey of writing, editing and publishing a book, you’re constantly told that you will NOT be the exception to the rule of ‘hitting it big.’ But despite telling myself I had reasonable expectations, there was a little part of me that hoped I WOULD be the exception. So hitting anything less than NY Times Bestseller, offers to produce the book into a TV series, becoming a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick was a failure to me.
Clearly, I needed to pivot my idea of success and manage my expectations on what I would be able to accomplish as an indie author. So, I started listening to those cheerleaders around me who would mention how they heard me on the radio (a win!) or how my book appearance was so crowded (a win!) or how I have over 200 reviews on Amazon (a win!). Changing my attitude, recognizing the wins and the amount of hustle it took to get there was huge step toward celebrating my accomplishment of writing a book.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of being an author is taking something that was born out of my imagination, sharing it with others and then having it expand through their own imagination. I am absolutely touched whenever someone wants to have an in-depth discussion about a character or how they want to go live on the island where the story takes place. The fact that readers have accepted this figment of my imagination and in turn, celebrated it, just boggles my mind.
I also get great satisfaction when I hear things like, “I wouldn’t normally pick out a book like this but I couldn’t put it down!” Having readers take risks by reading out of the comfort zone and then liking it is a phenomenal feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.metrafarrari.com
- Instagram: @metrafarrari
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllTheBluesComeThrough/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/metra-farrari-kootsikas/
- Email: [email protected]
- Amazon for Audible, Kindle or Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Come-Through-Heir-Myth-ebook