Becoming a Represented Author

Erin Geiger: 0:02

Welcome to the Small Business big mindset Podcast, where we dive into tactical strategies to grow your business. And to make an impact on this world. A huge part of success is keeping your mindset and vision on track. So this is a major part of our process. And this podcast. Let's do this. Hey, Erin here. Welcome to the mall Business big mindset odcast this week, we have Mike arrity, a published author and appens to be my cousin. elcome, Mike.

Unknown: 0:35

Hey, Erin, thanks for having me. It's great to get to talk to you.

Erin Geiger: 0:38

Yeah, definitely. I love that I can combine family, fun and business all in one. Perfect, yes. Um, so to kick it off, will you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and how you got started doing what you're doing?

Unknown: 0:52

Sure. Yeah, I have a background in English I went to, to college, get my bachelor's degree and my master's degree in English. I taught writing classes for a little while. And, you know, then, I we live very close to West Point. So I've worked there for a while. But I've always been writing on the side. You know, finally there, you know, about 10 years ago, I, I decided I wanted to work for myself. And, you know, I started doing content writing for websites and things like that. And I did that for years. And actually, you know, a publisher caught a look at something I had written for a website, and contacted me and asked me if I'd be interested in doing some short stories for them. So I did and, you know, one thing led to another and they offered me a publishing agreement. So, you know, I started my first book came out, I think it was 2017. So, and I just had my ninth one just came out last Friday. So, you know, it's, it's been kind of a whirlwind, but it's great. I never thought I'd be writing romance novels. But it's been a lot of fun.

Erin Geiger: 2:14

That is incredible. Because so many people beg, borrow and steal to get published.

Unknown: 2:20

I know. I know. And I feel like I just kind of fell into it. And I really did. You know, but and, you know, it's been kind of a whirlwind when it first started but you know, now, I mean, I love it. It's, it's like a dream come true. But you know, you know, you you always imagine yourself sitting down and writing a book and the fact that I put stuff out there and there are complete strangers were reading a book with my name on it is is surreal.

Erin Geiger: 2:54

I bet and you You're so productive, like can you walk us through your your writing process, because I just I feel like you have it so buttoned up.

Unknown: 3:02

Yeah, you know what, for me, it you know, I journal constantly I have, I literally have journals everywhere in the house. And I have one in the car and because I'm always getting ideas, and I'll write an idea down, you know, that oh, you know, what I don't really good for for a book down the road. And then, you know, once once I'm ready to start a new project, usually the first thing I'll do is even before I start thinking about specific subplot or anything like that, I do character profiles. So I can kind of even though it's stuff that may not end up in a book, it gives me background for the characters that I'm writing about so I can understand them a little bit better and you know, what motivates them? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? What are they afraid of, you know, all things like that so that it helps me when it comes time to create situations and dialogue and you know, it is so that it sounds authentic. And then you know, really, uh, you know, it's cliche to say, but it's just, you know, you sit down and you're right, and then you rewrite it and then you rewrite it again and you know, it's a it's, it's such a process you get into writing a chapter and then you know, you could be 50 pages away from that and then you're like, you know what, if I go back and change that I can do this, this and this. So you end up rewriting and rewriting and rewriting which is which is good because it for me, it really tightens things up. But I do I do a lot of outlining. I do a lot of character reference stuff and I do a lot of research and more research than I have Ever thought I would do even when I was doing content writing because I wanted to get details right? So it's there's a lot involved that people don't see. But once you get into a routine of, of how you do it, it seems to come a lot easier at least for me.

Erin Geiger: 5:19

Now No, that's great and I didn't even think about that like you. So as you're writing, you'll come up with other ideas and you're like, Okay, now I got to go back so it's not really a linear process.

Unknown: 5:29

No, not at all. And you know, so many times when I'm first starting out, I usually have an idea of how I want the book to end. And I think for every book that I've done, I've ended up you know, doing an ending that was not what I originally planned, because as you're creating, you know, something will come along and it'll spark an idea for you and you're, you're like, Oh, you know what, that makes a lot more sense or that's a lot more interesting and, and it just kind of snowballs from there. To me, that's the fun the fun part of writing. Because you don't really know where it's gonna take you.

Erin Geiger: 6:09

Yeah, it's sort of like an adventure, you know? Yeah. Derek thinks will inspire you. Absolutely. And then so how is it working with a publisher? I'm assuming they give you certain deadlines.

Unknown: 6:21

They do. I work the publisher I work for a score Outlander publishing, they're small independent publisher. They're based in the south there they're they're fantastic to work with. There's a group of us I think we're up to about 12 or 13 authors now but you know, they barely usually touch base with me before I start writing something and say Hey, what are you thinking about working on you know what's coming up next for you? And you know, I'll pitch them an idea and you know, most of the time they'll you know say hey that's great go with that when do you think you can get done with it so we can plot everything out? So there are there are deadlines but they're really flexible you know because when you're writing you're always going to hit a wall somewhere and you know, you might spend two weeks just staring at the screen and not getting anything written so they you know, there's some flexibility there but they they do so much for me that you know as far as you know, they help with the artwork for the covers and they get everything set up with Amazon and you know they so they take care of all the the printing and dealing with all that they do a lot of promotional stuff on there and so you know that takes a big burden off me if I was doing it independently and you know, it said that you know, they've helped me set up online events and things like that and merch merchandising you know that they're they're really involved in the entire process and it makes things a lot easier as an author to have that behind you.

Erin Geiger: 8:14

That's great yeah, that's gonna be my next question. You know like the cover art getting into stores promotions, but sounds like they support you because I've heard horror stories of authors that aren't supported they have a publisher and they publish the book but they don't do much else when it sounds like you have a really good crew

Unknown: 8:32

they're there they're fantastic and and yeah and you know and and they've grown in the time that I've been with them and you know to the point now where you know we don't just distribute through Amazon with my books now they distribute through Ingram sparks so it's so any in any independent bookstore or Barnes and Noble Can you know, you could walk in and ask for one of my books and they could get it for you or or even your local library you could go to the library and ask if they could get it for you. So it's it's really open things up. I mean, it's hard to get with a really good publisher like that it's a you know, finding the right fit is is key.

Erin Geiger: 9:17

Yeah, it sounds pretty incredible that you fell into it. And then you also have

Unknown: 9:23

I am so lucky that that it worked out that way I really am.

Erin Geiger: 9:31

How has or has the pandemic has it impacted? You know, what you do at all?

Unknown: 9:37

It has in the sense that, um, I mean, you know, Michelle and Shawn and I are all working from home now. So you know, there's that dynamic of, you know, three people working in the house at the same time. So you have that but as far as reaching customers, you know, up until the last last few months, I haven't really been able to do any face to face stuff, you know, it's all been virtual or, you know, we do stuff with the publisher where I'll do online, Facebook Lives and Instagram lives and things like that to reach, you know, an audience, but it's been hard for me because I haven't really been able to deal with any of the local stores around here. Because that they just aren't doing events like that, especially the smaller stores. You know, there, it's just not happening. So, you know, it's, it's opening up a little bit. So that does make it a little better, you know, gives me an opportunity to try to do some stuff now. But yeah, it's been it's been a struggle.

Erin Geiger: 10:52

Yeah, I can imagine that the, you know, not having the in person meet and greets, readings, that sort of thing, you know, because it's when you really, that's part of how you go your community.

Unknown: 11:01

Yeah. And to me, you know, that's one of the things I'm really trying to do is build a local, a local base, because for the last three books that I've done, the the books take place in the area that I live in, in New York, you know, I we live in a small town called Hiram, and you know, it's south of West Point, but you know, there's about 3000 people that live in our town, and the surrounding towns are smaller as well. But, you know, I set the books here, and I would love to be able to reach more people locally, so that they're aware that the you know, it, they might see some things in the books that, you know, places they know, and recognize things. And so I haven't been able to do as much of that as I would like to do.

Erin Geiger: 11:53

Yeah, I think that's really cool that you base it, where you live so that yes, people you know, who live there could be like, oh, I've been there, you know, or that sounds familiar. And I like it. Because, obviously, we have Irish in our family. And so I love it, I love some of the names that you pick, and I'm like, Oh, we haven't yet by that name. And, you know, yeah, that's super cool.

Unknown: 12:16

I, you know, I tell people that all I tell people two things all the time. Number one, there's all kinds of little easter eggs in the book, so that if your family or friends or whatever you might see a name or see something that you recognize that somebody else might not notice. And the other thing I say is, you know, just be aware, whatever you tell me, you know, it might end up being you somewhere down the road. So just, you know, be mindful of what you're saying. You know, if you don't want it to turn up in a book somewhere, it's, it's, you know, keep it to yourself, kind of,

Erin Geiger: 12:54

everything's fair game.

Unknown: 12:56

Yeah, yeah.

Erin Geiger: 12:58

That's funny. So where do you get most of your ideas? Like how do you how are you? How do you get inspired?

Unknown: 13:05

Um, you know, a lot of it comes from me reading naturally, you know, I take some ideas, like, I listened to a lot of music and sometimes I'll hear particular lyrics are, you know, a song and they don't just spark something. And, and I love to people watch and you know, and so, and you, you can get a lot of ideas. And I've just recently fallen down the tick tock rabbit hole, where you know, I'll watch you know, people doing these live things like you know, this one guy works in a sushi restaurant and, you know, you're just watching him, you know, create sushi for an hour or whatever, or you know, there's a blacksmith or somebody works in an ice cream shop, or, you know, all these different things at because I get ideas from things like that. And, and I actually stumbled upon somebody, because the book I'm working on right now deals with somebody who works at a hotel third shift, and I actually found someone who that's what she does. And so, you know, I was able to ask her some questions and figure out you know, what it is that she does, you know, with her night and things like that, so I can make make it a little more realistic. So, you know, ideas really come from everywhere. Hmm,

Erin Geiger: 14:33

that's really cool. Yeah, how you can just I love people watching, too, you know, and you can like, see someone kind of go about their day and something will spark you know, yeah, yeah, it's,

Unknown: 14:43

sometimes it's just something small. That's all you need.

Erin Geiger: 14:46

Yeah, no, really. And have you always written romance? Uh,

Unknown: 14:51

no, actually. I had never written anything, any romance. Until The publisher approached me and asked if I would be willing to try writing a couple of short pieces for them you know i'd always written a lot of what I had written for my own you know it was I did you know a lot of thriller stuff or I did some horror stuff and I did some you know basically just like you merus pieces so doing this was a complete change for me and actually when it when they wanted me to do my first book they really guided me through everything they say all right these are the these are the the you know the parameters we want for the book you know it can can you set it in a small town I was like oh great I live in a small now it's so you know things like that they were so they help me get the ball rolling and but once I started doing it I found that I really enjoy it because you know even in any book that you pick up there's always some kind of romantic element to it you know there's a relationship there's a connection and and to me that's what creating the romance books are all about it's it's creating the connections and you know creating you know, a tense tense moments and attraction and relationships and all of my books I like to say our I mean besides being small town they all have strong family beliefs which is something that you know we both grew up on and you know, so I think that comes through and and you know, and the relationships that have been around us for entire lives you know, parents and brothers and sisters and things like that you see all by it and you know there's there's elements of of love and respect and romance and all of that so it's it came a lot easier to me than I thought it was going to well

Erin Geiger: 17:07

and then also your your books are action packed so I can see you know how you were like oh, I did some action thriller or whatever because that's definitely in there.

Unknown: 17:16

Yeah, no, I like to do that and yeah, you know, I I tried to get some of that in there because and especially when the publisher had approached me a couple of years ago and said, Would you be interested in doing like these motorcycle club? romances and you know at first I was like, Well no, I've never done anything like that but once I started reading about it and during the research and everything I was like, yeah, you know, this is gonna be a lot of fun to play with. So yeah, it gives me a chance to introduce stuff that I couldn't necessarily introduce in some of the other books I had done

Erin Geiger: 17:55

yeah, that's really cool. And so because you've been you've been doing this for so long you're so accomplished Is there like a tool or a process that you use that you're like once you stumbled upon it? Or like Oh, it's so helpful just to because our audience like they're entrepreneurs but some are like aspiring authors so just anything you can share on that would be great

Unknown: 18:14

yeah you know I actually there are a few tools that I use on my computer's I use grammerly a lot I don't know if you're familiar with Yeah, I love that one. Yeah, I mean that you know, they're their premium tool is fantastic because you know, when when you're doing your, your early drafts, you're not really paying attention to you know, spelling and grammar and all that because you're just trying to get your ideas so you know what the having that tool there allows me to go back and clean things up before I do a deeper edit dive and and you know, start moving things around. So I do use that I found I've not as much now but I have in the past because you know, writing so much you deal with carpal tunnel and things like that. I have used you know, speech to text programs. Find that just the right one has been tricky for me anyway, because it you know, it takes them a long time to get your speech patterns down just right. So that, you know, you're saying one thing and they're typing a completely different word for you. So, but I have used dragon and things like that before. And, you know, other than that, I really, you know, I know a few of the people that you know, I'm part of the writers group, I'm part of romance Writers of America, but we also have a local chapter here in mountain valley that I'm part of, a lot of people there use a program called Scrivener, which is basically you know, it helps you when you're laying out a book from your initial drafts to Completed manuscript kind of thing and you know guide you through setting up plot outlines and character profiles and things like that so I know a lot of people find that to be a really helpful tool for me personally I handwrite all that stuff before before I start typing so it's but that's just because that's what I've always done like

Erin Geiger: 20:25

yeah, I might need to check that one

Unknown: 20:28

Yeah, no, no it's a good it's a good tool I mean it's uh you know, like I said, I know several writers that use it and swear by it religiously. So

Erin Geiger: 20:39

yeah, that sounds great. And so you mentioned that you decided you know, you want to go out on your own So is there anything like you know, having done that any kind of key learnings or insights that you can share?

Unknown: 20:52

Yeah, I mean it and I'm sure you know, because you do content writing you know, it's, it's a little intimidating when I first started doing it because you know, at that point, you're working for yourself and you're like Alright, well I need to make money you just take any project that comes along as long as they're willing to pay you so you know you you find as you get better at doing that and you start working with different businesses and companies and that you know, everyone's kind of got their own little niche and you have to adjust your expectations in certain ways I mean, I unfortunately I got burned a couple of times before I really learned my lesson that you know, people that I worked for for a while but you know, once I I figured out what the best business approach was to the writing I was doing I was able to set up relationships that I you know, I basically wrote for the same people for about six years but you know, and and they were fantastic it just you know, they knew what I could do they knew they understood what my timeframes were you know how much I could get done and things like that it's intimidating You know, when you work for yourself the idea sounds great when you first do it, but then you're like well now I have to do all this stuff myself so it's um you know it it can seem overwhelming at times but I think once you get into your your mindset and and understand exactly what it is you want to do and you know for a lot of the content writing I did was kind of formulaic for some of the companies so it was it could for somebody on the outside it could seem boring, well you know, you're writing about you know, 500 different moving companies or whatever. It's basically the same as well. Yeah, but you know, you kind of tweaked it and do your own thing with it. And the great thing I always found about things like that was you only have 500 words to work with so you have to you really have to learn how to edit yourself and you know, so that that to me was a it was a great learning experience for what I do now.

Erin Geiger: 23:28

Yeah, that's the challenge you know, because I tend to write a lot like write too much and then have to go back and edit

Unknown: 23:37

it's really easy to do yeah, I mean yeah, that's just it because the you know, we were like well you know, people want to know this and this and this and then you realize well alright the customer only really wants them to know this so it's so you have to you have to learn what works and what doesn't

Erin Geiger: 23:57

yeah and get to the point quicker you know, like I yeah, I don't see people on like when you start writing typically you can just scrap your first paragraph

Unknown: 24:05

Yeah, you know, and it's it Yeah, that's the way it is it's it's and I'm sure you know that it's it's it's hard writing because you know, you know whether you're doing content writing or book writing or you know, you're doing copywriting for your business you know, what you're writing is is getting turned into somebody else who is going to scrutinize it and look at it and probably send it back to you and say Yeah, well I need to change this this this and this and you're like well I thought it was great the way it was but all right, they don't let me do it you know, but but that to me that's you know, that's, that's the process it helps make you better each time you do

Erin Geiger: 24:49

it. Yeah, no, I definitely agree. And so you know, you are handling a lot you have a bunch of plates in the air. So is there any like kind of routines that you've you've instilled You know, whether it's daily, weekly or whatever, to help you stay afloat and have the success that you're building?

Unknown: 25:06

Um, yeah, I, even if I know I'm not gonna, because you, you know, yeah, when you when I get up in the morning, it's weird. You know what, it sounds silly, but I do this because it helps get my brain going, I play these word games on my phone, just, you know, like Scrabble or whatever, just for 10 minutes or whatever, just to help get my brain going. And then I always tried to dedicate even if I don't get a word down on the screen, dedicated couple of hours to at least thinking about doing what I'm going to write a you know what I'm going to write that day. And, you know, whether it's in, you know, in the journal on the computer, or whatever, just so that I get something somewhere. You know, even if it's only 10 words, at least, you know, your your get for me, I'm getting something there. And, you know, creating the right atmosphere for my work is a big deal. I wear my headphones a lot. But that's because I like to listen to music while I'm writing and, you know, it helps put me in my own headspace.

Erin Geiger: 26:23

Yeah, no, I love those. And it's like, you know, it's, it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily matter how many words on the page, you know, if you're just you're making progress toward it, and there's so many different ways to do that. Absolutely. And so as you look ahead, what goals and vision do you have for yourself?

Unknown: 26:40

Well, um, you know, my hope is that I keep I keep my, you know, my audience growing, you know, the, you know, I, it's, it's a process, but I think, you know, I'm getting there, you know, it's, I, you know, you have more and more people with each book that comes out so that, you know, that's good. Yeah, you know, I, I want to be able to say that I, you know, I doing this and, you know, it's not, yeah, be great to have a best selling book and things like that, but it's such a small percentage of people really say bye. And, uh, you know, and you know, if it just breaks that way, that would be fantastic. But I just love the idea that I can go online or into a bookstore or whatever, and see my name there. I mean, to me, that's just such a big deal. Thinking about, you know, what, I used to think about 25 3035 years ago when I was a kid or whatever. And that, how cool it would be to do that, and now I'm doing so I'm, you know, I'm gonna keep plugging away. And we'll see, hopefully, something will break one way or the other.

Erin Geiger: 27:59

Well, I mean, that's the sign of a true writer. Like you're just you're just passionate about it. And it's like, sure if that happens, great. But that's not your sole purpose. Yeah,

Unknown: 28:07

no, and I don't think anybody could you don't get into it because you think you're gonna be a millionaire. Because, you know, James Patterson and JK Rowling and Stephen King, are there but the other 99% of the people who write or not, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. And with self publishing and everything, there's so much more out there for people to consume now, that, you know, the market is tough, and, you know, so if you can find a little niche somewhere where, you know, I sell a couple of 1000 books a year. I'm good with that.

Erin Geiger: 28:47

Yeah, for sure. No, I think it's amazing. You know, what you're doing so speaking of growing your audience, where can people find you online?

Unknown: 29:00

on you know, social media everywhere. I'm on Facebook. Mike Garrity author I'm on Instagram at Mike Garrity author. I'm on tik tok at Mike Garrity, author and twitter at author Garrity uscar Atlanta and publishing my publisher has their website at score Atlanta publishing calm, and you can find a page on there that has my books. I actually have two pages there because I did write books under a pen name Lacey Hart. My first six books are actually written under that pen name. And then when I transitioned to the motorcycle romance, we decided to start putting my name on all the books so so I do have two pages there. But yeah, you know, my goal is for 2022 is to actually have my website set up where People can find me at Mike Garrity author calm and I've got, you know, got the domain name. I just haven't done anything with it yet.

Erin Geiger: 30:09

Yeah, that'd be great. And they can find you can put updates and once events start happening again you can put like a calendar on there.

Unknown: 30:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I have a lot of plants thanks to Muscle Creative and, you know, she gets a gets a lot of good advices

Erin Geiger: 30:28

I appreciate that. It's so we always wrap it up by a fun surprise question. So you know, we love music here. You love music. So I would like to ask if you could listen to only one music artists for the rest of your life. who would it be?

Unknown: 30:47

For me, you know, I'm a huge jazz lover, it would have to be Miles Davis. I could listen to Miles Davis music every day for hours a day. He's just such a he was such such a genius with the with, with what he could do with the trumpet. And I mean it his music is very inspiring. For me anyway. I mean, I yeah, I would just Andy's got such a huge catalogue of stuff. I could live the rest of my life just listening to different things that he's done. So that would be my my choice. Yeah, he

Erin Geiger: 31:29

is a solid choice. We're big fans of him over there. My dad listens to a lot of him to

Unknown: 31:35

see. And that's that's why, you know, your dad's my godfather? I guess that's Yeah.

Erin Geiger: 31:43

That's exactly. See we got it through that. I don't want to say jazz. I'm like, yeah, that's a family thing right there. Absolutely. 100%. Um, well, cool. Thank you so much for doing this. Mike. I had so much fun chatting with you. Oh, you know what? I

Unknown: 32:00

had a blast. I love doing it. It was great. Thank you for asking me to do it. I'm more than happy author. And if anyone's looking for one of my books, you can find me on Amazon. The newest book is Liam.

Erin Geiger: 32:14

Yeah, the newest book and it just came out last week. So he came out on Friday. So yes, thank you. Oh, that's incredible. So congratulations on that. And yeah, you guys. Definitely search him on Amazon. Find everything else I see. It's written I can attest to it. They're all soup. They're so good. They keep you wanting to read more and more and more to see what happened to these characters, which is great. So thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode, and we will see you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the Small Business big mindset podcasts. To keep the fun going. Check out our Facebook group start and scale an online business For even more free trainings and resources from fellow entrepreneurs. If you haven't already, head on over to Muscle Creative calm and click subscribe and join our email list for weekly updates. And if you've enjoyed this podcast episode, check us out on your favorite podcast platform to follow us and give us a review. As always be authentic bringing insane amount of value and keep crushing it