Episode 181

Contemporary romance author Catharina Maura shares how she combined her favorite trope, marriage of convenience, with lessons she learned writing her early books to create a best-selling series.
We also delve into why marketing is an extension of storytelling, why you don’t have to do everything yourself, and how to keep readers thinking about your books and talking about them, using bonus material and a drip campaign.

Author Website:

CatharinaMaura.com

💜 🎙 Become a supporter of the podcast! We can’t wait to give you a shoutout in a future episode. WishIdKnownForWriters.com/Support

Time Stamps:

0:05 Authors’ Strategies and Lessons Learned
14:48 Lessons and Reflections on Writing
22:17 Success Through Genre and Audience Alignment
31:03 Utilizing Drip Campaigns for Book Marketing

Transcript:

Sara Rosett [00:00:25]:
Welcome to Wish I known then podcast. I’m Sara Rosett.

Jami Albright [00:00:28]:
And I’m Jami Albright. And this week on the show, we have. Catharina Maura, she is so successful right now y’all, and it was such a great interview.

Sara Rosett [00:00:43]:
Yeah. We talked to her about craft stuff and marketing things. And, she has just some really interesting, ways of doing, like, a, drip campaign for her newsletter sign up, her reader magnet, basically. I hadn’t heard anybody doing that before, so we talked about that. And about discoverability and work life balance.

Jami Albright [00:01:06]:
We did. And she’s just so kind and

Sara Rosett [00:01:12]:
Very, very generous in sharing.

Jami Albright [00:01:14]:
She really is in beautiful inside and out.

Sara Rosett [00:01:18]:
Yes. Yeah. we had a great time talking to her. so that’ll be coming up in a little bit. we don’t have any new supporters this week, but thank you to everyone who is supporting the podcast and continues do so, we appreciate it. And if you’ve had to do if you’ve done it in the past and it had to drop off, that’s totally fine. We appreciate all the supporters that we have had and have now.

Jami Albright [00:01:40]:
Absolutely. We we really appreciate it. So what’s been going on with you?

Sara Rosett [00:01:47]:
I launched the Kickstarter. And it’s going great. It’s like, I launched it on Tuesday.

Jami Albright [00:01:53]:
Oh my gosh. I didn’t even know.

Sara Rosett [00:01:54]:
Yeah. because I have I was trying to, like, spread things out and have I launched my newsletter, and then I was gonna start dripping it out on social media, like, over the rest of the week. And, we hit the funding goal, like, within an hour. I had the first stretch goal at 1500, and we blew through that right away. And so it’s like I mean, I don’t know what will end up that, but I’m very happy. Like, this morning, I checked and it’s close to $10,000, which is just Amazing. You know? So I’m so happy. And

Jami Albright [00:02:31]:
I mean, I that’s great.

Sara Rosett [00:02:33]:
Yeah. So in that, I mean, I’m sure it will taper off and won’t be quite, you know, like, you get that middle of that time lull. But I do feel like I was still nervous. I thought I should say this. I was still nervous. When I launched the first one, I’d say, like, on a scale of 1 to 10, and I was about a 9 or a 10 in being afraid. And this time, I was more like a 7 or an 8. So I was still worried because you just don’t know how it’s gonna go. But, yeah. So that’s that’s been consuming, like, all my time and attention. So that’s basically All done.

Jami Albright [00:03:08]:
Okay. Well, that’s great, though. Congratulations.

Sara Rosett [00:03:11]:
Yeah. Thanks. What about you? What have you got going on?

Jami Albright [00:03:13]:
well, I’ve I’ve just been writing some but mostly writing in my head. Does that make sense?

Sara Rosett [00:03:24]:
Makes perfect sense to me.

Jami Albright [00:03:26]:
I know. And, also just still don’t know what this book is if it’s even a book. You know? So but it’s been good. I am leaving today, to go on a 4 day cruise with my youngest daughter so that gonna be super fun. And, she and I haven’t really got had a chance to get away. She had a baby during COVID, and just as a busy mom and single mom. And so, this is her first real vacation since then, and our first time to get away together. So I’m, really excited. And, yeah, Other than that, that’s really all that’s going on.

Sara Rosett [00:04:10]:
Yeah. And in this interview with Cat, we talked about going on a vacation and not taking a laptop. And you said before we are you’re not taking your laptop. Right?

Jami Albright [00:04:18]:
And I’m not getting the internet package on the cruise.

Sara Rosett [00:04:21]:
Oh, okay. So it’s a good thing we’re doing this now.

Jami Albright [00:04:24]:
Yep. It is.

Sara Rosett [00:04:27]:
Yeah. So I’m sure you have a great time. I think that that’ll be really good.

Jami Albright [00:04:31]:
Yeah. I mean, probably after about a day. My daughter and I both will be at the customer service counter, tapping our cards on the on the counter. Take my money. Take my money.

Sara Rosett [00:04:42]:
There’s gonna be a great TikTok. I gotta do it. You can just save them and post them when you get back.

Jami Albright [00:04:49]:
Right. So anyway, but, yeah, that’s all that’s going on here. So Okay. We should probably get on with this amazing interview.

Sara Rosett [00:04:58]:
Yes. Let’s do it. So here is Cat. Alright. Well, today, we are really happy to talk to Cat Maura. Hi, Cat. How are you?

Cat Maura [00:05:06]:
Hi. How are you?

Jami Albright [00:05:08]:
We are great, and we’re so so excited you’re here.

Cat Maura [00:05:12]:
Thank you for having me.

Sara Rosett [00:05:14]:
oh, yeah. We’re ready. We have lots of questions, and we’re excited to hear what you have to say. So let me read your bio and we’ll jump right in. Alright. Catharina Maura is a USA Today and Amazon number 1 bestselling author. She writes angsty, fast paced contemporary romance novels that break your heart before they lead you to a hard won, happily ever after. Cat lives in Hong Kong with her husband and a dozen house plants that all have names, which she isn’t daydreaming about future characters she’s exploring the world and seeking out new adventures.

Jami Albright [00:05:44]:
Love that. I love that. So it’s 10 o’clock AM, cat’s time, and it is 9 PM Mine and Sarah’s time. So, you know, we’re old, and so, hopefully, we can stay awake for this interview. We had an interview earlier today, and I told Sarah, I said I’m gonna go take a nap so I’m I can be awake tonight.

Cat Maura [00:06:12]:
Well, you look wonderful. So

Jami Albright [00:06:14]:
Thank you. yeah so that I’ll start with the first question then so

tell us how you got into writing

Cat Maura [00:06:22]:
Right. Okay. So I actually can’t remember a time that I didn’t write. Think about my first awful story when I was seven years old. but it wasn’t until the pandemic that I actually published something. I think for a lot of people, including myself, the pandemic was really a time of reflection. I realized that I would always regret it if I didn’t try. so with some encouragement from my husband, I went ahead and published a book I’d written. The entire process, including writing the book, took about 6 weeks. It felt like a really impulsive decision. it was a personal goal I wanted to achieve but deep down, I kind of was hoping it would turn into something new.

Jami Albright [00:07:03]:
Yeah. 6 weeks. Well, that’s great for especially a first first book. So I think that’s awesome.

Cat Maura [00:07:12]:
I think it was one of those things where I very much just needed to get it done, as a way to prove to myself that I actually could do it. I think before then, I had never actually finished a story, so I think it was very much a just get on with it kind of by.

Sara Rosett [00:07:28]:
And that does separate a lot of people who want to be writers from the people who write is finishing the stories. That’s a big hurdle to get over. So well,

What do you wish you’d known about writing or craft?

Cat Maura [00:07:45]:
writing a craft probably. Honestly, the hardest part about writing is actually putting yourself out there. I really wish I’d known that writing would open me up to so much criticism.

Jami Albright [00:08:13]:
Right.

Cat Maura [00:08:14]:
And I kind of wish that I had known that. and, you know, maybe I maybe not because I probably would not have ever published if I’d known. but I just wish that I went into it a bit more aware of of what it would actually entail.

Jami Albright [00:08:31]:
Yeah. That is true. You don’t really think about that. Like once you publish it, it’s the readers. It’s no longer yours. I had I didn’t really realize that either. no. I don’t think any of us do. Yeah. I don’t really think any of us do, but it’s a really good point.

Cat Maura [00:08:49]:
Sadly, that’s one of those things you can only really learn the hard way

Jami Albright [00:08:53]:
Exactly. Well,

What what’s your definition of success?

Cat Maura [00:09:01]:
This is actually something I’m thinking about a lot lately. and I’d probably say that it’s twofold. Primarily, I really just want to be happy. having the freedom to structure my day and my life, however I want, I think that’s success to me, but from a more pragmatic point of view, that kind of freedom requires financial independence. that’s the other side of the coin. It’s things like choosing to write instead of having to because once you publish that book, this is now suddenly your career and you have to keep writing these books. and for me knowing that I could never publish a book again and still be able to provide for my family, That’s that’s something that I would consider success. So I guess to summarize, I would consider freedom, success, both in my career and my life, And just even as granular as as how I want my day to look.

Sara Rosett [00:09:56]:
Yeah. That’s true because there is a level of freedom in being able choose your your daily schedule. And then also the freedom of, you know, let’s travel. You know, that’s a different Let’s travel. Let’s take a take a week off or a month off or whatever.

Cat Maura [00:10:13]:
it can be so hard to do that once this becomes your career because there’s Well, you have deadlines, you have events, you have to be at. it just becomes another career and this thing that you loved, and these books that you so desperately wanted to write. They become a job, and that takes away a lot of the joy, really. I think knowing that you could never. I think just knowing that you could just choose not to publish another book and you’ll you’ll still be fine kind of makes you It gives you back that power, I think.

Jami Albright [00:10:47]:

Do you still write as fast as you wrote that first one?

Cat Maura [00:10:53]:
Oh, I wish. Oh, no. And this is a really strange thing, right, because every time I start a new book, I am convinced that I have forgotten how to write a book.

Jami Albright [00:11:07]:
Me too. Me. I think that’s pretty universal. It’s crazy. I know.

Cat Maura [00:11:12]:
It doesn’t easier. It doesn’t get quicker. If anything, now there’s reader expectations and They want things. They wanna add a certain pace. They want certain characters. They want them together or they don’t. And all of those things, they get into my head and the story, I’m no longer just writing it for myself. And because of that, I can’t write as quickly because now I’m second guessing. not just writing the story the way it comes to me. I’m thinking, oh, but if I write this, would they hate it? Would I get judged for that? Would I find this in my bad reviews now? And that might be the way that I envision the story, but sometimes I no longer have the courage to write it the way that I think it should be written.

Jami Albright [00:11:53]:
Yeah. That’s so honest and interesting. I feel like that also the more we write, the more we know Like, we do have that internal editor where in the beginning, we didn’t really have it as much We didn’t know things. And so, yeah, that is so interesting. It’s interesting that someone with with your success would would feel that way too. I know that a lot of us feel that way.

Cat Maura [00:12:26]:
I think it’s probably very universal. And I also think as the stakes get higher, that fear just increases, and it can be paralyzing, especially for me. I guess I’m writing a story right now. that I missed all my deadlines. purely because the way that I want to write it, I’m not sure it’s gonna be received well and I can’t get my mind to write it any other way either. So, well, we’ll see what happens. Right? I think sometimes you still have to take that risk.

Jami Albright [00:12:56]:
I think you do too. if we’re not, then we we sort of dry up. I think a lot ways.

Sara Rosett [00:13:03]:
You lose some of that joy in the creation. And, yeah, it could become it does become more of a burden instead of a joy. So, yeah, I get that too. What about marketing?

Is there anything you wish you’d known about marketing?

Cat Maura [00:13:23]:
Okay. So I actually didn’t know anything at all about marketing when I first published So there are a lot of things I wish I’d known. But, primarily, I wish that I had known that marketing is just an extension of the story, and your storytelling ability. Once I stopped viewing marketing as selling to my readers and something that kind of made me feel a little bit icky, and more like introducing them to my work that kind of changed everything for me, because obviously the skills you can learn those. You can learn how to run ads. You can learn how to create a tiktok video, or you can learn what you’re supposed to be posting on Instagram. But if you don’t really, for me, didn’t click for the longest time what the purpose was of all of those things. and once I realized it’s still all about the story and just a different way telling it. I feel like that made a lot of things a lot easier for me.

Sara Rosett [00:14:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. I love the way you said that it’s an extension of the story. because you’re just basically saying, here, let me share this story with you. if you’re interested, here you go. And they’re

Cat Maura [00:14:26]:
I mean, they don’t click on it if they don’t want to.

Jami Albright [00:14:28]:
And in an ad, it’s just a shorter version of that story or a video or whatever. and you’ve really utilized that. We’ll we’re gonna talk about that later. though in your email, marketing, and things like that. So I think that’s just really fascinating.

What assumptions did you make about your writing career in the beginning and looking back, did they turn out to be right or wrong?

Cat Maura [00:14:56]:
Yeah. So this is maybe a little bit odd, but I don’t really remember It

Jami Albright [00:15:01]:
It was a pandemic. Like, who can remember.

Cat Maura [00:15:03]:
I know I used to be filled with really big dreams. and I have always been convinced that I can manifest anything. Most likely, I would have thought that I was going to figure things out, and I’d find a way to turn writing into a living I don’t I don’t really remember the exact assumptions, but I remember the way I felt, that desperation to chase this big dream of being an author. and to just, yeah, to just have this be my life. really.

Jami Albright [00:15:33]:
I’d say you you’re you’ve done pretty well with manifesting. given every given everything that’s happened with your career on. I think you’ve done okay.

Cat Maura:
Well, thank you

Sara Rosett [00:15:48]:
we always like to talk about, like, lessons learned And,

What is the most important lesson that you’ve learned in your writing career?

Cat Maura [00:15:59]:
It doesn’t it’s actually not necessarily related to writing per se, but more I would say the lesson is that I don’t have to do everything, and that sometimes I’m not even the right person for the things that I do choose to do. as authors, we’re also actually CEOs. At least if you’re self published, you are CEO as well. And most of us have a habit of trying to do everything ourselves. And I’ve learned that a small dip in performance is worth the time I regain and that my way isn’t always the right way. And to also just carefully assess how much energy something is worth, Does it bring me joy? Does it benefit me? how much do I give out back for the amount of time and energy I invest into something? I would say my most important lessons all revolve around those type of themes.

Jami Albright [00:16:50]:
And how much time away from writing is it taking you? we talked about that earlier today with someone else that we interviewed and, That’s a big one. That’s a big one, but I I love that you said that we’re not always the right person to do that. So I then you just, like, moved into an office and you had

Cat Maura [00:17:10]:
I did. Yeah. I started an office with full time staff and things like that because I kind of realized that I can’t keep going at the pace that I’m going, it’s not healthy. It’s not sustainable. and I just Can’t put myself in a position where, again, I’m kind of a slave to my job. That’s kind of what I try to leave by becoming an author, and I I put myself in the same position all over again. So I’m kind of my husband and I have this, basically when I complain, He reminds me of what the next little goal is, and the next goal is for me to be able to take a week off and not even bring my laptop and just trust that everything is running itself. because I am a little bit of a control freak and for me to have that level of trust to actually go on holiday for a week and not even check anything is quite a big thing. So the next goal is essentially to get there and the office is a step to get me there really.

Sara Rosett [00:18:11]:
Yeah. I think that all Most indie authors. We’re very much all control for control freaks, and we like to know what’s going on, and we like to manage them for sale.

Cat Maura [00:18:21]:
I think it’s because this business is so personal.

Sara Rosett [00:18:25]:
Yeah. I agree. It is really hard to let go. But then if you’re able to, then that gives you more freedom. in certain areas. And that’s good.

Cat Maura [00:18:33]:
I’m also thinking, what is the value of actually having a week off and just getting back to that time when you used to be able to daydream and not have anything on your mind. Could you write better stories? Could your business grow to Greater Heights, could you have a vision that is not hampered by your daily thoughts and worries? Obviously, I don’t have the answer because I haven’t quite gotten there. I’m really hoping to find something amazing.

Jami Albright [00:19:01]:
Right. Well, you know, last week, I was at the beach with my mom and dad and my husband, and I didn’t take my laptop because I was like, I mean, I’m not writing right now. Well, I am now, but I wasn’t writing and hadn’t been for a while because of a personal issue that happened with my family, and, so I just didn’t take my laptop and we were sitting on the beach and Well, the whole time I was there, like, the story that I’d already thought about, but then I had kind of just put it on the back burner. But I just kept, like, daydreaming that story. And all of a sudden, I just pulled out my phone and I started writing because the whole thing just laid out in front of me, but I wasn’t checking ads. I wasn’t checking email.

Cat Maura [00:19:47]:
It’s that just magical?

Jami Albright [00:19:48]:
It was magical. It really was. Magical. And I was sort of like, half asleep, half awake, you know, laying there under the canopy and with the wind blowing and I thought, oh my gosh. This is like how it used to be. You know what? How it was?

Cat Maura [00:20:10]:
Definitely wanna get there. Again, really. I think we just don’t really ever turn off. There’s so much that we have to juggle that it gets really hard to kind of get back to where we were. Back when we made that big decision to even start writing at all.

Sara Rosett [00:20:16]:
Right. Very true.

Jami Albright [00:20:30]:
And it’s so true. Well,

if you were starting over today, what would you do differently?

Cat Maura [00:20:35]:
Oh, if I could start over the knowledge, I have today and retain it and go back in time. I would start providing a well constructed series. I spent so much time learning about reader expectations and genre conventions, Universal Fencies. All of that, like, has a lot more of an impact than marketing or knowing how to run ads. and if I could go back in time, I just write better stories and deliver a better experience for my readers and myself. My first few books just didn’t do well compared to my last few And I just kind of can’t help but wonder if if I had known then what I know now, would I would they have done better? Would I don’t know. Maybe not have had to work as hard as I have had to.

Jami Albright [00:21:22]:
Because you, yeah, that’s true. Your first one’s didn’t didn’t do as well, but then you sort of re sort of revamped your process a little bit.

Cat Maura [00:21:33]:
Is that right? It’s one of those things. Like, do you learn with each book that you write. So I can’t discount the process.

Jami Albright [00:21:40]:
No. Not at all.

Cat Maura [00:21:41]:
You know, if I could have a miracle in go back in time. I wish I’d known everything that I had to learn the hard way.

Sara Rosett [00:21:49]:
Yeah. That is very I think that’s a very smart way to look at it. It’s still something you’ve learned. And you’ve applied it, basically. You’ve Mhmm. Taken the lessons and learned and applied it. So I think people would be curious. Like, what did you do differently with your So after those first two books and you changed, what did you do differently?

What did you change that made a difference?

Cat Maura [00:22:17]:
To be honest, when I wrote the series that I’m currently writing that first book I was kind of a little bit discouraged. I wasn’t by any standard unsuccessful. But I had such big dreams that to me, it didn’t feel like success. It wasn’t. I wasn’t where I want it to be. and I wasn’t sure what to do. So I actually went back to the basics. My very first novel was a marriage of convenience romance. And the only other book that had been that had done quite well was a, also a marriage of convenience, which is my favorite trope. I could write that for the rest of my life, and I would not get tired of it. so I kind of wondered like, okay. Well, maybe I am trying to force this too hard. Maybe I’m trying to look at it too technically. Maybe I’m I’m just I’m missing something, and I didn’t know what it was. So instead of trying to figure it out, I went back to what I love, and I wrote a story that wasn’t written for anyone but me. and it was Maybe it’s probably because of that, it probably wasn’t my best work, but it became the first book in this new series, and it did quite well. and I think that’s kind of what I learned to just kind of go back to what you love and then apply that with everything that you know Also works for the market. Does that make sense?

Jami Albright [00:23:59]:
No. Because you were talking about universal fantasies, and reader expectations, because all of the books in this series are marriages of convenience. Right?

Cat Maura [00:24:10]:
Yes. Correct.

Jami Albright [00:24:11]:
And how many are there?

Cat Maura [00:24:12]:
6 in total, 3 have been published.

Jami Albright [00:24:15]:
Three have been published. And of those 3, how many of them have gone to number 1 in the store?

Cat Maura [00:24:21]:
All three.

Jami Albright [00:24:21]:
Yeah. That’s right. Just want to get that out there. I just want to get that out there because, There is something to be said for one writing what you love, but also understanding those genre expectations and the things that make people just love your story. And, I think you’ve really captured that.

Cat Maura [00:24:44]:
Thanks. I know that they are often called universal fancies, but that wasn’t a concept I was familiar with until quite recently. I used to always call them heartbeat moments because essentially, I just wanna fill my book with moments that makes you that make you I just want your heart to race, right, but that’s because you’re on the edge of your seat or because it’s steamy or because I’ve just hurt you. know, whatever it is, I want you to have a reaction. so I kind of went back to thinking, okay. Well, which books? Like, what do I love about books and TV shows? And what is it that keeps me entertained? And ultimately, it was always about the way they make me feel and not really about the story necessarily. Obviously, it has to be a good story, but I have to feel something to for you to keep my attention. So rather than trying to write tropes that might be popular, I went with stories that made me feel something. just me personally. And I started writing books that I wanted to read, which I told you earlier was something I kind of lost in the process. and with this series, I regained that these stories are mostly written for me.

Jami Albright [00:26:00]:
That’s awesome.

Sara Rosett [00:26:01]:
I think that’s wonderful because it’s Like you said, you won’t get tired of it. You won’t get tired of writing that type of thing. It sounds like you’ve taken, like, the trope and what you love and then layered what you’ve learned, and it’s taken it to another level, it sounds like.

Cat Maura [00:26:18]:
I’ve tried my best to do that. Yes. it is a combination of, being able to hit reader expectations with every book. Essentially, I essentially just sat down one day and I thought about what what it takes to be a one click author. What does it take for my readers to be able to buy my books without a title cover or blur, which they do massively? They really do pre order my book without a title cover of Blurb. and I kind of thought about how to get there, and the answer to me was to deliver the same experience over and over again. And that doesn’t mean necessarily the same trope. It just means to make them feel the same way every single time. And to not betray their expectations. For example, you will never suddenly find me writing a book that contains cheating or or something that I know would make my readers feel betrayed. So essentially aligning their values in mind, and just being able to deliver that that’s kind of, what I tried to do. with this series.

Jami Albright [00:27:25]:
Yeah. I think that’s so smart. And also though, like, my readers have told me and I believe this that they would buy. I mean, they would buy mine probably without a title cover or blur. However, the size of my audience and the size of your audience are two different things. So when looking at discoverability and and being seen what would be your recommendation to authors as far as, getting your books in front of the right readers.

Cat Maura [00:28:01]:
This is tough. Right? Because I got lucky.

Jami Albright [00:28:04]:
Yeah. Well, I mean, to a certain degree, we all do.

Cat Maura [00:28:08]:
I did have and still do have a ton of TikTok videos that go viral. again, because I I just continue to tell that story in whatever format I think will resonate best with them depending on the platform. and I’ve gotten lucky, with that But I did also run Facebook ads and before I’m went viral when I was already I had already achieved financial goals. I had set without all of that TikTok success. and I did that with Facebook ads. It was really just running ads. And if you were to go to the Facebook ad library and type in my name. You type in Catharina Maura, and you will find all of the ads I’m currently running. then you can just see what I am doing. That’s, you know, unless people have a passion page, which I do not. You can just see what ad anyone is running. And, you know, you can learn from that. So in terms of steps that are actually repeatable, because I can’t tell you, oh, yeah. Just go viral on TikTok.

Jami Albright [00:29:14]:
No. I know. Isn’t that true?

Cat Maura [00:29:16]:
That works for me. You know, like, I try my best, but — Yeah. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not always sure why, But Facebook ads are relatively reliable. so in terms of gaining an audience, I would say, definitely Facebook ads have done a great job for me, retaining that audience though that for me, that’s a lot of my newsletter work. I would say, but if you’re actually in a discovery phase, I would look at whatever platforms resonate best with you and try to make that work rather than trying to be everywhere and doing all the things at the same time. If you can focus your attention to 1 or 2 marketing channels, I think you might just see more success that way. Unless you always see like a superstar and some people really are.

Jami Albright [00:30:07]:
Yeah. That’s true too.

Sara Rosett [00:30:18]:
Yeah. So I think since you mentioned newsletter, let’s go ahead and talk about that because,

Can you explain how you do your drip campaign for your newsletter?

Because it’s, it’s It’s a great idea, and I don’t think a lot of people have even thought about doing it this way.

Jami Albright [00:30:34]:
And we should say we met we met Cat at Inkerscon. Yeah. Actually, last year, but then this year again. And she was speaking, and this is one of the things she talked about in this in her talk. and I wasn’t able to make it that morning, but everybody came out of it and everyone that sat down at the table was talking about this thing. And then you came out and we just all kind of surrounded you and we’re like tell us more!

Sara Rosett [00:31:02]:
So give us the scoop.

Cat Maura [00:31:03]:
Okay. So, essentially, what I said during that talk was that I, utilize drip campaigns for my books. What that means is that it is actually the same old bonus scene concept that that most of us are familiar with. what I do when I write a story is I look at things that readers would still want the way you would identify any bonus concept. And then I see how I can turn it into mini series. For example, I have one book in which the heroin, goes missing for a couple of years and each year, the hero writes her a letter. And in the book you get, I believe, 2 of them that she finds later on. and at the end of that book, it basically says, hey, if you can’t get enough of these characters, I’ve got an an additional 3 bonus letters, that he’s written to her that you can read. They’re exclusive for my newsletter subscribers. Sign up here. and what then happens is they will get the first letter immediately. I think this specific one might be a 5 or 6 day campaign. in which they get 1 email every day. So the first email goes out seconds after they subscribe because kind of want that instant gratification. so they get that first one, and it is one of his letters, and it says at the end, I will send you the next one tomorrow. Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story, blah blah blah. you can find me on my socials, whatever. Right? I’d love to hear from you. and then the next day, they’ll get another letter, but they have to wait that 24 hours to get it. And in that time, they keep thinking about this book. And if they’re thinking about the book and they’re subconsciously waiting for the next letter, they might talk to their friends. They might say, oh, I read this book and I I can’t wait to get the next letter, and I’m just dying to find out what happens next. or what might be in the next letter? I just want more of these characters. And it just kind of gives that little push towards a little bit more organic marketing. You just kind of want to be on your readers’ minds for as long as possible, especially because so many of us just binge read things.

Jami Albright [00:33:31]:
Yes. Oh, yes.

Cat Maura [00:33:34]:
so essentially, yeah, so they get those 3 letters 1 every day. And it’s like at the bottom, there’s like small little introductions to me as well, as an author because the aim is not to just gain your readers’ loyalties loyalty for your books, but for you as an author as well.

Jami Albright [00:33:51]:
Right.

Cat Maura [00:33:51]:
because you don’t want them to quit you once the series is done. So after those 3 letters, I think that I it’s been a while since I created this, so I’m not 100% sure. But I think the thing after that is something that I captioned a bit clickbait y. I think it says something like, like I’m gonna tell you a secret. and then it goes into the inspiration behind those letters. And I I then shows them a birthday card that my husband had made when we were still at uni. And he had handmade it, hand drawn it, which is something that the hero does in this book. And it then basically explains that that specific concept in the book was inspired by my husband. Look, these are the ones that he has created for me. and it kind of gives them an inside scoop into who I am, what inspired the story, and it makes them feel more involved. So those so essentially, it’s it’s bonuses and then some some little tidbits that could get them more interested in you and your story and your purpose and your why. And that’s that’s kind of how I set up the campaign.

Jami Albright [00:35:07]:
That is so smart. Yes. Like, I’m here and I’m just smiling, like, I’m your mother because I’m like, oh, that’s so smart. Like, I love it when people do smart things, and it is so smart because it is not only the story, but you are now involving them in your life I mean, you’re controlling that, which is good, but you’re still involving them in your life, which they love. And I do think that in the beginning when I part of the reason for my success in the beginning was I was telling them stories about myself course, we write completely different things. I write very, you know, I write funny things and romcom. And so I was doing all these crazy things, not purposely. but I would just share them and they somehow were invested in that. And I don’t think I was I didn’t know I was doing that though. I think that that was just how it came out, but I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing, but that is so smart for people, for authors to really involve their readers that way.

Cat Maura [00:36:15]:
And I like that you can control the narrative. I guess that we have found that readers can sometimes be a little bit too intrusive. Yeah. And this way, you just completely controlled the narrative.

Jami Albright [00:36:26]:
Yeah. That’s awesome.

Sara Rosett [00:36:27]:
Yeah. I love that you drip out the letters because, you know, almost all authors have a bonus scene, an extra, something special, that people can sign up to get, but very few of us do like, oh, here’s some content. And it’s the content itself is a continual thing. It’s not the same way.

Cat Maura [00:36:46]:
That’s why I mentioned the, the concept of viewing marketing as an extension of your storytelling ability. Yeah. Because what I was wondering, when I first created this campaign, the very first time was how do I keep readers into this world? How do I keep them part of the story and that’s kind of why I did it the way I did, but I will say that if you’re going to do that, be prepared depending on the size of your newsletter. For emails from people that, Just that have deliverability issues. So they might get one letter. They might not get the other. They might get 1 and 3 but not two. And do you that it it can be very painful to have to deal with that? So I do still use book funnel. What I don’t do, however, is they can never get a book funnel link, but all of the content in it within the 1st week of release because for me, the 1st week of any release is really quite important. so I try to Well, they just have to wait. If in the 1st week, my team will send whatever they missed out manually. And then after the 1st week, if something goes wrong, we’ll often send them a book from the link to just download the whole thing.

Sara Rosett [00:38:10]:
That’s great. That’s smart. Yeah. because there is there will always be some, like, troubleshooting and customer service. So, yeah, that would be true.

Cat Maura [00:38:20]:
It can be very painful.

Sara Rosett [00:38:22]:
And time consuming. Right?

Jami Albright [00:38:22]:
That’s why bookfunnel was invented so that we weren’t having… Damon recognize that we didn’t want to be the ones.

Cat Maura [00:38:29]:
I am, like, wondering about ways to, automate that a little bit better. I am wondering can I, Do this on my website? Can I create an app? I have I haven’t had the time, honestly, to, build a more foolproof solution. while maintaining my drip campaign, but I am working on it.

Jami Albright [00:38:49]:
Yeah. Maybe you can come up with that idea when you go on your week vacation

Cat Maura [00:38:53]:
Exactly. The one that I’m dreaming of.

Sara Rosett [00:38:57]:
You’ll day dream you’ll daydream the solution. That’d be awesome.

Jami Albright [00:39:02]:
That’s so great. Well, oh, it seems like I was gonna ask you something. Oh, I was gonna say when you were telling what these letters were about, that she went missing and he wrote her these letters. Like, I don’t know if you heard me. I went, like, oh my god. Like, My heart just I had one of those heart flutter moments. Yeah. When you said that. Yeah. So that was that’s perfect. I mean.

Cat Maura [00:39:25]:
I think part of the problem is honestly just identifying something that readers actually want. Without making them feel like you deprive them of it by not in in by not putting it into the book because you never want to choose something that really should have been part of the story really the story is not completed without it. That would be then you’re delivering a bad experience to your readers. and I would never do something like that. A bonus has to be a bonus. And that’s something to really, really remember if you are going to create a drip campaign because you don’t want your readers annoyed with you, You don’t want them thinking, oh, now I have to sign up for this thing, because otherwise, I don’t get the full picture.

Sara Rosett [00:40:07]:
Right.

Cat Maura [00:40:07]:
It has to be one of those Oh, that’s so cool. I am honored to receive that. and that’s quite a big distinction.

Jami Albright [00:40:15]:
Wow. This has been amazing. Just so much great information. Don’t you agree, Sara?

Sara Rosett [00:40:24]:
Yes. I’m so glad we got to talk to you. We’ve got so many notes. I do have a lot of notes over here, and it’s giving me some new ideas of things that I wanna try. Yeah. It’s been great.

Jami Albright [00:40:34]:

Tell us what you think the best thing you’ve done to set yourself up for success has been.

Cat Maura [00:40:42]:
I feel like we touched on this earlier a little bit. I would say putting happiness first. I’m still learning how to do this. But a lot of it entails me saying no to things that don’t feel right to me. Or things that just don’t align with my vision or my focus.

Jami Albright [00:41:00]:
Right.

Cat Maura [00:41:01]:
I get fomo all the time, but I still say no to about 80% of opportunities that come my way. because I’ve kind of learned that focusing on just 1 or 2 things gets me to my destination quicker. and As authors, we get derailed so quickly. There are so many distractions, so many things that we see our fellow authors do. and it can be hard to see them all come together on an anthology or or do something that seems like so much fun or, you know, everyone’s together at a signing that you said no to. and and that can be really hard, but it is, to me, it’s really important to remember what my goals are. and not straying from those. I think that’s probably what I would say has set me up for success, but I will also say that I don’t actually feel very successful. it’s not, like, I wish it was the case that success isn’t something that you know, you don’t take that box and suddenly you feel like you’ve made it. I just for me, at least that never happened. I definitely feel like There’s so much further to go. There’s so much I’m failing it. There’s so much I’m not doing right. you know, like, right now, I can’t even manage to finish my book. There’s just a lot. Like, I don’t I think success is a little bit of a pipe dream. and it’s something that’s perhaps not actually achievable because it’s kind of a work in progress and whatever you consider success changes the moment you hit a goal.

Jami Albright [00:42:37]:
I was gonna say you’re a gold post mover like most of us. Like, we just keep moving it and we’re like

Cat Maura [00:42:44]:
I’m doing a lot better at just being happy with where I’m at. And that’s taking some time.

Jami Albright [00:42:51]:
Yeah. That really is the only way to be truly happy while we’re doing this because if you can’t be like for me, if I can’t be happy now and having written kind of struggling my career, not exactly where I want it to be, but I’m never gonna be happy when I’m Successful.

Cat Maura [00:43:12]:
Exactly. I mean, it’s just it’s something that I’ve really learned to do is just appreciate the moment. Do. that I have right now because realistically, I am happier than I’ve ever been before and It isn’t my current life that makes me unhappy. It’s a thought of everything that I don’t have. But the things I don’t have aren’t things I need. And it’s a strange thing. Such positive to have to try and explain. I I probably not putting that the right way. But essentially, I’m just kind of learning to be grateful for what I have.

Jami Albright [00:43:51]:
It’s it’s so wise.

Sara Rosett [00:43:52]:
Yeah. It’s Perspective. It’s like instead of being focused on all the other things, you’re like, okay. This is good right now. And we can’t have goals, like, once we achieve a goal, we can go on to something else and have that be our new goal, but we’ve got to enjoy the moment. because otherwise, we’re just constantly striving.

Cat Maura [00:44:11]:
Something quite interesting to see in myself and others is that we don’t often authors don’t take the time to actually celebrate the things that they do achieve. because very often I’ve hit a major goal and not even, done something. The other day, I called my husband because I had causing some great news that, unfortunately, I cannot share yet, but I just I I told him about it and, he freaked out. He was like, oh my god, that’s amazing. Congratulations. Well, done it, and it didn’t click until then. that, this was something that wasn’t just another day at the office. we’re just always going at such a high pace that we kind of forget to even realize that some of the things we’re doing you know, a couple of years ago, those would have been unimaginable.

Jami Albright [00:45:11]:
Unimaginable. Exactly. So I think that that is that is such a wise thought to end on and, advice to get for you to give and us to ponder because, yeah, that’s 100% spot on.

Sara Rosett [00:45:30]:
Yeah. I agree. It’s the perspective thing is very difficult, and it is hard to live in the moment. It’s good to remind ourselves of that. Well, where can people find out more about you and about your books?

Cat Maura [00:45:45]:
my website’s probably the best place. That’s catharinamaura.com. you would probably find all of the information you could possibly want there but I am quite active on social media as well. I would say, I’m probably most active on Instagram.

Sara Rosett [00:46:04]:
Alright. Well, we will have those links in the show notes, and those will be at wish I’d known for writers.com. and thank you so much for coming on and talking to us. It’s been great.

Cat Maura [00:46:15]:
I had a great time.

Sara Rosett [00:46:16]:
Yeah. We did too. It’s been good. Lots of good information. And also thank you to, Alexa Larberg for editing and producing the podcast and to Adriel Wiggins for doing the admin. Yeah. And we’ll see everybody next week.

Cat Maura on Discoverability and Creating a Compelling “mini-series” Drip Campaign