Episode 131: Rea Frey Shares the Business and Fun of Becoming an Author!

Interested in becoming a first-time published author? Curious about the next steps?

Well, my guest today, IS the resource to speak to on  this subject. In today's podcast she shares the details about her latest book, and also about finding balance and discipline in the business of authorship.

REA FREY (pronounce: Reeuh Frye ) is the multi-published, award-winning bestselling author of Not Her Daughter, Because You're Mine and Until I Find You, as well as 4 non-fiction books.

She's been featured in US Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, PopSugar, Hello Sunshine, Marie Claire, Parade, Shape, Hello Giggles, Writer's Digest, WGN, Fox News and more.

She is also the CEO and founder of Writeaway, where aspiring writers become published authors.

 Her weekly Writeaway podcast takes a deep dive into the publishing industry and empowers writers to make informed decisions about their careers.

Frey's previous books have been hailed as “impossible to put down” (Publishers Weekly).

Connect with Rea-


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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hello and welcome to in the rising podcast. My name is Vatina brown, and this is the platform I've chosen to talk about living a life that's in alignment with your hopes, your dreams, and your goals away from shame, blame insecurity, and moving into your vision of success and impact and happiness. And so I had really a wonderful opportunity to speak with an author, a mother, a creator, a business woman in R fry. And I I'm really thinking that you are going to get some value out of this podcast today, as she shares her own story about being an author, but how she is helping other first time authors become published. I am really thrilled and honored because I love, I love honestly, speaking to authors because it's putting your vulnerability out into the world, your creative baby. Yes. And you have just written another book and share with me because there's a little bit behind that share with me. What prompted you to write your latest, your latest baby?

Speaker 2: 1:19

Yes. So my latest baby secrets of our house, this book book started completely different than any of my other books. Normally it's a plot or a character that comes to me and this book was inspired by an actual black house. So, um, in secrets of our house, uh, the whole book takes place around this dream getaway home called the black house. And one of my good friends, um, Emily Carpenter, who's also an author. She has this black house that I went to and I was like, this is the perfect place to write a book. So I actually used her home and created this world around it.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Wow. And you also share, you talk a little bit about parent child relationship through that. And what I've noticed is many authors kind of pull from experiences of their own or experiences of people they know and, and kind of heal through those writings. What prompts you to write about that topic?

Speaker 2: 2:18

Yeah, so I have an almost 10 year old daughter and I kind of been, came obsessed with these parent child dynamics. And I love, I always say, I love to write about things that scare the crap outta parents, like our worst nightmares. I kind of live them out on the page. Um, and I had never attempted to write a mother daughter relationship that is, um, a teenage daughter about to go away for college because I feel like there's so much complex there and so many ups and downs. So I really wanted to try my hand at that. Normally I write about younger kids a little bit closer in age to my daughter, but I just find parent child relationships. So wildly interesting.

Speaker 1: 2:58

Yes. And as a parent, as a parent yourself, as a parent, I have one child that is 11. Yes. Those are complex relationships. Ooh, yes. That we kind of have to grow through with them, um, from being just a parent to also being a role model and, and you know, where do you feel writing has kind of helped you navigate parenting?

Speaker 2: 3:23

Yeah. Oh, that's such a great question. I mean, because I kind of play out worst case scenarios or sometimes really toxic interactions and exchanges. It's a constant reminder to look at myself as my own parent, um, or my own parenting skills or lack thereof. Because as you know, it is a constant up and down battle. It's never gonna be perfect. It's never gonna be smooth, but I think if you can meet your child where they are, I look at my daughter as a teacher, she is so incredible. She's so not interested in social norms or social constructs or any the way we do. She's like no total free wild spirit. So I'm constantly learning from her. But I think the problem with most parents today, which I also write about is that we're not present. We're not conscious to our children. We're distracted by our phones, by our work, just not paying attention. And that's what kids really need is kind of this undivided attention and interaction, which we don't often do.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Yeah. Yeah. A absolutely. And, and not only are you an author, but you are the CEO of your own company.

Speaker 2: 4:34

Yes.

Speaker 1: 4:34

You know, helping other writers publish, um, and actually becoming published authors. Right. I can get just right. And another, yeah. What gave you that drive to say, you know what, yes, people need to do this and I need to be that way to help them

Speaker 2: 4:49

Completely. I think it's my duty as an author to help other authors navigate this industry because no one teaches you how to be an author. Someone can teach you to write or get better at your craft, but this is, is a business and it is overwhelming and often very private and hush hush. So as I started getting published, I was just like working with authors on the side who needed editing help, or maybe a nonfiction book proposal, or wanted to land a literary agent. And it scaled so quickly on its own that I was like, this, this could be a business. So at RightWay, which is my company, we do help writers get published. Um, in two years, we've had over 65 first time authors, land agents and traditional book deals, which is incredible though. We also help people who wanna self-publish. And I just think like being that advocate for writers and other people is so important. And it's my way to kind of give back and prepare the author for all. They're about to enter because we romanticize this industry. We think we can just be writers and it's all gonna be great, but it's really hard. And I want to help prepare the writer for what's to come so they can be successful.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Yes. And, and I loved how you said it's time to give back, right. It is a industry that is romanticized. We all love it. But I also I've said this so many times on my podcast. It's the last quote. I read that there are at least, you know, 91% of the population wants to write a book and only 50% writes it. But 1% of that 3% actually publishes it. So it is a big deal. Um, and it, it does not matter if it's the New York times bestseller though, that's a great goal, but to be published, it is a great deal. Um, but with all of that, there's a lot of discipline. Yes. Involved. Where do you get yours? Or how do you hold yourself accountable?

Speaker 2: 6:47

Ooh, it's tough because we are such a small team at our company and we are juggling so many clients and most clients who come to us, they're wanting to write non-fiction. So we create they're book proposal, which is how you sell nonfiction. Our proposals are a hundred pages and I am co-creating that in a very formulaic process. So being organized with my clients and my time really helps me in my own writing. I'm a very disciplined person by nature. I create a lot of space in my life, a lot of boundary in my life. Um, I'm so old school. I would love to be tech free if I could, but you know, my writing off often gets pushed to the back burner. So I have to really carve out time in order to fit it all in, to run a business, to be an author. I homeschool my child. Like it's, it's a lot, but I I'm not, I'm care not to get lost in the hustle. I do not subs subscribe to hustle culture. I think we are way into doing more than being and in this new phase of life, I am really trying to undo and be a little bit more so I can just create that space. Um, you need space to be creative to who writes you, can't just be doing and churning out projects all the time. You have to have time to process. And I think that's like where the beauty of this whole industry is, is in the processing time.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Yes. Yes. And, and allowing those boundaries that you can do a lot of things like what you just said, you're a CEO, you're a homeschool teacher. You are, you know, a wife, mother, all of these things, but you still find time for your craft. Uh, you know, as I scroll through your website, it just looks like you, your, your eyes are on fire. Like you are just happy. Um, and, and so, you know, my topic, my, my podcast is in the rising, what we have, how we have risen to where we are and what we will rise up to. What would you say to aspiring authors at home? Anyone who's trying to, to be that published author, what would you tell them?

Speaker 2: 8:47

Well, number one, it's what I say all the time. And I say this on my podcast as well. All the time is understand that this is a business and your book is a product to sell. So you have to learn about the business first. You can be the best writer on earth, but if you don't understand how to get published, if traditional publishing is your goal, then it's gonna be a long, you know, frustrating road. However, I think it's also really important to discover what your big, why is so like, why are you doing this? What does success look like for you? And once you dig into that and create your own goals, not the goals that have been handed down to us by society, that you gotta hit the New York times in order to be relevant. That way you can decide, you know, what maybe self-publishing is right for me, maybe I don't wanna wait two years for my book to come out. Maybe I, I want role and I, I wanna do this the right way. Um, so I think really sitting with your goals, understanding the business, finding an advocate to help you, you can ask all the questions in the world. That's really what I, I am to my clients. Someone called me a, a, like a writing doula, um, or a publishing doula, because I want people's work to get out into the world, but in ways that feel good to them and for them

Speaker 1: 10:02

Wonderful. And what, you know, with all the things that you have done and in the place you are being not just doing, where do you see yourself still rising up to what is on the horizon for you?

Speaker 2: 10:17

Yes. I love that question. So, yeah, I'm really UN again, undoing a lot of, just a lot of these goals that I had before, where these metrics almost like vanity metrics are just like, okay, I'm gonna hit this list or I'm gonna do this. And that's not important to me at all anymore. I want to write, but looks that light me up. That feels so good to me in my business. I grow my business very differently than most. We are word of mouth only. We are a referral only. We are not on social media. We don't market. So saying yes to projects that light me up and really saying no to everything else. So really kind of growing into, to this organic, um, next chapter of my life, where I am saying yes with integrity and not just doing things because I feel I should, um, secrets of our house is also the last of my four book deal with St. Martin's press. I am moving on to another publisher. So I'm kind of like a lot of first time writers, I've written this a book and I'm like, will it sell, will it not sell? But I'm, I don't feel that pressure that I used to feel. I am just enjoying the process, the entire journey, instead of trying to reach this like very quick lived destination,

Speaker 1: 11:32

Wonderful. You have so much insight into, um, just life with, with what you're doing in how, um, writing books has helped you light up light up others. It also have I've written here, um, that it's impossible to put down by publishers weekly as you're writing, because you know, you're putting that passion and love in there. And thank you for putting that out into the world. And, you know, I always say to who much is given much is expected and you are helping others grow their dreams as well. And it it's just helping you with yours. You know, there's a saying like every single one of us has a story and that story needs to be out. And for some of us, we really feel an to put that story into words and put that story out into the world, being vulnerable, but being open, being creative and in a sharing mode about your experience or your creativity and vulnerability. And if that's you, I encourage you to look into re fry, look into the show and see, well, is this someone that would be able to resonate with me and really help me build to be the author, the published author that I know I want to be, if that's you, I encourage you to look into her work and seek her out. But more importantly, I encourage you just to put out there, whether it is with authorship, podcaster, ship, um, anything that you really want to, because the only thing that can happen is that an answer is no, but at least you have put yourself out there and in that is success. So if you found this podcast to be a benefit to you, uh, and would love like to share it with someone else, I would love that you can also leave it a five star review. It does so much to help this podcast get to the hands and ears of the people that it will impact the most. And until next time let's keep building one another up.