AM – Our Featured Author for this week is Maureen Delaney. Maureen is a healer and author of “As If.” Thank you for joining us today Maureen!
MD – Thank you Angie, for having me! I am happy to be here as your Featured Author!
AM – Please tell us a little more about yourself.
MD – Those who know me know I hate to talk about myself! Let’s see, I have a Ph.D in Metaphysics. I pursued this because as an author in the Metaphysical/Spiritual field you must have a Ph.D to get any agent or publisher to read your material. I so love to learn and became absorbed in my studying and growth. I am a Reiki Master, Second Degree Priestess in my Wiccan Tradition and Shamballa Multidimensional Healer, Level Three to name a few. You mentioned that I am a healer. We are all healers. Every one of us. Each of us has to learn to use our healing ability, but it is in each of us.
AM – How did you get started as a writer?
MD – I started writing when I was in my teens….short stories, poetry. I had some poetry published when I was younger. My sister was very inspirational in my writing, and after her death I stopped writing for quite some time and picked it up again about ten years ago.
AM – Tell us more about your book, “As If.”
MD – AS IF is not just a book to read, it is a commitment to eight weeks of living the life you crave. AS IF allows each reader to become the person they desire themselves to be. Guidelines and suggestions are given, but it is ultimately up to the reader to “work the weeks”.
Spirituality is always a key in change. It unlocks rooms within you and once a room is open and fresh ideas begin to flow and take root, AS IF will always become I AM. It is, however, left up to the reader to decide just how much they desire a more peaceful, trusting and loving life. The comparison of how they were living their life and how they will live their life “in character” is vital to their success.
AM – What inspired you to write this book?
MD – As I say in the book, my struggle with patience, ego triggers and finding my Sacred Self led me to develop AS IF. I needed the stability of working on just one positive aspect in my life at a time. When I realized that living AS IF was working for me, I decided to share it with others before I even wrote the book and they inspired me to write AS IF because it worked for them also.
AM – Why did you choose to self-publish? What did you learn during the experience?
MD – Most people don’t realize that in the non-fiction genre the author is expected to do all the preliminary work. They must research the demographics of the readers, come up with numbers, find similar books and compare your book with those books, and project numbers on why your book would provide similar sales. That is just the beginning of the work that is done. I thought that if I was going to do all that work (that I assumed a publisher would do), then I might as well keep control of everything and self-publish. I am very glad I self-published because I learned from the ground up what goes into publishing and marketing a book. And I am still learning!
Self-published does not mean that you have to go out and find someone to print the book or take your own orders and ship them. There are several reliable “publishers” that do that for you. I chose Booklocker because they are very, very responsive to their authors. They are a family business, and you get to know them as friends. Booklocker takes care of the orders, printing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble and deals with Ingram for you. They really take care of all the important aspects of self-publishing.
AM – What can we expect to see from you next?
MD – I am working on a book on Angels called “Angels, In Religion and In Our Lives”. It includes Angel History, Angel Lore, Angels of many different religions, even a chapter on Angels and Aliens! I think my readers will really enjoy it.
AM – As an author, what do you think is the most important piece of advice that you would give an unpublished writer?
MD – Never ever give up! Never take rejection letters personally. It is not you or even your book they are rejecting. It is what they think they can sell for large profits at this particular moment in time. Keep writing; keep researching keep growing in your craft.
AM – Where can we go to learn more about you and purchase your books?
MD – You can always visit my website www.maureendelaney.net. Lots of information on AS IF, book reviews, even some free downloads. There is a link on my website that will lead to my publisher Booklocker and you will find more information there as well. You can also go directly to Booklocker’s site http://www.booklocker.com/books/4705.html. It can be purchased from Amazon and Barnes & Noble also.
AM – We appreciate you spending some of your time with us Maureen! We wish you continued luck with “As If” and your other future writing endeavors.
MD – Thank you for the opportunity, Angie!
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