264. Work-At-Home Moms: Asking for Help + Getting It All Done | Melissa Ferguson of The Friendly Farmhouse

Summary

Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast Summary

Episode 264: Work-At-Home Moms: Asking for Help + Getting It All Done | Melissa Ferguson of The Friendly Farmhouse
Release Date: November 19, 2024
Host: Lisa Bass
Guest: Melissa Ferguson, Author of The Perfect Rom Com and Famous for a Living

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Introduction

In Episode 264 of the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast, host Lisa Bass welcomes Melissa Ferguson, a bestselling author and fellow homesteader. This episode delves into Melissa's journey of balancing motherhood, homeschooling, homesteading, and a successful writing career. Lisa and Melissa explore strategies for asking for help, managing time effectively, and pursuing entrepreneurial passions alongside family responsibilities.

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Meet Melissa Ferguson

Melissa Ferguson is best known for her heartwarming romantic comedies, including Meet Me in the Margins, The Dating Charade, and The Cul de Sac War. Living in Tennessee with her husband and four children, Melissa embraces a growing farmhouse lifestyle, blending writing with homeschooling and homesteading. Her books have garnered attention from prominent media outlets like the Hollywood Reporter, Travel and Leisure, Woman's World, and BuzzFeed.

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Melissa's Homesteading Journey

Melissa and her family embarked on their homesteading adventure in 2021, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband, a builder, took advantage of a fortunate period to construct their farmhouse, securing materials before soaring lumber prices hit. Melissa shares the joys and challenges of integrating farm chores into family life, such as managing chickens, ducks, and sheep, including the excitement over acquiring a portable sheep tractor.

Melissa Ferguson [04:50]: "We were able to build our house for a really fraction of the cost, so it's been great. It's been about three years."

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Balancing Writing and Family Life

A significant portion of the discussion centers on how Melissa balances her writing career with being a mother of four and managing a homestead. She candidly discusses the overwhelming nature of her to-do lists and the resulting stress when tasks seem insurmountable.

Lisa Bass [00:00]: "I feel like I'm in a good place right now with actually feeling like there's not more things to get done in a day than I can possibly do. I think that's the definition of stress."

Melissa emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries and prioritizing family over productivity and income.

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Breakthrough Moments and Getting Help

Melissa recounts her struggle with burnout and the pivotal moment when she realized she needed assistance. After reaching a low point—crying in the laundry room—she and her husband decided to hire a tutor. This decision not only alleviated her stress but also doubled her productive time, allowing her to dedicate focused hours to writing.

Melissa Ferguson [07:10]: "I just need. We officially need to get some help."

She highlights the transformative impact of seeking help, such as grocery deliveries and professional tutoring, which played crucial roles in reclaiming her sanity and boosting her writing output.

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Writing Process and Challenges

Melissa delves into the complexities of writing, describing it as an all-consuming endeavor that requires intense focus. She explains how dedicating specific hours to writing—eight hours a week—has been instrumental in her productivity.

Melissa Ferguson [09:34]: "I was able to have that dedicated time. So for just eight hours a week here and there, that's per year, do some quick math. That's a lot, a lot of time."

Melissa manages multiple projects simultaneously, including novels and children's books, while maintaining a rigorous writing schedule. She underscores the necessity of having a dedicated space and time to fully invest in her craft.

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Advice for Aspiring Writers

Melissa offers invaluable advice for new authors, stressing the importance of attending writer’s conferences to understand the market and connect with reputable agents and publishers. She warns against the pitfalls of partnering with inexperienced agents who may not have the necessary connections or dedication.

Melissa Ferguson [34:42]: "Be very, very careful about that. And self-publishing is its own world that you can do great things in."

Melissa shares her own experiences of winning a writer’s conference award, which propelled her into the publishing world and led to a lucrative book deal with Thomas Nelson. She advises authors to be patient, avoid rushing into deals, and prioritize long-term benefits over immediate gains.

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Raising Well-Read Children

Melissa emphasizes the significance of cultivating a love for reading in children. She attributes her children's avid reading habits to minimal screen time and a home environment rich with books.

Melissa Ferguson [52:23]: "We just have read to them forever now. Do I do that thing though? I will say this is one thing I don't do. I don't sit there and try. I remember when my twins were young and they'd be like, now we read them to sleep, you know, or now we read to them. It's like, no..."

She highlights the role of consistent reading routines and an engaging library environment in fostering her children's love for books.

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Publishing Success and Marketing Strategies

Melissa discusses the critical role of preorders in book marketing. Preorders help generate buzz and signal to publishers that a book has strong potential, leading to better placement in stores like Target and Barnes & Noble.

Melissa Ferguson [55:39]: "When they see pre orders, what they can do is then like, my publicist will then go talk to various media outlets or book buyer places. Yeah, My marketing manager. And they say, hey, we're getting pre orders here, and so then Barnes and Noble, for example, will make a bigger buy and they'll say, oh, well, if that it's going to start having buzz and we'll get to bigger buys."

Melissa also underscores the importance of social media presence and direct sales through platforms like Instagram and her newsletter for maximizing book sales and visibility.

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Finding Motivation and Purpose in Writing

Melissa shares her intrinsic motivations for writing, emphasizing the desire to create meaningful and entertaining stories rather than chasing fame or financial success. Her writing serves as a therapeutic outlet and a way to impart positive messages to her readers.

Melissa Ferguson [49:44]: "I want to make the world a little bit lighter. I want to... In my own way."

She believes that genuine passion for storytelling and the impact on readers are the driving forces behind her successful writing career.

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Conclusion

Melissa Ferguson's journey encapsulates the challenges and triumphs of balancing family life with creative pursuits. Her insights offer encouragement to work-at-home moms and aspiring authors, highlighting the importance of asking for help, setting boundaries, and staying true to one's passions. For listeners seeking to follow Melissa’s work or purchase her latest books, she recommends visiting her Instagram at @TheFriendlyFarmhouse or subscribing to her newsletter at melissaferguson.com.

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Key Takeaways

• Prioritize and Set Boundaries: Clearly define what matters most and establish limits to prevent burnout.
• Seek Help When Needed: Don’t hesitate to delegate or outsource tasks to manage workload effectively.
• Consistent Effort Pays Off: Dedicate regular, focused time to your passions to achieve significant progress.
• Choose the Right Partnerships: Whether in publishing or business, ensure you're collaborating with reputable and committed partners.
• Foster a Love for Reading: Create a home environment that encourages and nurtures children’s interest in books.

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Follow Melissa Ferguson:

• Instagram: @TheFriendlyFarmhouse
• Newsletter: melissaferguson.com

Purchase Melissa’s Books:

• Available at major retailers and through her Instagram bio link.

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Embark on your own journey of balancing motherhood, creativity, and homesteading by taking inspiration from Melissa’s experiences and applying her insightful strategies to your daily life.

Transcript

[Lisa]

I'm like you. I feel like I'm in a good place right now with actually feeling like there's not more things to get done in a day than I can possibly do. I think that's the definition of stress. Right. Like whenever you put your list for the day and you look at it and it's literally impossible, you can't actually accomplish it.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, we just have to practice to just turn it off and just say this is our time limit, we're turning it off. When it's done, it's okay. If there are more things. That is the temptation from working from home. I feel like I literally could write nonstop.

[Lisa]

We have these priorities. It's not to make as much money or be as productive as humanly possible. We have to fit it within these boundaries. My name is Lisa, mother of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boom. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses Create youe blog Dream and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now let's get into the show. Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Something that I like to talk a lot about on here and I get lots of questions about. I like to see how other women are doing this, but just the idea of getting the things done that you need to in your home and simplifying it so that you're able to do that alongside having children and all the other things. But then also possibly not for everybody, but a lot of people like to pursue a passion on the side. For me that looks like entrepreneurial endeavors. I have released a couple books. More like my Sourdough book which is a recipe book and then a DIY book, my original Simple Farmhouse Life book. But having the time and figuring out where all of that can fit into a busy lifestyle. Today I am having on author of the Perfect Rom Com, Melissa Ferguson. According to the bio on the back of the book, she is the best selling author of the titles Meet Me in the Margins, the Dating Charade and the Cul de Sac War. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children and their growing farmhouse lifestyle and writes heartwarming romantic comedies that have been featured in such places as the Hollywood Reporter, Travel and Leisure, Woman's World and buzzfeed so we're going to chat a little bit about her writing journey. Obviously, she is in a whole different niche than me, but like myself and many of you, she is a mother, a homemaker, and she's done this alongside having children. And I think a lot of you, myself included, are curious about how all began, how she began writing, what her future is, so what, what she plans to write next and then how she balances career and a writing schedule. She also does some homesteading. So like a lot of you as well, she's in that homesteading space and homeschools. So I think this will be an interesting conversation that you will be encouraged. Melissa, welcome on. I'm really looking forward to having you on. I just did a little intro with the audience, but for those who don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your newest book. We're going to chat about how you got into writing. And then also I'm really interested to hear how you balanced writing alongside having children's. I know you have three children and they're little, so you've been kind of doing this alongside all of that, as well as homemaking and homesteading and homeschooling, all that good stuff. So, yeah, do a little intro.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Sure. Well, I have four kids now, so three.

[Lisa]

Okay. Sorry, I thought. Okay.

[Melissa Ferguson]

No, you're fine. You're fine. Yeah, I've got four kids. And about me, let's see. Well, first things first. Walking pneumonia is going around, so I am recovering from that. So I'm trying very hard not to cough. But yeah, I write books. I write sweet romantic comedies. I've been writing them with Thomas Nelson for, I guess I started fresh out of Seminary in 2011 and I. Years of rejections and writing kind of alone on your bed in the dark for, you know, nine years before getting my first success. And then so now I'm several books in and I have a children's book coming out and I've done nonfiction, so just a lot of stuff there. And then I homeschool our four kids and kind of have an animal buying obsession. That happens. Yeah. Yeah. I know people who do this understand it. So my husband frequently comes back from trips to find new animals and we're just kind of figuring it out, walking our way and figuring out all the, you know, duck, sheep. I have a sheep tractor coming tomorrow. I am super pumped about a portable sheep tractor and things like that. We're just kind of stumbling trial and error, finding our way. But it's been really fun.

[Lisa]

Yeah. So how long have you been. I know you built the house. How long have you been on your farm?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Since I think it's been 2021. I think it was in the middle of COVID My husband's a builder.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Built this house and. Yeah. And so it was actually crazy because it was probably. He bought all the lumber for it probably two weeks before lumber prices and everything went up, skyrocketed. So building prices are so crazy expensive. So we were very blessed. We were able to like build our house for really a fraction of the cost. So it's been great. It's been about three years.

[Lisa]

Okay. Yeah. That was a noticeable shift, I think here. It was like right around 2020 that it started going up. But then we thought, oh, that's like, that's as high as it's going to go. And then it just kept on going and then it.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. And then it went crazy. And especially being married to a builder who's like so closely. It was very hard for him to talk to his clients after be like, well, it just went up, you know, $50,000 or something.

[Lisa]

Yeah, yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

And just seemed out of the realm of plausible, but yes. Anyway.

[Lisa]

Yeah. My sister got a quote for a build they were going to do in 2020 and then she took that same plan in 2023 or four recently, and it already. So they put the build on hold at that time because it already seemed kind of nuts. And then now it's like, haha, that was cute. That was cute.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, yeah. Now it's like, oh, oh boy. I know, it's really, really startling. So anyway.

[Lisa]

Yes, yes. Okay. So you are new to the homesteading world, so you're adding that on top of everything, obviously, of four kids you homeschool. I am curious about how you fit all of this together, like how you balance home and work. I mean, I'm sure you get this question all the time, but did you start writing pre children? I mean, it sounds like yes, you did. So you had to like transition into writing with children.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. And I. You know what, this is probably like the first time I'm actually excited to answer this question because I have gotten a lot of questions over the years as an author on book tours and things like that. And my answer is always like, I'm struggling and don't have it figured out.

[Lisa]

And I'm not sleeping.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, yeah. Don't sleep and drink caffeine. And you know, because I was in the middle of trying to figure it out, I do feel like I just learned the power of getting help. I Got to a really. I mean, if I'm going to be honest, after my fourth child, I was really stuck because I love my family with everything in me. I felt like this was the right choice for our family, but, like, homeschooling was the right choice for our family. The things, the choices that I remember for our family with regard to, like, cooking, you know, cooking from home, you want to do that versus fast food all the time, you know, like. And I just. But I'm also given this opportunity. And it took many years to get to write. And it's not like with books, you can just casually step back and be able to get back in there. It was very, very, very hard to get in. And so once you're in, you're like, well, I can't just like, what am I going to do? I can't. Right. And so I just kept telling my husband a lot, like, I don't know what to do because there's nowhere to cut. There's. I feel like there was a. There was a point when I was at my lowest where I just felt like I literally. It was so intense that I literally didn't feel like I had a space to have a free thought during the day to even think. Because if there were moments to think while doing something, then I need to be thinking about my plotting for my next whatever. And I felt like that was really unhealthy for me. And I knew it was. And I finally got to the point where eventually I was crying in the laundry room, kind of like hidden behind sorting baskets. And my husband came home and he found me, and I was like, I'm really struggling and I'm not normally like that at all. And I said, I just need. We officially need to get some help. So we ended up finding a wonderful woman who homeschooled her five children. She was already tutoring us my children at piano once a week. And now she does two hours. That's all I needed. It turned out just two out, two morning hours, like 8:30 to 10:30, Monday through Thursday. And that's all I needed, was for her to help focus on a couple core subjects, language arts and math, while I was able to go write, run away, and go. Right. And it really was getting double my time back because it's not just the two hours dedicated homeschool, it's also the two hours to writing. And so now I.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I was able to have that dedicated time. So for just eight hours a week, I feel like I have my sanity back. Yeah. And between that and Grocery delivery.

[Lisa]

Oh, my word. Yes.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yes, that is. Instacart is my friend. Because we're so far out, know what? Walmart or wherever else won't deliver. But Instacart has been a worthy. A worthy, valuable thing for our lives. So I would say it was that really getting. Getting a little help.

[Lisa]

Yeah. And what I know about writing, which I haven't done, like, serious. All I have is recipe books and I have a blog. So it's. It's not the same. But, like, writing work is. It's all consuming. Like, I can do my other work except for recording a podcast, but pretty much all my other work can be done with kids around. I can. You know, you can create content for Instagram, I can create content for YouTube.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

Whereas writing, you need your whole brain. So I think that's. Yeah. I mean, I've tried writing and concentrating. I'm like, this is hard. Like, this is much harder work than the other kind of work I do. And maybe that's a personality thing, but to me, writing is like the ultimate in hard work.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. It's real. It is. Because it's like you're doing. In fiction, especially, it's a big chess game that you're playing with yourself over the course of. I mean, I have a contract, I have a deadline. It's a very. You know, it's like I have nine months to get this done. In addition. In addition to the marketing and publicity for the next book coming out and getting through proposals for. So I'm really working on three books at the same time. And so that is definitely always a challenge. So once I finally was like, I have to have a dedicated space and time that I've allowed to fully invest in this and just really walk away, that really helped me. And it turned out I didn't need. Obviously, I'm going to slip in, like you said. I can slip in and go do my Instagram post or whatever alongside, like. Yeah, yeah. But. But it's that writing that really just. It's nice to have that accountability.

[Lisa]

Yes. And I also am a firm believer that moms, when they're. They have no time and they're given two hours, they get done, like eight hours worth of work in those two hours. That's real.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely agree with that. And honestly, sometimes if I get more time, like, there are some days where the tutor is like, oh, I can help two extra hours, I've noticed I'll get less done. It's like, I might as well, just because I'm like, like kind of go crazy.

[Lisa]

So yeah, there's no time to shift your focus off whatsoever. You know, you have two hours. I find the same thing I my business, I've had, I've hired out tons of help over the years. So much help. And sometimes I'm like, wait, I need a few things back. Because in my hours of work time, I almost don't even know what to do with it right now. Not that there's. There's always something to do.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Right?

[Lisa]

But sometimes you like that. Very straightforward. I know exactly what to do. Busy work type stuff, you know, because I can like grind it out. But yeah, that's, that's a whole thing in itself.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know. I find that I also find a particular joy in hearing my washer going at the same time as my bread machine going as the same time as I'm working it. Like, it's almost like hearing the vacuum cleaner cleaning up stuff.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

There's something particularly satisfying about it.

[Lisa]

You mentioned bread machine and this, this must be something you talk about a lot on Instagram, right? Like a lot of people are asking you about this. What is your bread machine, bread baking like schedule like.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Oh, well, I gotta give props to you because your. When I. Your site is where I first discovered like a bread machine like option or even bread making. And so I think my sister in law found your site and she was like, you should look here. So that's where I did my first recipes. Okay, that was awesome. But yeah, as far as my schedule goes, well, gosh, it just takes. I have done some Instagram posts just showing people, literally it takes four minutes, you know?

[Lisa]

Right? Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I mean it. Props. Throw it in in four minutes and then you hear it going and then boom, six and half hours later or whatever, it's done and ready to go. And that's so fulfilling, you know, it's so rewarding to feel like, oh, I got this done. So I don't know if I have a schedule. Besides, I'm like, I got four minutes and I want to feel like I've done a lot, you know?

[Lisa]

Yes, yes. So outside of the tutor that comes, I'm sure you're still spending some time like figuring out the homeschooling stuff. How does your schedule like break out during the day? Do you try to reserve all of your writing for the two hours or. No, I forget. No, four days. However long that is. Do you reserve writing for that time and try to keep everything more compartmentalized with the family?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, I actually just framed on my, on my Desk, like my Excel sheet of our homeschool schedule. And this is. I think this is our third year homeschooling. And I feel like this is the first time I feel like I have any sort of genuine, like, something to offer here. Yeah, I finally feel good about it. So I don't know. For. For me, I feel like we wake up, we do farm chores. So my son handles the chickens and getting the eggs. My daughter's giving the duck some water and the sheep. And my other daughter, she's seven, she empties the dishwasher first thing in the morning. So we're handling our farm chores. I'm making breakfast or my husband's making breakfast. And we started this past year doing also a very intentional, intentional 15 minutes of coffee on the front porch with my husband.

[Lisa]

Oh, yeah. You have a lovely view. You should do that.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I do like it. Yeah, I do like it. Well, and it's so nice to just feel like. Because, you know, the busyness of life, it was pretty easy to let life just go full force and just feel like, gosh, when are we sitting there actually enjoying life, enjoying each other, hanging out? So we do that. And I refuse to feel bad about the 15 minutes that I get to chat with them while the kids are doing the chores. And then we eat, and then we jump into the schoolwork and I get my writing done. That is my. I'm not allowed to in my head to do social media, to do newsletter work, to do whatever, to respond to publicity things or whatever. It's just right during that time for two hours. And then we'll. Then we have other things. We have a couple. I have a hiking co op that we do with, like, moms and kids, and we see some incredible hikes every week. We have another co op that's just kind of like Winnie the Pooh. Magical outside science experiments in nature and reading Brambly Hedge while watercoloring with a bunch of people. And it's really sweet. And then we have sports and activities, and our days just fill up between.

[Lisa]

Right. Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I don't know. It's just. It's just those things. So.

[Lisa]

Yeah. Yeah. Sounds somewhat similar. I mean, we. Our schedule changes throughout seasons based on, you know, kids, ages and what's going on and what work projects there might be. But I'm like you. I feel like I'm in a good place right now with actually feeling like there's not more things to get done in a day that. Than I can possibly do. I think that's the definition of stress right like, whenever you put your list for the day and you look at it and it's literally impossible, you can't actually accomplish it. Somehow you have to get that to not be the equation.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. Or I also said with my husband, because he owns his business and he feels like there's always more things on a list for him in a day. And I just said we just have to practice for sure to just turn it off and just say, this is our time limit. It's kind of like that Charlotte Mason time limit thing. Where is our time limit? We're turning it off when it's done. It's okay if there are more things, but. But I will work to not. Because that is the temptation from. Working from home for me, and that's the temptation for him. Being a business owner is just. I feel like I literally could write nonstop. And, you know, I haven't booked to do nonstop.

[Lisa]

Money too. Right. Like, you have to somehow put these guardrails in place. Like, we have these priorities, and it's not to make, you know, as much money or be as much like, as. As productive as humanly possible. We have to fit it within these boundaries. And yes, we could make more, we could do more, but, yeah, then. Then what do we have to show for it?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Right? But what's the point of doing more brand deals or, you know, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, we have those conversations and, you know, with social media, because I do feel like those emails are kind of endless. And it is wild. Just the world we live in. You could work more, you could be more technically successful, but what would you sacrifice? What's the whole point?

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[Lisa]

Shopify.com/farmhouse what kind of parameters do you put up? Because I, I know kind of what we aim for and then good opportunities come your way and you have to know very cut and dry. Like what am I going to say? So how do you, what do you guys put on yours with regard to.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Books or with regard to like social media and the content creation world?

[Lisa]

I guess just everything. Like you as a business owner from home where you could, you know, if you stayed up really late one night you could probably, you know, work with this brand or like there's probably ways you could fit in and like make a, you know, another Book or whatever. How do you set that?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Like, I just, Yeah, I just turned down doing another book with my own publisher. They were like, oh, we'd love you to do this novella. And I just, I told myself this is how much time, because I have experienced for sure, in the book world getting pretty close to the deadline and realizing, you know, it's. It's like exam week on steroids as an adult, you know, and it gets to where it was just like, wow, life is not fun. This is not fun. And I, And I don't want to. I want to keep my promises. You know, I want to follow through and keep my promises. But I also, this is the time to be. I don't want to be stressed out to where I'm missing experiences with my children. So I just told myself, I just recognized what my limitation was. And I was like, I can do one book a year in the adult world, and I can, in an ideal world, I can do one book a year in children's and that's my max. And it doesn't, thankfully, in the book world, you can kind of set that. They ask you ahead of time, so they're like, we're writing this contract, you know, what can you do? And they've kind of said, can you do it in seven months? And I'll say no. In fact, my next book, the Perfect rom com, the one that comes out in February, is actually literally that. So I wrote a lot of my own experiences as a writer and how the publisher or your agent, the better you're doing, the more they would say, oh, speed it up, you know, do more. How you really have to, you really have to have a strong understanding of what your beliefs are, both in content creation in the social media world and within book writing. There's a lot of similarities there. And just, you know, make your decisions from that. And then in the content creation world, I made the decision to get a talent manager so that I save all that time. And I really kind of set a limitation because there are seasons where it's just like, wow, this is just too much. So.

[Lisa]

Right, yeah, Yep, I did the same thing. There was some discussion about that amongst some, some bloggers and content creators in a group I'm in and like, well, they take a percent. I'm like, yeah, but, oh, 10% of 15% of nothing. Or, you know, like, if I can't do this, then yeah, I've always done the same thing. And it's a game changer. There's, there's a lot of behind the Scenes with all of that that people don't really realize. It's not just as simple as it looks. So fluent, you know, throw a post up.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, it's not just throw a post up. Yeah, there's definitely more. It's definitely a blessing. It's wild. Oh, absolutely. You know what, actually I wrote another book called Famous for a Living and that. And it was from that crazy experience that I've experienced, especially on the TikTok side of crazy content creators. And so that was, that was. Yeah, it was really good. Learning about phone addiction.

[Lisa]

Is it from more of like a comedy perspective too?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Every book I have is. Yeah. Okay, so this one, let me see if I have it. Here it is. This is Famous for a Living. And this one, yeah, she's like an influencer who ends up in the mountains in Montana, at a, at a park and has to do the opposite. And she learns through it. But each of my books, I end up. I end up working through something personally and then writing that in. Right. So like mold my multitasking crazy situation of being overstressed. I write that in. I wrote that in to meet me in the margins. You know, I was the villain s sister who had the problem and had to work through it. So, yeah, it's fun for me to. And it's really therapeutic for me to get to write my own books. Yeah.

[Lisa]

Yes. Really flush that out. So is your typical demographic for who reads your books? The. I'm just going to make a total guess here, like 35 year old woman.

[Melissa Ferguson]

You know, I would say maybe that's.

[Lisa]

Not something that you have as much. Like I have all this like data and analytics when it comes to like podcasting and Instagram and YouTube.

[Melissa Ferguson]

But no, they're a bit wider. They say, you know, the 22 to 65 year old woman or something like that.

[Lisa]

Okay, so it's quite, quite the margin. Yeah. We can all find something relatable in these experiences, I'm sure, no matter what walk of life that we're from. Tell us a little bit about your. Your upcoming book. You said this releases in February.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Melissa Ferguson]

It is definitely the book I've been wanting to write for since my very first writers conference. I ended up, I had my twins. So I'd been writing for about four years quietly. And then I started pitching. I pitched to like hundreds online, sent emails to hundreds of agents and nobody responded back. And then I learned I have my twins and when they were about almost three months old, I was like, I want to go to a writer's Conference. I want to see what I can do. And so we drove through the night with twins in the backseat to Philadelphia. And I rolled in at seven in the morning and just kind of went to my very first pitch session. And those sessions are really nuts because you spend all this time, all this money, all your hopes and dreams for this kind of once in a lifetime or once, at least once a year at most, opportunity. And it's really, at best, you get maybe three agent pitch sessions. So three 15 minute chances to sit one on one with an agent. And it's wild. It's this room with like 25 people. There are timekeepers. They put a funnel in your 25 aspiring authors. You're all so incredibly jittery because this is really your, this is your big time dream. And you sit down, they're like, you've got 15 minutes. And everyone just messes up at what everyone says. You give your, your quote, elevator pitch, and it's just, it's just a recipe for a hilarious disaster, really is what it ends up being. And going in real life and going through that experience and just how so totally crazy it was, you know, the authors following the agents into the bathroom to try and pitch through the stall kind of thing. There were all kinds of funny things that happen.

[Lisa]

Captive.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, it's like, hey, you're here. And so it was there at that writer's conference that I was like, oh my goodness, this place is just so crazy. And my book, Meet Me in the Margins, it did really well. It sold 100,000 copies in the first year, which is really good for me. And it kind of blew my mind. I just thought, this is really nuts.

[Lisa]

So is that the first one?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Sorry?

[Lisa]

Is that the one that you pitched there?

[Melissa Ferguson]

That?

[Lisa]

No. Okay.

[Melissa Ferguson]

No, that was my third book in that book deal that was this one. And what it was, was about what people loved about it, was that it was kind of like. Well, it was kind of like an adult rom com narnia kind of moment where there's this like secret room in a publishing house and she, she swaps back notes in the margins with this mystery critique editor. And I loved writing that story, but I also felt like it was, it's. It was really two things. It was really fun to write about books and the publishing world. And it also was easier to write about the publishing world as an insider. It's a lot less research, a lot less worrying. Oh my goodness, will someone like, fact check this?

[Lisa]

Right?

[Melissa Ferguson]

So I just realized, you know, what? This book did so well and my others have done well, but not as well as that one that I was like, oh, I'll continue with this strand of rom coms that are in the publishing world. And so that's what I did with the perfect rom com, is I open her up at this pitch session and she's this aspiring writer and she has all these hopes and dreams and of course it fails tremendously and comically. But one thing that does end up happening is she kind of accidentally fixes a mistake on one of his existing clients manuscripts and. Or kind of tells him a truth about it that. And it turned out that that manuscript was a book for one of like the biggest rom com writers in the publishing world. And so he eventually he says, hey, I'd like you to be the ghostwriter for this one book. Because it turned out she had a bunch of ghost writers. And then she accidentally becomes a major hit. So she's the secret super successful ghostwriter, but she has greater, deeper aspirations to save this. I used to teach ESL to adult immigrants when I lived in Knoxville, Tennessee. And it was a life changing experience. It was really good. And so that's what she's doing. She's trying to save the bridge, which is this adult immigration and ESL program. And here she is writing fluffy rom coms under this nemesis villain. And so. So that's what the perfect realm comes about.

[Lisa]

So how when you first went and you pitched your. Your first book, I'm assuming that's the one where you took the twins to the writing conference, right? That's your. You're pitching your first book. How did, how does that process work? Like, how do they decide what they're looking for and what's going to sell? I mean, I'm sure it's.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, you can.

[Lisa]

There's a lot to that. But yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

How do the agents. Well, you don't. Theoretically, you're not supposed to pitch to an agent. I mean, they have a list of what they're looking for specifically. So. And each agent, just like each editor at a publishing house, has their own interests and also openings. You know, certain things are more open than others at publishing houses and just in the commercial market entirely. So my first book was actually. Has Never Seen the Light of Day what I pitched. Never. And my second book has never seen the light of day actually. It was the third book that made it. But I went there pitching speculative, which it does, is very hard to sell, as it turns out. I didn't know it at the time. And it was quasi. It was worse. It was quasi academic Kind of fantasy, which is like a terrible mix and made sense to no one and would never sell in a million years. But it did turn out at that conference, after being turned down by everybody at the end, at the end of that conference, they had one winner of the big writers conference contest and they started reading my book off. It turns out I had won. I had won the check. And I remember I was wearing my son. I had been defeated for four days straight. Everyone had said, you know, basically there's nothing to it. And it turned out I had won this big conference and then I was able to go to the front. I remember carrying my three month old son. And the agents came up. Right. One particular agent I remember came up right after. He's like, so you're gonna send me your stuff, right, like we said. And I said, you literally just turned me down.

[Lisa]

Remember that?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, I do remember. And he's like, no, no, here's my card. And so that really was a turning point for me and that people ask me in most interviews, you know, what would you recommend for aspiring writers? My answer is, always get yourself to a writer's conference where you can learn. I mean, there's a lot to learn about writing and a lot of rules that you have to follow that you just won't know until you learn them, so might as well do it. And if I could do it again, I don't want to say that I regret anything because I've learned through all of it. But boy, I probably would have saved myself years of time by going to a writer's conference in the beginning, before spending four years writing a book. The two books that turned out was not marketable. Well, and then another two years on another book. Yeah. So six years or eight years. I mean, it was many, many years of writing and rejections before I switched to writing rom com and got my first three book deal.

[Lisa]

Because at those conferences you learn what kind of books people are looking for and are actually interested in. And maybe you didn't know that before. And so you wrote something that was probably great but wasn't sellable.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Oh yeah. I mean, well, you're learning so much. There are different workshops. There's. You have to figure out how to market yourself. You have to figure out how to use social media. The whole reason I got social media at all was just so that I could write books. And they said, you know, you can't get a contract unless you're on social media. But also then there's, of course there's a struggle of what are you going to share on social media without having a contract?

[Lisa]

Yeah, yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

So you can't. If you're not actually like a published author yet and don't have a contract, what can you say that would appeal to people? So, which is why eventually I started just sharing about my life and created our friendly farmhouse. Because I was like, well, I'll just share about my life and hopefully casually bring in also, here are my books. Here are my books. And that has been beneficial for sure.

[Lisa]

So that first contract you got, how, how did you get it without having any kind of like social following? Now I'm sure, you know, you have all of these books that have done so well, you have a huge audience. I'm sure now they're, you know, they're just like begging you to put out another book. But yeah, at first. How did that work? And what do you, what do you recommend for those first time authors who have this as their dream?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Oh, I always say to people, be careful, you're about your steps. It's very easy to misstep, especially in the beginning and to just get really tired of being patient and really tired of rejection and just go for the first thing that comes up. And there are plenty of red flag agents out there and there are plenty of red flag vanity publishers out there where you have to remember that publishers are looking at your sales history and your track record for new books. So if you take an option that is not very good, that would hurt you and then you only sell 12 copies because you went with a publisher that just didn't have the money or the ability to market. It would be very hard. It's even harder way, way, way harder to get another book published. It would have been better just to not have one.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Because before you have a book published, you know, you're not proven yet. Nobody knows how you're going to do so there's that hope. So I always warn people, I say be very, very careful about that. And self publishing is its own world that you can do great things in. I would definitely say self publishing is a better option than publishing with a publisher that doesn't have marketing money, isn't in the bookstores, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, I don't know. In the beginning I would say that's what authors should do. For me, how I got my book contract was I won that first conference wide award and then agents were interested. Right. That's something that I could. Then I met several of them, several of them. And so that I went and spoke to one Agent who originally turned me down there. And I said, oh, I just won this award, here's what happened. And they were like, oh, okay, well, go ahead and send me your full. Go ahead and send me your manuscripts. They did. And then they said, you know what, this isn't for me, but I have someone else within my agency who is newer who might be interested. So it was a reputable company, but it was bottom of the barrel, brand new person, fresh off, you know. So I was, I was taking a gamble there. It turned out it was the wrong gamble because then I spent a couple years with somebody who, it turned out, just kind of gathered clients as many as he could. Right. It was like he didn't even try. He would just kind of gather all these authors and of course every author is desperate and wants to be represented.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

But then he didn't actually have the connections or the care for you to actually try to get you in places that were meaningful. And so I remember about two years of being with him, he said on the phone to me one day, something about my children's book. And I said, this book isn't a children's book. The book you've been pitching for two years is fantasy, is adult fantasy. And I just was like, that was kind of the last straw, was realizing, oh my goodness, he doesn't even know what he's submitting to. He almost got me an offer for a publisher. I turned it down. That was a really, really ineffective, it would definitely have been better to self publish my book kind of place. It could have ruined everything. So I, eventually I just had to make that call after two years of being with him that I'd rather have no agent than this, which was very hard. And then I, at that point, I'd learned quite a bit. I was working really hard. I was volunteering at writers, writers group. I led a writers group and I had gone to a few more conferences and made some more friends at that point. And that's when I met a different agent and he took me on and he pitched my book to Thomas Nelson. And I had met somebody else at a different conference or at a, at a different event and she offered me, she was in England and it was a British company and they offered me a two book deal off of that second book that I wrote. But it was a very small advance. It was not a big. It was, it's better than nothing, for sure. It was a. But Thomas Nelson was a lot bigger. They're an umbrella under HarperCollins. They have a lot more opportunity And I had said at the time that was a very stressful moment because I said, I'd really like to go with Thomas Nelson. But they were just the beginning chats of that. And my agent said, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. You should just take this offer. And I went against his advice. I said, no, I think I'm going to wait because I think this could be better for me long term. And it turned out I did get the opportunity to go with Thomas Hill and. And they did give me the three book deal and then the rest is history. So it's been very successful since then.

[Lisa]

Yeah, it sounds like so much of what you've learned through all of this, because I'm thinking, how do you even decipher a good contractor, a good agent is like talking with other authors, going to those conferences. Like you said, it's like that with any industry. I tell students that all the time in like blogging and YouTube that you have to hang around with the successful people in, you know, not like in real life, but virtually hang around so that you can even see what questions they're even asking that you might not even thought was a thing. So what are some of these conferences or how do you build a circle of authors that you become friends with and build those connections?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, so the conferences vary based off of what genre you want to write. So the way I tell people whether what's a good conference versus what's not a great conference, because they're. There are plenty of people, you know that those who can't do teach kind of thing.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. There are plenty of people who claim that they are experts at bookselling or book writing or whatever, being an author. But the sad reality for some people is that they aren't very good at it, but they want to make money still. And so this is a way to make money. Right, Right. And there are legitimate people out there, but there are definitely people who are. You just gotta watch out for. And so I always say the way to look it up is go to a writer's conference, look up your genre that you want to do, and then go find the writers conference and then go under the pitching tab. And if there are agents and editors at publishing houses who are actively like in the last two years selling multiple books in places that are, you know, you see them in the bookstores, right. They're in Target, they're in Barnes and Noble, they're in the airports, they're. They're books that you have heard of, then that's going to be your goal. Those are the kind of places you want to go to. Versus a writers conference where, you know, an agent 15 years ago published that one book that did well. No, no, no. It needs to be like the last two years.

[Lisa]

Yeah, current. Yeah, I think whatever. I. I published my first book, which it's like nothing. It didn't do very well or anything. I didn't realize any of this. And I just was like, oh, yay. And they did no marketing. Like, anything that sold, sold because I put it on my socials, you know, Like, I didn't think about what all was involved with the publisher, like what they're getting, what they are getting money for. I think, you know, and that's because I'm not a person in the writing world. I'm sure if you hang around there, you're like, well, you know, this should be very clear and obvious, but I think for a lot of people, they're just like, won a book deal, you know?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, no, I definitely know. And I think the reality for even publishers, social media is such a big thing. It's kind of like how you hear about movies, casting actors who have large social media followings. They're like, we even know we're huge.

[Lisa]

You'll market it.

[Melissa Ferguson]

But the reality is, yeah, we need you. Because our market is so saturated, there's so much competition. And so I can't remember what the number is. It's staggering. It's like 2 million new books come out a year. Something like that. And over 90% sell less than a thousand copies in their lifetime. And so if you think about the capacity someone has to read a book, even. Even a very avid reader can only read so many books in a year. Right. Like.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, I don't know. It can vary widely. People on Goodreads are nuts. They read so many. But even at best, let's say 360 books a year. Right. Which the average book. Right. The average book takes like eight, eight hours to read, Right. So let's say they read one a day and do nothing else with their lives. Yeah. They eat food and read well.360 compared to 2 million new books every year in addition to the books that come every year prior. The competition. Right There is just absolutely out of this world. I mean, it's just so intense. So that's why I think it's important for people who are looking at how many books can you fit in a bookshelf? Like, my book has been in Target, a couple of my books and the shelf space, the shelving Space for it is how many, how many rom coms can they fit there?

[Lisa]

Not many.

[Melissa Ferguson]

25, let's say 20.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, there are millions books. So go with a publisher who has the ability to do that long shot thing and get your book there, because that's huge. Because you don't have the reach. Right. No matter what. I mean, I guess you do. You can do your best on social media. Social media is very powerful if used correctly, as I'm sure you know. But, but it's really nice to have your book there. That's always my goal. I want, like, when I think of my target audience, I want it to be like a mom like me who's walking down the aisle and getting her milk and then she sees a nice happy go lucky book and says, oh.

[Lisa]

You have a good escape from my life for a little while. You know, a laugh.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Ta da. Yeah, give me a laugh, give me a happy moment and then that's what I want. And so, yeah, yeah, you just can't.

[Lisa]

Reach the masses like that, even with a huge social following. Think of how many people walk into Target. So how did you know? Like, how does one know they have a good idea? Because I think you must have a lot of confidence, but I think a lot of people are thinking like, oh, I have a dream to write a book, do something like that as a mom, but like the chances that mine is going to be the 25 out of the millions on the target shelf, you know, how did you build the confidence and to know that your idea was good? Oh, well, that's a real loaded question.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know. I think that's an interesting question because I don't think, I don't think about it that way. I think about when I'm writing a book I'm writing. I think I come at it from an entirely different perspective. And you know what, maybe I'll put it this way because I said this to somebody else on a different podcast. I said, if you're looking to make money off of or to be a famous author or whatever, that's your goal. Do something easier. Like become a Hollywood celebrity. Like something easier. Yeah. Really? So that's about how I just think if you're in it for that goal, you're going to be so disappointed because I know that's fair.

[Lisa]

I mean, that's not my goal with my books. They're not in Target, you know, and I just released a new book and it's doing well for like my space. But yeah, but, but yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Even at the top, though, even for the authors that I have, I know some authors who are really extremely successful. Even the authors at the tippy tippy tippy top. You're just a moment in time. There's. It still can go down. Just because your book is in Target right now, today.

[Lisa]

Oh yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

The average time it lasts in it is like three months. So. Okay, congratulations.

[Lisa]

That makes sense.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Now you're. Now someone else is in, you know, so.

[Lisa]

Yeah, right, right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

So I think you're going to be disappointed if, if your goal is to like be really successful. I think from. For me at least, or for lots of the other fiction authors I stumbled into writing. It was never my goal. I'm an extrovert, like 10 out of 10. Never wanted to be alone, always loved being surrounded.

[Lisa]

And so the idea, I have a sister like that. It's such a funny thing to witness. You just expect that everybody's like that, right?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yes, yes. And my sister in law is very not like that. And she's like, oh my gosh, she.

[Lisa]

Puts up with me 10 out of 10.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, I was 10 out of 10. Right. And then so of course riding alone in isolation is not the dream job.

[Lisa]

Yeah, it's a weird career.

[Melissa Ferguson]

No, no, the only reason I did it was because years ago I finished my degree. I got a master's in biblical studies from Asbury Seminary. And my husband has surprise job that took him to. It was going to be six weeks, he was going to like do some construction, renovate this, this apartment complex. And he asked if I wanted to go. And I had nowhere else to go. We had no money and we had no children. And so of course I was like, yeah, I'll go. But what that equaled was me essentially living on an air mattress for a year, it turned out, in his little apartment. And you know, it just having very intense and interesting adventures because it was a rather scary apartment complex too. So I did nothing and had no money. But. But what happened while I was there was I had seen and I'd read all the Twilight books because I had nothing to do. And I saw 10 minutes of twilight and the story plot hooked me. And then I read all the books. And after I did that though, I went to the grocery store and there was a girl there who got a tattoo that was a Twilight tattoo on her arm. And that was like, that was a moment for me where I realized, you know what? This author Stephenie Meyer is so influential around the world that a total stranger has decided to get a tattoo. That's how influential that is, how important this is to this woman, right?

[Lisa]

To somebody? Yes.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. And I thought, wouldn't it, I wonder if it's possible to write my own messages in a fun fictional format that could also share my own messages that I would have. Like, I wonder what that would look like. And I had nothing but time and I had a computer and so I just started writing. And when that happened, I said to Ben, it wasn't. I mean, I pretty much was hooked immediately. And I just started writing ten hours a day.

[Lisa]

Wow.

[Melissa Ferguson]

And that turned into a year of having no friends and because I couldn't even get a job. It was supposed to be that six month job that he had. So it wasn't even time for me to get a job while there, except it kept getting pushed back because that's how construction is. And so that really changed my life. It turned out to be a massive blessing, though, but the least expected blessing. And I think what I learned from that was I love writing stories that have meaningful messages written in an entertainment form. Like, I want to make the world a little bit lighter. I want to.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Melissa Ferguson]

In my own way. And so, so that's why I write what I write. And you know, sometimes a lot of people read it. Sometimes a hundred thousand people in a year read it, and sometimes it's 35,000 a year, you know, but regardless. Yeah, regardless, it's, it's, it's meaningful to me that somebody's reading it and I hope it's changing their lives a little bit or making them happier a little bit, as it has for me in my writing. Yes. I feel like it's a true calling, I guess.

[Lisa]

Yes. And there has to be some of that. Like, you can't be driven by like money and success alone like that. There has to be something you're feeling good about what you're putting out into the world. So I think that's a really good answer. I assumed that you must have been writing since you were a little kid.

[Melissa Ferguson]

No.

[Lisa]

It sounds like that wasn't always the case.

[Melissa Ferguson]

No, I did cheerleading because that was fun and around people.

[Lisa]

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[Melissa Ferguson]

And I did always love reading. I've always been hooked by books, and so I think I was meant for it. I just never ever in a million years didn't discover this was for me.

[Lisa]

Well, and that, that happens. Like, people think I must have grown up baking bread. I didn't, I didn't bake bread till I was in my 20s. And, you know, I didn't even right away do sourdough. So I think that people Sometimes think you're almost like born with certain talents and they're not cultivated.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. Or like this is just how you always are. And it's like. No, it's a. There's a long stumbling process. You are the expert, it seems like in homesteading and I am like the stumble along former suburban cul de sac girl who's figuring out like, wait a second, you know, like stainless steel is better than plastic, you know, or whatever. And I'm like making these discoveries as I go. So.

[Lisa]

Yeah, I don't, I don't know that I'm the expert in homesteading, but definitely I feel like I have a certain level of expertise in my kitchen. I will say that that has been built over time. You mentioned you've always liked to read. One of the audience questions was creating or kind of like facilitating raising well read children. Do you have any tips for that? Or how are you? I'm sure you're reading to your kids a ton since you're an author.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. That's funny. I'm sitting in our library with the kids, so I'm surrounded by books actually right now.

[Lisa]

Okay. That's how you create mortgage.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. But you know what? That, that's probably partly it. I would say raising well read children. I mean, I think it's common answers that most people would give. We don't have a lot of screen time. And that's probably going to be the biggest factor for kids, you know, loving to read and be out. Yeah.

[Lisa]

For books to be their speed.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Oh yeah.

[Lisa]

You know, for books to be entertaining enough, it 100%.

[Melissa Ferguson]

My daughter is the most intense reader ever. You know, she's the girl who last night was at a soccer game with my son and was sitting there in the middle of the sidelines, you know, like engrossed in her book. You can't get her out. Right. So she's that, she's that hardcore reader. My mother in law is the kind of person, I mean, they just have truly read for hours and hours.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

They just love it. And we just. I don't know, I don't even know what to say. Besides, we just have read to them forever now. Do I do that thing though? I will say this is one thing I don't do. I don't sit there and try. I remember when my twins were young and they'd be like, now we read them to sleep, you know, or now we read to them. It's like, no, if they don't, if they're one, they might want to flip through a Book a little bit, but it's really. It's really four and up when they get really, really, really invested. And so. And between us, homeschooling, I mean, we just have all kinds of time, and we're so intense about our library. It's kind of a second home for us. So the kids have always grown up in an environment that's 100%. Like, going to the library was. Is, like, the most exciting first still for them. They're so excited. In fact, I asked if we could do a birthday party there for my kids recently, and they were like, melissa, I don't know if we can legally do that. I'm like, please, that would be great.

[Lisa]

I'm an author, you see.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I literally. Oh, no, no, no. They know we're friends. I literally included my children's librarian, Michelle, in this book. She's in the back of it. Like, she's signing the book and she's at. She's in a scene. Because, like, I love them so much, and they're a big part of our lives. So story time. Like, I used to take them to story times, the library, all the time. It was just every. I don't know. Books, their books are huge. And especially for Christmas gifts, I'm pretty.

[Lisa]

It's.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I'm pretty hard pressed to say no to a book, especially a book that I feel good about. I mean, obviously, if they're content. Questions, no, but if my kids want a book, I will find the book for them. Yeah, kind of always.

[Lisa]

Well, and also, I think kids tend to love what you love because you show so much excitement about it. So you clearly love reading. I think that's gonna rub off to an extent, like, oh, this is a form of entertainment that, you know, mom even likes to do late at night. Like, she's always sitting there reading.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, in the hoopla, if people haven't discovered hoopla, they should get themselves on hoopla immediately, because that's through the library system and that's now, buy my books. Everyone. Everyone hearing this.

[Lisa]

Don't get them from the library.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Buy them full price and ask for them from the library. But. No, but, yeah, if you're going to.

[Lisa]

Get on hoopla, make sure you ask your library to stock it. Right? Is that a happy.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Oh, I love that. Yes, I know. I love when people go in and ask for my books in the library. But I think hoopla and listening to things in the car, that is a great first step. I feel like for someone who's like, wow, why don't my kids love it? Well, play the boxcar, children in the car, and before you know it, they're gonna love it.

[Lisa]

Yes, I think those are all really good tips. All right, well, tell the listeners where you prefer. I know that's all over the place, but where do you prefer for them to purchase this book, your newest book?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, preference, like, truly, honestly, I would prefer people go to my Instagram, our friendly farmhouse, and then go to my link in my bio and then purchase it from there. Because shockingly, it's mind blowing to me that financially I can make just as much getting affiliate income as I did writing the book, which is crazy. So that would be. That would be extremely helpful. But of course, I mean, to be honest, my publisher really loves when people. The thing that makes the most difference is when people preorder the book. And I don't think people realize that because when they see pre orders, what they can do, the publisher can do is then like, my publicist will then go talk to various media outlets or book buyer places. Yeah, My marketing manager. And they say, hey, we're getting pre orders here. And so then Barnes and Noble, for example, will make a bigger buy and they'll say, oh, well, if that it's going to start having buzz and we'll get to bigger buys. And bigger buys mean better placement, better. You know, it's like, it's like this big snowball. But pre orders, I feel like that actually is probably the number one. And that can happen anywhere. They love to see a variety of places from Target, Barnes and Noble, to books a million to anywhere.

[Lisa]

Right. So this is currently. So this, this podcast comes out November 19th. So is this currently up for pre order right now?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. Yes, it is indeed.

[Lisa]

All right, awesome. Well, I have to admit, I'm not. I probably have read like two fiction books in my entire life. Like, literally, my husband's a huge reader and I should be the one to learn how to get, well, read kids. I do read to my kids at night and they're obsessed. Like they, my. My little boys, I put them to bed and I read them book after book after book, and they never want to stop. So I do, you know, I read them fiction books. But like, after talking to you, I'm like, this sounds so fun. Actually, I think I'm gonna have to read a fiction book here.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Well, you wanna know my secret? I'm the same way. I read so much on these podcasts. People ask me lately, they're like, what.

[Lisa]

Are your favorite books?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. And I'm like, raising goats for dummies. Yes.

[Lisa]

I like nonfiction. Love it. I know, but. Yeah. That is so funny. Really?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. And that's like, see, you're allowed to say that.

[Lisa]

You're not.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I'm not. I like, read my kids all their books. I read all of these. How to Garden, how to Big Bread, how to whatever.

[Lisa]

Right, right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

But in the rom com space, I will say I love reading rom com, but I've struggled to find clean ROM com that is You've got Mail. Yeah. It's like the youe've Got Mail Clean PG level is what I write. And that's what I also want to read. I don't like spicy scenes or anything like that. And. Yeah. And so it's. It's actually oddly hard to find. I will say Bethany Turner is a friend of mine. She has some rom coms. Courtney Walsh, she has some rom coms. So it's like there are some people that are. Rachel Linden. There are some people who are close to my heart who do that. But for the most part, I don't feel like I don't. Rom com is unique because it's a lot of intense, spicy with a pretty cover that looks just like mine. That's the opposite.

[Lisa]

Yes. You don't know what you're getting. Like, you might begin. And I. And I knew from looking at your Instagram and everything that that's what we're talking about. How to be. If you ought to all of a sudden start seeing. Certainly they're like, oh, no.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know.

[Lisa]

But I already know.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know. I need like a rating system.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

On rom com specific. I think they need a rating system on the side that says pg because. Yeah, that's where I would be actually. I might even be G. I'm pretty. I'm pretty hardcore.

[Lisa]

So if you want spicy, don't check out her books. If you want a happy. Yeah.

[Melissa Ferguson]

So. But it is always funny. I will say it is funny when I get the spicy readers because there are a lot out there who read my books and they're like, wow, I just finished this super crazy, totally insane, blah, blah, blah. And this was a nice palette cleanser in between.

[Lisa]

And I'm like, in between my next one.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I guess I'm a palette cleanser.

[Lisa]

I appreciate you read, reading, compliment. I don't know.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know it's interesting. But I do appreciate them reading my books too, so.

[Lisa]

Right. We'll take whatever you can get. Right.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I know. Yeah, Go for it.

[Lisa]

Awesome. Well, tell the listeners, you, You're. You share the most, like, as far as social media on Instagram. Correct. Over at our friendly farmhouse. Right. Is that the best place to follow up?

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. Or my newsletter is melissafurguson.com.

[Lisa]

Okay. Awesome.

[Melissa Ferguson]

I don't even know if you could hear me. I was like, melissa, yeah, no, I heard you.

[Lisa]

And we'll leave links down in the description box and the show notes below as well for. For links for the books and then also where to follow you and your newsletter and anything else anybody wants to follow along with. So I think this was encouraging. A lot of moms have things that they want to pursue and there's sort of this like, oh, you put your life completely on hold, which of course you do lay down a lot of your life with kids, but there's also margins and there's time to pursue those goals. And I think for a lot of people, that can be helpful outlet. So I think this will be encouraging.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah. Yeah. I do say, I would say that give yourself a little bit of time consistently every day. And it really does amount to a book. You know, it's two hours a day amounts to.

[Lisa]

I've said the same thing about a blog. I mean, it's, it's not the same, but in some ways I'm like, well, if I put in, like you said, eight hours a week here and there, that's per year, you know, do some quick math. That's a lot, a lot of time.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, yeah. It really matters. And so it's not. It's not your eight hours a day kind of thought. As long as you think about it that way. Right. Yes.

[Lisa]

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

[Melissa Ferguson]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

[Lisa]

As always. Thank you so much for listening. I will see you in the next episode of the simple farmhouse life podcast.

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