Straight From the Mouth of 'Buried Threads' Kaylin McFarren

Kaylin McFarren is a California native who has enjoyed traveling around the world. She previously worked as director for a fine art gallery, where she helped foster the careers of various artists before feeling the urge to satisfy her won creative impulses.

Since launching her writing career, McFarren has earned more than a dozen literary awards in addition to a finalist spot in the 2008 RWA Golden Heart Contest. A member of RWA, Rose City Romance Writers, and Willamette Writers, she also lends her participation and support to various charitable and educational organizations in the Pacific Northwest. 

McFarren currently lives with her husband in Oregon. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Her latest book is Buried Threads (Book 2 of the Threads series).

Visit her website at www.kaylinmcfarren.com.

Thanks for letting us interrogate interview you!  Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author? 

I’ve been a short story writer and involved with public relations and press releases for many years and thought it was time to slice a vein and let my stores pour out.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be?  I mean what are the perks and what are the demands? 

The awards and accolades are wonderful and it’s great to see your books on the market and bookshelves. But every once in a while a reader doesn’t quite get it and decides to drop a bomb of a review on amazon.com, rocking your world for a while. Then you’re back working away, five hours a day for six months or more, secretly hoping the one individual who temporarily derailed you will be thrilled with your next book.

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like? 

I tried the traditional route for four years, going with a New York agent and settling for a small press, and am now a dedicated self-published author with 100% control of my distribution, sales, promotions…and fate.

What’s the snarkiest thing you can say about the publishing industry (e.g. rejections, the long wait, etc.)?

They all love your book and write beautiful hand-written rejection letters when they can’t figure out where to slot you then encourage you to come back when you come up with something new.

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you? 

For a while, my husband got grumpy and accused me of putting all my love and romance into my books. Then after reading a few hot scenes, he wanted to head up my research and be readily available if I needed new material. J

What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing process? 

My agent absolutely fell in love with my first book, relating it to her own life and crying over the story. After shopping it around for two months, she contacted me and asked if I would eliminate my main character, turn it into a thriller and increase the sexual tension between a couple on the verge of divorce. Ahhh…no. 

How about the social networks?  Which ones do you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid? 

I’ve honestly tried them all and discovered, although they get the word out, they can eat up a lot of your time. For the most part, Facebook seems to be the most effective network and Twitter (even with 4,000 followers) the most time consuming.

Book sales.  Don’t you just love them (or lack of?)?  How are you making the sales happen for you? 

Promote, promote, promote. I try to advertise whenever the pocket book allows, send out book release announcements and do my best to connect with book clubs. I’ve discovered that quantity (number of books produced) and quality in writing makes all the difference to readers.

What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about? 

Finding one of my books on the New York Times best seller list or in Amazon’s top 100.

Okay, too much sugar for you today!  Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in.  Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way? 

It’s true…I’m thrilled to see my wild adventures unfold in printed pages and have been known to occasionally read over something I’ve written and say, “Wow, that’s good.” I know this sounds egotistical but the truth is finding the exact words to convey your thoughts and emotions can be extremely challenging. But when it comes together, there’s no greater, self-gratifying feeling in the whole world. J