Cheryl Merz wanted to be a writer as a teen. It took her 50 years to get started, and she’s been making up for lost time ever since. She has written 27 and a half novels, a handful of nonfiction books, and countless words on social media. A former IT specialist, real estate broker, and serial entrepreneur, Cheryl now ghostwrites archaeological thrillers with a long-term client and writes romance novels under her own pen name. She lives in Colorado.
Host: Richard Lowe | Guest: Cheryl Merz
Interview Transcript
Richard: What is the story of you starting writing? Why did it take 50 years?
Cheryl: Fifty years ago, we didn’t have the internet. Self-publishing was not easy. And like many writers, I’m very critical of my own work. So I went to college, majored in English, got my Mrs. degree, raised my children, had some careers along the way. Then I found myself with plenty of time and no income. I put my profile up on what was then oDesk, now Upwork, and met a gentleman who pretty soon began using all of my time. It grew from there.
Ghostwriting as Collaboration
Richard: What kind of books do you write?
Cheryl: Under my own pen name, I’ve written a few romance novels. But my major client — I’ve been working with him for almost five years — has a series of archaeological mysteries with a bit of speculative fiction. I’ve written 14 of his books, and that’s where the “half” comes in — we’re halfway through the last one.
It’s very collaborative. He comes up with the core idea. Together we write an outline, and I begin writing. He lives in Australia, so when I’m asleep, he’s editing the previous day’s work, putting his own spin on it. When I’m awake, I edit his work — he was born in South Africa and his first language isn’t English. So I edit his work and then start writing the next day’s material. It’s a heck of a lot of fun.
I argue with him a lot over how scenes should go, especially pacing. He’s a project manager, not a writer. One of the things I learned quickly when he persuaded me to write fiction was that I needed education on the craft. He’s good-natured about it — he gives in sometimes.
Why Romance?
Richard: What got you into romance?
Cheryl: Laziness, I hate to admit it. I did research on what was the biggest market with the least amount of research required, because I already had a lot of research to do for my client. Romance was it. At the time, it was pretty wide open. I met people online who achieved quite generous financial success with their first books. So I jumped in.
I sold a respectable amount. However, I was working 14 hours a day, sometimes writing up to three novels at the same time — 10,000 to 11,000 words a day. It wasn’t sustainable. Something came along that stopped me, and I went to ghostwriting full time.
The Writing Life
Richard: What do you enjoy about the writing life?
Cheryl: Freedom. I wanted to do my work when I was at my most productive and rest when I wanted. And I love the collaboration with my client. We chat on Skype daily. We finish each other’s sentences. He’s a very funny man and very generous.
I’m well past retirement age and don’t want to work full time. His writing takes up half a day, depending on the budget. The other half, I’m a serial entrepreneur — I’ve been one for more than 20 years.
Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist
Richard: How do you fight writer’s block?
Cheryl: I don’t believe in writer’s block. I’m a very organized writer. I write from an outline, so I never sit down without knowing what I need to write that day. Because I know what I need to write, I don’t stare at a blank screen.
One time in my life, during a year when I had a series of very upsetting events culminating in my mother’s passing, I was unable to write. Writer’s block, as far as I’m concerned, is either being unprepared or being distracted by something too important to set aside.
When I picked it up again, I found the book I’d been trying to write — the one time I tried to pants instead of plot — just wasn’t in me anymore. That’s when I contacted my client and said, “Do you still have work for me?” He jumped at it.
Promotion: Own Your Platform
Richard: What are good promotional techniques authors should know?
Cheryl: In romance, if you’re indie published, you’d better be putting out a book every four to six weeks. Romance readers like their books to be 80,000 to 100,000 words. So you have to write quickly and fairly cleanly.
The best way to promote is to have an email list — that’s par for the course for anything you’re doing independently. A lead magnet is how you exchange value for an email address. I use novellas as lead magnets — free offers for people who sign up to my newsletter.
“Buy my book” never works on Facebook. I see writers wasting money on paid ads that go straight to Amazon. Get them to your website where you can keep them. Anytime you’re dependent on somebody else’s platform, you don’t own your business. Amazon can delete your account for any reason. Many romance authors are finding that out.
I gained about 50 hardcore readers who were posting my updates all over Facebook on their own — no thought of reward. That was really heartwarming.
Networking Is Critical
Cheryl: When I started writing, I thought I could edit my own books because my mechanics are good. It wasn’t until I joined the Colorado Romance Writers that I was shamed into being professional. People would say, “You don’t have an editor?” — like it was unheard of. You can’t edit your own books. You just don’t see your mistakes.
There was a lot of growth in professionalism through networking. Other writers helped me through my terrible year by saying, “You’ll get back to writing, don’t worry. Your readers will be there when you get back.” I still have readers who message me on Facebook to ask how I’m doing.
I belonged to a mastermind group — a subgroup of CRW — all indie published or wanting to be. We exchanged ideas about that aspect of writing and publishing. It’s critical. You can’t write in a vacuum. There’s plenty of room for everybody out there, as long as everybody plays nicely with others.
Find Cheryl Merz on Facebook.
Find Richard Lowe at TheWritingKing.com.
Video edited by Bonnie Dillabough.