Through my regular internet addiction, I met a very interesting person. I’m almost always on the search for people to interview and promote; this time, I found one of the most fascinating interviews I’ve come across.
Meet Mahogany SilverRain a.k.a. Kimiko or Miko for short, she also has another pen name: K.R. Vance.
She has an impressive list of published books and does not look to be slowing down. More impressive is that in the few interactions we’ve had I have noticed she is passionate in writing and in life, dedicated to her crafts and talented in her creative ideas.
As a native of the cold climates I appreciated her insight into cold weathers in her book “Winter’s Kiss”. You can nab copies of any number of her books (as I have done) at: https://www.amazon.com/Mahogany-SilverRain/e/B002Z3270Q
I recommend you check her out. She has 10 books out in the market with impressive Goodreads ratings.
When looking through her content, I learned a lot about this very motivating person. She has a lot of background to match her diverse talents. She says it best in the introduction to my interview questions:
“I have ten self-published books, one is a children’s book about my family and it’s multiracial status. My husband is Italian/Dutch, his daughter from his first marriage is Malaysian/Japanese, my eldest daughter is Hispanic/Native American, I am Creole/Haitian/Nigerian and according to tests, 20% Asian, and 15% Hispanic. My book is called My Rainbow Family. I plan to write more children’s books in the future as K.R. Vance. My other books under Mahogany SilverRain are mainly paranormal/diverse/contemporary/historical romance.”
Nine of her books are on amazon at the link above however she had the distinct honor of being picked up by a traditional publisher – Simply Inspired Words Publishing – https://www.simplyinspiredwordspub.com/ for her book “The Blood Rose” which will be hitting stores shortly.
Most authors I come across have been struggling to gain reputations or are frustrated with the lack of notoriety. Mahogany, conversely, has quite a notable following. It is inspiring especially after reading her processes for marketing (below). This means she put countless hours putting herself into the eyes of potential readers and has come across success. The reviews, the writings, the diverse talents, and the fans make one impressive writer. I believe she is not only an inspiration to those looking to achieve writer recognition but a true success in writing.
The current list of her books are: Ebony Encounters: A Trilogy of Erotic Tales, A Slave’s Heart, Riona’s Luck, Sake and Pumpkin Pie, (a Thanksgiving holiday book), Imani’s Gift, (a Christmas Holiday book), Winter’s Kiss, Passion’s Pride: Leonessa (Series book 1), Shanghai Sheena, and last but not least, a new release on August 15th, Tell Me You Love Me.
She says she is working on the second novel to Blood Rose, (no formal title yet), the second book for Passion’s Pride: Alejandro: Passion’s Pride series. Notably, she says: they’re all cat shifters because she loves cats (we commend and agree with this!) Leonessa is a lion and Alejandro is a jaguar. Alejandro will be her male lead as she mainly writes about heroines. She looks forward to the new writing perspective of writing of a man searching for himself and discovering love along the way. She has an audio book for “Passion’s Pride: Leonessa” in production. She says: “the producer is awesome, and I love how engaging his voice is and his accent for Leonessa and the people of Freetown, Sierra Leone.”
Readers can find more about her and her amazing works at:
Author Page on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Mahogany-SilverRain/e/B002Z3270Q
So, to the interview we are all waiting for. Before we start, I give all my authors opportunity to brag about their accomplishments and talk about how they stand out. She really stood out and has great bragging rights. She says she is also considering telling her life’s story, all the struggles, physically, mentally, all the pain and heartbreak and how it has shaped who she is today – I would definitely pick this up off bookshelves, so I support this. Stop by any number of her sites and let her know you would support it too.
Without further ado; here is Mahogany who so kindly took to the time to answer our questions. Thank you very much for sharing with us, we are very glad to have your inspiration!
Aside from writing, what do you do for a living?
In addition to being an author, I am also a personal trainer, I was also a bodybuilder and I won 2nd place overall in my first Women’s Bodybuilding competition in 2014, fulfilling a dream I had as a teenager. I completed it in my 40’s!
However, life happens and two years ago I needed back surgery and this year, neck surgery. I don’t like taking pain pills, so I had my doctor put in permanent spine stimulation. I literally have to ‘charge’ my battery in my back every Friday!
My kids call me a ‘cyborg’ because I have so much metal in my body. It keeps the pain at bay as it provides direct stimulation to the nerves. My orthopedic surgeon says I have degenerative discs that break down over time, it slowed me down quite a bit, but I am making a good recovery and I can get back to doing some of the things I like to do. I am also a licensed Zumba instructor, a yoga instructor, Tai Chi and group fitness trainer. While I can’t lift weights anymore, I put together a series of movements that I can do. Tai Chi for balance, yoga for balance and strength, Zumba and walking for cardio, and resistance bands for strength as well. I am also licensed and certified to teach ESL (English as a second language), to young students ages 5-12. I am currently working with students in Beijing, China via the internet.
What is one skill you possess that you have an almost magical ability with? Something that you do so well (whether you like it or not) that you are embarrassed?
One skill, I can make anything into a poem. It’s funny, but sometimes awkward depending on the social setting. Family members laugh, but they are biased.
Is there any genre you really enjoy writing? Any genre you love reading? If you were to rewrite the genres would you change anything about how they are?
I enjoy writing paranormal romance and I enjoy reading it. I am a romantic at heart. Not the typical flowers and candy woman, but I appreciate the little things my husband does. Since he is a classically trained chef, he does most of the cooking. He always makes my plate first and I do the same for him when I cook. Whenever he goes shopping, he always brings me something that I like. When he gets upset with me, he never calls me a name, and is always understanding when I am upset and gives me my space. I do the same, giving him his space, except I am really bad when I am upset, I will call you everything but a child of God! I am working on that though and I am getting better. Having a Christian, spiritual background and being from New Orleans, LA, I have learned a lot about the supernatural and the spirit realm. I put some of those things into my writing because we “write what we know.”
It is amazing what people can accomplish if they put their mind to it.
What is the hardest thing you notice about the writing community? The most annoying? And, what is the greatest thing about the writing communities that you notice from online groups or in person?
The most difficult thing for me about the writing community would be some of the things people say to you when you tell them you write romance books. For instance, the RWA Romance Writers of America didn’t accept me because my stories were not the hero saves the girl, goes through trials, and gets the girl at the end. I even had one editor from a publisher tell me my writing is great but it’s not romance. She liked it but she said it was not what they considered romance because my novel has a female lead and three romantic partners. That was in 2008 and now we have reverse harem romance, so I am glad to be back to writing and publishing again. There is now a genre for me and my stories.
The greatest thing I have noticed is how much other authors support each other and even join each other and write a book together. I am a part of an amazing Facebook Group called I Love Diverse Romance, headed by Siren Allen. I have met so many authors who write like I do! They are an amazing group of ladies who support, share and tweet for each other. IR romance has come a long way since I began writing in 2008 and now there is a IR Authors Expo in Florida next year in April. There will be 40 or more authors featured there! In 2008, there were only a handful and I was one of them. These authors review other author’s books and help new authors find their way in the publishing world.
Do you know what writing success looks like? What does it look like to others versus your opinion? If a writer is truly successful; what things do you think are different from the average writer?
I honestly would like the success of Danielle Steel and her books that were made into Lifetime TV movies. I would really love to see my characters on film. I want to make women feel loved and understood when they read my books, maybe even learn a few tips or tricks they can try in the bedroom with their husbands to spice things up. 😉 Will I achieve that? Anything is possible! Especially since we are seeing more interracial couples on film, commercials, tv, etc.
The difference between an average writer and a truly successful one is having a team of people, (editor, publicist, and publishing house), who believe in you and your work and are in a position to get your books out to the public. The public can be fickle at times, but if someone of merit or prestige promotes your books, then the average writer has a better shot at becoming a truly successful writer. My writing has always been therapeutic for me, but now I want to take it up to the next level.
Who would win in a fight: Unicorn or Pegasus? Iron man or Batman?
Unicorn and Pegasus, well honestly, Pegasus would win because he is more of a ‘war’ horse and and a unicorn is a magical creature. Plus Pegasus can fly! Ironman and Batman, who would win the fight? They are both billionaires, so the one the most gadgets I suppose! I would say Ironman, Batman cannot fly! Sorry Bruce, Tony has money and brains!
Cute family life – she has a lot going for her
What is your favorite marketing technique? How do you get your book in front of people? Or, what have you done in the past to really get people to notice your writing talents?
My favorite marketing technique would be Facebook and book websites. I have had more success that way. Word of mouth is good, but slow and people forget sometimes. I have posted on websites, written an article or two. I play Sims4 and share my stories by creating Sims characters of my book characters.
Do you have any writing blogs you recommend? Any websites that have helped you through writing, publication or even just motivation to write?
I do not know of many blogs, I find it difficult to blog myself, and while I do have one, I have only posted maybe three times in the last three months. I did get help from https://www.simplyinspiredwordspub.com/ and https://www.writerslife.org
What was your publishing path? (Self-publish, traditional, agent, etc.) And, what was the experience like? Did it turn out as you expected? If not how was if different? What would you do differently next time?
I chose to self-publish after being rejected many times and being told I do not fit the ‘romance’ mold. I do regret choosing AuthorHouse to publish my children’s book. They only allowed so many edits and then promised to market my book. I ended up marketing my book and even went on local TV to drum up sales. I was even in the newspaper. I spent more than I made, I will not do that again. I also just recently found out that they are vanity publishers. I made very little royalties. Every now and then, I may get a check from from them. However, I love publishing on Amazon. I also published with Lulu.com and they were not much better, but I found smashwords.com and other sites. Eventually, I just stopped using any other site but Amazon and I wanted to keep my rights to my books. Simply Inspired Words Publishing has offered me way to keep more royalties and I think I am going to really like working with them.
What was the worst nightmare you ever had? How did this nightmare effect you and was it while sleeping or awake that this nightmare manifested?
The worst nightmares I have ever had were the ones where my children were either hurt, killed or taken. I woke up with such a pain in my chest, I could hardly breathe! Nothing has ever happened to my children, but those dreams were true nightmares! Although I did have one dream where I saw this creature sitting on my chest and for some reason, I was on a train, that was moving and lying down next to my husband in our room. I had a veil of some sort over my face and this creature that sat on my chest began to choke me and I tried to get him off, I tried hitting my husband (in the dream) to wake him up to help me but he never woke up! My husband woke me up for real and I was gasping for air, he said I screamed and then I stopped breathing, so he was trying to revive me by giving CPR! It was terrifying!
Have you experienced heartbreak or hurt from publishers, editors, agents or anyone in the writing community that changed your writing – or, your process of writing going forward?
Most of my heartbreak was from the reviews, people can be so cruel! One said his grandson could write better than I could! I had good reviews, but some people are just mean because they can be. Ok, so you didn’t like it, then why not actually tell me how you think I can improve or what you thought was not believable, but don’t insult me! I was so depressed, I did not want to publish anymore, much less finish my second novel. Then when my health failed and I almost died from having blood clots in both lungs, I lay in the ICU for six days thinking, “I have to get out of here!” “If I survive this, I am going to what I need to do and I am not going to let anyone stop me again.” I lived so here I am, publishing my first book since 2010 in August and that book took two years to write because I still had to recover.
Let’s pretend there is a higher power deity that knows everything – past, present, and future – of all living creatures and you get the opportunity to meet this all-knowing entity, but you can only ask 1 question – what would you ask?
I would ask God what His plans for me are. Lay it out for me, step by step, so I can get where I need to be!
What is something in the writing community that overwhelms you? It could be editing, publishing or just the community?
Editing, rereading over and over, gets overwhelming. I love my stories, but I am not one for monotony! I get bored easily, lol!
If a big house publisher came to you and offered to pay you an obscene amount of money to write about something you hate writing about – what would it be? What do you hate writing about, and would you take the job even though you hate writing about it?
I hate writing stories that don’t have Happily Ever After endings and if I were offered an obscene amount of money, I would probably do it. Sometimes to be successful, we must do the thing we hate to do. If the prize is worth it, it will be all the more glorious in the end.
If animals became sentient and started writing – which animal would you read first? What animal would interest you the most to hear their inner most thoughts?
Oh if an animal could write, I would love to hear from a large cat, lion, tiger, or Lynx. Just to see how their minds work. I would also be interested to know what my dog, who is a 2 year old fawn colored German Shepard, is thinking. She drives me nuts sometimes because she is so scared of everything! She chases her tail constantly until she gets dizzy. She barks and growls, but if the person actually approaches, she hides behind me! She is 80 lbs of all bark and no bite! LOL
What is something you want your readers to know about you?
I have been through quite a bit of changes and challenges, but I will always keep going because my life was spared for a reason and I want to do my best to serve my purpose on this earth. I love to help people, I love to compliment and lift people up. You never know what kind of day someone is having and if a smile or a kind word can make their day, then why not do that? I have a big heart and I genuinely love people.
She did not put this here, but I thought this was something worth noting. She had another book she published and took off the market because of lack of happily ever after ending of story. The self-published book: “Naamah: A Succubus Tale” was pulled because she says: “I felt it was too dark for the image I want to portray. I like happily ever after and having the heroine triumphant over evil.” Even though she had a following for this book, she took it off because her values are important and for that I give her mad respect.
The whole family
While on the topic of respect, please stop by and give Mahogany some respect for her talents. She is definitely a notable person and she can be reached at:
Author Page on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Mahogany-SilverRain/e/B002Z3270Q
If you are looking for some promotion or want to learn more about what Daee Dreamz does – don’t hesitate to reach out to us doreen.lucky@daeedreamz.com or 612) 217-4065
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