Michelle Muenzler, Author and Nicknamed “The Cookie Lady”
By Cheval John
January 10th, 2018
Today’s episode features Michelle Muenzler, who is an author of many books and a speaker.
She has spoken at many conventions around the state of Texas including the Houston Comicpalooza.
The backstory of how I met Michelle happened when I was a last minute substitute to moderate a panel about how writers use social media to build brand awareness for a self-published author at Comicpalooza last year.
I had always heard a lot about Comicpalooza and how it was filled with celebrities who build their status with past shows.
Living here in Houston the last couple of years, I knew this was my opportunity to attend the famed event, so I was happy to moderate the panel.
While preparing for the writer’s panel in the meeting room, Michelle walked in asked if anyone wanted cookies she made.
I gladly accepted and I got to hear her presentation at comicpalooza.
In this episode, you will hear:
-what led Michelle to become a fiction author full time
-the importance of social media
-her favorite sports team
-why she left Twitter
-why she brings cookies at every convention she attends
This episode was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network late last year.
Snippet on Vallano Media TV (I had dropped my bag which had the computer and my screen had turned green. Thankful the computer is o.k.)
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Website: www.michellenmuenzler.com
Quotes from Michelle Muenzler on:
SPEAKING AT CONVENTIONS
Conventions are a lot of fun.
They are a lot of work, but a lot of fun.
I’m naturally kind of an introvert, so extroverting for a weekend takes a lot of work and mental preparation and a little body armor.
There’s something about just being able to go in and be on a panel with a bunch of other writers and just kind of talk shop that I know is really enjoyable.
The fact that comicpalooza (houston) invited me back two years in a row has been awesome.
I’m hoping to go again this next year (this year).
I do a lot of the Dallas area conventions, the small library conferences up at Roanoke (Texas).
Austin (Texas) has armadillo con which is always a lot of fun.
So it’s a great way to connect with people and hang out with other writers.
You get to hang out with fans and booksellers.
It’s like a giant happy family.
SOCIAL MEDIA
It can be a terrible distraction, but also a wonderful way to connect.
I tend to mostly hang out on Facebook because I can control a bit better how much I’m interacting.
I used to do a whole lot of Twitter, but I found myself obsessing too much over reading every single thing that every single person on my feed posted and it just got to be way too much.
I can’t shut my brain down enough to kind of let it be for the day and interact whenever I happen to cross over.
It’s been really great for getting writer news like information on markets.
Information on what’s going on in the industry.
Get to chat with fans and hear about everyone’s cats.
It’s allowed me to kind of get in touch with a lot more people.
FACEBOOK BEING HER FAVORITE PLATFORM
I think I like it because it’s a slightly longer format, but not too long.
It’s happening somewhat real time, well Facebook algorithms aside from how they keep screwing with the order we see everything.
People are posting whenever they feel like it.
They can post longer things about what’s going on in their lives.
You have a little bit of a chance to kind of react to it and talk about it.
It’s all consolidated in one space.
So it’s not quite as lengthy or like thrown out as a blog is.
I keep track of a number of blogs.
But I have a little bit of trouble just connecting with them on that same personal level.
There’s just something about being able to instantly interact on Facebook, but with it not being too short.
Like a comfort medium.
BRINGING COOKIES TO EVERY CONVENTION
What I found at conventions as a short story author is it’s a little bit easy to kind of disappear.
Even a lot of novelists kind of struggle with standing out.
It’s a very highly competitive industry full of fantastic writers.
So you want to stand out a little bit.
I found number one, the cookies kind of helped people remember me based off of that.
In addition, I also am rather the introvert and I found the cookies kind of helped give me a safety net or a magical shield a la Captain America minus flinging it at people.
When in doubt, pass out the cookies.
I can meet people and just randomly walk around and be like, “greeting stranger, have a cookie.”
It’s made it a lot easier actually to meet people and to break ice and to not get all caught up in my own head.
It’s been very useful for that and people actually recognize me.
At armadillo con this year (last year), someone came up and they’re like, “oh my gosh, you’re the cookie lady from comicpalooza.”
It works.
I spend the entire day before every convention baking those 700 cookies.
So it’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun and everyone loves cookies.