Interview with Crystal Reed

Author of How to Live with a Psychic: Your Guide for Maintaining a Happy Relationship when Someone You Love Gets Weird

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

Santa Monica, California (same answer to both questions).

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

Many summers ago, my husband (who had always been a ghost magnet anyway) suddenly developed tremendously powerful psychic/mediumistic and healing skills, almost overnight. This awakening is more and more common all the time as the veil is thinning between the dimensions, but it’s still very disruptive when it happens out of the blue. I helped him through the period, using my background in therapy and also my own intuition, and we came through even better on the other side. However, in the hardest moments, I had sought out a book to help not the psychic but the person trying to live with a psychic during this major life change. But there was nothing. There was no book on this topic anywhere on Amazon or the internet in general. So I wrote the book.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

All of my books are/will be easy-to-read, casual, pragmatic guides to topics that people usually mistakenly believe are difficult or overwhelming.

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

This is a nonfiction self-help book with a very literal title. It’s for people who are struggling in their relationship with a person who is psychic. The psychics themselves also seem to enjoy the book, as it’s all about them from a unique perspective.

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

How many drafts are required to get to a passable version. It will never be a perfect version. You can revise and revise until you die and it will never be perfect. But just to get to an acceptable version there are many more drafts that you could imagine before you’ve been through it.

If you could, what advice would you give to your past self before embarking on this journey?

Don’t wait until you feel like an expert. You may never get there. Just start writing when you have something to say. In most cases, that is good enough.

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

All the people! Just joking. No book is for everyone. But I’d like thousands of people to have benefited from my book, for sure.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

Marketing. My book is extremely niche. I get lots of praise and thanks in private from people who feel my book has saved their relationship, or helped them understand themselves enough that they were able to be a good partner in their next relationship. But the topic just doesn’t apply to most people, and it sounds too esoteric for most people except those who wake up one day realizing they need it. So it’s hard to figure out how to get it in front of all the right readers.

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

a) I’ve always had facility with the written word so I haven’t had to “learn to write,” like many people do.
b) My husband and I are a phenomenally good team. He helps with my books, I help with his YouTube channel, etc. Between the two of us we seem to possess all the skills we need to turn out professional, good-looking content.
c) I feel strongly about the quality of my work, which makes it easier to try to sell to people. I don’t like selling in general but I feel so confident that this book is a life-changer for readers that I am able to overcome any hesitation I would feel selling products in general.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

a) Disciplining myself to write as frequently as I should.
b) Impatience with the submission process.
c) Very low budget means that I rely a lot on contacting potential customers (e.g. metaphysical bookstores) one at a time, and those never result in a large order, so it’s not a very effective method.

When do you think you will write your next book?

I have three more books in process right now. I’m hoping to get at least one out in 2020. All three are nonfiction. One is about communicating telepathically with animals. Another is about college admissions. The other is about end-of-life planning. (I’m also a death Douala.) These are unrelated topics but are all things I know a lot about through my professional experience.

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

Completely self published. Formatting (me), cover design (husband), editing (both of us), all of it. Just us. Truly self published. I’d love to have my next book be picked up by an agent and then a Big 5 or genre-appropriate large publisher, to save us the effort of so many of those parts. But I realize even if you’re traditionally published, most of the marketing still falls on the author now.