- [Narrator 1] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) - "R-Town, the show about Rochester" learns how one entrepreneur is helping writers make their book-writing dreams a reality.

And we get some magical royal treatment at a new spa experience for girls.

We also get the latest from the RCTC campus.

All that and so much more coming up next on "R-Town, the show about Rochester."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota (upbeat music continues) R-Town.

(upbeat music continues) Ever wanted to write a book?

For many writers, that is easier said than done.

A new app and writing platform created by a local entrepreneur hopes to give writers a helping hand.

Here to tell us all about it is Alira Coffman, founder of Wren Writing, and an author herself.

Welcome to "R-Town," Alira.

- Yeah, it's great.

Thank you so much.

- So what is when, Wren Write, see, I can't even say.

It's too much alliteration.

Wren Writing.

- So Wren writing is a software tool set.

It's an online web application for authors to kind of have everything in one place.

So writing your book, formatting your book, sending it out to people, and we chose the wren and the alliteration because wren in stories is supposed to be this druid or this storyteller, this songbird, this artistic like talent.

- [Nicole] I love it.

- Yeah.

- I love all of the thought around that.

So what inspired you to start Wren Writing and what are some of the challenges that you're hoping it addresses?

- Yeah, so Wren Writing was actually started because I as an author was tracking my statistics on a spreadsheet.

So, you know, spreading for 10 minutes and then doing 500 words and keeping track of it because it was a really heavy motivator for, motivator for myself.

And that kind of spiraled into my day job.

I'm an engineer, I've been an engineer for 10 years, and the spreadsheet was getting way too hard to keep up with 'cause I write like four projects at the same time and it was just too much.

So that started a fun little POC application that I built, and then my writing group was like, "Oh I wanna do that."

And then thus formed Wren Writing.

So the main problem we're actually trying to solve is authors have to use distributed systems in order to finish their book.

A lot more goes in into the production of a book than just writing it, right?

You have writing it, you have formatting it, you have finding your audience, you have staying motivated 'cause it's probably the hardest thing you probably could do.

- Yes.

- And so we're trying to consolidate that all down to one place so you're not having to manage multiple technical systems and then spending money on those technical systems.

We found most authors spend about 50 to $100 a month on just products that they use to finish their book, and we wanted to kind of help that, writing should be more accessible, so.

- Great.

So how does the app work?

And can you, I know we don't have it in front of us here, can you walk us a little bit through the user experience for folks?

- Yeah, so currently, the app, you would go into wrenwriting.com, you would make an account and sign up.

We are a subscription based platform.

We will have free, like open to use services, but most of our product will be behind that subscription, right?

And you can go on there and you'll be able to walk through the different steps.

We have it very much organized by step of book production.

And so the main thing if you're first starting out and you don't have a book is to write your book, right?

And so you use the writing workspace, which is a customizable web platform that you can move your editor around.

You can have graphs, photos, your plotting tools, whatever up on the screen so you don't have to split tabs.

And it's similar when you're formatting your book or trying to find newsletter swaps or things like that.

- Okay, so you're saying I don't have to have 1,000 app, tabs open at one time.

- I mean, you're still gonna have those, but like you don't, we're gonna minimize a couple of them.

- That's great.

How does your app support different types of writers?

So I know that there's writers that are sort of very meticulous about, you know, they come to the table and they've got their outlines and things, and some people that are, yeah, sort of just writing as they go.

How do you, how does your app kind of cater to different types of writing styles?

- Yeah, so pantser and plotters.

So plotters are interesting, I'm not one of them, but one of my friends, she has a 42-page outline for her book.

Meanwhile, I think mine is on a sticky note on my laptop, and that is like the outline.

So very different writers, right?

What we do is we build tool sets that then you can choose to use or not.

So one of the things we have is plotting, where you can drag and drop and like connect lines.

And if that works for you, great.

But if it doesn't, there's also, you know, notebook systems, where you can take little notes per chapter, scene, character, what have you, and you can kind of use what you want.

It's also kind of those features if you pay for them.

If you aren't going to format your book, why should we charge you for that, right?

The same thing is for people who keep really intense story bibles, so collection of character informations, ages, worlds, things like that.

One of my most frustrating things with an Excel sheet is my characters age up as a series progresses, and I have to remember when their birthdays were and what book that occurred in.

So part of like the story bible system is you can make these like time specific-things for like, "Oh, in book three, this happens," and you have to remind that about the character.

Like, in book three, they got an injury to their face, like, so you have to keep continuity.

- Excellent.

So in terms of the actual craft of the story or crafting the story, you know, there's a lot of different elements, can the app sort of support writers as they're thinking about things like plot and character development, things like that?

- Yeah, so one of the things that we are working on that's supposed to launch 2026 is our gamification.

And through that, what we wanna set up is these trees, right?

And so you build your skill trees, similar to like a video game, and part of that skill tree is your roots, and it's understanding story structure, character development, and plot.

Even if you're a pantser, pantser are plotters intuitively, right?

So you're not writing it down, but you have to intuitively know the story structure and character development.

So we really wanna develop those skills out for an author regardless of the project that they're working on.

- I know some of these story elements are specific to certain genres.

Are there certain genres, you know, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, that you're sort of more focused on with the app or sort of any writer in any genre can kind of access it?

- Yeah, so right now we're focused mainly within fiction.

You could use our platform for nonfiction.

We are just mainly focused on fiction because that's where the storytelling and craft comes in.

However, a lot of nonfiction books are now being written like fiction, right?

They're stories, people are connected through stories.

So even though we're focusing on fiction and we're specifically focused around self-publishing tool sets, it doesn't mean that if you write nonfiction or your memoir or your thesis statement that you can't benefit.

Just like if you're going traditional publishing instead of self, it doesn't mean you won't benefit.

It's just certain tools you probably won't use.

- And speaking of publishing, can you walk us through, I think there's this whole landscape of publishing that, you know, writers and even non-writer, but certainly, sorry, writers, non-writers are not often aware of.

So how do you, yeah, how do you, how do you navigate that and how do you sort of help other writers navigate that?

- Yeah, so around 2008, Amazon opened the floodgates for self-publishing, right?

You could now upload your book and you didn't need a publisher in the way.

So self-published authors nowadays are their own publishers.

And I think that there's, you know, a lot of myths around what self-publishing means.

You know, it's not necessarily your Grandpa Joe who did his memoir and is putting it up.

These are fully functional businesses, and they operate as such.

And so with Amazon and Ingram and Barnes and Noble, and, you know, you have 20Booksto50k, which is a large Facebook group dedicated towards the business side of self-publishing.

You have a lot more opportunity.

I think the allied independent authors did a survey last year, and most self-published authors are making about 50,000 a year, where their traditionally published counterparts are pulling in about 12,000 a year.

So it's a very lucrative but very hard industry to be in, right?

So Wren specifically is not a publisher.

I don't know if we ever will be, I mean I'm not gonna say no, but we will not publish.

But what we wanna do is provide education and resources and tools to kind of break some of these myths down and make help people realize that, you know, you don't have to be in the query trenches if you don't wanna be.

Traditional publishing, historically, has been really hard for marginalized voices, and your story should be able to get out there without the barriers.

- You said the query trenches.

Can you tell us what that is?

- Yeah.

So query trenches is when you wanna go traditional.

So you are querying traditional publishing houses.

Usually, you'll query agents.

And with that, you know, you're sending out submission after submission.

And most of the time, you're not gonna get a response back.

And if you do get a response back, they usually are, "Hey, we're not looking for it right now.

Try again later."

Or, "These are like the areas you can improve."

There's nothing wrong with those.

It's just most authors will spend about two years in the query trenches, and then when they finally find an agent, they'll spend about two more years before they actually end up in a trial contract and then two more years for publishing.

So you're already looking at like an eight-year timeline to get the book you wrote out into the world.

- And now, there's other options, obviously.

- Now, there's other options.

If you wish to pursue them.

- That's great.

What stage and development are you, are you at with the app?

And what's sort of the future timeline look like for Wren Writing?

- Yeah, so we're in beta right now, so we can invite users onto the platform.

If anyone is interested, you can go on and subscribe to our newsletter, and then we take different cohorts of users onto the platform and then they provide feedback.

Hopefully, this quarter, we will have some of our services related to marketing and some of like some special formatting coming out for the public to use, and that is where we're at.

- That's excellent.

So as an author yourself, what have you found to be some of the most helpful or important things in your own writing process?

And how has that experience and that of your other team members, 'cause you have another team members with you, kind of informed what is in the app?

- So I am, as an engineer, really like trying new things and playing around with things, and I think that's really informed some of the user experience.

I'm a front-end engineer, I've been that for 10 years, and I specifically have focused on accessibility.

It really annoys me when I go onto sites and they don't work because I know how they should work and they know how to fix it and all these things.

So I think that has really influenced how Wren has been developed, of like what have I struggled with the current tool sets that exist out there and what have other authors said that they struggled with.

And my partner Hannah is also an author.

And she is more of the design side.

So, you know, she talks about what has she felt is missing in the user experience from a visual aspect, and from like, how can we make this easier on an author 'cause there's already so much mental load that you carry.

And so that's kind of why we work together.

Yeah.

- That's awesome.

So you've also, I mean you've got very, a lot of hats, writer, engineer, entrepreneur.

What has the entrepreneurial experience been like for you this past year or years that you've been working on this?

- It's been interesting.

So I started publishing two or three years ago now.

That business was a lot easier to start.

You kind of just go and it's like your own thing, right?

Like you are your own publisher, you have to find your own editor, your own cover design, all of that.

I'm working with two other business partners.

I love them to death.

But people dynamics is a new thing to learn.

So the entrepreneurial sphere for the past year has been one of massive amounts of learning, and I think it's been really fun and helpful, and like it has grown my career wildly.

It's not for everyone.

It is hard.

And I think people kind of neglect to tell you it's hard 'cause they're on the other side of the hard, and it's like, I'm sure that's a relief, but when you're in it, it's like, "Why am I doing this?"

- Definitely.

What advice would you have for writers who are currently working on their book?

I think when I first met you, you had, you shared a statistic that was like shocking about like how many people, how many people actually finished their book that set out to finish it.

So, yeah, what do you, what advice do you have?

- Yeah, so I think that statistic is 80% of people in the U.S. wanna write a book, 3% will actually do it, and less than 1% will actually do anything with it.

So like they'll finish a book and then just not do anything.

So if you've already started, you're already within like 3% of this statistic, right?

But if you're gonna write a book, my biggest advice I always give new authors is to just do it and do it as badly as you can.

Like just forget the inner critic, just do it badly because your worst book is going to be your first book, and it is always gonna be your worst book.

Because until you start writing more, you're not gonna realize like, you know, how bad you are until you practice, right?

I think they say that you need a million words before you are an apprentice, right, of the craft, before you finally fully start to understand how language can flow together and become music.

And, you know, the way we talk is different from the way you tell stories.

And I think that's really important.

So just write bad.

- Love it.

Write bad, that's, I'll take.

- [Alira] That write bad.

- Is there anything else about Wren Writing that you wanna share in terms of how people can stay connected and then what is sort of next for Wren Writing?

- Yeah, so Wren Writing, again, you can go to wrenwriting.com and we have the newsletter subscription.

We also have a Discord group that does Writing Wednesdays.

So if you need people to write together, we found that that is like a big motivator.

'Cause if you go to the gym, you're more likely to go to the gym if someone's with you.

So you're more likely to write if someone's with you.

And that is where we're at.

We're on most social media platforms and we're happy to help anyone.

- Well, thanks for sharing that about the writing groups, I guess, because community's so important.

Can you talk a little bit about the importance of writing community?

- Yeah, so writing community is really important.

It's, I think, the easiest way to grow as an author besides reading.

And I think, you know, we talk about this when you're in school, right?

You'll read something and then you'll talk about it critically with your classmate or your teacher.

You'll be walked through that.

And I think as authors, it's really important, especially since it's such a lonely job.

Like you are responsible for writing it.

And if you're self-publishing, you're responsible for everything.

And so having people to lean on, whether that's through the writing process or through like the critique process of figuring out how things work together, or even through the publishing process, you know?

Publishing, you're putting something that you love and create.

You're basically taking your heart and putting it out for the public to consume.

And the public is not always friendly, you know?

And I think it's really helpful if you have author friends that are kind of in the same place and all of that to like lean on when things get really hard.

So then you keep writing.

- Yeah.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Are you working on anything currently?

- Yeah, always.

So I currently have five books out.

My sixth book is actually on contract.

I am officially a hybrid author, which means that I'm doing both self-publishing and traditional.

And then I am working on two new series.

Yeah.

- All of that.

- All at the same time.

- I see all the balls juggling around- - Yes, yes.

I'm trying to focus on one 'cause that's my writing group said to do.

It's not working.

We're following the dopamine.

- Well, we're going where the dopamine leads.

Great.

- [Alira] Yeah.

- Well, thank you so much for joining us, Alira, thank you for sharing more with us about Wren Writing.

And we hope to be able to kind of follow you through the whole process of launching and and how it grows.

- Yeah, thanks for having me.

- Yeah, for sure.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town."

We visit Little Miss Sunshine Spa, where girls can have a fairytale tea party and so much more.

We also catch up with what's new on the RCTC campus in this week's R-Future segment.

(gentle music) (gentle music) - Hello, my name is Magdieri, and I'm the owner of Little Miss Sunshine here at the Apache Mall.

Before this idea, I was a preschool teacher for eight years for Families First of Minnesota Head Start.

I did cosmetology school.

I graduated for a nail technician, and I wanted to stay with kids.

When I was little, of course, everybody dreams to be a princess, and I was one of 'em.

And I came with the idea, why don't we open something in Rochester where every little girl can come and feel like a princess?

And this idea just came.

Let's just make it for other girls.

(gentle music continues) So we do pampering services for little girls aged 3 to 15.

Mothers and adults are welcome to come over here with their kids and get services, from little mini manicures, mini pedicures.

Are you ticklish?

- [Child] Yeah.

- Yes.

We are about to find out, right?

Okay, let me see.

You sit hard, ready?

- [Child] All right.

- Okay, let's see.

(indistinct) (Magdieri laughing) Hair dust with glitter.

We do fairy makeups, and we, our big ones are princess makeovers.

So the princess makeovers, where the little girl can come and choose her favorite princess.

We offer dresses from Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine.

My goal is to have every princess up there.

The little girl will dress as a princess.

The princess will be for her to take home with the accessories, which is like the crown and the little earrings, bracelets, and necklace.

And we have the shoes coming.

And then they move to the manicured table, they'll get their manicured done.

They move to the makeup makeover, where they do their makeup and their hair.

That's the princess makeover.

(gentle music continues) My range is 3 to 15, the parents and the young little girls up to like, I would say, nine-years-old, the ones that are really into it.

A mom is always welcome to have a day with her daughter.

- Do you love it?

You look pretty amazing.

Look how cute that is.

- The experience will be magical.

Just have that little girl feel special.

I've been getting a lot of phone calls.

I can do that booking by phone, or people can just, you know, book online as well.

I'm pretty new, so a lot of people that see the mall and see this place come and ask, and they say, "Can we just walk in?"

And of course, if I do have the time, walk-ins are welcome.

We're doing pedicures today, we're doing hairdos.

And there's another girl that is getting manicure and the makeup with gems.

So I, like I said, I was a preschool teacher, so I love talking with the kids.

You know, sometimes the kid will be shy, but not for more than two minutes.

Listen, you hear that?

(gentle music continues) It's cute I can turn it off if you like.

- Oh, it's all right.

- It's all right?

I ask questions, like, "How is your day going?"

I explain what I'm doing.

Sometimes I play with the little toes while they're, you know, getting their pedicure done and things like that.

So I just keep it, you know, going.

Do you have a favorite princess?

No?

- Ariel.

- Of course.

I love Ariel.

And I just love it because kids are so innocent.

Like the other day, was doing a manicure, and then she just keeps saying, "I love you."

And I'm like, "Oh, I love you too."

But then she's like, "I love you so much."

And this is, of course, a kid that I do not know.

They'll be playing with the little wands and just, you know, transforming to a princess.

So they're like, "Oh, I'm gonna transform you."

You know, it just get magical.

We just go from like pretending to be princesses or pretend to be somebody and just, I just play along with them.

And they always say how much they love this place and how fun it is.

And every kid that comes over here is guaranteed to have a smile on their face.

(gentle music continues) The princess outfit is the a princess package that I do offer.

That one has been very popular.

So that's when the little girl comes and wear the dress.

But every girl that comes over here wears a pink robe.

We give 'em a princess crown and a wand.

And they'll take that princess crown and wand home.

And we store sparkly juice as well.

So this is where they feel very important, like they have in their time of their life.

(gentle music continues) My hope is to meet every family's need.

I have, you know, I offer different packages, different prices, and I just want everybody to feel like a princess so I kind of, you know, offer a little bit of everything.

Try to keep my prices, you know, to meet everybody's family.

And my hope is to keep growing, you know, to keep putting smiles on kids.

(gentle music continues) - [Narrator 2] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, @KSMQ#RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

- And thank you for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and all the wonderful people making it happen.

For more content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town, the show about Rochester."

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - [Narrator 1] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.