. Our participants commended Ms. Murnane’s congeniality and inspirational life story. Her ability to inspire and motivate participants to pursue creative endeavors resonated throughout the feedback received after the event.”
Maria Murnane
Biography
A former PR executive who abandoned a successful career to pursue a more fulfilling life, Maria Murnane is the best-selling author of the Waverly Bryson series (Perfect on Paper, It's a Waverly Life, Honey on Your Mind, and Chocolate for Two, which garnered a starred review in Publishers Weekly), as well as Katwalk, Wait for the Rain, Bridges, and International Book Award winner Cassidy Lane. At her speaking engagements she shares the "story behind the story," an entertaining tale of courage, passion and perseverance that has inspired audiences across the country to follow their dreams--no matter what.
A remarkable personal tale
Perfect on Paper, which Maria wrote during a year she spent playing semi-pro soccer in Argentina, was initially turned down by several major publishing houses. In an effort to prove them wrong, Maria self-published and implemented a creative, grass-roots marketing campaign. And it worked! Within a year Perfect on Paper attracted the attention of senior executives at Amazon, who chose it out of more than 10,000 self-published titles for the company's venture into traditional publishing. They offered Maria a contract, and a year later Perfect on Paper reached #2 overall on Amazon. Since then the book has been translated into German, Hungarian, Italian, Serbia, Turkish, and Indonesian. Maria's subsequent novels have also been purchased by Amazon Publishing, housed under the Lake Union imprint.
Organizations that have invited Maria to speak include the Harvard Women's Leadership Conference, the Massachusetts Conference for Women, the Baltimore Book Festival, the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, the Texas Conference for Women, and Temple University's Fox School of Business, among many others. She has also been featured in USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Entrepreneur, Money, Shape, and PopSugar.
Maria was a Regents' and Chancellor's Scholar at UC Berkeley, where she graduated with high honors in English and Spanish and was an Alumni Scholar. She also received a master's degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Maria Murnane
Featured Keynote Programs
Following Your Dream
This speech is Maria Murnane’s remarkable personal story, an exciting and entertaining tale of the courage it took for her to abandon a successful career in pursuit of a more fulfilling life. The ensuing journey took her halfway across the world and resulted in her becoming a best-selling novelist. This speech is for anyone who needs some encouragement to follow a dream, or for anyone looking for inspiration to make a change, however small, to find happiness. Ms. Murnane proves by example that if you really want something and refuse to give up, you can make it happen.
Communication
This speech explains the critical role communication plays in making a professional impression. Through colorful yet tangible examples, the audience will learn how to make a positive impression in written, verbal, and non-verbal communication, as well as how to avoid unwittingly making a negative impression in one or more of these areas. Based on Maria Murnane’s experience as a professional writer and public speaker, and as a coach helping aspiring authors in their own quests for literary success.
Entrepreneurship
This inspirational speech will delight any woman who has an idea for a business, however small, brewing in the back of her head. Why not just try it? The audience will learn the steps Maria Murnane used to her make her own plan a reality. Based on her experience in launching a fun line of products based on her novels, which she calls “romantic comedies for anyone who has ever run into an ex on a bad hair day.”
How To Get Published
This workshop clarifies the difference between traditional and self-publishing and provides a clear, step-by-step guide to each for both fiction and non-fiction. It covers the pros and cons of both routes and explains how to avoid mistakes on the self-publishing side that can cost time, money, and readers. Based on Maria Murnane's first-hand experience on her way to becoming a best-selling novelist.