SPEAKER INTERVIEW: Maili McBride
This is a series of interviews with the speakers of Digital Family Summit, June 29-July 1.
Read all of the speaker interviews
See a list of our speakers
See our full schedule
Register for the conference
Maili Anne McBride is a second-year college student residing in southern California. She began her writing career using Wattpad.com, the leading social media site for avid readers and amateur writers. Maili’s knowledge of social media has allowed her to personally connect with fans worldwide and keep them informed. Her book caught the attention of Wattpad readers and Sourced Media Books, a traditional publisher. With over 1.5 million reads, Wait! He’s Real?
twitter: MailiAnne
website: Wattpad.com
session:
How did you get involved with blogging?
I began writing a novel on an amateur writing site called Wattpad.com. It was just for fun, but I received an enormous response and kept writing for the fans. It caught the attention of a publishing company, and before you know it, I had a published book. That’s the short version, anyway.
What blogs do you read regularly?
I look at Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest the most. Facebook is where I connect with my friends and share my experiences. Twitter is where I vent my random thoughts that somehow still need to be expressed and can be in less than 140 characters. I use Pinterest every day just to keep all of the things I see online that I love in one place: Handy tips for my future children and home, fashion ideas, recipes. You name it, I probably have a board for it.
Any advice for young bloggers?
Practice really does make perfect. Share your product with anyone and everyone. The best gift you can receive is advice and feedback. Those responses from people you know and some you don’t can help you improve yourself and your product!
What do you think is the greatest opportunity for digital teens today?
The greatest opportunity for families is to create memories. Some of my favorite possessions are movies and videos from my childhood or school projects that we’ve all made together. In my family, my brother and cousin created these two characters and they’ve made 6 movies with the whole family included. These provide wonderful memories and things to watch as we get older and I hope that every family can have a sort of legacy like that. I can’t wait to show them to MY children!
What are you going to talk about at the conference?
I will be speaking about my publishing journey and experience as a teenage author. I’m really grateful for this opportunity to speak and share my story. I hope it inspires someone to do something wonderful with the talents they already posses, but have yet to discover them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Gertsacov is the co-founder and co-organizer of Digital Family Summit. He wears many hats, including those of a professional clown, an author and publisher, an artist/educator, a non-profit administrator, a P.T. Barnum impersonator, a flea circus impresario, and the esteemed hat of the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt, Maryland.
Leave a Reply
