Indie Support Sunday: Mayra De Gracia

4 days ago
9 min read

When I first heard of Mayra De Gracia, it was thanks to her Jaded Boys series that follows the members of a boyband. As an elder millennial and someone who was obsessed with boybands, I was so excited to know these books existed. While I haven’t read them yet, I must admit that they sound so good I might dive into them soon! For those interested, the first three books of the boyband series are available now.

As a Panamanian, Mayra infuses her published stories with her heritage and culture, introducing the world to her country and what it has to offer. And she’s not stopping there. She has an idea for a story set in 1989 during the US invasion of Panama and I, for one, am really looking forward to the day she writes it!

Earlier this year, Mayra was included in the Forbes Centroamérica’s 30 Under 30 list!

You can read all of Mayra’s books—available in Spanish and English—in Kindle Unlimited.

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

Books have been in my life since I was a kid, so naturally, different genres evolved with me as I grew. However, when I was twelve years old, I discovered fanfiction and romance books! It changed my life forever. As a fangirl of different artists, I was heavily inspired by them to start writing my own stories. Writing for me was a secret until I turned twenty-one, when I wrote my first original novel during my last year of university and self-published it right away. It was a shock to everyone in my family, but I haven’t stopped since, and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done.

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

The worst has to be the burnout. Since you have to do it all by yourself (writing, hiring editors, buying software, creating content for social media, setting up ARC teams, and more), it gets exhausting fast. Yet, I think when you find your rhythm and get the hang of things, you know what to expect from the process, and it gets easier with time and practice.

And the best is having total control over my art. Being in charge of the creative process and how I want to do things eases my mind. As a Virgo and a Swiftie, I’m very detailed with everything I do, so that has to be one of the things I like the most about being an indie author. Also, I love chatting with readers after they finish reading one of my books. Fangirling with them and gushing about my stories has to be my favorite part of releasing a book. I love when they spam me.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

I would like to explore the traditional route one day, but I live and am from Panama, and there’s no traditional publishing here. You have to pay “pseudo-publishing houses” which in reality are printing companies, to get your books physically, and you still have to sell and promote them yourself. So in the end, it is the same as self-publishing. The majority of contemporary authors here self-publish through KDP or other platforms, especially the romance ones. So that’s why I chose the independent route, and it’s been one of the best decisions I've ever made because it’s made me go far faster than I thought it could be possible.

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

Where do I start? Haha. I love making playlists with songs that relate to the story I’m currently writing. Watching my favorite films, finding a new TV show to binge, or re-watch one of my favorites. Reading! I love Julia Quinn and historical romances, so I read those. As well as contemporary romances to support new authors I haven’t found yet.

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

Oh my God, I love this question! When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn, Beach Read by Emily Henry and Fighting Words by R.S. Grey.

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

Find your niche and stick to it. I’ve met authors who want to write in several genres at the same time, and it can get a little bit messy.
Read, read, read what you want to write, and research as much as possible. You write what you know, so you need to be equipped with every detail necessary to craft a story.
Be patient. With yourself, with your characters, and on a daily basis. It’s easy to lose sight of your dreams and goals because you think things are taking too long to happen. But believe me, if you put in a little work every day, you’ll start seeing results.
Connect with your readers as much as possible.
If you love wholeheartedly what you are writing and believe in your story, then everything will fall into place.

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

The possibilities! I love that you can approach romance in different scenarios because it’s something that is so present in every level of life. It’s a flexible genre with so many sub-genres that I think it’s impossible to name them all. I just love it, and it’s my favorite to read and write because you learn so much through a love story.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

Mystery! I consume a lot of True Crime content so I think I would be a good mystery writer. Still, I’m happy and proud to be a romance writer and don’t think I’ll be shifting genres. Perhaps investigative journalism could also be a good fit for me since it’s what I got my degree in and I miss it. Sometimes haha.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

Most favorite: Forced proximity

Least favorite: Love triangles

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

I’m eager to write a romance novel about journalism, so maybe “Arranged Marriage” or “Don’t marry him”. I loooove those.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

There should be more awareness about anxiety disorders like separation anxiety, phobias, Trichotillomania, OCD, and PTSD.

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

I choose to write open-door romances because I believe it’s important to center women’s pleasure and show how fulfilling and empowering intimacy can be when it’s told through our own perspectives.

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

When I came up with the idea for my debut novel, Just Business, I knew I wanted to build a universe where everything was connected. So there are several Easter eggs hidden in my four books of things that haven’t appeared yet and will in future books, and vice versa. I have my next 10 books planned since I started publishing for that reason. What can I tell you? I’m a Swiftie who studied journalism.

For the Jaded Boys, I knew I wanted to write a series inspired by boy bands because a contemporary romance series that revolved around a band didn’t exist, so I wanted to write it. I created an original boyband inspired by the ones I grew up obsessing over, wrote original songs for the six-book series, and I’m working on so much more with them.

For Christmas in Boquete, I was inspired by the fact that I’ve spent every single Christmas in a country without snow during summer, yet grew up watching holiday films and reading stories that offered zero representation for Latinas or our cultures. I wanted to write a story that reflected my own experience as a Panamanian woman—one that celebrated our rich food, traditions, and warmth, while still capturing the essence of a classic small-town holiday romcom with a unique twist.

I’m incredibly proud of this book. It’s already having a beautiful impact on my career even before its release, and the feedback has been amazing. Clearly, so many girls needed a story like this. I can’t wait for readers all over the world to discover it — and to learn more about Panama along the way.

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

The Jaded Boys series follows the six members of the popular late 2000’s boyband by the same name. Each interconnected standalone novel follows one of the six members of the band and their love interests. You learn about their ups and downs as a band, failed relationships, friendship secrets, and how they find real love after being under the public’s eye for too long. Filled with pop culture references, original songs, fictitious press, and social media interactions, The Jaded Boys series is a rollercoaster of boyband nostalgia that will make you reminisce about the times you hung posters on your walls.Christmas in Boquete is the first holiday romance set in Panama—a cozy, feel-good story full of second chances, undeniable chemistry, and a little tropical magic. Set in the misty highlands of Boquete, this heartwarming novel blends all the charm of a classic holiday romcom with the vibrant traditions, food, and warmth of a Panamanian Christmas. It’s about healing, love, and the beautiful truth that sometimes the best gifts come when you least expect them.

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

I love all six of the Jaded Boys so much! They’re so complex and interesting that I can’t help but love them as one of their die-hard fans. Better yet, I’m the president of their fan club. This is a safe space for fans of Preston O’Doherty, Beckett Laurence, Travis Antonoff, Atticus McCarthy, George García, and Dante Goulding. <3 I really like writing about men because they’re better on paper than in real life lol. I also love Mateo Hernandez from Christmas in Boquete and Brandon Hecox from Just Business. However, if I had to pick a favorite character from all the stories I’ve written, I would have to pick Marina from The Boyband Correspondence. She’s the one I relate to the most.

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

Ohhh. I would love a Jaded Boys limited series. I would cast Drew Starkey as Preston and Hannah Dodd as Victoria, Tom Blyth as Beckett and Emilia Jones as Marina, Milo Manheim as Travis and Maia Reficco as Emilia, Jordan Fisher as Atticus, Corey Mylchreest as George, Damian Hardung as Dante and Isabela Gómez as Melissa.

And I’d like a movie for Christmas in Boquete and Just Business. For Christmas in Boquete I’d cast Panamanian actors and for Just Business I would cast Josh Hutcherson and Isabela Merced as Sam.

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

A lot. Not much, but they all get things about myself and my real life experiences. Especially the girls, Sam, Victoria, Marina, Emilia, Melissa and Miranda.

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

I’m from Panama, so there are so many stories of my heritage I want to tell. I already include things here and there in my current novels to bring more Panamanian representation to contemporary books, but there’s a particular story that involves The Panama Canal I want to tell about the US Invasion of Panama in 1989. Hopefully one day.

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

Music! I love music with all my heart and soul. So you will always find music in my stories and pop culture references somehow.

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

I’m releasing Christmas in Boquete tomorrow and that’s extremely exciting for me! My entire apartment is filled with boxes full of copies I have yet to sign and pre-orders are going great as well.

However, something that’s coming next is The Boyband Interconnection. I'm halfway through the Jaded Boys series and I’m currently working on it as four out of six in the series, so that’s coming hopefully next year [2026]!

When you write these stories, what are you hoping your readers will feel?

I’m trying to push Panamanian stories to the mainstream book world so more people know about us. I also want my readers to feel nostalgic and hopeful as they realize that all dreams are possible! Dreams are extremely important to me, and I work hard every day to make mine come true. So that’s something I want to transmit through my stories.