Mary Ann Weir teaches eighth grade English at Buford Middle School in Charlottesville.
She and her husband, Craig, live in Waynesboro.
At the end of this school year, Weir will retire from teaching and devote her time to a dream she never thought would become a reality: full-time novelist.
“I just wanted to write a happily ever after fall-in-love kind of [book],” Weir, who grew up in Pennsylvania, said. “I was just writing and writing until the story was done.”
She chose to write a werewolf romance because she wanted to write something she would enjoy reading herself and which had a satisfying ending.
In February 2022, Weir began writing the first book, thinking she would only write one book.
“And I was never going to publish. I was never going to do anything with it,” she said. “Just writing it, to write it.”
Five books later, her husband encouraged her to publish the first in the “Five Fangs” series in February 2023, which has so far sold more than 11,000 copies on Amazon. In May 2023, 2,000 copies sold in just 30 days.
The “Five Fangs” series also created a companion series by Weir focused on stories of several characters.
Weir launched audio books of “Five Fangs” in December 2023, and 174 have already sold.
“Who’s reading this? It’s incredible,” Weir said.
She said that at first she was scared of the success of her books.
Fans have found her on Facebook and sent messages sharing with her how much they enjoy her books. Seventy-five percent of her book sales are on Kindle Unlimited.
“Five Fangs” has 2.2 million readers on Wattpad, a phone application and website for fans.
The most difficult aspect of self-publishing, according to Weir, is advertising, which she posts videos for on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Before teaching, Weir, 49, was a graphic designer for a newspaper.
The success of “Five Fangs” has given Weir the confidence to pick up in 2024 where she left off 10 years ago with another book series. She wrote three books about fallen angels with the intention of a five-book series while a member of a local writing group of teachers.
As a little girl, Weir said she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She didn’t think it would realistically happen for her.
“It was there, in the back of my mind, but I thought it would have to be I got a full-time job and that would be a little thing I can put some effort into.”
Her younger brother once even joked that maybe she would win the Lottery one day so she could write full-time.
“I won my own lottery, thank you very much,” she said.
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Rebecca Barnabi
