How did it start?
Ever since I was able to speak, I have always been writing. When I was a child, my mom would write down the stories I’d tell and we’d collaborate to make this fairy tale that I had created. She’d provide the neat and legible handwriting; I’d babble about ideas in my head, then doodle something that was supposed to resemble a princess, but was mainly just scribbles. Nevertheless, those stories were never publish-worthy, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve always dreamed of becoming a best-selling author.
In 2020, when I was working on my first novel, The Cry of an Angel, I realized I was around half-way through my book. Despite my love for writing, it normally meant I’d write around 100 pages and then decide to work on a different story – ADHD? Commitment issues? I have no clue. Anyway, after I made this discovery, I challenged myself to finish it by the end of the year. For the entirety of my winter break, I spent every day finishing chapter after chapter, and then finally finished it on December 31st, 2020. Many tears later, I was overjoyed and excited to figure out how to publish my book without spending all my money. Of course, I considered finding publishers or editors but, after much deliberation, I decided I’d go with Amazon.
How does amazon publishing work?
Through Kindle Direct Publishing, I discovered that you can upload your own manuscript, or you can use their Kindle app to convert your book into their format*. After submitting your work, then you can choose to either create your own cover, or use their own website to create it. Another hobby of mine is photography and editing, so when it came to creating covers, that was always half the fun of writing. (In fact, sometimes I’d design a cover before even writing a sentence of the story.)
*For my first book, I used their app to fix up my manuscript to fit their style. Although it was helpful, it was a bit restrictive because it only gave three options with the font themes, and when trying to add extra design elements, it was near impossible to include them.
Once you’ve finished all of that, you’re able to price your books at whatever cost you’d like, and Amazon will calculate the royalties you’ll receive once someone buys your book. While you might find that you’d need to price your books significantly high in order to get a decent amount of money, they take majority of the royalties in order to pay for the cost of printing, so I believe that it’s a fair ratio. However, until my books take off, I’m not using my book sales as a source of income, so it doesn’t bother me regardless.
How did I create my own cover?
While I love designing my own covers, this might be a stressor for others. There are plenty of websites you can use to edit them yourself – Canva, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity, etc. – it can be hard to make something that’s good enough to compete with the famous books out there. The other option, which may be frustrating to those trying to save money, is to pay someone to create it for you. There are hundreds of thousands of artists out there with unique styles that may or may not work for your idea, and that’s something you’d have to figure out for yourself. There’s also an app called Fiverr that I’ve used to create a map for a fantasy world. Essentially it’s a collection of freelance services for almost everything, including book covers, with prices ranging from $1-$100+.
How do I promote my book?
Honestly, this has been the hardest for me because I don’t have a huge following. Unfortunately with social media, there’s not really a formula for what goes viral, it’s typically just people that get views for random reasons. Nonetheless, I still try to use BookTok and Instagram to pull in an audience for my books in hopes of one day going viral. As mentioned in a previous article, plenty of people have gotten popular from BookTok and I can only pray that one of my videos gets traction.
How did I even finish writing a whole book?
No idea. A lot of my ideas have come from dreams I’ve had or fantasies I’ve curated in my head over the years, but no matter how much I obsess over them, they either sit in my apps for months untouched or, if they’re lucky, I won’t be able to stop thinking about it, so I spend hours writing. Regardless, my interests change daily so sometimes I’m working on my trilogy, some days I’m working on my romance series, and others I’m creating a whole new story.
The only way I’ve been able to finish both my first and my second book, The Revenge of a Hunter, was to create a goal and tell people about it. Whether it’s the pressure of time or simply my pride, knowing that someone is expecting my book to be finished by a certain point helps me force myself to write. Besides, most days I feel myself struggling to work on a chapter, I just need thirty minutes to get the brainstorm turning, and then I’m wrapped back into the universe of the story.
Additional things that have helped me is, either using a journal or my Notes app, creating a basic summary of what I want to happen in each chapter. For me, that could scale anywhere from one sentence to a page of details, as long as it helps inspire me to actually write the chapter. Along the way, I’ve learned that the story essentially writes itself; even if I spend days obsessing over a scene, when it comes down to actually starting to work on that part, it’ll end up turning out nothing like I expected.
So… what’s my book about?
Oh, I’m so glad you asked! When Seraphina Ivory turns eighteen, she’s expecting a year of excitement, meeting new people, and spending time with her best friend. Instead of being able to party like a normal 18 year-old, she ends up dying in an accident and her life is over. Suddenly she’s been brought back to life as a guardian Angel and forced to protect a human named Ryder Hale. As she grows stronger and more powerful, she begins to question everything she’s known as good and evil. It’s a mix of romance and fantasy, filled with Angels with powers, and other creatures! If you want to learn more about her journey, check it out on Amazon, Goodreads, TikTok shop, and there are also currently two copies selling at the local bookstore in College Station, Hyperbole Bookstore.
Everyone’s experience of writing and publishing is different, and if you’re looking to publish your work – whether that’s a novel, short story, or poetry – I wish you the best of luck!