On March 20th, with the arrival of Spring came my “bookversary”: My debut young adult novel “Flight of an Orphan Thief” turned one!
Without dwelling on the fact that technically this post is late and I missed my first baby’s birthday – we authors and mothers carry enough guilt as is! – I wanted to share 10 lessons from my first year as a published author.
1. Expect your characters to go rogue in ways big and small
Every fiction author experiences this it seems, and I could never decide if I was proud that my characters seemed so well-behaved, or a little disappointed. The question is now moot as Ayla and other characters have started to play a much more active role in shaping their story – and I won’t lie, it’s fascinating. I love being surprised by my characters, and look forward to hearing how you react to their choices, too.
2. You have to keep investing in yourself as an author
This means carving out non-existent time to keep learning, to make sure you level up your writing skills. Reading books “for fun” counts if you’re applying a layer of critical thinking in terms of how the story is developing, the character arcs, the writing style, and more. However, I think reading books about writing and signing up for webinars or other types of courses is essential – even if it’s not easy: Time and money are finite, and every dollar can only be spent once, whether on a course, book art, books, or saving up for your next editor. (But also, check out this list of free resources I put together a little while ago.)
3. Community & finding your people is key
When I do author interviews, this is perhaps the most common thing that comes up: Finding your people, connecting to a community, is essential. Is it easy? Nope. Is it a one-shot effort? Also no. It’s an ever-ongoing work in progress, but it is SO worth it. Find.your.people.
I’m in one group chat on Instagram that is just full of advice on writing, marketing, algorithms, but also design and plot points, artist recommendations, and unhinged humor that makes my soul do a happy little jig every time I read the zillion messages. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve almost woken up my 11 month old due to these ladies making me cackle. Best A.S.S. ever.
4. Creating balance between marketing & writing is hard
Working full time and being the mother of two means that the mental bandwidth and actual time I can carve out in any given 24h window to work on my “author stuff” is limited. Deciding whether to write or spend that time on social media, developing marketing content, or any of the many other to-dos that seem to multiply onto my author to-do list is hard. I don’t have a solution, I’m just juggling as well as I can, muddling through one day at a time.
5. Marketing can be fun (no, really!)
When I started my author journey, I also started a newsletter. I dreaded writing it. Then, something clicked: It wasn’t “boring marketing” – it was another opportunity to tell stories! Now, I actually *enjoy* writing my newsletter, and have found a rhythm that works for me (you can sign up for it here!). Beyond that, my Instagram community is a constant source of inspiration on how I could be doing more things and doing them better – but I take that in stride, and will keep leveling up at my own pace.
6. Visual design is a whole other skill
Canva.com is a gamechanger, sure, but if you don’t have the eye for design, you won’t produce great content no matter how amazing your tools are! This is an area that I get frustrated with, even though I know if I keep practicing, I’ll get better. Sometimes, I just wish there was a shortcut…
7. Reels (Instagram videos) aren’t so scary to make after all
Never did I think I’d be into doing reels! Turns out, they can be quite fun. (If we’re not connected on Instagram, you can find me here.)
8. I love teaching, coaching, enabling other writers
This year, I have been supporting two writer friends with regular accountability calls, and I ran my first writer workshop with the Geneva Writer’s Group. I loved all of it. So… hopefully there will be more of this in the future!
9. You can never have too many books but you *can* sign up for too many ARCs & street teams
One way to support indie authors is to read the “Advance Reader Copies” (aka ARCs) and leave early reviews. Sometimes, this ties into being part of their street team and posting when they do cover reveals, announce trope maps, and launch their books. It turns out my theoretical enthusiasm for this kind of support does not at all match my capacity to show up! I missed so many ARC deadlines and did not engage half as much as I wanted to on one too many street teams. It was mortifying. My conclusion? Street teams are not for me. I’ll continue reading ARCs always and forever, but I started a spreadsheet to keep track so that I can try and avoid committing to reading three books in as many weeks. Live and learn.
10. Business is business, even when you’re blinded by really wanting something
Late last year, I was in talks with a publisher who was interested in “Flight of an Orphan Thief”. It was SO exciting! However, despite a burning temptation to overlook the red flags that pointed to the partnership being a mismatch, I ultimately conceded that it wasn’t a good fit. No regrets – maybe the right opportunity will come around, and maybe I’ll be an indie author forever. Either way, I will keep writing and find joy in sharing my stories with the world.
This lesson was reinforced when I had a bookstores interested in a few copies of my book. They mentioned wanting to organize an author event – which I have been dying to do. We picked a date and time, but then they more or less ghosted me. Not completely, but enough that it was a wakeup call. Am I so desperate to sell books and organize an author event that I will put up with being treated poorly? Not even close. But stay tuned, because I will hopefully have good news on this front soon.
All in all, I am incredibly happy with how my first year as an author has gone. I have SO many plans for what’s to come, but connecting with amazing, unhinged, hilarious, and brilliant women authors on Instagram has been the biggest game changer.
If you’re an author too, what was your first year (or years) like? What stands out as the most important lessons you learnt from those early days?
If you’re a reader, thank you for being here – please come back again soon and often, and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and reactions to anything I write. I write for myself, but let’s be honest, I still absolutely thrive on knowing that my words are being read by you.