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Hi friends! I’m SO excited for today’s post, really you have NO idea.
Nicole has been a dear friend of mine for a little while, now, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic that she’s publishing her debut novel, BLOOD PRICE, this October. I’m just SO pumped and I really hope you all will check the book out and add it to your TBRs, read it and scream to everyone about it afterwards.
Today’s post is going to be a bit different. We decided to set up a dual interview about self-publishing together! Since we’re together in this self-publishing adventure and we actually are DEBUT MONTH BUDDIES (my book releases October 20th, hers October 1st!). This is just all too exciting.
We’re taking a deep dive into our self-publishing adventure together today, talking about the struggles, the dreams, the excitement, EVERYTHING. So if you’re curious, read on!
💬 Dual Interview about self-publishing ft. Nicole Evans, author of BLOOD PRICE
What’s your favorite part about self-publishing, the part that specifically makes you say “yes, this is the right path, for me” ? On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, what’s the thing that makes you, like, itch all over and you just… wish you could not deal with this part?
NICOLE : Such a good pair of questions! My favorite part has honestly been getting to choose a cover artist and be completely in control when it comes to my cover. As I’ve talked about before, working with the phenomenal Zoe Badini to get Ashilde’s likeness and the vibes of the cover just right was a dream and something I don’t think I would have gotten to be as hands on with, if I was traditionally publishing. It’s been my favorite part of the self-pub journey, hands down!
Something I’ve been really struggling with (aside from just the sheer overwhelm, as self-pub is a lot of work) is marketing. I knew I didn’t want to take a social media heavy approach, as part of protecting my mental health. Even still, while I do have plenty of ideas of things to post to help bring awareness about my book, the challenge of posting consistently on top of all the other life commitments has been a massive challenge for me. There’s the anxiety of “bothering” people online with all of my promotion, while also worrying that I’m not posting enough and ruining my book’s chances at success. But, at the end of the day, I know the most important thing is taking care of myself, as a human and a writer, and recognizing my limits for promotion and marketing!
MARIE : I’m going to quote Taylor Swift here, sorry, but…
I think this quote perfectly encompasses my feelings towards self-publishing. It’s so thrilling to have full control. I had an incredible time with my cover artist, imagining the perfect cover for my debut. I find it so FUN (and kind of annoying, at times, but still fun, too) to think about the marketing strategies of it all, the reels I could do, sending my little author newsletters and so on.
It’s also terrifying to have full control. The whole administrative part of it all made me want to tear my hair out, honestly, because scared. The whole technicalities of where to set up the book and how does it work, SCARY.
Do you have any advice for writers thinking about getting published (whether it’s traditionally or self-pub)? Any advice you wish you’d heard, months or years ago?
NICOLE : I think the advice I’m still trying to embrace is not tying your self worth as a writer/creative to the outcome of your publishing journey. For years, I struggled with self-doubt and feeling awful as a writer due to being constantly rejected in the querying trenches for trad pub. Knowing a book is rejected based on subjectivity is one thing to recognize on the surface, but another thing entirely to emotionally wrap yourself around. I think, no matter what path you take in publishing, it’s so important to find things that you can control to set up your success around. You and your creativity deserve so much more than to be bound to someone else’s opinions of your work.
(This is not to say that you shouldn’t be open to feedback–you need to be!–or that you can’t embrace criticism, especially if someone points out something problematic or harmful about your work–this is very important to learn from! Only that, if I had removed tying my worth as a writer from the outcome someone else controlled (i.e., an agent offering my rep) for a decade, I think my writing practice and relationship with writing would have looked a lot different.)
MARIE: I think the advice that stuck with me is this: “this is your dream.” Too often, I tend to think about others. What others think, how others will perceive my work, should I do this, or that, should I write to market, or this, or that. (That last one is probably why I chose self-pub, I guess, but that’s a rant for another day). I think that the key, here, if you’re pursuing publishing, is to remember that. WHY you’re doing this.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing it because you want to be on the NYT bestseller list, to hold a physical copy of your book in your hands, to write an incredibly addictive dystopian series or whatever. Whatever makes your heart beat, makes you SPARKLE and feel ALIVE. Remember that when you feel like giving up. It’s your dream. You got this. It might take time, it might make you feel like giving up, at times. But it’s yours and, if you feel like you want it, you’ll get it.
How do you feel about self-published books vs. traditionally published books being perceived on online spheres, such as social media? From your own experience of it and in your own spheres, do you feel like self-pub books are present, or invisible compared to traditionally published books? How do you feel like this could grow and change?
NICOLE : There have obviously been some stigmas that come up like clockwork regarding self-pubbed books.I’m very happy that a lot of those stigmas have been broken down as the years go on and I feel very confident in my choice of joining the impressive self-pubbed ranks. I do think it’s important, as readers and writers, for us to seek out and actively engage in–and support–self-pubbed books and authors. They’ve always been here, yet I never saw much about them online, until I joined SPFBO as a judge in 2016/2017 and began actively seeking out and following self-pubbed authors. My socials were suddenly flooded with talent that had always been there–I just had to choose to include them in my online space. I think if more readers chose to make space and actively choose to support self-pub, the stigma against them will continue to (rightly) diminish.
MARIE : I’m going to be honest, here : it’s not before I started thinking – really selfishly – about my publishing journey, that I realized there was an INCREDIBLE self-publishing world out there. Don’t get me wrong, I knew it existed before, I just never put my nose in it properly to realize what kind of books existed and so on. I also haven’t been following book blogs or social media accounts that featured self-pub authors prominently, before.
Now, my feed has more and more of these books and, as I go on, I discover more of them. I feel like all it takes is a little more active searching, like Nicole said and hopefully some more highlights from the bigger accounts, as well.
Without thinking about what’s do-able, realistic or not, what would be your biggest dream as a self-published author?
NICOLE : Oh gosh, I actually wrote an entire post about this over on my Patreon because when I dream, I like to dream big. I think my current grandest, unrealistic dream that would just completely unravel me is to have one of my books be adapted as an open-world video game (where I was hired on to also help write some of the story/characters). Talk about a dream!
MARIE : I don’t like dreaming too big, because I don’t want to get too much hope inside my little head, but well. While we’re at it, I’d say my most unrealistic dream is to, like, become a bestseller – like, so much I can quit my job and write?
What’s coming next in your self-publishing adventure?
NICOLE : I am currently (very slowly) working on the sequel and conclusion to the Prices Asked and Paid duology, as Ashilde’s journey definitely doesn’t end after the final moments in BLOOD PRICE. I also have some fantasy romances I am itching to start, plus an epic fantasy tragedy that is lurking in the back of my mind. So, while I can’t promise quick, rapid fire releases, I can definitely promise this is the start to a very long and varied publishing career!
MARIE : Great question…I honestly have no idea! I am such a slow writer, I have nothing really set in stone at the moment. I would very much love to keep on writing and publishing YA contemporary, but I also have some projects in the works (that I’ve mentioned on this blog!) that are more mysteries. Some of them I’m super excited about. I guess time will tell!
Who are some of your favorite self-published authors?
NICOLE : Oh gosh, I have so many! R.K. Brainerd writes incredibly deep, eco-centric fantasy that more people need to be devouring (her debut is Emerald Jagged City). If you want fun, inclusive Western-style fantasies, you can’t go wrong with Ashe Armstrong’s Grimluk series. We all should be reading the powerhouse that is M.L. Wang (her The Sword of Kaigen undid me), but I’d also heartily recommend Timandra Whitecastle’s Queens of the Wyrd, which I actually think fans of BLOOD PRICE would adore! I also have an entire list of over a dozen authors included in the back of my book!
MARIE: Okay, so I’m going to be a terrible person here, but while I have a couple authors on my radar, I don’t have any favorites at the moment. I need to read more so, please, if you all have recommendations for me, I’d love to hear them!
Are there any themes that reoccur in your writing or topics you like to write about?
NICOLE : I’ve found that a lot of my writing is really a mirror of what I’ve been going through during that time of my life. In BLOOD PRICE, I wrote a lot about autonomy and choice, motherhood as a spectrum, body politics and religious trauma. Not all of those themes have showed up in my writing before, but they definitely mirror living as a woman in America during the decade it was written (2015-2024). Reoccuring across my books, however, is having a queernorm world, forests as character, and guilt-driven trauma.
MARIE : I feel like a lot of my stories have themes of finding yourself, where you belong, who you really are woven within, more or less obviously. Themes I absolutely love to write about and that more often than not, end up being in my stories, are friends to lovers (or, like, childhood friends especially), sisters, found families, rich families and mental health, especially anxiety and depression.
What are your writing self-care practices (or, if you don’t have any yet, what would you like to incorporate)?
NICOLE : I’d like to work on having more writing self-care practices! I think what I’ve been slowly working on currently is giving myself permission to learn what works for me, in terms of writing goals and how they reflect and balance my current life situation. As well as attempting to take out the “shoulds” that invade my mind a lot and instead, be more compassionate to myself!
MARIE : Honestly I love Nicole’s practices here and I’d love to implement that, as well. Just, trying not to compare my own rhythm to anyone else and be kinder to myself and my own super slow writer, as well, that’d be great.
📖 About Blood Price, by Nicole Evans
The law of the gods is those who kill must pay for it in blood.
In the land of Armadin, where nine clans exist in a fragile peace, Ashilde is one of the few chosen to pay the blood price. Through it, she becomes a warrior, capable of killing to protect her clan—alongside her hunters, who provide the essential animal sacrifice, lest they become the next clan to suffer the gods’ wrath.
When an attack wipes out their few remaining hunters, Ashilde must find a way to protect her clan and still appease the gods, despite her shaken faith. But when her monthly bleeding stops, she can no longer kill. Cast out by the gods’ decree, she’s given a single task: travel to the gods’ realm, atoning for the failures of the clan and herself alike. If she dies, another will be sent in her place, until the demanded atonement is fulfilled or her clan is wiped out. Entirely.
Bound by a promise to protect her people above all else, Ashilde embarks on a quest driven for answers. Aided only by a pair of animals and a small child she meets along the way, Ashilde must battle the elements, her pursuers and her own mind to reach the gods’ realm.
To save her people, Ashilde’s journey forces her to answer the ultimate is she willing to pay the price asked of her, now that she can no longer pay in blood?
Do you have Blood Price on your TBR (because you should?!) ? What are your thoughts on self-publishing? Let us know your thoughts about our replies in comments!!
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