Welcome to my blog, where I talk about my journey as an indie author of fantasy books. Join me as I navigate the ups and downs of the self-publishing landscape. You can help celebrate my wins and commiserate with me over the many mistakes on this bumpy, sometimes-terrifying escapade.

Why indie publishing?

Let me begin by saying that I have nothing against traditional publishing. I’ve tried the traditional publishing route and may even try again in the future but the process has left me with unpublished manuscripts that I have spent hours and hours crafting and querying. I pour my heart and soul into every project, so instead of leaving my manuscripts to fester in a file somewhere, I chose to self-publish.

Self-publishing can be a daunting process, especially when you are in it for the writing and don’t have a clue about any of the other stuff required. I’ll talk about the different routes into publication in later posts but in the meantime, check out Choose Your Own Publishing Adventure: 5 Routes To Your Book’s Best Destination, by Kate Harrison. In this post, Kate helps identify what kind of publishing would suit your work best.

The main reason I chose self-publishing though, is that I want my stories to be read. Yes, it would be amazing to sell enough copies of my books to make it my fulltime career but truthfully, I just don’t want my stories to die in a dusty file. So, I set up basecamp at the bottom of a very steep learning curve and have been climbing ever since. I don’t have a sherpa to guide me and this journey didn’t come with a kit list. I’ve walked blindly along some rocky pathways and stumbled more times than I can count. But I’m learning along the way and my hope is that someone will read this and stumble less than I did because of it. Maybe I’ll even get some good advice from fellow travellers in the process.

I write because I must!

Not to be dramatic but writing is a vampiric disease. As you can tell from the books I publish I’m a fantasy fangirl, hence the analogy. But I think vampirism works well to describe the specific symptoms that come with being a writer. I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember but I wasn’t bitten—see where I’m going here—by the writing bug until I was in my mid-twenties.

It started as an innocent exercise to help process the loss of a loved one but quickly spiralled into an obsession. I developed an incessant itch that can only be satiated by writing, while simultaneously being hit by a heavy dose of imposter syndrome. I fall asleep thinking of plotlines, always carry a notebook with me for when inspiration hits and have become increasingly familiar with the midnight hour. My love of caffeine has tripled along with my awareness of psychic distance and gritty metaphors. It is…a passion.

Writing grips hold of you and doesn’t burn away in sunlight. It can go dormant in the daytime when you have to function beyond the storytelling but that itch is always there, just under your skin, urging you to bite…I mean write! The only difference is there aren’t any fangs involved but that’s where the fantasy author stuff comes in. I love escapism and what better way to indulge that than to write about it?

Why fantasy?

There is no better way of switching off from reality than escaping into a good story. I love many genres but fantasy, science fiction and romance books are my go-to favourites. Give me a combination or subgenre of the above, like dark fantasy or romantasy and it’s even better. The world-building and characterisation of speculative fiction is both enchanting and enthralling and I can get lost it good fantasy books for hours.

I also like to read my market (more on this later posts) and enjoy some amazing authors such as, Jennifer Armentrout, Thea Harrison and J.R. Ward. Whether young adult, crossover or adult fiction, what matters to me most is an enticing story and excellent world-building, which all of these have. I will talk more about this too in later posts and I really hope you can join me to read about some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Check out my stories on Amazon or my book page and be the first to receive news on releases by signing up to my mailing list.

Happy reading!

Hannah