Update on Nylos
Hello everyone! You’re getting an update in real time. I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty of writing my YA fantasy novel, Nylos, and what it’s been like to approach self-publishing as a first timer.
Writing—This is my favorite part.
I dipped into the world of editing and worked with the editor of His Dark Materials for the first half of my book. When I talk about editing right now, I’m talking about developmental editing. There was enough feedback in the first half of reading my book, that we both agreed to pause there so I could make edits before jumping into the second half. This decision was suggested by the editor given there were a few directional things I could change if I wanted to that would impact the rest of the book. And given that it’s expensive to edit things, she was kind enough to give me the option to pause after the first half to implement any changes I thought were needed.
After making some changes (and leaving things the same in others), I had already had another developmental edit scheduled with the editor of the Hunger Games for October. So after miscarrying in February, I focused on rewriting my book (some chapters were hardly touched, while some scenes were completely rewritten). I thought I’d need more time to edit, but I was able to really throw myself into my work. So I just finished the rewrite and moved up my editing date for my second developmental edit for end of August. I’m so excited to go through the process again with a new editor and see what themes come up again and what new feedback is surfaced.
Writing this book has taken years. Years and years. With many breaks in between. Sometimes I wish I could start over. Sometimes I wish that I wrote it in a different way. Sometimes I wish I outlined the damn thing instead of let myself write in circles. But as I told my sister, Meg. I think I had to go through this long, and yes, painful process to understand how to write a book. To understand how to write a book. To understand what works for me and what doesn’t. I fought so many uphill battles that I didn’t need to. But I’m so close. I can taste my first sale.
Will my book be bad? (This is the part where I say “No! No it won’t. Please buy it!) But I don’t know. I guess all art is subjective, so there’s gotta be someone out there who enjoys it somewhat. I worry about that sometimes. If my book, this thing I’ve been working on for so long, is just total shit. But honestly, no matter what, I’m proud. I’m so proud of myself for trying. For writing it (Eight times in different perspectives/starting in different worlds/focusing on different characters). For committing to publishing it on my own, by myself… And when I see my book with its own ISBN number on Amazon (and in bookstores because I really love the feeling of a book in my hands), I’m going to be so proud. I’m going to go out to dinner with my husband and my little boy, and I’m going to order a steak. Even if someone thinks it’s a bad book. Even if it is a bad book. I will have done a thing. And it will be just the beginning. I plan on writing so many more books. And so it will just be a moment of pause for me. A moment of… I did it. So I’m not really (too) worried that it’s bad. That’s the truth.
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Title—I absolutely love naming things.
Even with my blog, I’ve loved naming posts. I’ve had so many chapters (all 21 of them) that I’ve loved naming. They come naturally to me and when they feel right, they feel right. Originally I had named this first book “Nylos in the Cache” — but lately I’ve just been calling it Nylos. (Nylos are the magical creatures that give humans power in my book. I made up the name myself, and the word…the creatures… they feel so real to me after all of these years.) I’m a bit undecided on what title to go with. If you have a preference, PLEASE let me know. I’d love to hear what you think and why!
Editing—This is going to be an expensive learning experience.
I’ve already talked a bit about editing. It’s honestly been a very overwhelming process. I used Reedsy.com to find the editors (the first developmental editor who worked on His Dark Materials as well as my next editor who worked on The Hunger Games). Both were expensive, and I was nervous to put so much money into this…thing. And this was even before I hired a copyeditor to proofread everything.
I already feel like I made a mistake. I could have just worked with one developmental editor (but I just couldn’t pick between the two because they both sounded so amazing!). So I ended up spending way more than I should have/could have.
I had to sit down with my husband before all of it and tell him that I was about to spend a large chunk of money on my book—that may be a bad book that nobody buys. And I had to explain to him that this editing thing was going to cost a lot of money and that I also wanted to spend some money marketing the book as well. It was a huge risk with no guarantee. But it was my dream, and I wanted so badly to give myself a fighting chance since I’m trying to self-publish my book without going through a traditional publisher. I don’t want my book to feel less-than in the hands of readers. I want to make it the best story it can be, and that includes big concept editing as well as hiring a professional to scrub for typos. (Grammar and punctuation have never been my strength. You probably know that if you’re subscribed to this blog.)
Without hesitating, my husband said he was all in. And agreed that not only would this help my book for its launch, but also help me learn how to find an editor, what a good editor costs, what was necessary and what wasn’t… so I can take that into the many, many other books that I write.
If my husband wasn’t 100% okay with me spending money to go towards editing, printing, or marketing my book, I would never take the next step. So I’m so grateful to him for just…being so supportive around this all. It’s one thing for him to read my book and tell me he loved it (which he did, thank you!) but it’s another for him to agree to let some our finances go towards something that is solely my dream that could have gone towards other more practical things for the family.
Art & Design—So fun, but deceivingly…hard?
I actually put off finding an artist for my book cover because I thought it would be…easy. Well, it’s not. It’s actually really hard to find an artist that fits what I have in my head, that I can afford, that’s available and open for new projects. In my research, a cover can be as cheap as $10 or as expensive as $10,000+. But a realistic range from more research looks like it would be in the $500-$1,000 range.
In addition to cover art, I’d really love to find someone I could do more with and really partner with. I have ideas for what could mark new chapters and perspectives (yes, there are three perspectives in my book—please don’t hurt me!). I’d love some in-book illustrations. I have ideas for some book branding I’d like to implement into my ARC audience along with some giveaways. (More on ARC later.) But I just don’t even know where to start to find these artists. Posts on Instagram (my social media platform of choice) asking for artists that might be open to a collaboration haven’t gotten a ton of serious bites. So I’m actually a bit blocked here. (If you know anyone, please send them my way!)
I don’t know if this is obvious from my other posts, but I’m not looking for a way to AI myself out of this. I really would love to work with someone and create together. I’d love to pay them and make it something we’re both proud of. But I just… don’t know where to find them yet.
Marketing—This is the part where I went through the hero’s journey.
I recently discovered what an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) reader is. This is a reader that you send your book to before the launch date in hopes that they review your book on social media. The idea is to get momentum going before the book’s release date and get people talking about it. (Yes, this sounds scary.) But it’s also a thing.
I watched a video a couple of weeks ago of an ARC reader opening a popular best-selling book that I may or may not have devoured and reviewed on this very newsletter. The publisher had sent the book, and it came with a branded mug, stickers, and other goodies. The book was a limited edition that wasn’t available to general audiences… I’ve never watched an unboxing video before because I’ve found them honestly kind of boring…but this was goddamn beautiful.
So the next 48 hours, I sulked. I thought, I’m going to self-publish this. I can’t have a branded mug and assorted tea with a limited edition print for my book. I’m not represented by Random House or Simon and Schuster. No one is packaging these up for me or paying upfront for the costs of supplies for ARC reader hype. How am I going to compete?
I literally moped. My husband could hear my feet dragging across the floor as I walked to the fridge for the milk to pour on top of my tasteless cereal. Yeah. I’m not going to lie. It was that bad.
By day three though, something happened. I don’t know what. But suddenly I thought… I’ve written this book. I have the editor of the Hunger Games reading it this summer. I’m a writer. And I’m a goddamn marketer. I can fucking do this.
By the evening of the third day, I was drawing up a marketing plan. I was brainstorming what could be in my ARC strategy would be. I was researching how to find ARC readers and how to make it more likely to get them to leave reviews rather than just take a free book (that’s hard).
My personal challenge—I love everything all the time.
It’s always been hard for me to stick to a genre. Simultaneously, I’m taking my book on motherhood called Milk & Blood through the same process. And I’m already surprised by how different this process is just because it’s a different genre. While Nylos is YA fantasy, Milk & Blood is Women’s Fiction. (I didn’t know Women’s Fiction was a genre until a few months ago.)
While Nylos will be a series (this was not originally the plan, but here we are), I also have an idea of a romance novel I want to write. I need some high stakes romance in my life, and I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. I’m really excited to try it. I also would love to write a sequel to Milk & Blood. There’s been so much to being a parent from trying to understand my toddler speak to navigating trying to conceive a child and experiencing serial miscarriages. There’s so much there that isn’t said…that I really want to try to say.
I chose self-publishing to have more control, but there’s definitely a part of me that wonders if I’ll spend less and less time writing and more time doing everything else. I hope it doesn’t get to that. If anything, I truly hope this leads to writing more books. I’m optimistic.
To publish a book and “break even”…it’s just not a goal of mine. It’s a concern from being the sole financial provider for my family. But my goal… What success means to me on this book-writing journey…Success is being able to write more books. I suppose that does include breaking even. But it’s more than that. I want to be able to sustain this creative process for me. I want to do what I love more.
That, to me, is success. And so I suppose that’s what I fear most. That I won’t succeed. That it will have been a “fun side project” that just isn’t sustainable. That I’ll stick to grinding it out in my day job, put food on the table, and write in the little windows of time that life allows. It’s not such a terrible thing. But over the last few months, I’ve learned it’s a fear of mine: Having less opportunity to do what I love most as time goes on. As we get busier. As we get older. Sometimes that fear is paralyzing. Sometimes I feel like an idiot for spending money on an editor, on a book cover, on marketing…I almost feel embarrassed by the attempt.
But, like my sister sometimes asks me… What if you do succeed?
Want to be an ARC reader for my book?
My plan right now is to release my book early next year. So it won’t be for a while, but I’d love to start building my ARC reader list NOW!
Here’s the ask:
Be serious about reading and completing the book in 2-4 weeks once you receive a copy.
Please sign up with the intention to leave an honest review of the book on a platform like Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc.
Share the book and your review on your social media of choice!
What you’ll receive:
A free copy of my first ever fantasy book before the release date and anyone else.
TBD–still working on what this could look like! (Maybe have different tiers?!)
Sign up to be an ARC reader by doing one of the following:
Send me a message on Instagram letting me know that you want to be one of the first ones to review my book and include your preferred email address. Please specify if you’re interested in Nylos, Milk & Blood, or both.
Comment on this post letting me know that you want to be one of the first ones to review my book. Please specify if you’re interested in Nylos, Milk & Blood, or both—and I’ll send you a message on Substack!
