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Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Finding Yourself Through Fiction: How Writing Saved a Stay-at-Home Mom with Amanda Stacey
Victoria Jane welcomes author Amanda Stacey to discuss her reimagined Lilith story, the journey from stay-at-home mom to published author, and the unexpected self-discovery that came from creating a strong female protagonist.
• Amanda's book features Lilith as a monster hunter in a dual-timeline narrative that explores her history and present
• The real monsters in her story are often ordinary men rather than supernatural creatures
• Writing became Amanda's lifeline during a period of depression and isolation as a stay-at-home mother
• Creating a strong, independent protagonist helped Amanda discover her own inner strength
• Self-publishing requires building authentic connections with readers and fellow authors
• Social media and in-person events are valuable for marketing without spending excessive money
• Success as an author is a slow build rather than overnight viral sensation
• Being a "pantser" rather than a plotter worked better for Amanda's creative process
• Your first book might not be your best-selling one, but each publication increases your visibility
• Celebrate small wins rather than comparing yourself to established authors
Find Amanda Stacey on social media @amandastaceyauthor on most platforms and @amandastaceybook on TikTok. Her book "Born Out of Darkness" is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and can be requested at libraries. If you're a writer in need of a developmental editor, contact Victoria through the links in the show notes.
Book Blurb:
Lilith may be older than time, but don't underestimate her. The immortal woman lives in the shadows, hunting evil men and monsters alike. A routine life of monster hunting is upended when she meets Mallory, a pregnant mortal and anything but routine.
The duo must fight just to keep Mallory alive as she is hunted for the supernatural baby in her womb. Time is of the essence for the fragile mortal as unseen forces bring out the darkest parts of Lilith.
Can Lilith keep Mallory alive while fighting her own inner darkness? Find out in Born Out of Darkness. A reimagined tale of love, loss, friendship, supernatural power, and the first woman, Lilith.
Author Bio I am an indie author and mom to a heard of kids. When I'm not wrangling kids or cleaning up messes, I'm brainstorming storylines and working on my second novel. My first book, Born Out of Darkness, was self-published in 2023. It is the first book of The Lilith Series, a supernatural fantasy series that reimagines the infamous first woman, Lilith.
Social media handles:
Instagram, threads, facebook: @amandastaceyauthor TikTok: @amandastaceybooks
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Editing doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth—it's the magic that transforms your story from “meh” to masterpiece!
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE Manuscript Prep Workbook: Take the stress out of editing with simple steps to organize your revisions.
Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support Writer's Haven: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 Website: https://www.victoriajaneeditorial.com/links
Oh hey, it's Victoria from Victoria Jane Editorial and your host of Bookshop Chats. This podcast is all about authors, writing and the magic that goes into storytelling. We cover all of the things that go into writing a book, from the creative process, from taking your idea to a first draft, creating and cultivating community within the author space, marketing all of the fun things. If you are a reader, a wannabe writer or an author, you will find tips and tricks that suit whatever level you are at. So I hope that you enjoy and you are unfortunately, or fortunately going to find many more books to add to your tbr, so I will invite you to sit back and listen to the episode. Welcome back to bookshop chats.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I am chatting with amanda stacy. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, I'm so excited to chat. I would love to hear. Obviously, we're just going to dive right in. I want to know all of the details about your book. I was reading it and I I'm already kind of hooked, so I need yeah, I need you to tell me more, and I think readers will also also be loving it.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, so my main character is Lilith. If you're on social media, you have probably seen me. Oh, here's this cool figure. That's like a mythology person throughout history and I that was actually how I even found out she was social media but, like everything I was hearing about her story, it was like ugh, it's just like a man's telling of her story and I was like I want to change it to a female perspective. So it's not just like a woman not wanting to sleep with you and then she's a boogie woman for the rest of history and it's more of.
Speaker 2:I originally was going to do an origin story and it ended up being a dual timeline. So you're getting her history while also seeing where she is today and like where her path is taking her. I guess I kind of did kind of everything in the kitchen sink when it comes to mythology. So it's Lilith, there are angels, there's demons I think I might have a vampire or two, you know. And the ironic part about my book is she's kind of a monster hunter, but most of the monsters she is hunting end up being just men, like human men with no special powers whatsoever. They're just bad people, um. But I thought that was important because so many books they show monsters as these big, scary things and not safe looking or charismatic looking people that just have bad intentions, and so I kind of wanted to shift that. So it's not the monsters of teeth or the demons that like are crazy and scary it is. It is people that live normal.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. That is such a cool take on Lillis story. Uh, and I just, yeah, I really it's so fascinating to hear about how, like those little things are what like often spark the idea for a book that you're like yeah, okay, scrolling on social media and I was like that's interesting and then.
Speaker 2:I looked at some more and I'm like this is needs to be redone amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, I would love to hear a little bit more about, like, what got you in to writing, like, was this something that you always wanted to do, or is this something that you're after? Like learning about Lilith, you're like, I need to tell her story.
Speaker 2:Well, I've always like, for example, my librarian in middle school she still, to this day, calls me one of her library rats because I was always in the whether it was a school library or a public library I was always in the library getting books and reading, um. And yes, as a child, I was like I want to be an author but, like I lived in kind of a small provincial town where author isn't like a career path you can like be a mom, or you can be a nurse, or you can be, you know, stereotypical female roles kind of and so I kind of had let go of that dream of like writing. And then, in I would say, 2017, I had kind of I'd fallen away from books and got back into reading because I just needed something to take my mind off of mother. I was a stay-at-home mom at that point and, like I was, I was struggling with loneliness, um, and being kind of no one to talk to. You know, no one tells you that about, especially if you're a stay-at-home mom. There is no one comes in to like say hi, how you doing? You know no conversations. Your main conversation point is, oh, my baby blew a step bubble or something. But you know, you feel so boring as a person. So I started reading just to kind of like exercise my brain a little bit. And then I was like you know what, maybe I could write. So I wrote about half a book and then that book completely got shelved. It is in the dusty archives of my computer.
Speaker 2:And then fast forward a few more years after popping out another kid and I was kind of finding the space where I was like, oh you know what, maybe I got back into you know reading a lot and I was like maybe I should try to write something. And then I happened to see that video on TikTok about Lilith and I was like, huh, I make something, I could do something with this and I franked out that book in six months. I have never wrote so fast in my life. That's amazing. And to this day I still can't write at that pace. It was rolling out of me like just waiting to come. But yeah, it was really.
Speaker 2:I was kind of at a dark point when I started writing it because I was struggling with kind of I wouldn't call it depression, but it was something like that where it was just I was alone with the kids all day and you know, my husband got to go out and experience the world and he didn't understand where I was coming from. Why am I lonely? I'm surrounded by kids, or my mom comes and visits. I was really struggling and I realized one day. It was kind of like a depression moment and an epiphany. I was like if I died today, the only people that would notice are my husband and my kids. Like, because I I'm not doing anything outside of this house, I'm not doing anything for myself. All you know, I'm on the back burner for everything. There is no mom on my checklist of me, on a checklist of things I need to do, list of me on a checklist of things I need to do.
Speaker 2:And writing was since I had a passion for it and I knew I could be good at it. Um, I decided that that was going to be that that one thing that I have for myself that no one else has like it's not surrounded by my husband, my kids have zero to do with it and it is just something that is solely for me and it it was writing that I think it came out because it was like therapy, even though my book has nothing to do with motherhood. It. It was just, you know, kind of the dots have a lot of darkness in it and kind of finding the light and the humor in the darkness, and it was just kind of my way of finding my way out of this depression tunnel and this kind of endless cycle of not doing anything, and I think that's really important. It's something I really want to stress to, especially whether you're just kind of a homebody or a stay-at-home mom or just anything. You need to find something for yourself like that makes you happy, because otherwise you'll be just kind of.
Speaker 2:I was a walking shell before I started writing this, like I wasn't happy. I wasn't, I wasn't like hating my life, but I was just. Every day it was the same thing over and over, nothing new, nothing interesting, and I was just checking off like everything I knew I was supposed to do as a mom and a wife and calling it a day. And now I am not just mom, I am not just wife, I am a published author and I did it by myself, which makes it feel that much more empowering to me, like it wasn't giving my books to a publisher and then they just take over from there. I published it. I had to set up a website and everything like that, and so it was really. It was empowering and, yeah, even if it's not writing, if you, everyone has to have their own thing, and especially artistic stuff, whatever you like, like, lean into it, just have that thing for yourself yes, so important.
Speaker 1:I feel like there's something really just. I feel like it's a really just. I feel like it's a really important part of I think it's one of the types of rest like creative rest. That is something that's really like nourishing for our like our human being of just creating, and that's naturally what we're here to do is to create, and I think it's it's like you said. You can get stuck in that space where it just feels like everything is taking from you, and it can get stuck in that space where it just feels like everything is taking from you and it can feel really like overwhelming and I, I echo writing being a lot like therapy, uh, because, wow, you're like, I didn't know that this was gonna come out of me, cool and I, it's really cool how that kind of in, even though maybe the characters aren't navigating exactly the same thing that you are, there's some, there's a commonality that you can kind of like infuse into it from that sort of like lived experience that you're navigating. So I love that. I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, um. Well, I'm kind of something that I you know I've said this to other people my main character is really strong. She's a total badass, doesn't need anybody. I never saw that in myself. I always saw myself as meeting other people with me, like this character is perfectly happy being alone, like that kind of thing, and it was. It was empowering that.
Speaker 2:What was this interesting? Like I saw myself as this weak person that always needed people around to feel some kind of happiness or validation, and I created this character that needed no one. She doesn't need a man, she doesn't need to be surrounded by people all the time to feel happy. And I kind of realized that if I can create that, that is somewhere in me, because I can't pull that from nothing and so it made me realize that while my family brings me joy, I don't need them to be happy. And that was kind of a. It was definitely a change in my mind how I saw everything around me like and it maybe I don't need to shop to feel joy, or maybe I don't need to, you know, go out and spend time with people, I don't know. I can be happy, I love that that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I would love to hear a little bit more about marketing side of things. I feel like that's often like, as you said, you're you're doing it all yourself, so how has that experience been for you? I know often authors are like oh, like, like I'm not, I'm not happy about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It is such a. It was a struggle for me and definitely the just major learning curve. Like you, when you start like researching, you are kind of bombarded with stuff and you don't. It's hard to figure out what's affiliated and who's getting paid to say stuff is great and what actually works. Um, that's one of the biggest pet peeves I had with the whole publishing process, including marketing, was everyone's like oh, this is great, you should do this. And then you find out they're getting paid by that company to say it's great and it's like it might not be great then, but now marketing is always going to be like the bane of my existence because I am such an introvert and marketing forces you to be kind of extroverted.
Speaker 2:One of the things with social media definitely helps, but you need to look for your community, like make sure you are making content that is going to reach out and connect with your like the people you are wanting to like it for. As a writer, you need to connect with your readers. You need them to be like I need to read and oh, anything else she writes I'm gonna love. Like that you need to kind and oh, anything else she writes I'm going to love Like that's. You need to kind of create that social media presence with your readers.
Speaker 2:But something else I have found as an author is other authors building actual friendships, even though they're online friendships, not necessarily in person. Building those friendships with authors, because authors, almost everybody is like willing to be a cheerleader for you as long as you're kind of reciprocating the same energy. And so I have been really focusing on building friendships, because those author friendships they are sharing my stuff when I post and it's reaching more people than I would have write just by myself. So that's something. Friendship is free. You don't have to pay people. Now you can do like I get. I get spam posts all the time for let me post your book on my Instagram page for 100 bucks. I get those every day day. I don't do that. I can post my book for free. I have family and friends that will share it for free and for nothing. You know you don't need to pay those people to reach people. It's more about.
Speaker 2:First off. Authenticity is important, like people can see. If you're just kind of BSing, people are going to see it, even if it's on a social media post, they're going to smell it immediately. But being your authentic self, being honest, being truthful about what's in your book and just kind of a consistent presence on social media, which I struggle with sometimes, because sometimes I'm like I got to detach from this for at least a week or I'm going to freak out, but yeah, it's, it's hard.
Speaker 2:The best things I have found as an indie author is going to author events where, for example, a lot of libraries in my area will do these kind of author fairs, where it's kind of like an adult book fair is what it is in a library, and those in-person events even though I don't necessarily sell tons of books at them, because it's like small library places you reach people and you get to talk to people and they might not buy your book today but they might buy it in a week from now or like again, the author connections. I love the author connections from the in-person book fairs I have started. If I am eyeballing the book, I will walk up to the author and offer it off like a book swap, just because it's like that way I'm I can help them get some. If I read it and love it, I can share about it on and that's more eyes for them and if they read it and love it and share it, it's more eyes for me.
Speaker 2:Um, and it doesn't hurt to ask. You know, a lot of authors don't mind because it's good marketing, you know? Uh, so I don't have. Like the one thing that is the key to successful marketing because, depending on what genre you're in, it's going to change what marketing advice you need. But I would definitely say, if you're doing things like amazon ads, make sure you have a daily spending cap, because if you don't, amazon will be more than happy to show thousands of people your ads, but they might not buy it and you're going to be paying premium price. I I think the most I ever found Amazon ads was about 50 cents because I had the daily spending caps and it's still. People still thought, but you know, it doesn't cost me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's such a smart thing and I feel like to that like in person, is such a great, just a great way to build the connections, the networks and just I don't know it's. It gives you a break from social media, which I feel like is a great tool, but also, like you said, it's overwhelming. Sometimes it can feel a little frustrating when you have to play the game with the algorithm that I mean, I don't think anybody knows what the game is, so that doesn't help. And then it's, yeah, just connecting with people.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's like that's what I love about this journey is finding people that are like, oh yeah, I wrote a book, or even if it's not my genre, I might know someone that loves to read, you know whatever or fantasy, and I can pass the book along to them or tell them oh my gosh, like I just found out about this book that I bet you would love, and that stuff is like you said, it's, it's really, it's priceless, it's, it's amazing and it helps to build that, like that network and that connection.
Speaker 1:And, right, like you never know when that relationship might be useful in like a couple years down the road, right, like, who knows, maybe they'll introduce you to somebody that helps you. You know, get an X book published or whatever, like all of that stuff. I think we underestimate how powerful those connections can be. And coming from that like authentic, like I want to do it to help you, not of like I want to get something from you, but just really trusting that like the people that you meet are going to be like helpful and especially if you connect with them, I think that's huge and it makes such a big difference because writing it can be so lonely sometimes it can be.
Speaker 2:I, I, I really I really started focusing on the author relationship since this past I'd say like six months. I think is when I really started focusing on the author relationship. Since this past I'd say like six months, I think is when I really started focusing on the author aspect of it, because I felt like I was annoying people that weren't authors, because I'd be like oh, what do you think about this? Or like a storyline or an aspect of my book, or oh, like I'd be talking something author, and it just kind of watch people glaze over. They're like okay, yeah, uh-huh, and it's like I should not be talking to you about this.
Speaker 2:You are the wrong person. So I was like maybe I. I was not like who do I know this author? I was like I'm the only author I know. So that was when I really started focusing whether it be in person or on social media the author connection, because it's just, even if it's just to have someone to say, hey, this week sucked for writing, or this week with social media, like I hated it, it helps because they're going to understand you way more than anybody else like having trouble with, like what to do about this character or writer's loss or anything.
Speaker 2:People around you can be helpful, but a lot of times it's the people that are dealing with the exact same things that are really whether it's to feel validation or feel heard like those are the people that are going to understand and maybe even have some advice that you never thought yes, that's such a great point and I think too.
Speaker 1:I mean, I I'm like this, I creativity thrives better when I have that connection to help like bounce ideas off of spark. Here here's something that they're saying. It like lights me up and I'm like, oh my gosh, like this is brilliant. I totally know what I need to write now. That storytelling. That makes the storytelling process so much more enjoyable and you're not constantly arguing with these fictional characters in your head because you have somebody else that you can be like look at, this is what my characters are doing.
Speaker 2:Help me get them under control please. They're out of control totally someone just killed someone and they weren't supposed to like what is my character doing right, it's, it's wild.
Speaker 1:They truly do have their own, uh personalities and sometimes they uh really do things that you're like okay, this is not what we had planned. Guys like reign it in, reign it in definitely amazing. I would love to hear what would be some advice that you would have for somebody who's maybe just starting out their writing journey. Um, obviously you were like a stay-at-home mom, so maybe like maybe lending that to someone who might be in a similar situation to you. Of what did you find the most helpful?
Speaker 2:well, I'll start by saying what I found fully helpful and, like I said, I, when I was writing, when I was getting ready to edit, publish, format everything. Google is a valuable tool but it will be your worst enemy because, while you can get knowledge about things you didn't have knowledge about, when it comes to navigating things you might have to pay for, or you're trying to see what works there are going to be when you're writing and there's going to be a million people with a million things on. This is the five steps to writing and you should do this and then you should do this and then you should do this. I, for one, like I deep dove and like everyone, was like you need to have a plot, you need to have an outline. I said I think I spent two weeks writing like a plot outline thing. I was off the plot before I finished chapter one.
Speaker 2:I am a I'm a heart full, full hearted cancer author. I cannot stick to an outline to save my life. So, like, if you need the structure to stay on the point, you need to outlining is great. Need the structure to stay on the point. You need to outlining straight. If you more kind of go with the vibe that your characters are giving you as you develop them, and you're like me and you're a panther and it just kind of flows out of you and you're do it like there is no five steps to writing a good book. I mean, there's plenty of like formula writing tips if you want to be a good book. I mean there's plenty of like formula writing tips if you want to be a formula writer, but that's kind of a different thing anyways.
Speaker 2:But I really do think Google was my worst enemy because I was researching all of these different things and I don't even think I used 90% of the information that. I spent tons of time reading through and sifting through and I really got really got annoyed with like Google ads because once I got to see, okay, we have a book, it's in the editing process, I need to start thinking about my next step. It was like oh, everyone was saying you needed a website. So I got a website, which was just I really wish I had done a little more homework into the website aspect of it before I got a website. But like they're like you need a website, you need a social media following and you need this and this.
Speaker 2:So I was spending all this time trying to build all these things and it was stressful and I had I'm going at it blind just just because I had never done it before. But really watch out for the affiliated ads. I've seen so many people go to google and it looks like it's an authentic, like it's an authentic blog post or something on how I did this, and then they buy it and hate it and find out that that person was paid to say that it was a great product and, for example, like I paid I think I paid 300 bucks for the Wix website, which is it's really great if you have a lot of products going out, if you don't have a lot of products going out.
Speaker 2:It is a waste of money. Because I have like the business format, because I was like what if I want to sell books? So I got the business one, which of course is is normal, and I did not have any books going out, so it really wasn't paying for itself at all. Um, and then I kind of once I was like I can't afford to study more. I I went to. So canvas for like canvas. A lot of authors use canvas for their social media. You can actually design websites on canvas if you have like the one you pay for, which a lot of people end up getting and the websites are.
Speaker 2:They're really basic but, like as authors, it's more about just so people know who we are and where to find us on other platforms, and so you can set up an entire website and have your own like, pay for your own website name, a domain name, and you can have them click to where to buy your posts, where to find you on social media, and it's you know it's not that much a month. You on social media and it's you know it's not that much a month. And if you're already, especially if you already have it, it's a great tool to utilize that you're already paying for and that's just kind of.
Speaker 2:That was something I really hated myself for spending, because I think I added it up I'd probably spent over the course of a few years about seven to eight hundred dollars on website stuff. That did not get you at all. Um. So that's kind of a trap a lot of indie authors fall into is you're trying to make it work and you're pouring money into it. You're just like at a loss for what to do and sometimes I think the best step is to take a step back. And how do you simplify it to fit where you are as an author now, like maybe in 10 years or 20 years, maybe I'll be the next margaret atwood she was an overnight success. After 20 years. I'll be able to afford that 300 website then, but right now very few people know who I am. So I needed to simplify down not to where an accessible author would do, but where it's starting out. And that is like simplifying, relying on social media, which is free often and just kind of taking it slow.
Speaker 2:A lot of authors, as soon as they're published, they think they're going to blow up, myself included. I hit that publish button. I was so excited and I'm like I published author and I just kind included, I hit that publish button. I was so excited and I'm like I'll publish author and I just kind of checked every day and I was no sale, no sale. You know what I mean? You just check every day and you're so hopeful and you just kind of like, oh, this is not what I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2:It is it's taking time. It's building a building more books and a bigger portfolio, actually finding your audience, which is a lot harder than people think it is. It is not an overnight thing. Some people they get lucky on the algorithm. I would call it like the algorithm lottery. Like you get lucky and people find you or the right people pick up your book and read it and all of a sudden it's a TikTok sensation. Those are the exception to the rule. You know what I mean. Everybody else has to work hard and build and the same way that you work hard to build your story, you have to work hard and build your audience. The book part is step one of building your audience. It's giving your audience something to look forward to. But the next part is actually finding those people to to read it yes, I love that.
Speaker 1:I think that's so and you make some good points about just there are so many resources available, obviously, that you can do a lot of this stuff for pretty low cost, and then you're able to put the money into the things that kind of matter when it comes to like your book right, like the stuff that's really going to make it. You know the good book that pulls people's attention and, yeah, I, just, I think that that's a great to make it. You know the good book that pulls people's attention and, yeah, I, I just I think that that's a great thing to think about. Uh, when you're diving in of like just some basic things, right, Like you've got social media, like an email list, and then, uh, like a super simple website that you can create. Like you said on Canva or others, I use flow desk, um, which also has email like with it, so it's like a whole thing. But same same idea where it's really really simple and you don't have to, yeah, overcomplicate it and it it just it is that slow process which I feel can be frustrating and I think a lot of us get stuck on that sort of like.
Speaker 1:I think it's just the nature, with social media of this like instant, like like going viral kind of concept where we think you know it should happen faster than it and it does.
Speaker 1:But we're playing that long game, right, like especially if you want to be an author and you want more books out in the world, like it's going to take time for people to be super successful. I'd say like even, truth be told, I haven't read any of her books, rebecca Yaros. I know I might be the only one in the world who hasn't read any of her novels, but like she has so many other books that were published before her, like big fantasy things, and now like she's huge, right it's. It's so interesting to see how that like that instant success that we think is instant is like probably 10 years in the making, right, so it's that process of like slow and steady. Sometimes we're crying during that process because we're like, oh my gosh, I want it to work, but, but it definitely is. It is not a quick thing and celebrating all of the little wins, I think is really important.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, for me. Yeah, I think you're only celebrating the big wins and you're hyper focused on, for example, you know we're right now, we're in February. You know, in December and January everyone was sharing their author sales number and you know some people I was watching people get so discouraged because there are people that are sharing hundreds or hundreds of thousands of dollars in book sales and they're like I sold zero or I sold one book and it's like celebrate that one book because that is one more set of eyes. I. I really struggled with that in the beginning because I'm now I'm now two years deep into my author.
Speaker 2:So I went through that first year of feeling kind of crappy because I could track all of my sales. I was like, oh, that was my cousin or that was my friend, and when you can track and pinpoint all the sales, you're like I'm not reaching people I don't know yet and that's kind of discouraging. And especially if you're really just starting out, just hit, publish or maybe you're trying to build up the social media before you publish you need to understand it might be good at the beginning and it might be zero. Something that a more experienced author told me was like your first book or your first series is always going to be really special to you. But it might not be your best selling book or series and so it feels like it should be so much better in sales than it is. But people find you when you have more stuff out, and so I'm trying to kind of as I'm still working through my first series, I'm trying to remember people will read this eventually. They just I just don't have enough out for them to find me yet.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's such a great reminder. I think that's so true and just it's okay, like just take a breath, we'll, we'll get it, we'll get there. But um, yeah, it's writing a book is like you wrote a book. That's like celebrate that, cause I think the stats of people who actually get their book published is quite small, so that's that's amazing. Well, finally, I would love for you to share where people can connect with you and find your book.
Speaker 2:So I am. Whether I like it or not, I'm almost everywhere. You can find me on tiktok, at amandastaceybook, um, and then amandastaceyauthor is my handle for instagram threads, facebook um, I believe it is also because I was afraid tech talk would go away. I also have a clapper account, which is the mind of safety author there, and so that is. You know. You can find me anywhere, but there is social media. The only thing I don't have is YouTube, and that is just because I am I'm less comfortable with YouTube format and I am for kind of the quick, easy stuff for TikTok or Instagram. But, yeah, um, and then my book is available.
Speaker 2:So I decided to go wide when I published my first book maybe to my detriment, I don't know, but, uh, I decided to go wide so you can find me on. First off, you can request my book as an e-book at libraries and they can kind of order it from there and you can read it from a library. If you don't have money to buy books. You can also find it on Amazon, barnes, noble, it's on Kobo, but it's also on the Kobo like plus uh program as well. So if you have that, it is there and that's where you can find, born Out of Darkness, it's kind of anywhere. You can only find um the copies, the physical copies, on Amazon or if you order them. Well, that is, that's it.
Speaker 1:You know, Amazing, awesome. Well, everything will be linked in the show notes so it'll be super easy for people to click through and find all about you and your book. But yes, it was lovely chatting with you. I feel like I learned a lot and I always love connecting with other authors and hearing about their stories.
Speaker 2:It's been great to be here. I love these kinds of things because podcasts are something that I. When Google was failing me, podcasts were helpful, like the author podcast, the marketing podcast. They're all great tools and you never know what piece of information might be useful to you.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. Well, thank you again. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I would love if you would leave a review and also, if you love the author that we chatted with, go find them on social media and hype them up, comment on their stuff, share their work, even if you can't buy the book, these kind of things are great ways of supporting indie authors and getting their book in front of new readers. And if you are a writer or author in need of a developmental editor, please reach out. I would love to chat. Everything is linked in the show notes and it would be an absolute honor to be able to get eyes on your novel. So, thanks again and listen to the next episode.
