I said a while ago that I would talk more in-depth about the novella I published earlier this year, and then… didn’t. In the way of many things, the idea got pushed aside in favour of dealing with my mental health and then I got swept up in doing research and trying some different marketing things.
Turns out that marketing is extremely outside my wheelhouse and very hard.
But, regardless: I PUBLISHED A BOOK! I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!
My first book isn’t the one I thought it would be (that one is coming early next year), but I’m still so proud of myself and really happy with the way Icarus turned out. With the exception of some editing on the text itself, I did everything myself, from writing to cover design to ebook conversion. Getting Icarus into the world really was a labour of love, and even if there are things I’d change or fine-tune now, I’m still glowing with the strange sensation of this thing I wrote in isolation being a physical thing other people can hold and read and love or hate or whatever. It’s a bizarre feeling I don’t really know how to articulate—or process.
And yes, dear reader, I did in fact cry when I pulled the proof copy out of the envelope.
I feel I should point out here that, while there are extremely talented individuals out there to help self-published authors with whatever step of the process they need assistance in (I do freelance editing and proofreading myself, for example), I am both short on funds and long on curiosity and the desire to know how to do everything myself, even if I don’t always do everything myself. I also studied publishing in school and work within the industry, so I have an existing base of knowledge. You should never feel like you have to do everything yourself though. Writing may be an independent activity, but publishing doesn’t have to be.
So, Icarus.
Icarus is a sci-fi novella with horror elements that I wrote several years ago about a young woman named Knox who is struggling with loneliness, self-loathing, and guilt, and who is desperate for solace that seems to elude her at every turn. I wrote it for a contest that I didn’t win. I was bummed, of course, but I never really expected to win, so losing wasn’t a big blow. All it really meant was a day or so of wondering what I could have done better and then years of the manuscript sitting on my computer doing nothing. Enter me, over five years later, seeing a bunch of friends and people I’ve followed online for a while self-publishing their novels and me going, “Huh. I wonder if I could do that.”
I’ve never had much luck with traditional publishing but, in an industry that’s as much about luck as skill, hard work, and dedication, it could have just been the wrong time for the books I was querying. So, I decided to take Icarus and teach myself how to self-publish in Canada and—bonus points—I’d come out of the education with a book published. Something I could point at in future queries and say, “I did that.” And, turns out, aside from marketing, I really really like the process of self-publishing. I like doing the covers and internal layouts. I liked hearing what beta readers think and incorporating feedback. I like polishing the book until it looks like a real thing (I know that sounds weird, but it’s just the only way I can articulate the feeling).
And, hey, it’s nice to make even a tiny bit of money from something I poured a great deal of myself into.
If you want to check Icarus out, you can buy it as an ebook on Kobo and Amazon, and as a paperback through Amazon. Find all the links here!
And now… a little peek at what’s coming next! 😏
My first novel, an urban fantasy/horror, will be up for preorder early next year, with a release date tentatively set for mid spring! I’ll have firmer details soon, but that’s the plan right now!
Here’s the elevator pitch:
Eleanor, a young demisexual woman who suffers from anxiety, is on the cusp of graduating university and entering the “real world,” when the great horror of her childhood—a power hungry vampire—returns, and he’s after her. While the life she thought she had is falling apart around her, she discovers that she might not be as human as she thought she was.
This novel has been through so many iterations since I started working on it more than a decade ago, and it’s finally (nearly) ready to enter the world. It’s the beginning of a trilogy and maybe a series, depending on how it goes, and it contains all my love for vampires and the urban fantasy genre. And a lot of myself, but that’s not too surprising.
I’m really excited to start sharing some more information about my next release, but for now, that’s all you get.
Check out Icarus if it sounds like your jam, donate below if you feel like supporting me in another way, and stick around for, now that it’s autumn and I don’t feel like hiding in a cave from the sun, more posts!
Take it easy, hot dogs.
vampires, spaceships, and fantastical worlds—the tales of L.E. Teetzel 
Leave a comment