Author Chelsea Biddiscombe

Old tales. New magic. Unforgettable journeys.

Tag: self publishing

Who cursed Oz?

March 17th, 2024

Hello friends!

While I’m proud of my newly published novel, Awakening Fate (linked below), and I out in the mean streets of the internet trying to find new readers for it, I am also hard at work behind the scenes writing my next novel, Emerald Skies.

Emerald Skies is a fantasy/wizard of oz retelling that should be coming to you in the fall.

But what’s it about? Oz is a darker place than you may remember. It is a land that is protected by 4 fae princes. Each of the princes represents one of the following: the lion, the scarecrow, the tinman, and the wizard. They work together to keep the land and it’s people safe and in balance. Tragedy has struck and a pair of witch sisters have placed curses on each prince and the land, throwing everything out of balance.

Dori is a young adult who happens to be magical transported to this Oz late one night. She discovers a land of magic and mystery, but also a land that is hurting and a society that is living in the shadows. Follow Dori as she makes a few friends on the road, and finds that fate brought her there for a reason. Can Dori help her new friends break the curses laid upon them before it’s too late?

Where am I at with writing the story? I have started the second draft of Emerald Skies, it’s looking like it will be in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. It is a stand alone novel with magic, creatures, and a possible romance.

Follow along for more updates as Emerald Skies comes to life on the page!

For those of you wondering, the next book in my Intertwined series, Discover Fate, should be out in the new year.

Thanks for being here!
What a week!

March 11th, 2024

It’s been about a week since my debut novel, Awakening Fate, went live and I’ve been on an emotional roller-coaster!

The fear that people were going to read it and hate it, or not even read it at all, was thick. I had a goal, I wanted to sell 10 books the first week it was out. My goal overall is 100 books by the end of the year, so 10 seemed a good kicking off point.

When I tell you I doubled that in the first week, and I was more shocked with every book sold.

Now, I know selling 20 books in one week isn’t life changing. And I’m well aware that it won’t be like that every week. It was the first week of my first book and I have a support system that wanted to see me succeed. I am forever grateful for that.

My goal seems small to some, but I’m keeping it realistic. I’m a stay at home mom who doesn’t have time during the day to do much marketing or promoting. My evenings are filled with trying to write my next novel, keeping up with social media, and getting to bed at a decent hour. Over all, not the recipe for selling tons and tons of books. I’m ok with that.

In fact, I have a new goal. When I publish my next book, which should be out in the fall, I’m aiming to sell 20 the first week, and I won’t settle for less! Growth. Learning. It’s all a process.

I wanted to share this part of my story because it’s not talked about enough. Would I love to sell thousands of books, of course I would! But I am an unknown author, who is self published, who has to maintain my own social media and marketing, who has three kids to raise and a house to keep together.

It won’t always be this way. One day when I release a book people will know my name, know they like my stuff, and maybe I’ll sell some pre-sales for that one. One day I’ll have time during the day to work on this writing career of mine, and I’ll get to bed at a decent time. (Or not lol)

I’m ok with starting here and growing. It’s the journey I’ve waited for my whole life.

And if I haven’t said it lately, thank you for being here at the beginning of it all!
What they don’t tell you…

March 7th, 2024

I did it! I wrote a novel, had it edited, commissioned the cover, uploaded it, am actively marketing it, and finally I am a published author!

But now what? What they don’t tell you often is the work that goes into your debut novel, or any self published novel, after it’s been published.

For starters, I can’t simply stop posting about it, at least not if I want people to actually read it. The only way it’s going to reach readers is if I’m constantly on social media telling readers about it. (Which, if you haven’t, you should totally download Awakening Fate now! Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, ect. just to name a few. And then leave me a review, if you’d be so kind!)

That in itself is work, hard work. You have to find the right social media for your kind of book, and even then you have to almost be obnoxious about putting it in front of people. There is no marketing team taking care of it. It’s you, babe.

Awakening Fate is also book 1 in a trilogy, so I have to plot out and write book 2. I’ll have to get it edited, get a cover made for it, constantly market it, ect. You see where I’m going here. It’s a never ending circle.

Let’s add more to that pot. I have a standalone book that I’m really excited to be writing. It’s also a fantasy (my take on Wizard of Oz from an adult point of view) and the writing in it is even better than in Awakening Fate. So while book 2 of my original trilogy needs to be written, this is what I’m also working on. It’s going to need the same love and attention, with marketing, that the others are getting.

Not enough? I’m a one woman show and I happen to be a stay at home mom who is starting homeschooling. My kids are up by 6:30am at the earliest and are in bed by 8:30pm. That’s when I go down to the computer room to get things done. I wear all the hats.

I knew what I was getting into, only because I’m a research fiend. But I want to make sure I talk about it for those that haven’t a clue what it takes. Because it takes effort, constant and unrelenting. At least, if you want your novels to be somewhat successful. And this is something I plan on doing for decades.

I long for the day I have a back list of novels for people to read, but in order to get there I have to work for it. Not just write the book and then move on.

I’m not complaining, I’m thriving on the organization and control that being an indie author contains. And one day I’ll look back an appreciate my past self for sticking to it and putting in the work.

The goal? 2 -3 books a year while my kids are young. Maybe more when they’re older. It doesn’t seem like much just looking at it, but when you plot out what needs to be done by when, it all adds up.

The success or failure of my career as a published author rests on how much work I’m willing to put into it. How bad do I want this career?

Stick around and find out.
It’s publication day!

March 5th, 2024

It’s official! Awakening Fate is now available for purchase! Amazon has the paperback version, but the e-book can be found all over. Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Vivlio, even Overdrive for my library goers.

Any and all support is so appreciated, I can’t even describe it. I appreciate everyone who is here for this. I appreciate everyone who has left a review already (looking at you my ARC readers!) and everyone who has liked my videos/posts all over social media.

This dream has been brewing for decades. I have always wanted to be a published author and now that it’s happening it feels surreal.

I have learned a lot writing Awakening Fate and getting it ready for publication. I still have a lot to learn, but the good news is that this is just the beginning! At the moment I have four more books in various stages of planning/writing that will each teach me even more.

I’m going to take the day and revel in the fact that I did it. I put the work in and accomplished this. And then, tomorrow, or maybe the next day, I’ll be getting to work on my next one.

Thank you for being here, I appreciate more than words can say.
Meet the cast!

March 3rd, 2024

Awakening Fate – my debut novel – comes out March 5th! Which is this Tuesday. Let’s meet the cast, shall we?

Nova – an 18 year old college student who simply comes home to visit her family. Everything gets turned upside down when it turns out someone is hunting her. Scared, alone, and running quite literally for her life, Nova needs to get a break soon, or the one breaking will be her.

Haven – a 23 year old mail room worker who is dedicated to her ailing grandmother. During the visits at the psychiatric unit where her grandmother is living Haven starts getting messages that she can no longer ignore. And they mostly have to do with this young woman that has been admitted against her will.

James – a cocky, confident, and overly assertive business man who doesn’t know what privacy boundaries are. No one tells James no, and while it makes him good at his job, it also makes him impossible to hide from.

Jax – a mysterious, quirky individual who seems to know more than he’s letting on. His main goal appears to be helping out strangers on the run, but the secrets he’s hiding can derail everything.

Add to that the wolf that never sleeps, a chunky old story book from another era, and a grandmother who spits out strange facts about fairy tales, and you’ve got Awakening Fate!

Join me on the journey! E-books will be available at pretty much all book retailers (Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, ect.) and paperbacks will be available on Amazon as of March 5th.

Thanks for being here!
8 days until a dream come true…

February 26th, 2024
8 days away until my book goes live on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and a few other sites. It still blows my mind that this is something I was able to achieve. I, in no way, think building a career as an indie writer will be an easy road. However, I do want to take a minute to appreciate everything I’ve done up to this point.
- wrote a freaking novel (first in a trilogy)
- edited it four times personally
- had it professionally edited fully
- had a beauty of a cover professionally created
- put together an ARC team (which has started reviewing it on Goodreads for me)
- created this website
- created various videos for my author Tiktok and Instagram accounts
- formatted the book myself using a variety of software
- obtained the ISBN’s to make it legit
- had 3 separate proofs ordered to make sure it was exactly how I wanted it to look
And I did it all while taking care of my 3 kiddos. There are going to be moments in the future where I wonder if I can do this, if I can even get a second book ready to publish, and I want to make sure I can look back at this post and prove to myself that I can do it.

My dreams are important and are worth my energy, no matter how small that energy is day to day.

8 days away. Feels like a dream.
Like a drug..

February 14th, 2024

Now that I’m starting to get reviews from my ARC readers I realize that I’ve doomed myself! Let me set up how this went down.

I was looking into what it took to become known as an author on Goodreads so that I could add my book to the site. I wanted it to be on Goodreads before launch day. As I was clicking around the site I found that one of my ARC readers had already added my book onto Goodreads, and they had already reviewed it! I stared at the screen in shock for a full couple of minutes, it took me by surprise! The fact that someone, a stranger, took the initiative to fill things out and add a book onto the site when they had no obligation to really stunned me.

And then to top it off they reviewed it with 4 stars and two chunky paragraphs with their thoughts. I almost fell straight out of my chair! The intense high I experienced by knowing one human on this planet read my story and liked it that much, I rode that high for days afterwards! And now? All I want to do is get my next book out there!

I understand there will be people who don’t like it, and I’m sure I’m not prepared for that, but in that moment you could have had someone tell me to my face it was awful, but I was numb with excitement!

A good review on my book was all it took to make my week. And now I’m off to work on my next book, because I need more of that shit lol… Life is a vicious circle some days.
Words and a sad song

February 12th, 2024

Creating content to market a book across a variety of social media websites is wild. Something may do great on one sight but completely bomb on another site, and there are no instruction manuals to tell you what works where.

Trial and error. Research. Crossing all the fingers and just hoping it hooks someone somewhere to the point that they are interested enough to click a button to learn more about it.

It’s a learning adventure.

Here’s something I put together tonight. I’ll know by tomorrow afternoon how it does in all the places. If I haven’t said it lately, thanks for being here.

@authorchelseab
Modern day fairytale retelling focused on Little Red Riding Hood. #BookTok #fyp #debutnovel #indieauthor
♬ Somewhere Only We Know – rhianne
Tiny speed bumps

February 8th, 2024

A learning curve. That’s how I’m describing the journey of becoming a self-published author.

I just discovered the importance of requesting a physical proof from Amazon before the book goes live. It took maybe a full 48 hours between ordering my proof and having it arrive at my front door, which was a lot faster than the four weeks I was expecting.

At first I ordered it just to see my book in person, but as I took it out of the package I realized why it was such a good idea. The cover looked darker than the original art work, and there was a small gap on the top and on the left hand side where the cover didn’t quite get placed correctly. An easy fix, but one I would have never known about if I hadn’t ordered it.

And then I opened it up. I have a few copies of my book document, and I uploaded the one copy with no copyright page to Amazon. Ooops. I also, for whatever reason, didn’t think that the double spaced lines would show up in the physical copy, and yet it did. The chapter header spacing was all funky as well.

All these things are very fixable, but it makes me so glad that I thought to order a proof a month before I want to publish the book. I can take the time to fix all of these things, and maybe get one more proof just to be sure.

So that’s my advice to anyone who is looking to self publish. There is no one else out there looking out for your book. If you want to put out a quality product, you have to be the one to put in the work for it to become quality.

Be proud of what you put out, but make sure it’s exactly how you want to present it to the world. It’s so tempting to just finish a story and then hit publish, but your words, characters, and worlds that you’re creating can wait the extra few weeks it takes to shine it up.

This is my debut novel. It will set the tone for my career. Once I hit publish it’s out their in the world and I will be proud of the work I put into it.

Back to formatting,

Have a great night, and thanks for being here.
Why Fairy-Tales?

February 5th, 2024

“Why are you into fairy tales? What is so intriguing about kid stories?” It’s a fair question, so here’s my answer.

I’ve always enjoyed thinking about the statement “writers write what they know”. I like to take that sentiment further. I truly believe that all writers sprinkle their writing with tiny bits of the truth. It may not always be on purpose, and sometimes they may not see the real world connections, but I feel like it’s always there somehow. That little bit of truth can be powerful or inspirational.

I’ll preface this next part with a statement of my own – my brain is a strange place sometimes. Back to the point. Fairy tales were created long ago to teach children important life lessons. But my brain started wondering, was that all? Or was it also because these story tellers of old had met such unique characters in their travels that they had to write stories about them.

Was there a Little Red Riding Hood in some small mountain village that, maybe, was hidden from the rest of the planet. Maybe a pair of brothers found it by accident during their travels, and upon leaving the village they decided they needed to use what they had seen as inspiration for their stories.

I know it’s really far fetched, but these are the thoughts that gave life to Awakening Fate almost a decade ago. If these people did exist a lifetime ago, it would stand to reason that it’s possible they have real life descendants walking around in our society today. These descendants wouldn’t even know who they were related to, but they would be carrying around the blood of fairy tale characters, and that idea is just wonderful and magical enough, I had to write a story about it.

Awakening Fate is book one in a trilogy, and the cast of characters that the reader doesn’t meet until book two is full of ‘what if this character existed’. And I’ll state it here, I understand that I use the Grimm brothers as a basis for the story, but they didn’t write all the fairy tales and they didn’t reference all of the characters I used in my books. I know that, but I know some people will point it out. That’s okay, just think of them as a jumping off point.

Anyways, Awakening Fate will be out March 5th, 2024 on Amazon, and maybe some other places, too. I hope it finds it’s audience.

Thanks for being here at the start of it all.