It’s always nice to get a little bit of perspective. Personally, I quite enjoy finding new ways to look at things, and after attending the 2025 Fantasy/Sci-Fi Author Summit online this year, I had a thought that I hadn’t had in years. 

When I was a kid - particularly when I was in middle school and I took my first financial literacy class - I loved the idea of becoming an entrepreneur. I wanted to be someone who started her own business, and even at that age, I was driven by the idea of doing so. 

Since I was a little girl, I always loved to write; and I’ve mentioned in other posts that I was stapling books together since before I could spell. However, when I was in middle school, this idea left me for a time, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career. 

Now, I know that I’ve been taking my writing and publishing very seriously. Over the last year, I went from publishing one book per year, hyping it up a little bit upon release, and leaving it alone until my next book came out, occasionally taking courses when I had the time… to having several books ready to release within the year, actively scheduling and marketing consistently, investing money into my craft, and making time to learn and grow. Taking the craft more seriously has allowed me the opportunity to consistently make sales, host author events, and get my book on the shelves of several bookstores. It truly has been a journey.

After attending this most recent author summit, I realized… I am an entrepreneur. How cool is that?

Anyway! Today, I wanted too share the process I go through from concept to final published work. So, without further ado, here is every part of the process that each of my books goes through. 

Idea Phase

• Conception - This is where I get the initial idea. It’s usually just a glimpse of an idea at first, and how strong a pull that initial idea has on me determines whether or not I think I’ll ever do anything with it.
• Quick jot - If I really like the idea, I’ll take a moment and make a note in my phone about the very quick story concept and any major conflicts that come to mind. 
• Simmering period - Most often, when I get an idea for a story, I’m already working on another project, so most of my ideas have a cool-down period. For me, this is extremely helpful, because when I do come back to the idea, I get to see if I was just excited in the moment, or if there’s something more to this one. 

Drafting Phase

• What If’s and Outlining - During my outlining stage, I write down major aspects to my main characters I want to incorporate, major plot points and conflicts, and I like to write a rough idea of what will happen near the end of the story. I don’t always complete my outline before I start writing. In fact, most often, I actually outline as I work on my first draft, and the two are completed side by side. 
• Drafting - This is the part where I write the first draft of the book. I know a lot of people who really struggle with this part, because they focus too much on what they want their end product to be. I totally get that. It took me five years to write my first book, and it still wasn’t what I wanted it to be by the time I published it. So now, I take my first draft as an opportunity to spit the words out as quickly as possible. Once the story is out of me and on the page, then I can begin refining it.
• Research - As I work on the draft, I may do some research outside of my writing time. Often, however, I try to do my research when I start editing, and I leave myself notes for what I’ll need to research
• Note leaving - As I work on my first draft, I try not to stop if I can help it. I try not to go back and add things in or edit a single thing. My one goal with my first draft is to get the story written. But there are often times where I know something is missing or something needs to be fixed or reworded or removed as I’m drafting. Rather than stopping to do that right now, I make a note that starts with OKAY BREY… leave the suggestion, and come back later. 

Refining Phase

• Quick edit - Once the first draft is complete, I go through my manuscript and quickly address every note I left myself. This is where I add things in, reword things, make whatever changes those notes recommend.
• Developmental editing - At this point in the process, I bring someone else in to read through what I have. This person makes suggestions for how to make the story better, how to improve the flow, fix plot holes, address dialogue issues, etc. With developmental editing often comes - for me - a full developmental rewrite.
• Quick edit - Especially if I’ve done a full rewrite to address developmental edit suggestions, I like to go through the document again and check for glaring errors.
• Copyright submission - At this point, I feel I’ve got my story in pretty decent shape. Before I send it off to more people to get their hands on it, I submit my work for copyright with the Library of Congress.
• ISBN registration - This is also a good time for me to register my book with an ISBN. I haven’t always purchased my own ISBN’s, but I do now, and it’s been a very worthwhile expense.
• Beta reading - Then, I send my book off to more people who will look at the book and tell me what I can do to make the story even better. 
• Beta read implementation - During my beta read implementation, I put in many of the suggestions made by my beta readers to improve the story. 

Design Phase

• Cover design - I mention often that I’m a huge fan of every part of the process, so over the years, I’ve worked to learn how to do every part of the process. This includes designing the cover. I often start this process as soon as I start my drafting phase. I start messing around with cover ideas and sketching things out. Each time my book goes into the hands of someone else (like my beta readers or my developmental editor), I work on my cover or other graphics.
• Graphic design - This is the point in the process that I start designing other graphics. I decide what graphics I want to include within the book, and get working on those. I start designing my chapter headers, any page break designs, and any other design I want for the book. If I want to include a map within the book - like I did for Bound and Severed, I usually start with a quick sketch and work on that as I go, much like I do with the cover design.
• Formatting - At this point, I’m ready to actually format the book. I create front and back matter, choose my fonts and spacing, adjust margins, add page numbers and headers, add graphics, etc. Basically anything that will make the manuscript look like a finished book, I put together in this step.

Polishing Phase

• ProofREADING and Line editing - Once my book is all pretty and formatted, I like to go in and do my final, huge edit. I read through the entire book one sentence at a time. I reword things, add or delete sentences or details, check punctuation, capitalization, spelling, word choice, etc. 
• ProofREADING implementation - Then, I go back through the entire book and put every single edit into the final manuscript. 
• Submission - At this point in the process, I upload my manuscript and finished cover into my chosen publishing platform(s). I work through all the metadata (using keywords and descriptions to show readers what they will be reading - as well as helping readers to find​ the book in the first place). I choose the price, decide what marketplaces I would like to sell in, add my barcode, and submit my stuff.
• Proofing - Once my submission is approved, I order a physical proof copy so that I can look it over and make sure the final product is exactly how I want it to be. Often, I have to make little tweaks here and there, and resubmit, but once it looks good, I approve it for distribution. 

Marketing Phase

• Initial hype - I start marketing my book really early, often when I’m still writing the first draft. I like to let my readers know that I’ve got a story cooking, and update them as I progress through all the stages listed above. 
• Marketing - Once my book is getting closer to launch, I start posting about characters, tropes, share title and cover reveals, and try to engage the community. 
• Book launch - This is the part where I’m actually getting ready for the book to release. I order author copies, run giveaways, contact bookstores, schedule signings, etc. This is a really fun part of the process for me! 
• Upkeep - After the book has launched, I try to keep some of the momentum. Lately, this has been by sharing with people what I’m up to - especially when it comes to events I participate in. 

I get a lot of people who, when they find out I am a published author or they meet me at a book signing, ask, “Oh, so you self-published?”
 
Now, I’ve been doing this for quite a while, and I’m well familiar with the stigma around self-publishing. But it’s interesting to me how so many of these people still view self-publishing or independently publishing through such a negative lens, especially with how successful indie-publishing as a practice has become.  
 
When I have people comment this way, I always answer proudly, “Yes, I do it all myself.” Because I am proud to be an indie author. I am proud to publish my work on my own. Today, I’d like to share with you some of the reasons why I choose to self-publish.
 
1. Growth. Self-publishing has allowed me to learn and gain new skills for all aspects of publishing and marketing with every new book I release.

2. Deadlines. I set my own timelines.

3. Decisions. I get to decide exactly what I want for every part of the process.

4. Freedom. I can sell my books anywhere I like (as long as I have purchased my own ISBN for that book).

5. Involvement. I can be as involved as I like in EVERY SINGLE part of the publishing process. I LOVE that I don’t just write the book.

6. Independence. I love that my success is on my own terms, and succeeding as an indie author feels so incredible, especially with all the doubters out there.

7. Autonomy. I love that I can do it all myself.

8. Community. Through my independent publishing journey, I get to be a part of a super cool (mostly) down to earth community of other indie authors and artists and book lovers.

9. Pride. I take a lot of pride in my art, and I get to really focus in on the art of drafting, editing, designing, formatting, and marketing.

10.  Support. Now that I have gained the knowledge and skills required for publishing books, I have been able to apply that knowledge and those skills to supporting other indie authors looking to put their own work out into the world.​

BONUS: Money. I love that, as an indie author, I am able to make higher royalty payments per book sale than many traditionally published authors. (The downside, of course, is that often self-published authors make fewer sales or have higher expenses for book production, so things ultimately tend to balance out).

I had another book signing event yesterday, and I’ve learned a lot in a recent author summit I’ve been participating in for fantasy and sci-fi authors. I’ve got a lot of thoughts to share with you all, so stay tuned for more blog posts like this one. Have a great week!

In August of 2017, I finished writing, edited and published my first novel. I did the majority of the work using Microsoft Word, and my mom helped me design my cover using her photoshop. 

Now, almost eight years later, I've become much more intentional with the programs I use for each part of the process. Here are the programs I use, and what I use them for.

Microsoft Word
I use word for drafting and formatting my final documents. I've used Pages, Google Docs, Notes, etc., and I am familiar with and fond of Microsoft Word. I know of many other authors who use different programs out there - and many do not like to format their books with Word. I can totally understand that, but I’ve worked with it so long that I personally find it easy to use. I’ve learned lots of shortcuts and tricks that help my book formatting efforts be consistent, and I really haven’t had much of a problem (not since I upgraded from Word 2007, that is).

Procreate
I use procreate for designing my book covers, interior graphics, character art, and promotional graphics.

Preview
I typically print/order a proof copy of my books to write with, but I'm always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of my process. With my most recent book - as well as some books that I have edited for others - I have used the PDF previewer on my iPad, which allows me to actually write on the document. This seems to work pretty well, and may save me some time (and paper, and ink) in the final editing processes.

​Canva
I've only been using Canva for the last... probably eight months or so, and I'm a big fan. I use Canva to make professional looking posters and announcements for social media. Doing so has opened up the world of creating graphics for me quite a bit, and has saved me a ridiculous amount of time (while also allowing me greater access to more fun fonts, which is definitely a plus).

IngramSpark
I only started using IngramSpark when I released Bound back in September of 2024, and I know there are a lot of people who have issues with the user-friendliness (or lack thereof) of IngramSpark. However, I've been publishing for almost eight years, and it's only since I started using IngramSpark that I've started making more consistent sales - especially to bookstores. Now, I can't say that IngramSpark is solely responsible for this. I know that a huge reason that I've gotten more visibility is because I'm putting in more consistent work for it and I'm putting myself out there more. But still, I feel that using IngramSpark has helped.

Amazon
I started my self-publishing journey with Amazon KDP, and I still use this platform to upload my books and make them more widely available to the public.

Instagram
I do the majority of my marketing on Instagram, and I am so grateful for the connections I’ve made and the supportive community I’ve had the pleasure of becoming a part of. 

Other Programs I Use for My Books
​AllAuthor - I just signed up for this platform not long ago, so I will keep you updated if it evolves into anything big.
GoodReads - I have used GoodReads (though not religiously) since I published my debut novel all those years ago. I think it’s an amazing platform, and as a reader, I think it’s phenomenal. It’s like going into a library with a whole bunch of book nerds of all kinds sharing book recommendations. I absolutely love that. What I don’t love is that my books are spread across three or four different author accounts because it automatically connected by books and didn’t recognize my name the same each time. I do understand that because I published my debut novel under my maiden name, that and the other that was published under that name would link to another account. That makes sense to me. But it’s a liiiittle bit frustrating that all my others under my current name link to so many different accounts. Nevertheless, I do adore GoodReads.


​​Know of other programs that I could/should be utilizing to create, publish and promote my books? I’d love to know about them! ​

A few months ago, I wrote a post about how I started a writing group, and how I didn’t know how it would be or what things would look like, but that I was enjoying it so far. 
 
It’s now been three and a half months since then (give or take), and I’d like to give you all an update about how the experience has been. 
 
This writing group has really only been family at this point. Every week, I either send out a prompt or a writing podcast episode to listen to, and we’ve spent the first half of our sessions discussing. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our goals each week. It's been really nice to hold each other accountable and support each other when goals need to be adjusted.
 
Some of the topics we’ve discussed are…

1. Whether or not talent is important to drafting a story
2. Why it’s better to get words on the page than to perfect your work chapter by chapter as you write
3. How writing can help you grieve
4. How writing can help you preserve memories, even if you’re writing fiction
5. How writing every day can be helpful in building up your skill, focus, and writing stamina
6. How location – specific writing can help get you out of a writing slump

 
In each writing session, we would then have between 10 and 30 minutes to write as much as we could. This has been really nice, because it's given us all dedicated time set aside to sit down and get words on the page. And I don’t know, there’s something about doing this with someone who’s working on something also that has been incredibly motivating. 
 
Some things that I think have been working really well:
In our last session, I had prepared a couple of prompts that were general enough they could apply really to just about any piece of writing. At the very beginning of our session, I put them up on the screen and gave us five minutes each to write as much as we could surrounding each prompt. This was super helpful! It was a challenge, but all of us got words on the page, and it led to a great discussion.
 
Because we focused on writing first, we were able to share what we’d written aloud, which to me was incredibly motivating and inspiring. It spurred a full conversation on how writing can be.
 
Another thing that I feel has been going very well is our writing group chat. The few of us share a group chat in which we drop our progress for the day. On days that we do this, I find that we all write more words and more decent content. It’s also been a great way to hold each other accountable. 
 
I’ll definitely keep you all up to date with how this writing group goes. Overall, I think it’s been a really positive thing. It’s given me a space to talk about writing and stories and set just a little bit more dedicated time to write, even if I’m focusing mostly on editing in my other writing times throughout the week. It’s also been great to connect and support other people as they progress on their own writing journey. 
 
Stay tuned next week for more writing-related content, and have a great rest of your weekend!