~ My Author Journey ~

My Writing Origins

I’ve been writing stories since I was around 7. From stapling together hand-written and illustrated stories to give my siblings on Christmas, to a fantasy collab with my best friend where we alternated writing chapters and put them in each other’s mailboxes, to Star Wars: Clone Wars fanfiction, which featured my first original character: a bug-eyed alien named Chihuahua Huffus.

When I was twelve, the beginning foundations of what would later become The Tindoria Chronicles began to form in my imagination, and thus began the very first draft. At first, I wasn’t taking it too seriously; it was a pastime I enjoyed and I was mainly writing for myself. As my world and story grew, however, I realized I had something really special and dreamed of sharing it with others in the world. So I began to tackle my writing journey with this new end goal in mind of being a real author. While it took me over 10 years to finish Prisoners of Thornbrill (book 1 of The Tindoria Chronicles), it was all in God’s perfect timing, and I couldn’t be happier than where I am now!

After The Tindoria Chronicles, I have plans for a stand-alone novel set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, currently code-named Project Justice.

My Inspiration

As a very influential child, pretty much anything and everything inspired me to some degree: books, movies, art, quotes, prompts, and sometimes even music/film soundtracks!

I went through a fangirl phase for the How to Train Your Dragon movies (2010, 2014, 2019) and The Water Horse (2007). They were the real kick-off for my story. Inspired by the films’ plots, I started writing my own dragon story mixed with the high epic fantasy elements from books like Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. After making notes, concept art, and character/world building, I had created an original story that took off!

While my first book was being edited by my parents, someone told me about a “famous 15 year old author.” This author’s name was Christopher Paolini, and he wrote a book called Eragon. As a new teen myself, I was fascinated that an author so young became so successful, and that inspired me. Now, I ended up seeing the movie Eragon (eesh) before having a chance to read the book, and was so upset to find that our opening sequences—by crazy coincidence—were almost identical. Now, once I read the book, I was more relieved in the actual differences, but still. During that stretch of time between seeing the movie and reading the book, I was salty with Paolini. I got over it, don’t worry lol!

My Publishing Journey (first try)

After I had finished the first draft of my Prisoners of Thornbrill manuscript at the age of 15, I passed it off to my parents to edit, where, ultimately, it sat in limbo for a few years. During that time, in addition to writing the sequel, Spire of Tavnir, I was looking at self vs traditional publishing, and honestly, the thing that sold me on being an indie author was the higher royalty rates—because, you know, I wanted money—and the fact I had control over every little thing—book cover, content, deadlines, marketing—so as a perfectionist, that was extremely appealing. That’s why I picked KDP. I was 18 by the time I revisited the manuscript, recoiled at the cringiness that glared back at me, and gave my story a major overhaul, where I renamed the trilogy and the books themselves:

From The Legend of Scalaed to The Tindoria Chronicles (because there never actually was a legend at all in the story lol!)
From On the Road of Danger (so cliché) to Prisoners of Thornbrill
From Quest for Answers (again, so generic haha) to Spire of Tavnir
From League of Wings (there didn’t end up being enough “wings” for a league) to Shadows of Phoenix

I then set up the books’ profiles on KDP. I designed the covers and interior formatting myself thanks to my background in graphic design, and printed a proof copy. Unboxing that very first proof was magical! I was thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s here, and it looks like an actual real book!” Having a physical copy was so much more convenient for editing, and I think seeing how close I was to publishing helped spur my efforts to get them edited. Finally, when I was 21, I published Prisoners of Thornbrill on December 27, 2019.

Challenges I Faced

I say I clicked published, and that’s literally the only thing I did. I just expected Prisoners of Thornbrill would kinda just...market and take care of itself? Needless to say, I had done zero research on this thing called a “Book Launch,” so when I didn’t sell any copies, it discouraged me in a huge way and stalled my writing to where I didn’t touch my trilogy for a year. One day, I mentioned my books in passing to my catering manager, who showed great interest. That kind of got me thinking to try the whole trilogy thing again. Because Spire of Tavnir’s original manuscript’s plot and story were no longer cohesive with its revamped predecessor, it also needed a huge rewrite. Amidst the rewrite, I got married, moved to North Carolina for my husband’s job at the Marine Corps, and had my first baby. Spire of Tavnir, after being edited by my parents, ended up being published two years after Prisoners of Thornbrill on January 31, 2022.

Sales were still practically nonexistent, so I started an author instagram account in hopes of changing that. I also watched YouTube videos, (shoutout to Bethany Atazadeh!), read articles, and followed other indie authors. That was when I realized there was this whole world of marketing I completely missed: ARCs, beta readers, types of editors, ISBNs, publishing imprints, pre-orders, street teams, social media growth, book boxes, marketing, and more. With two books out, I felt like I missed the boat twice.

I was trying to find my place on Instagram. I finished my draft of book 3 and again, sent it off to my mom and dad to edit. My mom was a huge help editing the story as usual, but this time, however, my dad just didn’t have the time to edit the grammar like he did before. I completely understood, but now I was faced with a new problem: who was going to edit my final book? I revealed the title and cover of book 3, but I still had no plan. A real editor would be so expensive! Now that I was married and a stay-at-home mom, where the heck was I going to get that kind of money?

My Unpublishing Journey

I began entertaining the thought of hiring a real editor through a crowdfunding campaign. But then I thought, Well, it seems kind of weird to have only 1 book professionally edited. They might not flow as well. People will be able to tell. That was when I realized, with a Kickstarter campaign, I had an opportunity to get all three books professionally edited…something that had always nagged at the far back of my mind since 2019. One review even pointed that out, which didn’t help my authorly confidence.

Because I would be changing the content, I had to unpublish the current editions. Filled with all this new knowledge about launching a book, my train of thought took off as follows: I’ll need new ISBNs because they’ll be new editions. This time, I’ll actually buy my own ISBNs to sell beyond Amazon (because at this point I had used the free auto-generated ISBNs from KDP). Heck, if these are gonna be new editions, how about I relaunch these books as if it’s the first time ever?!

I was now so excited!

So I unpublished Prisoners of Thornbrill and Spire of Tavnir. I then scrubbed Spire of Tavnir from existence from every social media and shopping platform I could think of; I was now starting over with this trilogy’s publication.

Kickstarter Campaign #1

The Kickstarter crowdfunding platform enabled me to offer bookish goodies and merch readers couldn’t get on places like Amazon. I had art prints, bookmarks and stickers, and I was so excited for this launch.

After officially deciding I really would edit all three books, I structured my Kickstarter campaign accordingly. Then I launched my campaign on November 2, 2022, with an outrageous funding goal of $8,100.

Like a book, a Kickstarter campaign also needs to be hyped in a pre-launch period, which I did not know or do. So, the campaign failed, raising just over $1,200, none of which I received because Kickstarter only pays out campaigns that successfully reach their funding goal.

Discouraged, I took a month hiatus to determine my next course of action. During this time, I also moved back to Oklahoma.

Kickstarter Campaign #2

I figured my first Kickstarter campaign had too high of a goal. So I had the idea of reducing the campaign from funding the whole series, to just Book 1.

So, I tried Kickstarter again on February 14, 2023. I emailed family, friends, and community. I printed pamphlets to post at my church, library, and even a local bookshop. This time, I succeeded, but just barely. But now I finally had the funds needed to edit Prisoners of Thornbrill!

Thanks to the author community on Instagram, I found a developmental editor for my story/plot, and a copy/line editor for my writing style and grammar.

Everything was going great, my story was being transformed into the story I always wanted, until I found out I had missed something very important…

My title font.

I really think it was the Holy Spirit that brought this to my attention, because I have no idea how else I would have thought of it, but I realized I never checked if I had commercial rights to sell something that used that font. As a graphic designer student, I had gotten countless of fonts for free. I used them in personal projects; nothing I planned on selling. Well, after some hunting, I finally found the original typeface artist, who lived in Germany, and I checked her archaic website for the license. Well, it appeared the process would have consisted of writing a check, paying for overseas mail, currency changes, waiting for a certification and license, etc… I just felt overhwhelmed at the idea, so I decided I would just redesign the cover with new typography.

So I did! And honestly it is so much more readable now and a lot prettier!

My Publishing Journey (second try)

From February to October of ‘23, I worked hard on Prisoners of Thornbrill, whose manuscript once again had undergone a major transformation. I had a beta team, then I pushed it through developmental, line, and copy editing, then a final proofread. I spent many late nights making these deadlines because I didn’t want to wait any longer in releasing this book!

Finally, on October 17, 2023—my birthday because why not?—I re-published Prisoners of Thornbrill and even reached #2 and #3 in three Amazon bestseller categories! This launch was so much more different than my attempt in ‘19, and I was blown away by the response and support from readers. Truly stunned. I sold 109 copies during release month; I could not believe it! And to think I got do it all again for Spire of Tavnir, whose title I revealed a mere two months later in December. Because I couldn’t wait. Haha.

Kickstarter Campaign #3

I knew Kickstarter would be the way to go moving forward, so after revising Spire of Tavnir to once again coincide with the new plot of Prisoners of Thornbrill, I launched its campaign on May 1, revealing the cover the same day. But this time there was a twist.

You see, at this point I was seeing many of my author friends also launching Kickstarters, with massive success. Like, 700%, 2,000% even 4,500% funded! So I was going to really do my campaign research this time. I joined a facebook group which was instrumental in my decision making. So the twist?

Limited Editions.

Not only was I going to offer all formats of book 1 with this campaign, but also special hardcovers of both books with exclusive cover artwork, gold foiled dust jackets, designed endpapers, and more! This helped entice people to back my project because I emphasized how these limited editions were only ever gone be sold in this campagin—they wouldn’t be able to get them anywhere else after.

I fully funded in 40 minutes, and ended at 641% funded. I was ecstatic! I used the funds to bring back my editors, and Spire of Tavnir was republished August 22, 2024.

What’s Next?

Shadows of Phoenix is slated for release sometime in 2025, with a Limited Edition Kickstarter campaign launching beforehand.

Don’t let discouragement get the better of you! Keep moving forward. Even if it’s just a tiny step a day, you’re still moving in the right direction, and you’ll get where you need to be eventually.

Random Facts About Me

• I’m from Oklahoma

• I have an associate degree in graphic design, which is one of my major passions!

• Yellow and coral are my favorite colors

• My birthstone is opal, which I obsess over

• I am in love with Chipotle. Get me a double steak burrito with pico de gallo, queso, and cheese and you’re my new best friend.

• I can play the guitar, although it’s been a couple years

• I’m an INFJ

• 75ºF is my perfect house temperature, which drives my husband crazy

• Weirdest food combo I’ve had that I loved was a chocolate chip bagel, spread with cream cheese and pepperoni.

• Favorite film(s) of all time is Lord of the Rings and How To Train Your Dragon (major inspiration to start my writing journey)

• I will NOT read smut

• I am the eldest of 6 siblings and gained twice as many more when I married my husband. Yeah. We love our big families!

• Pennington is actually my maiden name, but for continuity’s sake, I’m continuing to publish under it.

• I’m a SAHM of three.

• If I could have any superpower, it would be shapeshifting. Flight? Shapeshift some wings. Invisibility? Shapeshift into a chair. Too lazy for dress and makeup? Yup, shapeshift.