When you start writing a book, you are literally creating something out of nothing. You're taking the ideas you have for a story, or tapping into your own personal memories, and turning those into a physical book that someone can hold in their hands (or read via Kindle).
Things that only existed in your head can now be experienced by complete strangers. It's incredible and such an awesome process to be a part of, both for you as the writer and for us as the publisher.
The love of the writing journey itself is why we do a "Making Of" series for our authors. We want to take you behind the scenes on how the book happened and, hopefully, leave some inspiration for your next project.
Today we will focus on our newest author, Joy M. Lilley, and her most recent published title, Strawberry Moon. You'll see how her writing journey went from this short message on LinkedIn at the end of 2018:
Enjoyed this article, Chris. I have a question, can you look over a script for me? It has been edited and proof read to death. I am touting around various publishers, but not getting a sniff of uptake. That is apart from those who want paying to do it. You can contact me at (email address omitted)
To this at the end of April 2019:
Joy lives in England. Long Overdue is in Chicago.
And that when I say, "Long Overdue" what I really mean--at least at that point in time--was me (Chris O'Brien) trying to start a storytelling company while simultaneously working a 9 to 5 job. This story isn't about a publisher taking a chance on an author, it's about an author taking a chance on a startup.
All started as a LinkedIn request. Ended as a published book. I can't wait to share with you what happened in between.
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