Lauren’s journey to self-publishing started in 2020, all thanks to the COVID pandemic which meant her aviation career was temporarily over. While at the time this was devastating, it was also the catalyst for her in pursuing a new career…one in which she was so passionate about – storytelling. A mum from Brisbane, Australia and now an author, Lauren shares with us her unique and inspiring experience of becoming an Indie author. But first …
Lauren’s favourite picture book from childhood?
Grug by Ted Prior.
Lauren’s kids favourite picture books?
My children’s favourite books are Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, making up their own stories and reading cook books.
In this article:
How COVID
changed my life
I’m an author, book promoter, and Youtuber who didn’t realise all this was possible until covid grounded my aviation career and landed me jobless and lost.
To distract myself from the stresses of being unable to find another job, not having enough money to pay bills, and not being able to leave my house – I kept doing something that always fed my soul. Storytelling with my young boys at bedtime.
Little did I know, this led us down a path that created a whole new life for all of us. During the pandemic lockdown, my boys and I had the time to piece together our story, illustrate our story, and publish this family-created tale.
This book now sells all around the world and last year, received an honourable mention in the Story Monsters Book Awards.
The Lolly Shop –
My first book
Our book ‘The Lolly Shop’ is about two boys who own a magical lolly shop. Imagine flying, teleporting, and running with cheetah speed… the magical options are endless. But of course, when chaos spreads through the community, these two boys must work together to restore harmony to their town. Can the mischievous magic stay?
The Publishing Process
Our journey to publication wasn’t an easy one as many publishers rejected this story – so we went down the self-publishing route.
My self-publishing journey came with pro’s and con’s like any situation.
But in my experience, the pro’s outweighed the con’s.
The Pro’s of being a self-published author
The pro’s being:
- The finished product is completely us. The story my boys and I created, which came from years of bedtime memories is purely from our imaginations. After having many publishers not interested it was easy to feel discouraged. But holding the books in our hands and knowing it’s all of OUR hard work was incredibly rewarding for us.
- We market the book ourselves with homemade ads, we send it out to reviewers, and we make our own book trailers.
- We have 100% control. We also have a screenplay written and have started pitching it to producers. We own the intellectual property so we can be part of more of the production process than if a major publisher was involved.
- Another pro to having a self-published book is, it gives you a presence in the book community. I have something I can show to publishers – I can market, I can produce, I can prove sales, I can win awards etc.
The Con’s of being a self-published author
There were a few con’s with self-publishing for us too.
- You learn the hard way sometimes and sometimes the mistakes can be costly. Our first cover was too pixelated.
After counting down to release and putting it out there and getting everyone excited – our first cover was like a Minecraft game – PIX-CIL-A-TED!
So having to fix it and re-order books was time and money wasted. It also meant the very first release was tarnished from having to recall books and try and have the same excitement the second time around after getting the cover perfect.
But not all is wasted because you don’t make that mistake twice. Little things like that are con’s with self-publishing.
- It’s also harder to stock your books in major bookstores and department stores… but still… that hasn’t hindered thousands of copies sold worldwide.
Where can you find The Lolly Shop?
Our book ‘The Lolly Shop’ can be purchased through online book retailers and independent bookstores – visit my website for more details.
What’s next for me?
We have three books in the series with more books to come. I have an adult short story on Kindle called ‘Land Angels’.
All of our books are getting 4-5 star reviews on Goodreads and on the platforms where they are sold.
Traditional Publishing or Self-Publishing…
JUST GO FOR IT!
Whether you go down the traditional path or self-publishing path be in it for the love of the craft and love of the industry.
You are going to face hurdles, criticism, and challenges no matter which path you choose. But don’t let that stop you – who knows?! Your biggest dreams may just come true!
Article and images kindly supplied by Lauren Hackney. Thank you for sharing your self-publishing journey with Birchy’s Books, Lauren!
Next week we will hear from Callum Greenall – an Indie Author from Western Australia!
