During my interview with Erin P.T. Canning, author of The Aerytol Saga, we had a chance to discuss the many hats she wears within the literary community as an author, editor, book coach, Facebook group moderator, and podcast creator. As an Indie Author, she needs to be an expert at basically everything. With all of these different hats she wears and the juggling that goes into balancing life and her work, I knew I needed to ask her some specific questions!
.png)
Do you have any tips for carving out that sacred writing time while still being available to a young family? I know in my experience, I have heard, “make the time,” but there are times when that feels impossible.
It sure does! The biggest difference for me was two-fold:
(1) My mentor, Dayna Abraham from Calm the Chaos, taught me that I’m the lynchpin in my family. I can’t be there for them in the way I want to be if I’m tapped out. So that encouraged me to make that time.
(2) She also taught us to look at our schedules, hour by hour, and black out the unavailable times, like breakfast, school drop-offs, play dates, pickups, dinner, and bed time, etc. Then she told us to look for the holes in our schedule. I was shocked to find them. Turns out, I spent most of that time scrolling on my phone…
I know the feeling as I too am guilty of scrolling, especially following a long day of caretaking and working.
Despite the intense work that goes into writing, editing, and publishing, Erin P.T. Canning managed to get three awesome books published during a year’s time. Fortunately, Erin’s original draft for her book was “massive” and she could take her story and break it down into 2.5 outlines.
As for balancing that with other work and a personal life, it’s not really a balance. I had to set aside some stuff. I’m an editor by trade, so I was able to stagger my work so I could write too.
During the last month leading up to publication, my kids see me spending every second revising my manuscript. I used to feel guilty about that, but I’ve shown my kids what it means to work hard for our dreams and what the word “deadline” means. And my kids are super proud of me, which is pretty freaking cool.
This was an eye-opener for me. Everyone I’ve spoken with, everything I’ve read, said that “balance” was the key to making my dreams come true as a writer, a wife, a mom, and a woman, but what if it wasn’t about balance? What if it was about acceptable sacrifices?
Next, we discussed self-publication. As more and more authors are choosing this path for their publication process, I’ve been stuck in a chokehold of wondering, how in the world . . .
What led you down the path of self-publication versus traditional publication?
I had put my dreams of publication on hold for 20+ years, even after graduating with degrees in literature and writing. I was a point where I couldn’t handle the thought of anyone telling me that my story wasn’t good enough to be shared publicly. I needed to prioritize my dream and make it happen. So, I did.
I also had an amazing support system and coaching program that encouraged me every step of the way. Also, most trad publishers these days don’t help with marketing and sales; that still falls to the author. I figured if I have to do all of that myself anyway, I may as well do it all.
What does the self-publication journey look like? Do you wish you had known anything specific before pursuing self-publication?
It was definitely easier with a mentor and being part of a coaching group who could just tell me, “These are your next steps and here’s how you do it,” rather than me having to research and learn everything on my own. That’s why I hope to do the same going forward with my own coaching business.
I wish I had done more research beforehand about marketing to my genre, including the cover design. It’s perfectly acceptable to write the story first and then identify the tropes you’ve included and market those. But in terms of the genre, I needed to own that my books are fantasy romance sooner. Now I need to recover the entire series, which isn’t cheap….
Unfortunately, I am the queen of learning from my mistakes rather than getting it right the first time so I totally understand and commiserate with Erin on this one!
Are you ultimately happy that you chose to self-publish instead of querying for traditional publishing?
Sometimes, I wonder “what if.” But those best-selling stories we hear are one in a million. I have just as good a chance as a self-published author, so long as I learn about the marketing side of things—which I’m working on. I’ve also spoken with trad-published authors, some of whom decided to take matters into their own hands and shift into self-publishing. So, either way, it’s really about what we bring to the table and whether we can find the right readers who will advocate for our books (e.g., by leaving reviews and spreading the word via social media). Our success rests in our readers’ hands.
Any advice for someone looking at self-publishing their book?
Give yourself permission to write crap and finish that first draft. The only goal to measure by is finishing, not how pretty the sentences are. The first draft is about getting the ideas down on the page so you can see the entire structure of the book. Scenes might need to move. Ideas might need to be expanded or cut. Characters might need to be added or altered. You don’t do that to a ready for publication manuscript. You need that first draft to be messy so you have the freedom to reshape it. Then, find the group right for you, whether that’s a mentor, a coaching group, a fantastic developmental or line editor—someone who will walk you through the revision and publishing process so you don’t have to go it alone. (I’m here to help too.)
The first line of Erin’s response here has been such an eye-opener! Giving yourself permission to write down what comes to you and not look back until “The End” is written on that page. . . I’m still working on it but somehow it feels like I’ll actually get to the end of the story now.
Lastly, we spoke of the Parents Who Write podcast and what her hopes are for this platform:
Can you share a bit about the Parents Who Write podcast? What audience are you hoping to reach with the podcast? I know it is available on Spotify. Is it available anywhere else?
I hope to reach parents who sidelined their creative pursuits but are ready to take themselves off the shelves, finish writing that book they’ve always dreamed of, and see it through to publication. I want to help other parents, other writers, become the authors they’re meant to be, to make the process not so scary, to show them they can do this too.
Yes, the podcast is available on pretty much all podcasting platforms, including Apple, Amazon, etc.
It was such a pleasure getting to speak with Erin P.T. Canning about her series, The Aerytol Saga, the Parents Who Write podcast, and her writing and publication journey as a self-published author. You can find out more about Erin and her work by following her on social media, checking out her website, and the Parents Who Write podcast.
Here’s the link to check out the interview with Erin P.T. Canning about her current series: https://www.bluedandelionpress.com/author-corner-with-erin-p-t-canning/
And it looks like Erin currently has a FREE book on her website for you! *Don’t forget to leave a review wherever you can!!*
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtV2cEnlwvNt44XGOFXpOWw
https://www.instagram.com/erinptcanning
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eptcanning
Happy Reading!
Leave a Reply