Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Gillis.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started writing when I was in 7th grade. I was very much into anime and musicals at the time and decided to write my own. I’d always had stories floating around in my head so I’d start dozens but never finish them. It was just always a part of me as a hobby. Then I moved to Japan as a teacher for three years and when I came back I found I was a little bit lost. Many of my friends had moved away and I was very isolated so I put that energy and emotion into my first series The Ashport Archives with the main character going through something a little similar but in a very fantastical way. It was a bit therapeutic to write it. Then a few years ago I got inspiration to write a new story called The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids and it covered a lot of internalized trauma I had never let out onto the page. I like to use fiction as a means to communicate how I’m feeling and work through my emotions and memories that way so my latest book is my biggest accomplishment as a writer. A lot of people tell you to write what you know and let yourself bleed onto the page and I really felt that I achieved that goal the most with HSFCAC (as I call it for short). Even though the story has four different protagonists, each of them represents something I was working through or had been working through in the past so it was a lot like baring my soul for the world to see.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. I’m a self-published writer so it’s always a rocky path between having to produce an entire book on your own to handling the reactions people give you for being self-published. Even members of my own family look down on me for being self-pub instead of traditional. The issue is people don’t know how the world of publishing has changed and maybe one day I’ll be at least hybrid, I’m happy with the control I have over my writing. That’s not to say it has been smooth sailing because aside from finding the time to write while having a 9-5 job and managing my YouTube and other parts of my life, self-publishing can be very expensive. I’m a single woman so I only have my income to rely on and editing can costs thousands of dollars depending on book size and I tend to write big books. So finding an editor that can work with me financially and then a cover artist is expensive. Then you have to learn your own skills in marketing which especially with books going viral on tiktok, etc, it’s hard to become one of the lucky few that make it that way all while still combating the stigma that self-published authors endure. Being self-pub or trad doesn’t dictate the quality of the book anymore and I wish more people would give indie authors, like myself, a chance.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I like to brand myself as an author/reader/dork extraordinaire. One of the ways most people find me is my YouTube channel. I started making videos when I lived in Japan and when I came home, transitioned into making bookish content. I read a ton. (almost 300 books a year) So I review a lot of books and like to bring up other indie voices that way but I also host livestreams for productivity helping other writers get their books done or even just helping keep people on track with their own chores or creative projects. I love dabbling in other things like costume creation, I embroider punny bookmarks and sell them at conventions or on my kofi shop. I do paint-by-numbers and latchhook just to have something to do while I listen to audiobooks, honestly. Then of course, there is my parrot, Mambo. Many people find me via tiktok that way as I post lots of silly videos of her being absolutely ridiculous. I’m an animal lover (except rabbits, don’t get me started) and was a dog trainer for a few years. I like that all the things I do don’t necessary mesh together but it makes me proud that I’m kind of a jack of all trades. I love to learn and share my enthusiasm with things I’m passionate about. I’m not just one thing that can be easily pegged down, I’m an extensive list that’s ever-growing.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think what’s been the most important to me is creating my community. I really have to credit my followers on YouTube especially because there the ones who come to my livestreams and support my kickstarters first. They’re out there sharing the word, chatting with me on discord, etc. They’re the front lines of my support system and I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without them. Some have even become my closest friends and confidants. I think it’s important, especially in the indie publishing world, that we support each other and raise up each other’s voices rather than making it a dog-eat-dog world, because it’s not. I love showcasing my friends’ works because they’re all amazingly talented people. Even when I’m at conventions, I’ll genuinely ask people what they like to read and if my genre isn’t necessarily what they like, I’m more than happy to recommend other books that I know of because reading while appearing to be a solitary hobby, can be very social. That’s actually how I got my cover art for The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids. I walked up to this other author’s table and talked to them about their books, they showed me their twitch and I followed, popped up on some streams and chatted with them, read their work, and now we’re very good friends and he did the cover and interior art for my book. (I paid him, this was not free labor, pay your friends for their work, people). If I hadn’t just walked up to his table though, my book would look very different. The best thing any writer can do is not try to push their own work on others, but show your honest support for the community and those in it will lift you up too.
Pricing:
- HSFCAC – $20 Paperback
- Individual Ashport books are $15
- Embroidered Bookmarks $10
- Editing Services range from $.01/word to $.04 per word depending on type of editing
- All my ebooks are free on Kindle Unlimited
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ko-fi.com/stephaniegillis
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/qwordyq
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/qwordyq
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Qwordy
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephanieandmambo
Image Credits
All images are mine
