Sage and Clare, princesses of kingdom Pax et Lux, are thrown into arranged marriages to promote political stability with their neighboring kingdoms. Amid the drama, the sisters encounter magic, tragedy, romance and heartache. This is the plot of A. Kingsley’s first novel “The Goddesses Throne,” in her trilogy Two Red Flames. And while writing a fantasy trilogy might seem like an outstanding achievement on its own, author Abi Celaya (otherwise known as her penname A. Kingsley), began writing her trilogy while she was still in high school. Now attending Northern Arizona University, Celaya is working on the third novel in her trilogy, among other literary projects.
When Celaya completed her first novel, she had to discover a way to make her dreams of publishing it come true with a high schooler’s connections and budget. Without being able to submit her novel to traditional publishing houses, she researched ways she could self publish.
Through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program, she was able to submit her manuscript, cover art and let the corporation handle the production of the novel. In terms of designing, she reached out to Covers by Violet’s Rena Violet for help. On a limited budget, Violet agreed to help the young girl by designing her covers at a discounted rate.
People are also reading…
Since then, she’s published the second in the series and is currently working on the third, which is slated to come out early 2023. When it comes to writing, juggling her college classes and reading other novels, Celaya said it is important not to pressure herself into writing and to keep it a fun and enjoyable process.
“I love my characters,” Celaya said. “Yes, I do it for me, but I also do it because I want people to read my stories and I think it’s really fun. I don’t make myself, either. If I don’t want to write, I don’t. I don’t like to pressure myself into doing it because it’s not my job. It’s fun and if you want a fun series to read, I think it’s fun.”
As a self published author without an editor, Celaya has had to figure everything out on her own and often us the trial and error method. Because of this, she’s been met with positive and negative responses. She’s had young fans look up to her and tell her she was their inspiration to start writing and she’s had critical reviews as well. When reading reviews, she wants other aspiring authors to take them with a grain of salt and instead of being offended, so if there is anything helpful within them.
“Sometimes there will be negative reviews or criticism and you have to remember that the positive will outweigh the negative,” Celaya said. “You should try not to take the negative to heart and instead see what you can learn from it. If someone is giving you critique, it can feel like the end of the world but if you look at it levelheaded, you’ll realize it might make sense. You might even be able to implement it to make yourself a better writer but it is scary.”
The world of literature is changing at a rapid pace, with self publishing routes becoming easier and easier for writers. But beyond that, platforms like TikTok give authors a chance to connect with readers and to grow their readership. Novels like “The Atlas Six” which was originally self published, have soared in popularity through the TikTok reading community, otherwise known as “BookTok.”
“I think TikTok is encouraging more people to read because the people posting on there are so passionate about the books they read,” Celaya said. “There’s also a lot of authors on there that get to promote their work. It’s really hard for self published authors to promote their work and to get readers o being able to have a platform in which people are looking for book recommendations is awesome. It doesn’t exactly make it easier but it’s helpful. It’s a cool space.”
The third book in the Two Red Flames series will be released at the beginning of 2023, but until then, she’s been working on some other literary projects. This April, she released a self published poetry book titled One Human Soul. To learn more about Celaya’s work, head over to @a.kingssley on Instagram, or https://www.amazon.com/Goddesses-Throne-Kingsley/dp/B08T8B79F1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3QWL03KEWK7UN&keywords=A+kingsley+two+red+flames&qid=1649709812&sprefix=a+kingsley+two+red+flame%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article { clear: both; background-color: #fff; color: #222; background-position: bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 15px 20px; margin-bottom: 40px; border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8); border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2); display: none; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article, #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article p { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article h1 { font-size: 24px; margin: 15px 0 5px 0; font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .lead { margin-bottom: 5px; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-desc { font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.7; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form { padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer { opacity: 0.5; margin-bottom: 0; line-height: 100%; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer a { color: #222; text-decoration: underline; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-hammer { border-bottom: 3px solid #222; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; padding: 0 10px 5px 10px; margin-bottom: -5px; font-size: 16px; } @media (max-width: 991px) { #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form { padding: 10px 0 5px 0; } }
from Kindle Publishing – My Blog https://www.techyrack.com/syndication/2022/05/01/a-young-storyteller-local-teen-author-finishing-up-third-novel-in-self-published-trilogy-arizona-daily-sun/
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment