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Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
Episode FORTY-SIX: Nicki Auberkett: Romantasy, Indie Publishing, and the Power of Community
Nikki Auberkett joins me for an uplifting chat about the magic of storytelling and her inspiring journey in the indie publishing world. From designing her own eye-catching book covers to weaving intricate tales with elements of fantasy and sci-fi, Nikki's story is about creativity and passion.
Author Bio: As a cultural anthropologist with a focused background in archaeology and global folklore, I weave real-world discoveries and intercultural theories into my fictional works. My current series, Song of the Sidhe, combines fantasy storytelling with "what if?" concepts, from the fae folk living in (and potentially having built) downtown Chicago to the mythological Fomorians existing within marginalized communities around the world.
Ithandryll was long-listed in the 2023 Page Turner Book Awards, received an Honorable Mention in the 2023 Readers' Favorite Book Awards, a 5-Star Review from Readers' Favorite, and a 5-Star Review from Midwest Book Review.
After living in downtown Chicago before, during, and after the pandemic, I entered my "Stars Hollow Phase" and relocated to a small village cluster in Iowa known as The Amana Colonies. I started an indie bookstore, BumbleBooks, which is currently a "pop-up situation" inside the village's new herbs & tea shop, Serenity Sage.
Book Blurb (Ithandryll):
Moving to Chicago should have felt like a dream come true, but for Roxanna Lovegood, it’s a last-ditch effort to run away from a nightmarish past.
When mysterious creatures break into her new apartment, curiosity leads her to a puzzling artifact buried under the floorboards. It takes her from the shores of Lake Michigan to the forest of a distant realm where she’s surrounded—and threatened—by people and creatures she’s only heard of in fairytales.
Devon is a mischievous fae determined to figure out how Roxi wound up there to begin with. He’s even more determined to send her back home. There are secrets to keep and his own set of wounds unwilling to heal, and the last thing he wants or needs is this outsider questioning—and challenging—everything he thought he knew.
CONTENT WARNING: This book and the series covers topics and heavy material such as slavery, human trafficking, assault of various natures, and crude language. While violence does occur, it is not and will not be overtly graphic in nature (I do have my limits). There may be other triggers I am not aware of or instances that may become triggering not covered in this warning.
https://a.co/d/5ROf3Eu (for the KU ebook)
https://bookshop.org/a/96501/9798988797715 (paperback—supports indie bookstores like mine!)
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Editing doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth—it's the magic that transforms your story from “meh” to masterpiece!
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE Manuscript Prep Workbook: Take the stress out of editing with simple steps to organize your revisions. Grab it HERE
📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support Writer's Haven: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 Website: https://victoriajaneeditorial.myflodesk.com/links
Oh hey, it's Victoria from Victoria Jane Editorial and your host of Bookshop Chats. This podcast is all about authors, writing and the magic that goes into storytelling. We cover all of the things that go into writing a book, from the creative process, from taking your idea to a first draft, creating and cultivating community within the author space, marketing all of the fun things. If you are a reader, a wannabe writer or an author, you will find tips and tricks that suit whatever level you are at. So I hope that you enjoy and you are unfortunately, or fortunately, going to find many more books to add to your tbr, so I will invite you to sit back and listen to the episode. Welcome back to bookshop chats.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I am chatting with nikki abercat I. I totally butchered that. Abercat is fine, abercat I. I'm like I to practice it. And then my brain is like no, we can't, we can't even, we can't even do it. So, um, but anyways, I'm so, I'm so happy to chat with you today. Uh, I feel like this is going to be a really informative, fun episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me on here and, uh, my co-host Quill. He's meowing, but I shut the door on him so you might hear in the back.
Speaker 1:Sad babies. They always come when we start recording podcasts.
Speaker 2:They're like there's something going on we must be involved in this Amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, let's just dive right in, and I would love to hear all about your book all about your book.
Speaker 2:Well, I am. This is actually very good, very fortuitous timing. My second edition testing paperback just arrived, maybe half an hour before we sat down, and I am so stoked because I have never, ever, ever, designed a cover myself before, especially for paperback, and this turned out almost completely perfect. And I only say almost because, of course, I see things that my perfectionist brain is picking out. But, quite frankly, like if you don't know what you mean, like if you don't know, if you're not that anal retentive, it's stunning, it's flawless, it's perfect. So I almost like had a moment of just like sobbing because it's so beautiful.
Speaker 1:That's so amazing. I love that. It's so like, it's so epic when the vision in your head and comes out on paper and you're like, oh my gosh, that's exactly how I saw it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, well, it was hard because and this does dive into what the book's about it is a romance, fantasy or the new term, romantasy, at least in the first book and most of the second book it does start to kind of roll into a little bit where the lines blur between genres as the series progresses. I do have that all mapped out, I'm just working on let my fingers fly across that keyboard. But that was actually the challenge with the initial cover, because it is fantasy, but there are hints that maybe it's a bit more real where fantasy starts to blur into sci-fi, portals being one of those scenes like a lot of people are familiar with, like fairy portals and you know hopping realms. But if you watch not even fiction but actual, like documentaries of people looking into, like ancient aliens or skinwalker ranch, you're trying to figure out what's going on here, or even just astrophysics study wormholes, well then that question pops up Are those fey portals or did somebody somewhere crack the code to make you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:So like so my initial cover cover it definitely leaned more into the sci-fi aspect, but it didn't, in that it didn't really serve the rest of the story. So I, um, and then my cover designer, who I'd known since I was like 15. He vanished like, like, like. He's fine, but he just decided to bounce and never, ever like, speak to anybody ever again. So I had had to quickly think of what I'm going to do, because this is a series I got to have it cohesive.
Speaker 2:So I went with the fantasy leaned into the fae world, the other world, the night realm aspect, and that will be themed for the not that particularly, but the artists that I found for this and the artwork and stuff it's going gonna match beautifully.
Speaker 1:I'm very and it really does feel more true to the story now. I love that. That's so cool. I find that, like you, yeah, like you said, that sort of like is it real, is it not? There's all the folklore that you can like that goes back, depending on kind of where you come from. So so I find that that's really, that's really cool and that's such a it's just wild the amount of stories that are getting published that are so unique and that just, yeah, invite readers to imagine the world in kind of a different way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely. And with my background in cultural anthropology, um, and I actually started off as an archaeology major and decided that I didn't care about pottery shards as much as everybody else did. I care about the people who made the pottery. I want to know about her or him, or you know, like there was one. They're like oh, we're going to study the shatter pattern of this pot. And I'm like I want to know who threw out the lady's head, because it was a pot on top of a lady's head. And he's like, oh, that's probably a separate incident. I'm like, no, no, I've seen CSI, this was a thing that happened. Like we want to talk about patterns, I'll show you patterns, you know. So that's where. And then I had a professor. I went to a really good school and I had a professor who said you know, I have a friend who's just like you and he realized that he's an anthropologist. And I think that's where you're leaning towards.
Speaker 2:And then, throughout all my studies, I kept leaning really heavily into the folklore aspect of things, the storytelling, not just the origins. I still study archaeology. I still had, I had a professor who he's actually quite famous because he made a major discovery with the Mayan Empire right when Mel Gibson's Apocalypto movie came out. So they became buddies and all that. And he hates when people talk about that. So sorry, dr Arnold, he's like, yes, I know Mel Gibson, okay, we're moving on, but he was very much. You know archaeology but anthropologist and he, um, he was almost like you have to, you have to stay with the academics, but the folklore, the mythology, it really makes you wonder how fictional um is that? Or are we just saying it's fictional? Because if we kind of approached it as it was, that kind of tips up our very comfortable understand of life and that's where Ithendril really has nice deep ruts on.
Speaker 2:I did more research. I discovered or learned about or heard about for the first time I think it was actually through American gods, like watching this show about the Twa'da Dawn and I'm like whoa, irish folklore mythology that I did not hear about and I'm Irish on my mother's side, like what's going on. So I looked more into that and it was. What really fascinated me was how much the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fomorian mythology can absolutely be fact. If you strip away the sort of I it drunken mythology where you like, you think about it, you see something that actually happened. But then you go to the bar and you get really smashed talk and then you start talking about it. You're gonna elaborate. So when you for me, like when I strip away the the elaborations, it's actually really plausible. And the crazy part is how far the femorians actually spread across the globe, so Irish folklore is actually way more widespread than we give it credit for. Like the connections, that's so fascinating yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and there's other things you can blow your mind with, but to keep it simple, it really, and that's what really kind of did the world build basis for the other world? Um, and I say the other world because if and drill is the title of the first book, but it's also the kingdom in which everything takes place, and they're pretty darn sure that they're the only kingdom, empire, whatever worth mentioning in the other world, and we're just going to leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm very interested. I love all of this and I would love to hear a little bit more about, like, how you even started writing. So let's kind of maybe maybe this goes back a bit further, but I always find that really fascinating here, where authors kind of get get that spark of like, oh my gosh, like I have to write a book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So I actually started reading at an extremely early age. I was reading kindergarten level books by the time I was three, and so when I was in kindergarten I actually the teachers. I was so blessed because I know today a lot of kids are struggling. I hear about parent struggles. I had to take that side note. I realize now in my 30s how exceptionally I'm blessed by luck, by chance, by God just guiding us where to go.
Speaker 2:I always had phenomenal teachers and so I always one teacher who really cultivated my writing and really, just really was a turning point for me Um, he actually ended up going to prison. I'm really blessed that I wasn't one of his victims and in fact had a life changing moment. Yeah, that sounds so dark but I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm sitting here realizing, yeah, well, this pivotal moment, no, he's still in prison, I think you know like. But so so saying that, like I had teachers who really cultivated the reading aspect and then reading for me turned into writing when I was around 11, because, yeah, from kindergarten on I had teachers who would make sure I went to the appropriate age level. So if I was advanced, they put they had actually arranged.
Speaker 2:It wasn't even part't a part of school program, which is the teachers talk to each other. They would have me, uh, go during reading times in the upper grade levels and then come back for my regular stuff because that math and no me math. Good, so, uh, no, so that was, I was at my age old for that. But reading, yeah, I was always like in the first grade class for that or the second, you know, like they just keep me ahead and kind of work with that, so that that goes to that. Um, when I was 11, um, I started making friends with people who love to write and they're older. They would hang out. My mom owned a music store at the time and so they come over to hang out and just need a. You don't need a safe space to go after school. They're teenagers 14, 16 but they loved writing plays and writing stories and we were all very convinced that NSYNC would star.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Right, so that's dating me. But I was like, oh my gosh, it's great, it's great. But that really got me into the concept of, like you know, creating my own worlds, creating my own characters. Like it, really I didn't know what I was doing, but you know, and. And creating my own characters. Like I, really I didn't know what I was doing, but you know, and.
Speaker 2:And then I I think it was like Harriet the Spy, the movie, where she was like I want to be a writer, so I'm going to start journaling. And I'm like, hey, maybe I should do that. So I started journaling all the time and then I was like into Dear America. I was like, really, there's a strong correlation between writing. For me, the more I read, the more I wrote and the more I wanted to write. Um shoot, I was the one kid it was so great in in grade school. I was bullied in private school, but that was the same uh group of years that harry potter first came out like first edition and uh, all my bullies got very upset because I was always the first pick list when it came to the new release like chamber of secrets. They were so mad. What do you mean? She gets to have those first and the librarian was like she'll have it back by tomorrow. Like you take three weeks, heather, you have Nikki 24, 48 hours. I know she's gonna bring it back. And I did. I was like that actually made me go, like yeah, I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:So I started to like write along and I wanted to write in ways I want and I kept just independently challenging myself. No one told me to do it, I just kept independently challenging myself. You know, can I write something about my own life that'd be interesting for my kids to read or interesting for my grandkids to read? Like, can I write like Dear America journals? And and I would really. And then I started challenging myself real time. Can I write down someone else's conversation while they're talking and keep up with it? The answer is not really, but I challenged myself. I got into journalism at 14 by pure accident. But again I had teachers who, once they discovered the accident, they still discussed it and decided you know what, even though she's in the wrong class and it's not her age group, I think she can handle it, and I did. I didn't handle the bullying because again I take people off by being I'm quoting the teacher. Okay, I'm not, I'm not blowing my horn, I'm quoting the teacher. I take the other students off by being better than them.
Speaker 2:But when a freshman's up showing a senior at writing and editing, you know there's going to be tensions and on one hand I didn't like it, on the other hand my ego just absolutely loved it. But I was actually a published journalist in city newspapers as well as a school newspaper by the time I was 14. That's crazy.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I love that, and I think it's really like people don't realize how important reading is. When it comes to wanting to write, I think that's something that is such a huge piece of the puzzle for people take is whenever I see in writing groups, especially for, like, indie publishing.
Speaker 2:You know indie authors, do you read other authors' works? And I'm like, if you have ever read a single book in your entire life ever, the answer is yes, and if you haven't, you should not be writing.
Speaker 1:No, no, that's wild to me, and it's just it, especially when you start to approach, uh, reading, you know, sometimes, from, like, the perspective of a writer, it just shifts a little bit and you're like, oh, like, this is so cool. I didn't think that you could, you know, do this for this kind of genre, and or I love how they created these characters and all like it's just so cool to see what they put out, uh, and I find it so fascinating. I always am learning more the more I read, which is great right, right, right, exactly um.
Speaker 2:One struggle that has come up for me is I grew up reading a lot of old literature and british literature and British literature.
Speaker 2:So when it came to copy editing. There's some rules, some spellings. I didn't realize it would mishmash for me because I didn't like the way theater ER looks, or I still don't like it. I like to write it for me. You know what I mean. I would say towards instead of toward, but no, and then I actually got into editing. I've been an editor since I was, you know, 14, 15. And then I professionally started doing it as an income back in 2021. And that's when I was really challenged. I'm like wait a minute, what do you mean? I'm like things change. You don't do four dots for an ellipses If it's at the end of a sentence. You only do three. Who did that? You know? I'm like you're lazy and the double space. I had to train my thumbs to stop double spacing.
Speaker 1:Um it's wild, right, like all of these different, and I like I'm Canadian so we spell like technically it's British English that we use, so we we like to add use into things and I didn't realize that that would be such a issue when it comes to, like you know, editing your book Like cause, people will legitimately be like you spelled that wrong, I'm like, but I didn't.
Speaker 2:Right, right, or the quotation marks. I've noticed has been something that's permeated American literature and doesn't always get corrected in some authors, and it's okay, like when it's your work, do what you want. Um, it just sometimes will make my eye twitch, but there's some authors like you know what. No, I'm stuck on this, I'm just gonna do this, but I'm like, no, only British English uses one parenthesis mark, we use two, we double it, you know, but, or it flips around, you know, but it's like, at the end of the day, it really. And then this is something that I guided other editors on when I was in, like a larger editing community and group was like, at the end of the day, it's an artwork and it's subjective right, 100%.
Speaker 2:So if that's the thing I actually I don't like just cover, I don't really cover design, but I had a long, like long ago, client slash. Basically we're friends. Now she came to me and she's like will you do my cover for me? I'm like I don't cover design, girly girl, and she's like no, but you'll do a good job anyways, and I don't want to go to bagel, so can you do it for me? And so I did. And then she had me make these adjustments and she's like what do you think? And I'm like it's not my cup of tea, I don't think I would go this direction. But you know what, if you're in love, if this is making you happy and making you feel the feels, I'm happy for you and I will happily, you know, say you know, I'll happily take this because it's still good. It's just not what I would do. And she's like I love you for it. Thank you, you know.
Speaker 1:That's all we want, you know she's like I love you for it. Thank you, you know, like that's all we want. You know, I think that's so true, right, like it's. It's not about perfection. When it comes to like, everybody is gonna have their own, you know, take on where a story needs to go and, like you said, it is such a subjective process and I love that there's so many readers available for us now and all of these great books that get into the hands of people that are, like, obsessed with them.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I'm always comforted too by the absolutely slaptastically awful uh like digital books. You see, I think like those serials were. It's never edited. They probably never read a book about editing, or even just a book in their life, but it's up there and by golly they've got thousands of followers. I'm like there is an audience for everybody and I am comforted by this.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's a. It reminds me of all of my terrible fan fiction that may or may not still be out on the internet.
Speaker 2:I actually finally remembered the name of the uh website I started doing serialized fiction on when I was again 14, 15, because you know, the internet was a thing finally like publicly available internet that you did not have to pay for anymore. Um, because, oh my gosh, I people's minds like, oh yeah, no, I used to pay per visit websites, what like yeah, that's how old I am yes, I constantly get roasted.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, my children.
Speaker 2:I'm like yeah, I know, apparently the 90s were a long time ago, whatever oh my gosh, yeah, uh, but no, I, I found, I I think I have. Oh my gosh, I'm blinking right now, but I found it. And I found my fiction work that I have up there yeah, no, even at, even at 15, it's still not bad. But I there's some now, now, like my editing brain is activated and read it, I'm going oh honey, oh sweetheart, but that was actually something that someone compared me to Dean Kuhn. So I took it and I ran with it and my teenage heart was so happy.
Speaker 1:So I love that and you know what. That's where it starts, right, like I think that's something to be said. I know a lot of people will. That's a big thing that holds them back from starting is like, oh, it's gonna suck, or whatever. I'm like, well, you have to like there's something magical about how crappy those first like stories are, I feel like.
Speaker 2:And you get better at writing by writing right like it's such a simple concept, but really do so if and drill is actually it's funny that the second edition just released because and really it's second edition just because I had to change the cover um, nothing else changed really, um, but it is the culmination of probably, like I would say, about 23 years of work and 28 different versions, because I kept. I actually did start literally writing it when I was like 11 or 12 and it went by a completely different name. It's called white water and it was. I was in denial that it was peter pan fan fiction. Um, I would say it was peter pan derivative, because fan fictions were like you use the characters. Derivative was when I mean you could overlay and see the similarities fairly strong, but it became its own thing eventually after a few chapters and I just kept rewriting it because it was never quite hitting me just right, like I was never quite satisfied, or then I'd lose a notebook, so I have to start all over again.
Speaker 2:And there's a lady named Catherine. I forget her last name. I don't even know if she got married, but I handed her one of my notebooks, of whitewater, when we were like 16. I'm like, hang on to this, one day It'll be worth something the egos of teenagers. But she believed me too. She was like, yeah, no, I'm absolutely gonna, because she was a big fan, you'll be. I was, you know, like in mean girls when they have like that layout of the lunchroom, yeah, you know, and it's like you've got the jocks, you've got the the goths, you've got the weirdos, the artists, the preps and all that. Um, we had a writing group I love that and that was.
Speaker 2:I was so glad they excluded that from the lineup. But, yeah, we had the writing group. There was a table full of girls, specifically girls with ink stained fingers, and we had very strong opinions about pens that we'd buy at walmart and very strong opinions about paper quality and very strong opinions about the binding of notebooks, because some of those I actually still have a nasty scar on my thumb from, you know, a non-five star stone paper quality, oh my gosh. Yeah, but no, that we had our group, and so we'd write, we critique, we sketch characters for each other, and so, and I write, we critique, we sketch characters for each other, and so, and I think, like they've, each of them has a segment of my early drafts. But I actually set the book aside for many years because a lot of adult things happened in adult life. Um, that really went more into the mental healthness, um, the healthness, um, healthness, yeah, healthness that's a good word for it.
Speaker 2:Um, I'd say so yeah, yeah, um, but and then so like, oh my gosh, it wasn't until I want to say about 20 I think it was summer 2021. Yeah, summer 2021, 2022. Um, years and years and years ago actually, I had given all my journals, like I hold, like box, hold them to my boyfriend at the time and I'm like I need you to hang on to these. So I had stuff going on in life and I was, I had to move or something like that, and I was an adult by then. Um, and I'm like I trust you, I want you to hang on to these, you know, just make sure they're climate controlled, all that. He's like, no, no, I got you and he took them. Well, you know, life happened, life happened, we split, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2:His younger brother contacted me during 2020 because we were besties since, you know, high school and we rebonded, we rekindled the friendship and that, following birthday, he just had me a couple bags. He's like, happy birthday, I found these and it was so crazy. He's like, yeah, he's cleaned out that shed or barn or whatever on his family's estate all the time and never saw the box. It was never there. He said one day, it just showed up and they were in mint condition and inside. So in these bags were all my journals. I thought we actually had all thought that were lost because we couldn't find them, and one of them was like the last remaining notebook I had of my originally pen and pencil written drafts of Whitewater. And when I read it again first of all I was like holy crap, how good is it kind of end?
Speaker 2:up cliffhanger, and I even wrote myself like a little preview into the sequel I apparently had planned out and there was death and missing children and and chaos and I'm like, wait, what do you mean? That's the end of the notebook, Like what, what, where did, and you know so. But I suddenly remember characters I'd forgotten about and landscapes I'd forgotten about and just like concept pieces, and it just ignited something and so I did, I sat down and all the other pieces I'd gathered over the years, but then also the life experience and the hellscape that I navigated through, it all came together and that's really. And then added to my research and my experience as an anthropologist, you know, studying the mythology and the Tuatidana and the Fomorian and the Sea Peoples and all that, that all pulled together and that's where the whole series Son of the she came to life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's so cool. I love that. I think that that's such a yeah, I love keeping all of those old things. I still have all of my old journals and old uh, terribly written um, fan fiction, like written, yeah, by hand or in like the paper, the printer paper that like connects off on the side, yes, like the printer paper. I mean like printer paper. I mean, like you said, it's not, it's, it's not great, it's not awful, terribly toxic relationships. I don't know why we thought that that was a thing, but it was, it was quite it, it was hilarious and I I do love, I love that stuff just because you get to look back and see how much you've grown as a writer over the years, and I think it's, it's just a great way to just challenge yourself and prove that you can write a book, and I think that's often the hardest part of the whole process.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. And, to be honest, this isn't even my debut novel. I recently started skimming through my debut novel, prax, a completely different series, and I'm definitely at some point, probably next year. It feels like that's me next year's focus. This year's focus is Son of the she, next year probably Garden of the Gods.
Speaker 2:I read through it and I'm like you know, I can see why it's not performing as well as I want it to and I can see where I can make it better. So that's gonna be like a remastered thing that I reboot and then finish that. See where I can make it better. So that's going to be like a remastered thing that I reboot and then finish that. So yeah, even, and that and that I'm saying that and that won awards. You know, like it was actually both. Both If and Drill and Prax are actually award-winning novels. I have that under my, my name. I'm loving that. But even the award winner of Prax still has room for improvement, still has room for being remastered and I'm going to do that. If in drill, I'm really happy I nailed on the first try after 23 other renditions. So, depending on how you look at that, nailed on the first try of publishing, just had to fix the cover you know 100%, and I think that's a good reminder for people that are.
Speaker 1:Especially if you are self-publishing, you have that flexibility to put it out. And then you know, as you grow as a writer or you're like I need to shift this, you can re, like, do a new edition or whatever. And I think that that's something that a lot of people don't realize that you, you know, sometimes, like your first novel kind of might not be amazing, but it also is amazing because it it's out there and you're going to find people that are going to read it and it's going to grow and you're going to grow. So I think that that's a really important reminder is that you're not stuck with this version of it forever. If you're like, I can fix it, make it better, that kind of thing absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Um, there's a concept that I learned about here in Amana because it's a. It's an old German settlement, very deep history, really cool stuff. That should be a whole other podcast episode of its own. But there's a, there's a tiny little pig and get the general store to put in your wallet, and I forget the German for it. But the phrase is I have had pig. And the concept behind that is is you carry this little pig around you to remind you that you have had a time of good and plenty. It can happen again. I keep thinking of that. You know, like, if you've published once, it may not be your best seller, but you published so you can publish again.
Speaker 1:That's so true, that is. I think that's often like I feel like getting the first one out there is like showing yourself that I can do this, and it's a lot of learning and a lot of like probably crying and all of the things, but it's out and and that's that's amazing, because I think if that story's coming to you, there's a reason for it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, exactly, exactly, and something I think authors of every type, traditional, non-traditional, poets, everybody what no one really realizes I'm going to say this now um, both as an author and as an anthropologist and historian, every single piece of work that you put out there has captured a part of history, whether it's your own personal history or global history. But you write what you know, and so you're writing the framework of your own personal experience with the world around you. So, no matter what you write and it could be the most weird black mirror science fiction out there something in it has preserved a part of real life, and so, in a way, we're all preserving history where that works. So if you don't publish, you're depriving the world of your version of history.
Speaker 1:That's so cool, I didn't even think of it like that, but that makes so much sense of no-transcript that will blow your mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, please, it's going to blow everybody's mind, but this is very, very, very true. So we're on, you're listening. If you're listening, you're listening to this podcast, probably on your phone. We're recording it on laptops, on zoom, on wi-fi.
Speaker 2:Every little aspect of this we have because someone told a redhead lady back in the early 20th century she's not funny. And the reason why and that's the reason why that's connected is because when lucille ball was told she wasn't funny, she was determined to prove them wrong. So she did what she did, and she and desi arnaz did what they did and they had I love lucy and they have their shows. And then she built herself up to this point where she was an authority figure. You know, she had the money, she had the prestige, she had the name. And then she heard about this guy whose science, sciency concept kept getting shot down. So she read what he wrote and she's like this is amazing. So she told Gene Roddenberry we're going to make this happen, this needs to happen. Told gene roddenberry, we're going to make this happen, this needs to happen which not only got star trek produced for its first season, but officially made lucio ball the godmother of science fiction in terms of you know filmography, cinematography, even even like tv and everything like that.
Speaker 2:Now it goes and then so it goes further. The concept of the cell phone came from Star Trek and we do have like wi-fi from from. Uh, oh my gosh, it was a Hedy Lamarr. Yeah, I think it was yes, yeah, hedy Lamarr and he owned all that.
Speaker 2:but the marriage of all these different concepts really came together with Star Trek, which happened because Jane Roddenberry was basically encouraged and supported by Lucille Ball, who was only able to do that because at one point someone told her she's not funny and she was out to prove them wrong. So you look at that trajectory, you look at everything that's come out of just Star Trek alone, but where that path is, yeah, no, you and I are sitting here talking and talking about our books and talking about preserving history, and we're part of that, because people looked at stories and said this has to be told.
Speaker 1:I yeah, I freaking love this like a butterfly effect. To like the millions right, so like to actually see that in, in like real time play out. That's, that's wild, that's so cool. And then that just goes to show. Like you, you never know what like, even if it's like your book and it's. One person was like oh my gosh, your book inspired me to write my own. Or like like that's just the. You never know the implications of what will happen by sharing your story.
Speaker 2:So I think that's that's freaking amazing freaking amazing, absolutely, absolutely, oh my gosh, like there's so much happening in global politics or anything, because, uh, and, and anthropology, and the fact that's even a theme is because of indiana jones and harrison ford, you know like and and the storytelling there, it really is like there's I can, I can get going. There's so many different connections that we never make. So when it comes to right here, right now, at your keyboard, asking, asking yourself, oh my gosh, what's going to happen if I actually do this, if I actually publish this scene? Well, the bigger question is what's not going to happen. What are you depriving the world of? What are you depriving future generations of? Like, you have no idea. Actually, I just found out. You know Duncan Hines, the cake company, you know the box company.
Speaker 2:Joe, he was a self-published author before that. Yeah, I knew Two nights ago, yeah, Duncan Hines. He was so picky about where he ate as a struggling traveling salesman that he kept journals of where he ate, if the food was good or not. He would inspect the kitchens because there really weren't health inspectors at the time Like there were, but they weren't really doing a good job, you know. And so people trusted his opinion. They wanted to know, like can you share your journal with us so we know where to go when we travel? And so he's like fine, and he self-published his journal and his subsequent journals and his notes and that actually made him an authority figure. So when people, people, when this company needed to do something before they went under, they're like we need duncan hines's name, we need duncan hines's approval.
Speaker 2:And the only way they got that is if he, they, he had final say on the, the cake mix that they would go with, and that's why you'll see flavors always be that more gourmet end interesting yeah, it's so mind-blowing he was literally just a guy in a diner with a pen and notebook, you know like it's just it's.
Speaker 1:It's so wild, it's just so true of like it's. And now I think too, we have such an opportunity to share these books in a way that we we didn't have before, right like, self-publishing wasn't really like it was a thing, but not to the degree that it is now. So I think, like authors have a lot more opportunity to get their books out in front of readers oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It was actually determined by the American Anthropological Association and I think it was like November, december of 2020, because I got the newsletters. You know, I used to be a card-carrying member. Now I just have the degrees. But they sent out an email and they're like we, this is officially going in the books, like, if you look at papers, this is a thing you can quote this.
Speaker 2:Every 10 years, humanity goes through a technological shift. It's a slow, but it's a. It's a gradual progress. Um, style shift, culture shift, or that. 2020, we did a 10 year weep in the matter of months, yes, so out of that comes a lot and so, yeah, 2019, self-publishing was not what it is today. Okay so, el James, we can think you don't have to like or even love Fifty Shades of Grey. You don't even have to have read it to recognize that. That really did start the ball rolling for self-publishing. A lot of data was there, leaving mind from that for self-publishing. Oh my gosh, I get people making faces at me all the time and I mentioned that, but no, it's true, it's true yeah, I think, I think that it's.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you do, yeah, that you bring that up, like I mean, it's not really my cup of tea, but like it's, at the end of the day, like what doors did it open, though? Right, like it created doors for things that we didn't have before. So I think that that I mean that's a win. Um, so strategy, yeah, so I will take that, I will definitely. I think all of those little things it does make such a difference. And, yeah, it's even too noticing, like just with, you know, tiktok and Instagram and book talk being such a huge thing, like the amount of people that are reading. Now it seems so much more, like you know, having teenagers like they, they read so much more than I did. Like a thing now, like people have their good reads and they are like I'm reading a hundred books a year or whatever it is, and that, just growing up, that wasn't a thing that we talked about, but it's wild how big the book industry is as a whole.
Speaker 2:Um, right now, yeah, yeah, it's crazy because, yeah, I remember growing up, uh, that much you were kind of the weirdo and I, I, I will slightly blame that on Disney just a little bit, um, and I, and because I say a little bit, because I can see what they're trying to do with Belle in Beauty and the Beast, trying to show that no, the villagers are wrong, belle is right, you'll read, please read. But at the same time you have a whole song of people kind of bullying her for being into her books. But fortunately for many, many children, boys and girls alike, we all want to be Belle. Like I actually didn't really want to be Jasmine or Ariel, ariel's, like the year I was born or like right after, so I wasn't really into that.
Speaker 2:And and Jasmine, you know, came out with Aladdin, all that. But Belle, belle read her books. Belle didn't need nobody to save her, you know, like Belle didn't have her, she really. She had her struggles, but not really because books, you know, and and that's why I was joking like I don't want the prince, I want the library he's gonna give me 100%.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I love that well. I feel like we've like so much mind-blowing stuff. I just I'm like my my mind is blown with all of the insights that you've shared, but I'd love to hear what would be some advice, or maybe a piece of advice that you'd have for somebody who is just starting out your writing journey.
Speaker 2:I would honestly say read more than you write and when you do that, focus on supporting independent bookstores. And I'm saying this even digitally. Kobo just ended their partnership with the ABA, the American Booksellers Association, so eBooks supporting indie authors has I mean indie bookstores that avenue. I don't know what's going to happen, but it kind of sell the killing blow to that. But when you, if you are someone who orders paperbacks or hardcovers, use bookshoporg, at least in America I'm not sure about Canada, but in America bookshoporg find your local indie bookstore or pick a local indie or any indie bookstore mine you know, for example and order through them, the more you support even in person, digitally what not?
Speaker 2:Bookstores, indie bookstores, mom-pop shops you know the small itty-bitties. Like I am, I'm a one-person bookstore, I'm the only bookstore here the more you do that, the more of those doors are gonna swing wide the freak open. When you do that, the more of those doors are going to swing wide the freak open. When you do publish, when you do when you need the support. And I think that's the one thing that authors really really do not realize is the more support you give to everybody around you when you're at the beginning, the more support you'll get when you need it later. I love that.
Speaker 1:That's so true. I feel like I love supporting, like, the small places, but I do get annoyed being, you know, in Canada and I'm like I want to get a book from directly from the author and it's going to cost them like $5,000 to ship the damn thing, so it's that's where I feel like that's definitely one thing that sucks. Sure, but, like you said, supporting the low or seeing if they'll get the book in, or whatever it is, so I think that that makes such a difference. Uh to yeah, just build that connection. And it's always cool when you're like oh, I'm going to this bookstore and there's this like local author that's got like their stuff in here or whatever.
Speaker 2:Uh, I love that and the amount of bookstores that are carried indie authors is growing. The amount of bookstores that are coming into existence purely for indie authors is growing. I'm definitely not the only one, but that is my focus, and I am finding more and more popping out of the woodwork. I'm really happy I've been a voice in more traditional spaces of like hey guys, you realize that indie publishing has overrun traditional by 61% in 2021, 22. You're putting money on the table if you don't get these authors in. Quality is a focus, though, so I could see where there's been some stigma, but at the same time, those doors really aren't as closed as authors and writers assume they are. And the few that do close.
Speaker 2:I read a thread just yesterday and they're like the bookstore my first bookstore rejection. They said I'm too onerous to work with. I'm like thinking to myself, like well, that's a bookstore that I won't be shopping at. Then you know what I mean. Like that's a bookstore that does because I'm also a business person so that right there tells me you'd be stuck with really poor management skills anyways. So take it as a win go somewhere else, because there are like, for every one bookstore that says no, there's be like 50 others like absolutely.
Speaker 1:I think that's so right, like you're gonna find your audience and it might take some time, but like, really, just like play the long game, I think, and I feel like that's really what that whole like just connecting with with authors, supporting indie authors and I mean, especially if they've walked there are a few steps ahead of you, right, like they, they know things that you're not going to know, so they can be a wealth of knowledge, and I've yeah, I've connected with so many and they're they're always so supportive. I'm like, oh good, thank you, good, yes.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Cause. Help me help me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's been such a us versus them thing. But bookstores and indie bookstores and indie authors have far more shared enemies than they realize. And like the enemy and like, like I'm going to, I'm going to say it here on this pocket Ingram both sides hate Ingram. We do, we work with them because we have to, and I will say there have been people in Ingram that I've worked with that have been absolutely amazing. But the system itself kind of feels rigged, and so there is more and more of that realization coming along of like, hey, direct sales might actually be a lot better for both of us. You get higher royalties, we pay less in fees. And just a quick snippet and if I were to individually order a single book for a customer through the traditional system, if that book costs 18.99, it's gonna cost me 22 bucks and some change to get it in. I'm in the red.
Speaker 2:That's not helpful, you know. But if I have it directly from the author, well, the author makes more than this. What? 25, 75 cents off that book? They make like five bucks and I paid the actual wholesale price. The customer is happy because they get in, they can probably get it signed to. You know, like, and there's a lot more benefits that I'm trying to share with bookstores. But, yeah, we have a lot more shared struggles than we've allowed each other to really realize. So again, it goes back to that beginning stage of like as you're, as you're starting out your career, as you're starting out your journey, make friends, make friends, be friendly, make you know, be supportive, shout out all the booksellers and bookstagrammers and everything Like. Really it does. It takes you two seconds to hit that share button on Instagram and the more you do that, the more people are going to follow you. They're going to like you're the green member, how you supported them, because then, when you need it, oh, it comes back.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think that's so true and it's such a simple thing, right Like it's so easy and I it's. I've never viewed like I mean, authors, they're not your competition. Right Like it. It. I don't think that I feel like it's community over, like whatever, like that's there. The more people out there, the more we're going to create that change and shift and show, like people, that self-publishing is a great option. Um, and maybe challenge traditional publishing, because I don't know if maybe that's like for some maybe it's not as amazing as we think it is. Right like I feel like there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that just isn't always in the author's favor or whatever.
Speaker 2:So I think that that's that's a really good point to, to quote, uh, to quote fiction, actually, george R R Martin, the wheel is breaking.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is and I love it. I'm so excited. It's time, right Like it's time, and I feel like so many of us are coming into yeah, coming into our creative right, Like we're actually going into the age of Aquarius, right. So if we follow astrology, that's a whole, that's a whole big shift.
Speaker 2:I actually the other day, is that true? I was just kidding. Now we actually.
Speaker 1:No I think it has shifted like pluto. Yeah, pluto is shifting out of I can't remember what it was it was. It's shifting into aquarius from being in capricorn, I think. Don't quote me, I'm not 100 on astrology, but basically that's going to bring a lot of shifts. Like this is so obviously, if the world looks like it's on fire, that there's a reason for it. Like if we look at all of that sort of stuff as well as just the cycles of history too, I think it's all it all. It all connects, which is all so fascinating yeah, that is.
Speaker 2:This is so funny because I just made a joke about that. I think it was like yesterday I had no idea. Um, but but yeah, and that's another aspect that we're. You know, there are people who are like, oh, that shit's fictional or you know, that shit's hocus pocus, but it has very strong scientific roots. Um, and I said I had to fill up classes in college. I took astronomy and I'm like wait, what you mean? That thing actually like it does something, like that's a thing. And she's like yes, it's a thing. Oh my gosh, nikki.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's so true though I think it makes sense to me. I feel like it's just yeah. It to the world that we live in just doesn't feel like it always supports the human experience in the way that we were meant to have it.
Speaker 2:So, absolutely. And one last piece that just came to mind because I don't want to keep you here, but, um, don't stop, don't, don't, don't stop, no matter what happens, don't stop. And I'm saying this because I'm looking at the date here. I was like celebrate with me exactly, and I mean exactly to the day, four years ago, um, maybe yesterday, it was not yesterday. Today, um, I got fired from a job that, and it was the same day I went in to quit, actually, but they decided to fire me and like no, but I'm here to quit. Things happen.
Speaker 2:Everybody handled the pandemic differently. It was downtown Chicago, I tell people here in Iowa. I'm like I saw things like whenever the subject you know, how was your 2020? And my eyes start twitching and I start getting a little like you know how was your 2020? And my eyes start twitching, I start getting a little like, well, how much time you got? But anyways, that was the day that I left the last employment position I would ever hold and it never worked. Never worked for anybody, ever again as a W-2 employee.
Speaker 2:And I clarify that because you know like when you have clients, you would say that you work for your clients, and then I was like a ghostwriter for about a year, almost a year and a half, um so but they were still a client. They weren't my employer. Um, and have there been times where I was just absolutely rolling in the dough, absolutely, that that ghostwriting contract paid me so much money, um, but have there been times, even recently, um, as an author, as business owner, as a human being, where I've not known where the next meal is coming from? Also, absolutely, that never meant that it was time to go find an employer. It just meant that I needed to sit down and figure shit out. Like, part of my language was like and and like no, and I'm saying this really, last year was an absolutely horrific year. I I almost not quite, but I would almost redo 2020 if I didn't have to do last year a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:I holy I. 2020 was a breeze compared to last year. I don't know what dumpster fire it was, but it was horrible, like so bad oh my gosh, I I have my little nutshell.
Speaker 2:It grand opening of my bookstore was in april last year and then I lost the location that october no, I'm sorry, september. Um, I lost my home because I lost my main income, because the contract that was paying me all this money, that was absolutely funding everything my life, and I've never been that comfortable before. They literally cut me off and said, okay, we're done. Now, maybe 12 hours after, they gave me great feedback. We had plans for the future, like they just decided. I was too expensive and I think the word hemorrhaging was used. Um, oh yeah, and on a side note, because I got about the little bit, because it was on my threads um, I went back recently to look at one of the book series I wrote for them and that author does not exist. It's a betty crocker situation. There has never been anybody who actually exists. It's just a group of authors writing under one name. Um, they heavily edited the work that I did and they got the blurb wrong and yet, so this is also very, you know, comforting in a way, if you're not gonna do. Um, the blurb is not accurate to the book at all. The book was so heavily edited. I don't like attributing myself to it because I did the things that were highlighted and quote. I'm like I, I didn't write that. I love the story. Like I, this was such a passion project for me and they paid me for it. But terrible, just terrible, everything. They and they blamed me for losing money. I'm like, no, you messed up and yet and yet. So all those terrible things, right, it still has a 4.5 star rating on both Goodreads and Amazon and is still in only the triple digits of all-time best-selling Kindle Unlimited or Kindle no, kindle eBooks period. It's like number 340 something. So, even with this disconnect, even with all this crap on it, it's still really well-performing. So, just publish, because you never know when you too can still be, even a year after it's out.
Speaker 2:Um, but no, they cut me off. So one minute I had money, in the next minute I didn't. So I lost my home, I lost my bookstore location. Um, literally, thank God that I had a family who had recently moved, so they were able to literally like, be my safety net. Like I had a whole week. I don't really remember most of that week, but my, my parents took care of everything for me Like a whole week. I don't really remember most of that week, but my, my parents took care of everything for me Like they just. They helped me relocate the bookstore so I could still operate, like they understand, they're entrepreneurs themselves. So I was able to do that, but I went from having everything to having absolutely nothing. I didn't have two pennies to rub together. And then certain people who I'm just being very vague for right now, who knew this, very vague for right now, who knew this decided now is the best time to file a fraudulent lawsuit, no-transcript. And I can say that because even their lawyer admitted it Amazing, that's so awesome.
Speaker 1:It does make me sad how easy it seems to be to sue people in America.
Speaker 2:Very, very, very lawsuit happy and there was actually a lot of things I could have done myself. But I was like you know what it's too much, robbing my peace, my sanity. It's not even worth it. So to still have to deal with it, even though I was willing to walk away just to like, let bygones be bygones. And other people were not.
Speaker 2:And the reason why I bring this up is because I see so many authors all over the place. Well, I, I can't do this, or I can't focus on that because I still have to maintain this job, or I can't focus on that because I still have to maintain this job, or I have to. I have to serve somebody else, I have to do this other thing. And a lot of excuses, a lot of logical reasonings that may make sense, and but a lot of it is fear-based and a lot of it is panic-based. And even the person who decided to just, you know, completely double whammy. I actually, I literally got the paperwork that I'm losing my bookstore location the day after I was forcibly basically thrown out of my home, so like I had no rest. But this was done by people who live in panic and fear Like that rules their lives. It drives their decisions. I'm not that way. I have moments where I panic and I'm terrified. I'm never going to say that I don't. But instead of, you know, letting that rule everything, I sat down. I'm like, okay, what if I actually, you know, made my author side of my life, my full-time thing? Like, has it ever occurred to me that maybe I should make an actual full-time career out of this and give it the attention and the focus that I've been denying it? Because I have the same excuses, I have the same reasons, I have the same fear base. You're like well, if I don't, then I'll be broke. Well, I'm broke already. What do I have to lose? And you know, and so it did.
Speaker 2:I came, I sat down and, as I say, don't give up, because you're going to have stuff thrown at you. You're going to have bad reviews. You're going to. Okay, even Stephen King gets bad reviews. I personally cannot stand A Court of Thorns and Roses. I DNF'd it. I almost DNF'd it after the first sentence, but I can't read it because everyone else is raving over it. But I will never give that book a good review.
Speaker 1:You know, you're going, yeah, I just I'm saying I, I truth be told, I have not read that book. Um if, if it's super popular and everyone's talking about it, I probably haven't read it.
Speaker 2:Um I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. Um, the fourth queen is my one exception, and I'll tell you what in a second. But no, like, my whole point to it is just like you're gonna have bad stuff happen no matter what direction you go, and the worst thing that you can do is avoid doing the thing that your heart's crying out to do, because at one point you're gonna be in a position where you've only got minutes left. Are you happy with how you spent the time you did have?
Speaker 1:so true, I feel like that's such a true like. Yeah, I think it's. I feel like that's such a true like, yeah, I think it's, especially with those of us that are in kind of the creative field. It's so undervalued, I feel like and we're, you know, I think it's shifted a little bit more now, but, like, growing up in the 90s it was, you know, it was a hobby, it wasn't something that you did or it was something that you did when you were tired or whatever.
Speaker 1:So I think, just like, start anytime, obviously, like you said, um, but if, if it's pulling you or there's something that's like, like, oh, I wish I could do that there's probably a reason for it and listening to that because it's it easy. Trust me, owning your own business is not for the faint of heart, but I think I think if you can learn how to be with the fear, that's a big thing. I think that was a big learning thing for 2024 of like learning how to be in the discomfort and like not losing my ever loving mind though I feel like I did lose it for a little while, but I think it's back now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I always tell people when I'm not the afraid, when I give great advice I don't like to take. But here it is um, what are you always ask yourself? What are you more afraid of? Are you afraid of what people are going to think when you write? You know, publish your book are you going to be afraid? Are you more afraid of what you are going to think when you, you know, publish your book? Are you going to be afraid? Are you more afraid of what you're going to think when you don't do it and you know the years go by and you miss out on everything you could have had and just witnessing a lot of loss last year of like, oh well, shit, like I really, like they didn't get to do.
Speaker 1:I mean they had a good life, like they didn't get to do. I mean they had a good life but they didn't get to do everything that they wanted to do because they were waiting, you know, until they retired or whatever, like. So, yeah, I was like how can you make it happen now and or take steps to make it happen? And I think that's a really important thing of like maybe you are still working full time, but you are working when you can to create that book or whatever. Like there's ways to do it, and I think it's really just like getting creative with that is so important, especially if you've got that, that story that you really want to share with the world, because if you are wanting to read it, chances are somebody else is going to want to read it too.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I should add too, there's nothing wrong. It's actually a good thing. There's nothing wrong with setting your project aside and leaving it. You know, if you're feeling like because if I love this phrase when you want it like you need air to breathe, you're going to make it happen. So if you're not at the point where you want this like you need air to breathe or you need this like you need air to breathe, then that's a really good indication that it's time to just set it aside. Live your life.
Speaker 2:Maybe and this is in my case with Ithentral again award-winning five-star reader's favorite and a growing fan base is getting very demanding for the sequel. Um, but the really the big key component that it wasn't working until I set aside and lived the scenes and the experience I needed to live, to have the material to write. So I mean, if you find yourself in that space where you're struggling to come up with things, put it away. It may be a day, it may be a week, it may be a couple years or decades, but you'll. You need to experience the material to write it. I love that, that's so true.
Speaker 1:And finally, I would love for you to share where people can find you and your books and your bookstore, because this is going to be a really important thing yes, yes, well, it's really fun because I hop between two accounts.
Speaker 2:So, um, nikki Auburkit it's at Nikki Auburkit, on threads and Instagram. Technically also TikTok, um, I have a lot of backlog videos on there, but I'm not like on that anymore, so, which is so painful, because I have like over 3000 followers on there, but I haven't seen it anymore. And it's not even because of the ban, it's just it's. It's a lot, you know, and I'm really focusing on Instagram and threads has been really I, I, I promote threads to everybody. Now it's such a positive, uplifting community for authors and and readers and I've made I've honestly made more personal connections with readers, other authors and bookstores, even some literary agents, just on threads. So so, nikki Aubracate all one word um, threads, instagram, also Facebook, but it's gonna be cross posted from Instagram. So just threads and Instagram, and you will probably see me, at least on threads, talking about the bookstore, because I'm usually on my author side more than the bookstore side as far as interactions. So that's where it gets a little confusing. But bumblebooksco, so it's bumble, like the B, and then books, you know, like booksco. It's funny. People are like calm, no CO, because it'd be $4,000 to add an M. So yeah, exactly In the interest of not making really weird financial decisions. It's co, but that's actually the handle now. So at bumblebooksco, for again, instagram threads, facebook as well, because Facebook addresses more village life, so you'll see more real time announcements of closures, openings, specials going on. And that brings to Bumble Books is in the Amana colonies in Iowa.
Speaker 2:We're about 20 minutes out of the Cedar Rapids airport. We're about 20 minutes out of Iowa City, where the University of Iowa is, 20 minutes out of Iowa City, where the University of Iowa is. You're a basketball fan? We're very proud of Caitlin, yeah, so, and it's a really great village and we are prepped for tourists. Like, we have the stability for that. We're part of the national park system. A lot of people don't know about us. A lot of people do know about us. Our claim to fame is ashton kutcher. He's from here, great guy, we love him. So like, oh yeah, that that plays that little um. But I've heard people describe this as the german part of the germany part of epcot, without the crowds um so we have handcrafted chocolates.
Speaker 2:Um, my bookstore, bubble Books, is actually inside my mother's herbs and tea shop, so you can come and grab a book that's by an indie author. I also have used books because those are easier to come by, but all my new books are indie authors and you can have a cup of tea. Sit in the enchanted tea room that's literally a forest inside, filled with fairy lights and butterflies and now a lot of hearts because we have Valentine's up. Blind Date with the Books is a big thing, really. It's a great place to visit and if you go to the website, it's more of a book review blog set up for the website and you can order books to support us through bookshoporg. You can also get audiobooks that will support the bookstore through librofm.
Speaker 1:Amazing, that's awesome. Well, everything will be linked in the show notes so people can easily find it and not have to worry about how to spell, because I, you know, I sometimes have problems with that, even though I write, you know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And if you're an indie author listening to this, wondering how you can get to my book into my bookstore, just talk to me. Like to this, wondering how you can get to my book into my bookstore, just talk to me like I, as long as it's, as long as it's quality, I can sell. You know, I mean like I've had a couple covers come and pixelated or printed, slanted, I let the author know. But as long as, as long as it fits the basic parameters for bookstore retail, yeah, no, let's do it. Just email me. I. I always tell people I do love free books but honestly, if you send me a copy, it hits my attention span a lot better than emails. Emails get flooded. Physical copies do not.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, amazing, I love that. That is so awesome. Well, it was lovely chatting with you, I learned a lot, and yeah, that's really all I've got to say at this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, this has been really excellent. This is really fun. Yeah, I'm a trove of so much information, so my author blog is more on that. All the book stuff is really in the bookstore, but I do have some. I have a free novella. I have a free serial novel out right now on Ink it, so if you want to read but you're on a budget, you know I got stuff for you.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I would love if you would leave a review and also, if you love the author that we chatted with, go find them on social media and hype them up, comment on their stuff, share their work. Even if you can't buy the book, these kind of things are great ways of supporting indie authors and getting their book in front of new readers. And if you are a writer or author in need of a developmental editor, please reach out. I would love to chat. Everything is linked in the show notes and it would be an absolute honor to be able to get eyes on your novel. So thanks again and listen to the next episode.
