Krista Walsh, Fantasy Author

(I still have them. Easily 150k each.) At 18, I wrote a contemporary romance that no other eyes will ever see (it's very sweet). Around the same time I co-wrote a badass crime story with a buddy (also to be lost to time).

University killed my love of writing and it took my ex encouraging me to pick up my pen again. Wrote my first fantasy novel at 23 (210k). Queried it with no success (obvious to me why now), and set it aside.

November 2011, I wrote a flash fiction piece about an author who wakes up in his own fantasy world. Those 1000 words led to a novel, then a trilogy, then a 9-book saga.

I queried book 1, got a few rejections, intended to keep going... Until my good friend and indie author Colin F. Barnes suggested I try indie.

In October 2013, he mentored me on how to release a co-written serial story, Greylands (a magical project, now unpublished), and in January 2014, I released my debut novel, Evensong.

Friends and family were SO supportive. Sales out of the gate were good. This was my dream come true! Books 2 and 3 followed within the first year.

Then I put book 1 free, applied for a BookBub Featured Deal, earned $8k in a day with a tail that last weeks. I was certain I'd made it.

I followed up the Meratis Trilogy with the Cadis Trilogy, following a favourite character from the original, and sales... dwindled.

From there, I shifted to urban fantasy and more Dark Descendants series, which gained very little traction despite readers loving the stories.

I tried them in KU and when that led to nothing, switched them back to wide.

Since then, I've continued to try... well, everything. Some years have been amazing, some less so, but still I keep working.

This industry changes FAST, and every time you think you've found what works, it all shifts again.

I've been fortunate to have readers who have been with me from the very beginning, who continue to root for me, hype up my books, motivate me to keep going.

But some days/months are HARD.

I keep going because I love to write. I have loved and still love every book I have published, every character who's stepped into my head, every battle, every snarky exchange, every tear shed.

I am excited about all the projects I have coming up. So excited that I'm grumpy I can write faster.

And that's my conclusion: for all the ways the industry changes--the marketing shifts, the passing trends, the uncertain platforms-- that's something that you have to hold on to:

Your passion for creating (AI users, continue on, this is not for you), your stubbornness, and (let's be honest), a certain degree of spite.

If you're feeling discouraged, take a break, take a breath, but know that the winds will change and your way forward might become really obvious and surprisingly simple.

(Until it changes again 😉)