We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandy Ange. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandy below.

Brandy, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Thank you for having me! I guess the big one would be when I decided to publish my first book a few years after I graduated from college. I had a full time 9-5 job and some other side gigs, just trying to pay down student loans. I was overworked and miserable since none of my jobs allowed me to really be creative. I realised that I had settled for plan B before ever even trying plan A. I’d always known I wanted to be a writer, but somewhere along the way I believed the lie that it wasn’t a viable career option. So, instead of remaining miserable, I went back to work on my first manuscript and got it ready to publish. It went so much better than I could have ever hoped! Fast forward a few years where I felt miserable and stuck all over again working multiple jobs with no time to get the second book out… When COVID lock-down was implemented, it was a much needed pause from life. I had the opportunity to consider “what if I did this full time?” I’d been saving up to take a sabbatical year of travel, so I decided instead to use those funds as my safety net “just to see”. I decided to quit my day job and write full time. Let’s just say, I’m now three books into my series, writing book four, and I haven’t had to go back to a day job. I am actually getting to live the life I had only ever believed would be a dream. It’s not perfect and it isn’t always easy, but on the hard day’s I remind myself that this is literally what I used to only be able to dream of doing, and its now my reality. It’s a huge blessing to be living the life I begged God for.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Of course! I am the author of The Kingdom Come Series which is a YA Fantasy/Supernatural Thriller that is like Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments had a love child raised by Marvel Comics. I published the first book, Transgression, in 2017, and decided to self publish because it sounded more fun, and I have a degree in business that I wanted to use. I have a particular passion for writing stories with found family, and themes of learning to think for yourself- which incidentally is the sort of author community I’m trying to cultivate as a coach. I host an annual strategic planning conference for authors called Conspire, that helps authors to take their author gig more seriously as a business by setting the right goals to grow their platforms and live a creative lifestyle they love. Being an author doesn’t have a one size fits all road map- we got into this because we are original and creative! Why shouldn’t our goals and businesses reflect that as much as our writing? I really want to help other authors succeed, and I hear so many vent about their frustrations with the business side of things. The writing part, they’ve mostly figured out. I have big plans for the future of Conspire, as well as several other book series I want to write, from dark fairytales, to epic adult fantasy somewhere between Game of Thrones and Tolkien. I love chatting with other authors and with readers about all things books and goals. At this point, I feel like I’ve honed my method for achieving HUGE dreams in a way that doesn’t feel quite as much like taking a risk, and I love to help others achieve their dreams, too.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had realised earlier that other authors aren’t competition. I think that was one pitfalls of entering the self-publishing game with a little too strong of a business mindset. The author community is a wealth of encouragement, and support, but also untapped (in many cases) marketing potential. Cross promotion is I think an indie author’s secret weapon. You just have to be a little strategic in finding other author’s whose audience’s are likely to hold your target readers, so that it is beneficial for everyone. I think as indie authors we stress out over marketing more than we really need to. So many try to become social media influencers or chase the algorithm to reach new readers, when cross promoting with the right authors in the community is way more fun, more effective, and less time consuming. Especially for authors a little more introverted who don’t even enjoy being on social media. They really need to hear “There’s another way”. I wish I’d been told that years ago! Newsletters aren’t dead. You really don’t have to be on social media if you don’t want to be. Nowadays, I’m pretty much only on there to connect with other authors, and that makes it so much more enjoyable. The community really is wonderful!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I had a really rough childhood, and I got to see how that has played out in amazing ways over the course of my life to help others. I think that trained my mindset when I got into publishing. I know how many mistakes I made, and if I can help others avoid them and make different ones and we can all learn from each other, we don’t have to walk this path alone. Being an author can be really isolating, but it doesn’t have to be. The more we share our experiences, insights, wisdom, ideas, and burdens with each other, the easier the road ahead can be for all. My dream is basically to have a virtual “office” for authors, where we have strategic planning committee meetings, and share ideas by the water cooler. We don’t have to be alone in this. There are not only others who “get” the struggles we go through, but we are a diverse group with different strengths, weaknesses, ideas, expertise, and resources. If we band together to tackle this dream we share, then it can be a lot easier, and A LOT more fun! I just want to help others chase this dream with support, and encouragement, and some super exciting group brainstorm sessions!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brandyange.me/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vagabee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKingdomComeSeries/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brandyange1753

Image Credits
C. Leigh Photography