We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Sargeant Hagan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Publishing my first novel was life and death to me, which is ironic, considering I write mystery novels! I was starting out older, having waited until my children were in school. I knew it was now or never. My intention was to go the traditionally published route, but when that didn’t seem to be working, I knew I was short on time. At my age, I didn’t have the luxury of waiting around until somebody told me I was good enough. So I reluctantly reconsidered publishing my own book. I took about a year to learn the industry, filling my mind with information I never wanted to know! Other people should be doing this for me! I set up a publishing company with two friends, and launched my first novel, Pedestal, in 2017. It was a risk because I had to trust my instincts as an editor, something I had originally hoped would be done for me. But taking the time to learn the industry set me up for an unexpected new venture: professional editor and publishing consultant. People started asking me how I did it. They wanted to know if I could help them publish their own book. Before I knew it, I had actual paying clients, and I found out that the very thing I questioned my ability in was the thing my clients valued the most. And I also learned I loved coming alongside someone to make their dreams a reality. Many of my clients are Amazon #1 best sellers. Now I just have to figure out how to balance writing my own books with the needs of helping others’ dreams come true!

Ashley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I write traditional mysteries with a large dose of romance. My current series is the Backstage Mysteries, in which a British actor who plays a detective on TV finds himself in the middle of a mystery and has to prove whether he can live up to his famous crime-solving character. I’ve written two (Pedestal and Duel), and I’m currently working on #3, which should release later in 2024. I am the immediate past president of Sisters in Crime Middle Tennessee. Sisters in Crime is a national organization of mystery writers. I have just founded a new writers group called The Dangerous Pen Society, with the mission to support one another through professional development, promotional partnerships, and networking activities. We encourage one another to dare to write dangerously!

I am also a freelance editor and publishing consultant. I co-founded Inkwell Writers Publishing Services to help others do what I do: bring quality books into the hands of readers. I love helping authors go from unfinished manuscript to published work. As an editor, I find it difficult to separate developmental and content editing from line editing. Instead, my editing process checks for grammatical and spelling errors, but I’ll also look for gaps in storyline (fiction), readability, fact-checking (non-fiction), and writing style. By working back-and-forth with the author, my comprehensive editing process will produce the best version of their manuscript. I’m not a publisher, so the author keeps all royalties, but I do the daunting work of uploading an author’s files into Ingramspark or Amazon KDP. I also enter in all of what’s called metadata, everything from book descriptions to which category the book should be in to keywords that help readers find it. While I’m not a marketer, my seasoned advice assists authors to get the word out about their book. Many of my clients are Amazon #1 bestsellers. I love speaking about what I do to book clubs, writing groups, and conferences.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

In this world of fast and free, I think many non-creatives fail to understand the time and creative energy it takes to produce quality work. As an author, I’m surprised to hear readers complain if they have to pay for a book, as if the author just snapped their fingers and voila! a fully-finished, professionally edited book appeared out of thin air with a gorgeous cover already in place. People were involved. People wrote. People edited. People designed. And either a traditional publisher paid those people to do it or an independent author paid (handsomely) for people to do it. Amazon doesn’t help, consistently suggesting that books be priced lower than brick and mortar bookstores and attempting to keep ebooks below $5.99, as if all of that creativity vanished into the internet when the book was uploaded. Ebooks may not have a print or shipping cost, but the creative cost doesn’t evaporate because a book is digital.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As an author, my mission is to write and publish the kinds of books I want to read. As the founder of a writing group, my goal is to promote collaboration instead of competition. As an editor and publishing consultant for independent authors, I want to raise the quality of independent books to match or exceed what is being produced by traditional publishers. I think authors and readers both deserve the best!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ashleyshagan.com; www.inkwellwriters.com
• Instagram: @ashleysargeanthagan; @inkwellwriters
• Facebook: AshleySargeantHagan; InkwellWriters
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ashley-sargeant-hagan-031bbb230

Image Credits
Back: Dr. Ian K. Smith, Charles Finch, Front: Frankie Bailey, Ashley Sargeant Hagan, Jacquetta Szathmari (Dorothy Welles) at Bouchercon