We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Isabella Wells a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Isabella, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

Growing up, I loved to read and was inspired by all the stories that these authors were putting out into the world. Ever since then, I started creating, writing, and imagining, but I had never shared those stories with others.

Two years ago, I finished writing my very first novel and since then, I didn’t think I would be publishing it.

But I took the leap.

The book publishing industry today is very different than it was a couple of years ago, and realizing that was the first step I took towards really taking the initiative to take matters into my own hands. If I wanted my story to be released into the world, I couldn’t wait for literary agents and publishing houses to get back to me to only then reject my manuscript.

As someone with an MSc, I did the best thing I could do: research. If I truly believed in my story, then I’d advocate for it myself.

Through my research, I found amazing people and a lovely community. The best platform right now for aspiring writers is TikTok or Booktok, which honesty, has been where I started my self-publishing journey.

I started marketing my book on TikTok, asking questions, and connecting with people. And the response has been very supportive.

Everyone’s journey is different, but this is what I have learned so far from my self-publishing journey.

You have a finished manuscript. Now what?

Find a group of Beta Readers. They will provide valuable insight into your story and find mistakes that you might not have caught yourself. You can also get yourself an editor. You can find editing packages on Tiktok or Fiverr. Thankfully, I have been very grateful that my mother used to work in publishing and is currently my editor.

I used Atticus to format my book. It is an invaluable tool because it formats your novel for you and provides a ready-made PDF to upload to publishing companies like Amazon KDP and IngramSpark.

Next, I was able to buy ISBN’s from Bowker. Amazon KDP gives you an ISBN for free, but then you can’t distribute your novel through other services. So I recommend buying a couple so that you can sell multiple formats of your book through many different platforms.

Once you have your book formatted and ISBN’s allocated, use Canva Pro to design your cover. With Canva, you can also create Instagram posts to promote and market your novel.

Through many different distributors, you can upload all of your novel’s information and PDF. You can then set a release date/preorder for that as well. NetGalley is a tool that a lot of authors use to provide ARC copies to readers or you can give your book directly to your followers. Additionally, if you want to put your book on Goodreads, you have to join the Goodreads Librarians Group, where you can request to have your novel put on the database.

Now here’s what I have learned about the different direct publishing companies. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon’s book publishing company, they are a print-on-demand which means when someone buys your book it only prints that one book that a reader buys. Barnes and Nobles Press is like this too. From my experience, B&N press is a little better quality printing and has better hardcover options, while KDP is great for paperbacks and e-books.

IngramSparks is a self-publishing company that distributes your book to major retailers like Target and Walmart. They also do print-on-demand like Amazon. With IngramSpark, if you want to get your book on shelves, you want to make sure that there is a 40% or higher discount rate and that your book is returnable. It makes your novel more ‘desirable’ per se for stores to sell.

Ok, I know that’s a lot, but this is a shortened version of taking a book idea and putting it out into the real world. It takes a lot of work for indie authors to release their books and they have to market their project as well. This is why social media is so important. Using platforms like TikTok and Instagram can give you that outlet to share your project and get readers excited.

Because of all these things I have discovered and learned on my journey, I can now celebrate the fact that I will be releasing my debut fantasy novel The Star In The North on May 25th.

As a Latina with immigrant parents, I always try to incorporate strong diverse heroines into any of my stories. The Star in The North is a fantasy romance of a retired soldier who overcomes the struggles of her past to help her countrymen against the evils that are plaguing the land and throughout the journey, finding love worth fighting for again.

I currently have a day job working at a non-profit organization that provides equine-assisted therapy groups to children, adults, and 1st responders alike. And in my novel, my main character is a retired soldier. Within the story, I was able to use my experience with mental health professionals to show and demonstrate the mental health challenges that veterans and 1st responders have to survive with.

The Star in The North comes out on May 25th, and for that month, all proceeds will be donated to providing mental health support to 1st responders and veterans.

Isabella, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Born in upstate New York, grew up in CA, and lived in Colorado and Scotland, I am now in Arizona working at a non-profit organization that provides equine-assisted therapy.

As an author, I started from an unconventional path.

Since I was 5 years old, I have been riding horses and competing in 3-day Eventing. Here I developed my love and skill for horses and animals. Additionally, I have a passion for music learning how to play the flute, violin, and mandolin. I performed in an array of groups such as jazz bands, marching bands, orchestras, and studio guitar bands.

After high school, I studied at Colorado State University getting my B.S. in Animal Sciences with a minor in criminology. From there I went to the University of Edinburgh where I did my M.S. in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. In December of 2022, I traveled to Thailand where I volunteered with GVI. There, I hiked in the rural mountains of Chiang Mai and researched the health of Asian Elephants. Additionally, I helped teach English and promoted ethical eco-tourism.

During my time at University, I started writing seriously. This is when I finished The Star in The North, and while I was in Scotland, I started really researching how to publish my novel to readers.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first started looking into publishing my novel, like many, I imagined a book deal with a famous publishing house. But reality has to catch up.

Traditional publishing is where you query literary agents who then accept your project to then advocate for it at major publishing houses. This process can take months or even years and the chance of an agent picking your work is slim. I believe the statistics is maybe 1 in 6,000. If you are looking into querying agents, the resource I used was Query Tracker.

Even I felt like other people were getting more success then I was, and you can’t be brought down seeing other people’s successes. Everyone’s journey is different. But it’s hard not to feel down when you see other authors getting picked up by agents and getting their novels published.

The traditional publishing industry is not what it was years ago. I believe that it is turning more into a ‘fast-fashion’ sort of market, where agents pick up novels only if they can market it to the masses and try to spew it out as fast as they can, which sometimes impedes the quality of the book. I’ve been seeing this with a lot of more famous well-known authors. Even when I search for books to read, I try to look for indie/self-published novels over traditionally published ones because recently I have been disappointed with the quality.

There’s a saying “Write the story that you want to read”, because if you enjoy your project, I bet there is someone out there that will to.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

TikTok.

Simple as that.

So much of the book marketing and community is all on TikTok or BookTok.

There, you can really market and promote your book as well as connect with other indie authors. You can learn so much about how to publish your novel through BookTok.

With TikTok, you have to post consistently and regularly, and engage with others on there. This has been a challenge for me because I work full-time and upwards of 40+ hours a week, so finding the time to make content and post is hard.

But with Instagram, I can create posts through Canva and keep content and updates following through there.

For authors, its important to have a multi-media platform to really help engage and find new readers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @isabellawellsauthor
• Other: TikTok: @isabellawellsauthor

Image Credits
For the graduation photo in front of the animal science building: Natalie Dyer Photography. For the horse photo: Isabella Wells Photography