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

Hi P.L., thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

Self-publishing versus Traditional Publishing

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?

I was born in Toronto, Canada. I hold a university degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature. In addition to being a writer, I’m also an assistant editor with the Before We Go Blog blogging site https://beforewegoblog.com/ . My debut series, called The Drowned Kingdom Saga chronicles flawed and bigoted Prince Othrun’s journey towards change, and his rise to power in a new world after the downfall of his homeland, which is based on Plato’s lost realm of Atlantis. The Bestselling “A Drowned Kingdom” is mentioned in the esteemed Kirkus Magazine’s 2021 Indie Issue among “Four Great Examples of the Genre” of fantasy and won the 2022 Picky Bookworm Award for Best Indie Book Based on Mythology.

I’ve been writing stories since an early age, but in my later forties decided to write a complete fantasy series, the first book of which was published in my early fifties. I elected to self-publish after doing my research about the benefits of self-publishing.

As an authorpreneur, I’ve partnered with my wonderful wife (my business manager) to create an Indie author team. She handles a lot of the marketing and promotion side while I focus more on the writing side. I believe, as my writing has grown, evolved and improved, so has my brand as an independent author. I focus on collaboration with other members of the greater writing community. That community includes writers, poets, bloggers, booktubers, editors, literary agents, and more.

I currently partner with two amazing booktubers on an author/creative showcase feature called PAGE CHEWING, where we interview creatives about their work. This provides exposure for the creatives to help market their books or services.

I am extremely proud of the support, friendship, and relationships I’ve developed as an author, which continue to assist and bolster my brand, while I do the same for others.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Persistence, finding your particular platform, and staying true and on point with your message, are some of the keys to successfully building your social media platform.

Start early – don’t wait for your product – in my case, my books – to be released, and then start promoting then. I began building awareness and promoting my work on social media about a year prior to publication. I forged genuine relationships, and gave people a chance to get to know the person behind the books. I acquired valuable insights through the connections I made, about publishing that helped me avoid pitfalls, and make some course corrections, well prior to book launch.

By the time my first book was released, I already had a decent following on several social media sites, full of friends and supporters that had been hearing me trumpet about my book for months, and were clamouring to buy it. This made all the difference in my launch.

Be genuine on social media. Stay true to your message, avoid any toxicity that may exist in those spaces. Be discerning with those you follow, and who follow you. Be kind, polite, and avoid any confrontations. Protect yourself, and be mindful of trolls. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules of the platform you are using, to prevent any violations, which could damage your brand.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is being able to see my dreams come to fruition. I’m a planner by nature. When one has so many aspirations, and writes down plot outlines, maps, family histories, lore, etc. that provides the backstory for my novels, it’s so amazing to create books around all that, seeing it all come to life. I am living my dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.plstuart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.l.stuart/
• Facebook: @plstuartwrites
• Twitter: @plstuartwrites
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeo709vPGEVYi7bMpIiBCUg

Image Credits
Author Photo by Maggie Clark