Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shari S.N.Arly. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shari, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Discarding the dream of traditional publishing and becoming and independently published author was both a huge risk and a departure from a life-long plan.

I’ve always written stories and dreamed of seeing my books in libraries and stores. After university I finally had time to focus on my fiction writing career. I joined a critique group and started submitting my work. I sold a number of short stories and collected over 500 rejection letters on both my short and novel length work. Some of my writing friends started getting picked up by traditional publishers, and what I learned from them made me much less enthusiastic of that path. I didn’t want my topics and plotlines dictated by the marketing department based solely on what would sell the most books. After a great deal of thought and significant research, I decided to release a collection of short stories on my own to get a feel for the independent publishing model.

My journalism degree and attention to detail came in especially handy as I worked through the process of designing the book’s content and all the pages that lead up to the first story. I worked with a visual designer for a book cover because I knew that was an area of weakness for me. While there was a steep learning curve, it was satisfying to see my book, Magic, Mischief & Mayhem: A collection of magical works, available in digital and paperback on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It looked exactly as I wanted, with no cuts or cover components that made me cringe. Sales were admittedly a bit disappointing, but that’s typical for all newly published authors. Still, I wasn’t convinced this was the right path for me.

After another year and a half of failing to connect with an agent or publisher, and seeing my friends getting mid-listed by their publishers, I decided to fully commit to the indie model. As the parent of young children, I no longer had the time to both write and manage submissions. I didn’t want to be subject to the power dynamic and whims of a big publishing house. I saw small press as being so similar to independent publishing in necessary tasks, that it made more sense to be in full control. But at the same time, I worried that the stigma of self-publishing would color perceptions of independent publishing and negatively impact me in writing circles. There’s a long history of disdain for those who don’t suffer through the frustrations on the path to success as an author. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to market adequately.

I have been pleasantly surprised to find that most authors recognize independent publishing as a way to get out from the contract/advance and publishing house control of the traditional model. It’s also a way to publish works that have an audience, but that audience is perceived as insufficiently small. While my sales may not be huge, I have fans around the world, which is incredibly satisfying. A side bonus of indie publishing is that each book publication boosts the sales of prior books, as new readers discover your work. I was a bit derailed by the pandemic, but have plans to release the first novel in a series in 2023, and work toward the third in a series as well.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always written stories, even back when I was in elementary school and knew nothing of grammar. I lived for books and reading time. Writing was a natural progression, By high school I was always working on at least one novel.

After university, I was asked to form a critique group. My only experience with critique came from my creative writing class in college, and I wasn’t sure it was for me. That said, I allowed myself to be talked into the group, which turns out to have been one of the best things I could have ever done for my writing. A writers’ group or critique group provides structure and deadlines, pushing writers to get stuff done. It also creates a small community, where you can support each other during the rough moments and celebrate the successes.

My close writing friends and I were able to distill each others’ overall writing philosophy based on reading thousands of each others words. Mine appears to be: the world is a dark and brutal place because we’ve made it that way, and isn’t that tragic. While I write both young adult and adult fantasy, most of my published work is young adult. I tend to write female protagonists who are trying to find where they fit in their world of magic or monsters. Most often, the magic appears as reasonable and normal, while the things we might see as commonplace are presented as monstrous. You could think of it as traveling through the looking glass where things are not as they are in our real world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a writer is hearing from a reader who really connected with something I wrote, and learning that I was able to help them through something. Writing is largely a solitary activity, and this connection brings the reader into the conversation and makes me feel like I’ve done something good for the world.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In addition to being a writer, I am also disabled. I have a connective tissue disorder that impacts my tendons, and I spent about 16 years wearing wrist splints before I got things under control. I have to be careful what I do pretty much every step of every day to prevent problems. I had bought voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking), but was reluctant to take the step. Part of me knew I would not be coming back from this, and it would be the primary way I would be writing going forward once I started using it. Speaking uses a different part of your brain, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make it work, that it would ruin my joy in writing. During a particularly bad flare up, I hadn’t written anything for months. I wasn’t sleeping well and was generally miserable. I realized that not writing had to be worse than anything that would come of writing by voice, and I made a new year’s resolution, that I kept, to start using the software. It was a slow and difficult process (sometimes full of hilarious auto corrections), but in time it became second nature. My writing did change, but for the better. My stories have a natural voice and are easy to read aloud. I also improved my thinking/speaking and public speaking processes as a result. Change can be hard, but it can be worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://s-n-arly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s.n.arly/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/S.N.Arly1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SNArly
• Other: Mastodon – @[email protected] Tumblr – https://s-n-arly.tumblr.com/

Image Credits
Photo 1 by Beren Fox Stiltwalking and martial arts photo by Steve Fox All other photos by Shareen Mann