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

Zack, 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.

Two years ago, I decided to take a risk.
Like most college students who have no idea what they want to do with their lives, I decided to try something most of my family and friends viewed as “improbable.” I decided to write a book.
I was not a writer. Not even close. But, I was reading Harry Potter, and was loving it. Fast forward through the first summer of my writing journey and I had the first draft of a book that quite frankly, sucked, and a plan to self publish because deep down, I knew that it sucked, and I had no idea where to begin in the publishing world.
My idea in theory was good: a fantasy book about music that does magic, with QR codes printed throughout the chapters of the book so readers can scan and listen to the musical magic. However, the execution of the idea lacking.
Up until this point, my writing “experience” consisted of sitting down at the local library for three hours a day and forcing myself through “The Song of Hidden Stars” chapter by chapter. The only knowledge of the writing world entirely came from youtube and a couple college classes I took when I was in film school. That was, before I had my college mid-life crisis when I switched majors.
So, here I was, senior year of college, with a horrible manuscript and no idea where to go. If at this point, I was to send query letters to publishers, I have no doubt, every one of them would have been rejected. I was presented with two options: cut my losses and move onto a more likely career path, or double down and maybe give this thing a real chance.
In January, I started an Instagram account for my book and began posting general, writing jokes and experiences, and rather quickly, some of the videos began going viral. And here is where I made yet another misguided decision. I set my release date for six months away, and that may sound great, but at the time, I hadn’t even finished the second draft of my book, and absolutely no one had read any of it.
As a first time writer, you have no idea how much work writing a book will be, or all the steps that go into it, whether it’s number of drafts (I ended up doing close to ten), developmental and copy editing, proofreading, beta and arc readers, cover and interior design, marketing, or in my case, producing an entire album to go with the book.
If you haven’t picked up on this yet, I blindly stumbled my way through writing this book, which ironically is pretty similar to the story of my protagonist. But the reason it was able to work is because I chose to take a risk on myself and self-publish.
I learned every lesson by failing the first time. It would have taken me years of improving my writing before I was able to maybe land a publishing deal. I will say I had some help along the way. One of the turning points in this journey was hiring the editor of The Hunger Games on a freelance deal. Long story short, she destroyed my manuscript, which moved me to spend almost 70 hours the following week locked away in my room working on the book.
After several more stressful months and a 5 day trip to Canada for book research, I submitted the book for printing, and within days, it had reached the number one spot for new releases in teen and young adult fantasy (action and adventure).
What was an uninformed decision of self-publishing my first book has turned into a philosophy of taking risks, by which first time writers can break into the publishing world. There are no guarantees in self publishing, but it does give you a chance. It gave me one, and now, although the process was painful, I was able to become an author regardless of how unprepared I was for it.
All writers know, the first draft is never what you publish, but you’ll never publish without it. Two years ago I decided to take a risk on myself. I made every mistake, and to start off, I was a horrible writer. I could have given up then, but if I did, I would have missed one of the most valuable lessons of writing. Revisions are where you make something good. It’s through those trials a story is made. But before any of that, you’ve got to take the risk to write the first draft.

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’m Zack McDonald. I’m a 23 year old self-published author of “The Song of Hidden Stars,” the first book with a QR-code-accessible, original soundtrack printed into the pages of the book. The soundtrack is available on all streaming platforms and features a collection of various world-known musicians and artists.
Currently, I live in Tennessee and am working on a sequel to my debut novel. You can find more information about my book as well as updates on the next on on my Instagram @zack_mcdonald_writer

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an author is learning more about myself, others, and our world through the process of writing. The best part is, it constantly brings me back to the one who created it all, the reason we as humans are creative beings. God.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Some resources I’ve learned to love are Ingramspark (publishing), Reedsy (writing and hiring freelancers), Bookstagram (Instagram community), and Youtube (Jed Herne and Brandon Sanderson).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zackmcdonaldwriter.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zack_mcdonald_writer/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zack_mcdonald_writer
• Other: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Hidden-Stars-Zack-McDonald/dp/B0DGJKL8BB
  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216961065-the-song-of-hidden-stars
  B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-song-of-hidden-stars-zack-mcdonald/1146274353?ean=9798218451783