It’s all official! April 24, 2026 marked my launch party for The Misfit Guild at my favorite indie bookstore! Woolly Bear Books & Gifts is a beautiful shop with just the right ratio of comfy to quirky, so naturally, it was the perfect place to formally introduce my debut novel to Pittsburgh! The crowd was small but very engaged, and my cover artist, Emily N. Goff, was my co-host. We shared tons of anecdotes about our friendship and some shared experiences that are woven through the pages of the novel. The guests had several great questions, one of which was “What was the hardest part of writing the novel?”
My answer was that is wasn’t in writing the novel at all…it was in realizing that I simply wasn’t going to find an agent. It took about nine months total to write and edit the book, then a little longer for the cover art. After countless tiny edits (and more to come in the second edition), I was finally eager to have agents fawn over my beautiful baby.
But it didn’t happen. One agent requested my manuscript and had some gentle feedback, which I agreed with, and applied to the narrative. But then the rejections came in like a flood. I worked harder on my query letter than I did on the book itself, hand-picked agents who specifically requested cozy romantasy and the tropes I employed, but it just never happened for me.
That was painful. Very painful. And humbling. At first, I told myself that my initial cover letter was a mess, and that was the problem. Then, it was that I’d picked the wrong agents. Then, it was that the market was oversaturated with romantasy. But I finally had to admit to myself that The Misfit Guild was simply something I was going to have to make happen on my own.
That’s not entirely true. I had a lot of cheerleaders along the way. I think I would have given up without them.
Self-publishing is fraught with its own challenges. Sure, you can do it “for free”, but if you want a quality product that can hold its own against traditionally published and marketed books, you’ve got to pay for a good editor and real cover art, not AI. Then add in character art, the cost of marketing materials like business cards, banners, and online ads, and you’ve put a lot of cash into your “free” project.
But now she’s out there. She’s in the world, (hopefully) being enjoyed by readers of all kinds, who are eagerly awaiting the sequel. 😉
