There are many paths you can take to achieve your goals, this happened to be the one that worked for me
I've been a part of the writing industry for nearly four years. I started my journey to completing my first novel Carnal Knowledge at the end of 2017 and ended up publishing it through KDP in the spring of 2018. But a lot has happened in my writing career since then.
One of the most invaluable investments I made, besides hiring an editor for my books, was to hire myself a writing coach. This was after I'd already published, but I figured if I wanted to take things further in the industry and make a career out of it, I needed to gain some knowledge and experience from someone who had been in the industry longer than I had.
So, I ended up hiring Michelle Vandepas.
Michelle and I have worked on and off together since the end of 2018. Through our partnership, she's encouraged me to become a book coach myself and eventually start Courage Publishing. Both endeavors I never would have considered as possibilities if she didn't believe in my knowledge and acumen from our time working together.
Throughout my time working with Michelle and my own clients, I've produced a series of mini books highlighting some industry information often overlooked by new authors, written through another full novel and the beginnings of several others, and helped several other writers and authors get to the point of publishing their own works.
Around the same time I started working with Michelle, I was also solicited for submission to an indie book award. At first, I didn't take it as seriously as I should have, but I eventually managed to get the submission in at the final hour and was invited to NYC to the award ceremony. Little did I know, I would be the winner of a best in genre for the Bisexual Book Awards of 2019.
After a difficult pandemic year, we managed some successes, too. Courage launched its first publication in Survive, which was a debut memoir for my client and friend Sapphire Geer. On its launch weekend, Survive hit the best seller list on Amazon in two sub-genre categories. A success felt by all of us who'd been working so hard to get the book out into the world.
I've hosted several courses for authors and writers to learn the art of marketing, editing, and social media. We've taken on two writer's groups, built a successful Facebook community, and created an enormous Instagram following. All in the vein of providing as much information as possible to budding authors.
Currently, my story is going pretty well. I'm writing and working on my own novels, as well as helping others. I've partnered with GracePoint Publishing to help with coaching and editing for their authors and projects. And things are growing.
This is only my beginning in this profession, so I look forward to seeing where I go from here. If you have an author origin story you'd like to share, please find up on social, tag us in your posts, or leave us a comment here. We love to share the triumphs of others in the industry!
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For more quick writing tips, follow Lexi on Instagram! We are also hosting interview opportunities for published and aspiring authors on Courage's Instagram. If you're interested in chatting with Lexi about your work, please send us a message!
Lexi Mohney is a human being working on bettering her life and the lives of other human beings, too. There is no better time than the present to make a connection or two and share in what it means to be a part of this global community and foster hope in every way we can. Here's to a more united future for us all. Professionally, Lexi is an award-winning author, a book coach who has taken her clients to the bestseller list, and a publisher. You can find her work in the shop or on Amazon.com. Please reach out to her with any questions you have about writing or the publishing world. She would love to hear from you!
That quote by Darwin (and recited by Richard Dawkins) is featured in the album Endless Forms Most Beautiful by NIGHTWISH, a Finnish symphonic metal band. Dawkins reads a couple selections on the album. When NIGHTWISH performed at Wembley Arena back in 2015, they had Dawkins come to stage and recite this in front of the 17,000 screaming fans.