Kawartha Lakes Author finding success self-publishing

COURTNEY McCLURE The Standard

KAWARTHA LAKES: Emma Couette is a 23 year old, young woman from Lindsay, and she has self-published multiple novels.

“I’ve been writing small stories ever since I could read, basically,” explained Ms. Couette.

When Ms. Couette was a teenager, about 13 years old, she decided she wanted to try writing a full-length novel.

“That was the challenge I gave myself, and it took a couple years, but I did manage [to do it],” she said.

It wasn’t until later, when she was in high school, Ms. Couette decided she wanted to become an author. The first novel Ms. Couette wrote was Summer’s Revenge, which was the first book in the Fidalin Chronicles. Ms. Couette had worked on Summer’s Revenge for about eight years. She spent many, many years re-writing it before publishing what she deemed as the best version.

“I couldn’t give up on it [Summer’s Revenge],” she said. “It’ was pretty painful at times... but I’m very happy I did go back and [rework it].”

Ms. Couette said she has been reworking through her shelved manuscripts. The first series Ms. Couette published was the Guild Trilogy, with the first book titled, Silent Night. The Guild Trilogy is a dystopian series based in a made-up city called Haven City.

She explained that she gets her inspiration from various things you can find in every day life, like music. Sometimes a simple sentence or phrase may give her a story idea.

Ms. Couette follows multiple self-published authors on social media sites like Instagram. So, she decided to self-publish her work, after learning about self-publishing through them.

“I was just drawn into the idea of having more control over the content of my book[s] and where and when they went out,” she explained.

According to Ms. Couette, self-publishing your own novels can be a faster process than the traditional method because you don’t have to wait to get an agent, or for a publisher to accept your book.

“I guess I was also intimidated by the traditional publishing [method] itself, and I thought ‘if I don’t publish [a book], and at least get my name out there, I’ll never do it’,” she explained.

In the future, Ms. Couette may try the traditional method of publishing, while continuing to self-publish her own work.

“I had to get my foot in the door of authorship and prove to myself I actually could write a book, I could publish a book, and people wanted to read it,” she said.

Ms. Couette has some words of advice for aspiring writers who are thinking of traditionally publishing their work or self-publishing: “If anyone wants to get where I am, I want them to know, it’s going to be a lot of work and feel, sometimes, like it’s impossible. But, if you keep believing in yourself, and taking one step-at-a-time, you’ll get there.”

To learn more about Ms. Couette and her self-publishing journey, you can check out her website, emmacouetteauthor.com.